Dear Readers,
Welcome to the last week of the #Blogging from A to Z April Challenge 2021. My theme this year is based on the Japanese concept of Ichigo Ichie which means--"What we are experiencing right now will never happen again. And therefore, we must value each moment like a beautiful treasure."
Today, I'm looking at my wedding album with Ichigo Ichie eyes.
I hope you'll enjoy being here.
Thank you.
Arti
Story Water
A story is like water
that you heat for your bath.
It takes messages between the fire
and your skin. It lets them meet,
and it cleans you!
...
Water, stories, the body,
all the things we do, are mediums
that hide and show what's hidden.
Study them,
and enjoy this being washed
with a secret we sometimes know,
and then not.
Above is part of a poem borrowed from The Essential Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks.
The Wedding Album
Bound in blue, it lives
inside a bag of cloth lying
at the back of my wardrobe.
I open it rarely but whenever I do,
It pulls me in.
The wardrobe's sliding doors
don't come in the way
of my entry into Narnia of that one sunny yesterday--
my wedding day.
Snapshots of happy, sad moments are glued on thick snowy pages:
on the verge of showing signs of wear
and going yellow at the edges.
Smiles, tears, flowers, sindoor
lie frozen behind plastic doors.
I sit on the bedroom floor holding
Einstein's theory of relativity.
The windows of a train he'd mentioned
are stuck in an album bound in blue.
Bitter-sweet moments zoom past fast
escaping the wardrobe through and through.
In a whirlpool of time, like Alice I slide
down
into my present, future and past.
Marriage seeds sown for new lovers
who'll meet,
And some happily ever-afters that will split.
Children yet to be born.
Parents, grandparents that will soon be gone
leaving behind stories
rippling
in waters of memories to be reflected upon.
Bubbles of things that were left unsaid
and the love that should've been shown
will burst and form again and again
as every page is turned.
Vacant looks in Beji's eyes
will bloom into Alzheimer's plight.
She'll forget me soon after the wedding.
It won't matter if I visit her: I'll justify my busy life for me.
Twenty-six years of life
sit caught and bound
in an orange and gold bag of cloth
at the back of my wardrobe.
The pale pink heirloom, his family gave me,
brings me back in time.
I look at it--gota-patti running in fine Punjabi design.
Jasmine, henna, his eyes, his 'you look beautiful,'
will continue to shine
my everyday, ordinary and that Mr. Einstein
is how I understand
relativity of Time.
The pale pink scarf with gota-patti
Our wedding album has seen more light in the past one year than at any other time in the past two decades. I reckon, the sequestering (at least for me) is making me more nostalgic, not just for the recent past but for the past, past as well.
What about you? Have you picked up an old album recently?
Are you the keeper of a family heirloom?
You know I'd love to hear, if you'd like to share.
Leaving you with this very short video. I think you'll love it as much as I do. It's 'a snapshot of an ancient past captured in time.'
This year, I'm participating in #BlogchatterA2Z powered by theblogchatter.com
Such a beautiful bride :-) caught and bound...bubbles of things left unsaid...Arti i always go in different directions when I read your lovely posts. I love looking at old photo albums- sp of my holidays and of my children. Most days I cant go beyond one album as each picture has so many memories..
ReplyDeleteThank you Arti.
DeleteYes, albums can have that effect on us:)
Wow! Anytime somebody brings up their wedding album, I get a little envious, because the photographer at my wedding butchered the photographs. So when people decide to jump in the river of nostalgia, wife and I have nothing but each other to stare at. BUT I do own an heirloom, and its the family album.. a window into my past. You see the house I grew up in was sold, razed and built upon again. So now when I go back, there is nothing there to remember. Its like somebody tore a few pages from that family album, and now it only exists in my memory. And like your Beji, maybe I will forget it one day too. I wonder where will it go then? Tell me, what happens to the memories after we forget them ?
ReplyDeleteThank you for reading and commenting Swapnil.
DeleteThe image of you and your wife re-living all those memories just by looking at each other is precious. While the rest of us look at photos (not at each other) to wash in the story waters of our albums, the two of you dive deep into each other's souls...there can be no better way to reminisce.
Like air and water, I think memories don't die, they recycle. What once inhabited my realm of sub-conscious thought is now someone else's oxygen till they breathe it out and then a sapling may absorb it to dream his future. That's what I think:)
Oh, I love old albums. Haven't got many but my parents' wedding album and my childhood one are my favorites. You were such a lovely bride! <3
ReplyDeleteThank you Sri:)
DeleteHari OM
ReplyDeleteWe had cause to comb through the ancient shots for the opposite end of life - father's funeral... it brought many smiles among the tears. Photographs have been one of modern life's great gifts. YAM xx
That they are.
