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Train Travels

A journey by train was the best part of our summer vacations and as a family, we looked forward to it every year. The destination was always the home of an uncle or aunt, and I can recall so many wonderful moments spent in their company. Later, we started adding one more destinations, a temple visit or a tourist hill station. But still, the most exciting part, was the train journey itself. How I miss them!  For my family, arriving at the railway station in time, would be an understatement. The reality is that we would reach the Tatanagar Railway Station, in Jamshedpur much ahead of time. Trains were never known to arrive or leave early, invariably they were late. But still we would be there an hour before schedule.  The next, was to go through the booking list. We always used to have our tickets reserved months in advance, however, until we saw our names on the list, we were never sure. The chart used to be pasted outside the compartment in the last moment, as the train trudged into th
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The Homecoming

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No river can return to its source, yet all rivers must have a beginning. Native American Proverb. On 9th August, 2024, I set out, for the first time in 65 years, on a pilgrimage to my ancestral village of Kalpathi in the Palakkad district of Kerala. I did not travel alone. My daughter, who accompanied me, was excited to be on a 'journey of discovery, to solve a 100 year old mystery' and chose to be Hastings to my Poirot. My husband, who valued the visit to one's native place, also travelled with me. Years ago, we had been on a similar pilgrimage to his native village of Kandamangalam, in the Tanjore district of Tamil Nadu.  But why was I undertaking this journey?  What was propelling me? What was driving me? I tried to question myself and understand my need to visit a place my ancestors had left decades ago.  My paternal grandfather had left Kalpathi in 1917 and had arrived in Jamshedpur in Bihar, where he took up service in The Tata Iron & Steel Company. Like a banyan
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The Reading Challenge

I enjoyed the 52 week Reading Challenge. It spurred me on to read more books and write more blogs and most of them are - you've guessed right -about books and reading. They have taken the place of friends and family! When I travel, it is through their pages I walk, when I cry, it's overwhelmed by what I read! I spend all my time reading books just as I used to when I was a girl. But these days, they are accompanied with pangs of guilt because I set aside my chores and even chatting with friends and family. Those days, my mother took care of it all. The Reading Challenge set me on a reading spree. Every night, I made it a point to read a few pages. It left me happy but wanting for more. This probably had to do a lot with the titles I chose. As the days progressed, I found myself getting more and more fussy. If a book did not reach out to me, I would turn the pages so slowly, that I was afraid I'd lose the link and the interest. Worse was the sense of having been abandoned. B
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A Date With Daisy

  "Of course, time moves on ..................but the vacancy left by previous occupants never fills. We keep our loved ones alive through our memories, our conversations and our stories but we don’t necessarily choose to reveal how much they really meant. We don’t have to. Anybody who has ever lost a pet knows".   As I read these lines in Tom Mitchell's book, The Penguin Lessons, my heart stopped. Tears welled up in my eyes and a lump grew in my throat, memories of our years spent with Daisy rushed to my mind. Daisy was an Alsatian, the best and most loving of all pets,  who as all pet lovers know, become family. She came to us, when both our daughters were in primary school.  She was our only pet and it's twenty years since she left us, but even today, I can visualise her, curled up on her own special bed, plonked right in front of the air conditioner, opening her eyes at intervals, making sure we were all with her. "Daisy...I miss you so" I spoke aloud in
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Never Alone!

How reading books saved me! "Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.” Soren Kierkegaard  "Books come into your life for a reason." From Wild Game by Adrienne Broderick. I'm fascinated by the world of books! I'm pleasantly surprised when an author arouses in me, a sense of oneness, of how readily I'm able to identify with him or her, where nothing links us except a shared experience. A writer finds any number of stories to write about, driven by a need to express and a need to share. I'm sure such a book will find readers! How I wish, I too could tell a story! Maybe the story of my life! I've already thought of the title - Never Alone! But I know I'll need a wizard of an editor, one who could transform the drab to the dazzling. For I just wonder what I could share, of this, my very ordinary life, so full of human foibles and failings. I believe Writing is a calling! More so, storytelling. A story teller needs to prep
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What The Tree Said

