Deep Ties

                                                                   Pinterest William Blake  (1757 – 1827)  is one of the renowned poets who lived during the end of the 18 th century and the start of the 19 th . His poems mainly deal with themes like religion, the plight of the downtrodden and poverty. They use deceptively simple language, but if one delves deeper into their layers, their imagery is often complex and structured. ‘A Poison Tree’ is a poem written by William Blake in his ‘Songs of Experience’ in 1794. He writes about two varied experiences to illustrate how dangerous it is to suppress anger.  I was angry with my friend;  I told my wrath, my wrath did end.  The poet uses simple language to describe how he was once angry with his friend, but he spoke to him about his wrath. Once he had spoken, he felt lighter and his wrath ended.  That is so true of life, isn’t it? Often, we harbour negative emotions within our hearts, which eat away at our innards. However, when we open

                                                              Happy Quotes As a child, one of my pet peeves was Mathematics – a subject that turned into a mystifying jumble of numbers, shapes, fractions and problems (pun very much intended!) While I had always loved subjects like English, History and Biology, I did not warm up to numbers for a long time. When I was in the ninth, my Army parents were posted in an obscure little station with not too many good schools. At that time, I was transported to a Convent school in Shoranur, Kerala, in a town where my grandfather was known as a revered and renowned educationist, having founded a Boys’ High School through which many illustrious students had passed out.                                                                     Busy things Leaving my parents and my sisters was a wrench, but what had to be done, had to be done. However, I found the silver lining in my new life – my grandparents and the entire family doted on me, and I was

  Hallmark Ideas A few months ago, a venerable gentleman passed away, having lived a full and wonderful life imbued with joy. He had his entire family around him, including his children, who were themselves grandparents. He went peacefully, which is considered a blessing in itself. There was a gathering of family members, friends and admirers who thronged to the house to pay their last respects to the benign soul. They came, offering their condolences to the bereaved family members, who were dignified in their sorrow. The deceased gentleman seemed to be merely sleeping, so peaceful was his face. Since the grandchildren and the great grandchildren were abroad, they had asked for a video call so that they too could have one last glimpse of their beloved one before his mortal remains were consigned to the holy fire that would take his soul to the heavens. Visitors kept walking in in a continuous procession. It was evident that the gentleman had been much loved and revered. They wait

  Pinterest “Oh, I used to read so much when I was younger. I have no idea how I got out of the habit!” “I try and read every night, but my eyes refuse to stay open!” How often have you heard people say this? How often have you said it yourself? Pretty often, I am sure. The fact is that as we grow older, and life catches up with us, we become busier and busier, till we are dashing around like headless chickens. (Where did that gory expression come from?) As William Wordsworth once said so aptly (the Romantic poets did know a thing or two!) “The world is too much with us, late and soon, Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers.”                                                                        Pinterest Life does have a habit of coming in the way of our passions, forced as we are to earn more than we learn. Childhood is that blissful age when we have time to do all the things we love, from playing to eating to reading. There are no responsibilities apart from getti

Pixabay   At the moment, we in India are over the moon with the success of Chandrayaan 3 and Aditya L1. Our scientists have proved that they are amongst the elite in the world, repeatedly.  English is a quaint language. There are so many phrases and idioms connected with the moon that add flavour to the language we use. Here are a few of the commonest ones. When we are ecstatic about something, we describe it as being ‘over the moon’ which reminds us of the old nursery rhyme, ‘Hey diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle, the cow jumped over the moon…’. Of course, this has nothing to do with the present meaning of the phrase, which means being ‘extremely happy’. “When I heard that I had come first in class, I was over the moon.” Earlier, most fairy tales started with the phrase ‘Once upon the time...’. A synonym for this phrase is ‘many moons ago…’, the word ‘moons’ referring to ‘months’. For example, if I were to say, “I last drove a car many moons ago” (which is the truth!), it woul

                                                                    Getty images  I was browsing through Facebook when my eyes fell on a journaling account. I have always loved anything to do with writing and doodling, and am seriously thinking of starting a journal as well. I watched this lady who started with a blank page and started filling it in with paper cuts, stickers, quotes and Washi tape. She started with a basic colour and created a theme around the hues of the colour, step by step, letting her imagination run riot. She had such beautiful little pictures, and I could imagine the passion with which she stuck each bit down, embellishing it at every stage. The end product looked lovely. Anyone with even a smattering of artistic talent would have appreciated it. However, as I scrolled down at the comments below, I was shocked to see several downright nasty ones, along with the appreciative ones. One lady asked almost rudely, “What is the point of this? I find it a waste of t

                                                                                 ProProfs      Onam comes around with great fanfare every year, with ten days of celebration from Atham to Thirivonam. As with every festival, the celebrations take precedence over everything else. Educational institutions give ten days of holidays, which start after the school Onam programme which often has a variety entertainment programme revolving around Onam songs (paatu), Thrivathirakalli or Kaikkotokalli where elegantly dressed ladies wearing the traditional off-white Kerala mundu-veshti dance around a vilakku (lit lamp).                                                                    Alamy I live in Thrissur which is the cultural capital of Kerala and is also a temple town.  The cost of flowers in various hues skyrockets over these ten days as most households create exquisite designs with flowers in their courtyards.  A giant pookallam (flower carpet) in Thekinkaadu Maidanam next to the Vadakku