Caged birds

I feel that those feelings, thoughts or experiences carried by my posts were in fact buried deep in  my mind for several years. They were like caged birds waiting for some one to open their cage and let them free. Every time I publish a post I feel that I have released "those birds" and that they are flying high up in the sky Then I heave a sigh of great relief and extreme satisfaction never experienced before.

I begin my day by signing into our family blog. The first thing I do is to click on the statistics section on the dashboard . While doing so I am not so different from a student searching for his or her exam results in terms of curiosity, eagerness and even tension . It is very gratifying to note that the responses of our esteemed viewers belonging to different parts of the world have been very encouraging as the total number of page views as of today stands at 545. I am aware that our readers are more learned and informed than me and hence humbled by their generous gesture. But I am badly in need of their feedback and valued comments to enable me to tailor my style of writing in accordance with their tastes. But unfortunately most of them remain anonymous. I wish I could meet them and tell them "Thank you Sir/Madam for your relentless support "

I did meet one of our blog followers last month in India who told me how she was in tears when she went through one of my posts .Then I did not know how to respond to her and was literally speechless . Another follower had to say that one of her hostel mates who had never had the habit of reading started borrowing books from the library after reading some of the posts in our blog.. Such responses have taught me that though money matters there are still certain things in this world beyond the reach of money and that human beings where ever they are join hands in the their love of good, rejection of evil and solidarity with those experiencing pain.

We were recently in Kerala to solemnize the wedding ceremony of my eldest son who, despite his busy schedule as a doctor, finds time to publish his posts in our blog. Marriages are occasions to renew and reiterate  the bonds of love and friendship. I had some friends whom I had not met or contacted for more than 20 years as I did not know their whereabouts. I was lucky that I could locate a few of them who attended the wedding with their families. When they came and hugged me and we exchanged forgotten stories of selfless love and sacrifice all of us did experience an aching joy as Wordsworth had put it.

On many such functions I have witnessed uninvited and starving human beings waiting outside the kitchen area entreating the kitchen workers to give them something to eat. I have been so far a passive spectator such a nerve-racking sight. Praise be to God we were able to ensure that each and every person who came to the function irrespective of their creed caste colour financial status were welcomed on equal footing.

A few weeks prior to the wedding, I had spoken to the mother of my daughter in law telling her how impressed I was when I attended a marriage function a few years ago in our area in which bride had worn no ornaments at all . After ending the telephone conversation, I thought I should not have gone to such an extent to create an impression that my daughter in law should wear no ornaments on the occasion of her marriage as I did not mean it. When I discussed the matter with my only daughter, she assured me that there was nothing wrong in taking such a stand about a matter that still cause sufferings and hardships to many families in Kerala. Keralites know that though our State boasts of 100% literacy, ruthless customs and tradition still plague our society  and  what the marriage of a girl in a family entails as the demands of bridegrooms are strange and sometimes stupid in the sense that people living in huts and cannot even afford to bear their day to day expenses and sometimes starving  are called upon to provide dowry and ornaments worth of large amounts of money if they want to conduct the marriage of their daughters.

This time when I was at home in Kerala, I enjoyed walking in the shallow waters of the fields in front of our house. As I began to pick up some of the water plants, some of my neighbours and even my better half wondered what I was doing. Though I told them it was a part of my physical exercises, the truth was that I was looking at each and every part of those water plants as if I was seeing them for the first time. My esteemed readers may recall that I had written how blessed my village was with beautiful trees, plants and birds. In the past I was taking such blessings of God for granted whereas I am now able to enjoy and care for them .There lies the difference . This is one of the gifts of blogging. Many thanks and kudos to Google.

By the father