Ma is also at war. Her tormentor is her age. The raging battle is between her body and mind which is slowly destroying the beautiful person she is. Her suffering nudges her to a make-believe world where agitation reigns a serene soul.
जैसी अग्नि उदर में, तैसी बा॒हर माया, माया अगन दुई एक भए, करते खेल रचाया
Ma was most unhappy yesterday. She resisted, shouted, pushed and cursed us. She couldn’t fathom why four people were surrounding her, or why someone was holding her neck down while two hands ran a trimmer from her nape to the pate and scalp tickling her no end. She had to be held and comforted by four people for the fear of the scissor or the trimmer hurting her. We felt bad but there was no way out.
It was like a city of lice living in her hair. All because of one careless attendant who passed it on to Ma–the girl herself was unhygienic and hid it from us. We realised it only when Ma started increasingly scratching her head, neck, and the ear. A fine comb run through her hair brought out the lice and the nits. Scared to risk anything else our last resort was to shave her head, but it had to stop a little short of bald head – to a Crew Cut. In her state of dementia she found the exercise an assault. “Maar do” was her constant refrain as she pushed forward and back, barely sitting on the wheelchair. Sorry Ma, it had to be done.
Head shaving, or tonsuring, I am told is a symbolic act of purification and spiritual transformation. Offering hair, on your own, is also considered shedding of ego and worldly attachments. In her new haircut, Ma looks cute, doesn’t she!!!
A kind aunt recently gifted this curio to Rajni together with its two cousins – the three being sea shell cones. The pattern and markings on this one fascinated me as I had not seen anything like this before so I searched a bit about it. Lo and behold, it is called “Lettered Cone” – it has found home finally – I told myself.
Not surprising that even among the marine species of snails, gastropods, and mollusks there are ‘lettered’ and the ‘unlettered ones’. Just guessing, that among the lettered ones there must be poets and literary masters too – this one looks as if its pattern is rhyming with nature. In its top view it looks like the top of an ice cream cone filled with chocolate chunks in vanilla. Its sides look like a fancy snake skin. Holding it in hand is sheer delight, its inner curves still carrying the smell of saline waters of Indian Ocean where it is found in plenty. Don’t worry much about the red spot, it is some plastic stuck to it which I plan to remove carefully.
A species of predatory sea cone snail or mollusk, Lettered Cone is also known as leopard cone. Like all species of conus these are venomous and capable of stinging humans. Fishermen don’t even touch it. It is the chocolate brown pattern on it which looks like a long forgotten ancient script that gives it its name and makes it look special. I learnt that “…the patterns on the Lettered Cone shells are also reminiscent of chromosomes. Possibly this is the undecipherable story the Lettered cone shell is trying to tell; a glimpse into the genetics of life on earth. For now, this deadly beauty will keep its secrets – possibly hidden in the letters of its shell.
I am told people have been obsessed with seashells since the Stone Age. These have been used as money, worn as jewelry, and used in trade. But if you’re beachcombing in the tropics, there’s one beautiful shell you can leave alone: the Cone Snail.
The Lettered Cone is the “femme fatale” of the ocean. It gets its name from the dark patterns on its shell that look like handwriting or secret codes. Every shell is unique, like a fingerprint, and some collectors even hunt for ones that look like they spell out actual words. Collectors say ‘no two messages’ are ever the same on these cones.
People have seen everything from early Arabic letters to lost codes in these patterns. Some collectors specifically hunt for “word shells”—specimens where the dots and dashes happen to line up to look like actual words.
In some cultures, these markings weren’t just seen as random; they were viewed as a way for the divine to speak to us.
From a scientific lens, these patterns are actually a real-world example of “Rule 30″—a complex mathematical rule used to study chaos and complexity in nature. It’s as if the snail is printing out a chaotic computer code as it grows.
I am not the only one obsessed with these. Over 2,000 years ago, people in Japan went on dangerous sea voyages just to find these shells turning these into bracelets for high-society women. Wearing one was not just the ultimate fashion statement it also marked the wealth of the owner enough to own something for which literally some lives could be risked.
