Journaling Archives - Madhu Bazaz Wangu
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Journaling

The Other Shore

Each Story a Gem

Posted on November 15, 2021
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"Each story is a gem," says Eileen Hodgetts in her review for THE OTHER SHORE, a collection of twenty stories. Here is her complete review: "Madhu Wangu writes from a unique perspective reflecting her current life in United States and her roots in India. Her new book of short stories is a treasure trove of thought provoking ideas. The stories are grouped beginning with a collection of tales that are deeply mythic and calming to the spirit . The later stories move through tales of life in India to tales of life in the United States. For me the most moving stories were gathered in the section of Dowry Brides and the shock of finding that even highly educated Indian women can be held captive by tradition and become domestic slaves...

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Guest This Week: Kathleen Shoop

Posted on October 29, 2020
in Journaling, Online Mindful Writers Group
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Hygge is about being kind to yourself—giving yourself a treat, and giving yourself, and each other, a break from the demands of healthy living. Sweets are hyggelige. Cake is hyggelige. Coffee or hot chocolate are hyggeligt, too. Carrot sticks, not so much… it should not be something fancy or extravagant. Foie gras is not hyggeligt. . . ...

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In Honor of my Grandson

Posted on May 10, 2018
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Yesterday was our third grandchild's second birthday, same day as our wedding anniversary. What a fortunate coincidence! A new sun rises, golden yellow, exquisite, Lips velvety petals, black amber eyes, eyelashes to die for. Wrinkly neck, wrinkly hands, fuzzy cheeks. Delight rises from the bottom of my belly, my heart, my head. I am showered with bliss. Do you know who I am? I ask smiling from ear to ear. You simply look. I can’t stop hugging and kissing till you lay under moon light in your bassinet. When you cry, adoring parents wrap you up in a cocoon. You lull back into womblike trance. Kisses on your forehead, your cheeks, your tummy, leave a lingering sweetness. I treasure them for our moments of separation. Two years pass; flits of a butterfly. You smile when I kiss your...

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Benefits of Yoga

Posted on January 7, 2018
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Combined with meditation, yoga liberates vast resources of energy and keeps our physical, physiological, psychical and spiritual systems in radiant health. Yoga folds moments of stillness and moments of movement into one another. In this practice, you explore your body’s terrain to experience intense body sensations. Your body gets lubricated, your joints and muscles function smoothly, your blood circulation increases and your entire skeletal system gets toned.   Practicing yoga teaches you how to relax your muscles so that your mind also relaxes. When mind is anxious body gets tensed. When mind is calm body also calms down. The simple reason is that body and mind are connected.   Try practicing Shavasana (the Corpse Pose) when you feel agitated. Lay down on the floor with your legs slightly apart and your arms away...

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NANI, DO YOU KNOW WHAT M-A-TH-E-M-A-T-I-C-S IS?

Posted on July 9, 2013
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Our grandson, Mokhta has written his first fiction book. The two-hundred-plus-words booklet has four chapters. Written with a pencil on two 8 x 11 mauve colored thin drawing papers, the pages are cut in half and then folded making the booklet sixteen pages long. The title is Basketball Meets Pin. I reprint it below without changing a word. He wrote all exclamation points himself. Chapter One Basket Ball was lonely. He met pin. They played. They talked. They had fun. One day Basketball saw a swirl. Not just swirl, a beautiful swirl. It was a single swirl with lots of colors in it with some green color. The swirl could take them 97 miles an hour! It was funny. Chapter Two Then pin came over. Can I greet you, asked pin. Yes, said Basketball I...

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Rebirth of My Golden Pothos

Posted on July 2, 2012
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This morning one of my twin golden Pothos plant delighted me! As I turned this lush indoor climber around I discovered three stems lying on the ground waiting to be trimmed. Here is the story of why this sight was so pleasant. One of the many things that thrilled me when I came to the United States was luscious indoor plants. Seven years later, when my parents visited us my mother too was delighted with plants thriving inside our home. She added a philodendron to my small collection. That plant is a quarter of a century old now. Its attractive foliage, although gone through many ups and downs, continues to grow in soil enriched with humus. Through years I have placed it in shade, under filtered light or in indirect sun....

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A Letter to My Granddaughter

Posted on January 1, 2012
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My Aria, My Rosebud, A few months before your birth your mother called to tell us that you were going to be a girl. "What a blessing!" I said as the images of my own two blessings surfaced in my mind. As a young woman, I used to daydream about having a little girl of my own. My fortune doubled when we were blessed with two daughters: your mother Srimal (Garland of Happiness) and your Massi Zoon (Moon). Now some thirty years later, with your birth a fresh wave of delight has surged. You, Aria (Melody, Hymn, Song). Here is another opportunity for me to observe and experience your life, a young woman's wonderful world, all over again. As I write this, you are one year old, and I am at the threshold...

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To Do List

Posted on November 13, 2011
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            It was the Monday after the Fourth of July. Our daughter and her husband entered our front door, hugged their eight-month old baby Ariana and kissed their son Mokhta, now five-years old. "Did the "To Do List" help, Mommy?" she asked me in the kitchen where I was brewing Darjeeling tea for them. They had returned from a three-night break at Nemacolin Resort to celebrate their tenth wedding anniversary. Before she left, she had placed a piece of paper on the refrigerator that read: "Ariyana's To Do List" 7:00                                             Wake Up and 4oz. milk ~10:00   ...

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“When Apples Turn Red”

Posted on April 29, 2011
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My husband and I were waiting for the arrival of Mokhta, our grandson, when we heard our daughter's car stop in the front of the house. I opened the front door and saw Mokhta already out of the car looking up at the crabapple tree. He turned toward us and after a moment's pause, started to run. Afraid that he might fall on the pavement, I walked briskly toward him and he jumped right into my open arms. I kissed him and hugged him tight; my love of four months was waiting, wanting to be expressed. I kissed his little hands, his silky head of hair, and his cheeks that were not as plump as they used to be when he was a baby. "We ate chocolate, Nani," He said as...

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The Day my Heart Blossomed into a Nani Heart

Posted on February 26, 2010
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It took me a while before I got used to my new appellation "Nani"-maternal grandmother. Nani was just a respectful title my grandson, Mokhta, was going to address me with. I began to think myself to be a Nani but it was very slowly but surely that I began to feel like one. Another new term of endearment that took me a while to get used to was my daughter as Mokhta's "Mommy." My baby was now herself a mother. At the hospital, the day she gave birth to our grandson, I was not quite sure how the young couple was going to ease into routine after a major transition in their lives. Before we had left their home she had said not to worry and assured us that they...

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