Boxes, not Pandora's

Boxes in all sizes.

Small. big. medium. in-between.

Lined atop each other

face-down, bottom-up

side-by-side.

Can't remember anytime when it wasn't like this;

Can remember every time it has been their turn to be boxed and lined up. 

'Packers have arrived' tralalalala

the song paired with the screech of scotch taping,

the thud of the cardboard boxes on the bare flooring,

the fine dust that puffs up with every haul and manoeuvre.

The laughter, the banter, the whimsical whistling of the packer-boys bent-on filling them up, 

box by box, space by space, room by room.

Rounding off the days, four days in row

till the boxes 'carrying pieces of our life' are ready to board,

to be driven away boarded up, on wheels 

to travel homewards in the waters

to sail away and touch the shores at the other end,

much later than we touch home ourselves.

Like two-parts-of-the same traveling home on different time-capsules!

And maybe, just maybe

so that we are home to welcome back : the boxes 'carrying pieces of our life',

made up of the familiar, of the comforting, of pieces of memory and memoirs.

Each time a box is opened, a piece is revealed 
- a tiny familiar lurch augurs a memory, 

and a vivid inspiration for its nesting place

in the new home! 

(@Cliveden@Grange 10:45 pm Day1 of Packing)

Pausing, ever so gently

fresh flowers, fresh bedspread, freshness and anticipation; before flux takes over

Tell me if you ever feel this sense of Pause in the midst of the most ardent state of flux, a sense of weightlessness, a certain lightness in the mind which has allowed the body to relax ever so gently into a warm, glowing kind of stupor, not numbing; rather sharply aware of each sensation, each fleeting thought, each breath that leaves and flutters the edge of the lips - an acute awareness, a state of being!?

I managed to get into that Pause today in the midst of a colossally busy day - sending my son off to School on the last day of the year though only after a joyous reminiscing through his years there, his first day forebodings and many such tender memories; a jog in the sun;  two meetings with Clients in different phases of their journey with me; a moment to notice and fish-out the camera to capture the silence that rested in the different corners of my home this morning; readying the house before the arrival of our last visitors - our dear friends.  And yet I look at the clock and find time to bring these thoughts to paper.

Yes, our visitors are about to arrive and be with us before we say goodbye to this country, once again. This Country which effortlessly took us in— second time over— made us fall into its easy rhythm and of course, managed to get the tear glands active as we approach departure. 

So it is only fair to say to you : THANK YOU Singapore - you are that special home where every-time we get a little bit closer to ourselves, we travel inwards into the authentic a little bit more and find that special place inside of us that we missed noticing so far and thence, marvel at Life  !

(Images copyrighted to www.limegreenwalls.blogspot.com)

The Case for Joy

Some travel-buys come to mean a lot later, than when the impulse manifested. This particular tile representing the magical ritual of the Sufi swirl, has become one such special one N picked up on his trip to Istanbul. It makes a strong case for reaching deeper into the source for true Joy and abandon of the Ego in the search. It made perfect sense thus to make it a part of a more permanent fixture at home, a beautifully wood crafted shelf that hosts some other stories too! 

Sufi whirling (or Sufi spinning) is a form of Sama or physically active meditation which originated among Sufis, and which is still practiced by the Sufi Dervishes of the Mevlevi order. It is a customary dance performed within the Sema, or worship ceremony, through which dervishes (also called semazens) aim to reach the source of all perfection, or kemal. This is sought through abandoning one's nafs, egos or personal desires, by listening to the music, focusing on God, and spinning one's body in repetitive circles, which has been seen as a symbolic imitation of planets in the Solar System orbiting the sun. As explained by Sufis.

All photographs copyrighted to www.limegreenwalls.blogspot.com

Overlooking a rather cloudy Thursday morning!

As we step into a long weekend,
and pack our bags to a short break away from the 'this & now'
I pause - ever so gently:
Did I give you enough attention?
Was I really here, while I was here?
Familiar tugs, known longings,
stirrings-of-emotions pulled out from the DNA-pile
like always,
every-time it's time to move on.
I pause
(looking around)

Wish we'd use this pretty space more often!

Reflections - is what I see!

Colors @ home today

Inspired by the undying colors of the roses in my Uruli

A Post-Script & a day's Vignettes

Do not Define yourself

Lest you have to Defend Yourself

Be Everything;  
Be Nothing.

My guest room in the morning sun today.

{All photographs are copyrighted to limegreenwalls.blogspot.com, please do not reproduce without permission. All pics by me}

Books are everywhere (ought to be)!

We've been nomadic, leaving homes and arriving at a new, moving houses and/ or cities, averaging a shift every two years! Some others have travelled all that distance with us - most are subjects of many of my posts on this blog and some others un-mentioned though stoic in their presence!

Today I talk about the latter - our books.

If you've followed my home tours you would have spied them in various frames - lined up in my living room, framing my dining areas, standing tall in my study & bedrooms. Consequently, many bookshelves were acquired, and some given away! I can remember a year or two when we had to acquire more than one new bookshelf to ensure our books don't feel too nomadic and to give the new joiners some respectable seating!

Our current home is gorgeous in the many window shelves (a.k.a ledges) that it offers—potential home to the various hard backs and paper backs —within their breadth. Of all, the most dramatic is the little book-cum-reading nook in my bathroom!

 

Cosily inviting, right!

You can do it too! You can literally inject life into a dull space by placing some of your favourite titles - lined up, leaning, lying down or simply between fun book-ends. Here, I share some more ideas from my picture-treasure trove of bookshelves - stuff of dreams! (courtesy : various sources)

Ah, soaked in books!
Source : unknown

This one could surely be about books
Unknown Source

Source : unknown

Source : unknown

They sure deserve framing
Source: unknown

All pictures of my home copyrighted to www.limegreenwalls.blogspot.com, and taken by me.