For the restless spirit!

And just like that, another year is soon about to end .... Time really doesn't care if you are having fun or not, it just goes on ... like the river, the river of life. I have also realized that I have not made an appearance here lately - did I not have anything to say? I guess, I have been taking time off and disengaging from some stuff in my life to focus inwards. Yes, 2018 was filled with that - taking stock!  For the past couple of years, I have been adding a theme to each year - the year of stabilization, the year of personal change, the year of reflections. This tag line stays at the back of my mind throughout the 12 months and I keep checking back to see what, if any, I have actually achieved vis-a-vis my annual objectives.  I have often prescribed that we need to step back from time to time and reassess our own lives - as I say, take stock - of how life's going in general terms - of our dreams and aspirations or eve...

Today, I woke up to a simple "Good Morning" message on WhatsApp (as is the norm these days, we Indians are known for this worldwide!!) from a very dear friend from my childhood and with it, came an image.... Fresh "shiuli" lying on the ground, possibly still moist with morning dew.... the night flowering jasmine flowers that most Bengalis can relate to....unlike most flowers, these bloom at night and fall off at dawn leaving an all too familiar carpet of flowers around the tree...usually heralding the season that reminds us that Ma Durga is kind of prepping for her travel to her maternal home. A simple visual... yet it opened up the flood gate of memories.... My childhood home had such a tree and each morning I would be amazed at the carpet that was magically formed overnight; I remember handpicking the ones that seemed untouched by the soil it had touched and bringing them inside the house, placing them on a saucer filled with...

And I learnt  …. A young friend recently wrote beautifully about her experience as a tired but happy mom of 1 year old twins - she inspired me to think of where I stand on my motherhood journey, given that my daughter is soon to be 21 and technically could even have her own little one, should she chose too!!!!  It’s been a long road and if I look back, one that I am most proud of. Not because I have done it “right” - who’s to say that anyways? - but because for the last 21 years it has been the fulcrum around which all of my life decisions have revolved.  I firmly believe there is no single road to Rome and each mother does her best, only because she cares, so much.  At the risk of stereotyping, I will say, women don the cape of motherhood very naturally - nature and evolution have given us enough reasons to. A mother is a mother - irrespective of where she stands in the world, or within the society, or in her journey through life. There are many en...

And this will be my last post for this short series....so here goes ..... Normal is pretty good and getting that road paved may have taken you years; but for me, now is the time to look for those flowers ... to travel a path often dreamt of but never traversed.  Over the years, we have got used to a kind of life, a routine, many habits, expectations, behaviors. But guess what? The world has changed so much and so have you. And we've only got started!! So, what used to be "normal" isn't.  Today, I look around from where I stand and so much amazes me - in both good ways and not so pleasant ways too. Societies, polities, communities, families, friends, organizations - all have the same trajectory : change, transformation, evolution.  And I have been on a roller coaster for many years now - loving some of the changes that given me hope and at the very next moment, being horrified by some other manifestations that shaken the very core of my fa...

I ts a new year again - as they say, with new possibilities. And I continue onwards and upwards! One of the bigger life lessons that has hit home now is that I have to expect change - literally everywhere.... in myself, mentally and physically (and how!!!!), in others - even near and dear ones, at work, in the broader social groups I am a part of, in the world. Yeah, in just about everything! Change is inevitable - always was - but its current pace can knock the breath out of us born when the world was much simpler. Yet it is there, in your face, and you have really no choice but to deal with it. What is important to understand and remember is that it is your reaction to this change can absolutely make or wreck your lives, hereafter.  Your options in dealing with any change are actually quite simple: Get shocked/alarmed/agitated, go into denial and run back to the cave  OR Take stock, understand, assess and make gradual shifts in your response - so that you don't st...