Padmajav’s Weblog

Recently, I bought a choppu set for a friend’s daughter. Delightedly, she ran away to her room to start playing. After a while, she came back to us, looking puzzled.

“Amma, what’s this?” she asked, holding up a kal-ural. “Its something in which you grind mavu for idli” My friend explained. “But how?” the little girl demanded. We gave her a demo of pretend-grinding.

After she left us alone, my friend and me looked at each other. “She’s never seen one!” my friend exclaimed. “We grew up with these things. Imagine a whole new generation is growing up without knowing a kalloral, ammi or the other stuff used for dry grinding” (my own grand mom used to refer to it as aarikkal, but none of my friends in Chennai seem to have heard of them!) we mused.

It really got me thinking.

Just imagine, my son, for instance would have never seen a washing stone.

For those who don’t know what it is, a washing stone is a cement platform on which a rough granite or sandstone is mounted. Its easy to stand over, spread a piece of cloth to apply soap and then holding one end, beat the cloth on the stone many times, before rinsing it and wringing it dry. I still don’t know the thought-process behind beating it on the stone!

Of course in an apartment there’s absolutely no space for ammi or ural. And with the maids and washing machines, nobody needs to know what a washing stone is.

I remember the two washing stones in the backyard of my grandmother’s. Because the house was always full-up, it was really handy to have two. I don’t remember the maid washing any clothes over there. They only washed the non-paththu pathrams in the evenings, and swept & mopped the house. The major vessels were washed by an aunt or an older cousin in the backyard.

Every one washed their own clothes. A visiting daughter like my mom used to wash hers & her kids’. Wash-times were always fun for us. It was normally done in the mornings, just before people went in for their baths. It was a sort of communal thingy.

I remember vividly how us kids used to pass time in the backyard, either picking fruit or flowers are something equally idyllic. While our mothers and uncles washing their clothes and having their gossip-sessions. While someone drew water from the well, two others would be at the washing stones. Someone else would be wringing the clothes and hanging them dry and some one else would be at the back verandah combing her hair to get ready for office. My grandmother would probably be putting up her feet in the same verandah, drinking her second cup of coffee while taking part in the morning banter.

It all seems light years away! Now who has that kind of time? I always wake up late, do everything in a mad rush before locking up the house to go to school!

If only we still did all these things, we’ll never need a gym!

One of the books I read on healing says that the process of grinding and cooking before the machines took over was very therapeutic. The rythm of grinding, the smell of spices, inhaling the aromas of cooking are all very soothing for a woman, the author claims. I tend to agree, because I feel so de-stressed while I cook.

Maybe we really had something going for a healthy living those days.

Right from eating on a banana leaf to sleeping soon after sunset, we had such close commune with nature.

And we were so eco-friendly too!

There must be some way to reclaim all that while still enjoying our mobile phones and plasma screens!

A long time ago, I listened intently to a speech on the part played by the mind in an illness. I was fascinated. Till then I’d never connected both. It was amazing that your mind was the culprit which gave you a headache, tooth ache, bellyache, heartburns, even tumors.

“Especially tumors and arthritis!” the speaker had emphasized.

So, if you can control your mind, you can heal yourself completely from any illness.

“Any?” someone asked.

“Yes” she stressed.

Apparently there was this person who’d cured himself of AIDS, by simply making positive affirmations everyday and ordered his immune cells to multiply. And after a few months it just happened.

Your mind has immense potential, it seems. While without control, it can give you innumerable ailments, but with control, it can make you a healthy, strong and loving person capable of miracles.

The talk was so impressive, I enrolled myself in a Reiki class the same weekend.

Did you know that our bodies have a glow of light around us, which cannot be seen by the naked eye? It’s called an aura. All of us are born with the capabilities to heal ourselves. Our ancestors did. But we’re so caught in the stresses of modern world, which we seem to have lost touch with that side of us. After the class I read extensively on every book I could on Reiki. It was fantastic. My migraine headaches vanished without a trace.

Then I came across a book on mind & body. It also preached almost the same thing my Reiki master had taught me, but this was simpler. Every negative thought you have produces acidic substances in your body, it claimed. And every positive thought calms your mind and encourages soothing chemical reactions inside. So if you think positive, you become happier and healthier. And the book also recommended various forms of visualizations. For instance, a woman with stiff knee-joints used to sit quietly for about half an hour every morning, close her eyes and visualize a warm and golden liquid, being poured on her knee joints.

And her knee was totally healed in a month!

Books on mind-body-healing drew me like a magnet. I spent hours browsing books. Ended up spending a fortune on such books.

I picked up this book on charkas. Your aura has seven energy points called chakras. And as long as energy flows through these chakras without a break, you’re safe. But once there’s block anywhere, an illness manifests. And the book shows how to deal with such blocks. It was so intense, I decided to save it for a rainy day.

Then came a book which taught me to be a witch. Not in a bad way, but according to the book, a witch is some one intuitive and compassionate, who listened to people with her heart. She is the nourisher of her loved ones. Someone who identifies and connects with the good energies around her. But during the middle ages, they got such bad publicity that they were hunted and killed and had a lot of stigma. This book teaches women to get in touch with their intuitive sides and develop their own capabilities to heal themselves and others through a series of exercises. I found this book extremely riveting, but once I finished it, I never got around to actually try anything from it…

Then a friend told me about Tai-Chi. I was impressed as usual and looked around for a place close home where I can enroll.

My husband put his foot down. “You will not join”, he thundered. “But, why?” I asked him feeling very annoyed.

“I’ve been watching you going from Reiki to meditating to crazy visualizations to chanting to being a witch to what not!” He roared. “Enough is enough. From now on I do not want to hear another word about your crazy obsessions. Why can’t you be happy with what you are?!” And went on to lecture me about being at peace with myself and being happy with just what I have.

“Ok.” I agreed sheepishly.

And then baby happened. My mind constantly occupied with all the harrowing baby-things, I had no time for any introspection after that.

Though I’ve been observing the various mind-body stuff from a distance, I’m waiting for my son to start full time school.

Then I can try that Art of Living class. Catch up on Yoga.

Maybe I’ll join an aerobics class.

And yes, definitely Tai-Chi!