Move over Sainsbury’s

Posted by kidsaregifts20

The nearest village to us is Shukravara-sante, which means Friday-fair. Sante is a periodical gathering of buyers and sellers at a particular place. This coffee-growing region has huge plantations where hundreds of people work. They get the day off to rest and do their weekly shopping. Hence, Friday is Sunday. It is the highlight of the week. The nearest town is miles away and why would one take the trouble to go there if the freshest produce is available nearby?

A collection of temporary and permanent sheds with people sitting on the ground, selling glass bangles in fancy colours, coconut-graters for a pittance, honey-mangoes, unfamiliar greens, dried red chillies in heaps, dried fish emanating its peculiar smell, plastic buckets and mugs in bright colours, cardamom and pepper, clay pots made locally to set curds in, snacks being fried on the roadside, fresh cane juice with ginger and lemon. A hundred yards of pure delight.

We’ve been here three weeks and visited the market three times. We can get most of our weeks shopping and see all those smiling faces again that are becoming more and more familiar every week. My flimsy Kannada and their meagre Hindi and English are sufficient when stretched. In the moment inadvertently provide live entertainment to the locals and laugh with them at myself.

The milk collection point is just down the road. It’s where the villagers bring milk from their farms for being sold and sent to a big dairy 40 Kilometers away. At 6.30 every morning when Simon brings a litre and a half of it in the steel milk churn, it is warm.

Opposite the chicken shop is a general store that sells eggs. The lovely family that run the chicken shop can’t sell their eggs in their own shop as people expect them to give them away for free. So, they sell the eggs to the general store and people buy them from there. An egg costs seven rupees which is roughly 7 pence.

Saagar would be surprised that I was trying to learn a new language, that we had moved to an unfamiliar part of India and started afresh. Simon and I have wanted simplicity for a while and it’s finally coming. Couldn’t agree more with Charles Bukowsky who said, the less I needed, the better I felt.

Looking forward to the market tomorrow. Move over Sainsbury’s.

Receiving time.

Posted by kidsaregifts20

I am not busy. I am relaxed. I am working but I am also receiving Time.

Feels like a renewed relationship with Time.

After decades of chasing it, I am ready to stop and enjoy it in all its fullness.

Yes. The present Time is uncertain. Even ‘interesting’. But it is ours. Yours and mine.

To live in, live through and live to tell the tale. Live well.

Create and claim small, simple joys.

Here are some things I tried-

Candle light in every room.

Bask in the glow. Notice how you slow.

Be a hopeless romantic and

Dig out some books of poetry, old and new.

Maybe create a card or two

For someone who loves you

with silk ribbons, floral fabric and sticking glue?

Write a long love-letter to you

From your higher self, not as a ‘parent voice’,

But as a compassionate friend.

Make cinnamon, raisins and apple stew,

Have it with great dollops of double cream.

One … or two.

Find a picture of yourself when you were 5.

Look at it. That’s the real you.

Find a perfect frame for it and

Share it with those who want to know you.

Last 12 days have been a break-through.

Si and I have finally started to enjoy Scrabble,

After 10 years. And 2.

Now, we are a proper couple. Woohoooo!

Treat yourself to flowers.

Repot some plants.

Tend and nurture them

And your soul. Pay attention to sunsets.

Watch ‘Out of Africa’ again.

Or ‘Modern Love’ on Amazon.

Listen to Dido or Norah Jones. Breathe

Create a sacred space.

Yes. It may sometimes feel like the world is falling apart

But keep yourself together. Informed, connected and centered.

Enjoy your time. And your company.

Simply 2020

Posted by kidsaregifts20

The impeccable house we were invited to, shouted out the immense efficiency of our hosts. It was spotless, warm and welcoming. But every few moments something ‘not right’ was vociferously highlighted by our wonderful hosts. The unacceptable way the red silk cushions were left scrunched and squashed, compressed into corners of the plush golden sofas by the rude backsides that had been resting on them. The panic about the imminent possibility of too high a quantity of left-overs. Or the worry over a small chance that there won’t be enough. The width of the cake wedges was either too thin or too thick. The imperfect consistency of the gravy, the flatulence inducing artichoke soup, the highly undesirable heat generated by the log-fire, the terrible noise coming from the television, the spot of annoying stickiness left behind on the jar of honey by an inconsiderate user, the five brown crispy crumbs of bread left shamelessly sticking to the neat rectangular slab of butter on the gold-rimmed china butter dish, the uncouthness of the incorrect placement of the ornate silver by the staff, the inconvenient timing of a phone call with a relative abroad and so on …

Despite the absolute beauty of this home, the air was imbued with the smell of ‘dissatisfaction’, the well-known fundamental state of most human existence.

Do we change overnight or just carry on with the desire for things to be different? Time is a continuum going in waves, up and down and round and round. The ‘start’ and ‘stop’ points are nothing but artificial. The solstices and equinoxes mark time, connecting us with the movements of nature and linking various planetary bodies with one another.

Ordinary events present us with gems. Its up to us to spot the gems, pick them up and drop them in our pockets.

This year, I wish you and me the ability to appreciate and adopt Deep Simplicity. The ability to recognise the futility of being in a constant state of dissatisfaction, to switch our attention from imperfection to gratitude for all that is, to compassion towards ourselves and others, to patience with others and ourselves as we evolve. It takes time.