Sipra's Diary: Poem. Tapestry of memory and Memoir (. AGING) Jan 25/22(Print)

 

Seniors seem  to be autumn -plant 

 Even with soft   sentimental touch 

  Fall apart , fragments of memory

   Like   dry but tinted   leaves .

Where  flies the glamour or flavor of life?

If variety is the spice of life 

Why not memory be?

why laughter romance fun

vaporize  through strainer in memoir;

Leaving in arid desert only warm sigh and  tear?

Let sprinkle of laughter and humor

be    added   to  serve  as dessert!

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    Memoir or autobiography is written on the basis of one's    "ABILITY'   to collect  memories ; one need to retain the past  events and images. 

 We passed through variety of experiences and emotions in life; Joys sorrows , love ,  loss  , gain ,laughter , fun festivals bitterness sufferings ,reward , insult and what not : whole gamut of emotions. 

We  the seniors, share our stories with one another in memoir classes  last two years The seniors focus mostly the negative side of life ;Out of ten members elaborately  write and explain about disease.  (mostly cancer), painful delivery of baby or death of beloved near and. dear one ., survival of   holocaust , neglected and troubled   childhood , unhappy marriage ending in   divorce, racism or surviver as  victim of rape  ; I feel   these are  no doubt painful events to forget ;But is n't life something more?

I always think why nobody writes   much about   stupidity   fun and humor  in every day life to make the readers' laugh. instead  of impressing their mind with tragedy ?   

Charlie Chaplin said" A day without laughter is a day wasted;Laughter is the tonic, the relief from pain."

Really,Life is a tragedy when  seen in close up, but become  comedy in long shot ; so   better to look life through  not microscope  but telescope .   Memoir is  a psychotherapy, a catharsis . Even the sad events loose  the edginess  as it becomes metamorphosis  through  the long gap of time ! 

I am noticing last 10/15  years the trend of literature is   turning to  add to  the  heap  of cook-book   storage and personal   memoir/ autobiography .  

Is it the future of  our  literature?

                                                   Sipra Roy

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Sipra's diary : January , the opening month of the year> {"[TIME the Deity]} "

 

January is the opening month of the New year . From school life I remember it as eventful, colorful, starting point.

Childhood was spent in  cold winter  of Bihar but full of fun ,festival and laughter ; shorter day longer night , basking under warmth of cotton quilt with siblings  like cattle, eating fresh  favorite vegetables; celebrating  Netaji's B'day Republic  Day , picnic , circus  and Saraswati Puja  'pithe parob',.. no end of joys.  Still now all these days in calendar   is a  reminder,..a vibration  like seismic wave ,  rings  like fade  echo of past bell  in ear.   

   Color and glamour of all these National days  have lost significance to our children in this foreign land .But why should I lament over the past ? Let me basking on ,' let it be ......

Let Time pat softly, calmly,'let it be ,  let it be '...... 

Sipra's Diary : " ME: " Eden of SMALL WONDER"-- (Memoir) (Printed)

                                            TITLE: Eden of.  SMALL   WONDER by   Sipra Roy

Print>  

I picked up a slice from  my childhood memories with   images  of small  wonder.and ecstasy. I grew up in the loving care of joint family with many members  in India. 

We had neither TV nor even radio  in those days. But we were happy with periodical fair, festivals, circus, sports, magic, annual picnic  etc. Family itself was a mini-community with variety shows throughout the day . 

Besides family and friends ,I enjoyed nature closely. The smell of first rain-soaked earth  and  the rare view of rainbow always charmed me.

I was obsessed with the Beauty of the sky ,with the dazzling  sun, twinkling stars, and  wax and wane of  the silvery moon! when I was in grade 2, I learnt  that   the shape of  our earth is like an orange and it rotates  around the Sun ;I imagined that the earth 'rotates" like a ball;  So I wondered then  why  like topsy turvy  the sky didn't come on the ground under our feet?   While traveling by train , it surprised me to notice that the moon also traveling with us ;and the outside trees lamp-posts and all other things were running to our opposite ; was it the same & single moon which  I could see  from everywhere?If it was so, then why my own house or neighborhood  became  invisible  to me when I  went  far  away ? There were such a plethora of wonders to puzzle me !

