Parenting is a boiled egg

One thing that is becoming painstakingly clearer with every passing day is that as a parent, we have to let our kids make mistakes...at least some. I am picking my battles here.

Being a parent is hard. And mostly annoying as hell. I am dreading their teenage years :|

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There are a couple of pieces I have been meaning to paint for the last few days. I have been putting off starting the project because it looks a bit tricky and I am scared to get it wrong. But then, my vangoghthelife sent me a simple canvas by him. Sure it has his tell-tale strokes, an interesting perspective, and well executed colour scheme... but it is not very technical and yet manages to look so appealing. Well, there must be some genius hidden in it because managed to make me want to pick up the brushes.. I hope this "want" turns into a "done".

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P.S. We have a red vented bulbul nesting in our aparajita vine.

Wishing for -what- will make this better?

There are some emotions you don't readily share with the public. Actually, these are hidden away in some obscure recess of your own psyche, just to emerge when something truly despicable happens. 

Like it happened 3 days ago. An act of cowardice and sheer evil. First reaction (as spectators from far) is anger, then helplessness... followed by hatred. It is such an ugly emotion, and I hope nobody ever has to feel so. 

It reduces a sane human being to a diabolical creature. 

And I feel that in times like these, it is justified. 

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I need a "publish privately" feature on this blog. Maybe that will make me able to rant clearly. 

Cosmic joker

Funny coincidence: every thursday at 5, T and I find ourselves driving towards the music class. On 90% of those days, that fevicol of songs plays on the radio - Light up, light up sketchers. I mean, the song is so bad, so, so bad. And it sticks :(

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Poetry is the salt

I happened to read some verses from rashmirathi today. I have always loved this epic. Of course when I first read it, I was too young and naive to even begin to understand the sheer genius of this creation. So about 15 years ago, when I first saw the entire epic (which is seven parts with several chapters in each) on kavitakosh, I was truly blown away.

So, one of the remnants of the good old era of nice-internet is kavitakosh. As far as I know, its a not-for-profit venture run by volunteers. Please do visit. It hosts so many gems that we do not come across anymore. 

Rashmirathi has been permanently bookmarked on my browser ever since then. Every now and then, I do happen to read a verse or two and it never fails to amaze!

सच है, विपत्ति जब आती है, 

कायर को ही दहलाती है,

शूरमा नहीं विचलित होते,

क्षण एक नहीं धीरज खोते,

विघ्नों को गले लगाते हैं,

काँटों में राह बनाते हैं।

The wind rises

Summer is in full bloom here in Hyd. As if on cue, the amaltaas have flowered right around Ugadi. So its an even more colourful display of beauty around us now. These trees dont believe in modesty I think :p

Even our humble balcony has been painted pink making the morning coffee an affair with beauty.

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The ghiblify trend has openAi's GPUs melting they said. I dont know if Miazaki would be happy or sad at this trend. I for one have no right to complain having tried it myself. 

Flame of the forest

A couple of weeks ago we went on a road trip to Tadoba. If I had to choose two words to describe this road trip, they would be - (1) roads and (2) trip. Just kidding, the words would be (1)where and (2) tiger.

Apart from our usual road trip itinerary (eating loads of junk because calories don't count on the road) we were able to witness something magnificent. - SPRING in the jungle. I was constantly reminded of the poem -"aaye mahant vasant". So many vibrant colors - palash, yellow elder, pink trumpets.. everywhere in the forest. While the boys were busy bouncing around to catch a sight of the beast, I was happy feasting my eyes on these beauties. 

I love libraries

 Overheard between two 4th graders in the school library... and I should add for context, they're both boys - "Did you know Bruno Mars isnt actually from Mars?"

I was there for a reading program. Loved it.