In memory of Rup Advani

WHEN YOU ARE GONE

My space is empty

Only solitude remains.

In the shadow of sadness                                                                                 

Trying to erase you from my mind,

But the moment eyes closed

You’re there standing.

Do you remember?

“No more private dreams

Our dreams mingled

Two souls unite

When love finds and binds the two of us”. 

Do you remember?

All the comforts of life we shared,

Happy and sad days combined, you by my side.        

Warrant of destiny came in surprise form

And you’re gone forever.

Only the presence of happy memories remains, now tinged with sadness!

Inescapable sorrows and happiness are elements of solitude for the moment?

(Rup, my soul mate for 36 years left this worldly abode on February 17 1997.  I post this poem in his fond memory.)

The  Two Crows

Two crows perched on a lamp post with a vengeance

After attacking the poor creature, not sure egret or hawk

The poor lone bird

 Trying to escape from its invaders

Cried aloud while the two on its either side,

Quacking quack, quack like a gunshot,

My eyes couldn:t miss it even for a blink.

The lone desperate bird in a magic turn

 Escaped and vanished into oblivion

The two angry crows sat on the lamp post throne

Claiming their kingdom on the sky

With a haughty look,

While I blamed myself for missing a chance of a video. 

The letter from a young friend.

In continuation of my previous post this is another part of the letter my young friend sent me. I post it in appreciation of his gesture. As mentioned earlier he is pastor and aspiring to become a qualified school teacher. I wish you Mr.Choong Man Kim all the best. Thank you for your encouraging words. 

This is a letter I recently received from a young man aspiring to become a teacher. His recent collection of my poetry books "The Land of Dancing Dear"  and "Symphony of Heart Songs" has been an inspiration for him to read the poems to his students in a school where he is helping in the class. He is still reading my memoir "The Letter"and I do hope to  get feedback from him some time soon. Still more to post.

The image of a happy and heavy woman attracted me in a park at Managua, Nicaragua and I was informed that it was sign of prosperity and happiness. I wonder now at this modern age do people of Nicaragua still believe that way! May be not 'cause I see many young girls slim and in tight jeans walking around in the Mall as well as in the streets.
Another thing I shall never forget the dark clouds and  sudden down pour of rains with nerve breaking thunder. Then next day it was clear sky and by afternoon or night the same thunder coming back.
 It was always a pleasure to walk around watching the old colonial style landscape of the city.. .   

rickshaw driver sits facing customer's back Something new I am seeing in Nicaragua

one of the oldest church in Lean, Nicaragua.

statue of very  plump woman.

traditional dress of local people

Julio and Ellen with baby Nirvana

Sana, Ellen with baby Nirvana, Julio

jamuna,Sana and Julio

jamuna and Sana at the park in Leon.

Sana, Elen, Jamuna las Penitas beach, ,Leon.

musicians playing local  musical instrumensts

Julio with his mom Maira at Mashaya, Nicaragua.

Our Tokyo Visit

Our Tokyo Visit

July 6^th,1992

Tokyo

We enter the hotel bobby near Tokyo train station. The hotel receptionist at the counter gives us welcoming smile. “What can I do for you sir?”

“We need your help” Rup my husband replies.

The receptionist waits.

“We want to have dinner in your restaurant, but our taxi is waiting outside. We need to pay for it. Can we get some yen in exchange of dollars?”

“Of course” the receptionist responds. He is happy to help and hands over the amount of yen in exchange of our dollars given to him.

We come out of the hotel lobby while the receptionist turns his attention to the next customer waiting. I feel a little guilty as we leave and head for the Tokyo train station instead of eating at the restaurant but we have no choice.

Yesterday after reaching Narita International Airport by Japan Airlines whcin took off from Los Angeles, we stayed in Hilton Hotel Narita which is about 10 minutes drive from the airport.

Earlier today when we boarded the JR train from Narita for Tokyo city, we are mesmerized by its speed and the sparled interior of the train. The screen showing the speed and destination is really astonishing. Rup is spellbound watching the technological innovations of this country. After about an hour in the train we reached Tokyo staion.

We got out of the train and walk around the city but stay close to the station. Admiring the landscape of the city along with skyscrapers and greeneries side by side, we stroll around for some time. We finish our lunch and do some shopping for souvenirs to take home. We lose all track of time and suddenly realize we are short of yen for our return journey.  The banks are closed now.  Running out of time, we try nearby shopkeepers for exchange of dollar with yen. But no one is ready to help us. In other countries we have visited, we have never experienced like this. It has been always easy to get local money in exchange for American dollars.

The train ticket for going back to Narita has to be purchased with yen only. As our flight to India is next day early in the morning we need to be in the hotel at Narita tonight. We are in a fix.

It is at this point that we see the hotel with the nice receptionist. My husband and I enter the hotel and we are lucky to get our yen through the trusting unsuspecting receptionist. My admiration for this country increases as we leave the hotel and I hope the receptionist does not feel bad  that we did not stay to eat at the restaurant. Despite our problem we did buy some great souvenirs. One of them is picture below.