Category: Humour

Embracing the Tranquility of a Summer Evening

The day could have been better. My to-do list gave me reproachful looks all day long as I took care of many different things and accomplished nothing. It was time for this and time for that, not yet time for this-and-that, and oh-so-past-the-time for this-or-that. Finally, I wrapped up for the moment and headed out. It was a beautiful summer evening after all, and moping about not doing the work was not going to get it done. 

That’s how I found myself that beautiful summer evening, doing yoga in a friend’s garden that she had kindly invited us to. The sun’s rays danced through the maple leaves in the west, the mild breeze provided much required respite and made the italian cypress trees in the east look like they were dancing and swaying to the breeze too. 

The pink bougainvillea in the south leapt from fence to tree with such freedom of spirit, that I couldn’t help feeling a bit wistful at not being able to boldly leap and catch hold the way those plants did. How did creepers know whether they’d make it to the next branch? There must be a bold vision and a willingness to let go of safe harnesses that we never really stop to think about. I wonder how that feels – it certainly seems to be something we struggle with as adults more than as children. 

To complete the bucolic yogic scene, was the neighborhood black cat. Well-fed, preening its coat, gleaming in the evening sun and stretching every now and then to show us what a good stretch looks like, she lay there looking perfectly happy with the way her evening was going (or her days were going) by the looks of it. 

I told my friends about the state of to-do-ness that had ailed me that evening, and how the evening completely transformed it. My friends seem to have been in similar states of mind – and it all came spilling out the moment I said so. 

We smiled and drank in the scene: The cat did not care, the trees continued to sway, the leaves shone and the parched earth settled down to a cooler evening, the birds above made their way home. The purpose of life was right there, for those willing to take it.

The best part of the evening was the various angles from which we took in the garden – upside down, sideways. While breathing hard, while taking deep breaths. I tried taking the picture of the garden upside down, but of course all our tools seem to want to correct all our ‘mistakes’ and would not allow me to. So, I rotated the pic manually to retain the beauty of the world seen upside down.

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Dancing in the wind, with the sun on my face.

Playing hide-and-seek and eating a treat.

It reminded me of Dr Seuss’s quote on looking at life

Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, it’s a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope, and that enables you to laugh at life’s realities.

Dr. Seuss

雰囲気 Fun’iki: Embracing the Japanese Concept of Catching the Vibes

We watched fireworks exploding in the skies far away. There is something special about standing on a beach in the dark and watching light come in unexpected bursts from far away. Is that how the creatures of the deep dark pockets of the ocean feel when their own or those of other organisms around them lights up their world with their bioluminescence? I wonder. 

Nevertheless, that night felt more surreal than usual. For it was replaced with tiny pulsing lights of drones. Hundreds of them forming and reforming into beautiful shapes – there a jellyfish, then a statue of liberty, and a whale. In spite of the beautiful shapes, I did miss the crackling sparkling sounds of the fireworks. The drones (far away as they were) were entirely silent, and lacked a certain ‘oooh—aaah’ factor as a result. (I could’ve stooped to pick up something and missed a jug or something. ) But the drones were more environmentally friendly, so …

The next day, we felt a slow start was essential – and so we meandered around an island neighborhood. 

“What do you want to do?” 

“Nothing much – just catch the vibes of the place, maybe?” said the immensely-cooler teenage daughter to her younger cousins and brother, who agreed fervently. I did not know what catch-the-vibes meant exactly, but nodded along. Vibes would reveal themselves. Vibes are like waves – you just have to experience them, I told myself. 

It turned out that stopping to admire art galleries, meandering through neighborhoods with picket fences overlooking the ocean, admiring gardens bursting with flowers, watching young adults laugh and make loud jokes, slurping ice creams before they melted – everything belonged to the category of “catching-the-vibes.”

Catching the vibes, I realized, is a fun activity that can include book shopping, picking up curious art from local art galleries, gasping at the prices of some art pieces, admiring gardens, and 4th of July decorations.

Why am I not surprised that the Japanese word for vibes contains fun?

