The 'Missing Home' Season

I sometimes feel that life here in US is difficult and that is only when I miss home, miss my parents, sister and friends....that remains a very difficult moment or minutes, hours or days...based on the severity of my home-sickness....For the past three years, the last quarter of the year, i.e, from October-December gets very low and depressing for me...and the reason is quite obvious....I miss the festivities back home,  Durga Pujo, Deepavali, etc. I'm still fortunate to live now in such a country where we get to celebrate Indian festivals in small yet special ways...but the grandeur is hard to find nevertheless. Same remains the case for our parents and close ones as they miss us the most during these festivals which also mark the re-union of family members and friends who have not seen each other for a long, long time. The husband has consoled me with the word that we'll be there at home during the Pujas next year....I'm just looking forward to it.....from now only...!!!! :)


Missing our near and dear ones is an everyday affair when it comes to people like us who live miles away from their own land and people.....but if I would ever regard a particular time as the 'Missing Home' season, it's now..


Now I will brighten up myself a bit to get over this sadness.....
I feel this a very wonderful coincidence..that here in USA, the festive season also comes now, in this quarter of the year....It's Halloween today, the festival to ward off the evil during this harvest season (or, the day of the dead, as it is variously explained to describe the significance of the celebration), the Thanksgiving Day, which comes in November, the festival to express gratitude and thankfulness to God and to our friends and relatives for every possessions and relationships that we are blessed with, and finally the Christmas, in December, which we celebrate in India in as joyful way as it is here.....


So, festive season, more or less is in the same time here as in my own country.....celebration is all around...missing only are the persons whom I love so much.....they are staying so, so far away....!!! When we meet once a year...it then becomes no less than a festival....!!! But this wait becomes so long...........






Image from: euro-quest.tripod.com

A letter to a kind reader of my blog...

Dear Reader,


Firstly, thank you for all your comments to date.....they are insightful, and some really helps. But I beg to differ with this last comment of yours. I don't dream to be popular, I just want to be better in whatever I do. Don't misunderstand my dream of getting better as the dream of getting popular. Secondly, I'm too small a writer and don't, even in my dreams, have the audacity to compare to the Tagores...His writings are a very sensitive point to me, and yours too, as I know..so I really don't have the courage to even mention him while talking about my writing. Thank you so much for being kind enough to read my blog regularly as you are the only one, except from my hubby and sister to read me with such particularity.
Till date, I've expressed only what I have felt, sometimes in a good way, sometimes in not so good way....that's why the longing of being a good writer. But of course, I don't want to be popular at the cost of the quality of my writing. I guess I have only wrote and felt about achieving perfection in my writings, never meaningless popularity. Yes, of course, I love it when people read my blog regularly and say good things about it, if I didn't, I could have maintained a personal diary of sorts, rather than blogging in media. Believe it or not, A writer's credibility depends on his/her writing ability as well as on the readership. These are interconnected in very many ways. You can't achieve one without giving proper value to the other, I feel. Wordsworth's poems would not have gained such heights if his sister didn't read and save each one of them and publish them later, because the poet himself is known to throw away all his writings in a careless fashion. We would not have known Wordsworth otherwise and imagine what loss it would have been for English literature. So a writer is partly true for his/her writings and partly for his/her readers. Otherwise it would have been incomplete. It's not about popularity my dear, it's like dewdrops on lotus leaves......it may not be necessary, but it certainly makes it beautiful.....


yours truly,
Suryatapa.


P.S. You want me to write about value of relationships in our lives. I remember that, will certainly write about it...just give me some time. :)

One year of blogging....

This post is all about remembering that what had started as a 'let's see if I can' has come to a position of 'let's see if I can do any better'....Talking about my blogging, of course....Last year in July, I started this blog so as to see if I can even put words to my thoughts and experiences...this one year that has passed had said to me that yes, that's quite possible but also I have a million things to learn about writing......a lot of things, really.....at times, when I read any good article, from a magazine, journal, or newspaper, or a good post in a blog of some other writer, I tend to learn, I try to observe a point or two about the finesse of this art called writing.....and see that I really have "Miles to go before I sleep...." 
But I'm happy that I have been able to start learning, through these small steps of writing on my own, ...and it's been a year now......I look forward to continue writing with much more ease and correctness in days to come...
I quote a line to finish today...
                                       " Flatter me, and I may not believe you....
                                         Criticize me, and I may not like you......
                                         Ignore me, and I may not forgive you.......
                                         Encourage me.....and I will not forget you..."

A Visit to Acadia

A couple of months ago, on a long weekend, we visited the Acadia National Park, Maine. The national park is on the Mt.Desert Island of Maine and covers the Atlantic bays of that region. The two-day tour had been a wonderful experience laced with the scenic beauties of the island and a thrilling experience driving through the Park Loop Road that mostly circles through the park, touching the beautiful lakes and views of the mighty Atlantic.
The town nearest to the National Park is Bar Harbor. Walking through the downtown of Bar Harbor was also a memorable experience, a moment of festivity and joy touched my heart, walking along the winding roads passing garden restaurants, souvenir shops, ice-cream parlors and listening to the hustle-bustle of tourists and residents alike. Somewhere down the road we found a guy singing songs playing a keyboard.....and people sitting around, listening to him.....kids dancing to the rhythm.....:)
The tour was one of the most heart-warming experiences I had in recent times..

Today,thus I share some of the photographs taken on that tour to the Acadia National Park, with my friends here....

This sharing was long overdue, I feel now....:)

                                                               1. Jordan Pond

                                                               2. Walking through the forest trails....

3. A beautiful view from the Seal Harbor

                                                                     4. Driving along the Park Loop Road (The car aerial comes in             between and thus the black line....

disappointed with my photography...but learnt)

5. The majestic Atlantic near the Ottis Cliff

                                                         6. Solitary sailor, as taken from the point overlooking Frenchman's Bay