"Wow, Bug, you look so organic" said June, my niece who refers to me in all kinds of natural metaphors.
We had not met each other for over a year.
It was not one of the best years of our lives as a family. There were several heavy losses - a beloved mother, a well-paying job, a house and a country we had called home for several years, and a couple of accidents that had left their marks.
Together, however, we pulled through and showed each other flimsy silver linings. And yes, found something to laugh about every now and then. Friends and family cared in ways they still don't know about. Yoga and meditation helped to maintain my balance in life.
In a prominent place in our living room, I displayed a Dumbledore quote that A had painted to remind myself of brighter things :
"Happiness can be found
in even the darkest of times
if one only remembers to turn on the light."
In the bustle of settling in a Mumbai suburb, going through school admission formalities, shuttling to Vasai every weekend, cycling everywhere, and tending to an unkempt farm, I let nature take its course and paint some of my hair gloriously grey and my skin take a shade of tan it had never known before.
June was right. 'Organic' is exactly how I am feeling right now. It is a vastly liberating feeling.
Speaking of organic, I am taking baby steps into organic farming on our little farm. Last month, we shrugged the fence clear of overgrown vines and coconut leaves. A harvest of aged and shriveled coconuts yielded a few chutneys and coconut water. We weeded out the unwanteds and pampered the wanteds.
With the advent of the month of June, we planted seeds, saplings and seedlings, and waited for rain. Monsoon, this year, however, had a disappointing start and we ended up watering the new plantation through the summer heat.
In the last couple of days, it has been raining like it had not rained in ten years and we just hope, inshallah, that our new babies have enough will left in them to grow roots and shoots.
