Rekha's Ramblings

 I very recently started listening to podcasts, I do not know why I waited this long. I was stubborn but that is not important right now.  I finally started listening to them and I have been listening to this particular podcast, “Wiser than ME” hosted by none other than the iconic Julia Louis Dreyfus. In these podcasts, she interviews a different accomplished woman who is older than her and therefore wiser, she takes us through their journey, how they became wiser and concludes the podcast by calling her mom and they discuss the details of the podcast.  I got hooked on to it immediately, undoubtedly for all the wisdom from all these wise women but also because of the way each podcast ended. Julia and her mom have a loving chat about the host, the things they talked about, they reminisce about her childhood amongst other things; and it was these conversations that sold this podcast to me.  I love hearing their conversations, the mother-daughter bond, their loving rela...

 ASK and YOU SHALL RECEIVE!    This phrase was a recurring theme during my upbringing. I grew up in a closed catholic community in a tiny rural community outside of Mumbai. As a 3–4-year-old little girl, I was merely repeating what the adults were saying, asking for some sort of forgiveness for our sins, not knowing its implications. Little did I know that this phrase would be my lifeline, the biggest tool in my tool belt later in my life.   The then little girl in me had taken this phrase for its literal meaning. I had started asking, mostly for a bigger share of food, a bigger portion of a single candy bar which my grandmother had to divide into four.  But when I started going to school at the age of 4, my father, the smartest and the wisest person I knew at that time, an enormous source of wisdom, guidance not only for me   or my family but for my entire village, emphasized on this belief, “ask and you shall receive.” He then went on explaining what ...

 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...