Sunday 27 April 2014

Priceless are the Moments...Part I

A new post in the series - When a Picture Leads


He knew he had to capture it. That sight. That moment. For his love.  

Dangling on the chain was that beauty he knew his love would love. A thin little branch, a chain of the big tree of life, and there it was dangling on it, a beautiful brown and blue butterfly. 

 

Beautiful in its simplicity, in what it seemed to be saying.

He captured the beauty on his camera. And emailed it to her the same evening. He wasn't even sure if it will reach her, but it didn't matter. But he specifically chose to send it to her old email address, from several years ago. He thought it was more charming, more romantic. His mind worked that way - then and now.

She had however changed, and not just her email address. 

But she still checked that old email address once or twice a week...just in case... 

And that day she checked. She couldn't believe her eyes. Was it really his name she saw? Why was he emailing her? And at this old address? With a slight irritation she shook her head impatiently and opened the email and saw.

There were only two words in the subject line - For love....

And below, only four.

Remember the moment when....

And then she opened the attachment. 

She sat in silence, looking at the picture, remembering. Not just that one moment, but a lot of those moments. Those walks, those flowers, those butterflies, those moments of beauty, those moments of love they experienced together. 

When did those moments end? Why did they end? 

And she remembered that moment too. That moment when she knew exactly what she wanted. Him. A life with him.

Her left forefinger casually went up to touch something on her neck. Dangling on the chain was an intricately designed diamond pendant. She walked to her bedroom and straight to her closet. She opened the drawer and found it. The ring he had presented to her when he asked her to marry him. 

That was the moment.

The moment when they had spotted a beautiful butterfly dangling on a thin little leaf, and the passion with which they admired the beautiful yellows, reds, whites and blacks of the butterfly contrasting with the green of the leaf. And the way their eyes and hearts could see and feel the love that was all around in nature, all around them, in them.

Several moments passed. The butterfly just sat there, and so did they, in silence. They smiled at such beauty and looked at each other with smiling eyes.


That was the moment she knew what she wanted. And she knew he knew it too. And he too knew that she knew what he wanted most of all. Their love was like that, silent and beautiful.

This was the moment for which he had kept that ring carefully hidden in the side pocket of his camera bag. He gently took it out and presented it to her. And asked her the question. Simply, beautifully. Amidst those trees, flowers and butterflies.
(Pictures by Suhas Mehra)


To read the second and concluding part of the story, click here.

To see the previous posts in the series, When a Picture Leads, click here.

******
Linking this post to Write Tribe- Wednesday Prompt - Dangling on the chain was....

Also linking this post with ABC Wednesday: P - P is for Priceless





Sunday 20 April 2014

Of Spaces and Lives

A new post in the series - When a Picture Leads



The bookcases filled, the tabletops decorated, the walls adorned, the shelves artfully arranged. I like it all, enjoy it all and care for it all. 

Yet sometimes a feeling enters, quite quietly, a sort of a longing to escape from it all. Of wanting to give it up, almost all. 

To experience the simplicity, the emptiness, the barrenness almost.

To be in a space that has all the room for stuff of life, yet is content with simply being. Unadorned, untouched.

Balancing the simplicity of minimalism and simplicity of fullness - my ongoing struggle with designing my space, my life.




******
This post is inspired by the two pictures, shown above, of the two vases by Japanese American artist, Isamu Noguchi. I first saw these pictures a few years ago on the WWW, and since then I have simply loved the simplicity of these designs. Noguchi designed these vases in 1952 and called each of these simply as "vase". Perfect. Simple. Timeless. 

To see the previous posts in this series "When a Picture Leads", click here.

******




Sunday 13 April 2014

More to Come Still....

One year. Of much happenings. Unforeseen and predictable. Irreplaceable losses, indescribable gains. Unexpected visits, unsurprising truths.

Unimaginable moments. Of involving, of witnessing. Of turmoil, of calm. Of pain, of healing. Of questioning, of acceptance. Of battle, of surrender.

Through it all, one love has been constant. Supporting, motivating, comforting.

A conditional love.

Yes.

Because unless I “do” it, it won’t love me back.

The more I “do” it, the more it becomes mine.

The more I give of myself, the more it lets me be…me.

The more I listen to it, the more it lets me express…words and silence.

Artwork by Leah Dorion


Writing.




******
This post is written to express my gratitude to One and All, and to the outer action of writing with its inner rewards. It is written to mark the one year anniversary of this blog tomorrow. It all started with this post on Sankranti day, April 14, 2013.

*****
This post is linked to Write Tribe's 100 words on Saturday 2014 #11 prompt: conditional love.

Also linking this post to ABC Wednesday, prompt M. M is for More.

Tuesday 8 April 2014

The Absence



An unexpected visitor her memory isn’t. Present, always. 

Yet today, on Ram-navmi, the day her Ishta Devta chose to come on the earth in a human form, I sense her Absence. 

Her form in this life, form that I knew, form that gave me mine.

Unexpectedly, by this window. 

Is it the scent in the air that feels like the touch of her soft hands? Or the mystical hum of the wind-chime that speaks like her smiling eyes? Or the pleasing dance of the bamboos in the breeze that sings of the time she wasn’t formless?

She is absent. Again. 





******





Sunday 6 April 2014

Oil and Water

So the other day I was about to start arranging some flowers gathered from my garden. When it comes to Frangipani flowers, I usually like to float them in a couple of old shallow utensils I have in different sizes.  Utensils that were perhaps used in someone's kitchen in the years gone by but are now working very well as urlis in my home. And when I went to empty out this one particular vase and throw away the water and flowers from the previous day's arrangement in the compost bin, I saw this. 


The light was hitting at just the right place. The way the colour of the water had changed as the oil from the flower intermixed with it was absolutely gorgeous. I stood for a few minutes simply admiring. 

And then I took some pictures, as you can tell! Just to preserve this beauty. 

Love between oil and water. Love that can create beauty. 


Love that needs the Light to make it more Beautiful. 



*****
Linking this  post with ABC Wednesday, L : L is for Love and Light.