What goes up necessarily comes down. That’s the cycle of life.
And then I thought of Gibran. And shamelessly reproduce it here. “
Then a woman said, "Speak to us of Joy and Sorrow.” And he answered: Your joy is your sorrow unmasked. And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears. And how else can it be? The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain. Is not the cup that hold your wine the very cup that was burned in the potter’s oven? And is not the lute that soothes your spirit, the very wood that was hollowed with knives? When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy. When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight. Some of you say, “Joy is greater than sorrow,” and others say, “Nay, sorrow is the greater.” But I say unto you, they are inseparable. Together they come, and when one sits alone with you at your board, remember that the other is asleep upon your bed. Verily you are suspended like scales between your sorrow and your joy. Only when you are empty are you at standstill and balanced. When the treasure-keeper lifts you to weigh his gold and his silver, needs must your joy or your sorrow rise or fall.“ #poetry #Gibran #KahlilGibran #joy #sorrow #Needles #UK #isleofwight #travel #travelblogging #travelblogger #life #quote (at The Needles at Alum Bay, Isle of Wight)
Joy
The tradition is this. The couple declare their love, lock it up in a sense by affixing a lock atop a bridge and throwing the keys into the river!
Whatever happens to their love is upto anybody’s guess. It sure does leave a heavy bridge that is full of locks. Locks of all shapes, sizes and even numbered combinations!
I first wrote about it here : https://www.kaviarasu.com/2015/04/locks-of-love/
Locks of love. Lots of them in romantic Paris!
#Paris #love #Locks #lovelocks #Travel #traveldiaries #joy #culture #tradition #europe #EU #France
Giving !
It is morning. Its still raining. The flowers on offer are too tempting to resist. Bright white ones. With those dots of yellow. All kept in a red bucket. Fresh from a pond close by. Theres not much aroma. But they are a treat for the eyes.
***
Theres a knock on the door. And a young innocent school going kid stands on the other side. She smiles. And proceeds to state that she is from the 10th floor of the same apartment.
“Its the Joy of Giving Week uncle”. So she speaks. In a well rehearsed presentation. The request is simple. She is collecting old newspapers from each house in the apartment. She wants to sell it and ‘GIVE’ the proceeds to slum children living close by.
She sure should have given slum children something. For all the newspapers in the apartment would have added to decent sum.
More importantly, she sure gives hope. That all is not lost. That people still do think about the man living down the street. And are willing to go knock and open many doors. The mind is young ! Nothing can be more encouraging.
The Joy of Giving week is here ! Actually, its slipped into its third day ! It sure does merit an extra thought ! And some action too.
In the modern day, fast http://premier-pharmacy.com/product-category/allergy/ paced world, to stop and look is at a premium. Giving is still further away! Perhaps its time, to make a start. To stop, look and give ! Perhaps its time to commence by giving !
Whatever. Clothes. Eyes. Appliances. Books. Sweets. Whatever ! Perhaps its important to add there : Time, hope and such else too. And maybe they are the ones on real short supply !
So people, here is the message. To all those that give, give more ! And for all those that have been thinking about it : try giving !
The Joy of Giving week is here. And we are three days into it ! Make a start this week. And carry it all along ! Perhaps you can let the world know by sharing it too. You never who it will propel to action !
***
Ah those flowers. They were beautiful weren’t they.
The smile and joy that emerge after sometime, evident from their wide grins and shy nods is but a logical visible consequence.
A consequence of something as simple as a small conversation over a pack of cookies that were in the car..! It has always caused unceasing wonder, that such smiles indeed reside in otherwise sad faces.
The beauty in those smiles.. well.. they beat the beauty of the flowers. All the time !
Kala Ghoda Festival ’09
The Kala Ghoda Art Festival of Mumbai beckoned. Kala Ghoda ( Black Horse ) is the name of that area. (Named after a statue of Prince Edward astride on a black horse, which incidentally is long gone) .
Read the details of the festival here.
A festival, to my mind, is a swarm of people, a riot of colour, a ring of happiness, sounds of cheer, loads of music, tonnes to see, and of course leaves you with a ring of joy. That’s what happens at the Chitrai festival in Madurai.
That’s what happens at all festivals. That’s something that was abundant at the Kala Ghoda Festival too. Make no mistake though, each has a different character and ring to it !
Here are some pictures from the Kala Ghoda festival !
The Entry Arch ! 
Art out of bottles, buckets and such other ‘water carriers’ ! The amount of plastic and waste that we use seem to be going sky high !
We seek to look upto the sky for some answers !
This stall both educated and appealed to the people with toilets at home. And sought to remind that there are many without that facility. And what a way to do that ! This one stayed with me. 
The stage backdrop
A clothes stall with puppets in front.
Of course. The symbolism was hard to miss. As i stood outside, looking at other sights, the missus was inside !
A flute vendor
I wonder why they don’t give some flute lessons along ! The chap plays flute so well, that you are tempted to buy it with the hope that the magic is in the flute. And that you too would be able to pull off such mellifluous music from thin air.
Alas. When the flute comes to my lip, all it could produce was a vague gust of air and some strange sound that was almost like a fire alarm.
A wire made man walking a narrow strips !
Art from metal was captivating ! And captivating was just not the word. I stood there for a long while. Just to revel in the ingenuity of the human mind. And wondered why we seem to go in tangents so very often.
There are faces on the wall. They seem to be saying something. And that’s there on all walls of the world ! Aren’t there !?!
Empty well arranged bottles that had a people squinting, jostling and keen to look at what was inside ! And all the jostle had more people jostling to take a look ! Curiosity value gets some takers ! But this Osmosis was quite a sight !!
A kathak performance that we watched. Enthralled. Standing. Jostling. Yet, eyes rivet ted on the synchronous movement of legs, arms and body, to create a delight for the eyes and the ears.
And when we walked away at the end of it all, there was no mistaking the thrill that was there in our hearts !