Birth Anniversary and a Rare Celestial Event

Today we mark Akshay's fourteenth birth anniversary. Today is Ugadi, our new year day, and Navroz the Iranian new year day too. A time for new beginnings and new resolutions. Memories are what keep us afloat and take us forward. Yesterday some parts of the world witnessed a total solar eclipse, along with a new moon and spring equinox. It was a day of rare celestial events that created a shift in our vibrations and energised the web of life. We are in an eclipse portal now with another total lunar eclipse coming in two week's time. A time for reflection and reconnection.

Inspiration from the mundane

January went past without a post. It was too hectic.It needs a lot calm and quiet to post regularly and it is easy to feel uninspired when the season is changing...but art never fails to inspire and lift the spirit. Here are a few priceless inspirations from everyday objects. I would have certainly shared this with Akshay.

Nail clipper dogs

Fork fingers meeting ...ET at lunch!

Way to go Spoon Man!

Bringing Peace

Today is Akshay's third anniversary and Akshay's mother is in Germany today to train as a peace worker as part of AOL and IAHV's peace building initiative in war zones. She says this is all Akshay's plan to keep his mum happy on this day, so that she has no time to be sad. Post the training she will work in conflict zones and help rehabilitate war victims.

Guidance from an angel!

Up Above, From Somewhere There

As we get closer to Akshay's third anniversary we scan the starry night skies for that bright spark of energy that was a part of our lives for ten years. Perhaps he too gazes through a looking glass at the Earth below from up above, somewhere there. How far does the shine of our city lights reach? How does the Earth look from up above? Quite stunning, especially at night as these pictures show. This is the aerial view from a high rise building of Bahrain

Now let's go a little higher and see how things look through some satellite pictures taken from the Internet. That tiny island there is Bahrain and that of course is India at night.

Throwback to happier times

Someone has said only a pillow knows how much we cry. The flood of memories peaks when we settle down to rest our weary selves.

The Akshay and Archy throw cushion, to hug tight every night, to soak up the tears, to calm and comfort, to fall asleep on, to remind us of happier times

Keeping it Alive

When we lose a very dear person, there is a huge black hole in our lives that's forever hurting. Love is Forever by Casey Rislov is a wonderful book that helps children make sense of death and I stumbled upon it by chance in this incredibly intelligent woman Maria Popova's blog. There is this owl family wherein Grandfather Owl engages the little Owls in many wonderful activities. When he passes away, the Owl children are inconsolable but they come up with a wonderful yet strikingly simple idea to convey their love to Grandpa who is up above, there somewhere. They fly a heart shaped kite to show how much they love their Grandpa and how much they miss him.

These endearing illustrations by Rachel Balsaits make our pain a little less.

All Things Martian

Akshay had a thing for Mars and even wrote a small poem about it, hence this post. Mangalyaan, the Indian Mars Orbiter Mission has completed one month in orbit. The spacecraft successfully entered the Martian orbit on September 24, 2014, a historic day for all Indians. The spacecraft has traveled a distance of 680 million km, according to Indian Space Research Organisation. It was launched from Earth on November 5, 2013. That makes a journey of 323 days! The distance between Mars and Earth is not fixed as both planets have an elliptical orbit. At the closest approach they are 57 million kms apart ( that was in July 2014) and the farthest is 225 million kms.

This is the first picture of Mars captured by Mangalyaan.

Will it find signs of life on Mars? Who knows what lies in the Great Beyond...maybe a planet where a race, far superior to man exists and where all things pure live!