बाटनवारे को लगे ज्यों मेहंदी को रंग - Happiness is contagious.

written on  2/24 

Ma’s love for books is not new. In one of our conversations Amma was thanking her 9th grade teacher, the year the school shifted to a new building and the teacher assigned 5 students to organized the library. These 5 girls would take a few books home to read and bring them back every Monday. They made lifelong friendships with books and with each other. Amma was so grateful to have that “job without pay”. She went on to read many more books because my dad was an avid reader too. We found most of her friends from that life and they are in regular touch with each other now.

This year I made them read many of my favorite authors, used my sister’s amazon account to the fullest. Some of them were Indian American writers and some very progressive ones. Papa was quick to adapt to the new genre but it was hard for my mom. English is not her preferred language. Finally I ordered some of her old familiar authors. Amma had read most of the books in this shipment ages ago and but she had forgotten the stories. It was so refreshing to see her so excited everyday when she would tell me about her day and the book she was reading. She was a woman on a mission. There were days when she would forgo her afternoon nap just to finish the book. The whole lot in this shipment got over in no time. My dad would joke sometimes that she is reading like an out of control train. Yesterday she finished a novel “ Mori Rangde Chunariyan ” by Malti Joshi. It is a story about responsible daughters who take care of the household and their younger siblings, ignoring their own life. She was so overwhelmed by the story that she wrote a letter to the author. Today when I called her that’s what we talked about. How the book reminded her of so many people in her life.

My day today was all about finding Malti Joshi for my mom. Thank goodness for amazing friends, Google, Facebook and WhatApp . I emailed and facebook msged her account and got a response from her son saying Malti Ji would be happy to read the letter and talk to my mom sometime. My mother went to bed happy and smiling to say the least.

My mother’s letter is on its way to its worthy recipient. Hopefully she gets to talk to the author soon. The joy of doing something for “Madam Amma Jha”, putting a smile on her face and a love filled Thank you from her… that’s my reward for today.

On a side note- I reached out to a poet friend to ask if she knew the whereabouts of Malti Joshi. She didn’t but later sent me a message saying that I had made her look for the author and now she is listening to her stories and is spellbound . She thanked me and I said my mother’s desire is the reason for making our “today”. She responded in such a poetic way - बाटनवारे को लगे ज्यों मेहंदी को रंग 

So please keep spreading the joy and be happy, it will brighten your day too...

वे रहीम नर धन्य हैं, पर उपकारी अंग. 

बांटन वारे को लगे, ज्यों मेंहदी को रंग. - रहीम 

This was my look for an important  Zoom meeting. 

This saree was a last minute buy from Kanchipuram. After buying all the silk upstairs we were coming out of the shop and on the ground floor the shopkeeper was showing cotton to a local woman. I stoped and bought simple cotton in 3 colors - Blue, Red and Green. Why I picked blue for that meeting ? you would know soon. 

A beautiful sunny afternoon 50F day. thats all you need some time. a little sun, fresh air and some light