Monthly Archives: July 2012

performing again

Posted on by

 

 

It seems such a natural thing to me to get on stage and play my guitar and sing a song.  Sometimes it’s more natural for me to be there than to be in any other place.  Strange . . . i know.  After about 3 months of not performing, i didn’t know i missed it till i had the opportunity to perform again.  Then something like having sand in your shoe all of a sudden removed, i felt a coming into balance.  A certain “vibration of comfort” that i was not conscious of the lack of, all of a sudden came into my explicit awareness in the form of a certain kind of joy that permeated all my consciousness and made me feel more real, more me, more fresh, more alive, more at peace.  I could even say it was cathartic.

Sometimes you put on an itchy sweater and you get used to the feeling and you don’t notice that it’s itchy.  Then you take it off and you feel a relief that you didn’t know you needed.  And it feels sooooo good!  That’s the feeling i had — only more pervasive of all my beingness — physical, emotional, spiritual, etc.  So i am very grateful today for all the times I’ve had the chance to get up on stage and share some type of art form with a group of appreciative spectators — especially my recent dates in New Mexico.

to my mother

Posted on by

 

how i loved the smell of your saris
the feel of them in my small brown hands
hiding in their folds i was safe

i always felt special
when i was near you
even as an adult

your infinite patience
your side-splitting one-liners
underneath your demure posture

humming in the kitchen
to the rhythm of rice boiling

the soft jingle-jangle
of your golden bangles
rushing into each other
when your hands changed direction
back and forth
rolling out chapattis

a small ball that spread out
like the evolution of life
into perfect circles
as if to say
Trust
trust the rhythm of life

how i loved the smell of your saris

         – shashi light

the marigold hotel

Posted on by

 

i got to see the Marigold Hotel — a great movie with some awesome actors — set in India. 

it’s always interesting for me to watch my mixed reactions whenever i see India up close and personal like that.  i love my motherland because, in some ways, it will always be home.  i resist it because in many ways it harbors so much pain and suffering, much of which i was privy to during the first 7 years of my life.  and i have this ache within myself to go back and do something for the street kids of New Delhi – hopefully i’ll be able to do that someday.  
 
i also cherish all the memories of growing up with a carefree spirit – climbing water buffaloes, stealing guavas from the neighbor’s trees, ducking from over-ripe fruit, missled through the air by very adroit monkeys.  and lots of other wild and crazy things…
 
i let it all soak in and then i let it all go.  i think it’s good for me to stay in touch with that part of myself that still partially identifies with India and her thick culture.  it’s good.  one of the best parts of that experience for me is realizing that i am no longer searching for who i am –  kind of like that “man without a country” syndrome — being raised in two different cultures by parents who are the opposite of the major cultural influence in your life, but you don’t realize that till later in life.  and by then you’re already screwed up!    but i’m not bitter or anything! 
 
i also appreciate getting more of a sense of what my mother and father were raised like.  it helps me understand their perspective and their idiosyncrasies.  they’re both gone, but i continue to have a desire to understand them and listen to what they couldn’t tell me when they were here. 
 
most of the time i still feel like that kid hanging on to the thick folds of the back of a buffalo, meandering thru the rice paddies of life.
 

travels

Posted on by

 

Ahhh, the balmy breezes of the subtropics  . . . sippin coconut juice, spinnin some Bob Marley, chillin to the sound of waves lapping the white sands . . . woooops, i said balmy breezes people!  Sometimes hurricanes are such a bother!

hi beautiful people!

Posted on by

i’m a singer/songwriter/musician, living in Nashville.  welcome to my blog and thanks for checking it out.  i fell madly in love with the acoustic guitar when i heard John Denver on the radio, way back when — we won’t say zactly when . . .  i’m also passionately in love with mother earth and have been known to take stuff out of the trash to recycle.  call me nuts. 

besides John Denver, i love Jewel, Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Nora Jones, Cheryl Wheeler, India Arie, Shania Twain, Andrea Bocelli, Keith Urban, Jennifer Nettles, Morley, Tommy Emmanuel, Antsy McClain, Dave Hill and a whole lot of other fabulous artists.

i also love to paint and travel and keep rediscovering myself.  i hope you’ll share some of your thots with me, as i meander thru life, posting some observations here.

thanks for reading and musing.  see you in cyber space!

oh spider

Posted on by

 

oh spider
    walking an invisible line
    in mid-air
    with such dexterity and flair
    ever trusting
    the next step will be there

    not a stone of guilt
    carried from the past
    not a twist of paralytic fear
    cast before your onward path

    teach me the secret
    of the moment’s import

    how your remembrance
    is weightless
    as a silken thread
    writing wonders
    of the first dawn
    still fresh

    the morning always comes
    teach me to trust
    the next step will be there
    like your invisible stair

                             – shashi light