PURNAMIDAM - mindlessly mindful

  Today I want to share about my last solo trip to one of the most pristine places in India – ‘Odisha’ and yes, it is not orissa. 2 ND Time is a lucky charm. I hope there will be 3 rd and 4 th and more. And about how I figured out railway Cabins at Visakhapatnam station from a random youtuber, WHILE I WAS JUST HOURS AWAY FROM GETTING OF THE TRAIN!! It was definitely affordable, fairly clean, and safe. So, I happened to stay mostly put in Kakiriguma, it has its own railway station but is not very active since covid. It’s close to Koraput district. I did go to Sun temple and Jaganath Puri too, but later on that. I was visiting John George, an amazing human being with a wondrous journey. A Keralite by birth, studied in Tamil, established himself in Odisha, and travelled across the globe. He definitely is a polyglot. Little did I know I would also connect with Simone, an Italian who likes to call himself part Dravidian. Came to India when he was 19, studied here and worked in the ...

  On a bright Sunday morning of 11 dec 2022, I joined my mother to a #citywalk in #Thane, the famous #LakeCity. It was the first time other way round that my mom had invited me to some nature sensitive event. Her ex-colleague Nutan Bandekar , a school principal had organized the #ThaneLakeDarshan . She was not only the driving factor of this event but is a self-made environmentalist & author who has done extensive research & published books on the lakes of Thane. She also runs a roof-top kitchen garden on her school terrace. We started at 8 in the morning & probably went on till 8 in the evening. 40 people turned up. Some, her school colleagues some nature enthusiasts, individuals, local reporters and nature groups like Hirva Swapna, Menon’s Environment Exclusive (MEE) & Earth4Ever Conservation Foundation. One of the enthusiasts had visual impairment, such is the passion of those truly drowned in the natural beauty of this Lake City. Thane has in total 40 to 42 la...

  At times like green glass, at times like blue, Shattering against rocks, can be put together by no glue. Deep in the center are galloping waves, Rocking my boat and my gut in similar ways. Should I write ‘gut’ or should I write soul? I think they are the same, but I cannot think for sure, Cause hanging on to dear like is the only goal.   Mountains of dark water, in the middle of nowhere, Like sand dunes of a dessert, the ocean looks just the same. Beyond the perfectness of this world, my imperfections you crave. Constantly challenging me to be brave. Absolute surrender, nothing less. And only love, nothing more. Isn’t this what you demand?   There is fear, but there is respect There is love too, but to understand it, I do not expect. So, I blurt in my expansive trance, “Take me!” I say, knowing entirely well, I am still a novice in this dance. Now I sit down again at a safe shore, I see you; I feel you, I feel the fear too wit...

  Today I visit, alone. Probably my 1st time since the last 4 months or so of me being here. Alone is always so different. I share this small house with another girl. It gets extremely faint light. The windows are placed wrong. She has gone to her home town. Since the last week the house is also alone with me. I love it. Now I am here, sitting alone in the Sun for a while. Watching your world move by ever so slowly next to me. The winter Sun moves slowly too. It’s good I don't have to change my spot so often. Damn! It’s moving now. My spot is partially shaded now and the cool breeze is amplified. But I don’t wanna move! The Sun moved behind a tree. It’s so much easier to stare at it now from behind the leaves. The floor is full of tiny seedlings making the perfect preamble for the spiders to weave their glistening silver. It’s like a floor of woven silver silk swaying in the breeze. It’s not a carpet its more like the lasered floor of mission impossible. The silver laser escaping y...

  Universal love isn’t about being a gullible fakir, an all-pervasive self-inflicted pain in the process to prove how big your heart is. It isn’t about being the damsel who loves the beast enough to turn him into a prince. And it definitely isn’t about being powerless, but instead, about being powerful as I knowingly surrender. So, no I won’t say, “I love you no matter what. I will love you in spite of all your darkness and hurt you cause me.” Instead, I will say, “I love” and that’s it, “I love because I see. I love, be it darkness or light because they both exist. I love neither to be hurt nor to be healed but because I exist. I am not proving any point to you; I am not proving my love to you. It ain’t “see after all this I am still here for you”. It is rather “I am here, because I want to be, not because I want to show you that I can stay and definitely not because I have nowhere else to go, but because I exits in here. I exist in now. And it’s all here baibe, it’s all here”...