雰囲気 Fun’iki

Fun’iki sounds like something we do all the time on trips, without the cool name of course. We resolved to add Fun’iki to our vocabulary and trips henceforth and meandered back home.

What are some of your favorite 4th of July week-end activities on trips?

Not Pristine, Prim, & Proper!

The week-end was marvelous. The 4th of July week-end usually is. Summer is in full swing which means long days, and flowers bursting forth everywhere. This time, it also meant waterfronts and beaches with the children in tow. 

One day, as we walked on the beach, playing with the little waves against our feet, stopping to pick a shell here, and a conch there, I reveled in the ordinary happiness that a simple day like that gives. 

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We saw teenage boys play spike ball for hours on end, little children squeal and run to and from the waves, sand castles being built, and surfers ride the waves again and again.

One child was picking up wet sand to return to the ocean, and squealed when the sand squirmed in his hands, and went running  back to his mother.

An inflatable giraffe that did not look happy out in the ocean. The ridiculousness of finding a giraffe bobbing in the waves was enough to get people to laugh.

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I usually am not in favor of crowded beaches, but that day, it felt good. People watching felt lovely. 

The son and husband were covered in sand building their little sand castle with a moat around it, tunnels through them etc. I had taken several walks letting the waves splash around me, and the sea looked amazing. The day was not too hot, and the waters were not too cold. The beach was noisy, but not too loud. The people themselves were in various states of imperfection – In other words, it was perfect.

It all felt all the more special because I had an excellent book to read at the beach. The daughter had her trusted ‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’ trilogy with her. It was a bit dog-eared, but she looked at it fondly and said, “That is exactly how a beach book is supposed to be. Not pristine, prim and proper.” 

I threw my head back and laughed so hard at that. “That should be the theme of our day here, huh? Not pristine, prim and proper.”

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As we made our way out of the beach, we looked like a good hosing down would do us all good. “But before that – some gelato!” said the husband, and we all hailed our hero as we made our way to the little gelato store with brilliant flavors and fantastic names for gelato explorers.

What are some of your favorite beach reads, and beach activities?

Meeting ‘Loki’: An Enchanting Encounter with a Mysterious Fox

What was That?

The other night, I was out on a walk around the neighborhood, reveling in the fact that I could. The neighborhood was quiet for a week-end evening, and the stars were twinkling just so. The waning moon would not be rising for a while, and the sound of crickets had been replaced with the occasional croak of a toad.

I was thinking of all the laughter and camaraderie of the evening spent amidst friends, and was cackling to myself reminded of this or that. 

That’s when, I saw a fox running really fast. The back of my mind knew I ought to turn back, or at least be more scared. But I couldn’t do any of that whole-heartedly, for I was in a flippant mood – an evening laughing with friends does that to one.

But for another, it was a surreal experience. A glimpse into a magical realism – there was a spring in the step. Like its feet only used the ground beneath to provide the bounce required to leap and bound away. I stood there stunned at this movement. It must also have been quite young – for it’s size was not large. Rather frisky.

Usually, night time naturalist explorers in our neighborhood might find a cat scratching itself and yawning.  I was prepared for not much else. 

It was Scared!

It ran away from me at first, and then towards me with the same frenzied gait. That’s when I realized I would be in trouble if it did try to attack me. For you see? The fox’s run was brisk. If we were both to compete in a 100 metre dash, I have no doubt it would leave me in the dust well after the 5 meter mark. This one already had a head start too. Me? I had three plates of excellent biriyani, naan, kofta curry, etc followed by equally sumptuous helpings of dessert tumbling about in the old stomach. Stuffed, in other words. I was dragging my feet so I could soothe the old digestive system to start digesting and I could sleep. 

Thats when I caught sight of the animal’s face. 

It had clearly taken a risk leaving the river trail nearby venturing to the nieghborhoods nearby, only to find a pesky woman out on a walk. What was more, the thing that made it jump and start running was the sound of me cackling to myself about some inane joke. Probably thought it had a nutcracker on the loose. This creature was clearly alone and figuring out a way out of this mess. So, I stood still, and acted like a GPS to it. “Go away! That way! Off you go!” 

