Ground reality

Come corona and we all were brought down to our knees, and sent straight back Home. Wherever, however, whatever- the entire human race went back to being a Caveman. Shelter in place, family together, hunting n gathering the essentials…protecting boundaries…fighting corona, the enemy.  Come corona, 

Wherever you are. 

You are home, 

No questions asked

you are Home, 

wherever you are

No tug of war

Just stay put

wherever you are

You are

Home

A square foot of land

A roof and four walls

A shelter in place

wherever, whatever

size, shape, colour creed

it maybe…

Just KISS Home

Keep it Simple and Safe! 

#covidtimes #corona #home #lockdown #homeland #stayhome #safehome

aiyanagunjan.my sqft. watercolors.calligraphystrokes,2015

(s)Paced Out

Come corona and the pace of the 24×7 day suddenly changed……like a racing car turned into a bullock cart!

WFM ( work from/for home) minus the ‘maids-of india….corona, unwittingly, kickstarted the new skill-building program. DIY, youtube self-taught, it is!

Some zoomed in working hard ( or hardly, who knows), and others zoomed out of work. No more of running helter-skelter, round and round the garden, like a headless chicken…on roads.. in mind

The pre-corona fast-life seems to have gone into a Slow-Mo…each and every stroke, so clear, so lucid, linearly moving in the day-night routine.

‘i m busy-got no time’ made passe by corona. Time is all one has, in plentitude. Suddenly, ‘nothing’ has acquired a whole new meaning! Socially acceptable it is, to say I m doing ‘nothing’ …just twiddling my thumb (in between WFM). Spaced out day, it is.

Thanks to Corona, it takes me back to the age-old wisdom in nothingness and slowness. Nature takes its own time and yet everthing is accomplised.

From the space of
nothingness
The New emerges…

So lets just chill-pill, do whats to be done
And cruise in the leisurely pace of slowness.

#covidtimes #pace #corona #lockdown #fastlife #busy #slowness #timeinhand #nothingness #nature #wisdom

@aiyanagunjan.one at a time. watercolors.calligraphystrokes.2015

Expect2Accept

Come Corona and the so-called ‘Great Expectations’ did a somersault! Where they were all set- to reach out for the stars, looking up above the stars so bright, like the diamond in the sky…..

And suddenly, it all went haywire, as if the E-software got corrupted by a virus…it could only expect the worse scenario, doomsday, fear, panic…and all the stars and dreams, no where in the pucture, engulfed in darkness. Hope n fear seemed to be playing see-saw in the mind, in these covid times.

What to do? What to expect?

Thanks to corona, i connected back to age-old wisdom or rather the eternal tug of war – expect vs accept!!

Forget the greatness (all projected glory)
in Expectation….
Kal kya ho, kisne jaana…

And just say Yes to the simplicity (grounded reality) in Acceptance.
Jo hai abhi, wohi hai sahi.
It is what it is….
and flow from there…
Peace. Truce.

 

Sanity quotient,
in times of insanity!

 

 

 

 

#covidtimes #corona #expectation #acceptance #tugofwar #choice #lockdownlife #hopefear

aiyanagunjan.watercolours.calligraphy stroke. 2014

WW2 slogan for 2020

Come Corona and chaos, panic and uncertainity, at every level of life, took over life, like a tsunami…..For once, i dont feel like writing more on whats happening ….we all are living it, we are all in it together…you and me and all of us…there is no other way out, but to face each day, lockedin, as it comes.

Keep Calm and Carry On

Today, as we move from Lockdown 1.0 to Lockdown 2.0, all i want, all I seek, all I aspire for is my sense of Calm. I take inspiration, I draw strength, from the 1939 British slogan, at time of preparation of World War 11.

KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON.

Nothing more
Nothing less.

#StaySafe #StayHome #StayCalm
#covidtimes #corona #lockdown #british #worldwarII

@aiyanagunjan. calligraphy strokes.watercolours.2014

un-Planning

Come Corona, and I stop short in all the zillion plans i was so busy making and living in.

Pre-covid, our brains were wired to make plans…we lived in the plans we made, even the present was just a ‘means’ to the end called future plans. Our plans, written in stone of our mind, gave us the purpose, goal, target…the sense of doing, the high of achieving in linearity…climbing the ladder of making it Big…

…plans and plans, micro and macro, business and holidays, school tiffin and homework, eat-out and cook-out, exams and appraisals and bonus, weightloss and look good, money and honey…anyone and everyone wired by the plan. so busy, so occupied, pre-occupied, over occupied…running on the treadmill of life…working hard..planning hard, how to get the plans off the ground.

And Stress , the by product, is nothing but the a GAP between where-am-i-now and where-i-plan-to-be! All sucked into the whirlpool of planning, controlling, stressing, fearing, hoping, stressing, living….aiming for the stars, we planned!

Come Corona, and it was as if the plug was pulled out! Suddenly all our big and multitude of plans
(in our head) came falling down like a pack of card. Nothing held good. Something that was so real, so tangible, in our (little) minds, suddenly seemed so unreal, so illusionary. Nothing in our control! Future n planning gone into the black hole.

