When Mahabali comes to town

This time around, when Mahabali comes to town, there will be a different reception awaiting him.

He will be broken by the devastation in His land, but He will also be heartened by how His people have come together - to help and support each other.

The floral carpet which brings together different colors, different fragrances and different shapes, will be replaced by a human carpet - of different religions, of different castes and of different economic backgrounds. Our differences are our strength: our differences are what makes our pookkalam so attractive and our differences are what makes our pookkalam complete.

In the midst of suffering and devastation, we will embrace our differences. We will celebrate our differences. And still remember that we are one.

Mahabali will go back knowing that his people have their hearts in the right places.

Happy Onam.

when the tough get going, the going gets tough

Time

Time,

For action.

What has been fermenting in the minds of the people, will take action now.

What has been dividing people for long, those narrow domestic walls will fall.

Because we have only ourselves to rely on.

We will have to bury our dead.

clean ourselves and our homes.

build our roads and bridges.

rebuild our schools and colleges.

on our own.

I salute the students of Kerala.

Young hearts and minds dedicated to the cause.

You are our shining beacon and hope.

May Mother Nature bless her little ones and give peace to those who have gone.

10 years with a blog

Going to complete 10 years with this blog.

34 posts.

A few drafts.

Publish.

Price of our conscience!!

the rules of the game have changed.
in a chat show today, the panelist said that leaking classified documents goes against the tenets of diplomacy. what we need is not diplomacy, but truth.

5 years

Completing 5 years of anchoringthoughts...
Ha ha.

Neem Trees

My home in Kerala has a neem tree in the courtyard. Of all the trees that has been there since my childhood, this one alone has not 'flourished'. It has grown in girth but not more than that.

It stands unobstrusively most of the time and once in a while when Onam comes, we hang a swing on one of its more stouter branches.However, my memories of it are not of the times on the swing, but how the tree stands out starkly during the height of summer and monsoon. In June when the monsoon hits Kerala, it often seems like the whole of nature is shouting with joy... the land turns green in 2 days, the world is alive with plants, creepy crawly insects, birds - in short the going is good for all. Except the neem tree.

As if protesting the rains, it starts shedding its leaves with the first rain. By the time a week is over, and you feel that things cannot get any better after the hot summer has been scuttled away by the rains, the neem tree is depressing and lifeless, stretching out naked branches to the sky. It seems to be protesting against all the life around it.

Through the monsoons and spring, this protest continues. My thoughts used to echo its feelings only when I had to go to school on a rainy morning/ or when I used to come back drenched from school.

Then comes summer. All around the hibernation mode has set in, as if nature is going to take a break to rejuvenate before next monsoon. The landscape is a dead dull brown and every living being attempting no movement to beat the heat.

In this desolation the neem tree seems to wake up. Green and glorious, it is a riot of green color - the tender light green of young leaves, and the mature dark green of older ones. Oddly enough, it never produced the small white flowers and the incredibly bitter fruits.

What was an eye sore during the monsoons, had become a balm during the summer.

Which brings me to people and also friends.

Books

Reading the "God Delusion".

Hmm.. Not sure about what I am thinking.