The fox (or could it have been a coyote cub?) gave me a terrified glance, and I continued heartened. “That’s right – after about 100 meters toward the ursa minor constellation, turn right – you’ll be on the river trail again.”

Loki

It turned swiftly and gave me a look that said, “If foxes could certify people, I would!” and took off into the night. That flighty temptress of the night might’ve looked like Wily E Coyote, but it did have a Loki-like look on its face.

I shall call you ‘Loki’ I said in its general direction,  and continued with my walk – but prudently decided to head homewards.

I wonder what Loki thought of the interaction.

I was glad – I had a glimpse into the life of a fox. Seeing the creature’s nimble gait had energized me. There was something immensely laughable in the way it turned and gave me a look too. All too often we are weighed down by the worries of the world (or in this case, good food satiated with good memories), and forget to prance about the world. “You must prance!” is what Loki seemed to have been saying to me that night, and I did try.

Emotion in Art: Unveiling the Power of Creativity

Art is about capturing a feeling 

T’was a few days before the Inside Out 2 movie was released. The husband was making me watch a thought-provoking interview. (He knew the distractions at hand on a beautiful summer evening. I needed to watch bees flit, deer graze, geese squawk, herons fish, dogs bark. As I cradled my evening cup of tea wondering when to get out on my evening walk, he swooped in. “Won’t take longer than the time it takes to gulp your tea” he said cheerfully and I gave him a skeptical look. I do not take ½ an hour to drink tea.)  

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Anyway, in the interview, they spoke of suffering and how one needed that pain in order to emote well as an artist. It is not a new sentiment. I remember listening to an interview by J K Rowling or Stephen King (I don’t remember which) that one needs to have had a sufficiently terrible time as a teenager if they were to write anything worth writing at all. 

Problems Are Steady

I am not sure I agree with that. Suffering can be acute, agonizing and astonishing in its effects even as adults. In fact, much like our boggarts tend to change through life, so too does our ability to imagine and empathize, don’t they? Also, for many of us, problems tend to be a steady stream in life – we get jittery and nervous if there aren’t any. Can it really be that we are having a perfectly peaceful time – do you think something awful is going to happen? This can’t be true. Maybe I should call the children, see if they are okay.  Oh – what about the old parents, the siblings, the nieces, the nephews, our friends, colleagues, neighbors? Work? No? All well – is this really so?

Then, you tend to the heart like an overwrought bee in summer and soothe it down. “Yes my dear – there really are flowers everywhere! Believe it or not, managing plenty is as much work as managing long distances for some nectar. Just relax, will you?!” Problems like to steadily hum along like background music. We all need problems at some level, do we not? At least that’s what I tell myself when things get a bit clammy. 

Does Art Capture Emotion?

So, does art need to be about capturing emotion – whether through direct suffering or empathetic suffering? I thought Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh was brilliant because it captured the frenzied anxiety of the artist’s mind. But, was that what everyone thought? How about those moments of bliss, joy, anger, disgust, repulsion, serenity, contentment, love, and all the ones that Pandora so generously released from her little box of troubles. Hope?

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A couple of days later when we went to watch Inside Out 2, we sat spellbound as the movie captured Anxiety’s frenzy so perfectly in this animated movie. How Riley’s imagination spewed up every little thing that could go wrong and let her sense of self develop into a skewed sense echoing, “I am not good enough!” was tragic and Oh! So Well Done!

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When you observe a piece of art, do you concentrate on how it makes you feel? Or do you appreciate it for the skill of the artist? 

P G Wodehouse on Art

What’s a post on Art without one of my favorite quotes by P G Wodehouse – only I feel a little like Bertie Wooster himself writing this – it has something to do with a painting looking like ‘summer blew up in your face’ – but I cannot remember it. Gemini threw up its hands and said: P G Wodehouse is not an art critic, but an humorous writer, without a trace of irony. I did spend an enjoyable few hours since then

(a) looking for the quote and reading several good ones on the internet,

(b) perusing my own PG Wodehouse collection opening books at random looking for the quote

Which is to say that I had a marvelous time, but still not find the quote. If anyone remembers it, please let me know. But the art of remembering the quote and imagining the painting itself made me laugh, made me feel joyous, so by that standard, it is already a piece of art. What do you think?

