A Life Gone By

Lotika Varadarajan passed away on October 9th, 2017.  I miss her, as a friend, as the mother in law she was happy to be, as the grandmother she was to my son.

My son and I have written poems about her, which are given below.  In addition, I add some pictures showing various aspects of her life.  She was on her feet - working, meeting people and planning events, almost till the end - I believe that this is how she would have liked to go.

Ajji has gone with the water.

She will become a white flower.

Her happiness will burst into the stars.

  Nayan Varadarajan

A life..

Wild elephants and hills of Shillong

Then to Bangkok, Chulalongkorn

​At Miranda House, with daring do

​Away to Cambridge she flew

Another world, a brave romance

​Sparked off​ from a mid-air glance

Drew people in from many spheres

​Sharing​ their lives, laughter and tears

Science, melded with history

Produced engaging progeny

Kolkata, with its warm embrace

Chaos defied her frantic pace

  

Fine boned ilish, of silver hue

Perfectly steamed ‘neath Didi’s view

Breakfasts lingered o’er cups of tea

​Discussing friends​ and history

Her world – that of the seven seas

Of sailboats guided by the breeze

Salt smattered steps in still lagoons

Southern stars and crescent moons

Her world – that of the warp and weft

Silken cocoons and fingers deft

Shifting sands, missing dockyards

Harappan sites with silent sha​rds

Wood fired stoves, a simmered stew

Smoky mithun, fried woodworms too

A world that overflowed​ with friends

New and old, at turns and bends

Of dizzying height and daring depth

A world​ gone by, we won’t forget

Just for completeness (and for those who would like to know more about her work), here are links to her obituaries-

https://thewire.in/188207/lotika-varadarajan-obit/

http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/joining-dots-gathering-traces-lotika-varadarajan-4897131/

Moving Inwards In Yoga

I have resumed my (much interrupted) yoga practice, and as always, it's wonderful to get back to it.  Interruptions are inevitable but if I don't resume, I always feel terrible from inside. Muscles and nerves start protesting!  So I am compelled in a sense to return to it, with much gratitude and relief each time.  It reminds me of the words of the Tai Chi master, Professor Cheng Man-Ch'ing, who said that each time he gave up Tai Chi, he became sick, and thus had to pursue it (eventually he became a great master).

When practicing away from a teacher, a student has to choose his own path.  This, of course, changes with time and one's requirements, also what one is ready for.  This time, my practice has begun with a focus on the inner energy rather than external refining of the postures.  Interestingly, although we use our limbs a lot, and spend much time using (and despairing over) them, in yoga the focus is a little different.  The ultimate aim being the stilling of the mind, the main energy centres one focusses on lie along the spine and up, to the top of the head.

Now that I have begun focussing on my inner energy, I find myself unconsciously sensing the energy given out by the environment as well - in particular nature.  Not in discrete units but in a fuzzy kind of way, feeling the difference between the energy of water and land, of grass and granite, of raindrops and wet earth.

I feel an immense gratitude towards all the traditional, wise systems which recognized this energy, and devised unusual ways to work with it - in particular the systems I have come in contact with - Yoga, Five Element Acupuncture and Tai Chi Chuan.  It's a magical feeling to be linked to everything through something so basic yet intangible, and to be able to tap it and use it wisely.

It Never Hurts To Ask

This has recently been driven home to me in the gym, where I do my morning practice of yoga.  I usually go there around nine, when there's hardly anyone around (except a couple of regulars).  Often it's quiet but occasionally the radio blares on, loudly and unrelentingly.  Initially I would just grit my teeth and get on with it, especially as the radio seems to coincide with some additional person working out at that time.

Lately however, I have been asking people if I could turn it down a little (the talk and music are really quite grating) and to my surprise, every time I have asked, everyone has said that they do not want the radio on.  They say it was just on when they came, and there's a universal sigh of relief when I turn it off (with cell phones and headphones, no one really needs a public radio in a gym).  This has happened about five times in a row, which just goes to show...!