The predator inside this pretty shell carries a harpoon of poison. Its needle-sharp tooth shoots out toxic cocktail that can paralyze a prey in an instant. For humans, it’s incredibly dangerous—some species are nicknamed “cigarette snails” because the joke is you’d only have time for one last smoke after being stung.
But here’s the crazy part: that deadly venom of Lettered Cone is actually saving lives. A subject of neuroscientific research, scientists are turning its venom into medicine for neurological diseases like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, depression and even epilepsy. They’ve even created a painkiller from it that’s 1,000 times stronger than morphine but isn’t addictive.
So, if you see one of these gorgeous patterned cones in the sand, just remember: it’s a tiny, beautiful masterpiece that packs a punch strong enough to change the world—or end your day very quickly.
मोतियों सी सफ़ेद, गोल, मुलायम और उतनी ही खूबसूरत नींबू के फूल की कलियाँ देखी हैं कभी? दूर से ब्लासम से भी नाजुक लगने वाले और दिन में चटक से निकल आने वाली ये कलियाँ रात होते होते खिलती हैं। रात को ये हवा में हिलती डाली पर चमचमाते जुगनू सी दिखती हैं। पाँच पंखुड़ियाँ और पीले रंग के स्टेमन वाली कलियों की एक खास गंध होती है और इनके खट्टे मीठे पतों तो लाजवाब होते हैं। अपनी महकती गंध के चलते ये फूल देर शाम में मधुमाखियों और कीड़ों को आकर्षित करते हैं। वसंत के मौसम की ठंडी रातों के बाद इनमें भर-भर कर फूल खिलते हैं, जैसे आजकल हमारे अपने नींबू के झाड पे हैं। मूनफ्लावर और चमेली जैसे फूल इसी के साथ के हैं जो शाम और रात को खिलते हैं। एक टहनी में कलियों के साथ नीबू बनने भी शुरू हो चुके हैं। इस गर्मियों में शिकंजी बना करेगी , हर रोज़।
नींबू से जुड़ी हमारी लोक कथाएँ और मुहावरे सिर्फ उसे बुरी नज़र से बचाव या श्राप हटाने में माहिर समझते हैं। पर क्या आपको पता है कि ‘दुर्भाग्य की देवी अलक्ष्मी’ को प्रसन्न करने के लिए नींबू को मिर्च के साथ मिलाकर खाया जाता है। कहा जाता है कि धन-दौलत की देवी लक्ष्मी की बहन अलक्ष्मी को खट्टी और मसालेदार चीजें बहुत पसंद हैं। उन्हें किसी घर या दुकान में प्रवेश करने से रोकने के लिए, लोग दरवाजे पर एक नींबू और सात मिर्च लटका देते हैं ताकि अलक्ष्मी की भूख मिट जाए और वे अंदर आए बिना ही चली जाएं। वैसे बच्चों की कहानियों में जादुई नींबू के पेड़ का भी जिक्र आता है, जिसके पत्तों और नींबू से किसी भी बीमारी को ठीक किया जा सकता हैं।
The content describes the beauty and characteristics of lemon flower buds, which are white, round, and delicate. The buds bloom at night, appearing like glowing fireflies as they sway in the wind. Each flower has five petals and a distinct fragrance, attracting bees and insects in the evening. After the cool nights of spring, the buds flourish, alongside other evening-blooming flowers like moonflowers and jasmine. The description evokes a connection to nature, highlighting the presence of both blooming flowers and the beginning of fruit formation on the branches. The anticipation for making refreshing lemonade in summer is also expressed.
