New Home ( by Sanghamitra Nath)

 

Finally, I have arrived in my new home. And suddenly, I am feeling that so much have changed in all these years. I am in a place now where I never thought I would be. Therefore, more than ever before, I believe that it is LIFE that chooses us and prepares us for its next turn and not us. We would like to believe that we are the doer of things, the creator of events but it is not us. We are being prepared by LIFE to do things. Even if you don't do anything, something will come up and turn your world upside down.

 Among many things that I have noticed is that I have become more and more reclusive. Once upon a time, in the Victorian age, being a recluse or a solitary man was not uncommon. Writers, poets and artists were often like that. Hermits, scholars and monks also led a solitary existence. In fact, some amount of silence and solitude was even mandatory for writers to write, artists to paint and monks to pray. Not only to write, pray and paint but also to cook and tend to the garden. 

Even if things can be done without silence and solitude, yet with silence + solitude, an ordinary moment  becomes beautiful and starts having a soul of its own. I believe that magic often happens in silent moments when nobody is watching or influencing you. Where you are not even influenced by your own thoughts.

Solitude means being in your own company rather than in the company of other men all the time. I have noticed that I gain very little in life if I remain with a lot of people all the time. I tend to react more, get upset and affected more. And I lose a sense of purpose, a sense of well being. I get lost in the chatter of the world. Only solitude helps me to listen to my inner voice. Solitude helps me to create beauty, beauty  in everything including beauty of thoughts, actions and purpose.

Although I may not be able to live for beauty always, it is something that I aspire for. It calms me down. The kind of beauty that is created from trash, brokenness or ordinary things fascinate me even more. Like alchemy. Like hay turning into strands of gold. Like life that was once broken, repressed and hopeless but now, healed and empowered. 
But the big question is : Can we be in the midst of chaos, a society full of people and their mindless chatter and disturbing noise, yet be able to silence our minds ?  
This is something that I am exploring now.

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Picture 1 : Home decor /my living room
Picture 2 : My watercolor paintings 

Beauty and Madness

 

For a long time, I have not updated my blog. That is because I have been dealing with a lot of events in my life lately. My husband has been transferred to a new city. We will move there as soon as he finds a new home for us. Meanwhile, I have left my old city for good, with bag and baggage and right now, I am living with my parents in my childhood hometown. 


My health is also improving though there is lot left to be desired. At my parents home, I am getting enough time to take rest, eat good food and soak in the sunshine, all of which is good for my health.

  

I did lose interest in photography, writing, blogging and other such creative pursuits because of my health and also because of the adverse reactions of the strong medicines that I have been taking for a while. However, in spite of all these events, I have been thinking of beauty and seeing beauty everywhere. I do not know how this happens, but I can just “see” that. Something about life still intrigues me…the fragrance of flowers, the wild plant that grows between the creeks, the voice of  certain singers ( Linda Ronstadt , Lisa Stansfield ), their soul stirring melancholic songs, their voice hitting a certain note at a certain point of the song…and a lot of other things like the play of light and shade through the window in a room at odd hours…certain colors, like the color pale green or white and the mood created by them.

  

Beauty is beautiful indeed. To live , to feel alive as if my face has been splashed with a sudden gush of water…rain water, forcing me to come alive at this very moment..like a newborn calf that wants to run just after it comes out of its mother’s womb…it happens. 



Life gets more mysterious as time marches on. It plays tricks on us, on our senses. We fall apart sometimes but there is something that pulls us up in the midst of nowhere….it takes us by surprise…it shows us the madness that is called life. Madness and Chaos. And Beauty in the midst of it.

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Photo Description: Flowers I decorated in a brass metal urli (bowl) filled with water. All flowers are from my mom's garden.

Home Decor

For a long time, I wanted to share some snapshots from my mother's home in our native town.  The last time when I was there, I put some marigold flowers, a banana leaf and some other leaves in the vase. All the leaves and flowers are from my mom's garden. Here are some pictures from the living room.

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