rey @hope

I n the backyard of my Mother's house grew many Jackfruit trees. The fruit laden trees are fascinating to look at as such heavy fruits hang up their in bunches and the weight is born so easily by the branches.       Upon visiting the grandparents house my son would want to climb the trees around. This kind of luxury was missing in metro cities. My mother was all support for him and even identified trees which he could climb. Shash was always drawn by the wonders of nature present in this house. He would keep himself busy observing bees, beetles and butterflies. He loved the centipedes and the millipedes and not to miss the giant spiders. He asked numerous questions to his grandmother about the old well in the house. A creative kid that he always was ,once he picked a few jackfruit leaves and kept looking at them enthusiastically . The fresh leaf was bright green in colour with deep visible veins. The leaf when shed turned into tan brown colour,the completely dried leaf would be da

 It was a regular Sunday morning and I had been chilling at my mother's beautiful house in Kerala. There was a reminder on my phone about a session on "Building immunity in challenging times' which I did not want to miss.  Its so true that immunity is not just for physical nourishment but also for the mental & emotional strengthening.  Each day reading & hearing news related to the loss of lives and the trauma thereafter due to the pandemic has been overwhelming. Sharing genuine & complete information with the doctor whom one consults helps in finding a proper solution.  'During these testing times trauma is also caused due to misplaced beliefs', said Dr Harsh a soft spoken and straight forward Physician.  He matched  completely with  Sundari's views  when she said, 'Listen to your own body before rushing out for a quick fix remedy as coming out of denial  is the first step to acceptance.'  Sundari was the charming bright eyed therapist who

  A friend shared this picture with me this morning-an amazing click. The shades of clouds has its own story to tell and so do the patterns that I see in them. The dark grey clouds are the angry ones ready to burst out anytime. They say that the ecological balance is all disturbed by human encroachments. I shall not deny that as in the past few years we have been witness to vast destructions caused by natural calamities. The colours of the clouds are many. The light blue shade displays calmness amidst of the threatening dark ones. The blue shade is the one which  as if is asking us to have faith and keep our calm. I am reminded of the good Samaritans who appear from nowhere to take charge when Mother Nature is at its worst. The good souls exist in the worst of surroundings. The Blue clouds are the good souls. The fury of nature is uncontrollable and so is the magic of prayers. I somehow see a white patch in the shape of a divine white angel with a wand flying against the direction

As I sit in the ancestral house made by Dadaji and  inherited by my  mother ,I can re-live many fond memories. So, there is a very old traditional Easy Chair kept in the corner of the room where I sit to work. I was always fascinated by this traditional looking thing. One can sit, sleep, dream  on it so comfortably.            I vividly remember how Dadaji  would sit  all day long reading and  dozing  on this old but amazingly comfortable E asy Chair  after he retired .  Besides the easy chair the other not to miss items possessed by Dadaji were the latest edition of the magazine- India Today ,a hand held magnifying lens  and  the tempting orange candies .  As kids we, his grandchildren would always eye all his possessions which he was very possessive about. Later his great grand children too had the same desires like us.   Dadaji was a very simple human being with minimal expectations from any of his family members. He lived almost to complete his century. The very soft spoken and