Last week, during the record snowfall in the Greater Toronto Area, we set out on a journey that brought together old and new memories. We started in Erindale, enjoying a peaceful walk by the partly frozen Credit River. The cold air and the sound of snow under our boots made everything feel calm. At Richard Memorial, we smiled at a snowman with a carrot nose and twig arms, which reminded us of childhood. Later, we warmed up at Tribeca café, where the smell of coffee mixed with our memories as we wrote in the family register. When Sahil and Mamta shared stories from their recent trip to Mumbai, the lively streets and smells of street food there stood out against the quiet, snowy scenes of Mississauga. These moments helped us think more about what home and identity mean. As we talked, we also remembered a time long ago, when families like ours were shaped by the mix of cultures in British India.
The family register, like a shared journal, made me think about sisterhood. Looking back, I wrote about my father’s sisters, PNB, and their stories of Shimla in the 1940s. Their memories showed how history influenced their lives.
A photo of my mother’s sisters walking in Benares in 2017 made me think of 1967, when my parents got married on January 30. These moments show how our family and heritage are closely linked.
Of the many photographs of the pujas, get-togethers, reunions, this one on the shores of Aksa stands out as a symbol of the many currents that flow across generations.
In taking this Canadian immigration journey, we gain something and lose something.
As my friends from Juma Saaga days of Tripoli used to say- Juma Saaga- where we formed many concepts and revisited many issues- Everything has a plus and a minus.e
This picture is a small poem by the Arabian Sea… a monument to the grandchildren’s love for their dear Nani-ji. When they first came to Malta in 2010, their grandmother had told me in a sad voice-
“Give them so much love that they do not miss me.”
Have you seen with your eyes?” “No” was the answer many gave.
Yes, the gunshots are heard, even machine gun firing is on, especially at night, but no one has seen the bodies on the streets, though there are blood stains. It seems that the regime is clearing up the bodies the moment they kill. Then I met a person who told me that a friend’s son had been shot in the leg. This was the first person who corroborated that killings were going on. In the hospitals, you cannot take away the bodies unless you sign that the deceased died in a car accident. It was drizzling in Tripoli through most of the day (23/2/2011). “You have been waiting for this for a long time, since the eighties, isn’t it?” one experienced expatriate staff nurse, a Filipino who has stayed in Tripoli since 1982, asked a doctor who spent 18 years in prison as a political prisoner without any fair trial. The doctor smiled quietly. It is said that three people were shot dead in front of our clinic, but again, no one has seen them.
DOWNLOAD LIVING KINDNESS WORKSHEET- one can meditate and send good feelings towards mentors, fellow travelers, persons who visit these cafes/parks and persons who maintain them
In this blog, I look back at some stirrings and silences from understandings of landscapes, and working tables at ROM (2014) and relate it to a recent walk through ROM with my son Sahil, where we went through paintings by Flemish masters, did sketch studies and walked slowly through Bloor and St.George areas of Line 2.
Line 2
Over the years, we have developed a personal relation with line 2 and the many stations and people associated with them. Old Mills is where I meet a mentor who has become a confidante and friend over the years for a walk at least once a month- when the weather allows. Runnymede has nuances of different cafes and High Park-Hannah and the local histories through discussions made for many learning points. As we went past St.George and turned left, the architecture and feel of Bloor Toronto brought back many memories of past years.
Mindfulness Break- What elements of earth, wind, water, fire could you see in this phase of the trip. Eg- Saw a stall for hot dogs which were kept warm (fire) in the cold (water-wind-snowflakes) and was careful on the earth elements outside and in lower part of the body- as roads are slippery when wet
Flemish Masters: Diana and her nymphs-Rubens Studio
Food for thought: Relate to one work of art or exhibit in a museum walk and then reflect upon it in the evening or day after- with a sense of history of the art piece and what elements- awakening factors or any other element of mindfulness can be seen in it
RUBENS-Diana and her nymphs- studio- Commissioned in November 1636 by Philip IV of Spain (1605–1665)
History: Rubens was influenced by the Radical Naturalism of Caravaggio. Have spent many hours over the decades studying and admiring the Caravaggisti school of Malta.
