Coiled cornucopia

I pick the sticky, sweet-smelling spiral with my fingers and admire its shape, slender coils spiralling inwards and meeting up in the centre in a thick irregular mass, the coils translucent and shiny with promise. I place it between my teeth and try to bite, but I'm met with resistance, as if the coils do not want to give away their bounty. So I bite harder, persistent in my desire. This time the thin, fragile walls collapse and the ambriosa comes flowing out and coating my tongue with such honeyed sweetness that my eyes close by themselves in delirious pleasure. The next time I bring my teeth together the walls break down even further with a soft crunch as more liquid escapes the fragile walls. Moving, mingling, merging, into a melting mass of molten magic. As taste-buds fire in 1000W intensity, sending lightning flashes of epicurean joy to the brain which in turn orders my heart to dance in pure delight.


Now I am taking them one by one, off the plate, with my eyes shut, sticky fingers finding stickier coils by the mere pull of anticipated pleasure. I lose track of time and place until I am abrubtly brought back to the world when sticky fingers encounter only a sticky, empty plate. Eyes fly open to confirm the truth, and alas, it is so. I sit back and sigh satisfiedly, with just a hint of guilt as I think of the calories surging through my body. I put those thoughts aside and continue to bask in the glow of remembered happiness.


Grateful? Of course! To the person(s) who invented and passed on this culinary wonder down the years until it reached me and provided me with a delighful experience everytime :)

The soaring call

As I sit here, in this land dotted with mosques, every few hours, I hear the muezzin call. It begins low at first and then like an ocean swell that rises from somewhere deep, it quickly gains momentum and rises, a wall of sound fuelled by devotion, embodied with worship, and driven by longing.

And then a pause, dramatic in its abruptness, as if the wave was stopping to rally its forces. And then the call rising again, meandering through the pathways of the heart, wiping them clear of vestiges of doubt, filling them with love. Sweeping me along, climbing higher and higher, like as if it wanted to bridge the gap between earth and heaven, to dissolve the veil that seperates the two.

The final crescendo, knocking on those golden gates where the Spirit dwells, and then they open, those diaphanous doors, transporting me for some glorious moments into the presence of everything luminous, awe-inspiring, blessed.

Leaving me deeply and joyously grateful.

MOONLESS, STARRY NIGHTS

Why moonless? you might ask. Because the moon is such an attention-grabber, hanging there in the sky shining resplendently. On full moon nights, the moon looks so captivating, like a milky pearl, drenching everything in its dreamy light, that we fail to notice anything else. But imagine a night when there is no moon and no clouds either, then you will see the night decked out in all its diamond jewellery, some twinkling mischievously, some soft and benign, all precious pinpricks of light in the inky sky. The sight of the stars opens up our vision like nothing else, for isn’t that the universe over there spread out above us,  stretching towards infinity. Makes me feel like an insignificant, miniscule speck among the mind-boggling, glorious vastness of it all, instantly taking me out of my self-centred self and completely wiping out my arrogance.

It even gives a different perspective to the concept of time and of Now. For even as the light from the stars reaches our eyes, it has left its source many light years ago, and we can never know if the star that emitted the light still exists or has died as we are gazing at it, or moved from the position we think it is at. Reminds us that things are not as they appear to be, and perspective is only that, not necessarily the truth.

But most of all I am grateful for the fact that when I stand under the canopy of the jewelled sky and bask in the soft starlight, I am filled with such awe-filled joy, that I forget that I am a limited human with a body and mind, almost completely lose the sense of ‘I’, and I am transformed by the sense of vastness and infinity which arises within me and that which I intuitively know to be my real nature.

ILLNESS

Why would I be grateful for illness when just yesterday I was feeling grateful for good health. For precisely the reason stated earlier, that I take good health for granted, and unknowingly push my body beyond its limits, or abuse it in many ways. The biggest abuse I can give the mind-body mechanism is stress. Stress as we all know lowers the immune system like nothing else, allowing the host of germs that are attacking us at any given moment an easy entry into our system. Unresolved stress, in the form of painful issues tucked away out of sight due to our hectic lifestyles or constant low-pressure stress that we get used to, is unrelentingly chipping away at something or the other in our systems, only to surface years later as tumours, ulcers or chronic illnesses like hypertension, heart disease or diabetes.

