The Moon

It stays shining in the dark.

While my heart sings like a lark.

When I see it shining forever,

I know I will remember.

The little things that was just right.

Every tick of day and night

That came together to shine

Making my days just plain fine.

Whispers, jabber, smiles and laughter

That can be reminisced years after

The maddening tides that lie dormant

Waves that lashed like a Tyrant

It eclipsed the Earth from the Truth

Yet shining high and in exactitude

Over the formidable mountains

Never asking for eminence.

No Witch and Broom.

Can ever capture the Moon.

Grab a moment to stop Time

And revel at the Beauty of the eternal glitter and shine.

An Eye for it!

There has been a lot of jabber about the London Olympics at home. Apps have been down loaded, the channels have been set for switching effortlessly  and seamlessly to watch it. Alarms have been set in the wee hours of the night when Usain Bolt was going to be on action. Honestly with my schedule I could never have managed the late night watching and that too middle of the week. I personally am glad for all the energy all the games has instilled into my girl. She has been passing very serious, thought provoking and witty comments about shooting, swimming, badminton, tennis(she will support Djokovich as I am a Federer fanJ), Gymnastics, Pole vault, high jump, diving and of course the tracks and basketball. For me, it was seeing the London Eye and the spectacular country side as the cyclists made their way. She adds," J.K Rowling got her Harry Potter idea when she was crossing the King's Cross station."

There is a big OOH and HAAA about the ‘dunks’ the giants of the USA basketball team seem to perform. The whole week and the next one saw her snatch a few minutes to go down to play basketball with whoever she could convince to play with her. Quite a rage it has created in her. She just plays the first five for her school for matches with other schools in the country. That said, its but in great happiness that I admit that the game was never addressed with such a lot of enthusiasm as it has been now. No matches coming as yet and yet a great amount of passion stirred to just play. While the whole of last year I have been harping on just going down and playing for the joy of playing basketball it quite happened automatically this year. Thanks to the 2012 London Olympics.

“Amma that’s Kobe Bryant. He looks the best and plays the best! His free throw success rate is 99.99%” While she saw me show an expression of dislike for the face, she turned to her dad and he confirmed, “Yes she is right! The best looking of the lot.". She then adds," And watch out for his passes. He has strategies when he passes!”  She also distinguishes between good play and good looks when I made a ‘stupid’ comment to check out her opinion. She has strong ideas and has a strong vocabulary too when she condemns my shallow understanding of players and their capabilities. I’m glad for the first time to be verbally beaten. There is a certain pleasure in it!

Sports has in it the unique power to stir energy. It builds the inner walls of our personalities. It then lends itself to the other things we do outside the tracks and fields. When her hands go up in joy and the fingers refresh the statistics page on my iphone, every now and then, as she watches the Olympics, I know not what her future holds. But one reassuring thought crosses my mind. Its in these innumerable passionate moments that she will find her winning ways. A grit and need to think, reflect, rejoice, win, lose, analyze, strategize and yet stay in it to enjoy the game and its magic.

People, for me that’s what the Olympics this year was all about!

  

Shedding beliefs!

Subramanyan sasthrigal came home. It was a constant jabber from patti in the morning to have an early bath and have breakfast before he arrived with his ponytail and the grey ash spread lavishly all over him. When he arrived in his moped he looked like god’s messenger definitely. Its only to him have I seen appa being so disgustingly meek and sober! First of all the idea of the early rise, all the preparations at home that was focused on the new thread that my dad and my bro were going to wear on this day of 'avani avittam' was close to a big joke for me for a variety of reasons. Owing to the acting skills that my bro picked up in school he managed the most serious looks for appa and sasthrigal mama! The whole ceremony of changing the sweat filled, dirty thread that was worn throughout the year, was another back breaking and sweaty episode of mantras and pouring water from one panja pathram to another and finally pouring everything in a huge ‘thambalam’(I might have got this part mixed up!)! It did not end there! Wait! The thread itself was held like you were going to shoot a rubberband skywards-stretched and vertically apart! Break! Mama’s filter coffee arrived at that moment. Bad luck to the men in my life! Stay that way as sasthrigal mama finishes his ‘davara degree kapi’ made with the greatest reverence by amma, sampled by patti and finally burped off by sasthrigal mama!

One thing is pretty vivid in my memory! Subramanya sasthrigal, his dad Krishnan mama and god knows anyone else in that lineage- all of them hated the rude and curt stares I gave them. They could tell I did not have the same reverence as the people in my house. After an hour and half of mantras chanted(I suspect my bro only did lip movement!), the dirty, smelly and brown thread was replaced by a new crispy  and clean white one.

Subramanya sasthrigal then spoke loud(very loud as he knew everyone in this household thought he was god’s marvel creation who actually needed to be treated like Lord Krishna himself!) with appa about economic growth, the karunanidhi-Jayalalitha wars, the Rajinikanth fan pandal that was so noisy and then of course mistakenly remembered to tell appa and bro to do the Gayathri mantram the next day. Quite religiously the idlis and vadas were served on the banana leaf along with coconut chutney(pretty much standard…unless patti felt she must add venpongal to this list). It ended with payasam-adapradhaman most of the time-my highlight for the day!

Every year this man asked me the most annoying question of my life..” samaikka theriyuma(do you know cooking?)?!” He seriously had guts. Beyond my absolutely unmistakable, discourteous looks, he seemed to find a way to ask this question. Not over! It was always accompanied with the most annoying smirk because he knew the answer. This question is a clear representation of the sickening male chauvinism!It told you that women just need to do that and may be only that!  My dad would smile amusedly to lighten my spirits. I just told him “No” in Tamil and got on with the book I was reading! I can burn him with my words but I won't as appa will never forgive me for that! Daddy was his cross!

The next day as I sneak into my bro’s room to whack his racquet, I could see he was up already. Throwing a quick glance at the room, I rush out. As I leave the front gate, I see him sitting in the garden swing, drinking his narasus kapi and reading the Sports page of the Hindu. “Your thread is lying under the pillow. Pick it up before Gayathri japam and wear it!”, I warned him as I left to the school bus that was honking.

I simply don’t see the point. The point of all the fuss!