A Kaleidoscope of butterflies.

Butterflies are symbols of Life and Hope. Seeing them out in nature is lovely and such a magical presence as they flutter in the air from flower to flower. They have a grace, elegance, tenderness and beauty that is reflective of life itself, which many wonder; teaching the awareness and energy, which every butterfly  sets things that used to be once known aside and embrace an entire new way of being.

The transition of a butterfly in the cocoon symbolizes nurturing and healing of the self, by getting in touch with your feelings and the essence of your soul.  A butterfly is filled with the magic of " Believing." A way of believing that you can overcome all hurdles, challenges and emerge as a beautiful entity on your own. A beautiful creature that glides about in the sky, bringing joy to the hearts. Looking at the butterfly, you tend to forget the struggle it has gone through to reach its place in the breeze. It is believed that butterflies are a reminder of the magic of life, to tune in and embrace it.

Butterflies have a way of capturing your attention by the way they flutter around. An encounter with butterflies is really magical and enchanting. The flight of butterflies is fascinating to watch. Butterflies are delicate flying palettes of beautiful colours that remind you how beautiful life is; to be more tolerant and less judgemental of life. They make you aware that if there is no change in life and situations, butterflies would not have existed.  Everyone is a butterfly, waiting for the most beautiful things to happen in life.

Like a beautiful butterfly evolving, love each stage of your life, enjoying and without being judgemental of any transition to become a wondrous butterfly in life.  Hope to believe in your strength and faith to emerge in beauty. As quoted by Maya Angelou, "We delight in the beauty of a butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty," you never think of the pain it has gone through in its cocoon stage. Learn from a butterfly not to count the months but the moments, and still have enough time.

In the enchanting Lake Forest(Yercaud), I encountered a kaleidoscope of butterflies, fluttering from one flower to another like messengers of  'The Moment', in an array of pleasing colors with a insight of perceiving its life with the strength and stability of a mountain. My first instinct was to capture them in my mobile, but the butterflies surrounded  me as if they were asking me to just enjoy "The Moment' and capture them in my heart and soul. I felt lost like 'Alice in Wonderland' and revived my childhood in an ecstatic state of joy.

I stood there mesmerized at its beauty and the pain it goes through to achieve that wondrous, awe inspiring  beauty and realized it is the pain that brings out the beauty in your life. Whatever I am today, is because of believing in the value of everything around me and the magic of believing. Even when you crawl in pain, it is a perception that there is a beauty in it, which makes you take flight with beautiful wings to soar high. Though the struggle is exhausting  and difficult, you burst free with an awakening of new energy and an unknown feeling, stretching and spreading the wings of joy to soar high into the skies. The butterflies, captured and captivated my heart and soul into something I had not known till that moment. They taught me the unique feeling of transition and transformation; with strength and hope. A strange call for my heart, soul, mind and body, though I don't know where life is leading me nor what is in store for me. A butterfly became a symbol of  painful transformation,  joy and a beauty  of life after a  cycle of  adversities.

Those butterflies appeared to dance around me and the flowers, reminding me to take life as it comes, with a sense of lightness and joy, to go through the sequences in completing what I started. To release the energy to propel myself forward and dance even if I had to do it alone; go through my difficulties triumphantly. One of the little blessings sent my way to go through all pains of life. I still believe in little things that mean a lot to me.

I dance in glee,
Wild and free,
A butterfly flutters,
And lights on my shoulder.

I close my eyes,
In rapturous ecstasy,
Of the moment that,
Creates a magic in my soul.

A brief moment of,
Its love and beauty,
A rush of wings,
And then its gone.

Brush of a miracle,
Etched in my heart,
A butterfly moment,
To last forever.

The picturesque clouds of life.

" Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm but to add colour to my sunset sky." Rabindranath Tagore.

