Author: Madhuri

Writer - Children's Fiction & Ghost Writer

Be The Light

“Light has no shadow,” said a good friend.

“I guess so, I said, “Now that you mention it.”

 

“See the image,” he said, ‘See for yourself.’

Light has no shadow
Image Courtesy: @PimSmitter

 

The saints, and the protectors,

The creators, and those who serve

They are the light that casts no shadow

Radiating love, compassion and joy

By their acts, or by their lives.

 

In their light, we the masses dance and sing

We build our hopes and live our small daily lives.

Move an inch out of the circle of light,

And we let shadows darken our lives

Into bitterness, misery and despair.

 

There are some who shun the light

Shaping their lives by the darkness

Of egotism, contempt, disdain, hatred

Building fear and leaching joy away

Dragging the masses into their dark fold.

 

Steer clear. Seek the light.

So that one day you are the light.

In the daily battles of hatred, disease and deprivation,

You will be the light that casts no shadow

Bringing hope and joy where the masses see none.

 

On that note, Vayu Shakti Sandhya – Cultural & Charity Evening for the benefit of Ex-Air Force personnel and their families is on 18 January at Sardar Patel Stadium Grounds, Ahmedabad.

Contribute your bit – Buy the tickets at http://bit.ly/1rHUOBP or email afa.gujarat@gmail.com or call +91-79-26575052 / +91-9601410996 / +91-9409420493.

Visit afagujarat.wordpress.com

Habits 2015

  1. Declutter: Started with decluttering mail yesterday. Unsubscribed from feel-good writing mailers. There’s nothing much for me to declutter at home, unless it’s my daughter’s cupboard. She might say the same about me, so I will take a relook at it end of winter.
  2. No gifts please: Tough one. But I’ve got to learn to say no some day. May as well begin this year. Which also means, I stop the act of gifting things. Will just pass on God’s blessings, and of course books for kids of family and friends.
  3. Learn to say no: This is a tough one. On my way to the Bombay office in 1995, I bought a book with a yellow cover and the title, How to Say No. At the Bombay office, one of the girls liked it so much that she asked if she could borrow it. I was leaving the next day, but of course I said ‘yes’. I haven’t seen the book since. Saying ‘no’ also covers not over-committing.
  4. No procrastination: No reading writer’s blogs, agent’s blogs, publisher’s blogs, blogs of quirky, creative, dedicated people, amazon’s book lists, flipkart’s Wednesday sales, publisher’s lists, magazine interviews. I’ll give myself an hour each Sunday to check all these mails and what doesn’t fit into that hour gets deleted – Sunday Scrap. Only work mails during the day. It’s ok to miss a few discount offers, isn’t it? No, not ok, when it comes to books. So 15 minutes a day to check such mail or leave it for the Sunday Scrap. I ought to finish at least two Stephen King books in all that saved time. He’s my current favourite and guide, he talks to me in a different voice with each book.
  5. Meditate everyday: Twice a day. At least.
  6. Let go: Let go of the need for kindness, respect, stability. Let go of the compulsive need to get things perfect when there isn’t a need for it. The latter doesn’t apply to writing.
  7. Write: 3 books this year. Since I turned full-time writer in 2012, I have managed 2 ghost writing books and 2 kids’ fiction books (unpublished). That’s one of each per year. Zero in 2014. Need to make up for that in 2015. One ghost writing book is almost half way there. Another might restart. My non-fiction book will be done this year. One third there. Kid’s fiction? Will that squeeze in? Plenty of things will have to take a no from me if I am to do that. Ok, so I will. Which takes me back to the habits of ‘no procrastination’, ‘learn to say no’ and ‘declutter’.

Mum says 7 was considered an unlucky number so that traders deliberately missed its count, 1…2…3…4…5…6…6+1…8…

I believe 7’s a lovely number. And I know, I know, that last one’s an outcome, not a habit.

Let’s Go.

Bunny’s Dad

Debasmita’s illsutrated a poem of mine. I was happy to write it – one of the many things I learnt from dad.

ymadhuri blog - debasmita illustration

Bunny rabbit and her dad leapt across the grass

One early morning, and sat in the meadow.

 

Noses twitching, tubby tails jiggling,

Whiskers whispering in the wind,

Bunny rabbit and her dad,

They sat and watched the sun rise.

 

“Tell me Bunny,” said dad to Bunny,

“What do you want to be when you grow up?”

“How high do you want to leap?”

“How far do you want to go?”

 

Bunny sat on her hind legs.

She looked up at her dad and she said,

“Daddy, I want to leap higher than the rest.”