I would love to hear all the different ways in which you appreciate Art.

The Birds of Paradise

The World Around Us

I don’t remember when exactly we start noticing birds and animals around us as being separate from human-beings. If there is a conscious point in time when we say:

This is us, that is a bird.

Don’t eat those – they’re mosquitoes &

Keep away from man-eating tigers – they want to eat us. 

Keeping the neuroscience behind it all aside, the world around us is fascinating. Even if you see a bird everyday, the little chirp, and the flutter of its wings cannot help but take us out of ourselves for a bit can it? 

What is it about this diversity of life that is so appealing? 

I was sitting one afternoon engrossed in books. Books on beautiful beasts and fantastic features of the creatures we share our planet with.

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As I flipped through the colorful pictures and the accompanying text in the book, Astonishing Animals – Extraordinary Creatures and the Fantastic Worlds They Inhabit. – By Tim Flannery & Peter Schouten, I couldn’t help being drawn to the birds of paradise in the book.

Rarely do we stop and just admire the beauty and precision of a bird’s structure. The birds themselves are flighty. Our attention spans are even more so. Plus, these birds are all in exotic places. But it made me wonder – even the less exotic birds around us, how long and how often do we study them? Ornithologists do. Bird photographers do. But otherwise? Those of us who love nature stop to notice them. The rest of us are too busy to notice. 

Birds of Paradise

I was admiring the different birds of paradise illustrations in the book, and I felt myself drawn to the Himalayan Satyr as much as the blue bird of paradise.

The blue bird of paradise is illustrated beautifully in the book – long side up taking up two pages and you can see why:

blue_bop

“he dances upside down, hanging from a branch. As he begins his display, he flexes, sending waves of blue and violet shimmering through his feathers. At the center of his chest is a dark oval patch lined on its lower margin with red. This is rhythmically expanded and contracted so that it resembles a huge, slowly expanding eye whose effect, even on humans, is hypnotic. All the while the performer’s own eyes are closed, revealing white eyelids, which lend him an unearthly air.”

Like a little opera singer, dancing on the stage. How marvelous!

The Satyr Tragopan, another beautiful Himalayan bird, drew me for another reason.

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“It is often the case among birds that a gorgeous cock is a poor provider. Beautifully adorned males may put on a wonderful courtship, but all too often contribute nothing to the raising of the chicks, leaving that duty to the dull hen-birds. The satyr tragopan is a stand-out exception here, for not only is he dashingly handsome but he seems to be monogamous and a dutiful father as well. … The father contributes equally to the upbringing and care of the young.”

The Himalayan Monal, and other birds of paradise are equally dashing.

Split into beautiful sections about creatures who live in the ocean, tree dwellers, mountains dwellers, the book journeys across continents, landscapes, ocean surfaces and deep surfaces. The artwork, though, is spell-binding. 

One cannot help feeling like the world is beautified and expanded just a little after an hour just looking at these beautiful creatures and reading about their curious lives.

Recommended Books:

The Ease & Malaise of Literature

The Literature Malaise

There was a strange sense of malaise and I could not put my finger on it. It had nothing to do with the body – a blood test could’ve told you that. It had something to do with the literature I was reading.

I have felt like this many times in the past – especially when reading some writer who has the gift of ripping our hearts out, crushing it, and then putting the raw, bleeding thing in gingerly again. You gasp to regain control over the poor organ again, and soothe it back into action: “Never mind – that was just a book!” and the heart contracts, beats, pumps and does its thing again. How the writers themselves write it, I do not know.

Then, there are books that take one particular theme: shame, guilt, horror, anxiety, or grander themes like social injustice, and play on the heart-strings. J M Coetze’s Disgrace comes to mind.

