DurgaS Bday Thread May 29th: You can do magic! - Page 17

@durgaS Thank you for liking my first piece. The idea just came in my mind but i was very nervous and worried to write it down. Indi di really helped me to boost up my confidence.

Originally posted by: indi52

khushi, they say, surprised asr,
but durga, what you did to me, i am still reeling and giggling.

remember when we met on blast? you said i had been the first one to say "hi", hope it was absolutely asr style. i would look at your name and smile... durga. apart from the ten armed one i met every year growing up, there was another famous durga with just two arms and the most touching tale... maybe you've met her in satyajit ray's pather panchali? intense she was and lovely too. let me see if i can find her for you.








there she is. moving, isn't she? the film was called song of the road... sometimes i think we are also on some road with a song of its own, which no one understands but us pagals. it's good to know i have my durga too on this trip. in fact, the road would go nowhere if she weren't there, doing the million and three things she does. without fuss. without rave rant, without talking, without tiring...

i still remember a gobsmacked what the moment when you said you are telugu but write hindi poems. huh? how could that be... but it was and wonderfully too. thanks to you, after centuries i read lots of hindi and i must say the way you get into it, i so enjoy, you use words from now and then and with such expert easy handling. wish we got to read your poetry in school rather than the extremely dry ones they showed a preference for back in the early seventies. 😳

so you did poems you said, then one day you offered just like that to help out with the thread. i was touched. and thought, yeah, she will help out a bit, that will be good. now you do everything, and i do a bit. sometimes i forget and you remind me... i fretted putting this thread together without you, quite sure i was overlooking something or someone and had you been around, you'd catch it in a sec.

then you started doing all sorts of things, writing stories, making edits, of course the news updates and i kept thinking, wow, she is into that too... how come she is doing audio?? and edits on powerpoint? and who is that drinking coffee in her os, is that me? the surprises kept coming.

when you began to index other people's work, completely selflessly, with no agenda of your own... i was a little stunned, impressed. so much work, why would you bother with my weird writing at all? and yet you did... all our work, neatly indexed under different easy to find files. an ongoing project across all threads, your fab mega index. thanks to all this i think many of us are finding our work posted on facebook for the anniversary celebrations.

i sort of loved you a little nuttily when you said a ginger "o-kay" to my suggestion that you give my slightly "hot" writing a try. i know you don't like such things, yet, just because i requested you and you sort of like me (i'm hoping that's the case), you went out of your comfort zone and read... up to the point you could. and in that inimitable durga way, told me, what you liked and what exactly you didn't. this deserves many salaams and bahut saare hugs.

i know you will surprise me again in the future. but take it easy. as i said, i am still adjusting. and what about the first birthday thread that you planned with your co-conspirators kate and supi... it was mine! wo... i am sure there's not a person on the thread and who hasn't been touched by your kindness and sincerity and talent. there must be many outside too... in both skad and ad.

we all know you love the disney princesses. again when i heard that the first time i was taken aback. really? durga likes those happily ever after sorts? okay... but you know, as i got to know you i started to get a sense as to why. there's a noble, upright quality in them, and an ability to dream, to believe in fairy tales, to work from the heart and yet be strong, and yeah they are beautiful (i just fell for tiana myself).

durga, they are in so many ways just like you. (because i hate exclamation marks i made do with a full stop there.) so today on your birthday,
i the old lady of the ship declare you...


princess durga






go on, get your fancy gown and fetch your crown... and yes don't forget your wand or pen, if you will, it's time to do some durga kinda magic.

happy birthday, my dearest most wonderfullest sweetest durga.
(and i know i know, there's a shyam lurking in you wink wink.)