Onam Memories

Today is the day before Onam..Is it the nostalgia wave hitting? I sit recollecting memories,reading Onam memories written by the famous,thinking of the simpler times of life.One such beautiful memory has been written by the now famous Malayalam film director Mrs Anjali Menon.I was reading the first draft from her blog, of her first movie"Manjadikuru" (Lucky red Seeds)which has made her famous.I eagerly wait to watch it given an opportunity.

Here is an excerpt of what it says

"Today is the day before Onam. On any other year, today would be filled with the excitement of the festival, the homecoming of the family, the flower patterns and of course the onakodee- the new dresses or sarees gifted. But this Onam, I am swept away in a totally different direction…

"I don’t exactly know when or where my journey as the writer of this screenplay began… perhaps it was when I found my first red seeds at my tharavadu; or perhaps it was when the first line of the script slipped out onto paper before me. Somewhere started this exploration of my childhood and that of many others with relation to the land we no longer inhabit. The land that holds our roots and our origins. Nostalgia, childhood, reminisces… all these words tend to usually total upto plenty sentimental mush. But beyond those rose-coloured memories- there were others… that shaped the way we thought, the way we sensed and in general the way we grew up.

The touch of moss, the new born puddles, the alert mynas, hot payasam on banana leaf, the hunchbacked sweeper, the baby kittens- I could go on and on… and so I did go on and on and when collated on paper- it turned into some sort of a script. A script that told a story so different from what we usually see on our screens."

The images of its movie posters also rekindles fond memories...

I loved the way the  script is written..even i am thinking of the flower carpets,the crisp white and golden bordered sarees,Sambhar,Aviyal,kalan,puliserri,olan,the hot semiya payasam,the small yellow bananas and boli that went with it,the kai varuthathu,the chakkara upperi..the Onam special movies on TV...missing it all...

these images do comfort me,do hug my memories to a great extent ...and hope all you will have a wonderful Onam !

Images courtesy:Mrs Anjali Menon.Manjadikuru

Text courtesy:Anjali Menon

It Rained in Shekhawati

Yes,its raining here..
As i sit here,the small windows of the apartment open..

looking down to the greenery,the park thats flooded with water..
Some frames of a rainy day in the magical city of Shekhawti..
Everybody might not believe it,but it rained wherever we went:)-

Images:Lakshmi Arvind
Please do not copy images  nor steal images without permission

Evenings at Pushkar

It looks like it was yesterday,that we were in Pushkar.

Rememberance of the cold evenings out there ,the rythmic beating of the drums as the sun sets ..

The soothing folklore from the ektaras.

The golden glow on the white washed ghats.

 People seated on the steps,waiting patiently for the Sun God to set.

Numerous frames and views captured

.All Images Courtesy:Lakshmi Arvind
pl do not save images nor use them anywhere without the prior permission of the author

Happy Janmashtami to all..

The music of his flute ringing in me and deeply in love with ....Lord Krishna

All images courtesy..LAkshmi Arvind

Journey,rains ...life

Time for travellling during summer vacations has always been kept apart.This time time wasn't different either.A long tour which started to kochi and ended in the palani hills..Beautiful ghat roads through the tea estates,rains and finally the forests ,winding paths and then on to kumily, thekkady and finally in to the plains of tamilnadu and that went up to the hills.The rains where a constant phenomenon during the travel and so we enjoyed it much more than usual. 

All images :Lakshmi Arvind
Please do not copy nor steal images.