Pleasure Remembered and Relived
A duty to accomplish!
Today I heard and read The Word by Tony Hoagland - from Julia Fehrenbacher ‘s Sunday Spark.
The words that struck me and prompted me to write this piece:
‘ ……to remind you that,
among your duties, pleasure
is a thing,
that also needs accomplishing…..’
I ate a green mango today. Cut and dipped in chilli powder and salt as I sat at the table reading and writing. Such a small thing, but I can’t tell you how much I appreciate the pleasure this brings. The burst of flavours - sour, salty, sweet, spicy....
And the remembered pleasure of eating green mangoes all through my childhood. The mangoes that grew in my grandparents’ lovely home, freshly plucked off the tree. Benishaan mangoes they were. Sour but not too sour. Or those I’ve had thereafter, the totapuri variety, like today’s. Sour and sweet. Just right with that salt and chilli.
Remembering how I would sit under a tree eating green mangoes or green tamarind reading a book. Summer holidays meant loads of books to read. Always a pleasure - something I’ve never got tired of. The pleasure of buying new books and having a bursting-at-the-seams TBR pile never wears off.
Remembering how at the end of summer, the excitement of new text books, notebooks and stationery, as a new school year began. I’ve never grown out of that too - the pleasure of getting notebooks and all sorts of stationery.
Today as I got news of an aunt’s passing, I remembered the pleasure of being held and hugged tightly by her. Her brilliant smile that made me feel special and all the affection she showered on me as I grew up. Remembering her through the pleasure she brought me.
Today, I accomplished my duty to feel pleasure! Did you?