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...........






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The Festival to Love and Care..

'Raksha-bandhan' is a very celebrated occasion of our country. It signifies love and the pledge to protect your near and dear ones. Generally 'Rakhi' is stringed by the sisters on their brother's hand as mark of love and respect and the brother makes a promise to protect her from all odds, come what may... Such a wonderful expression....!!! 


Since childhood, my sister and I celebrated Raksha-Bandhan in our own way. We used to make or buy rakhis for each other and celebrate the day. We felt that if it means love, respect and to stand by each other at all times, then it should not be confined to only brothers and sisters....it can well be between two sisters and two brothers as well...or between friends for that matter. Both of us were, and still are, partners of our good and bad times...that's why this particular expression is important to us, and will remain so forever. Perhaps, that's why Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore initiated Raksha-Bandhan during Swadesi movement and christened it as 'Maitri-Bandhan', emphasising on the affection, oneness and regard one should have for everybody and thus took it beyond the boundaries of any particular relation.


On this auspicious day, today, I observed another wonderful thing. My sis-in-law, yesterday was wondering over phone about not being able to tie rakhi in her brother's hand, because of the very common fact we experience in our lives at present, the physical distance!!!....and upon me came the responsibility of  tying rakhi to her brother (my husband)...:) I initially felt awkward thinking about it as my mind was shrouded with 'filmy' ideas that tying Rakhi is a symbolic way of 'making' brother or attaining a sibling feeling towards that person...:) !!!! Bollywood does have an impact..."Maano ya na maano". But eventually I did tie rakhi on his wrist and felt that if its 'Raksha Bandhan', then it is quite appropriate this way too....as husbands do pledge to protect their wives from all adversities in the best possible way, don't they?......so what's wrong with it? So I acted on behalf of my sis-in-law, true, but the ritual also became my way of giving and getting a promise to stay together through thick and thins......

Mankind is blessed with the idea of fellow feelings.....the respect, love, affection or liking we feel for our parents, siblings, husbands/wives, friends and even for all fellow human beings is the greatest gift we have been bestowed with by nature....and we should, at all cost, try to protect this goodness in us.




Image courtesy : http://www.deepwarriors.com

'What is this Thing called Love' by Gene Wilder : How did I like it?

"What is this thing called Love" by Gene Wilder is a compilation of 12 stories based on love and the pathos, tragedy, doubts, and many other emotions attached with Love. So they are not exactly love stories but stories about love and its emotional companions. The stories aptly describe the many facades of love and the people in love. The skepticism of the characters, their emotional dilemmas and all their humane rights and wrongs bring liveliness and innocence to the stories. The writing is lucid, unlike the content which are more mature and sometimes complicated in their concept. The complex emotions and states of mind has been described with awesome simplicity. The tragedies and failures are described in a somewhat lighter way giving the pathos a silver lining of getting over. The stories exudes mystery (The Lady with the Red Hat), innocence ('In Love for the First Time' and 'The King of Hearts'), pain ('The Anniversary', 'The Birthday'), hope ('The kiss', 'Passion','Tango without Music'), desperation ('The Hollywood Producer'), heartbreak ('Are you really in Love' and 'My Old Flame') and playful love (The Flirt). The book conveys that every emotion related to love can assume the title of Love itself, and very often it does. Love remained in all the emotions of the stories mentioned above -- subdued, disguised in some and expressed in others. The stories convince the title as in describing the unending joy and peace love can bring.. as well as the sarcasm and pathos it can fill our lives with. 

A tribute to Kishore Kumar : In my own way

Today, the 4th of august, is the 81st birth anniversary of the music maestro, Kishore Kumar. I am (my whole family is, for that matter) a huge fan of his songs, like millions of other Indians. I remember, when in school, we just begun to know the beauty of music, our parents, mother especially, introduced my sister and me to the magic of Kishore Kumar. She categorically pointed out the lines of the songs, where the voice of Kishore Kumar touches your heart in such a way that lasts forever. The more we listened, the more addicted we went on to be....to the charm and melody of his voice. So much so, that I remember, when in high school, my sis and I only listened to him in our tape recorder. We were even so expressive about our love for his songs that even our close friends gifted Kishore Kumar audio collections to us on occasions.
     Kishore Kumar is often aptly described as the quintessential dreamer or the eccentric genius. I find myself short of words when listening to his songs. Be it rib tickling “chil chil chillake” or “my name is Anthony Gonsalves”, romantic “tum ho mere dil ki dhadkan” or “bhawre ki gunjan" or “main pyaasa tu saawan”, or sad renditions like “beqarar dil tu gaye jaa” or “badi suni suni hai”.......it touches my senses in an incomparable sort of way.  I am thankful that I get to hear this eternal magician of melody. He is versatility personified. I am amazed to observe the various moods his songs so perfectly exudes. He quenched the best from the brilliant compositions through his golden voice. The greatest thing about Kishore Kumar is that almost all of his songs are chartbusters, each one a masterpiece in its own way....and each of his songs, at the same time, were so earthy that anyone of the masses can relate to it, can sing or hum a line or two on his own.
     Thank you Kishore Kumar for making us more intuitive towards our emotions.




Image Cortesy: http://www.buzzytimes.com