Remembering Mark

Mark ( ..May 2020)

 One of the most helpful person I’ve met. He offers to help team members, colleagues,

going out of his way to use his time and effort to make someone’s life comfortable.

A walking talking encyclopedia, you can hear him talk about the science behind a thunderstorm, and also about a Beatles song, and how flying a small aircraft is fun!

His love for Dr Who have had many lunch hour discussions covered with details of the seasons and actors.

The grammar police that he was, could easily lead to many discussions of being functionally correct as well as equal importance to being syntactically correct.

Always a team player, he was one of the best managers one could ask for - ensuring that a work life balance for all around him is achieved.  He would have everyone’s back - “that’s how its done- we watch out for one another in a team”.

He sometimes used to joke “I'm fun to be around. If I had any friends, you could ask!” 

As someone who got to know Mark for a little more than a year,  Its been a wonderful experience to work with and get to know him- the approachable team leader and manager, the good friend and a very good human being.

Mark Pfeiffer- you will definitely be missed.

Give thanks

It is not joy that makes us grateful,

It is gratitude that makes us joyful!

-David Steindl-Rast

Forever grateful to the frontline warriors, who work tirelessly putting duty before self.

Left a couple of fabric masks in our mailbox for the mail carrier. The reply note will be cherished.
:)

Jan 2019 / Moments

• Make resolutions to be broken and bent
• Make resolutions to keep , and be proud of.
• Be happy for the saplings that will eagerly surface.
• Don’t miss to Sky gaze 

• Don’t forget that every cloud has a silver lining 
• May there be strength for every day, friends for all seasons.
• May there be people with same wavelength , Otherwise patience to respect the difference in opinions.
• More books to read.
• More cuisines to try.
• More places to explore.
• More reasons to believe.
• More power to overcome fears.
• More patience to be respectful.
• More courage to speak up.
• More  calmness to listen.
• More silence to reflect.
• More sounds of  nature .
• Sunshine for a happy heart and a green thumb .

• Raindrops for the parched and to wash away the tears.
• Know that life lessons only make you stronger .
• Marvel at the unexpected moments of joy.
• Have faith and work for your self.
• Use things and value people .
• Remember to be thankful.
• Know what you can control.
• Know that being happy is more important than convincing others that you are .
• Learn from nature.
• More gardening - dirty hands and happy heart
• Listen to understand.
• Sing aloud , hum along. 

Stop and look around. It's in the journey... Here's to 2019.

Picture this / July 2018

If you want to be happy , its easy.

 But if you want to convince others that you are happy, you shall never be.

- I don't know

Picture This/ May 2016

The garden of the world has no limits...
   Except in your mind.

                                 - Rumi

Picture this \ April 2016

“When the light returns to its source, it takes nothing of what it has illuminated.”
― Rumi

Picture courtesy: iPhone 5 and the sunshine

Picture this / March 2016

Let there be peace 'for' our Earth.
Painted stumps are a reminder of the vanishing Green

Picture this / February 2016

There are many forms of Beautiful.

Picture courtesy : Room mate and the Olympus

Oh Brother

There's this species called brother. 

Someone who is "always there". 

(Of course to get him on the phone sometimes is a task ,because  he's already always on his office phone!)

I've come to realize over the years that the relationship I've shared with my brother is taken for granted...  by me. 

I got to ride his new motorbike.... And got just a stare when I fell off it and pushed it back home. 

Allowing me to try my skills at hair styling on him with a haircut that ended up like a crew cut gone wrong.

Letting me mess up a tee shirt by scribbling on it with paint and then gifting it to him .... Expecting him to wear it. Which of course he did. 

Happiness is when years later, I realize he still has the tee shirt.

Taking me to a movie that I wanted to watch sacrificing his evening out at the chaupati with his friends. 

Being a rather shy and arrogant kid growing up, looking back, it helped me speak to people ,whether it was taking me out with his friends ( only at times) when they went out to eat countless plates of chaat followed by ice cream. 

When I thought I was grown up, I've called him and cried over what I considered was financial troubles. 

Or what I thought was my decision to get married!

Or about the job interview I attended. 

There's never been a time when he seems less interested in what I am saying. 

Even at times when I advise him!

....Or at least I think so. 

If you get him on the phone, first thing he wants to know is "all okay?"

If you ask him to taste a piece of cake you baked it's "all fine". 

Guess the patience and tolerance is built in over years of leading "the pack". A pack we fondly call "4 piece cake club"!

Picture this / January 2016

Gift yourself happiness daily.
Let there be light.

Next New dozen 2016

Reminders for every day.

Looking forward to each day.

