Author: Rhea
Last couple of days Mumbai was hit by a Storm.. The ravages in the wake of the storm, what it did to the hundreds of old and new trees and how they lay strewn ..dead, and yet continued to support the birds that came for the fruit. I felt a deep pain.. The insides churned and I was sick for 2 days. I felt the grief.. it was strangely not too different from the grief of the hundreds of people dying …it was as if the earth was also grieving. I saw the Municipal guys come and cut and saw…
Little tiny bits of Imagination Floating in the grey pool .. of thinking Fragmented..Wandering…Waiting Questioned at every ebb – Like some petty thieves Arrested… Declared guilty – Without trial. A lot of shaking heads, And deep disappointment Masked as anger and authority Rules – Processes Predictable – Safe. Identity threatened…Is it? Fear Carefully woven story Might dissolve Then What? …… What …IF What if … They let the tiny bits go Will they come together? What if – There IS another reality? What if – There is goodness in EVERY heart? What if ..things are not all and always -…
Last week I read about an elephant who escaped a circus and just rolled and played in the open snow near by My heart broke ..I cried. Thinking of what we have come to. And just how simple acts of freedom are denied.. everyday. .unseen. and how numb we have become. What we don’t see. we edit from our reality What we edit from our reality. We don’t talk toWhat we don’t talk about-.we don’t understandWhat we don’t understand – we fearWhat we fear – we avoidWhat we avoid – we become immune toWhat we become immune toWe destroy and…
Travelling, in a rickshaw, on the crowded hot sticky streets of Mumbai..I find is a better bet than closed claustrophobic cabs. Plus it allows time for me to think, imagine and observe life as it is passing by…and sometimes some insights and lessons show up. Like what happened yesterday. I was going from Malad to Juhu, for my hot yoga class. It’s about 25 minutes ride, but on a regular traffic day it takes anywhere upto 45 mins. So I had decided to do couple of lessons on duolingo, I am learning French, and optimizing travel time. It’s funny in…
Photography – Drawing with Light. Happy Diwali !!!!!! My photograph got selected for an online Exhibition, that starts Today. It’s by an organisation called “Kalanirvana” – Literally means – Nirvana through Art. It’s an apt description for how my life has been, especially as this 2020 ..comes to a close. The word “photography” literally means “drawing with light”. The word was supposedly first coined by the British scientist Sir John Herschel in 1839 from the Greek words phos meaning “light”, and Graphê meaning “drawing or writing”. How synchronous I think – that this exhibition happens Today on Diwali day. ( A Celebration Of Lights) Photography as an…
Cannot signpost in language The pause that I fall headlong into .. between two silences. Holding conversations without a beginning or end. I realize painfully That somethings are like perforated experiences Series of holes held together by blank pieces of paper Delicate. So fragile. Holding the conversations.. the pages ..the book and eventually The story together. To be read and understood one day… Someday. Till then I must resist the urge to tear off the page.,, that seems loose.. and be patient. Rhea
Yesterday a crow came to my window sill..in the afternoon And did its incessant cawing.. I was used to this. They are building their nest above my kitchen window..and I feel the female is pregnant..because her food routine ..and likes- dislikes have changed..so, generally it’s an ask for food..or a complain about the pigeons.. I pretend to ignore most days…. This time..somehow, its tone was different..it had a bit of shrill in it..and in more quick succession than usual..I found myself frowning… Because of this..I got up to see what was up.. I saw it looking in a particular direction…
Yesterday I watched the movie Ad Astra, which is latin for “Through hardships to Stars”. How appropriate I think . It’s a movie about one man’s ..voyage into outer… and then inner spaces, and the hardships of both. It’s about a relationship between a man and the presence of an absent father. The loneliness, the anger, the sense of longing, the disconnection… It is also a story of courage to seek truth, of the desire to be a different man, of love and it tenderness, of hope and its promises.. As I sat in the aftermath of the movie..I was present to the…
In a coaching conversation yesterday, I ended up remembering my first Job with TCS. And the values which Tata’s instilled by NOT talking but living. Many things have changed since then..but some of the core remains. And this Core ..works. In chaos theory, everything goes back to “Initial Conditions” which , more or less dictate how the chaos is going to pan out, and more importantly WHO are you going to BE in it.. When crisis happens… there is no time for wearing Masks (pun unintended) ..and who we are shows up. And Some people like Ratan Tata ..in some…
As I sit here, holding the sobs that come in spurts, Shaking everything ..I held as ..”Normal” inside me The waves of heat ..flooding my rational mind, and burning ..reason and rationality. I feel something ..rising in my stomach..in my chest ….in my throat. A kind of recognition… I find this pain more than just … empathy. It’s the pain of an intimate nature…ancient …sitting in the cells of my body.. Have their dreams died?? Or have our nightmares Begun??….. And… As they hurt ..so do I – As they feel the white hot anger ..so do I – As they despair..…