what i’ve been up to

this counts as an issue, i swear

Sep 02, 2023

this week’s Thought (singular)

water is so good (just came back from work)

a very warm welcome to all new readers. i love new readers so much that whenever i get an email about a new reader, i manifest that they find time to do something they want to do. thank you for joining us. may you take a break from all the Tasks, and indulge in an activity that fills you with ease.

another two weeks, another thodi. this time, i offer miscellany. bits and pieces of what i’ve been doing, eating, watching, reading, etc.

doing - i’m right in the middle of a brief visit back to mumbai. if you’ve been with me for a while, you’ll know just how much of a racket (affectionate) i made about moving back home a little over a month ago. a large part of the noise was surrounding the fact that it felt like i hadn’t played an active role in the building of my life in the city, despite spending six months here. in some lovely, roundabout way, this visit has soothed some of that woe. somehow, i slipped back into the routine of this house, re-synced to the pace of this city. it’s like my brain reassured me - i’ve got your back, i remember, we were here, we built a life here and you were there for all of it.
eating - my sister-in-law made some super tasty shrikhand last week, and if i could distribute some amongst you all through the screen, i would. please settle for a picture and your imagination instead.
there is milkmaid and saffron. there is joy
going - i visited school recently, and it was incredibly wholesome. although it’s been four years since i graduated, and quite a bit has changed about the place, i couldn’t help but feel like i was going back to where i came from. meeting all the teachers was so lovely, and returning to the building where i spent fourteen years was a bit of a doozy.
just three girls taking advantage of a newly laid turf on the school ground on a super sunny afternoon
the sky over aforementioned turf
watching - what feels like an unhealthy amount of gossip girl. something about the drama and the ridiculousness is so fun/funny, and the soundtrack is awesome.
reading - sadly a lot of the books that i’ve picked up recently have been a bust. either i haven’t been able to finish them, or they’ve felt incredibly unfulfilling when i do finish them. whenever this happens, i just go to the next book in a series that has never disappointed me - the wheel of time. in an effort to read something engrossing and enjoyable, i picked up where i left off a few months ago (book six), and i can confirm that i am both engrossed and enjoying.
listening - three songs i’ve had on repeat for the last few weeks -

ps: we’re officially in the ‘ber’ months. happy september :D

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English Recitation Competition

The Work of Happiness, May Sarton

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For what is happiness but growth in peace,
The timeless sense of time when furniture
Has stood a life's span in a single place,
And as the air moves, so the old dreams stir
The shining leaves of present happiness?
No one has heard thought or listened to a mind,
But where people have lived in inwardness
The air is charged with blessing and does bless;
Windows look out on mountains and the walls are kind.

Sometimes, Sheenagh Pugh

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Sometimes things don’t go, after all,
from bad to worse. Some years, muscadel
faces down frost; green thrives; the crops don’t fail.
Sometimes a man aims high, and all goes well.

A people sometimes will step back from war,
elect an honest man, decide they care
enough, that they can’t leave some stranger poor.
Some men become what they were born for.

Sometimes our best intentions do not go
amiss; sometimes we do as we meant to.
The sun will sometimes melt a field of sorrow
that seemed hard frozen; may it happen for you.

Grief will come to you, Gregory Orr

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Grief will come to you.
Grip and cling all you want,
It makes no difference.

Catastrophe? It's just waiting to happen.
Loss? You can be certain of it.

Flow and swirl of the world.
Carried along as if by a dark current.

All you can do is keep swimming;
All you can do is keep singing.