Thank You Corona. In one stroke, you showed usour ‘almighty’ sense  of control is a merely an illusion.

Thank you corona
for gifting us back
The Present.

Just do what you can do, live well, within the boundary of the 24-slotted- Present…and leave the future and planning alone. Replace control with trust. Things will fall into place, sooner or later, beyond all the Planning, we thought, we wrote in stone.

#covidtimes #corona #planning #future #present #mind #illusion #control

@aiyanagunjan.moving finger series 2008.calligraphy.pen.ink.

Home-safe -Home

Today it was as if I saw my 2018 Fevicol diary, by my bedside, in new light. The cover story popped out👀

“A Home Should Tell a Story. What ( Who,How) we live with says something about us.”

Truly true, to these lockdown times! We are all locked in, with each other, with all what we have, under one roof.

Safe at home- Yes! But easy, not really….it’s a whole new playground with players so many, at one time
. 😊☹️😳😤🥵

All’s fair in love and war… @Home!! So it’s said!

A Home (sweet home),has suddenly acquired a whole new meaning, a whole new dimension, a whole new drama… stories on stories… emotion n action n reaction….God only knows who’s the Big Boss!!

Yeh ghar ghar ki nayi kahani hai
🏛🏨🏬🏡🏠🏚

Unwittingly, Fevicol captured the essence of Covid times, in its 2018 diary cover. Yeh Fevicol ka mazboot jod hai…👩‍👩‍👧‍👦🏡👩‍👩‍👧‍👦toothega nahi❣️

#covidtimes #home #stayathome #pidilite #fevicol #safeathome #corona #lockdown #stuckathome

Nature revolts

Surreal is the Green behind the Dark. Lockedin, we are in the circle of home, in gloom and fear, panic and uncertainity

Surreal it is. No country fighting country, No bombs no guns, No destruction no blasts, No man fighting man,
And yet its a world@war

Forget the french revolution, the chinese revolution,  and all man-made revolutions, of the oppressed over-throwing the oppressor…

Covid is the Nature-Revolution, on a war-footing against mankind…Enough is enough! Nature, the very fabric of our existence, all set to turn-around the man-made world, on its head. Fundamentally, radically, there’s got to be a change of Power order! God only knows what lies ahead…

Yes, Nature Vs Man World War it is!

#covidtimes #corona #naturevsman #worldwar #revolution #manmade #oppressed #worldorder. #neworder

aiyanagunjan.watercolors.calligraphystrokes. 2013

Virtual it is!

Come corona, and the work-life balance has been turned on its head. Where we had no-time for anything, running here n there n everywhere, 24×7….suddenly physical reality comes to a screeching halt, and we are left with ALL-the-time in hand!

Even on our prized holidays and getaways, we didnt ever experience such a level of leisurely-Leisure! Time seems to have got slotted linearly -LIVE-work-play-Live…all grounded in one space.under one roof.

Physically Lockdown it is! No way out

Thank God for technology, wifi more precious than water! Whatsapped, zoomed out it is. Virtually connecting, virtually working, virtually shopping, virtually ordering dailies, virtually grouping, virtually paying, virtually schooling, virtually excercising, virtually partying, virtually health-caring….virtually learning…you name it and we are finding a way out to virtually stay alive and kicking!

Yes, virtually untouched by corona.

Never has the divide between physical and virtual realtiy been so clear-cut and so much in need.
Indeed, Necessity will the mother of virtual invention!

#covidtimes #corona #worklifebalance #leisure #virtualreality #physicallockdown #technology #digital #culturalshift #lockdownlife

aiyanagunjan.watercolors.coloroflifeseries.2006

Here and Now

Covid-Time Bytes: While clearing the clutter on my mobile, I chanced upon this video clip of Nov 2019 – a discussion on Time, at Gallery Threshold Art​, during the ‘Painted Almanac’ Show. Interesting to see myself commenting on the Power of Now…Ichinen Sanzen – past, present future, all existing in one single moment…the mind monkeying with past n future …At that time,perhaps, it was a bit of a philosophical, intellectual construct…

But today it takes
a Corona to show us –
there is NO other way
but to live in
Here n Now.

Thanks Corona
for practically
connecting me
back to my
sanity quotient
called Nowness. 🙏🌺

समय क्या क्या हमें दिखता है.
समय क्या क्या हमें सिखाता है.
समय ही बलवान है

#covidlife #covid19 #powerofnow #future #monkeymind #paintedalmanac #nowness #singlemoment #gallerythreshold #gowiththeflow

 

 

 

 

Social (Indian) Distancing

Covid distancing bytes:  India is a country (in)famous for its crowds and crowd-lines. We may not be shaking hands or pecking on cheeks, but we Indians love to stick close to each other, literally on top of each other! People distancing is alien to us…
And then Corona happened…literally pulling us apart…straightening us…spacing us out, in space so limited. A do or die scenario.
 
Yes, socially distancing it got be
but let the dil-se-dil-ka connection
grow closer
in Covid times.
 
 @aiyanagunjan.strokes of silence series.2011.watercolors.pen-ink.paper
#covid #socialdistancing #corona #indianculture #crowdlines #dilhaihindustani