Kadmanivasi. My Blog. Geeta Ramani

The 31st of December 2024. I got down to the happy task of posting new year messages to friends and family. It was around 10 pm, and I had just got started. My school group, the most active for reasons mentioned below, soon flashed an urgent message. Our classmate, Rupa Dasgupta, retired scientist, intrepid traveler, a literature enthusiast, and a dear friend, had breathed her last.    She had been unwell a couple of months, flitting in and out of hospital, fighting and struggling against all odds, only to lose the battle, untimely for us, but a great relief for her.   It took a while to read and register the ultimate truth. Then the shock and sadness set in. What was there to celebrate in the new year! The messages remained unsent. The night passed in thought...even the merriment and crackers ushering in the new year seemed jaded. The new dawn finally helped me see reason. I called dear friends who had remained in constant touch and conveyed to the group the medical upda...

Did 2024 teach me anything different?   A nything significant? Yes! I am happy to acknowledge that 2024 has been a defining year in my life. It is not as if the other years did not teach me anything, they were definitely all very enriching. However, 2024 was different for me, probably it was the first time in my retired life that I spent a whole year at home with neither children nor grandchildren to look after, really, none of the typical activities I am used to. Of course, discounting the Covid years when it was an extraordinary time. So what did 2024 teach me?   With temporary responsibilities taking a backseat, finally I got some time for myself. I decided to invest in my health which involved mindful eating and mindful exercising, apart from several other steps which I undertook to bring about a healthy lifestyle.  The first lesson 2024 taught me was that the level of discipline one needs to change one's life is nothing short of crazy.   The most diffi...

Halfway up the stairs is a stair where I sit.  There isn’t any other stair quite like it.          A. A. Milne.  Last week I chanced to spend an hour on the staircase leading to my first floor flat. I needed to temporarily escape the 'friendly fumes' sprayed in my flat as part of the maintenance for keeping away pests. On such a previous occasion, I remember having spent the hour with my neighbor friend, but sadly she was away this time. And that is how I came to settle down on one of the steps that fine morning.  The day was sunny yet mild, and the gentle breeze kept my spirits up. On the outer sides of balconies,  the clothes fluttered in a colourful dance, the trees beyond swayed in happy abandonment. I was all by myself, midst the breeze and the warm sun and thoughts and feelings rushed in unbidden.  ' No amount of smiling at a flight of stairs has ever made it turn into a ramp.              ...

The world of Bollywood songs, to me, is a mystery, an enigma. Almost every film is adorned with songs. It may be sung by any character in the film. It may just be a background score, sharing deep feelings or taking the story forward. Most of them are romantic numbers but in reality they convey eternal truths. Once you transgress from the reel,  you will realise that there's a song you can relate to, in each and every situation in real life.  When did I start listening to Hindi Film music? I have no idea at all. Initially I came to love the voice o f singers and then I could identify the music directors. But I know this much- what endeared me to the songs was the timelessness of the lyrics. I would never play the song in the background as some music lovers do. For me listening to these songs is  an activity in itself. But the writers of the impactful lyrics have rarely found mention, many have been lost in oblivion, leave alone find name and fame.  I had once, made a ...

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 trudge...

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. Li...

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...

  "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...

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...

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 friend...