Winter

Atul came back from Bala Vihar today and gave his usual answer 'Nothing' when I asked him "What did you do in the class today?". He is so since his KG days. Many a time, I had to show surprise or shock of the updates happening in the school whereas my darling son always had only one answer 'Nothing'.:)

Even before his arrival, I got the updates from his teacher today. Later on, something flickered in his mind I believe and said, "I wrote a poem on winter and it is graded excellent. It is not my best though."

Well, here it is.....

Winter is a wonderful season of fun
There’ll be a breeze of cold air when we run

We get more of the moon than the sun
What a wonderful breeze comes from the wind while having a bun

We get holidays and have fun while adults rest even a nun
Yes, winter is a season filled with fun

In a few days, children catch severe cold
Even though we want to go out and be bold

We have to do what our parents have told
For children, holidays weigh a kg of gold

Because of this cold, our winter holidays are sold
And when summer starts again, the story of winter folds


Waaaah... what innocence! It really brought an instant smile and glow on my face. My memory shifted to the day when I carried my baby home 12 winters ago. :)

I shall post the poems written by other kids also and update this blog soon.

Change

The much needed change is happening. For good. Not that there was no change at all all these days or years. But I realise it more closely now. Just like the awareness of my breath that gives smooth touches to my nostrils.

The realisation brings tears to my eyes, hides my body in a corner of the house, gives a jerk to my mind every now and then and then there is absolute emptiness in the heart. I cherish every moment of the present. I wish to extend this present as much as possible before another avalanche of negative change sweeps me off.

The forces, both external and internal, do always exist. While I have no control over the external which constantly nags me, this change has usurped the internal. The battle has started. It is going to turn out to be more fierce.

And the world need not know how good or bad a fighter I am.

Don't give up...

How would it feel to be with 72 children from different backgrounds, ages and languages maintain absolute silence to hear one voice of knowledge and wisdom, dynamism and versatility, enthusiasm and challenging, strict yet jovial?

How would it feel to see the tasks and punishments being accepted by the children with a smile on their faces?

How would it feel to see 7 groups of 10 each think as a ‘team’ to solve, interpret and imagine their own modern art drawn in 5 seconds during which time the young minds had thrown such beautiful insights which many adults wouldn’t have even dreamt about?

How would it feel to see our mistakes being repeated again and again glaringly and gain punishments happily from the owner of the voice in the form of writing down mantras 108 times for every mistake?

How would it feel to not sleep continuously for two nights and yet feeling fresh throughout the day?

This and many more happened during the camp organized by Chinmaya Society, Bahrain on 15-17 December, 2008 under the magnetic guidance of Chinmaya Mission Acharya, Swami Mitrananda. The theme of the camp was 'Look Ahead...' based on the text 'We Must'.

It was a wonderful and memorable experience indeed. Wish I was a kid to be a participant of the camp.

I have taken home many messages but one sentence keeps ringing in my ears that supply me more strength and energy and that is “Don’t give up, don’t give up, don’t give up…”

Yes, I won’t give up….