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Thursday, July 17, 2025

The Concept of HOME

In childhood days, when my sister and I would walk back from the sports ground in the evenings, our mother would show us birds in the orange sunset sky. She would say, "Look at the birds going home in the evenings.” It was a comforting statement , which in an unknown way was sowing the seeds of a strong belief in my head.
Even now, whenever I am walking home or driving home or cycling home in the evening, out of habit I look at the sky and I see the birds going home as well. That makes me happy.
My mind is conditioned to think that when the day is done, when it's evening, I must go home. I cannot stay out of home after evening. I feel a strong current that pulls me homewards. And that's why, for me, it's almost impossible to work late. Going home on time is my emotional NEED.

This feeling has something to do with one’s childhood home. I am someone who has had immense attachment to my childhood home, with my cozy bedroom that I shared with my sister, the garden with amazingly full grown trees, the balcony with jasmine climbers, our cats, the water tank with guppy fish, in which we would dip our feet, the chickoo tree with branches leading to the balcony, the cold stone floors, sun rays filtering through the staircase windows, secret hiding places in my grandparents room …everything about that stone bungalow, has a special connection.

It's such memorable elements related to the house from our childhood that create the concept of “home” in our brains, I guess.

However, this is something my partner does not really comprehend. During college days, when I was dating him, when it was slightly late in the evening, I would say, “I need to go home now”. But I never sensed any strong feeling in his mind that would ever pull him to his own house. Of course it has to do with how his own home from childhood was… did he have enough space that he could call his own? Did he have a connection with a bedroom that took him to dreamland?

Everyone carries the baggage of diverse childhoods, upbringings, dissimilar cultural backgrounds that instill a strong ( or insecure) feeling of home in our minds. Some people, in fact, are taught to leave home to chase dreams that aren't necessarily their own, to earn more and more money and never look back to get tied down…

In reality, wherever we go, in our minds all of us continue to live in our childhood homes. It hurts me to realize the confined idea of space in his mind, where he lives with one set of clothes on the body and one on the clothes line. He can sleep on any bed of any size, any couch and snore as loudly as he does on our bed! The concept of home and space in his head is just the opposite of what is in mine!

I carried my special home feeling with me when I moved to Abu Dhabi after getting married. It's mostly the mother who instills that warm comforting feeling of “home” in her children’s minds. Given our different mindsets, it became all the more important for me to set up a feeling of permanence for my children in our house, especially in this transit country where most people settle only for a few temporary years.
I worked hard to recreate memorable home elements for my boys…something that I deeply cherish while my husband does not even identify with that need!

Just a few days ago, during this summer break I asked my grown up boys, if they have this unseen alarm embedded in their minds, like I do, that starts ticking, telling them to rush home in the evening if they are out of the house for a long time? Is there something that pulls them homewards? Do they miss their bed and their bedroom if on a longer vacation, especially to India? They admitted, they do! I am so relieved to hear that! So in a way, I have probably passed on that feeling to my boys.

When the parents come from totally different cultural backgrounds and upbringings, it's difficult to find what is really important to be passed on to the next generation… This feeling of “home”and being drawn homewards is very important for me to feel secure and confident. My childhood home has shaped my personality. I don't think I would be into art and poetry if it weren't for that setting that I grew up in and that reassuring feeling of home.
I just hope the emotion is similar for my boys where they draw inspiration, comfort, security and love from the beautiful space called HOME, created and decorated together by their architect parents!

The scene from the title track for the comedy series “Simpsons” has stayed in my mind, where all the family members rush home in the evening, from different places and finally crash on that one big sofa in front of the TV. That's my ideal beginning of the weekend that spells HOME AT LAST!

#conceptofhome #quiethappinesstasha #homeiswheretheheartis #lovehome 

:: A bit of Bali at HOME ::




Tuesday, July 01, 2025

Quietude

Four white-eared Bulbuls were having an important discussion in the garden this morning. Two of them, perched upon the edge of the birdbath and the other two hovering in mid air, circling around occasionally, trying to make dramatic performances!
They continued to debate endlessly, while the pair of laughing doves on the parapet wall heaved a hooting sigh and finally gave up on their turn at sipping the cool waters.

I was waiting in stillness next to the slender armed graceful olive tree that was creating dancing shadows on the sun-washed white walls. The garden needs to be watered, I pondered, before the already harsh sun rises higher up in the dust-lined summer noon sky, casting a blinding spell.
When I am in the garden, I wonder, am I not supposed to be working at this time… When I am at work, I miss being home at odd hours to witness the dialogue that happens between the flora and the fauna.
Not everyone will understand why one chooses to take a healing break for themselves from time to time. The bulbuls, I felt, were actually cheering for me and supporting my life decisions!

The birds kept gossiping . I watched them silently… just grateful for such ironical quietude Life gives us, by serendipity.

Solitary events, crafted coincidentally, completely ours to be savoured deliberately. It's in such still moments, collaged together, that Life compiles the mixed tape of unsung melodies.

#summerbreak #healyourself #creativehibernation #findyourzen #quietude 



Tuesday, June 10, 2025

Rumaira

 "Rumaira", my latest artwork, features the loving relationship between my boys and our lost cat Rumi... She would have turned four this June. Happy 4th birthday dear Rumi, wherever you are!

On a very sad note, last year after Diwali, Rumi wandered off a bit too far and never came back... We are still waiting for her with open arms...

Every Eid Al Adha, we used to celebrate her birthday, as she was a rescued kitten and we did not know her actual birthday. She came to our lives in the Eid holidays of 2021 and filled in the much needed colour and freshness, like the favourite red hibiscus she has borrowed from Amaira, in this artwork!

Rumi and Amaira are like my two ethereal daughters, symbolizing love and strength. This illustration brings together all my children in one frame! This is the first time my boys have been part of my illustrations. 

My artwork always starts with a first rough sketch on a tracing, like back in Architecture college days.  After the final tracing with ink, I fill in the thicker lines with black gouache paint. Thick red gouache paint is used to fill in the hibiscus. Once the ink and paint are dry, the sketch is brought into the digital medium for fine tuning of some linework. This is the process I have followed for all my illustrations showcased in my poetry book, AMAIRA, the little woman, creating my own Amaira signature style. 

I hope to express many more emotions along the way, through the same medium. 

#amairasignaturestyle #minimalistart #rumaira #paintandink #myboysandgirls #amairaart