Ajwa Dam Reservoir: Old is Gold

Ajwa Dam Reservoir: Old is Gold

    

                           

Hi,                  

          We hope you all are good and enjoying the much-needed and also now much-dreaded rain of the season. Rain in Vadodara is like a cranky, fussy toddler. You love him with all your heart, but you can't ignore the mess he leaves behind. So with all newspaper headlines pointing toward water-logged areas and increasing levels of Ajwa and Vishwamitri, we decided to let kids see what all these headlines are about?    

                        

                              

          That's how we ended up at Ajwa reservoir this Saturday morning. Sheel has lots of memories associated with this place, and he wanted to share them all with the kids.                     

                    

                             

          Ajwa is a reservoir near Vadodara. It was built by Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III. He was such a great visionary that despite having a population of 1,00,000 at that time, he ordered to make the dam three times larger. The dam is 5 km long and has a height of 211 feet and 62 gates. 

                  

                 

       It was a short visit but much needed to make kids understand the situation in our city every monsoon. The best part was Sheel waxed lyrical about his childhood stories and memories...

And that is how my mind slipped to this: 

Memories 

Memories 

Of those childhood days 

Playing with siblings and cousins 

Of silly little fights

And a big dramatic meltdown 

From blaming games 

To never-ending gossip sessions

Innocent cheating 

To sweet, sour grumbling 

Memories 

Of our parents’ home 

For each girl or woman 

It’s her treasure 

The treasure she has buried 

Safely in a tiny corner 

Of her heart and mind 

But 

It’s her mightiest strength 

She knows 

She is safe in one place 

No matter what 

Safe and sound 

Forever 

Memories 

Nostalgia 

Of those friends 

Who are lost 

Or is it just me

Those late-night hostel talks 

To bunking classes 

First-day movie nights 

To canteen hangouts 

Sometimes you were correct

Sometimes it was me 

Whose fault was it? 

I guess 

We never know 

We never will

Memories 

The more we try to burry

The more they manifest 

They aren’t like snake skin 

You can’t get away from within 

Instead 

Make them your vigor

They have immense power 

Power to travel

From generation to generation 

From my conscience 

to yours 

Memories 

Of someone’s perfume 

Of Maa’s curry 

Of your kid's first word 

Of your first kiss 

Of pride in father’s eyes 

Of sister’s innocent smile 

Of fear of separation 

Of those special foods 

Of rainy days 

Of long Garba nights 

Of terrible fights 

………..

I have taken scraps of each. 

My cozy quilt is ready. 

For comfort in a thunderstorm 

For solace in the chaos 

For relief from pain

For reassurance in skepticism

My blanket is open-ended 

There is room for more,

Much more 

I will need more patches. 

Do you have some?

Will you give some to me? 

Who knows

We can make it bigger together

As the need for warmth, 

is now much higher than ever.  

                            - Kaajal 

We are coming up with some changes, so our posts are not as frequent. Please bear with us; we hope you like these changes as much as we do. 

Love 

SaSha

Mahi River Viewpoint, Kanoda: Dolce Far Niente

Mahi River Viewpoint, Kanoda: Dolce Far Niente

Hello all,

          I read this phrase years ago: Dolce Far Niente. It's an Italian phrase that means "Sweetness of doing nothing." I was so impressed that I even hand embroidered it on my saree. 

         As I write this, I remember our time in Dayara Bugyal. After we finished our trek for the day, on all five days, we used to sit at the campsite and just relax. I have never felt that much peace in my entire life, and I have never felt more connected with nature. Why? Because we were doing nothing in particular. Now, as we are back in our quotidian life, I feel as if those mountains, that clear blue sky, and those lush green grasslands are whispering in my ears: Dolce Far Niente. 

                      

        It does not mean we should be lazy and idle by doing nothing. It means that when we are on vacation, we take time to relax; similarly, we should imbibe that leisure time in our routine. We should keep that 'do nothing time' on our to-do list. 

                       

                       

            We had our Niente day yesterday, at Mahi river bank. The water was as clear as crystal, and we could literally count pebbles. Fluffy grey clouds and green mounds reflecting in the water, impending rain, and the sweet smell of mother earth - these were our companions. We five just sat there...doing nothing. Kids were making zen towers and skipping pebbles on the water surface. Sheel was reading a book. I was watching calm water, and papa was enjoying his favorite music. We laughed, had tea, talked about nothing and everything...Is it Niente? I don't know. But I can say for sure that I remember those snowy mountains while I was there. I felt at peace. It was sweet doing nothing. 

                        

                       

                       

         So just stop for a minute while reading this blog. Just think about your routine. What does it include? Running after kids, chasing your dream, thinking about the dinner menu, counting success steps in your career, or developing start-ups. Scrolling through Instagram or Facebook pages or binge-watching on Netflix. Just have a look. Drop your to-do list. Drink coffee or tea and enjoy it, not while reading a newspaper or looking at your mobile screen. Listen to your favorite music. Have a lazy walk with the kids in the evening. Feel the cool breeze on your face or, even better, splash in the puddles this monsoon with kids, make paper boats, or dance in the rain merrily in a way that Shahrukh-Madhuri or Amir-Kareena can't compete. Laundry can wait, and dirty dishes can wait. Kids' homework can wait. And so do reports/data/balance sheets. 

                                        

               You will be more productive when you include these little non-productive sweet cheat moments in your 'routine.' Lastly, don't ever feel guilty about it. Instead, take pride. It doesn't mean you are not doing hard work or without motivation or ambition. It just means that you are giving importance to the important.  

                          

           Life is better when we believe in what we do, and we do what we believe. 

       That's it from our side. Sorry for the late Monday post, but as you see, I was busy doing nothing...

Location of the Beach:https://goo.gl/maps/wTGv89j69WVgmxuG9

P.S: While going, you have to take a slight right turn from the main road, and there will be bumpy off-road, and then you will be at the river bank. In the initial stretch, the river is covered with algae, but keep going off-road, and then after a bit, you will get crystal clear water. The water seemed shallow at the bank, but beyond that, it looked pretty deep. Though people were swimming in the river, take kids at your risk to swim.