Graduation Day, etc.

Someone I once knew, used to say,
How it always rains on a specific day.
And it did
Today.
How I wish I could wholeheartedly pray,
For someone who just wouldn't stay.
And I did
Today.

-Abhishikta

Oh, and Happy Graduation Day :)

Chaar Kadam

Everyone is talking of being the ear. If this is the start of the change (which I doubt), the lost life brought in some purpose here (nomatter how mean this sounds).
Coming from a background that had seen a suicide due to depression at a pretty young age, mental health has always been taken very seriously in my family, thankfully. Even then, dealing with it is never easy, sharing it is never easy, therapy is never easy, accepting is never easy. I will not talk about how we can be of help to others, the social media has done that enough, I'll just talk about two ways, I could pull myself out of depression, just in case you're reading this, and you need this too, apart from therapy, the proper kind.

2015, I had hit a low beyond imagination. I'm still not okay to discuss why, but that is wherein I started 'Hapiness Program' by the Art of Living. No, not promoting any agenda/group here, but the fact that the Sudarshan Kriya helped me survive that phase has to be acknowledged. We talked of realities, sorrow, pain, and hapiness beyond all of that. Confessing to a group of strangers gave me the courage to talk about things, that I probably could not, to a therapist yet. That is where I started with the habit of acknowledging the privileges in life, from hearing the hell, other have. For anyone reading this and shying to seek medical help, you can start with the Hapiness Program.

2019, I thought I would not survive. I'm not even okay to think of the why, but this is when I started my Toastmasters journey, seriously. Writing has always been liberating to me, but I started to write dark, grey, black around this time, all the time. I felt the same in my head and heart. There seemed to be a no coming back. Toastmasters gave me a platform, where I HAD to write, think and speak positive. A place where every sappy story of mine could be turned into humour/inspiration speech, for my own sake! I took up speech slots, just so I don't think negative, consciously. Speaking to a group of strangers who never judged, helped me from drowning in my own grey. For anyone reading this and shying to seek medical help, you can start with the Toastmasters club.

Also, I'm always around :)

Aakar School

Another artist post alert, not.

This one's for the one who has been a drawing teacher for almost every cousin I have, which is a HUGE number.

For as long as I can remember of living in the red walled Ammabari, and many years after that as a matter of fact, Saturday 8ams would be 'aakar school'.
Basu sir would play the fm, mostly they would play old Nachiketa songs in those days, and we would copy one of this masterpieces. I would always make horrible animal portraits (I still remember making a Cow shaped Dog for one of the year end certification exams and Sir covering up) and Sir would eventually make an outline and tell me to try again.

Today when I picked up a proper drawing copy after more than 10years, I again struggled to make a cat. Somehow managed to put the back profile and somewhere I knew, Basu Sir smiled from heaven.