Life Doesn't Frighten Me

It's Holi today. As the children and their parents gather in the lane and play with colours, I relish the spring morning at home, with plenty to read...Brainpickings is one of my favourite sites...thanks Maria Popova for exploring and sharing with us and walking us through the infinite cosmos of books.

Today is all about children's books. I am longing to get my hands on these treasures...when will they come to Mumbai?

She shares snippets from Maya Angelou's Life Doesn't Frighten Me and you can even hear Maya Angelou reading out the verses on Soundcloud.

In another post, she writes about Toni and Slade Morrison's collaboration in The Big Box. Which parent won't identify with Morrison when she says this:

The plight (and resistance) of children living in a wholly commercialized environment that equates “entertainment” with happiness, products with status, “things” with love, and that is terrified of the free (meaning un-commodified, unpurchaseable) imagination of the young. (Although children participate enthusiastically in the “love me so buy me” pattern, I think they are taught to think that way and that on some deep level they know what is being substituted.)

Would love to get my hands on Conversations with Toni Morrison.

More enchanting art and children's books - she introduces A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to School, and I absolutely loved the visualisation of the ants demolishing breakfast. This children's tale will be much relished by many a grown up simply for it touches a cord within all of us - thank you Davide Cali and French illustrator Benjamin Chaud! And here's a little more about how his illustrations take shape!

Once you're done with this, do explore the transformation of the grumpy teacher in Peter Brown's My Teacher Is a Monster (No I am Not) as it weaves a tale with an age old message - that sometimes we may not see a person for who they really are until we get the opportunity to look deeper. 

And then, the story of how great art evolves from a thought to the final finished work here as Klass Verplanckes shares his secrets and how Applesauce was born.

Source: http://blog.picturebookmakers.com/post/109965770341/klaas-verplancke

No Honking!

Today's post is about honking. For those who live in Mumbai, honking is a disease we must live with. We grit our teeth and bear it. Many however feel, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em! So, in Mumbai, at all hours, morning, noon and night people in the driver's seat of vehicles with roaring engines honk at other people.

Even at dawn, when the rooster should be crowing, and the air should be filled with birdsong, you will hear the honking of cars, motorbikes, scooters, and all other breeds of vehicles. Just like the Internet creates the illusion of anonymity, getting into a car or on a bike creates in their minds an illusion, that they're invincible and no one can see how nasty they're being, honking at the old lady hobbling to cross the street.

It's actually an outlet for many a troubled soul. They use this to channelize their rage. So, they honk at everyone and everything, and spread more rage. That's how the disease spreads. Instead of using brakes and slowing down, they step on the accelerator, and honk out all obstacles, be it man, woman, child, cow or crow.

Speaking of crows, is there anything more relaxing than the cawing of crows on a hot afternoon? And to go with it - a cup of coffee to block out the Honking Hobos. Here's what I've been getting my teeth into lately as summer days come upon us:

For those interested in history, dip a toe into the Big History Project.

Some good food for thought at The Blog of Bill Gates An interesting analogy on how using the wrong data points can lead to incorrect decisions on How Dinosaurs Could Help Us Fight Malnutrition. 

You can also get a free download of a chapter from his favourite business book and read his full review. He hits the nail on the head:

"Brooks’s work is a great reminder that the rules for running a strong business and creating value haven’t changed. For one thing, there’s an essential human factor in every business endeavor. It doesn’t matter if you have a perfect product, production plan, and marketing pitch; you’ll still need the right people to lead and implement those plans...." Bill Gates

Then, you could also listen to this reading of Blueberry Girl.

Catching up

These days, there is little time to pause and think. The days and nights seem to meld as I check off as Done-Done-Done the ceaseless endless list of tasks to be accomplished.

A day off in the midst of all this was all I needed. To pause and feel the sand under my feet. To feel tired, and sad and joyful again. To stop feeling impatient, and just allow time to dawdle along, with nowhere to go and nothing to achieve. Just to be.

Eckhart Tolle's Stillness Speaks helped me remember to breathe in and enjoy the moment.

I'm also reading The Tao of Physics by Fritjof Capra, in which he draws a parallel between the principles of quantum physics and the mysticism of many religions, and the concept of we are all one.

So much is happening in the world as I live in this cocoon with my books and the never ending deadlines. These are times of war and extremism. Millions of people are displaced. Millions hungry. Millions cold.

In India, change is slow to come in many ways. Watch this DW documentary on Sexual Violence.
Who is accountable? Who should be punished? Who pays?
Hats off to the people who fight for light and right.

There is an immense restlessness and the need to do more and give more. The question, framed by Parker J. Palmer is this:

"What do I want to let go of and what do I want to give myself to?”

I love this poem:

QuestionsBefore Dark
by Jeanne Lohmann

Day ends, and before sleep
when the sky dies down, consider
your altered state: has this day
changed you? Are the corners
sharper or rounded off? Did you
live with death? Make decisions
that quieted? Find one clear word
that fit? At the sun's midpoint
did you notice a pitch of absence,
bewilderment that invites
the possible? What did you learn
from things you dropped and picked up
and dropped again? Did you set a straw
parallel to the river, let the flow
carry you downstream?