  Anyway through a serpentine course   of life  now I reached  to older adulthood  in this land, far   away from the land I was born. I met here some other like -minded women of my age with whom I  was bonded together  under the canopy of  DOROT  organization  which served as  an extended family ,  to share  our stories :  through the  journey of life .Though physical vitality  has  declined, still, many of us   are able and eager to embrace philanthropic activities and thereby making life meaningful  by  nurturing the art of creativity : it is same as our  valley of spirituality.!

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Sipra's Diary : Shedding//letting go.( Sent to IWWG)

 

                                              SHEDDING// LETTING  GO.  Sipra  Roy  

              # Oct,2021,      IWWG:                                                    Words:

         

The entire creation of earth , both animate and inanimate ,goes hand in hand in harmony with nature, except the human specie.They flow with the nature, accepting  its different  seasons either rough or friendly. In the rainy season plants  grow lush  green leaves  but shed them in winter to give way to the spring to  welcome  new life with budding leaves.  They fight only for their own survival but never try to supersede nature. They are destined to do so  coherently.  Similarly, snakes and some  other insects also shed their skin as nature intends them so to sustain  their  welfare.

Is there  any specific season of  "emotional  shedding' for human?  Certainly not; Though we  wait eagerly to enjoy and to appreciate each year  the  beauty  of  shedding leaves that  autumn  creates,  but we are the last creature to apply or to follow that principle. Most of us suffer from emotional maladies  for losing  the wisdom of sacrificing or "shedding"; Human  emotion contains  some adhesive content . It delivers  twin products of both positive and negative  feeling such as :love and hate, joy and sorrow,  loss and gain, weak and strong, Jealousy and pride, attachment and detachment   and so on ...

Tide of positive emotion charges energy to surge new enthusiasm which is good not only for own sake but also effective for the entire environment  around him /her. But when it is negative ,then emotional typhoon  ransacks the life of the person  who is victim; Often it become adhesive for a long time and  creates mental, physical, relational  and also social problems .It gives stress, depression and even may  end in suicide . In modern time, the rich and upper middle class,  globally, suffer in a realm of emotional haze and mist. This is why we see  psychotherapists  and yoga schools are mushrooming everywhere around  the globe, specially among rich countries and wealthier people.

Surprisingly, 'shedding" happens to human  specie  when things go wrong with them, when life flutters in negativity! The best creativity in arts and literature flourish at saddest moments, in painful situation when  mind. is broken and torn apart by failure and sadness. All the  famous epic came out of pain , out of tragedy;

"Our sweetest memories are those that tell of saddest stories".

We can see the achievements of Jackson Pollock, SylviaPlath, Anne sexton and many more as burning examples. 

We the human,  should take lesson from nature's environment   how to flow consistently with nature. Fear of unknowable future,  anxiety of insecurity and dishonoring nature as super power  have created this distance ;we are cocooned  in them like silk worm ;fear of  death ,fear of various diseases come one after another like unstoppable waves; they hold leash to allow us to be carefree.  This is the plight as well as price  of becoming human specie  as superior being; this is the universal Story of  each and everyone of us , you and me!  In contrast with the rest species of nature it is hard for us to  surrender at the alter of "letting go"! 

                     While mind is crazy and heart howls,

                     Let me hold and  possess  what I wish,

                     How can I sing along, 'let it be! let it be!'         

Sipra Roy Sep 25,2021.

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Sipra's Diary: { REALISATION-_} Sensory organs: ***Story of The Great Emperor Akbar.

    Print:Jan 18/2022       Sensory organ      Sipra Ry 

We have five sensory organs, nose for breathing,,  ear for listening eyes for seeing, skin for touch-feeling, tongue for tasting .Out of these five organs who evolved first ? Did they evolve simultaneously at the same time?

I was watching animal planet  in TV;   some animals have two or three fingers while human has five; both in fore limbs and hind limbs; So it flashed in my mind that  all these organs of living beings evolved gradually according to the necessity and influence of the     environment.Who was the first among sensory organs to evolve first?.......

I think that skin which. is the covering of body  is the first one to evolve .  Skin was full of pores or outlet  which was the source of breathing, hearing, seeing,  tasting . About 5oo to 6oo  million years ago earthworm burrowed on the seafloor ;may be they are the key to the evolution of living kingdom.

Darwin noted earthworm are extremely sensitive to vibrations. Fossil is the common ancestor of all worms .Earthworms are the best tiller of earth.Their body had sects,if a portion of it is cut ,it is replaced by  new growth . Skin gave proxy to all other senses;  even procreation.

