Such an overwhelming feeling of nostalgia,

a longing of the familiar little streets & lanes of a home I once used to call my own, a feeling that its all gone & slipped away…

I don’t want to hold on to them in a way that I want them to stay the same

but sometimes I find myself remembering such moments.

Its such a bitter sweet aching, it squeezes my heart & pours out from my eyes.

Its not really helping that I’m listening to some really gentle and sweet music.

The rhythms take me through to dancing figures moving in perfect tandem with the music…

it weaves its way through temple corridors of a culture well preserved for generations,

of shady tree lined roads in a city that will be my final resting place,

passing & crossing bridges that have enthralled me with the rivers they cross,

with the boats that seem to carry people form one realm to another sometimes gently and sometimes through turbulent currents…

I hold these moments gently in my heart & let them go so that theres room for more memories to be created

but ever so often when i read a book, or hear a tune, or watch the rain

these seemingly insignificant moments come back & steal a tear from my eyes

Brave men they were who went to war

to fight for freedom in many a land so far

they would bring back hope & victory for their nation

the nation would celebrate them in grateful exultation

and then there were those who never came back

who’s sacrifices bore heavy on their comrades sack

their hopes and dreams interred in lands far away

their lives that were short but every minute held sway

they left behind hearts heavy in grief

their memories forever even if meetings were brief

when the wars were on, there were brave women too

who sacrificed for themselves as well for me & for you

they left their aprons & ladles back in their homes

they made tanks and machines and even bombs

they carried the weight of iron on their nimble feet

along with the weight of their babies heartbeats

it doesn’t matter if you are from here or across seven seas

never forget the sacrifices they made so that we may live in peace

Friends we knew and loved have now grown into their own.
Some on familiar grounds & some heading towards territories unknown.
When I hear from them, moments of familiarity beckons
And we know we can look back together as the future reckons
There’s a trust sometimes that transcends distances & borders
There are friends who will always be just what the doctor orders!

Years have passed and dreams have moulded themselves differently as I had once expected them to be

Talking to my brother this afternoon an interesting thought came up. For the last decade or so, whenever we, meaning my my two sisters, my brother & myself, have spoken to each other over the phone we’ve always ended conversations with ‘love you’s! And as a habit now I tell my close friends and family I love them at the end of each telephonic conversation I have with them. And this we owe to Ms Oprah Winfrey!!!! There’s so much to thank her for even though I’ve never met her and may or may not ever meet her.

Rain trickling down between the tin grooves on the roof