That was how this particular book was. The narrative tone is never upbeat. It is  wrought with anxiety.  The reader is quite caught up in the frenzy of the social media world, its harsh realities of unraveling reputations, and the fate of the protagonist in YellowFace – by R F Kuang. ‘The mechanics behind the popularization’, as she puts it in her novel. The world of popularity has always been a high-stakes game (Or at least as far as I’ve read about. I wouldn’t know.) It is interesting to see the publicity stakes in the publishing industry . The book says something to the effect of : Best sellers are chosen long before they make it to the stores.

The illusion of an image built up through social media engagement can be a frightening monster indeed. For how do you find the imaginary?

I had decided to dedicate the week-end to catch up on some reading, and was I reading?!

After a few hours, I stepped outside. The world outside was basking in the summer sunshine. The bees were buzzing around my shaggy lavender patch. The patch needs trimming, but right then, the faint smell of lavender was soothing, and oddly endearing. It was a tug to reality, a reality in which not everything felt so grim as in the book. That was grounding – I took charge.

bee_in_roseroses

I made a cup of tea, and shook myself like a dog after a swim. Literally – I went for a swim and shook myself as I got out of the water. I had been drowning in the book all morning, and the cool swim in the hot sunshine worked wonders.

The Joy in Literature

I mused to the husband. “It is like Nobel Prize winning literature. You have to be serious-minded, have plenty of  suffering and drama. You cannot bung in humor and hope and write about light and all that and expect to find literary acclaim, can you? “

Why can’t people write like P G Wodehouse? I said forlorn. What was it that P G Wodehouse said on Writing?

https://claremontreviewofbooks.com/frivolous-empty-and-perfectly-delightful/

“I go in for what is known in the trade as ‘light writing’ and those who do that – humorists they are sometimes called – are looked down upon by the intelligentsia and sneered at.” – P G Wodehouse

So what is it about taking ourselves so seriously that appeals to humankind so much? I’d like a serious response please.

The book was critically acclaimed -a lot of serious books are, you’ll notice. It is like the world is looking to see – “Ahh – this particular kind of anxiety and loneliness, let’s see which writer can crush the essence of that most succinctly.”

So, I did what I do best:  I bull-dozed through the book, sitting up till 4 in the morning, finishing the book, before soothing the heart to sleep. I refused to put myself through another day with that feeling.

Something Fresh – By P G Wodehouse

The next evening, I resolved to do the opposite. I picked up books where the overpowering mirth or joy of the writer exudes from the pages and envelopes the reader in a warm, cocoon. A trip to Blandings Castle seemed nice. 

“This is peculiarly an age in which each of us may, if he does but search diligently, find the literature suited to his mental powers.”

― P.G. Wodehouse, Something Fresh

 I laughed, and I grinned at the turn of phrase. I anticipated the next laugh – because I had read the book several times of course, and I still hung on. Laughing – matching the glorious summer outside. Later that night, the son & I thumbed through an illustrated copy of a favorite book as the silvery light of the full-moon filtered in through the night. 

All was well. Knowing all will be well in a book is a wonderful feeling. It is why I turn to authors like Miss Read, P G Wodehouse, R K Narayan, Alexander McCall Smith, Jacqueline Winspear etc like plants turn towards the sunlight.

Recommendations Please

Please recommend some authors you turn to for light, joy, hope, optimism and magic.

Gazanias in the Garden

Time Paradox

There is a continuous time paradox that we run into in our lives.

My generous friends offered to help me plant my newly acquired gazanias in a small garden patch. You see, several times in the pasts, they’ve tried helping me with different plants with the cheery confidence that gardeners have:

“You cannot go wrong with these – they will definitely grow.”

“You don’t have to do anything, they will grow by themselves.”

“See those – they just spread without doing anything!”

To these optimistic statements, I say, “Challenge accepted!” and go ahead to botch the poor plants with the bumbling blistering competence of a dancing octopus with a shovel. (generated by Gemini AI)

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So, they took pity on me, and came by with their shovels, hats, and laughter. The patch itself was a tiny one, but as we tried to turn the earth over, it was apparent to them why nothing grows there, and how I was making such a killing with their plants and bulbs. The patch was full of pebbles. So, instead of doing a half-baked job, they all pitched in till we were all shoveling, digging and plodding the earth along. We removed pebbles by the dozen, and by the time the patch was turned over, and the new gazanias were in place, we felt like proper earth movers, ready for some tea and biscuits.