In my walk in Art Institute of Chicago (2009-December) came across a special exhibition on Caravaggio’s -Supper at Emmaeus – in which the figures are not idealized saints but ordinary, even coarse persons. Christ is beardless, youthful and present at the same level as the apostles who are presented as day to day rough-handed peasants with spontaneous gestures such as the apostle’s arms through out as if to leap from his chair.
Note- I have kept a copy of Supper at Emmaus in my clinic and sometimes, after having established sufficient rapport and confidence in the therapeutic relation go through the mindfulness and spiritual elements of this painting.
Mindfulness exercise- compare the way Realism and Anatomy are depicted by Caravaggio and Rubens, what awakening factors are involved. (Investigation, Energy, Joy, Tranquility, Concentration, Equipoise)
Link to Rubens
The Italian years -1600-1608- of Rubens were when he likely saw works of Caravaggio and a version of Supper at Emmaus. He did not merely copy Caravaggio, but assimilated and transformed his ideas for Northern European tastes and contexts. He adapted the dramatic light and emotional intensity into large-scale movements rather than Caravaggio’s frozen theatrical moments.
His realistic figures (as is seen in the painting – Diana and her nymphs hunting- show a combination of classical idealization of human form which is more heroic and less gritty.
GALLERY-SOME WALKS AND THINKING PLACES-2025
Exercise – what elements are seen in these pictures (earth, water, wind, fire, anything else)
In Next Blog- will examine some Photography from Wildlife photography of the year-2025 at ROM and see how the interaction of humans with nature, other species and the planet is a driving force for the exhibits and a point for growth.
EARLIER PERSPECTIVES
ROM WALKS-2014- A TWO HUNDRED YEAR WORK TABLE-1815
The work table was a piece of furniture used specifically by women who would group around it to sew, do needlework or play games. The work table also had a more personal purpose , as in this example which is fitted with an adjustable writing board. It is a reminder of the lost art of personal writing where, through letters, diaries and journals, women contributed greatly to the preservation of memories of the past
Work Table- Thomas Nisbet 1777-1850
Saint John, New Brunswick- Maple-Mahogony silk-1815
In this blog, I look back at some entries of my diaries and journals, discuss how walks, naturalists, and reading groups helped me shape the year and give a worksheet for exploring local fauna and flora and local histories.
I remember the grade 12 science project which I made in Delhi-1985, when I passed out of Army Public School -Dhaula Kuan- in which I studied the plants of the Ridge of Delhi. After reading and discussing Kevin Fedarko’s book- A walk in the Park- went for a walk through some conservation areas like Riverwood, Rattray Marsh, Bronte creek, Niagara with an eye for geological time.
Journals of a Walk
Reviewed notes of walks and discussions 10 years ago in Tripoli, Libya and read again the works of Robin Sharma (RS) on the difference between a journal- where one can reflect and refine rather than a diary-which may just be a log of events
In “Who will cry when you die” the writer-speaker Robin Sharma tells about the difference between a diary and journal. A journal he says is one of the best personal development tools one can have. In this private space, one can reflect and refine on what we do, why we do it, and what lessons we have learnt.
In the walks of this year, I went into consciousness of geological time, cosmic time, and related it to the plants, animals and development of the Riverwood Conservancy Area, after reading Kevin Fedarko’s book- A Walk in the Park which was discussed int the Book club of Frank McKechnie Centre Library in December.
Walking through Time
“ I saw that by going down that huge fissure in the face of the earth, deep into the space and the silence and the solitude, I might come as close as we can at present to moving back and down through the smooth and apparently impenetrable face of time” Colin Fletcher’s words -in The Man Who Walked Through Time- (1968) describes his journey through the Grand Canyon in 1963.
The book Walk in the Park by Fedarko, goes into the way other explorers went down the Grand Canyon, and the influence of Major John Wesley Powell-1869 to explorations by Colin Fletcher in the 1960s and Kenton Grua in the 1970s and Fedarko in 2000/2010s.
