Weekly Photo Challenge: Thankful

“Be Thankful for what you have, you’ll end up having more…”- Oprah Winfrey

A recent Diwali party organised by the American Chamber of Commerce had the usual cultural events of song and dance .

Usual? Not quite!  The group of dancers ( performing Bharatnatyam- a South Indian classical form) were disabled  – some deaf and some blind.

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I was surprised at first, then impressed and later thankful.

Thankful for what I have –  a lovely family and a healthy normal life to be able to do the things that I love to do – time with friends and family, travel, read and blog!

Visit the Daily Post for other interpretations of ‘Thankful’. Happy Thanksgiving weekend!

Related:

Weekly Image of Life: I am Thankful for..

Soft and New

I’d been missing Ailsa’s Travel theme for the last few weeks by a whisker . This week, I decided to combine it with Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge to make it on time! Cee’s challenge is to post something new while Ailsa’s theme for the week is ‘Soft’.

Here are a few new and soft photos taken on our latest trip to Kerala.

The soft morning light falling on the lotus leaves (Pookote lake, Wayanad district, Kerala – pic taken yesterday)

We just celebrated Diwali over the last 3 days. The soft glow of a firecracker – chakra or spinning wheel.

No festival is complete without sweets. In addition to the hordes of Indian sweets, we also had freshly baked (by me!) soft brownie cake !!

Weekly Image of Life : Create

It’s Diwali here in India- the biggest festival! It’s the festival of lights and firecrackers (hopefully not too many of that!). Traditionally , houses would be adorned with plain mud lamps (diyas) lit with oil and wick.  In the last few years, the plain diyas had a makeover and were reinvented  in the form of beautiful design diyas. Though I still like to light the plain diyas, the designer diyas  also look pretty  as decorative pieces, especially when painted.

Here are a few painted by my mother-in-law, her sister and myself.

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Happy Diwali to all my Indian friends!

Island traveller’s Weekly Image of life is : Create

Dengue Diaries: Day 3

Wednesday, Oct 24, 2011

We trot as usual to the hospital in the morning, this time, with my older son A, in tow. It’s the first of the 3 day festival of Diwali. The OPD is empty and we walk right in to Dr S’s consulting room, looking again like the actress-goddess. She comments that both me and my BP and are looking better.  I ask her if I have Dengue and her reply is that there’s been no incidence of Dengue since the last 2 years (in honey-laced tones!) and it’s probably a dengue-like virus producing the same symptoms. She recommends a repeat test for the platelet count and briefly checks A’s vitals. She then prescribes an anti-pyretic, antibiotic and a blood test for him too.

The blood reports, in the evening, show a further drop in my platelet count to 54,000 while A’s is just within the normal range. As usual, I call my sis. She says I should be admitted to the hospital immediately and start on the treatment – that is intravenous administration of fluids. At the same time, J speaks to Dr S and they debate if we should wait till morning. Finally, at my sister’s insistence, they agree on the hospitalisation.

The younger one is also running temperature now. Fortunately, my mother-in-law (who’s unaware of my illness till now) decides to return from her trip to Mysore that evening. I pack my bags, wait for my MIL to come home and then my mom and J escort me to the hospital.

Did I mention that both my mother and mother-in-law live with me? Actually, my mom lives on the lower floor and my family, along with my mil live on the upper floor in the same house. This house, this new house was built with the intention for us all to stay together. It’s now about 10 months  and yes, the roof of our house is still intact!

Most people look at me in wonder or with pity when I tell them that we all live together and they ask me how I manage to do the balancing act. The credit actually goes to the two mothers! Their placid personality and years of wisdom help in maintaining the harmony. I would be lying if I said everything is hunky dory. But they both are now an integral part of our lives. THEY are the wind beneath our wings.

I set out to the hospital with a wing and a prayer while J and my mom prepare for hospital duty. The onus of looking after the two unwell children now fall on my MIL.

Dengue Diaries: Preface

The Weekend Before Diwali

Painted diyas, designer diyas, Brass diyas and plain mud diyas! I’ve acquired quite an envious collection of diyas, to my own surprise, but never ever used it. Somehow, I ve given up the custom of elaborate decoration and noise- and- light show that has now become ‘Diwali’. Or maybe I’ve become jaded or forgotten my childhood. But since last year, my younger son has been quite keen on bursting crackers for Diwali and also perhaps due to the excitement of the first Diwali in our brand new and fairly capacious house (after living for years in crammed apartments!), I decide to make this year special. My husband, J, has just returned from a 10 day business trip to the USA and the boys are excited about the week-long ‘Diwali’ holidays, making plans and schedules for play dates. We spend the weekend shopping for clothes and gadgets  – voltage converters actually; for the electronic items that we had judiciously (or so it seemed then!) brought back with us from the USA seven years back. One is badly needed for the music system that J had acquired during his student days there and still clings onto. It’s not a bad one, pretty good audio quality. But I hate those gargantuan speakers that occupy so much floor space….

By Sunday evening, I’m exhausted (nothing new!) and have developed a slight fever. I rarely fall sick and especially I’m never the first one to be sick in the family. In fact, I can’t remember the last time I went to see a doctor (except for those annoying but essential annual pap smears!)

An indication of worse things to come…

(This post is written in the present  for literary effect)