I Remember-2

3ToMy Uncle Over there in the vast firmament The sunshine in the sky Seems to be you to my heart Uncle, affectionately you were so high Your mind of beneficence is still perfuming Your good soul is still with us dwelling Your personality is still spoken about Your niece still wishes to be your sort Keep the celestial gate open Let your blessing droplets fall on Am I next honoured the way you wished My wisdom to be atop ranked Will I ever forget your gifts Will I ever forget your interests For my music and learning to grow To all your wishes I always bow Uncle, you're not gone..just up there To see your niece graciously grow greater With all her brilliance like you so higher This poem was written by me 25 years ago in fond memory of my only maternal uncle who was very much affectionate towards me and my siblings. 'Better late than never' struck me and I realised that I should post this poem now as a tribute to him - - - - - - - - - 4My First Flight Fear of first flight swirling in lub-dubs Pumped my heart beats in bumps closed my eyes and soon sleep appeased me Morning..jig of aurora nudged...to show me Too foamy an amazing pervasion of clouds Hide and seek the air-craft was playing Through the mist.A conservative Chennai-being In submission so devoutly patted my cheeks Chanting prayers to Shiva in Kailas Joked 'homam that sages might be performing' Landed into an embrace of fog That triggered off my memory in logs Of Mom blowing into the smoky wood-oven Me sneezing over sambirani on coal-oven Grand-ma behind smokes burning balls of cow-dung More so, the sublime semblance The fog had of domestic smokes Melted it into a picturesque land Ecstatically I exclaimed'heavens! wonderful Newzealand' *Homa is a Sanskrit word that refers to a ritual, wherein an oblation or any religious offering is made into fire. A homa is sometimes called a "sacrifice ritual" because the fire destroys the offering, but a homa is more accurately a "votive ritual". The fire is the agent, and the offerings include those that are material and symbolic such as grains, clarified butter, milk, incense and seeds.(taken from the internet) *Sambrani is called benzoin resin in English and it is the resin of a tree that is dried, powdered and sold in the markets, either as a powder or in blocks. Sambrani usage has been in the culture for many years and in fact every South Indian home will have sambrani holders that will be more than 100 years old. Even Ayurveda, advises us to use sambrani, as it calms the nerves, and produces tranquility, thus making the person ready for prayers. Years back women after having their hair wash, used to light up sambrani and keep a straw basket above it. The steam will seep out of the pores of the straw basket. If you keep your wet hair near the basket, it will dry it very soon and also leave a beautiful fragrant smell in your hair. Even if you have hair wash during winter months, if you use sambrani, you will not get a headache, especially if we have long, thick hair. The sambrani smoke is a lot more beneficial for you.*- (Taken from the internet) *To make the holy ash or vibhuti they used to burn dried cow dung balls along with the rice husk in those days.My grand mother followed that practice for many years