• More new movies, some for laughs and some laughable!
• Make resolutions to be broken and bent
• make resolutions to keep , and be proud of
• Spring forward towards summer in a few months.
• Cozy up for the next few winter weeks
• Be happy for the saplings that will eagerly surface
• Enjoy hot chocolate looking forward to summer nights
• Another 12 months of sky gazing 
• Strength for every day, friends for all seasons.
• People with same wavelength , Otherwise patience to respect the difference in options
• More travel plans, more time to implement, better finances to indulge
• More books to read 
• More cuisines to try
• More places to explore
• More reasons to believe
• More power to overcome fears
• More baking
• More patience to be respectful
• Lesser triggers of anger

 Celebrate every day in the next  dozen of months 

Picture this / December 2015

Wiki says ...

"Weather is a chaotic system that is readily modified by small changes to the environment.." 

Is weather more chaotic than the human mind?

Picture This November 2015

Every season has its own beauty - In the colors, temperatures, flora and fauna that flourish.
Lest we forget, nature's own ways of reminding us to acknowledge, appreciate and respect - Sometimes with a sunny afternoon, at times with harshest winter chills.

 

Silence

Listen to the wind,  it talks.
Listen to the green,  it speaks.

Speak only when your words are more beautiful than the silence...
The Earth has music for those who hear.

Courtesy : Fall season in Matthiessen State park, IL. Picture courtesy Nikon owner. 

Picture This / October 2015

The darkest hour is an opportunity for a glow.
 That glimmer of hope, that chance to grow.

It's about time

Time stands still. Yet waits for no one.

Time is the only healer. Yet there are times you wished some moments never happened. 

Memories of time to cherish clouded by moments that choke you. 

Time can not heal all.  Time can only crowd the memory.  

Manusharellarum onnupole

Onam, is the state festival of Kerala, a southern Indian state.

The story goes that Vamana (a disguised Lord Vishnu) visited the king and asked for land as much as three paces of his feet. Granted the wish, Vishnu/Vamana grows in size to conquer the Heaven in one footstep and Earth in another.
Mahabali, true to his word, then offers himself for Vamana to step on as the third footstep.
Thus, King Mahabali is sent down to the heaven like "Underworld".

The festival celebrates the visit of the Asura King Mahabali's visit to his kingdom and people.One of the festivals, that has survived the modern times, the song often sung during Onam still holds good for any well governed state:
"Maveli nadu vaneedum kalam,
manusharellarum onnupole"

Meaning
"When Maveli ruled the land,
All the people were equal."


Quick lowdown on the names of the 10 days of Onam, that my aunt refuses to believe that I am even aware of.... being a non resident Keralite !

Day 1 ATHAM
Day 2 CHITHIRA
Day 3 CHODHI
Day 4 VISHAKAM
Day 5 ANIZHAM
Day 6 THRIKETA
Day 7 MOOLAM
Day 8 POORADAM
Day 9 UTHRADAM
Day 10 THIRUVONAM

The hangover day after Thiruvonam is called Avittom, marks the preparations for King Mahabali's ascension to heavens.




Moral  - The good get downtrodden and are few & far in between. But remembered nevertheless !

HAPPY ONAM

Courtesy - The WWW.

Wings of color

  

10 things to do on a weekend afternoon.

  
1. Stroll by the green expanse in the afternoon sun  
and cool breeze


2.      Rock yourself to the sound of silence in the rocking chair


3.      Observe the perseverance of the bird trying to build a nest straw by straw 

 

4.      Watch out for the whirring of the humming bird trying to aim at the nectar

 

5.      Listen to the chirping of the birds in conversation at the bird feeders at the early dinner


 
6.      Respect the parent bird trying incessantly to fly in and out with food to feed its little ones waiting inside the nest
 

 
7.      Admire the meek chirps of the little ones as the parent feeds them.

 

8.      Soak in the evening rays of the sun that adds magical hue to the surroundings

 
9.      Breathe in the freshness of the air

 

10.  Trail a butterfly adding color to the flowers

It’s a little sweet grove , nature at its best. This nature center is located in Illinois, USA.  
Picture courtesy: Afternoon sun, posing butterflies, room mate's IPhone6.

Picture This / May 2015

The beauty of the flower is complete only with the green support, which is normally unnoticed.

Pic courtesy : Priceless Camera of the room mate.

Yesterday once more

A lot like home.....


Smell of soil after the first summer rain...
  Green grass glittering in the evening sun..
    Sound of rain drops on the roof in harmony with bolts of thunder,
      Warmth of the afternoon breeze ,
            Brightness of the evening sun,
               Chirping of the birds getting back to their nests,
                   Color of the ripened mango 

                 
Sometimes silence, at times sounds , and even noise.
Mostly unnoticed, yet omnipresent. 

Awakening the senses with thoughts of time gone by.

 Feels like yesterday once more.