One day we went to Aga Khan Museum, Toronto (AKM) when Sagar had come to Mississauga from New York for his winter break. As we walked through the galleries we had a communion with some exhibits, came in better touch with our own experiences of the past decades.
In the early 19th century, two British sisters, Elizabeth Gwillim (1763-1807) and Mary Symonds (b.1772) produced hundreds of watercolours of the local flora and fauna , and landscapes around Madras (present day Chennai) in Southern India. Elizabeth’s paintings of 104 species represent a substantial contribution to ornithology in India. This is a continuation of the tradition of nature studies which has a long history in Indian, Persian, Arabic art and literature.
Thinking places expanded this year to New York State as Sagar shifted there. However, Brant Street, Burlington and the surrounding areas remain one of my favourite thinking places.
READING JOURNALS
Did some readings around Pickering. This evolves many lovely walks around Old Mills-on the Humber. This year, one of my mentors passed away physically. He taught us how to view literature through the post colonial lens. Prayed and remembered our many discussions together at the Tripoli cafes around the Libyan chapter of the Arab spring.
SPIRITUAL JOURNALS
Looking back at some of our thinking places, and the many energies, memories associated with them.
Royal Ontario Museum-2017Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery-TripoliWith my Mamaji. Sudhir Bahuguna- walks in the HimalayasXlendi- The tower guarding the mouth of the bay was built by the Grandmaster Juan de Lascaris-Castellar on 29 June 1650.2009-Walks in Khadra Forest-Tripoli1968- Delhi-
see blog Skype parenting http://wp.me/piL5Q-t7Sabratha..2007OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERASLEIMA-MALTA-2011- We did not inherit this earth from our ancestors, we borrowed it from our Children..Native American ProverbSagar-Sliema-Malta-2012EDWARDS GARDENS-Toronto Botanical Society- This year Sahil became taller than meTHE RHODODENDRON SOCIETY OF CANADA-Edwards Gardens-Leslie Street-TorontoWalksGOZO CITADEL
See blog-
MUSEUMS WITH CHILDREN
https://prashantbhatt.com/museums-with-the-children/WALKS- 2004-LEPTIS MAGNA (Modern day Khoms)-Libya..The birthplace of Roman Emperor Septimus Severus2011- Revolution in Libya
“ All British nationals were told to leave. I hold a British and Libyan passport. But I chose to stay behind. I am from this land. Whatever happens to the people here, will happen to me”
Shara Jraba discussions
When I asked him can I record his interviews on camera he replied.
“Doctor ! In the Tripoli of today, I cannot even trust my mother. You never know what pressures a person can be put under to make statements. Record what you want, in writing, but nothing on camera.”
4 generations of our family have walked Lodhi Gardens..This was in October 1999, with Dada ji of Agra https://prashantbhatt.com/2008/12/23/an-afternoon-at-lodhi-gardens-delhi/FIRST TIME IN MALTA-SEP 2010
Newark airport notes: July 2022: After leaving Sagar at his new place in NYC, I spent a few hours reflecting on past journeys. Remembering the first time they came to Tripoli from Delhi on Feb 25,2004 and Malta from Mumbai on Sep 24,2010 . Airport diaries are a part of a separate special notebook which I keep. This year, Mehran Karimi Nasseri, passed away in November. Nasseri spent many years stuck at the Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris . As a person who has spent many lonely hours in different terminals of the world, I could identify in with Nasseri in a special way.
UNIVESAL ENERGIES
Connecting with the universal energies. One of such places is Algonquin
Algonquin-July 2022
Manresa-May 2022
REMEMBERING PAST YEARS-AND GENERATIONS
One of the meditations, reflections I did on my elder son Sagar leaving for New York was the India of 1960s when his grand parents first left their homes. My father PNB left Delhi to serve in the North East after his graduation. He returned to those areas again in 1970s-1980s, and I remember him sending us first day covers, leaves, butterflies from the North East-Nagaland- which were not seen in the Western India Sahyadri area or the Northern India Shimla Himalayas areas.
My father-in-law- (Sagar’s Nana ji) left Karachi when British India became India and Pakistan. In the early 1960s he joined Nirlon, Mumbai. He describes his struggles of those years.
These are part of the family memories and legacies which Sagar will carry with him on the next phase of his life. I remembered my own years when I first stayed away from home in Delhi in 1980s. The associations with the campuses of Delhi university and the walks in Firoz Shah Kotla, Lodhi gardens areas. Leaving India in 2003-made me discover Northern Africa-Libya and we later stayed in Malta for two years.
One of the ways to build a personal reservoir of resilience is to build personal connections with thinking places, make time and go there to refine one’s thinking. Lists, Letters, Libraries as a personalized growth plan were some of the values my parents, family elders imbibed in me. On listening to an incomplete letter to one’s family, by a close friend, who read it aloud and wondered how to end it, I recalled letters to a loved one who has passed away- an exercise I have done over the years, which has deepened my understanding of life, cultures, civilizations and journeys taken by our family.
Thinking Places: Port Credit-Jack Darling and Rattray Marsh: November 2022
Around the midweek, I met a close friend- at Jack Darling parking and we went walking on the Lakefront. One evening before, I had texted him that it is going to be zero degrees and suggested we just meet at a Tims’s coffee place. He texted back that he walks even at Minus 20 degrees. My Canadian-born friend inspired me to take a walk by the Lake and on doing so, I realized that once we get moving, and if it is not raining or windy, then the walk is very invigorating. Jack Darling Memorial is one of my thinking places, as have other parks in the Port Credit area of Mississauga. Lakeshore has had some interesting ways of teaching.
Remembering Yester years: Bradley Museum at 50 (2017)-Canada 150
Toronto parks- Wilket Creek-2014
Gozo-walks-2016
Gozo Cathedral: A place of worship for millennia (Remembering Malta years-2010-2012)
Walks on ramparts of Gozo Citadel
Lace
Museums, parks, waterfronts were some of the thinking places which my parents would take me to, to renew and refresh, deepen perspectives of our contexts
Remembering some yesteryears and some mountain meditations
Prashant Bhatt's notes 