Clouds mean a lot of different things to each person. I have grown up understanding the positive side of the quote that clouds come floating to add color to my life. And today, when I watch the sunset skies, realize the value of it. It is your attitude towards life that changes every perspective of life. The clouds, if you lift your eyes and look at them, it is what you think of them, be it  poetic, realistic, romantic,  scientific, whatever it is;  it brings back things you might forget or  it takes you back to your roots. Best part of life is to watch them, feel them and enjoy.

A cloudy sky is more picturesque than a clear sky. A cloudless  sky is said to be  like a garden without flowers. You can feel and experience the most beautiful colours in a cloudy sky, a true cradle of nature to soothe your heart, mind and soul. Gaze over the horizon and walk through the clouds and get enraptured in it feeling speechless and wonderful as the clouds part,  taking you to a mystical land where clouds ushers life in the picturesque.

As Nathaniel Hawthorne quoted, " When scattered clouds are resting on the bosom of hills, it looks as if one might climb into heavenly region, earth being so intermixed with sky, and gradually transformed into it," it is a breathtaking experience to feel the clouds on top of a hill. Clouds just roll in the sky making you feel one could  really walk into the clouds. Sometimes nature interwoven with clouds gives the most magnificent, breathtaking, panoramic view that captivates the heart.  Clouds are a great metaphor in poetry and literature, that symbolize both negative  and positive: struggles, challenges, aspiration and also unveiling of all answers, dreams and hopes.

On a day, when the sky is overcast, and the  setting sun displaying an array of colors, the heavy grey clouds forming patterns in the sky, it is a beautiful sight to behold. You can visualize them the way you depict them in your mind. They just float or still changing their appearance as if they are in a theatrical realm. They are sometimes laced with rainbow colors, inducing hope.

Clouds are constantly changing and moving, beautiful , and casting your eyes on the sky you can impose your own feelings into it.  It is inspiring to watch the different patterns of the clouds. Standing  on  top of the hills, the clouds look as if  they are touching the ground or hovering over the head, making it a beautiful sight to behold. The clouds that come swirling all over the hills, brings with it a whiff of freshness into life,  with the fragrance of rain. The stunning views of the clouds in different shades silhouetted in the blue sky enthralls you, reminding you that life is beautiful. 

It’s a spark and a flame that ignites every fiber of my soul.

Spark.....Light.....Ignite......

It sounds very easy, yet difficult but not impossible.  Just an ignition to spark and create a ring of flame. Sometimes a spark is all it takes for the fire to rise to the fullest height, resolving to soar and be awe struck, above all the debris of doubts and confusion with the brightest of sparks. The positive fire of determination, perseverance, belief and hope while you wish for the best.  An eternal flame of faith that perseverance for a just cause is always triumph. The fire of  belief still burning in my soul, I always hope for my efforts to be fruitful and that flame of hope always leaves my heart with warmth. It is just a spark of hope  and a gentle whisper of faith that ignites my will to persevere and believe.
Optimism is a positive spark that drives you to  have the belief, expect or hope that things will turn out well. It is the belief that inspite of the setbacks and delays,  a positive result will be the outcome. A spark of hope, strength and belief can actually take you a long way in all your efforts and journey of life.

Believe...Faith....Hope.....

Faith is being sure of something that you hope for. Have belief in your faith and what you hope for, and that propels you forward. Believing and having faith are very closely related and understanding that the vital difference clears up a lot of doubts and confusions, though both are correlated. And unless you have hope, believing and having faith is futile. You need to have faith as small as a mustard seed, is what is believed,  hoped for and that makes all the difference in life. It is said that belief is an opinion or judgement that completely persuades and faith is believing, taking efforts and having confidence in your efforts to go forward in life. The difference is subtle, and it is your confidence that what you hoped, believed and had faith will come through in life. When you believe the truth that the confidence with which you took efforts, you use your faith to make things happen. Believe in the inner spark, hope to light up that spark and have faith to ignite your efforts in life. A spark of hope to believe in something and the faith to fulfill the dream of your life.

Aspire....Inspire....Achieve....

