I have a peculiar way of relaxing and seeking some quick ‘me-time’. Browsing through the hundreds of pictures on my laptop – especially pictures that evoke memoires – give me inexplicable joy. That’s the reason I have my hard-drive next to my laptop – so I can plug it in anytime and sift through pictures of when Pari was born; when I was pregnant; of our many trips; and festivals, of family. And, even those ‘seemingly’ mundane moments that don’t remain ordinary in the space of time..
Memories and moments captured in those pictures are SO priceless.
But today, something else happened, besides those pics evoking memories. It’s Christmas Day, today and believe me or not, I found myself noticing the greens and the reds, in those pictures, more visibly than anything else! I was also tracing Christmas symbols and signs. Interesting, isn’t it?
It started with a few pics and then it became a game for me. I sorted through dozens of pics just to see how prominent is the colour green or red or both, in those pics. And well, these ‘Christmas-y’ colours seemed to jump out at me out of almost every pic.
You have a look yourself!
I have another interest very close to me heart. I love reading, writing (and collecting) poetry. So, here are some that I read today and enjoyed.
Here you go. I hope you like this collection of pictures, poetry, quotes and painting. (Many pictures below have been clicked by Pari.)
Spot the colours of Christmas and soak up these verses.
Let Christmas not become a thing
Merely of merchant’s trafficking,
Of tinsel, bell and holly wreath
And surface pleasure, but beneath
The childish glamour, let us find
Nourishment for soul and mind.
Let us follow kinder ways
Through our teeming human maze,
And help the age of peace to come
From a Dreamer’s martyrdom.~Madeline Morse
Clicked through the car window: pretty girls on a horse-driven cart as we drive towards Nawalgarh in Rajasthan.
Magical joy on the face of Sarah, my 2-year old niece while I unwrap her gift. It was her 2nd birthday. My brother, Manish, clicked this picture.
Pari playing with the fishes in that fake aquarium. I clicked using her camera. In a row just next to Pari are the feng-shui bamboo good-luck plants tied in red ribbon.
Clicked by Pari again – at Janpath (New Delhi). She does have a soft corner for colourful umbrellas. Do you have too?
I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
A pic from our 10th wedding anniversary day, which was on 12.12.2012. We spent in the company of beautiful birds and green environs of the Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary. Pari clicked this picture.
Christmas is not as much about opening our presents as opening our hearts. ~Janice Maeditere
Sand Sculpture made by Pari and her friend.
Spotted in a cafe in Simla – on the Mall Road.
Shoe fetish, anyone? Pari clicked this. Love the variety of colours in this pic. But the most obvious ones for me at this moment are …you know which ones! 
Avie soaking in the wide green expanse of maize field (in Nawalgarh, Rajasthan)
At Christmas, all roads lead home. ~Marjorie Holmes
A Nepalese platter (thali) my bro treated me to on Raksha Bandhan (Indian festival for brothers and sisters)
Caught Pari’s eye.
Pari clicked this in a terracotta museum in Sanskriti Kendra, Anandgram, here in Delhi. The colours of Christmas seemed to stand out in this pic too. Cross-cultural Christmas, eh?
Pari again. (that’s my hand in the pic)
Sarah playing with a wooden cooking set.
When snow is shaken
From the balsam trees
And they’re cut down
And brought into our housesWhen clustered sparks
Of many-colored fire
Appear at night
In ordinary windowsWe hear and sing
The customary carolsThey bring us ragged miracles
And hay and candles
And flowering weeds of poetry
That are loved all the more
Because they are so commonBut there are carols
That carry phrases
Of the haunting music
Of the other world
A music wild and dangerous
As a prophet’s messageOr the fresh truth of children
Who though they come to us
From our own bodies
Are altogether new
With their small limbs
And birdlike voicesThey look at us
With their clear eyes
And ask the piercing questions
God alone can answerby Anne Porter
Green pigeons at Bharatpur! What a sight!
One of the 100 or so pictures clicked by Pari at the Terracotta museum in Sanskriti Kendra at Anandgram (Delhi).
In this pic, our very own Lord Brahma (seated on the lotus) wear the colours of Christmas! I love this coincidence!
A chocolate can never go unlicked AND un-clicked by a child! Can it? Pari indulges her sweet tooth (which she reserves only for chocolates. Nothing else she likes sweet!)
Clicked by Pari.
No Christmas colours in this one but I saw this as symbolic of the Three Wise Men (the Magi).
Ad, finally, a beautiful nativity painting by Gerard David and a poetry to go with it.
Source: wikimedia (under creative commons attribution)
And, more Biblical art here. (Love this site. Very useful for adults as well as kids to learn Bible through art).
Cradle Song by: William Blake (1757-1827)
Sleep, sleep, beauty bright,
- Dreaming in the joys of night;
- Sleep, sleep; in thy sleep
- Little sorrows sit and weep.
- Sweet babe, in thy face
- Soft desires I can trace,
- Secret joys and secret smiles,
- Little pretty infant wiles.
- As thy softest limbs I feel,
- Smiles as of the morning steal
- O’er thy cheek, and o’er thy breast
- Where thy little heart doth rest.
- O the cunning wiles that creep
- In thy little heart asleep!
- When thy little heart doth wake,
- Then the dreadful night shall break.
Merry Christmas to you all!
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{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Wonderful post. There’s something so vibrant about colours.. put a host of them together and voila.. you have a pretty picture. Loved the girls on the cart, the umbrellas, the shoes… and of course the three wise men. Thanks and Merry Christmas to you and your family.