The approach of Fletcher, Grua influenced Fedarko and made me also reflect on our own walks in some natural areas, and associations with volunteer organizations, art groups, theatre groups which have added many cultural nuances.
The Geological bedrock beneath Riverwood Conservancy (Established in 2002) originates from sediments of a vast, ancient inland sea around 445 million years ago (Ordovician Period). The Queenston Shale was later carved by the Ice Age Sculptor by the last continental glacier- the Wisconsin Ice Sheet-around 20000 years ago which deposited vast amounts of till- a mix of clay, sand, gravel, boulders creating the rolling hills. The Credit River was formed from the meltwater and the deep glacial Lake Iroquois was the precursor to Modern Lake Ontario.
The forest has matured into a mixed deciduous-corniferious ecosystem which is part of the Carolinian Forest Zone, with species such as Sugar Maple, Beech, White Pine, Hemlock and Oak growing into a dense forest with rich understory and abundant wildlife – such as Black Bear, Wolf, Elks, Passenger Pigeons.Walking through Riverwood- with sense of geological time and seeing the evolving ecosystems made me aware of some nuances.
The contribution of McEwan and Chappell Families in donating their lands to development of the ecosystem , the work of Riverwood Conservancy, added to my understanding of this area.
Some ecosystems, geological areas which we have seen in Southern Ontario are as follows
With Lucy-3.2 million years ago Bronte -Oakville-Aug 2025Orangeville-Sep 2025Credit River-Erindale-2025-SummerJack Darling-Port Credit-Mississauga-Fall 2025Burlington Harbour-2025-NovRattray Marsh-2025-FallRattray-50 yearsHumber-Etienne Brule-Nov 2025Humber-Etienne Brule-Nov 30-2025
Quest for Adventure: Home Library Resources
Fedarko’s book reminded me of “Quest for Adventure” by the mountaineer Chris Bonnington, which I added to my home library in Tripoli in 2004-in the annual fair of ISM International School -where I first met my friend and mentor Mr.Francis.
In the book Bonnington lists the main adventures of the second half of the 20th century -which included Rivers-The Blue Nile, Deserts, Mountains-Everest, Annapurna, Space-Moon, Sea, the Poles.
He begins the book by saying how this book resembles an expedition or voyage, an adventure of the mind. He goes into the what and the why of adventure, his own beginnings as it is only through one’s own experiences that one can analyze motives and feelings. It began with a picture book of the Scottish hills, picked up at the age of sixteen. In telling of this expedition of Annapurna-South Face-Big Wall Climbing in the Himalayas-1970, Bonnington goes into history and spirit of Everest Explorations. He goes into the antecedents of John Hunt-1953 Everest, Eric Shipton- who first went to Everest in 1933 in an expedition lead by Hugh Ruttledge and the tragic 1924 expedition where George Mallory and Andrew Irvine disappeared.
Earlier Perspectives-2019 On 50th anniversary of Man on Moon– we went through -First on the Moon- in which Bonnington goes into the presumptions he had about the personality of Neil Armstrong and how he found NA to be in many ways the archetype of what one images an astronaut to be- steady, conventional, phlegmatic and not over-imaginative, but as he talked to him- CB realized that Armstrong loved to fly as intensely as Bonnington loved to climb.
Born in 1930 at Wapakota, Ohio, he got his pilot’s license before he was old enough to drive a car, became a Naval Aviator in 1949, in time to serve in the Korean war where he flew 78 combat missions.
Year End Notes-2025: Walking Through Time
This year, I re-joined the Book Club, (which I did regularly from 2017- till Covid lockdown). It helped me read new interesting books , have rich discussions and also mine my home library for old books collected over the decades – from India, Libya and other places.
These readings helped evolve my Mindfulness practices and see how walking in a park can also be a Walk through time.
WORKSHEET- Mindfulness of Geological Time- some Local Histories of 50 years of Rattray Conservation area-Port Credit Mississauga , Bronte Harbour- Oakville and evolution of Burlington from villages of Wellington and Nelson- first post office established in 1826.
Prashant Bhatt's notes 