May-BE

May be it’s a repetitive pattern of sorts. Or may be it’s the overthinking brain that says that. Or maybe it actually is, who knows? 

What we believe in or do not believe in is influenced by all our previous years of existence, how then are we supposed to find out what “messed” us up in good or bad ways? And what may be good for me may be bad for you? So where do we really meet? Do we meet like the sun meets the vast limitless ocean at the horizon? A place where we “feel” that they are meeting but it is only just a realistic fantasy! 

One question leads to another and before we know it the session hour comes to an end with both the client and the therapist feeling something about the session. One may think it was a fantastic session and the other may just feel a little more broken and torn apart, yet term it “overwhelmed”, a word she uses for both exciting experiences and ravenous ones too! It’s interesting, isn’t it, how one word means both good and bad? If that can be true for just a word, then what about people and their experiences? 

 

Then there suddenly pops up the colour gray, denoting in its presence all that lies in- between the shades of black and white, a place where the so called ‘good’ and the so called’ black’ simply merge together, making an all- encompassing being. Now you may call that being a human/ a heart or even a mind. Ah! The workings! 

The writings of a solemn mood are different. They make you question everything. While it may be ‘good’ in some areas but what happens when you begin to question everything, deeming your existence a big question mark!? See, how easily we put things into the ‘good’ and the ‘ bad’, never really letting the experiences be? Perhaps one reason is the discomfort some experiences lead to and that leads us to evading them, sweeping so much under the carpet, until one day the carpet rises to be a mountain! 

If you are thinking what I just wrote was in a melancholic frame of a mind, I’ll say        “ maybe/ maybe not”. You might then respond by saying that it is either a yes or a no. I’ll then say “ What if I’m currently living in the world of maybe’s? Isn’t that what the gray is all about? A place where the good and the bad meet, giving me a possibility of the both? You might then reply “ It’s a dull colour nonetheless, right? And then I’ll scoff at you, thinking what might be dull for you may be bright for me! But then what about the majority? What about the other colours on the spectrum? What shall you say to them or call them if gray is your brightest colour? Well, how about not naming them anything for once? Really? That’s absurd! Indeed it is! For sometimes we forget that name calling things and experiences becomes so innate in us, that we forget just letting them be! We forget just letting them be!

The Blessings of Borobudur

 

There’s a Borobudur

You do not know

There’s a Borobudur

You may never know

For the words you read

Are not your experience

And the pictures you see

Are not your visions

The praises your hear

Are not your sounds

So my dear,

If the place calls you

Give it a visit

For a sight of pilgrimage

Deserves all the reverence

A sight of grand marvel

Deserves all the awe

But Borobudur is different

In all the respects

It calls you to enter

Your very own world

Layers of unwrapping

Peeling of the dead skins

You call it an architectural endeavour?

I call it a Blessing

Watch out for this space to know more about my trip to Yogyakarta, Indonesia:)

Tasting Satay in Malaysia

Its’s been a while here in Malaysia and one of the recommended foods one oughts to taste includes barbecued Satay. My love shared that he had had Broccoli once and it tasted good. Today, instead of eating the conventional home cooked food we decided to have the satay for dinner.

This man, near our place has a huge truck loaded with ice and lots of satays he offers. Right from the usual chicken and lamb which he has assembled with onions and capsicum ( a bit Indian style tikka) he also has tofu, mushrooms, broccoli, fish balls, octopus, eel, prawns and perhaps everything the sea food lovers can think of.

How he makes it:

The satays are picked by you from the shelf, there are two hot pots where water boils. In case you wish to steam your satay, you let the stick boil your food for a while, after which there are a variety of sauces to accompany your meat. The sauce which I especially liked was chilly garlic sauce ( akin to the one served with momos in India, but its much lighter version!).

The kind of satays we had were coated with cornflour, fried and then barbecued, leaving a beautiful crispy coating with a smoky flavour on the mushrooms, broccoli and the chicken we had. He then sprinkles them with red chilli powder, hands the stick to you, ready to be digged in.

One thing which I found amiss in the satay was salt. Coming from Delhi, which is the home of exotic chicken and paneer tikkas with beautifully marinated pieces, this perhaps seems like a feeble attempt ( of course we know it’s not an attempt, Malaysians and many foreigners love satays!) to the Indian standards. You do know I’m kidding here right! ? I’m trying to sound like the food critics. Bwaahaha!!:D

Coming soon…my rendezvous with Malaysia’s national dish Nasi Lemak

Love

Aakriti

The 6 year old secret

The secret is out in the open. Interestingly, the parts which are open have been well thought of, before they were weaved into a yarn, the individual strands carried a strength and the capacity to be able to be interpreted in ways which were ‘felt’ to be right. 

The gaps between each writing have been long, guess the real world soon became worthy of living than the virtual one! The colours in the mandalas define the beauty that is with- in. Colouring in them is so addictive. A blank mandala is very inviting. It calls on you to make some meaning out of lines. The beauty is that it’s the colours which define them and who adds meaning to the colours? I’ll leave it for you to answer! 

The sound of the sufi music is enchanting and captivating. The notes mimic to the feeling with-in, akin to finding God in the form of love. In moments as graceful as these, even tears do not know how to express themselves. It is moments like these that we define as memories. Perhaps this is what mindfulness is all about. Being in the moment and truly feeling the quietness, stillness, calmness and the beauty enraptured with-in and with-out, with-in as an individual and with-out as a couple, the intra and the inter personal. 

The good we do has a way of coming back. The whole life is a mandala, isn’t it? A circle? And we are our own masters drawing and deleting and working and re-working on the space with-in, that which seems with- out, but is actually with-in us! 

Maybe my heart was yours

Much before I knew I gave it away

Maybe our strings were entangled

Much before my thread knew its say

If it was all worked out at the life’s own bay

What did the Sun have to do

By gleaming it’s powerful rays?

Maybe your words were waiting

For me to write and for you to read

Of all the writers and readers who ever read

On couches, sofas or their beds

What was it that I said

Which in many ways led?

Us to be like butter and bread

Two souls well fed

Being each other’s shed

On days as hot as red

Leading us only to be wed!

Mandalas coloured by me!

Wishing You Well

Aakriti:)

Haiku Hello

 A quick hello since I ve been missing from blogosphere for a while. Married life has been busy in it’s own sweet ways. I visited Krabi, Thailand three weeks back and it was beautiful (  A travel post should be up soon). For now, re- connecting to my love for writing Haiku. Linking up at Haiku horizons after what’s called eternity…

  

Clock

Panoramic View of Phra Nang Beach, Krabi, Thailand

Have always wondered

The fluidity of time

Fast, slow at times benign