2012 ended.
Ended in a way that left us numb with shock and grief.
We love you Paulda (my brother-in-law, elder brother, friend, u-la-la dance partner,..)...
We will always miss you.
We will always miss you.
My simple-heartfelt tribute to you would be to blog about two of my recipes that you absolutely loved.....
The orange pudding cake and the Bengali misti chutney.
Because I know you will miss these too.
Because I know you will miss these too.
A few lines I want to dedicate to didi.
My strength
You are
My strength, my power,my determination.
My urge to live, my wish to continue, my hope for tomorrow.
My smile, my confidence, my life.
My every next moment.
You are
Inside me in love and in friendship,
Beside me in spirit, in faith, in belief.
Behind me in support, in life, in survival.
Infront of me to lead my way.
You are
Here, but still I miss you,
Here, because I can feel you,
Here, for me as always,
Here, it's just that our roles have reversed.
Before,
It was you infront and me behind,
supporting your every step.
Now,
as I stand to face the world infront
I know you are there behind me.
You are my strength.....
2013
A fresh new year. A new start with rekindled hope. Positive thinking and moving forward.
The first good news is that we human beings are blessed with the power needed to start fresh. Some people might argue saying that under such circumstances we do not have any other option. On a dark sad day, this logic seems to be more believable and much easier to surrender to than to pick up all the broken scattered pieces and start rebuilding. Building is difficult but re-building requires more strength, more energy and more courage--hence more difficult. On a bright day, when thoughts are more positive, I feel not having an option is actually a blessing in disguise.
The second good news is that even few moments of hopeful and optimistic thoughts that we can muster after a disaster strikes us have sufficient positive energy and power to conquer innumerable hours and days and years of gloom and pessimism. So all you need really are a few moments of positivity to get you going...
..and the final good news is that there is always hope.
Hope has the power to take you by the hand and pull you through any situation.
I repeat, we are blessed. We can always hope for the better.
On a lighter note:
A few days back, I was having breakfast with three children around me. 8, 12 & 13 yrs old. Various topics were being discussed over "Indian pancakes" (remind me to post the recipe) from the CARS2 movie to stylish haircuts to university to pocket money......
I popped a question , "Guys, if you suddenly get 1 million euros, how will you spend it?"
8 (boy): I will go to New York and buy lots of CARS 2 toy cars.
[have no clue why New York ]
13: (girl): I will put the money in the bank and live off the interest..so that I do not have to
work..but can do what I want to do.
[practical planning + interest in pursuing different things]
12(girl): I will put half the money in the bank and use half the money for helping poor people.
[practical planning + social responsibility]
I (being the mother of the 8 yr old boy), hoped that after listening to such "practical" and "noble" plans of the other two, he will "correct" his plans .
I looked at him, eyebrows arched with an unsaid question, "And..?"
He confidently claimed (with an air of "why do I have to repeat everything for HER"?),
"I will FINISH all my money in New York and come back with all the CARS 2 toy cars".
All I have at this stage is hope....