ये ज़िक़्र ना हुआ तो ज़िन्दगी बन जाएगी एक फिक्र ही सदा। तेरी आहटें तो सदियों से  महसूस कर रहे है अब तू भी महसूस हो ये आस है सदा। कुछ तो है भीतर जो बेह नहीं पाता रोक लगी हुई है  बेतुके ख़यालो की। कुछ तो है बाहर जो देख के भी महसूस नहीं होता मेज सजी हुई है बहानों की। इबादत ना परे इलाही से  इलाही ना परे तुझसे पर तू क्यों है परे खुद से? अब मै भी महसूस हो मुझको ये दुआ है तुझसे। 

पतझड़ के फूल   क्या    बहार के बगीचों से   ज्यादा खूबसूरत होते है ? अमावस की तारिका   क्या चांद की चांदनी से   ज्यादा चंदेरी होती हैं ? बेमौसम बरसात की धार क्या बरसात की बिजली से ज्यादा चमकती है ? और ... तेरे जाने के बाद तेरी यादे क्या तेरे होने से ज्यादा हकीकत होती है ?

check out my new video on making a green paratha from rare mix of green leaves. some of them are infact wild plants full of nutrients. to know more about edible plants and how to cook write in comments, and please like, subscribe my YouTube channel.   #plantbased , #paratha , #thepla , #ediblegreens , #edibleweeds , #backyardgarden , #kitchengarden , #organic , #herbs , #herbal , #traditionalcuisine , #eathealthy , #healthyeating , #conciouseating , #wildfoods #weeds

image courtesy: Pinterest She woke up with a gloom. Sat in the bed for a while. Then climbed down from their cosy loft and went into the kitchen. He wasn't around. She wrapped a shawl and stepped out of their small cabin and slowly walked towards the woodwork shelter. He was there spinning the wooden blocks on the knob, turning them into beautiful beads. She weakly walked towards him and planted herself on a stump in front. He glanced at her through his protective glasses and gave that 'grumpy oldman looking through a bifocal' kind of funny look. She just stared blankly back at him. By now he knew, that a frown was easy to tackle, the absence of smile was easily reversible, but her poker blank face with her wide eyes fixed numbingly into his, meant something was really wrong. She wasn't the kind who expressed pain very openly. "What's the matter?" he asked looking back at his wooden beads. "I don't know", she murmured in melancholy. "I d...

वो ओस की बूंदें भी उस पत्ते की नहीं, जिसने रातभर दिया उनको सहारा अपनी पलकों पर। वो तो बह गए सवेरा होते ही उस रेत की आगोश में। वो पानी भी उस चोटी का नहीं जिसने पथरीली ठंड में आसरा दिया उस बर्फ़ को। वो तो बसंत की धूप में पिघल कर दौड़ गई किसी और के खेत हरे लहराने को। वो फ़ल भी उस मिट्टी का नहीं जिसके सांचे में पला बढ़ा वो फ़लधारी पेड़। वो तो मौसम के आते ही चल दिया टपककर किसी और की झोली में। क्या करें है तूं, 'मेरा मेरा' ऐ इनसान?  जब तेरा यह देह भी तेरा नहीं।  वो तो काल संग रच के खेल, छोड़ देगा तेरी रूह को, जिसने जिंदगी भर मर मर के फुंकी दिलदारी तेरे होने में।

To teach LITERATURE and write POETRY, perform theater, watch movies, explore religionS, explore the forest. To teach MATHEMATICS, build something, play more poker, explore the forest. To teach CHEMISTRY, watch the universe, experiment with cooking, explore the forest. To teach BIOLOGY, get down to gardening, animal rescuing, learn to cook healing food, yoga, martial arts, acupressure, massage and more, explore the forest. To teach GEOGRAPHY do some gardening/ farming, go trekking, travel a lot, camp a lot, explore the forest. To teach PHYSICS, play more outdoor games, fall more, throw more things, do martial arts,  dance a lot, play more music, watch the universe, explore the forest. To teach CIVICS, live in small villages, travel to other countries, learn to cook your own food, swe your own cloths, build your own houses, make your bed, don't explore religion, explore ant colonies in forest, explore all non human colonies in forest, explore the forest. To teac...