Aspire to go forward in life, inspire yourself with a spark of hope and believe in your faith to achieve what you have aspired for. And to do all this you have to ignite and light the spark into a flame to go in the right direction to take the efforts and hope for the best outcome of your hard work. To aspire is to rise above all obstacles with abundant hopes of fulfilling the work you started.   The challenges and hurdles,  on the life's path are many, aspire to inspire and achieve new heights, gain strength from the hurdles or be courageous to blaze; aspire to take the directions with hope and courage to continue your journey.

When the spark within you dwindles, fan the spark into flames to light up you life and inspire yourself to go forward in your journey. Work hard to let miracles happen to you, and go ahead with the belief that what you have hoped and dreamt for will pave way to make your faith a positive one in every way. Inspire yourself, reinforce your faith and be a reminder of the positive side of life. It is only the positive spark that lights the flame and ignites hope in every fiber of my soul, mind, heart and body.

" They are the ones who bring meaning to our lives, who happen to inspire, who sparks a fire that we carry with us for the rest of our days, who are but pillars of hope and sometimes sacrifice, life-changers, life-savers, catalysts." Chirag Tulsiani.

When I am gone.

When I am gone,  find me in

The sunsets and twilights,
The billowing and colorful clouds,
The waxing and waning of moon,
The chirping of  birds.

The mist over mountains,
The music of flowing river,
The undulation of the waves,
The cascading waterfall over rocks.

The rustle of the leaves,
The fragrance of flowers,
The fallen leaf and flower,
The cool breeze that comes to caress you.


Dewdrops reflecting the world around,
Pitter-patter of raindrops,
The beauty of weeds,
And the wonders of nature.


The solitude of life,
The soothing lullaby,
The melody of a lonely soul,
The shade of an ever giving tree.

My love for sunsets as a landscape and whisper of my heart and soul.

" The first stab of love, is like a sunset, a blaze of colours - oranges, pearly pinks, vibrant purples..."
Anna Godbersen.

Sunsets are always resplendent that  you fall in love with the sunset , over and over again.   They sometimes are landscapes of a heart or the whispers of a lonely heart. Sunsets are always spectacular backdrops with an array of colours and afire in a warm glow.  It is so magnificently moving to an aching  heart, mind and soul. It encompasses your body to feel the rhythm of everything around you.  At times they are so beautiful and mesmerising, it takes your breath away making your heart race at a speed that leaves you in awe, turning the sky into a lovely display of colors.

The sun caught up in a huge dark grey heart, emanating yellow rays, in a silhoutte of white fluffy clouds with a pinkish hue captivated me. The sun a fiery red ball, looked as if it was perched on the tree top. Birds flying in gay abandon across a sky that was beautiful with shades of pink, white, yellow and a slight tinge of purple. The sun was caught up inside the clouds and  swallowed by them for a few seconds. The hues with the comforting stillness,  an image that was shining with beauty on everything and  a calmness truly amazing. The sky lit up into a pinkish-purple palette with grey rays shading the sky into a pink and peach; a twilight curtain spreading a feeling of warmth through my veins casting a spell  in my heart and soul.

The canvas of the sky is painted differently with vibrant colours, each day, making it magical.  It spreads a light within me through its breathtakingly beautiful, most gorgeous sunset leaving me with a feeling of love and tenderness that I had never known before, healing all my aches and pains. I realized there is a sunset within each one of us.

I love sunsets, because no matter whatever happens, it inspires me with a hope and glory of life. It never fails to heal me. Sunsets for me are a metaphor of joy, gazing at the Creator's masterpieces every evening. When I watch every sunset from start till it disappears below the horizon, I experience a love, a beauty and joy that makes me enjoy the solitude around me watching the sky, sun, birds and the gentle breeze caressing me. The beauty of each sunset brightens up my life and fills me with wonder.

Life waits for me,
Just beyond the sunset,
Where I find a treasure,
Of eternal love.

In the expanse of the sky,
A paradise of colours,
Where you'll find me,
If you care to see.

If you listen to the magic in sunsets,
Its silent sighs,
With beautiful rays,
Spreading a light of hope.