DeleteThank you for sharing your precious smiles (and tears) with me.
Hugs. xx
Picked up lots of albums last year. Even my parents wedding album. Moments frozen forever. Good of you to share the photographs
ReplyDeleteDeepika Sharma
Thank you Deepika.
DeleteOh, Arti, this post is so fabulous. Your writing is beautiful and you are such a gorgeous bride and lovely couple.
ReplyDeleteI, too, brought out the pictures from my wedding earlier this year - the first time in a long while. I think many of us have been caught by that need to anchor a bit of ourselves in the past as our paths have felt so unmoored and seemingly unknowable for so long.
The ancient bee lights my heart as it does yours. How incredibly magical is this world of ours?!
As soon as I spotted this bee video, I knew I wanted to share it and you and your bee drawings were with me when I put the post out. We are blessed.
DeleteThank you for the compliments:) blush. blush.
Great words and pictures, beautiful and poignant memories of the day.
ReplyDeletehttps://iainkellywriting.com/2021/04/27/the-state-trilogy-a-z-guide-w/
So what we hadnt met for your wedding, so happy to meet that young gorgeous bride today! I love the way Mr Jain looks at you in that frame. And btw, not just you, even your photographer clicked captured brillant moments! My wedding album is the most funny album to watch. We both look our worst in that album & our photographer missed the moment each time, we had to action replay just for the picture. But its fun. Who doesn't love old photos! Iam a big B/W photo fan.The old pictures freeze time & age! It mostly, reflects a portrait of ours which we ourselves don't recognize anymore, which our mirrors don't capture today! I love albums, easy access and not too many of the same kind, like we do with digital photos.
ReplyDeleteAnother brilliant poem Arti.
Thank you Vidya-- especially for the poetry appreciation --wink. wink--the needy poet in me feels good:)
DeleteIf I show you my reception photos--you'll run! Imagine Ramlila makeup. Enough said.
Such a beautiful poem!
ReplyDeleteLoved the allusions.
Thank you Purba. Coming from you, this means a lot.
DeleteVery nice...albums and memories.
ReplyDeleteThank you Rajeev.
DeleteSweet photos, it's nice to dig into albums!
ReplyDeleteCheers.
DeleteYou and much of the world have turned to photographs of the past during this time of world distress. How wonderful that your memories are so colorful. Interesting how we use our busy lives as justification for our lack of attention given to others (a poignant line: It won't matter if I visit her: I'll justify my busy life for me.)
ReplyDeletehttps://gail-baugniet.blogspot.com
You picked out the most painful line from my offering Gail. I reckon you spotted the regret.
DeleteThank you for visiting:)
I love your poem and really connected with it. My wedding was the last time I saw my grandfather. He died two days after I returned from my honeymoon. It is bittersweet to look back even on such a wonderful day and know that time has changed so much.
ReplyDeleteEven so, I've always loved weddings so full of love, happiness, and hope. I framed wedding pictures of my closest friends and family going back to my great grand-parents. They hang in a large collage frame and I get to see those happy faces often.
Weekends In Maine
I'm sorry to hear about your grandfather Karen. Yes, photos can do that to us.
DeleteThank you for sharing your picture display idea. I may do something similar. I did bring a couple of my in-laws B&W photos with me last time we visited them. They were lying in a box. So, I framed them and hung them. Every time I look at them, they make me smile. They look so young in those.
Such albums are a treasure. one hundred million years back since there was no photography to freeze a moment, the bee preferred to be frozen physically.
ReplyDeleteI like how you see the bee Durga ji. Your comment made me smile:) Thank you.
DeleteWow... I am so much in love with this post of urs Arti. What a beautiful ode to the old memories and the snaps at the end added four moons to the post ...nope ten moons... With a beautiful bride's smile. Your wardrobe piece stole my heart :)!
ReplyDeleteThank you Ira. So, so glad you read it and enjoyed it. xx
DeleteNostalgia has definitely been stronger for me too this past year. Lovely poem! :) And lovely quote from Rumi.
ReplyDeleteThe Multicolored Diary
Thank you:)
DeleteThose wedding pictures are breath-taking! Thank you for sharing! I have a few family heirlooms, but I find what has been handed down most satisfyingly is my parents' sage advice. Recently, my daughter told me what she thought the best I ever gave was. And it was my mother's words falling from her lips!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing that lovely moment with me Jen. Yes, sage advice from parents and elders is priceless.
DeleteThank you for visiting.