My 70th Birthday cake - baked by my daughter Nandita.

Amidst the September rains, my daughter Nandita baked a hot butter sponge cake for my 70th birthday. She used an old recipe adding made-in-Kerala Vanilla. 

 

A Blue Trumpet Vine

Saw a blue trumpet vine while out before the triple lockdown. 

An interesting sight. 

A blue trumpet vine planted and tended to by an unknown gardener in Thiruvananthapuram

The blue trumpet vine which has grown profusely makes for an interesting sight

The blue trumpet vine seems to like the sunshine 

Will the Uniform Civil Code in India further alienate women from traditionally matriarchal & matrilocal cultures?

Fruits of a pandhu lily growing from a bulb planted by my Mother in the laterite soil of Thiruvananthapuram

She attended all the marriages, naming ceremonies, housewarming ceremonies and took part in the rituals after birth and before cremation of the people She knew,their children and grandchildren.

She was not a stranger in the city she lived in, a city chock-a-block with the best hospitals, well-connected with transport facilities and…full of Her relatives.

Yet when She had a stroke, no one came to attend to Her. It took Her one whole week to get to a hospital for treatment. Her son who had taken premature retirement on the grounds of caring for Her yet lived 500 kilometers away working at another job, did not come to Her aid in time. Her daughter-in-law who had Her sympathy for being the impoverished daughter of an alcoholic yet herself too lazy to work for a living and on whom She showered Her love, time and the finest jewels, only held Her in contempt for Her large belly (“no abs at all”) and was too indifferent to care.

I, Her daughter, living over 2000 kilometers away was giving care to my own disabled daughter and her father himself recovering from a recent stroke.

Her niece who was thought to be close to Her and whom She had rescued from a consanguineous marriage to a man she despised whose mother she lived in mortal fear of, ensured that I, Her daughter couldn’t pay Her my last respects. She was cremated before I arrived within a few hours of Her passing. 

Remembering my Mother on Her 8th Death Anniversary.

Will the Uniform Civil Code in India further alienate women from traditionally matriarchal & matrilocal cultures?

Phyllanthus niruri - Keezhanelli

Phyllanthus niruri known as Keezhanelli in Malayalam springing in the rain in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.

The south west monsoon has set in.

Keezhanelli standing in a pit of laterite soil brimming with rain water.

There was stillness while collecting the seeds of Keezhanelli after the monsoon had moved from Kerala to other parts of India in 2017.

The tender leaves of Keezhanelli are ground into a paste using coconut milk and given to those convalescing from jaundice and liver ailments.

This was part of the traditional knowledge handed from generation to generation in Travancore.

Keezhanelli is also known as 'stone breaker' in common parlance.

On Guru Purnima

A sunny day, a gentle sea

A day to be reminded of ...an ocean of knowledge... ancestors... memories... gratitude..which have helped weather many storms when put to practice. 

Before the worship making a payasam with rice, jaggery, coconut milk, aromatic spices...

Aromatic spices leaves. before roasting and  powdering

A Platycerium gives forth new fronds on Guru Purnima day.

A Platycerium in Thiruvananthapuram Kerala

When a Gloriosa superba blossoms on Guru Purnima day... leading one to conversations towards the Kathopanishad. 
*They perceive that indescribable highest bliss as ‘This is That’ How shall I know that? Does it shine by itself or does it shine by another light*.

Gloriosa superba blossoms in Thiruvananthapuram Kerala

Gloriosa superba is known as 'Agnishika' in Sanskrit, 'Kalihari' in Hindi and 'Menthoni' in Malayalam. All parts of the Gloriosa superba are poisonous. The underground stems which are tubers are extremely poisonous due to the presence of toxic alkaloids like colchicine.

Reference: *transalated from Sanskrit - Valli ii of the Kathopanishad