I long for the moments,
When the twilight curtain,
Drops down with a palette of
Artistic tapestry across the sky.

My sunsets take me along,
With deep passion,
To the end of my day,
For a beautiful tomorrow.

It gives me strength,
To endure the beautiful pains,
And bring back the lost me,
With a promise of a wholesome life.

A grandmother's bundles of joy.

"Becoming a grandmother is wonderful. One moment you are just a mother. The next you are all-wise and prehistoric." Pam Brown.

The most magical bond and love of all is between grandparents and grandchildren, a rare rapport like no other bond, an unconditional love and a joy forever. It is sheer bliss to behold your brats beholding their little ones. To hold your  child is really amazing, but to hold your child's child is a different feeling altogether. Being a parent like a marriage, has lot of commitments,  pain , joy and a lot of hard work.   But being a grandparent is simple like being in love. Every little word, smile, hug and actions of grandchildren are something that washes away all pains from your life. Being a grandmother is an honour that time bestows, when you are lucky and one you don't have to work for.

Being a grandparent is a rejuvenating glow when you are growing old. You re-ignite, live  and feel the joys of childhood through your grandchildren. Those are golden moments to treasure, every milestones of  that life as you grow older with your grandchildren. Everything you do for them and with them is really special by definition. The thrill of being a grandma, the love and joy felt holding a wrapped up bundle of whom we call babies, melt your heart at the  first sight of them. Life as you really know it, becomes more unique and special, as we learn through our grandchildren's eyes.

There is nothing like spending the day with a baby to make you remember why it is so thrilling to be alive. Where the treasures are, there our hearts will be. Life is a gift and life with grandchildren are precious moments to capture and cherish. Life is loving every moment of being a mom and then a grandma. A grandma's heart is fullest known only by her grandchildren. Always celebrate the uniqueness and beauty of being a grandmother, that is always filled with hope.


"It is as grandmothers that our mothers come into the fullness of their grace. When a man's mother holds his child in her gladden arms he is aware of the roundness of life's cycle; of the mystic harmony of life's ways." Christopher Morley.

The expanse of the sky, an open canvas of beauty.

" If the sight of the blue skies fills you with joy, if the simplest things of nature have a message that you understand, rejoice, for your soul is alive." Eleanora Duse.

The sky is an open canvas of beauty  just like life. In the expanse of the sky, life moves like the beating of the heart inviting you in all its reflections and silent conversations.  There is nothing more inspiring  and delightful than simply staring at the sky  and watching the clouds drift by, making different shapes and forms.  You sometimes stop and stare in awe seeing the spectacular sunset or the blue sky that is overcast on one side, one part covered with  white fluffy clouds that look like cotton puff balls , and the blue sky covered with pink clouds on another side. Even the side covered with dark grey clouds, instill a kind of hope, with the layers of different hues of grey spread out and the sun's rays trying to penetrate through a small opening amidst the dark clouds. Gazing at the differently coloured expanse of the sky, you feel that there is some kind of symphony going on behind the clouds, marvelling at the palette of colours in the same sky.

The eyes and brains of all have different perceptions of the colours in the sky and the vision depends a lot on the outlook of life. A clear sky is calming, an overcast sky to many may be gloomy but it is a sign of rains and rainbows;  the expanse of the sky is freedom and space in life.  Just like the sky, life's forecast also is clear blue skies, overcast with clouds, rainbows, gentle breeze or storms.  However dark the sky may be, the sun eventually shines. Sometimes huge billowing clouds of pain can darken your landscape of life, but the next moment a rainbow appears to soothe the pain. The  sky can offer different  spectacular views depending on the time of the day. Even when the sky is dark, covered with clouds, you can see the sky clear and beautiful at another point.