“I want to run farther than the rest.”

 

“Tell me Bunny,” said dad, his voice grave.

“If your best leap can be higher,

Higher and higher than the others’ leap,

Do you still want to leap just higher than the rest?”

 

“Oh Bunny,” his eyes softened, “My darling girl,

If your farthest run is farther,

Farther and farther than the rest.

Do you still want to run a wee bit farther than the rest?”

 

Bunny’s eyes widened. She looked up at the sky.

She looked at the far mountains.

“No daddy,” she said and she smiled.

“I want to be my best, my highest and my farthest.”

 

Dad licked her head, “Higher or lower than the rest,

Farther or nearer than the rest,

Your highest and your farthest

Must be your very best,” he said.

 

“And when you do your best each day,

Wake up in the morning to beat your best

Every day, each day, my dear Bunny.

That’s how high you must leap, how far you must run.”

I Am This… I Am That

I am this… I am that

I am techie, I am writer

I am Chowdhary, I am Brahmin

I am Capitalist, I am Socialist

I am Muslim, I am Hindu

I am Indian, I am American

I am this and I am that.

 

Labels.

We attach our selves to the label

As if the label itself is us.

They give rise to arguments

They create this side and the other side.

 

Can we live without our labels?

They are merely things we are born to

Or the things we do.

Labels are not us.

 

We are what we think. Were our thoughts filled with love today?

We are what we say. Did our words carry compassion today?

We are what we add to this world. Did we make a difference today?

 

Time isn’t in your hand.

Satpal’s no more.

Helping sardar. Endearing cartoonist.

Ever smiling. Fit to the last muscle.

 

Make this moment count

With a spring in your step

With kindness and a smile

Like he did.

 

Satpalsingh Chhabda

Mote in the Eye

So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them,

“He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.”

–       John 8:7

 

It’s a late post for the new year, but I’ve been working on this new year’s resolution all this month and it is the toughest by far.

 

That I shall not pass judgement on others, not even in thought.

 

A few moments of success is all I can show for this resolution so far, but those few moments bring with them so much peace.

It’s taken me this long to put into practice what my mother had been practicing right in front of my eyes all these years.

Because of Winn-Dixie

I was reading “Because of Winn-Dixie” by Kate DiCamillo. It’s the story of a preacher’s daughter – India Opal Buloni – who comes by a stray dog in the new town they move into, calls him Winn-Dixie and takes him home.

Opal begins to clean in a pet shop to save enough money to buy a leather collar and leash for Winn-Dixie. But she comes to know that the store manager had been to jail. Then she becomes friendly with an old lady, Gloria Dump and tells her about the store manager. Opal needs to know if she should be afraid of him.

To answer her, Gloria takes her to a big, old tree in her overgrown backyard. Hanging on the tree were bottles. “There were whiskey bottles and beer bottles and wine bottles all tied on with string, and some of them were clanking against each other and making a spooky kind of noise.”

Opal asks Gloria why all those bottles were on the tree. Gloria tells her they were to keep the ghosts away – “The ghosts of all the things I done wrong.”

That touched a chord and I am writing this post.

All the things I did wrong clank like I tied them up a tree

Sometimes they are strong like there’s a strong wind

Sometimes it’s just a bit of noise in the background

But they are never totally gone.

Some are things I couldn’t get for myself

I was supposed to reach a point

But life’s a twister and I didn’t reach that point

I set these ghosts to rest. They aren’t worth a bottle on the tree.

Some are times of shame and embarrassment

When I didn’t follow the rules

Of our culture and times

I set these ghosts to rest. They aren’t worth a bottle on the tree.

Some are things I did that hurt somebody

It doesn’t matter that I didn’t mean to hurt

That I was just being myself

They still hurt another.

The things that hurt others clank the hardest

I would tie them up a big old tree any day

So that the smallest wind clanks them hard

And I can’t hear a thing but them.

Hurting others. That’s the only ghosts I’d tie a bottle up in the tree for.

But sometimes, there’s no choice

But to do the thing, the right thing

Knowing there’s going to be

A bottle up the tree tomorrow.

What are Rules – My Daughter Asked

In continuation to my previous post..

What are Rules? My daughter asked,

“What about when what we speak can’t hurt someone

because they don’t know?”

I had to think a moment for the answer.

In thought, word or deed, if you do a wrong, you hurt yourself.

Whether people know your thought, word or deed or not is irrelevant.

That you have hurt yourself implies you need to give it up.

So, what is relevant is what you do.

Not whether the world sees it

Or how the world sees it.