Old Souls, Going Back Home
Taking a walk down memory lane
Dear Reader,
Some days feel longer than nights. Have you ever felt the same?
Taking a walk down memory lane feels painful at times. You miss loved ones. A lot.
In Kochi, as I look outside the rain-kissed window, I can’t help remembering few people who are no longer there in the physical realm. When it rained, they would have come by to play a game or simply sit down over snacks and chat about stuff. In those days, there was never any ‘agenda’ but to enjoy candid conversations. A rarity now.
I can no longer hear their laughter over silly jokes we once laughed over. It’s all gone.
Often, I think of the memories they leave behind. Some books and films remind me of the funny and nostalgic moments that were part of childhood days.
Then there are those who choose to leave us behind for reasons we will never know.
Radhika Govindrajan, in her book “Animal Intimacies: Interspecies Relatedness in India’s Central Himalayas” shares a heartwarming incident that establishes deep friendship between animals to an extent that it defies human logic.
Her neighbour decided to sell Sharmili, one of her cows, as the other cow, Gauri, was pregnant. Within few hours of Sharmili leaving, Gauri began to mourn, her whole body shaking vigorously and she had to be lovingly calmed with soothing words. Her grief lasted for three days, following which the owners decided to bring Sharmili back.
When Sharmili returned, they found the two ‘friends’ lying next to each other in the shed. When Gauri heard Sharmili’s call from the road above, she was so excited that she almost broke the rope tethering her and tried to kick down the walls of the shed.
When Sharmili returned, the two cows began to eat from the same pile of grass, which they never used to do earlier. That’s how deeply the cows were ‘interconnected’.
In every meeting and parting, there are lessons we can choose to learn or run away from.
Animals foster a deep relationship that thrives on protecting one another through turbulence.
Think about what has stayed strong in your relationships - what worked and what didn’t. Tough home work!
Don’t get lost in the past. That’s a quagmire.
Be grateful for the lessons - let go of sadness.
Triumph over the past by focusing on the present.
a poignant tribute in loving memory of his grandmother. In India, we view death as an onward journey of the soul. And that’s why this post touched me deeply, so did this profound observation:
“Such is death.
And such is life.
Everything we experience is being experienced by someone else simultaneously; there’s nothing new, unique, or special in this world.
And yet, some things that are small and common are so singularly beautiful that it breaks your heart in a new way.”
Read the full newsletter post here:
And the next part is truly profound.
“Our souls are eternal, so it makes sense that we always have been and always will be.
We are all old souls.
As far as I can tell, birth is just leaving home, and death is us going back to where we belong.“
good old read
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i learnt a new word: hagelslag
Translated as "hailstorm", hagelslag are crispy, oblong-shaped sugar strands, just a few millimetres long. They are most commonly chocolate-flavoured and coated in a shiny glaze. In a supermarket in any other country, you'd likely see them in the cake toppinghags section reserved for a special occasion, but in the Netherlands, where more than 14 million kilograms of hagelslag are consumed per year, many people eat them every week, sprinkling them liberally onto buttered bread as a quick breakfast, snack or lunch. [Source: BBC.com]
Thank you for including me in your post! I appreciate your kind words so much.