88 years

Today my mother is 88 years old. So the youngest of our family, my little princess, is giving birthday kisses to the eldest of the family. They are so keen on each other!!!!

Happy birthday mama!

gajrela

For the very first time i made gajrela or gajar ka halwa. When i am homesick of India, it is mostly smells and tastes that are haunting me. So i tried one of my favorite dishes and if i may say so, it is delicious!

My arm is a bit lame because of all the stirring, but it was worth the effort. Yummy, yummy!!!

a poet

Fernando Pessoa

Ricardo Reis is one of the alter ego's of Fernando Pessoa. This poem is written on his tomb.
But i don't find an English translation of it? Does anybody out there have an English translation?

In the meantime i provide you with a Dutch translation by A. Willemsen.

Om groot te zijn, wees heel: maak niets wat jouw is

Groter of tot niets.

Wees heel in alles. Leg al wat je bent

In 't minste wat je doet.

Zo blinkt de maan in ieder meer geheel

Wijl zij verheven leeft.

been away for awhile...

little wise girl

-"Who is this, oma?"

My granddaughter points at the big statue of Jesus, Holy Heart in the middle of the square.

"That is Jesus , sweety. Look he put one hand on his heart, with the other he is blessing us"

I was sure she was going to ask, what blessing means, but she has her own little ways of thinking.

-"It is Boeddha, oma!"

-"No, darling, this is Jesus."

She stares at the statue for a long time, then she says:

-"Oma, they are the same!"

I look at my little miracle, surprised by so much wisdom.

-"Oma, why he is not wearing his tuban?"

Since a few days she knows the word turban, but she keeps forgetting the r. Before she called it a soft helmet.

Good question! But i have no answer.

-"His hair is like Amarjeets, oma."

-"Yes, very long, he"

-"I want long hair too!"

I look at her curly hair which doesn't seem to grow hard and i think of her aunty who is a hairdresser...

"Yes, sweety, you grow your hair too..."

reflection

On our coffeetable are these two books.

You know i am a bit of a feminist. No not of the kind that goes squeezing men's bottoms and stuff, no not like this, but i was shouting in the frontline when we were asking for equal pay etc... You get the picture....Everything equal for men and women (i realise some men are suffering just the same), that is one of the reasons why sikhism had such a big attraction to me, why i embrased sikhism (great was my dissapointenement when i found out that so many sikhs behaved in a plain male dominated punjabi manner, but that is another story!) So i am reading : "The untamable woman" (dutch translation) (original title:"Women who run with the wolves") which is know as a feminist book, but it is so much more. Clarissa Pinkola Estes is such a great storyteller and gives an insight in the archetypes of women (she is a Jung therapist) that women around the world have to face. The wild woman is often burried deep down in us and she has to be recognised and freed. This wild woman does not change, despite culture, time or politics. She is there and she is perfect.

Wonderful book!!!!

Next to "my" book is the book my husband is reading:"The God delusion".

These books are a very good reflection of our marriage...

But i am going to read this book too.... God ( a Creative Being, Karta-Purakh) is so evident in my life, that i can not understand that people have arguments to deny his existence. So i want to know, i want to try to understand....

And yesterday a friend gave me another book: "The perfect path" by Andrew Harvey. Whah!

I have not enough time to read ....

But you know this summer i will be quiet in my corner, reading, reading, reading....