Sunday Brunch (#5)

The past week has largely been an offline week for me; very little writing and almost no reading. I did read a couple of very significant posts which I am happy to share with you.

Dish #1:

I discovered Andrea Maurer through a weird series of disconnected events. Once the sequence had played itself out, I realized afresh that there are no coincidences. The universe makes no false moves, tolerates no purposeless activities. It moves in a perfectly coordinated dance, accomplishing what it was meant to accomplish all along. Strangely enough, the thought doesn’t rob me or my sense of volition; it strengthens it.

I have remained subscribed to Andrea’s blog ever since I came across her three years ago. Her blog forms a part of my morning reading. Last week, when I read the post I am about to share with you, I knew I HAD to make it part of the Sunday Brunch. She begins the post with a letter to self, This is what she says:

Sweetie, you didn’t do anything to sabotage this situation, but your thoughts and beliefs about yourself might be working against what you really want. You keep grabbing hold of things and insisting they’re the answer you’ve been waiting for. And when you do that, you take the Universe and yourself out of the equation.

Think back about all the business schemes that have come in and out of your life in the last couple of years (or beyond). What do they all have in common? They were all narrow and confining and restrictive. They were designed to put money in your pocket or fans on your Facebook page or accomplishments on your resume. They were all outside-in propositions.

Read the rest at: A confession, an Apology and a Promise

Apparently, that’s all I’m able to give. And so, that will have to be enough.

In other words, I will have to admit, once and for all, that I am enough. I really am, aren’t I? Wow!

If God had wanted me otherwise, He would have created me otherwise.  ~Johann von Goethe

Double wow!

Dish #2:

This share is a combo meal. You have one very sensitive writer, Sridevi Dutta hosted on the blog of another who is perceptive enough to appreciate that sensitivity, Janaki Nagraj. I would reserve the sharing of one of Janaki’s  posts for some other day; today I will talk about Sridevi.

Sridevi is a writer who excels in catching hold of one, fleeting, elusive moment, expanding the context of the moments and filling it to the brim with boisterous life. I ‘met’ her in April last year during the A-Z Challenge. Her poems, her glowing, illuminating vignettes always filled me with a deep contentment, and hungry for more.

Acceptance swirls in her words and life dances among them, now sombre, now giggling irrepressibly. I have frequently read her poems and wondered how she could see what she sees in mundane things… and how she is able to throw her vision in such brilliant relief that the dullest reader cannot but catch that vision and gasp in wonder. What a capacity for life!

The post I am sharing is a beautiful story about a little girl called Raji. Here is how her tender story begins:

It was Perantam time once again. Little Raji sat in a corner, bored and tired. The silk skirt weighed heavily on her thin frame. She desperately wanted to get into a frock and play marbles with Ravi. But Amma and Nanamma had brought her here. All the Aunties were talking loudly, none of which made sense to her. The one in purple sari who had a large bindi on her forehead frightened her. Who was she? Sujata Aunty? Usha Aunty? Anyway they all looked the same with those startling red bindis on their forehead and strings and strings of jasmines in their hair. Nanamma had wanted to pin a tiny one to her hair also. But she had refused and thankfully Amma also supported her. Between the two of them, Raju liked Amma more. At least she did not scold her with “Good girls don’t climb trees” or “Good Girls don’t wear shorts” kind of thing. Amma was OK. Actually she was good.

Read the rest at: Raji’s Day Out

To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.  ~e.e. cummings

Three times wow!

Dessert:

1. What A Joke!: If you’ve ever wondered where jokes came from, or who produced them, this is the post to read. This is where the whole mystery is cleared up.

2. Remembering Enid Blyton: Lemonade and Ginger Beer: I sometimes wonder if there are many people in the world- of my generation- who aren’t familiar with Enid Blyton. Unless they don’t know English, it hardly seems possible. Her magical pen wove enchanting worlds for more than one generation of children. Her appeal is timeless. Read this absolutely delectable post by the matchless Alka Gurha who did me the honor of gracing my blog with this nostalgic trip down childhood’s lanes. Come, meet other Blyton fans and let them remind you of a forgotten world.

 The theme this week seemed to be the bold, underlined and highlighted declaration: I am ME and I am enough.

A part of me sardonically says, “Oh yeah!?” I tell it to shut up and repeat to myself, like a mantra: I am ME and I am enough!

What did you think when you read it?