Things take the time they take

As I sipped the tea though, I realized how much work goes into gardens that beam at us everywhere in suburban areas. If this small patch of land took us around 2 hours to do, how do people manage large yards, and sprawling garden spaces?

These things made me think of time itself. We did not realize that it took us 2 hours to plant the gazanias.  That night when I went to bed, I had a wholesome ache in my arms, and dreams filled with fresh soil and flowers. 

All this pondering on gardens made me realize how impatient I am with myself for things to develop into fruition: that garden patch, that novel, that myth, those short stories, those children’s books. Things take the time they take. Sometimes more than one thinks is necessary, but if we keep at it, removing one pebble at a time, moving one ounce of earth at a time, that is all that should matter.

I used my best philosophical insight voice and said so to the husband who chuckled and said “Pesu!” (Talk!) .

Ursula K. LeGuin’s Influence: Embracing the Passage of Time

This impatience towards results: Could it have something to do with the pace of modern life? After all, we spend a monumental amount of time flipping through videos on fast-forward mode showing us how cakes are baked, iced and decorated in less than 15 seconds. In reality, the whole process could easily take 2-3 hours. Do we really feel a sense of participation in the cake-making process by scrolling and consuming it? I think not. 

It reminded me of the interview by Ursula Le Guin in which she talks about time. 

“I lived when simply waiting was a large part of ordinary life: when we waited, gathered around a crackling radio, to hear the infinitely far-away voice of the king of England… I live now when we fuss if our computer can’t bring us everything we want instantly. We deny time. 

We don’t want to do anything with it, we want to erase it, deny that it passes. What is time in cyberspace? And if you deny time you deny space. After all, it’s a continuum—which separates us. 

So we talk on a cell phone to people in Indiana while jogging on the beach without seeing the beach, and gather on social media into huge separation-denying disembodied groups while ignoring the people around us.

​I find this virtual existence weird, and as a way of life, absurd. This could be because I am eighty-four years old. It could also be because it is weird, an absurd way to live.”

~ Ursula K. LeGuin, Interview by Heather Davis

I remembered one remark made by a mother of an elementary school going child who had helped her child out with an art project, and put it up as a reel on her feed: “That reel took more than 4 hours!” she said wistfully. 

I grinned, swiped, and sent a quick ‘like’ before parting ways. That was that. 

I have often wanted to see a flower bloom, or a berry ripen – but the real magic happens so slowly, you barely realize it is magic at all. Maybe, that is the real magic – work with a good intention, do your best, let things take the time they take, and develop into what they need to. In the meantime, I head out everyday to gaze at my gazanias – so lovingly planted. Surely, they heard the chatter and the laughs as they took root. In time, I hope they laugh too.

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Captivating Creatures & Whimsical Tales

“We really need a read-a-thon!” 

A quiet chuckle and then, “Yeah – look at this.”

So, we sat. Quietly. Reading together. 

Children’s books really are the best -the equivalent of YouTube shorts to get into the act of reading: 

To turn a fun read into a whimsical time, 

To turn a chuckle into a snort, 

A laugh into a guffaw,

A sigh into a wistful longing.

🦌🦅🐿️🐦‍⬛🦢The day’s books were awe-worthy all right. I am just outlining a few here, but it serves to reiterate our need to dedicate a few hours every week to children’s books – the art, information, story-telling is all it takes to remind us that the world holds space for beautiful , gentle, innocent things. We just have to stop and enjoy them, and if possible contribute to make it all the more wondrous in our turn. 🦌🦅🐿️🐦‍⬛🦢

🦌This is how we do it – by Matt Lamothe

This booklegger award winning book takes the look of seven kids from around the world and shows us that we aren’t all that very different whether we live in a tiny hut in Uganda with a small family, or a large family in the hills of Peru, or in a multi story building in Italy, The author’s idea of profiling 7 children from Japan, Peru, Iran, Russia, India Italy and Uganda is brilliantly done. The similarities and differences are beautifully illustrated. 

