Month: May 2024

Suma’s A Bindi Can Be

Suma Subramanian

I have been waiting for Asian Heritage Month to review the brilliant books of Suma Subramaniam. I yearn for books that hold a nod for us. I know what it is like to be the only child wearing a bindi in a classroom full of non-bindi wearing children – and so does my daughter I am afraid. 

Despite this, whenever I could, I looked for bindi patterns. Beautiful patterns – so elegantly thought out and shaped. Tiny little spots of art that you could stick on, to transform a face. I have a special kinship to bindis that probably deserve a separate post. I didn’t realize how much bindi related material there is in my head till I started writing this post. I have at least 3 posts worth just with reading one book!

Pottu, my doll

For instance, I had a marvelous doll named ‘Pottu’ – actually the doll was marvelous, it was made to look quite horrendous with all the bindis I gave her. I drew magnificent bindis on her everyday – one day, the sun, another day a palm tree, one day – I’d fill her forehead, face and forearms with bindis. But Pottu was my doll, and there she resides in my long-term childhood memory – a small part of our identity that only those who knew about bindis could understand. 

pixar elephant

Here was an aspect of ourself that I finally saw in a book. When my daughter showed her baby pictures to her friends, they’d ask about the drishti pottu, or the pottu on her forehead. Finally, children can show their friends what a bindi is – in a book, in an American library. I am proud of that. Like the book coming out gave us bindi-lovers a tiny nod of belonging. You can wear a sari, and a bindi, and you can just Be. 

IMG_1254

Picture from: A Bindi Can Be – By Suma Subramaniam, Illustrated by Kamala Nair

Thank you Suma! 

A Bindi Can Be – Written by Suma Subramaniam, Illustrated by Kamala Nair i

Now on to the book itself, A Bindi Can Be – Written by Suma Subramaniam, Illustrated by Kamala Nair it is a marvelous read. The pictures are vibrant. The joy of bindis is evident. The essence of the small dot transforming you is brilliantly done. 

67273848-1671-40B0-992C-E3C82AFDF5D4

Thank you Suma – for all those children who have had the joy of drawing their beautiful bindis, or having a marvelous bindi collection, or felt curious about a friend’s bindi, this book satisfies them all.

Sarees for Mothers

A Sari for Ammi

It is Asian Heritage Month, and the library is vibrant. I saw this book, A Sari for Ammi – Story by Mamta Nainy illustrated by Sandhya Prabhat. 

I thought I’d write about this for Mother’s Day, for it is a heartwarming tale. 

The young children of sari weavers watch in awe as their parents work on their arts of creation every day. Dyeing the threads, working the looms, selling their brilliant creations at the local market. Their beautiful mother, who creates magical saris can seldom wear a sari -she usually wears the practical and old salwar kameezes she owns – for she can neither afford the sairs she weaves, nor can anyone buy these for her. They are Kota Doria fabric weavers, and many generations ago moved to the Rajasthan area from Mysuru in South India at Rao Kishore Singh – the then ruler in Rajasthan.

Sari_ammi

The children decide to buy a sari for their mother: One she particularly liked, and one of her own creations. Of course, they realize that they do not have enough to buy a sari, and the heartwarming tale pushes on. 

Buying a sari for a mother is a special joy – one that Indians know and appreciate. For many years, I felt sorry that I could not indulge in this simple pleasure when my mother or mother-in-law came to stay with us in the USA. Luckily, now we have a few stores, and online options, but that was not always the case. 

A simple book that taps into the simple joys of buying your mother figures a saree.

Happy Mothers’ Day to all the wonderful mothers and mother-figures in your life.

We Belong: A Heartwarming Experience at the San Jose Public Library

As we stepped into the San Jose Public Library with the brood, I could feel a sense of contentment. It was pouring rain outside, and typically one of those days that the world, including Yours Truly, would have preferred to stay indoors, reading a book, drinking cups of tea and maybe dancing in the rain for a bit. However, we decided to hit the library and then the Art Fair afterwards instead. 

It was a good decision. It was also supposed to be a surprise – my portrait had been put up in the library as part of a We Belong series run by The India Currents magazine, and I felt doubly blessed. To have a picture of my dancing in a library – what more could the Universe give – both my loves of reading and dancing together! 

The husband, children and parents were all suitably impressed, and we took turns looking at all the portraits put up by the talented artist and photographer, Sree Sripathy from the India Currents Magazine. 

Seeing that the pouring rains would not be conducive to an outdoor Art Fair, we lounged around in the library instead. It was perfect Gluggavedur weather. (Gluggavedur is a delightful Icelandic word that signifies, ‘Window weather’ – beautiful from the inside, but too cold to go outside.)

Book: What a Wonderful Word – By Nicola Edwards & Luisa Uribe

All young, old and those in between were in their respective sections, while Yours Truly flitted about everywhere, dancing my way into everything from Seaweeds to Chinese Poetry and blurbs off novels. I didn’t link the fact that there was maybe an extra splattering of Star Wars content about till I realized it was May 4th – May the Force Be With You day. 

The rest of the afternoon was spent in a glorious haze of the sun peeking through the clouds, and raucous laughter with friends. It was after all World Laughter Day the next day.

World Laughter Day

May the Force Be With You!

The Powerful Epiphanies

The Power of Spring

As epiphanies often go, it was unexpected, and oh so satisfying. This spring season has been particularly fantastic – there are bumblebees, butterflies, dandelions, ducklings – all tripping over themselves to give you epiphanies of life, miracles, hope and so on.

One such day, we sat watching lazy waves rippling through a large pine tree. The previous day had been a cold, and windy day, we had scuttled inside for warmth. The next day was warm, pleasant and entirely suited to lounging around watching wind waving through pines, firs, and gingkos. 

The house was filled with noises of spring – young children exclaiming at blueberries, standing on tiptoes and peering up at the oranges on the tree, running through the house in a mad scramble looking for juice packets and snacks while playing freeze tag or mock-cricket. 

When the next stampede grew closer, I wondered whether to move aside from the herd of stampeding rhinos, or sit my ground and continue gazing at the roses in bud, and the pine in the wind. I continued to sit, and luckily, the fellows stopped, and one-by-one they all flapped around, and flopped on the grasses. 

“What are you thinking about?”

The Ginkgo’s Wisdom

I told them, and they sat pondering for a moment, sipping their juice. I couldn’t resist the pull of a quiet moment, and an uncharacteristically pliant audience. “Did you know about the ginkgo trees?” I asked my young fellow admirers of wind and trees.

ginkgo-COLLAGE

Thrilled that they didn’t all know, I launched on the ginkgo train – telling them about how they were around from the days of the dinosaur, and how they all communicated to each other, and decided when to shed their leaves. The son said that one of the trees will slow down if it is going too fast in the color changing race, waiting for its fellow ginkgos to catch up.

“Like friends are supposed to be!” piped up another. 

I beamed appreciatively. “Yes – exactly like friends – all helping each other get there. Together.”

Read also: The night of the Gingko : By Oliver Sacks in the New Yorker magazine.

The day’s epiphany done, the playgrounds beckoned, and I let them all run off their sugar highs before expecting them to quieten down for the night. I wonder how the birds manage to quiet their brood when they’ve had a little too much nectar. That epiphany can’t wait for another day.

“A real artist is the one who has learned to recognize and to render the ‘radiance’ of all things as an epiphany or showing forth of the truth.” ~ Joseph Campbell