Under the starlit skies
when we were together
I looked at you
and I looked up at the moon
I looked at you
and I did not look up at the moon
Love engulfed me
Love engulfed us
and that was years ago
Today
under the same starlit skies
I looked up at the moon
and I looked at you
I looked up at the moon again
Thoughts engulfed me
Before we survived the 30 inch snowfall, the blizzard hit us, the fifth we experienced during our stay in this country. It was indeed ferocious. Imagine nearly 100 million people imprisoned for nearly 48 hours in their own homes at a stretch. Our county seems to be one of the worst hit in the area. It is not the snowfall, which too was considerable, more than 20 inches. It is the wind that blows the snow around causing drifts of four to five feet. On the highways where dozens of cars and trucks got stuck, the drifts were more than ten feet.
హిమబిందు himabiMdu
ఏ దూర సాగరపు వారికణాలో E dUra sAgarapu vArikaNAlO
ఆవిరై ఒక మేఘమాలికన aavirai oka mEghamAlikana
తూలికై tUlikai
గాలిలో తేలుతూ gAlilO tElutU
గాలితో తూలుతూ gAlitO tUlutU
For the last three decades, we are living in regions that have four three distinct seasons with pronounced winter snows. The last few years were cold, but not snowy. But this year, we had six winter storms already and two of them were biggies with more than 20 inches of snow. The last one on Friday and Saturday was monstrous. Our official total snowfall was 29 inches (72.5 cm). This is the largest snowfall I experienced during my stay here in this country. Normally one inch of rain is equal to ten to fifteen inches of snow.
Like everybody else, I too was looking forward to see how the contestants fared. My hearty congratulations to the winner. Of course, ikOlam and latAji must be congratulated for the great efforts they put in conducting the event. The 44 contestants as well as the countless judges too deserve a pat on the back. I do not know how many people went through ALL the entries, but I did. I gave 8 five-stars, 21 four-stars, 13 three-stars and 2 two-stars. I must say the quality of the entries is very good. In fact, everyone deserved a bouquet!
One more year has been wasted, happily by me, as another is about to start. I am always curious as to who chose the first of January as the new year. It has no significance, zilch. Christmas is over, and two or three days prior to it was the winter solstice. Even according to the orthodox Christian calendar, their Christmas is on the sixth of January. May be it is somebody's birthday, not that of Jesus who was born a week earlier or later as you wish. Actually when was he born? Is it in the year 4 BC? We have the calendar full of new years according to different customs and faiths.
As my rangOli shaNmukhi (six-faced) appeared, another shaNmukhi was making its presence felt on the east coast. The last time we had a white christmas was six years ago. The storm we had yesterday was monstrous. We had more than 20 inches of the white stuff (half a metre), unusual for December. We generally have big snow storms in January through early March. Basically, the whole area was shut down, a big letdown for the merchants during the last weekend before Christmas. It took four hours, four hands and four advils to shovel the snow. I always compare snow with a cobra.
Today is International Aids Day. More than two decades have passed since the human immuno deficiency virus that causes the disease AIDS made its appearance. This has become a raging disease now. No corner of the earth has been left untouched by the suffering caused by AIDS. Lives have been destroyed, families have been uprooted and countries have been devastated. Yet there is no cure. But the situation is far better than what it was ten years ago.
On this day of Thanksgiving, it is our solemn duty to be thankful to all those who made what we are and how we conduct ourselves. Of those to whom we owe our thanks, our parents, teachers, relatives, friends and colleagues occupy a proud place. All these people are known to us and we also are aware of their deeds of kindness and generosity. However, there are quite a few to whom we must be thankful. Many a time we had either a brief momentary contact or no contact with these great souls.
The day of Sarada and malli's departure arrived. Chandru’s father accompanied mallI and Sarada up to Bangalore. He returned home as if he lost something and was looking everywhere for it. After almost two days, she called from her American home. Till we heard she reached safely, I did not feel like eating anything at all. Yet I had to eat as I was a nourishing mother. The phone calls became more frequent now. We were exchanging notes as to the growth of our little ones. One day, it was she turned from side to side with ease. Another day it was me telling that he began to crawl.