This pandemic has restricted our movements and so, on some days,  the distance between us and our grandchildren seems unreachable. I miss them so much.  Chumku and Golu,  our grandchildren,  are very special. We are extremely fortunate to be the recipients of their love and care. We love and adore them immeasurably.   A few lines for my dearest grandchildren from Nani, their grandma.  What the Tree said!  I have been standing here, tall and strong,  Waiting for you , as you walk along! You look around , and then you look at me!  You stop to smile, we're friends, you see!  The last time you came, I was flush with leaves,  Where birds and squirrels, did nestle their feed. But this year I feel, all alone and bare They have returned, but you are not there. I know you want to hear stories, of the Bethesda Trail And meet those who live here, on the Maple Ridge rail.  They do come here, as wistfully as you With parents and friends, with bikes and books too. Time chortles by, in laughter a
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On Turning Sixty

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The first realization to dawn on me when I turned 60 was a realigning of roles in the family. Our two daughters had planned a family trip, just the four of us, to Las Vegas to celebrate the occasion. They pretty much did everything themselves, budgeting and booking, planning and packing. We tagged along, my husband and I, just like they had done, as kids. For me, it was a comfortable shift, they dealt with the delays, they led the way. This change in the pecking order, from the drivers seat to the back seat was, for me, very welcome. I neither had to worry about the expenditure nor about the next meal. It was an exciting time to be a mom! This also brought home the point that dealing with adult children was way different from dealing with them as kids. It was easier to be a parent, now, we are learning to be friends. This is accompanied by a deep sense of gratitude. I know that every parent tries to do the very best and more for the children, and that is all that we also did. And t
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Bihar is in the Eye of the Beholder

 Bihar is in the Eye of the beholder.  (Vijay Nambisan, poet and writer)  For the prompt, 'includes an exotic animal', for a reading challenge, I picked 'Travels on my Elephant' by Mark Shand, a book that had won the Travel Writer of the Year Award at the British Book Awards in 1992. The book was a pleasure to read, it was very interesting and informative. At the same time it affected me deeply. Mark Shand, the British wild life enthusiast and travel writer, decided  to travel in India on an elephant.  For this purpose, he acquired an elephant whom he christened Tara, but who was always referred to as Mummy. He planned to end his rendezvous in Bihar at the Sonepur Animal Fair where he hoped to sell off his elephant, before heading home to England. His remarkable journey begins in the eastern state of Odisha.  As he rides through the rural countryside, Mark Shand brings to life the incomparable beauty and ancient history of these hidden regions. He takes us on a tour of
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RIP. Larry King.

Today I feel the need to pay a personal tribute to Larry King,  the TV host, who sadly passed away on January 23rd, 2021. I was introduced to Larry King through his show of the same name on CNN. Years ago, when we were in Jamshedpur, the cable TV (with antenna) came to our town around 1988 and ours was one of the first few homes to get a connection. My husband had already made up his mind, finally, here was an opportunity to watch all international sports events. As a family, we enjoyed the Tennis Grand Slams, the Olympics and the World Cup football games. Our daily must watch included the 9 pm news and the Australian soap opera, Neighbours. Our daughters had their personal favourites too. On returning from school, they would tune in to Jen and the hologram or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. They enjoyed the Crystal Maze and Remington Steele. Over the years, they watched the music channels and other soap operas too.  My absolute favourite was Larry King Live, telecast in the afternoon on
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A Time for Gratitude

  Celebrate endings - for they precede new beginnings!  This year has been like no other, in more ways than one. As the year comes to a close, it seems to be a good time for reflection and introspection. The corona lockdown was an unavoidable measure to fight the onslaught of the virus and arrest its spread. At first, I found it suffocating, I didn't know how to spend my time indoors. I was terribly saddened by the cancellation of my visit to be with my grand children. Time, as they say, is a great healer and now I have come to enjoy the slow and relaxed pace of life, doing especially all that I enjoy the most. My childhood was marked by an absence of story reading, not story telling. Every night, my grandmother would narrate stories and like the proverbial thousand nights, they would continue the next day. This is how I learnt the stories of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. I loved to read my school text books. I also remember the two books I received as gifts as a child, Life wi
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