Aji mi bramha paahile

 

It’s here now if you have time to look….it will change to something else if you wait longer. Reminds me of the years when the kids were babies. My mother in law would become a child herself as she watched them move from one milestone to another. When they rolled over in bed she had joy in her eyes. When they tried to push forward on their quilt she would be ecstatic. When they crawled all over on fours she would call us from wherever we we were. You will not get to see this form again, fill this into your memory, she would tell me over and over again. I can’t decide what was more adorable to me at the time….seeing my child smile showing his or her first tooth or the grin on my mother in law’s face that moment. I wish I knew at that time that both were God smiling at me !! 

This morning I casually stepped into the front yard and lo and behold, it was a William Wordsworth moment ! Yes, daffodils! Not as abundant as he found and there was no wind to make them “toss their heads in a sprightly dance” either. Yet the small cluster in which they had made an appearance out of the ground was enough to fill my heart with wonder and joyful surprise. I knelt beside them to see them closely. They had just opened an invisible door to wonderland!! 

I was drawn to the tender red foliage that had newly covered all the bare shoots of the rose bushes. A rose was peeking out of some of these occasionally. Each year in spring I notice the crocus and freesias only after the the colorful blooms unfurl. Today for the first time I saw them in their infancy so to say. Much before they opened their eyes to the blue skies above. 

I found myself exploring one plant after another in a garden I had planted myself . It all felt new. The saucer magnolia had almost reached its prime from what I had seen just a week earlier. A pair of pheasants pecked on the ground under the shade of this treee. The pink and white large tulip shaped flowers were still holding drops of dew on their lips as I went to see them up close. The grape vines and the twigs of the pomegranate tree seemed to be still enjoying the slumber of winter, except for the tiny buds that had appeared on them which could be easily missed if you didn’t pause to look closely. The guava tree was covered with old reddish foliage that had survived the cold. As if to affirm its distinct identity the newer foliage was making its appearance adorning a different color….green. Earlier I had encountered the roses where new foliage was red and would eventually turn green as it matured. The occasional heralding fig on the tree was beaming against its otherwise barren branches. A hopeful Blue Jay holding a twig in his beak appeared on the scene and stood momentarily deliberating his next move. Discouraged to see this human in his space, he was gone as swiftly as he had arrived. Perhaps to find another undisturbed corner. 

All the small things I came across were really preparations of big things to come. They were also the deepest mysteries unfolding right before me. I have watched spring arrive in the garden year after year and it never ceases to amaze me…….just like my mother in law felt overjoyed to see each of her children and grandchildren grow each day. But there was something different about it today.

I decided at that moment, I will no longer be silly to keep hoping for God to make an appearance before me in a form of my imagination. I accept him the way He is presenting Himself to me every day, every moment. And He is beautiful just like that. 

He was beautiful at sunset last evening and during all the sunsets I’ve seen before. He radiated his charm at time of sunrise today as he did during all the sunrises I have watched before. Those almond blossoms I saw yesterday, and the bees hovering over them ….He was in it all. I will never close my eyes again.

Saree is a silk kanjeevaram, borderless, with patli-pallu format. The beige parts have chevrons in self color on them. The contrast fuchsia pink has jari work on pallu and large petal motifs also in jari on the pleats portion. Each color segment of the saree is attached to the next using petni technique similar to that used in attaching pallu to body using tight knots.