 Moods of the different seasons are accepted by the sky in a very unassuming way. It doesn't lose its nature then. Life like the sky is boundless and unpredictable, but the opportunities of life too are vast like the expanse of the sky. If you care to watch the sky closely, you see the magnificence of most beautiful colours and nature's rare phenomenons when the  sun hides behind dark clouds. Watching the changing colours in the   limitless sky, illuminates and inspires your heart, soul and mind. When you look at the vastness of the sky, it is different all over like the different phases of life. You feel the significance of life looking at the sky, stars, moon and all the wonders of the sky.

Outlive all the storms, as life is a lot like the sky. True existence is like the expanse of the sky. It is said the night sky is a world lit by itself. When you contemplate on the scenario, gazing at  the sky during dusk or dawn, you can sense the difference between the two, and in reality life's perceptions too are a lot different, like the ups and downs. The descending sun gives a sense of hope, that a new day is at hand. The morning sky at dawn and evening sky at dusk, are one of the most spectacular and beautiful sights to behold. Just like some of those precious and beautiful moments of life are the sky at dawn and dusk, one that draws a breath or draws a sigh of appreciation. The dawn shines with a promise of a beautiful day and the dusk promises renewed hopes of   waiting for a new day.

"Life is the fire that burns and the sun that gives light. Life is the wind and the rain and the thunder in the sky. Life is matter and is earth, what is and what is not, and what is beyond is in eternity."
Lucius Annaeus Seneca.


  

A contemplation down the memory lane of a Teacher.

"A teacher's influence affects eternity, he can never tell where his influence stops." A quote by Henry Adams is a fact, sometimes a bitter truth. A teacher influences the students to a great extent, when  they go out to the world, they in turn influence all around them. In fact it has a ripple effect of a pebble thrown into a stream, the ripples ever expanding in circles that just goes on and on.

I would say a teacher is like a candle, that consumes itself to light the way of  others. Someone who inspires a child to do the best while correcting them with compassion;  trying to make learning creative and interesting. The teacher has immense influence on the children, who finds the best approach of teaching to make the class amusing and ignite their minds. In the primary classes, the teacher has to be one amongst the children to create an awe and interest in them to understand and think on their own.

As I look back on my teaching years, I realize that the life of a teacher is challenging, varied rewarding and  one that gives the best satisfaction of having moulded a child to take up the challenges of life. Many a times you have to experience the pressures of taking several roles simultaneously with simplicity: a teacher, psychologist,  disciplinarian, traffic cop, counsellor to both student and parents, father, mother, coach, referee, nurse, judge and jury. Doing multi tasks is a teacher's greatest plus point.

As a teacher, you have to accept the call to step in and show compassion, honesty, stability, durability and impartiality, in all situations. The school and classrooms are places where the heart and minds comes together,  and it is the teacher's responsibility to inspire and motivate. In turn you are lifted up and inspired by the love and laughter of your students. It is in you to do it as a teacher and that is the nature of a teacher.

A positive or negative influence from a teacher in the learning period of a child, can have a great effect on the life of a child. It can make or break a child. A teacher's influence can reach far beyond the classroom into the lifelong development of a child. If  you took some time to reflect the time in school, you may remember the teachers who made a difference in life. And it is a blessing and joy to feel and know that as a teacher you are remembered with fond memories. It is enough for a teacher to understand that you have inspired and made a difference in the smallest way possible.

As in life, even in school and in the formative years of  a child, it is the 'Little things' that count the most. It creates a huge impact in the life of a  growing child. The power and influence in these little things is immeasurable. Most importantly you have to be a caring one, with a smile that influences a child positively and that can help you get through to  the most difficult child in your classroom. The words of a teacher and parents have a great aftereffect on a growing child.

Teaching is not easy or intuitive, it is a skill. It is understanding both the psychology and physiology of a child, offering an attentive ear while being stern, being a role model and mentor, convincing and instilling belief in the child, understanding a child's skill and bringing out the best  in him/her. You can measure your inspiration only when students recognise you and stop you,  asking  if you remember them and cares enough to thank you. That is the greatest blessing and gift for a teacher.

" There are two kinds of teachers: The one that fill you with so much quail shot that you can't move and the kind that just gives you a little prod behind and you jump to the skies." Robert Frost.