This Father’s Day, went to pray at the Erindale park, Mississauga, and remembered similar trees in Shimla region of Himachal India, where we used to go for summer vacations from Pune in 1970s. Thoreau (1861) said of the white pine “There is no finer tree”.
ERINDALE PARK- MARCH 2022
I had taken my sons to Erindale in spring, and we had heard some old Hindi songs which were my father’s favourites. As I remember the walks in Lullanagar, Pune in childhood, I am filled with gratitude for the gift of the morning hour, when night turns into day, which my father and maternal grandfather gave me.
Flashcards, meditations, museums, 100-day plans, calendars, walks, tables are some of the other gifts which have enriched my life, which were given to me by my father.
FAMILY DAY-2022-FEBRUARY-RICHARD MEMORIAL PARK-
Work out your own salvation
Do not depend on others
Buddha.
Some lessons my mother taught me…
Museums with children
PALAM-1999 HUMBER-2019-Old Mills-Toronto
SEE – BENARES-2017
I have no living memory of my paternal grandfather who passed away in April 1969. Through elder cousins I came to know that he was a lover of monuments, gardens, museums, trade fairs and exhibitions. Museum walks have been a part of the family tradition for generations. I tried to pass it on to my sons. Remember the walk in Bradley Museum, Port Credit, Mississauga, in June 2017, celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of its establishment.
SEE
BRADLEY MUSEUM-50 YEARS-2017
MUSEUM WALKS- JODHPUR SPECIAL EXHIBITION..ROM-2019-AUGUST
Tables
Recently I met two batch mates of the Class of 1985, Army Public School, Dhaula Kuan, Delhi. “Have you seen your mother talking in such a carefree manner before” I asked the batchmate’s son, who is himself now in university. In a great compliment her son said, he has. “So she has retained her sense of humour through the years…”
Sitting in Mississauga, Ontario, we talked about the days of Delhi Ridge in the 1980s…Setting tables are something which I learned from my father in many direct and indirect ways.
MANRESA-2022-MAY…Through meditations in the Sahyadris of Western India and the Himalayas, my father introduced me to the magic of retreats.
Collections
My father would send First Day covers from Nagaland-North East of India in 1970s. He would also send butterflies and leaves which are not seen in Western India. Those collections expanded on the stamps I had started collecting in primary school. Stamps made me learn about countries in Africa (where I later spent many happy years).
2021-APRIL-TUGS PLATFORM-TOBERMORY-Exploring Local histories
In the Bruce Trail..the Bruce trail is a public footpath spanning the entire Niagara Escarpment whose northern terminus was inaugurated in Tobermory in 1967-Canada’s Centennial Year. Named as “the trail to the Bruce” , the Bruce Peninsula and County are named after James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin, Governor General of Canada (1847-1854). James Bruce never had the good fortune to walk the Bruce Trail. (https://brucetrail.org/pages/about-us/our-history)
My mother’s sister
Delhi-2022-June
Yesterday night, connected with my mother’s sister in Vasant Kunj. “ If your mother had been alive, we would have been in Palam” she said in a sad refrain. One of life’s lessons is feeling the spirit of the persons who have passed away physically. My father’s mother passed away in the 1940s when he was around five years old. But her presence was felt in our home, and my father would often talk about the mother he never had.
As we remembered the many of the extended family who have passed away before their time in the COVID19 waves, we saw some old pictures. She showed me a picture of her parents (my maternal grandparents) in Moscow in 1970s. I told her I have a version of the photograph with my aunt (the youngest of the three Uniyal sisters) with her parents. Remembered the Benares 2017 trip…the walks by the Ganga, the visit to E 10 BHU campus where the trees planted by my grandfather in the 1950s have grown tall.
SEE
LULLANAGAR-PUNE-1970 s
Remembering yester years
The museum walks that my father imbibed from his father, and I tried to pass on to my son, evolved into family albums and art libraries. We used to follow the calendar of the Manoel theater in Malta and spent some lovely hours there watching musicals and magic shows. The walks in Lullanagar, evolved to walks in Xlendi, Gozo in the Mediterranean to Trails in Ontario.
RATTRAY-MARSH- 2019-OCTOBER
Readings,exploring silence in open spaces..some gifts from my father
Looking ahead
As my sons graduate from university and evolve to the next stage, I remember the day they graduated from High school (Gordon Graydon,2018-Mississauga).
GORDON GRAYDON-2018-JUNE…The last batch of Gordon Graydon Memorial,
Ogden Road, Mississauga.
References
Thoreau, Henry David (1861).The writings of Henry David Thoreau: Journal.p.33.
Prashant Bhatt's notes 
To present past records and the significant details of the family along with emotional bonds which are reflected shows how much importance one has for his/her family. An excellent articulation in every respect indeed. WARM REGARDS.