🦅If You Run Out of Words – Felicita Sala

This book is whimsy itself. It reminds us of the beautiful reason we love children. For they say and ask the darndest things. In this book, the child asks her father what would happen if he ran out of words. Flabbergasted is what should have happened, but he rallies. Assuring his little girl that he would to to magical elves and get the words he needs. If that doesn’t work, well, he would go underwater, into other universes and find what he needs – even if he runs out of all the words there are, he wouldn’t ever run out of the 3 most precious words to say before putting his daughter to bed, would he now? 

🐿️From Tree to Sea – By Shelley Moore Thomas & Illustrated by Christopher Silas Neal 

This book is for those in quiet moods. What would the whale teach you? To dream big and take small steps? What would the mountain teach you, the sea? The artwork is comforting, serene and perfect for quiescent summer afternoons.

🦢Creature Features – By Steve Jenkins and Robin Page

A curious book that tells us odd things about animals around us – why does the babirusa have dangerous tusks? (Babirusa is not an animal we think of on a regular basis is it? Nor is the spicebush swallowtail caterpillar or the thorny devil if you come to think of it. Just for that, it is well worth picking up books like these in my opinion) 

🐘Astonishing Animals By Tim Flannery & Peter Schouten

An astounding book of creatures with different superpowers – the motion specialists, shape shifters, vertical ocean dwellers and so much more. I will probably have another post or so for this book because of the captivating illustrations, the interesting details about the fascinating creatures brought alive in the pages of the book.

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What do you think? Which children’s books would you recommend?

Summer Serenity: Embracing Being Over Doing

Being Vs Doing

Summer’s beautifully long days are here. The other day, I came upon a saying by Thich Nhat Hanh, and decided that embracing his wise words may be the making of our summer. 

“We have a tendency to think in terms of doing and not in terms of being. We think that when we are not doing anything, we are wasting our time. But that is not true. Our time is first of all for us to be. To be what? To be alive, to be peaceful, to be joyful, to be loving. And that is what the world needs most.”

  • Thich Nhat Hanh 

School holidays have started, and in the spirit of being, the son and I lounged under a maple tree in the afternoon. The deep green of the leaves above with the sun shining piercing through the leaves above making us pleasantly drowsy. Hmm, “We should do this once in a while huh? Lie under a tree on the green grass and read a book!” I said, and he agreed.  

Komerabi

The Japanese have a beautiful word that captures this feeling, Komerabi. (木漏れ日 ) To see the blues, greens, yellows and browns merge together in that trick of light (Komerabi : the phenomenon of sunlight through filtering through the leaves above) is to experience luminescence.

木漏れ日: tree (木), shine through (漏れ), and sun (日): Komerabi

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We weren’t there long. But it was long enough to notice life around us. We saw the little wrens hiding place amidst the flowering bushes as it hopped in and out between breaks during the day, the lazy dragonfly whose shimmering blues in the hazy afternoon was strangely soporific, and the brisk yellow butterflies who were showing the other two how it’s done.

That evening we took out our bikes on a longish ride along the river. Watching the curlews, avocets, harriers enjoying the evening was surreal. The avocets spend hours pirouetting in the winds, and dipping into the waters, the curlews, cranes and herons wait patiently for their food. We didn’t hear them moan – not once. We listened to the blackbirds trilling symphonically, shrilly and still sounding soothing somehow.

Later at night, we sat companionably together – each doing our little things as darkness fell around us. We were acutely aware that the feeling of night is short lived, and therefore the cocoon of darkness created by the warm lights in the home seemed doubly welcome. 

The post would, I hope, remind us of the simple joys of being in the summer, and the pics would show up every now and then as memories. But that feeling of peace – how does one capture that? How does one find the words for saying, “The world’s worries are all still there, they shall still be there tomorrow, and the day after that. For now, let them be.”