In course of time hearing organ came out ;  as  division of labour enables one to be better able and  efficient;  so after hearing, breathing   organ  evolved   Most probably, hearing and breathing evolved simultaneously at the same time; then  mouth came up to consume food.. Eyes were the latest organ to evolve . Eyes and ear  performed combined  the  job of brain .   

So skin  is the source or  prime  powerhouse to the origin of  ear to hear,  nose to  breath,  eyes  to see,   and mouth to eat& taste .  As soon as the  eyes opened  the "data' ' informations "started to collect in the storage box which is known  later as brain .  

  Eyes are the   first  source of all disaster! In conversation we often use that 'at  last eyes opened', which means awareness  or the  agility of brain to catch  up experiences     . "Eyes opened "declares the dominance of sensory organs over the depth of inner SPIRIT OR soul.

  Power of sight  created   sensual desire of choice for  liking & disliking.  The prime relationship between all living organisms  was food  ( either eat or to be eaten ) and sex ;  Before the origin of eyes whatever comes within the range of  living organisms they ate and also  they mate without any   discrimination. Now as they learnt to move they chased  after their choice of food and sex; This movement created heat and electricity in body.

Eyes enabled them to differentiate which one gives more satisfaction to the senses .All these happened in a time when the world was occupied mostly with water.   The food charged heat and electricity which in turn created sex in body .At the very beginning there was no male or female sex. Each and every  singular body contained   the double sex in themselves. The best example  of our known worm or insect is earthworm.   Many. other  lower- living milli-meter sized small   insects also  are able to reproduce . Fish of deep ocean were able to produce male part  from their own body when they  felt  to reproduce . So life proliferated from singularity in the beginning .

Plants who  are our  primitive  ancestors also provide the  same  truth.

   A childhood  experience  about "Lojjaboti lata"(=a creeper plant), flashes in my mind as I am writing.  I and my friend hid ourselves , while playing ,behind  a   Calvert which was covered by green creeper with superfine leaves. My friend said ,"Do you notice the fun?  As She touched the creeper  all the leaves of the creeper folded as if they fell into   sudden sleep . With surprise I started to touch  the all parts of the creeper  to make the leaves sleep .I was surprised and  felt  it more exciting than the game of hide and seek. My friend whispered this is known as  'touch-me-not"creeper. But the leaves awake within short period .That was a great fun to learn about plant . 

With the help of  ear,   eyes formed  the 'first'. basement of  brain. Ear, nose, throat  are so closely related that  they  respond to one another; they are accessaries of brain . In medical science  we take appointment to ENT doc for the related problem  in any one of them. Pituitary gland is very important ; It is a pea-sized organ, housed  in the bony structure at the base of brain ; it is the master gland ; it drive the other glands to release hormones in all vital parts like brain ,skin, energy , vision, blood pressure, reproductive organs etc.In one word it is the power house of a body.

We take little care about our ear which is the main  source of knowledge .In acupuncture treatment the doctor treated in this area to treat any part of the body. It is same as. the main  switch -box  suppling electricity connected  to the whole nervous system of our body.

Animals use the five sensory organs differently according to their need and ability. Say for instance: bats use their ears to see; moles use their nose to dig mud to shelter while the elephants  use their. trunk/nose for bath , snakes use their mouth both to breath and swallow; chamelions have fantastic sight  and capacity to hide  by camofladging;  scents and color of flowers  attract the   butterfly; Sometime they use scent as trap .They use the sense-organ to protect themselves from predators; animals with .whiskers around mouth work like antenna ;The   hair/ fur  of polar bear in the arctic region conserve  heat of the sun like optic fibre wire  to keep the body warm in cold.....Dogs'. skin  don't sweat ;they gasp and drooling tongue keep their body cool.

 The story of the Mughal emperor Akbar's experiment is suitable example to prove the importance of ear. Akbar himself was illiterate but he was no less than a pandit ; He learnt  only  by listening from the wise  pandit .Once there was dispute among the people about language  : Which language was god-given and noblest of all. 

To solve the problem, Akbar the Great  ordered his minister to collect 10 babies of six months  from the parents  who  have  unique  linguistic difference  and. to keep these ten babies in ten different  sound proof chambers under proper baby-care.  Only the ten deaf and dumb   care-takers. were  appointed  to take care  for. those  babies.  These babies belong to the parents who  followed the language of   Urdu ,Farsi,  Sanskrit ,  Pali, Maithily , brojobuli and some local ,even tribal language. When  the babies  became  five years old.  they were presented in the royal court.  

