Rekha's Ramblings

 I very recently started listening to podcasts, in fact started listening to one just this week, it was a friendly suggestion by the AI of the music app I use; and heard one today with a very interesting message, the "power of silence", how it can convey what you want to say effectively, sometimes even more so than your words can.  I am not the silent type of a person, I am usually loud, I will butt in, I will interrupt, I want to be heard (why that is so is a whole different story, for another time). And while I may be loud, I am not stubborn. There is always room for learning , I am always trying to be a better version of me than I was yesterday.  I come from the land of Buddha, people who were enlightened by staying silent. So, now I need to learn how to achieve this new skill. How hard can this be?   And as I say this out loudly and narrate the details of this podcast to my family, they are rolling their eyes, like that is ever going to happen. ....  Bu...

As I sit here and look out my window, I see my little patch of happiness . The gladioli in my little patch of garden are blooming once again. They are my pride, my joy, and my happiness. As I admire their colorful blooms , I can't help but reflect on our journey together. There is an interesting story behind these flowers. I planted these gladioli bulbs during the pandemic, in 2020. In the beginning, it seemed as though everyone around me had discovered a new hobby. People were baking bread, gardening, knitting, painting, and learning new skills. I, however, wasn't particularly interested in any of those things. To be honest, I don't have much of a green thumb. In the past, I had planted a few things, only to watch them slowly wither away. So, this time, I wasn't expecting much. I found these bulbs on sale at a local home and garden store and decided to plant them as an experiment, almost as a challenge to myself. I planted them in mid-April and then completely forgot a...

  When the pandemic hit and we were forced into a lockdown , the anxiety and stress levels were extremely high given the fact that my husband and I are both healthcare professionals.  We have three children; I had been working part time until then but decided to quit my job altogether not knowing what was ahead of us. It then meant lots of free time at hand; I am not much into cooking, sewing, gardening and I had to find something to keep my mind occupied. During the lockdown, we were allowed to walk outside, of course observing social  distancing. Up until this time, I was not much into any type of exercising . Hence, decided to challenge myself with walking, with a daily goal of 10,000 steps. The Samsung health app was already on my phone but had never paid much attention to it until now. I started walking in our neighborhood, in and around where we live. The first week was very rough, panting, knees hurting, barely making it to  even my halfway mark. But then, mag...

  I , as a mother of three children have always looked forward to summer vacations ever since my first born started going to school. It didn't matter how hard or the extra work I had to put in towards planning, packing ; I looked forward to those times  we spent as a family, the getaways from the daily grind. They weren't all necessarily elaborate, fancy trips each year. Some years, we travelled internationally when time permitted and some years, they were mere road trips within our state or to neighboring states visiting friends or family. But, year after year,  I treasured the times spent together , each summer had a story and like they say, travelling is the best education one could get and I wanted my children to have that education.  Last year, however, I was disappointed as we couldn't get away due to scheduling conflicts. This trip , had it happened would have been special as it was their last final year of school. I was sad, heartbroken. But then, magic happe...

    It has been a long while since I wrote down anything.... so much going on in my head but unable to transcribe it into words, into formal sentences. It is like my brain is frozen; my mind is numb. Yesterday, while scrolling endlessly on Facebook, I came across a post, something about being at a point of life not knowing where that point is and that is exactly where I find myself, at a point, do not know what, where or how I got there. This is our year one of being an empty nester. It was going well for my children, they had settled down and were enjoying their first year of being away from home, however it ended up being challenging for all of us as life decided to throw some unexpected turns at us.  When everything seemed to be going well, we lost one of our nephews, 26 year old, to a tragic motor bike accident in October and 2 weeks later my children had to endure another loss, a loss of their peers,  of 3 of their college mates to an horrific act of gu...

  Day whatever of the pandemic......It's sad that the argument now is to mask or not to, to vaccinate or not to vaccinate even though it's readily available here in the United States when a year ago, we were all desperately waiting for a breakthrough, A Vaccine!!! This post is to the 100's and 1000's who succumbed to this pandemic in my country of birth due to the unavailability of that same vaccine during the past 5 months. The irony is not lost!!!!

Today marks day 270 of the pandemic! We have been into this for 9 months, for some of us here in the USA, since the initial “lockdown and stay at home orders” were issued on March 13th.  These have been some really long 9 months and believe me when I say that, I was pregnant with twins once. The novelty of lockdown is long gone.  I am naive and I had really thought that this is America, here people follow rules, everyone would wear a mask, follow all the guidelines and it will be over in 3-4 weeks. But boy, was I wrong!!!  Now we are entering into its 10 th month and doesn’t look like it’s going to be over soon. Ya, the vaccine is coming but it is going to a while before everyone is going to be vaccinated.  If you think you are exhausted, think about a healthcare worker who has to be at work, 10-12 hours shifts, sometimes even longer, wearing all the gear. The numbers are going up, the hospitals are at their full capacity. And there is no time off, no going anywhere...