jkmrao's blog

Don't be carried away by the title Actually the full title must be something like this - How to win women's hearts as far as rangOlis are concerned. Since I did not want this long a title, I shortened it. Now you get it why I am writing this. While my artistic side of the brain was enjoying the aesthetic delights of the rangOlis in the contest, the other side was trying to make sense of the whole thing and analyse the results. The aesthetic side was overflowing with waves of joy.

We are now in the middle of the dIpAvaLi rangOli contest. Looks like the enthusiasm is reasonable. I always wonder about these and similar contests. Of course, America is built on competition. The motto of America is - be all the best you can! Unfortunately, in this country as well as in many other countries only the best are respected. The adjectives here are the biggest, the largest, the grandest, the richest, the best, etc. I think, you get my point. Many a time the first and the best are revered and the rest are thrown into the basket like yesterday's worn clothes.

The day of mallI’s departure happened to be two days after dIpAvaLi that year. Perhaps dIpAvaLi is one festival that is celebrated all over India, from the land’s end of kanyAkumAri to the valley of Kashmir. Typically we celebrate dIpAvali for nearly a week. It is one festival when the newlyweds return to the bride’s parental abode along with her husband and both are honoured with new clothes and gifts. dIpAvaLi literally means a row of lights. It occurs at the time of new moon in October-November.

I wish you all a very happy dIpAvaLi (deepAvaLi, deewaali and all other variants of the word). I am presenting here a poem I wrote a few years ago for your reading and thinking pleasure

Deepaavali-- Festival of Lights!
On the darkest night of the year
Clusters of light compete with stars
Ear-splitting noise permeates the sulphurous air

I am a creature of moods. A way to express them through various creative avenues is to publish them in electronic forums. That is what I have been doing for more than fifteen years. First it was the India-Digest and then the Pulse of India where I published samples of inspirational poems (including a few of my own) from all the languages. Later it was the yahoo groups Chandassu and racchabanda. Afterward it was the online Telugu journal eemaaTa where I published many articles on metrics as well as a few of my poetry and one or two short stories.

Even though this happened to be my first pregnancy and delivery, I have seen many babies and new mothers among my relatives and friends and therefore I was able to adjust to my new situation better than mallI. chikkammA used to come often, at first in a stealthy fashion, but more openly later on. She also used to give us homemade medicine good for nourishing mothers. Though we were sleepless we always tried to lull our babies to sleep. During this time we tried to exchange lullabies. mallI possessed a golden voice and she used to sing some English lullabies.

If you want to win a Nobel Prize, the probability for it increases depending upon the particular branch you choose for your research studies. The one little branch of science where more people won the Nobel Prize is X-ray Crystallography. The chemistry prize for this year has gone to three outstanding and very deserving crystallographers - Yonath, Steitz and Ramakrishnan. Also this is a field where many women work.

The child was named SAradA (Sarada) after Chandru’s mother. In fact, Chandru began to boast that he was privileged to use the names of both his mothers (his real mother who is no more and after whom he named his daughter and me whom he always called by my name skipping the relationship of chikkammA)! As usual, being the obstinate self, my father did not attend the naming ceremony. But he was kind enough to send my chikkammA and Rama. chikkammA told us that he drew the child’s horoscope and made a prediction that she would be endowed with the qualities of bravery and fearlessness.

I mentioned in my story (part IX) the solitaire played by seetAdEvi in aSOkavana. I am very fond of this and other similar games as there is lot of mathematical calculations in them. This game is very popular in south India, mainly played by women and children (like me) for pleasure and played by men as an aid to their gambling pursuits. It goes by the name of chenne maNe in kannaDa, vAmanaguMTalu in telugu and pallAMguzhi in tamizh. There are several ways of playing this. As many know, it is made up of wood and has seven hollows scooped out on either side.

Days of happiness and nights of contentment marked the calendar in our house. mallI is also an avid reader. She searched the books in our house and was glad to find a few that suited her interest. It looks like her subject is love, her object is love and her life is love. We felt a wave of joy pass over us whenever we glanced at Chandru and mallI. If I were a poet, I would have written a song on the moon and the jasmine. Unfortunately, only my heart sings a wordless and a tuneless song, yet resonant and melodious! How is it that many say east cannot meet west?