Dusted thoughts!

Dusted thoughts,penning down memories!

"Dust if  you must,but wouldn't it be better
To paint a picture or write a letter
Bake cake or plant a seed
Ponder the difference between want and  need?

Dust if you must,but the world's out there
With the sun in your  eyes,the wind in your hair
A flutter of snow,a shower of rain
This day will not come around again"(unknown)

Another monsoons,Another  vacations !
thoughts wander in the moonless midnight of the world
let the journey of life be glued together by light,love,shimmering stars, moonlight,magic,music and words.
enjoy the summers and summer prints,rains and monsoons are on their way!

Summer prints and sarees

these days..till now

A month and no posts.
Although it  sounds like a lot of time.I have been very much here,enjoying the Onam that went passed by,the rains in delhi ,the sunshine,the hills as always,the alarms that rang at six,the home works,my one year old..
Onam ..time the yummy payasams ,the banana leaf,the whole spread,the flowers..
It rained during Onam..but i loved it when it rained
Rains,Love and Memories:)-it rained in Jaipur too..when we went
The bouquet of sunshine on my balcony
The soft rolling  hills,the sea of  mists,the lakes,the whispering deodars,the cosmos,the fall and the fragrance of the hills..
The magical landscape and so much more to all of you...

Images and Ideas:Lakshmi Arvind
Please do ask permission before you use my images..

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

Frozen frames

How much I love my village, don't you all know? How much I want to get settled down in a village..people close to me know that too..away from the hustle and bustle of the fast city life..having seen many cities in my life, lived in many cities, I always want to come down to a village, where time stands still, you then see the time rolling, the sun setting, the evening lamps lit in the courtyards, the Ramayan being read aloud on the verandah.. and the beauty that surrounds me that reminds me of the phone call from my Amma telling me that its the month of Ramayana and they are going to read it in a day at the sacred grove starting from the sunrise of a day to the sunrise of the other day. How incredible the rituals are still followed with sanctity. I love them for what they are .

Influenced highly by the villages where our grandparents belong...there isnt a day that I don't remember them and our villages...how much I love them...how much.

Frames of  my village, memories down the lane frozen in time..Some time spent during the summers where the life is best! The green colocasias rolled their head when photographed, the violet guavas, the fallen and dried leaves on the village paths..ferns overgrown and so much more ..

Its the same every year, nothing much changes here..

images and ideas Lakshmi Arvind
pl do not copy or steal images.

Before the harvest....

Childhood memories ringing and swinging, amidst the family, the excitement once again, collecting flowers, laughter and gossips..

Fond memories of Onam time

Remembering all that I could

A few fun and lovely moments captured at home a day before the Onam.

Flower patterns from ..fallen and plucked flowers

Bougainvilleas, I never imagined fuchsias and oranges could make the rainy days brighter

My little one finally reached to the flowers and then u might have guessed what remained of them.

God bless us all.. My daughter's effort at painting Lord Ganesha.

Anklets that tugged at my heart..

There he goes..

Images and Ideas by Lakshmi Arvind, Gayatri Arvind. Please do not copy nor steal these images.

memories,dreams and reflections....

Flowers and leaves that fell into a large mortar and pestle in the garden takes me to the world of memories,dreams and reflections

Come travel with me to the wonderland...

Yesterday is but todays memory,tomoroow is today's dream

(Kahil Gibran)

Our dreams must be stronger than our memories.

We must be pulled by our dreams and not pushed by our memories.

Its also wonderful to bring back your memories...isnt so?

Give your dreams all you have got and be amazed at the energy that it gives back to you.

I am now dreaming of the brightest and happiest tomorrows...

Quiet reflections, memories and dreams ,life's bliss at the moment,you all enjoy this ...

Me and My Floating Dreams....

Fragrance and Flowers floating takes me back to memories of childhood...

Wonderfully fond childhood memories.

Memories about my specially fond grandpa..

My Love for music,the only reason,my love,my grandmother..

Magical moments at home,my sister.. 

Stop and remember all old things  once ..

Time has a way of breaking up our memory into fragments of miniscule pieces.

Pieces so fragile and delicate that thy caught up in the winds of time and strewn along the path of life and eventually forgotten,...

Trying to capture and preserve them within confines of our mind becomes exceedingly impossible as time goes by, and slowly they begin to vanish for good...buried forever in the past...

Walking its way into Onam

Its Onam...

Onam the Harvest festival

The Monsoons make its way for Onam,there is greenery and celebrations around,and its time to reap the harvest and rejoice with nature.

Golden sunshine,Multihued flowers and Onam..........Onam suddenly brings about memories of bygone times at home when celebrations were synonymous with Onam days.

Onam season brings about a string of memories.Memories of friendship,swings and childhood

Boat races,sumptuous feast ,new clothes and pookalams are abiding images of Onam.Longing for home as always..Longing to be back into the childhood days ,where we used to celebrate it at my Dad's traditional house Get togethers of the families,gifting each other clothes called the Ona-koddi,watching movies and lot of merry making.

I still remember the fun we used to have picking flowers for making the Pookalam (Flower Carpet)n

Gathering flowers for the pookalam is associated with memories of a handful of flowers one used to collect from paddy fields and hedges.Onam is all about Onasadya,the Onam lunch with mouth watering dishes and savouries and sweets.

Seasons Do Change and so do We?

Loving July,truly,as it gets ready to leave us.Some more days left to finish the month,How fast time flies?*Monsoons in Delhi*It rained against my windows,I had to get away,The Gulmohar branches swayed in the winds and kissed my windows,Some of them let their children play in the rain..Rains bring Nostalgia,Let it rain for Nostalgia sake.,Hariharan's Ghazal "Main Khayal Hoon Kisi Aur Ka........"making me forget myself,The feel is amazing.....I would love to walk in the rains,walk down memory lane,Rolling thunder, splash of the waterChange is what we cherish,But do we really understand the changes we go through in our lives?Look out of the window pane near you.*Do you see life?*Do you see the seasons?*Are they changing?*Seeing the seasons in transition is a joy!Falling leaves on the ground outside,memories fill my mind,My heart beats,a familiar sound at home the sight of the fallen jack fruit leaves were a totally different one.Arranging them onto the garden bench,life's simplest pleasure and that made it to the flickr explore.,Jack fruit leaves into coasters,interesting,isnt it?Looking into the collection of pressed and dried old leaves ...I do quite realise that i am a memory girl,like the memory tree down the blue lake in my dreams.,*Meanings I couldnt find in days or years ahead.Rather, I find them in the 'now'.Enjoying the rains, browsing cookbooks...what else in life during vacations?Vacations got over so easily,My  maid runs away locking me inside the house,What fun!

*SEASONS of life will fascinate you, if you watch them closely.