Sunday Archives - Kavi Arasu

Tom Sawyer moments

I have something called a Tom Sawyer moment. Amongst my childhood heroes, Tom Sawyer is one heck of a kick ass dude. His successes with Becky Thatcher aside, his ingenuity to get a group of friends whitewash the fence was jaw-dropping awesome as a kid. It remains jaw-dropping AWESOME as an adult with a paycheck.

For ages I have hankered for a Tom Sawyer moment in my life. A moment when what got handed out as a punishment morphs into something quite different. A happy time when a lofty proposition is made loftier and transformed into a fun happy time.

A few weeks ago after some insane amount of peering into monitors and hammering away at the keyboard, the missus sentenced me with the responsibility of taking care of the little miss. When it became clear that I perhaps would end up enjoying it all, she threw in another angle. There would be two other kids that might join in.

Without much ado, we got working. The girls had to first scamper around and collect as many dry leaves as could be found in the garden. Then for strewn flowers. It took them an effort but they had a whale of a time. After which, came the task of arranging it all for display.

Their hands were a dark shade of brown. The colour of the soil with assorted grime that came about by heckling the wind and peddling joy. When playtime neared its end everyone was happy. The mommies were happy that their tasks were behind them. The morose gardener let loose a rare smile and a good word to the girls to see most of his cleaning done.

As for me, my Tom Sawyer moment had arrived. The girls have said they want to do it again and one of them put it in simple terms. “Uncle, I will share my lollipop with you”

Plus, the little miss was one proud bundle. ‘My daddy’ she said. The moments that stay in memory are the unannounced and silly times. They whizz by. Slow down, put out your hands and watch them fall into your life.

Life teaches everyday. If only we care to listen.

Sunday Musings Flow

From my Journal

The weekend jsut slipped by. The rest of Sunday night is left. As the sunlight slips through the window to disappear in my world, and light another, i realise that it did just the same about twelve hours ago to the another part of the world.

The last week, we were in Chennai. Today we sat in each others company. Not knowing what the future holds for us. Thinking about “what if” situations, and what not ! We had empty conversation intersparsed with engaging elements. Some sleep. Some cleaning. I did some work on the blog, as you can now see. The music from ‘Sivaji’ played in the background.

A few books that i bought yesterday stare at me. They seem to be looking at me rather invitingly. The fervour with which i spent the Rs.2000/- is still there. The starting point seems to have a starting problem !

I pick up Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi “This book summarises for a general audience, decades of research on the positive aspects of human expereince – joy, creativity, the process of total involvement with life that i call flow”.

That was an interesting beginning to the preface. Seems like a good book. Five minutes later, i am at the first page: “Twenty three hundred years ago Aristotle concluded that, more than anything else, men and women seek happiness. While happiness itself is sought for its own sake, every other goal – health, beauty, money, or power is valued only because we expect that it will make us happy.”

I read the lines. Reread them. It makes sense ! Money well spent. I comfort myself. 15 mintues later my flow with FLOW is interrupted by a friend who drops by to check how i have been doing. And one event leads to the other.

We return to the comfort of each others company later in the night. Just sitting. Close to each other. I with the book. She with the TV remote. Not knowing what the future holds. Confident of our hope of ‘all will be well’. Finding solace in our own sanctuaries.

Life goes on. Like any other day. Tomorrow of course will be Monday.