Category: tukbandi, and some!

Poems

A Memory Unlived

 

A tinkle of an anklet?

 

Haven’t I met you before,

From across a closed door?

In a dream,

Kind of forgotten?

In a verse still to be written?

In a note

Not yet sung?

In a word that hung

On my lips, unsaid

Or patiently sat

In a book I haven’t read?

In the footsteps

That tread

In a memory unlived?

In the smoke of a fire

Which never was lit?

In a scent that faded

Ere I even smelt it?

In a touch so soft

Only my heart

Ever felt it?

In a cloud

That sailed unseen?

In a sigh, unsighed

Of what-could-have-been?

I haven’t met you, are you sure?

In a life never lived before?

 

Note: There is something hauntingly romantic about old ruins. And when these are situated in a village which is supposed to be the ‘most haunted place in India’, one’s imagination runs wild. A memory – glimpse of a veil, a whiff of a scent, a touch of the breeze – the birth of a poem, dedicated to Bhangarh, a small village in Alwar District in Rajasthan.

Testing, testing…and some welcome confusion!

I decided to try out one of the alternative colour ways that I suggested for my Block of the Month quilt ‘Round the Year’, before I post the fabric requirements on the 7th  July. There were a few glitches in this block pattern, but I have sorted those out.
Here is a first look at the under-construction block , which I call “Hope” after the famous blue diamond!

"Hope" aka "Blue Diamond"
Block “Hope” / Blue Diamond from the “Round the Year” quilt

I absolutely love this and am tempted to scrap the other blue- orange-yellow and make this one instead! Or perhaps I’ll make both the quilts !? My daughter in law loves the blue and orange combination, so that goes to her. This – the ‘modern’ version – shall be mine! Meanwhile, here is a look at Block Two “Evening at the Pond”  from the other one…

Evening at the Pond
Block Two – Evening at the Pond “Round the Year” quilt

What do you suggest? Which one? If you are on facebook, why don’t you visit my page “Patchwork of my Life” ? Click on the link, visit my page, like it and tell me what you think. I so  look forward to hearing from you!

A Special Quilt of Hope

20131121-153341.jpg

This is a very special quilt, perhaps the closest to my heart! I started making it in February this year, as a Valentine’s Day challenge entry for my facebook quilting group, Desi Quilters. I had just managed to get the pieces ready for English paper piecing, when my daughter fell seriously ill.

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She was hospitalized for 2 months, when there was someone very special who gave us faith she and we would come out of it, stronger than before.
“Cruel harsh winter
Ablaze with flowers of hope.
Summer’s in my heart.”
The unfinished pieces lay there forlorn and rolled up, to emerge in September, for yet another group challenge, ‘Flowers’. Finally completed, here it is.

Small Quilted wall hanging 25" X13" English Paper pieced clamshells, appliqued, machine free motion quilted. Flannel batting
Flowers of Hope – Small Quilted wall hanging

This piece is also special, because it is the first time I tried free motion quilting, quite successfully, I thought!

Back of Flowers of Hope - Small Quilted wall hanging
Back of Quilt

(The use of the lighter brown in the bobbin case was not intentional – I just ran out of the darker thread  :-p)

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I added a few French knots to give some dimension to the flowering trees.

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Today we are faced with yet another situation where we need strength and hope, lots of it!
My faith continues to give me belief we shall overcome this too!
“…but winter always turns to spring. Never, from ancient times on, has anyone heard or seen of winter turning back to autumn. ” Nichiren Daishonin
And so,
बीहड़ उजाड़ मन.
गुलमोहर अमलतास बन
झूमी आस किरन…

The Traveller Rests

The White Lotus

Corbett ParkIn search for happiness,
I wandered wide
This life I squandered,
In search for a life.
In places of worship,
In cities of sin,
In palaces, in caves,
In fasting and in raves.
In sermons, and in tomes,
In crowds and when alone,
Parched I did stray,
Every path, every way.
And then…I paused
In growing wonder
For in my heart gushed,
The river of nectar.
In throw of dice nor the stars
My fate can’t be read in tarot cards.
The key to my kismet,
Lies in my belief
There’s no cause for fear
No reason for grief
For I am the traveller,
And I am the road,
Where need I go,
For I am the goal?
The elusive scent
That would not let me rest,
Is not of the rose,
Nor the flame o’ forest.
This fragrance arises
In the mystic white lotus,
That blooms in me ’n in you,
And in all of us!

(Translated from original poem in Hindi by self)

Betukbandi, May 2012

The Dance of the Butterfly

 

My Butterfly - In Waiting

The Butterfly’s Dance – A Mother’s Promise

 

In the jungles of her mind

In a dank and dreary cave

Surrounded by much deadwood

Rarely the joy of day.

Only those creeping crawling vines

Twist in to hold their sway

Curled up in her little cocoon

My butterfly’s world is dark and grey.

Many try in vain to find her

And when almost there

The demons that surround her

Frighten them away.

Usually efficient messengers

Scramble here and there

Mixing up their messages

Angry lightning flashes everywhere

Roaring thunder booms around her

All creation seems to shake.

 

But then she tries to struggle out

Is my butterfly coming awake?

Suddenly she smiles at me

Her smile lights up my day

As her wide, trusting eyes study my face

I touch her hand and say

Yes, my sweetheart, we’ll find an answer

I promise we’ll find a way!

We’ll turn this world upside down

And we’ll get you out of here.

With a sword of steel we’ll cut the vines

Of hopelessness and despair

A single candle can brighten a cave

Dark for many a thousand year.

A  stone, millennia under the sea,

Continues  to hold fire.

 

On the wings of golden sunshine

Soaring ever higher

Blazing a trail of hope and freedom

For others who live in drear

From the jungles of your mind, you’ll fly

Into flower-kist mountain air.

 

October 2011