These two
beautiful pieces of prose were composed by my two friends who at present are
honing their creative talents while home bound during the threat of Sandy. I
found an odd connection in the following three posts:
On my Son’s Birthday
It has
been a sweet and wonderful journey with you starting from the day I held you in
my arms for the first time. You were born on a bright Thursday morning right
after a snow storm the day before. The lovely black curly hair on your cherubic
small frame of 5lb and 4ozs and your twinkling eyes brought a sense of
gratification of having par taken in your creation that word cannot describe
enough. Looking at you, my dreams of future were renewed with a fresh
zeal. Everything or anything is possible - that is how I felt with you in my
arms.
Oh, the
path traversed has been a remarkable one - learning new things from you every
day, ever since with renewed vigor. You brought back my cherished childhood
again - through you I have re-lived another childhood of innocence, wild
bewilderment, and an unabashed curiosity to know everything. Your questioning
mind and analytical inquisition has shown me the beauty in asking questions
anew.
My discovery of "Winnie the Pooh" through sharing
bed-time stories with you brought me the simple pleasures of reading beautiful
literature. I have since cherished the books by A. A. Milne and hope to keep
them to eternity. The discovery of poetry by Dr. Suess where we shared many a
laughter while deciphering the inner meaning behind those poems. Your philosophizing
during your potty breaks, at times quite irritating, and yet another lovely
encounter with your developing and a very curious mind. So many times I had
wished that I had paid more attention while learning to answer the myriad of
questions that you often posed and not provided you with a dumb answer instead.
As you approach your 16th birthday, I realize that soon you
would be entering the world of the "grown-ups", figuring out your
destiny amidst various challenges and making your own mistakes. I wish that you
find your true-calling and that make your decisions with much after-thought and
analysis as you have done in the past. I wish that you expect the best in
you and not expect anything from others. I wish you never find
excuses to not do something which you started with strong convictions, to
weaken the cause. I wish you always have pride in your abilities and never
doubt your conviction. I wish you develop strong individuality and remain true
to yourself. I wish you never look for gratification for your actions from
others. I finally wish that you find true joy in everything you chose to
do and never compromise or put others before your own conviction.
By Bipasa
Biswas.
A
Storm Unlike:
Sandy has
actually been a real positive thing for me. I am in a place in my life where I
want to celebrate - to dance with - what is unwanted, uninvited, marginalized,
feared. And if not anything, Sandy has been so much about fear-mongering -
"make sure you have drinking water and candles and batteries,"
"Make sure you stay away from windows"... this is not to say that
there is no real suffering - yes, people have died, people have been
stranded... But everything said and done, this is the reality for many people
in this world day after day after day. I think of the flood plains of
Bangladesh, where tens of thousands die every year in floods. I think of the
families who sleep under bridges in New Delhi - 365 days a year. I think of the
many more who have already lost their lives to Sandy in the Caribbean. What
gives us (the Americans) the right to expect that the Universe is somehow
obliged to uphold our health, wealth and youth at all costs? I am thankful to
Sandy for reminding us about where our lives and preferences stand, vis-a-vis
the vast theatre of life!!
Amazing fury
and yes, beauty of Mother Nature as she rages outside. I couldn't resist going
out for a brief stroll about an hour ago. On Roosevelt Island, the river is
level with the boardwalk, and water is flowing right in! No separation between
land and water. Winds gusting so hard that it is hard even for me to stand in
one spot. Lots of trees broken, uprooted. But also amazingly beautiful -fierce
- like Kali or Rudra or Oya... Certainly once in a lifetime experience and I am
so glad I went out...
By Sushmita Mukherjee.
-------------------------------
A birth...Inset of a storm
Somehow, the
onset of Sandy, a birthday letter written in a distant land and another
infamous birth with a famous comet like life span 125 years ago on this same
date, seemed as an incidental planning
by destiny.
He was indeed
a stormy appearance on the pages of Bangla Literature. He still lives and will
always occupy a place in our heart as he was the one who taught us the logic of
illogical imagination, and taught us how to think, how to ride the dreams to
listen to the thundering creation:
Sukumar Ray...a
legend we still live by.