It’s been a busy week: lunch at a friend’s place ( someone I met at another friend’s house), a neighbour’s birthday celebration and my first meeting at a book swap group. Meeting so many people in a short span of time has been a test to my memory. At the first friend’s house, I met 10 ladies. One of them followed up the meeting with a lunch invitation where I met 5 more ladies. Then came the book swap meet where- I met another 6 new people. It’s been an exercise for the brain to remember names and associate them with the right faces. I’ve been writing names down in my diary and against the photographs I’ve taken. What do you do to remember names?

I believe forgetting is not only a sign of bad memory but it’s also not nice if the other person remembers you and you don’t. Nobody likes being forgotten. However, if you’ve been busy focusing on everything the person is saying and remember the conversation, then I suppose, to forget the name is forgiveable. Are you fine with forgetting and being forgotten, and do you provide the overly used excuse of ageing to explain you forgetting?

Anyway, last Sunday was fun with an outdoors barbecue and in the company of easy-to-be-with people. The icing on the cake was that it was within the community and we could just walk back home after the get-together.
The second lunch I spoke of, was equally interesting. Over a delicious meal of chicken pot pie, vegetable tian and spinach, apple and walnut salad, all made by the hostess, the ladies discussed everything under the sun from politics (Trump and Modi, who are the current favourites world over, these days) to Literature and Indian mythology and its link to today’s science. If you’ve read the Mahabharath, you would know Queen Gandhari had 100 sons. Apparently, there is a mention of them being born in pots. I hadn’t thought much of it earlier but it’s the earliest reference ( the epic was written around 2,400 years ago!) to IVF. Isn’t that intriguing?

Anyway, coming to the book swap meet, I didn’t get a picture of the books or the venue. So, how it works is that everybody brings a book or two or more, and whoever wants to read a particular book or books, takes as many as they think they can complete before the next meet which is after a month. There’s no discussion about the books read (unlike a regular book club) but it gives you access to books that are not on your shelf, authors you’ve never read before, and gets people back into the habit of reading. I thought it was a great idea and also a wonderful opportunity to meet new people who shared a love for reading.

As, I have a goal of 50 books this year and I haven’t even reached half my goal, I’ve been making time to read. I finished reading Dawn Pisturino’s book of haiku on the sun. I’m reading another book of poetry now. I’ll share the review of both of them together soon.

Art and writing are constantly competing with my reading and it’s tough to do justice to any of them when you’ve moved to a new country and you also have to invest time in forging friendships and understanding the place.

Despite the fact that I have this goal to achieve, I started a canvas painting using acrylics which I hope to finish this week. I’m not sharing the painting now as it’s still in its initial stages. The last painting I did, on a canvas, was in October 2024. It’s been a year! Time literally flies if you’re not watching. In my case, I was watching it and had so much going on, that some of it slipped through like sand between my fingers.

This is a Thankful Thursday post. So, in case you’re thinking I’m having the time of my life, I just want to say, that like everybody else, I, too, have issues that I’m dealing with. But I choose to share the positives because it’s important to look at the bright side of life. The fact is there’s always good that life blesses us with but the human mind finds it easier to focus on the negatives. Thankful Thursdays is a conscious attempt to remember the good.

Now coming to the Thursday Doors Challenge. This week, I’m sharing just one door. It’s from the Shrine of Remembrance, in Melbourne.

Go down Flinder’s street, crossover to the Art gallery, take a left and you’ll reach the memorial. Amidst, sprawling green gardens, the monument stands in honor of all Australians – people and animals who fought the war and lost their lives. Built in white granite with pillars of marble, it looks like the Parthenon, in Greece. It’s a beautiful structure which evokes admiration and respect for those who sacrificed their lives during the wars.

It was a beautiful, sunny day ( a rare occurrence during Melbourne winter) when we visited the memorial. The sun’s rays fell on the white granite making the cold stone look warm. There were a few people sitting on the steps enjoying the sunshine and watching the guards marching ( I think they were practicing for some occasion). There were two men sitting cross legged on the top stair of the shrine getting a tan which was a little surprising (not the tan bit but that they were sitting like that at the shrine).

I didn’t enter the shrine as it was closed for the day. I intend to go on a proper tour of the place, the next time i visit.

These are some random shots I took at the site

The words, ‘Lest we forget’ inscribed on the walls of the Visitor centre at the Shrine of Remembrance inspired the below poem

'Lest we forget'

Read the history books
Visit the museums
Spend time at the war memorials
Listen to the old, recount the past
And pay a tribute to the brave dead.

Know all that is standing is a gift
paid for in blood, sweat and tears
of those who were here before. 
Dare not  take it lightly
Or make the grave error of forgetting

For history shall repeat!
It shall return with a vengeance
Tenfold worse - the wretched slavery, the distorted faces of colonisation, the maniacal war, the plague, the pain, the persecution of the weak. 

Light the torches of history
Nip the mold of ignorance
Let's do all we can to save what we have
Let's do all we can to remember 
Lest we forget.

I leave you with this poem.
Have you ever visited a war memorial or do you think it’s a waste of time? Do share your thoughts. I would love to hear them.

That’s all for now. Have a lovely week ahead!

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