Author: Rhea
The day after Makar Sankranti, (the Indian festival that marks the end of winter solistic and celebrates the sun’s new journey, where people fly kites and wear colourful clothes) When all that was left of the colourful kites flying free in the skies.. Was stuck, torn..caught abandoned…colourful paper. Shadow of the kites, with limp manja (thread) hanging..from wires and trees marking the end of its journey. I woke up that morning to the sound of desperate flutter of a pigeon outside my window I was surprised, this window had grills to keep birds out I woke up excited to see…
It’s the 3rd day of Ganesh Chaturthi..and Mumbai is on high alert due to torrential rains since morning, many places in the city are flooding..nothing new…and there is no connection between the two, that I know of. And I think of the irony of people, letting god idols into water… Anyway I digress. Amidst torrential rains..and Ganpati Visarjan.. The cacophony of celebration drums and the visarjan procession is something, as a Mumbaikar I have resigned myself to. But even then, when it’s less than 20 feet away from you and one is under the weather (pun intended), it’s still TOO…
I will scream from the rooftops;And you will adjust your earphones. I will go in yet again;And you will continue the conversation. I will tell you have trampled my heart;And you will look at your shoes in wonder. I will bring destruction sometimes;And you will make a movie about it. I will tell you of my soil erosion;And you will make gods out of it. I will get stained many times, from all the blood ;And you will sing a National Anthem I will stand in front of you ablaze;And you will say you smell smoke. Until…… ~ Rhea
Quitting is underrated – and the Guilt of quitting is – overrated. Growing up, one of my identities was “I am NOT a quitter”. Well, I was no different from most people around me at that time who grew up on an ample dose of motivational quotes, “Quitters never win”, “when the going gets though the tough get going” etc. You get the drift. I took it to heart. But truth be told I didn’t really gun too much for the win part. Strangely I never thought about it too much, at least not as much as I thought about…
I looked Searched. Everywhere. Under the bed Behind the curtain Between the folds of your clothes In the crack beneath the door I even looked for it in the Space between the wings of a dead moth. I could not find it. I looked at the sun, and then the moon I squinted my eyes to see the pattern And sometimes closed them Trying to hold the image and somehow Maybe push it to my heart to hold. Nothing. I looked At the rings left by the tea cup And in the texture of the crayon strokes I was desperately…
Born wild – Born different – Born differently – Born to prayers Born into chaos – Born from the gods – Born close to ghosts Born weird – Born confused Born old – Growing young One could tell , Some could tell She was different – She was not like the rest Born strong – Born wrong -Like a song Played backwards. She lived. She was curious. She was surprised She talked to the trees. And the trees talked back She asked lots of questions. Of the butterfly and the earthworm And sometimes the dragonfly. They didn’t mind, often She…
Are you mad? They ask, in a voice That betrays, their masked concern and love Disbelief and also regret. To me It sounds like “Are you alive?” And the answer is Yes. I am safe in my madness Alive. In my own way. I can curl up in the space Between sanity and insanity And breathe the unadulterated air Non judged Not caged Not slotted into Mundane meanings. I am free. If you have to understand me, You have to really let go ; Of doing just that. Because in your understanding , I am imprisoned . Let me dream.…
I was with a group of 14 year olds last month , part of a 10 days long Leadership program that Aspen runs for kids, half from a reputed top notch school from Delhi and other half an assorted bunch of sponsored kids from government aided schools from various parts of the Country. This was my fourth year working with a program like this. As I was getting a briefing from the Co-coordinators I heard one particular story many times from different people. It was about Padma, a boy from Ladakh, a quiet but not shy boy. The participants had…
It was a hot afternoon in Mumbai, the kind of hot that has sweat running in rivulets and annoyance in truckloads. The fact that the agent ( I am house hunting) had made me wait there for over 15 minutes didn’t help. I stood and watched blankly and from time to time looked up in the general direction I thought the agent would come from, since I was new to this area. As I stood there being annoyed and also looking for more reasons to justify it, a little girl of about 8, dusky clear complexion, sun bleached hair parted neatly in the…
Fires destroy and fires also create. And Sometimes a heat experience is what is required in order grow. We have all had our share of “Heat experiences” .. and know that something was born…as a result of it. All that is great knowledge. I am going through a heat experience right now and questioning it…in real time exasperation. Why is a heat experience necessary? Why don’t we learn what needs to be learnt without all the fire burning… why must it be so hard… Why must we wait for that time / moment to go through the heat in order to…