The court was overcrowded   of the mass  with  high pitch of excitement . To their disappointment  it was found that  all.  those. ten babies  were deaf and dumb ;  none of them could speak  in any language at all .Thus the emperor convinced the common people  that no language could  claim superior to other as  "God's language". All languages were equal.The baby learn  that language  which they listen from the parent or in environment ;  if  they hear nothing as  sound of language   from the beginning of birth ,they would learn  nothing .

         Though. some. people were not happy , but  they couldn't argue Thus  Akbar the Great  solved the dispute of language  peacefully . He was able to run on with  the same "FARSI".  as court language of the country.He reigned from 1556 to  1605 as most popular Mughal emperor,  in spite of being illiterate but wise  only by  listening. He wrote a book named "Akbar-E-Nama" to compromise the conflict  between Hindu-ism and  Islamist.          

                                                   Sipra Roy  <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

                         

Sipra's Diary : Innocence and Ignorance

                                                  INNOCENCENCE vs IGNORANCE

Innocence and Ignorance are not same . But sometime they become so close to each other that we take them in as same . Standing in the cross road or signal of these two terms , I often question myself where is my stand?

...Innocence has some divine smell whereas ignorance emits  foul sin.

I often take such wrong decision  under circumstances (mostly against  own will )and then repent :'Why I was not strong enough to refuse '; why do I end with powerlessness etc. and pretend to comfort myself with 'let it be'!   

"Let it be" is   actually oasis of powerlessness, when everything    around goes awfully wrong,  then it showers self-consolation.

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                                   Madam Curie  

My life runs totally on compromises. I was an avid lover of academic life . Nobody knows still now, that I wanted to be a scientist. ...

...It was a cloudy afternoon. Frequent thunderstorm and lightning sent a notice to stay indoor to all of my  friends. Nobody came to play .I was in grade six.I was packing my school bag following the next day routine.Then I curiously opened a page of the science book where I read that Madam Curie discovered radium ;and there was a picture of  sparking radium.

It was black and white picture .The room was semi dark. I sat infront of the opened door which was less dark to see the picture and read . My father had  transferable job . My school life was short and disturbed .  I passed the Board exam as a private student ,at very young age.I couldn't take the science stream  because I did not attend lab as a regular student .I was so sad to know that !I continued my college life with a sad heart ,down spirited...

I don't know how did I get the degree of B.A with honors in philosophy and then M.A.  I listened attentively  to the lectures of the good Prof   and. took the lecture notes .Sadhana and Archana  were my friends throughout my college life  I spent so little time  and labour that they were worried for me .Perhaps they thought it was their responsibility (or liability )  to fetch 'Honors'. for me .They. collected 'suggestions'   and ten -years'. questions -collection (laborious job)!for me. Surprisingly I graduated with (hons). in Philosophy and  admission in  Calcutta University  for the Master degree  on first list. 

I had high   dengue fever during my examination of MA.My brother- brought  me   in his house from the hostel! 

I remembered I burst into tears   in taxi   on my way  as the thought pierced me that I spoilt so much money of my father! My brother consoled me . He promised that he would read  to help me  preparing  for taking the rest exam......................................................................

              I feel sleepy ; next time   more  to....*****

 

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Sipra's Diary : My Haiku

       

                                    ' My Haiku'??......

The  most compressed form of verbal expression............................

   (1)

  What an weird but simple expression,

  To a lethal virus Covid-19!

 Wash your hands, stay home ,stay safe!........

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(2)

Words  are  amazing! 

It melts and  soothes the rocky heart, 

also venomous tongue to burn and poisonous teeth to bite .

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   (3)

   Human intellect is at stake ; 

   For the universe is under the spell

   Of giant-tech, Artificial intelligence, (AI)!                              . 

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    (4)

   Will the illumined mind  

   Be leveled by AI lawnmower under 

   the pseudo -omniscient  tech-giant  ?

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                                            ( 5) 

I took voyage /

Around the world to drink the unexplored beauty

Of nature under the sun and moon- with starlit sky.

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While  missed to notice 

A single  dewdrop dazzles like a diamond 

On a single leaf of grass ,just to my own backyard!

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                                             (7)     .

What originates  Haiku ?

To compress  the  freedom of limitless emotions  

To be strangled  in  suffocation under grave?

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