Lemon flowerLemon buds on a branchLemon flower buds and the fruit growingLemon buds in bunches on branchesLemon buds close-up
A mere coincidence that I finished reading these two books in the supposed ‘Love Week’, the Valentine’s week. Happily both are written by Women and both are above Love. The best part is that one is in English the other one is Hindi. While one is about pleasant heart-aches the other is about heart breaks, Ah!!!. The one about romantic love, “Zikr-e-Yaar Chale: Love Notes” in Hindi, is by Pallavi Trivedi which picks the low hanging fruits of short fiction that we are living ‘now’, in the second quarter of 21st Century. The English one is “Heartbreak Unfiltered: Things nobody told you about love, loss and letting go” by Milan Vohra. As the title suggests these are the stories of heartbreaks from people interviewed by Milan over a decade. Heartbreak (not necessarily romantic) touches us all, regardless of age, gender or geography. Both books are about emotional bonds characterized by deep intimacy, mutual respect, and commitment as also but the pain and longing of the one lost. I enjoy the parallel play of words going on in my head when I am reading English and Hindi together. Strange, how metaphors, words, situations and even individual reactions differ in these two worlds which at times seem alien to each other. Loved reading both. Pallavi Trivedi, you have a hand on the nerve and have put together a world of contemporary fickle love. And Milan Vohra, thanks for the invite to the book launch, i wonder if you noticed many moist eyes in the audience. It is another thing that she didn’t sign my copy of the book. Amid these two my mind was buzzing with a number from the 80s – Tina Turner belting out ‘What’s Love got to do with it … that second hand emotion… who needs a heart when a heart can be broken…. what’s love….’ Cheer up gals and guys you never know when a Cherub attacks.
(Pix: Milan Vohra signing copies of her book at Kunzum bookstore in Delhi)
Welcome to the Cimitirul Vesel—the Merry Cemetery.
The Village Where Death is a Punchline: A Journey to Romania’s Merry Cemetery In most parts of the world, cemeteries are hushed, grey places defined by whispers and heavy hearts. But if you drive far into the northern reaches of Romania, almost to the Ukrainian border, you’ll find a village called Săpânța that sees things differently. Here, the graves don’t just sit in silence; they tell jokes, confess secrets, and burst with color.
A Forest of Blue Walking into the churchyard of the Assumption, you aren’t met with cold marble or somber angels. Instead, you are greeted by a sea of vibrant, radiant blue. This specific shade, now known across the country as “Săpânța Blue,” represents the sky, hope, and the freedom of the soul.
Each grave is marked by an intricately carved oak cross, topped with a little “roof” to protect it from the Maramureș snow. But it’s what is painted on the wood that stops you in your tracks. In a charming, “naive” art style, the scenes depict exactly how the person lived—or how they died. You’ll see farmers tilling fields, weavers at their looms, and more than a few scenes involving a car accident or a bottle of plum brandy.
The Man Who Started the Conversation This tradition wasn’t the work of a committee; it was the vision of one man named Stan Ion Pătraș. Starting in 1935, Pătraș decided that a person’s life shouldn’t be reduced to two dates and a “rest in peace.” He believed in the truth, even the uncomfortable parts.
Between 1935 and his death in 1977, Pătraș carved over 800 crosses, including his own. Today, his apprentice Dumitru Pop carries on the legacy. Pop doesn’t just carve wood; he acts as the village historian and judge. When someone dies, the family asks him for a cross, but Pop alone decides what the painting will show and what the poem will say. Because it’s a small town, there is no hiding. If someone was a bit of a grouch or loved the local tavern too much, it goes on the cross.
Poetry from the Beyond The real soul of the cemetery lies in the epitaphs. Written in the first person, they feel like the deceased is leaning out from the grave to share one last story with you.
Some are delightfully cheeky. One man’s grave famously features a poem about his mother-in-law, warning passersby not to wake her up: “Try not to wake her up, because if she comes back home, she’ll scold me even more. But I will surely behave so she stays in her grave!”
Others are brutally honest about their vices, like Stefan, who admits: “As long as I lived, I liked to drink… I drank because I was sad, then I drank to be happy. I’m still thirsty, so if you visit, leave a little wine here.”
Why the Humor? It might seem irreverent to Western eyes, but this “merriness” is rooted in deep history. The ancient Dacians, who once inhabited these lands, believed that the soul was immortal and that death was simply a passage to a better, more joyful life. For them, dying was a moment of exaltation.
While there is still room for sadness—such as the heartbreaking cross of a three-year-old girl lost to a tragic accident—the prevailing feeling is one of celebration. It is a reminder that while death is inevitable, a life well-lived (with all its flaws and foibles) is something worth talking about.
Planning Your Visit The Merry Cemetery has rightfully earned its spot as one of the “Seven Wonders of Romania.” It’s an open-air museum that captures the heartbeat of a village that refuses to be silenced by the grave.
Ankahi. Unsaid. 
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