Pockets of peace

In the last few days I have wanted to post on my blog many times and not known what to write .With all my love of food and creative cooking; writing about the food that emerges from my kitchen would have called for some photograph taking and uploading, making it too cumbersome to me .I would rather borrow a recipe from the wonderful food blogs on blogosphere and go and cook myself into a state of bliss .
Anyway today I am determined to write even if its sheer stream of consciousness stuff -that style of writing where the book is a non stop written version of every bit and piece that flows through the mind .Disconnected ,random .
Looking back, I started to write limerick type poems when I was in primary school and continued with more poetry through college along with some articles on current happenings the world over .As I write a theme is emerging and thankfully this wont be a stream of consciousness type piece with all due respect to writers of that genre .The above and absurd plays just dont cut the cake for me .Poetry kept happening almost by itself along the way and much later came short stories .Writing along with all its satisfaction of having expressed myself creatively gives me a full inner wash .Also while the words and ideas are actually tumbling out onto paper or the computer screen there is a unexplainable feeling of well being and utter balance and calm .
Another joyful childhood activity was making things out of clay ,starting with fruits and veggies ,men ,women and babies and graduating to Ganesh ji statues during Ganesh Chauth (a festival celebrated almost in the whole of India by slightly varying names ).As an adult I found that there was a terracotta sculpture course offered in Bangalore and managed to do it on one of my longer visits back home .The daily 8 hrs spent at the institute ,kneading clay ,learning and shaping objects ,throwing pots on the wheel were of unparalleled beauty .It was a dusty ,muddy heaven with half done and fully done statuettes all over ,some baked and some raw -with kilns on one end blazing away with all their might .
The entire act of cooking also gives rise to similar feelings or a happy lack of thought apart from those connected to whats being done .Similar is the mental state while singing .Call it meditative ,soothing ,calming or cathartic .
There are so many things in life that bring us this meditative calm and still our restless souls .

I luv mama,s gym

When I go to gym Garima stays home with Satish .Though we have a free creche right there I had never gathered enough nerve to leave her there after one try an year ago when she was pushed over by another kid .Since I have seen her play quite independently when i take her to her playgroup for a long time(I could very well not be there at all) ,I thought I would give it another shot and last wednesday 4/06/08 Garima was strapped into her baby seat and taken along on my body pump session .I filled the forms and dropped her along with her little bag and left her perched happily on a mini car looking quite smug .
The group classes at my gym are on the first floor and one can peep into the creche area from the balcony ,which is what I did a few times that day .When I went to collect her she came and gave me a hug and was off playing again .A baby of about 10 months was crying his head off and Garima went and sat in front of him and diverted his attention with a toy which amazed me .The child care lady relieved Garima of her ward luckily and I made off with her after gathering the information that she had been "adorable" all through . The brat in her is specially reserved for her mama and papa :0) but I do agree even at the risk of sounding prejudiced that she is a darling child .
Maternal instincts seem very prominent in her She likes babies and has a favourite one called Annabella at her playgroup and she ends up calling most babies Annabella wherever she goes .Baby clothes and baby things in shops are always Annabella,s .Babies apart she even mollycoddles her parents at times :0)
She will pat my hair or cheeks ,give me a bear hug or just hold my head in her arms and tell me "mama put head in babba,s lap "!?! But I do just that and its a moment out of eternity . Many of the endearments we use for her she uses right back on us , so its shona mama or shona papa , chhota sa mama/papa ,mela bacchha (mera baccha/my baby) ,mela laal ,mela chaand and the list goes on .
Coming back to where I began she goes to my gym creche every wednesday now for an hour and seems to love it there so much that she didnt even want to come home with me today :0)