Some years ago, after a tumour was removed from my spinal chord, I was keen to know how it was caused so as to prevent it from ever forming again. A spiritual healer said something that made me sit up and take notice. She said, ’do you realise that the tumour was found in your spinal column in the area right behind your heart? It seems as though for years you have been tucking away stuff too difficult to handle right behind and out-of-sight of your heart’. Some pretty loud wake-up bells went ringing!

Therefore, when I fall sick, I know it is time slow down and take stock of the factors that are non-conducive to my continued well-being and try to eliminate them. Illness, it seems to me, is Nature’s wake-up call. So when it comes, I am grateful, for I know I have not been kind to my habitat and it is time to take remedial measures.

GOOD HEALTH

Something I’ve taken for granted all along because good health is hard to notice and even harder to be grateful for until we fall sick. When I was a biology student I learnt that the human body is a masterpiece in design and engineering. In fact it is simply astounding the way it is all carefully crafted and wired together, and the interconnectedness, symbiotic relationships, the complexity, the brilliance of it all, is just mind-blowing. We create a machine with say ‘n’ number of parts and it fails to work or falls apart after some time. The engineering at the macro level and right down to the sub-cellular level in the body is so brilliant and so intricate, that not in a million years will we be able to replicate it. The whole mind-body machine is one well-oiled, superbly working mechanism. And yet we carry this loyal tool around without giving much thought to its upkeep, and blatantly abuse it with all kinds of toxic foods, thoughts and emotions, poor diet and hectic lifestyles, over-medication and under-exercise.

I had reason to think about all this lately when I went to visit a doctor for a throat infection. Curious chap he was, he had an instrument with which he poked me, sending some kinda waves through my body and the results of which he read on his instrument. He proclaimed that except for the infection and cold I was in excellent health considering my age :))) He went on to say that I don’t look as old as I am and that I have maintained my self well. I don’t know if that was a compliment or a medical statement but I briefly considered telling him about my two surgeries. But then I thought he must have meant that I don’t have any chronic illnesses that start to beset people of my age. Anyways, came away feeling very blessed and extremely grateful :)

SUNDAYS

are for -

• coming apart on the couch
• cooling ignoring that cruel taskmaster - the clock
• casual, lazy brunches
• crazy trips of the imagination into uncharted, adventurous waters
• chilling out with music, dance, books, movies, and other fun things
• crunchy savouries with masala chai
• calling long-distance to far-away family
• comatose indolence
• charging my flagging batteries
• coming alive in silence away from the maddening world
• connecting to my inner self
• calming full-stop in the busy sentences of my life.

certainly grateful for Sundays :)

BABIES

If I ask anyone if they have noticed babies, they would probably nod in agreement. However, if I ask them if they have noticed themselves while they were in the presence of babies, they might not be so sure. Babies have this almost magical effect on me. The moment I spot one, my face breaks into a smile and if I happen to be talking to the parents, I then ignore them completely and focus on the little one :) (the parents don’t seem to mind this :) ) Unknown to themselves, babies hold this little invisible string that invariably draws me closer to my inner child. In their tiny hand they hold an unseen chisel that instantly cuts away at the masks I wear until I face the little one unmasked and totally myself. Their pure innocence and unaltered genuineness reminds me of those precious qualities that seem to get lost in the adult race for survival. Theirs is a pure beingness that is almost equal to godliness. No wonder Christ said, ‘Unless you become like a small child, you shall not enter the kingdom of God’.

Little ones from the animal world have an almost similar effect. Kittens and puppies have brought tears to my eyes. Tiger cubs and baby elephants on TV make my heart glow with love. Even tiny saplings, little sprouts pushing up from the earth, all connect me to the tender, the vulnerable, the loving and compassionate in myself. Yes, thank God for babies, we can see His face in them so clearly.