BILU-KEDAR MANDIR-SRINAGAR-PAURI GARHWAL-UTTARAKHAND-2011-October
What they don’t realize is that these small, seemingly insignificant steps completed consistently over time will create a radical difference.
Hardy, Darren.
The Compound Effect (p. 10). Vanguard Press. Kindle Edition.
The Compound Effect can be applied to many things- one of them- relationships. Have a touch-base every fortnight, and getting current- to what is happening in the lives of our near and dear ones. This nourishment helps us connect.
Around the birthday of my cousin sister-I rang her up and many memories came alive. She told me that I could use the pictures sent by her, but with proper privacy settings. So I decided not to use any such pictures which could cause confusion later. But I spent some time thinking of Sisterhoods and how these impact us.
HUNTSVILLE-ONTARIO-CANADA-2017-August
PRESENT-
As we went through the motions of how life is around COVID19 lockdown, she gave me some important tips about recipes- and gardening.
Over the past few months, she sent me some pictures, one of the most memorable being seeing my aunt and my grandmother’s sister walking -their profiles taken from behind, and she asked me to identify who they were. I could easily tell who they were, and many memories, family stories came alive.
We go back a long way.
PAST-WALKS IN HIMALAYAS
During a walk towards the woods near our house, we recalled previous such walks.
One of the most memorable ones recalled was in 2006-May- along the Ganga across Laxman Jhula of Rishikesh-India. There are ashrams there for spiritual retreats. However, whenever I have gone to this area (over past forty years) I have stayed away from any organized religion-and connected directly with the Universal spirit.
As we walked, I told of another Sisterhood.
KARANPRAYAG-UTTARAKHAND-INDIA-2016-November
My paternal grandmother- passed away when my father was around 4 years old. That was the Shimla of the 1940s- the summer Capital of British India. Many decades later, a life time actually-when I went to my ancestral village near Srinagar Garhwal- Uphalda-near the bridge connecting Kirtinagar and Srinagar, we stayed in the house of my father’s Mamaji- the brother of my grandmother. He was a quiet man- and his profile was so similar to that of my father.
The sisterhood came alive in many ways.
As we walked across the woods, a squirrel running towards us, I told of my father’s uncle, his daughters and our links with the Himalayas- to the villages on the banks of the Alaknanda river-before the Ganga forms at Devprayag.
After my father passed away, my mother got a lot of emotional support from the Joshi family of Srinagar. This was the family in which my Father’s uncle’s daughter was married. She used to visit them regularly – for a retreat plus emotional check-in. Many of the things which she shared with them, probably she did not share with others in the plains.
ALAKNANDA-Chamoli District-Uttarakhand-India-2016-November
In 2011-October, after the war in Libya, when I visited India, the first thing I did was go to the ancestral village-in the Himalayas. This time, my sister helped me perform the prayers for my mother who had passed away in June that year.
The sisterhood came alive in many ways.
SMALL STEPS OVER A PERIOD OF TIME
As I talked about the walks in Himalayas, one step at a time, I recalled these sisterhoods and how the family institution connects generations across continents.
A life time ago, my father started taking me for walks in the hills, first the Western Ghats-of Maharashtra- The Sahyadris and then the Hill Temples around Shimla and Rishikesh. Those lessons , talks, memories of sisterhoods and associations came alive in many different ways
Earlier perspectives
Walkers in Lullanagar- 2008
https://prashantbhatt.com/2 008/08/19/walkers-at-lullanagar/
Walks by the Alaknanda-2011
https://prashantbhatt.com/2011/10/18/walks-by-alaknanda/
Walks in Fall-Mississauga-2016
https://prashantbhatt.com/2016/11/17/walks-in-fall-2016/
Garden-2020-Phase 1-April -Bird from Toronto Botanical Gardens, Edwards Garden (2019) 
Garden-2020-Phase 1 
Hamilton Painting-Original-given for 5 dollars – Concession Street-2018 
Hamilton sketches-2019 -From the art antiques shop at Concession Street
Prashant Bhatt's notes 