Vallamai thaarayo

Subramaniya Bharathiyar - Mahakavi, Freedom fighter, Journalist, Social reformer. But to me, one word is all that comes to my mind - Pioneer! He was not just a pioneer in action but also in thoughts. As fate would have it, he was not understood let alone be celebrated during his time.
How tough should it have been to feel out of place, how frustrating to be forced into a ridiculous bubble of mundane existence - no wonder he derived pleasure in his rebellious acts. It is indeed clear from his life that he saw no fruits for his efforts but that never stopped him. All he had was visions for the future - Free India, Empowered Women, Equality and more. And his dreams were no ordinary, they were vivid as if it was screened for him, exclusively.

வெள்ளிப்பனி மலையின் மீதுலாவுவோம் - அடி 

மேலை கடல் முழுதும் கப்பல் விடுவோம் 

பள்ளிதளம் அனைத்தும் கோயில் செய்குவோம்

எங்கள் பாரத தேசம் என்று தோள் கொட்டுவோம் 

ஆயுதம் செய்வோம் நல்ல காகிதம் செய்வோம

ஆலைகள் வைப்போம் கல்விசாலைகள் வைப்போம்

ஓயுதல் செய்யோம் தலை சாயுதல் செய்யோம்

உண்மைகள் சொல்வோம் பலவன்மைகள் செய்வோம்

Sure, he had some low moments yet he resorted to asking for strength.

சொல்லடி சிவசக்தி - எனை

சுடர்மீகும் அறிவுடன் படைத்து விட்டாய்

வல்லமை தாராயோ - இந்த

மாநிலம் பயனுற வாழ்வதற்கே

சொல்லடி சிவசக்தி - நில

சுமையென வாழ்ந்திடப் புரிகுவையோ

Sounds like he had realized his potential and roared against those who ridiculed him

தேடிச் சோறுநிதந் தின்று - பலசின்னஞ் சிறுகதைகள் பேசி - மனம்
வாடித் துன்பமிக உழன்று - பிறர்
வாடப் பலசெயல்கள் செய்து - நரை
கூடிக் கிழப்பருவ மெய்தி - கொடுங்
கூற்றுக் கிரையெனப்பின் மாயும் - பல
வேடிக்கை மனிதரைப் போலே - நான்
வீழ்வே னென்று நினைத் தாயோ

Although my life is a speck of dust compared to what this great legend had experienced, I derive immense motivation from him to see beyond the moment and believe in what I do, however small, irrelevant or out of the ordinary it might seem today.

Random thoughts on blogging and aspiring writers

I had been blog-hopping today and as always, was feeling overwhelmed at the number of super good blogs I stumbled upon. Every blog was well maintained, every post well written, every idea conceived with clarity! And that brought me back to the ever-gnawing question of what I am doing with this blog. It is neither focused(on specific area) nor is it updated regularly. Still, why should I blog? Shouldn't I be abandoning it? That moment, one of my favorite quotes flashed in my mind.

The woods would be very silent if no birds sang except those that sang best.

On a similar note, I was pondering upon the world of possibilities blogosphere has opened up to aspiring writers. When I read books of an amateur(err, should I say aspiring?) writer, clearly, there is a huge scope for improvement in their work. And when I read a post by Ashok Rajagopalan, I couldn't agree more on how rewriting helps a lot! I wish I could share it with every aspiring writer looking for feedback. But I doubt that it might be mistaken as plain rude and since I don't have much authority on books-authoring-and-such-stuff other than reading and sharing my views in the blog, I share the post here :) Rewriting to make it louder and funnier

Felt dress up

As I have already mentioned in another post, an off topic post is better than an idle blog! So here is a felt dress up as a gift for a little girl. I had so much fun making it :)

Play station ;)

No, not that kind of a play station, LOL! I have been making a play kitchen with cardboard boxes and finally, I brought it to a logical end recently. Here it is :)

I made a small play station(!) next to the kitchen with a magnetic board, felt board, felt dress up and a small track for the train.

P.S: Sorry about the poor quality of snaps as I hurriedly clicked them on my phone before my daughter could wake up!

Characters of Mahabharata: E

Ekalavya

The young prince of Nishada, son of Hiranyadhanus, is a well known character in Mahabharata for the guru dakshina he gave - his right thumb! 

It is said that after Dronacharya declined to take him as his student, Ekalavya learnt archery himself by making a clay idol of Dronacharya and accepting the idol as his Guru. When the Pandavas find a dog's mouth sewn up by arrows that neither harmed the dog nor let it bark, they and ultimately Dronacharya spot Ekalavya, and Dronacharya asks for his right thumb as Guru dakshina. Later, Ekalavya is killed by Lord Krishna in a battle.

There are two interesting perspectives for Ekalavya's guru bhakti. One, which glorifies Ekalavya, states that Dronacharya refused to accept him as a student as he belonged to lower caste and went on to get his right thumb as dakshina to make Arjuna, his dearest disciple the best archer in the world. 

The other perspective, though, reasons out the logic and hidden purpose for Dronacharya's act. It claims that Ekalavya's mastery in archery would not serve good purpose as he belonged to the tribal kingdom Nishada who weren't law-abiding. Also, exhibiting his skills on a dog was not considered acceptable behaviour.

What to name it?

Naming a post as 'I am back' makes sense only when you don't keep coming back umpteen times and give an excuse. But that's what am going to do in this post. Much as I hate to admit, looks like I won't stick to blogging if there isn't some commitment, like a blogathon I did this January. So, to DO IT NOW, I wanted to take part in a blogathon again but being me, I was lost in blogosphere searching for a marathon that suits me. So, i took matters in my own hands and decided to finish off the series on Mahabharata that I started a while back. And also to do some serious reading and reviewing. Yes, I can do it!

llama llama

At times, am scared I will change this blog into a mommy blog. But something is better than nothing, hee hee. And I have the bragging rights in this space ;-) 

It's all about the book llama llama - wakey wake by Anne Dewdney. Its a board book about a day in llama's life from waking up to getting dressed to starting a new day. I have been reading this book to my LO(13 months now) for a while and one day, I asked her to read it for me. And she surprised me by making a couple of actions from the book. Totally thrilled, I started reading out the book with simple actions that she can relate to and within few days, she can read out the entire book through actions.

Thinking about it, this simply reiterates the facts that I learnt from the internet and the book Baby Read-aloud basics. One, repetition is the key. Two, when reading a book to your baby, make it interactive. Make simple actions they can imitate and pause when reading, as if waiting for your baby to respond.

Take a peek into my LO's bookshelf on Goodreads here.