**From & To Satish **( New Pictures Pl see pg 163) (Page 6)

I like this topic that you have started, esp the first.  I had booked tickets for my family to travel by train when we went to India and I had booked ac tickets and my son's first question was Why?  It seems he wanted the feeling of traveling by Janatha class so that he could mix with people.  I can identify with all of the moments you have mentioned, but here are a few more that I enjoy:

listening to old songs at night when the rest of the house is asleep
walking in the garden in the mornings when the dew is still on the flowers
seeing a baby's smile
looking at a butterfly flitting around and then alighting on a flower
watching the squirrel stealing birdseed from the bird feeder
watching ducklings walk behind the mother duck in single file
watching the first snow of the season (sometimes it may be the only one in our place, so it is definitely something to enjoy!)
and here is my favorite:
returning to India after a few years and stepping out of the plane and waiting in line and listening to all the sounds around me and realizing that I am back in my own country again

Waters edge is an excellent piece of writing and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it!

Thanks, Satish.

Hello, Satish. Are you in the wrong line of work? You should be writing novellas and poems. You not only write poetically but with passion. Congrats, keep it up! Oh, and nice pics, especially those of Baby Satish ;-)

hi thamizhan,

I just finished reading "The Water's Edge" and I am moved by the emotions in the poem.  I can feel your pain coming through.  Well done, Satish!

Tremendous stuff Satish. You should be a poet, not an actor(only kidding).

                   THE SOLITARY REAPER

         BEHOLD her, single in the field,
          Yon solitary Highland Lass!
          Reaping and singing by herself;
          Stop here, or gently pass!
          Alone she cuts and binds the grain,
          And sings a melancholy strain;
          O listen! for the Vale profound
          Is overflowing with the sound.

wordsworth wrote this poem and the poem reflects my thoughts for you but with a change for in the poem wordsworth
asks

         Will no one tell me what she sings?--
          Perhaps the plaintive numbers flow
          For old, unhappy, far-off things,
          And battles long ago:                                  
          Or is it some more humble lay,
          Familiar matter of to-day?
          Some natural sorrow, loss, or pain,
          That has been, and may be again?

but in my poem to you solitary reapers of life i don't ask but understand for in the bonds of our love i am neither man nor are you women but kindred souls reaping our lives in solitude.

married yet alone,mother of children but still feeling barren in life
alone you sing but alas in silence lest your words disturb the harmony of others
alone in the solitude of sadness your cries are never heard for they are lost
in the demands and orders of your loved ones
but gentle souls you stand not alone for our solitude brings us closer
your tears flow and your cries are heard only to your hearts.
the rhythm that guides us will bring better days when the sun rises not
only in the sky but also in your souls.
like the pot at the end of the rainbow let us keep seeking our promised gold
even if our rainbows are only black and white and appear in our dreams       

Very touching, Satish. In my case, it is unmarried but with children not my own. But this is not the place for airing private melancholies.

I sensed that "Water's Edge" was dedicated to your parents. My father was orphaned when he was a year old, and growing up with a succession of relatives who cared little about his well-being, he developed an incredible resilience. He in turn taught us to be strong and independent in the face of society's efforts to put one in a straitjacket. I am sure your own childhood experiences have made you stronger than you think you may be in the face of external challenges and the occasional looming sense of emptiness.

Edited by Bonheur - 30 April 2009 at 10:55pm