Of the many things that we are taught wrong, one is, 'how to react to people walking out of your life.' We are told it's a bad event, catastrophic even. It can be sad, yes. but I doubt it will always be bad. We face accusations like, 'what did you do/say wrong?'. If someone walks away it automatically is our fault. Our society is built on the foundation of souls dying of guilt and self loathing. Infact the makers of this society thrive feeding off of such souls. So I beg to differ, people walking out of our lives is as natural and necessary as leaves falling off a tree. And neither one of them is to blame! If the leaves fall because they have grown old then it's just time to go. If they fall too soon then may be the sun is too harsh or the rain too erratic. If the leaves were plucked then blame the plucker, if eaten, blame the grazer, if infected, blame the pest, if burnt, blame the wild fire. But no one ever blames the tree or the leaves, instead we nurture the...

Love Is A Merry-Go-Round Of course, love is scary my dear! It lifts you up and throws you down. It spins you around like a merry-go-round, but much worse. You can't, even for God's sake stop, you have nothing to hold on to. But have you ever really been on a merry-go-round, my dear? Stood at its edge, held on to the bars so tight that your palms burned red alight? But then, have you ever really been on a merry-go-round? Stood right in the centre, its eye! Held nothing at all, arms wide open slicing the wind and not even for once shaking, nor falling, nor your head dizzy, but just spinning? So yes, my dear, love is super scary from the far away edges, but then again you can't call it love, when it simply is acquaintance, far from a distance. You got to go to the centre of your heart. And find it there waiting for you all along. Waiting for you to show itself. Waiting for you to show yourself. To show you how to love its depths of insanity, ...

Today was a bummer, suicide news of Sushant Sing Rajpot has hit hard and still not digested. But I am too scared and also a bit shy to talk about it. why? Because a) everyone will and because b) I really don't know what to say. I saw on tv one of his interviews he showed this big ass telescope he owned. How can someone who meets the stars and the universe up close so often from the comfort of his window be so weak to give up? But then again very often as I have myself gazed at the miracles of the night sky I have desperately wanted to go be amongst them. They say weak people commit suicide. But sometimes I think even wise people commit suicide. I don't know if it is the frivolity, the ever growing pain, or the ignorance of the world that pushes them so far away that silence turns into solitude and solitude quickly turns into withdrawal and withdrawal painfully turns into loneliness and despair.  if you personally ask me, I still find it hard that someone so endearin...

How a simple comment can set you back to the years worth of work you did on yourself. A mindless comment probably not even directed at you but just an utterance of their own entangled thoughts.  How everything just shatters and reality reduces to being fragments of your imagination once again. "It wasn't even real to begin with", you scoff at yourself. "You weren't real" you tell yourself.  It feels like someone punched you in the gut and stole your most prized possession and you couldn't retaliate. Took away your identity. Took away everything you thought you stood for. Stripped you naked. And who comes to your rescue in this nakedness? Ahhh!! your old friend, your demons ofcourse! Now, you're vulnerable, now you're easy to penetrate. And penetrate they do, deep into your skin, much deeper infact.  But it feels so familiar that you don't realize it is hurting you, maybe it really isn't . You don't realize it will once aga...

Compassionate Communication - What the fuck is that?  #longpostalert Haven’t we focused enough on languages, on what he said, she said. How about we focus on the language of the heart instead, the forgotten language. There are a lot of systems out there, life coaching, non violent communication, training to be an empath, Compassionate Communication, NLP, sociocracy etc, etc. what is the crux of these systems? Are they just tools and techniques of meandering our words and thoughts to make them sound thoughtful. To paint them so, that people believe you put a great effort and care into the relationship? Do they merely make you an excellent orator?  Or is it like magic trick to suddenly have everyone listen and agree to you? Am I supposed to lie to people and tell them only pleasent things? Is it about being ‘miss goody two shoes’? I have been exposed to some of the systems I mentioned above. Unfortunately I didn’t have the opportunity to attend a full-fledged workshop on any but...