From the Green-Pink Balcony

  

October 3, 2022

I’m sitting in what used to be the green, and now is the green-pink, balcony in my Bombay home. I arrived last week. The pace has been slower than in any visit in the last decade and I’m relearning how to relax in this home.

 

The first few days I roamed the corridors of the house restlessly trying of think of what I was forgetting to do. I called a few friends, two of the closest asked, ‘Can I come over for a bit,’ and visited the day I called. The conversation was instantly deep and connective. I yearn for these talks. 

 

With one, I sat in this balcony, and she admired the cushions—coloured leaves on a white background—my sister had painted. I said I loved them too but would probably have used a different set of colours, or left out a few that were there. But my friend connected every colour to those present somewhere in this space and said the cushions bind the room together. My friend is a healer. She picked up a stone that my sister leaves on the sofa there and asked what it was. I said, probably some feng shui my sister thought up. My friend caressed the stone and said it had a lovely, peaceful energy. My sister walked in then to say hi, and she revealed that she had found this stone at Gangotri, the source of the holy Ganges river. 

 

Legend has it that when sage Agastya drank up the oceans, to find an asura that was hiding from the devas in them, the world faced drought and Ganga was brought down to earth from the heavens where she flowed, to bring relief to the people of the world. She descended at Gangotri. The force of her flow was so strong that first Shiva had to receive and hold her in the coiled locks of his hair before allowing her to flow. Ganga is the Goddess of purification and forgiveness. There are so many legends about her, many sound like they are about taming the wild flow of a powerful woman. The legends are patriarchal and misogynistic, but I love them nevertheless. They contain a sense of timelessness. 

 

This week is busier than the last, and I have also decided to clean and clear out some book cupboards so my sister can use the space, but on this possibly last slow morning I wanted to write a blog post. About time since I hadn’t written one in six weeks or so. Six stressful and hectic weeks in which I visited doctor’s clinics six times and the dentist twice. 

 

Maybe I will write a short one daily here.