“Raindrops are like feelings. Dot dot dot on the car. Just like feelings.”

Tara and I were driving back from groceries yesterday when she said that. I was quite surprised. The two of us pursued the topic further. She said, “raindrops fall, just like feelings”. I didn’t correct her there. I asked, what else falls? She said, “tears fall too.”

I nodded in agreement. And probed further. So why are raindrops like feelings? To which she said, “because they come suddenly, and make the car wet. Feelings come suddenly and make us happy and sad or make us cry.”

I was amazed, and amused at the same time. We decided this was a lyrical thought, and that we should make a poem around it. But since we were driving we dropped the idea.

And then we decided to pick on the clouds. I showed Tara a cloud that looked a lot like a snowman in the sky. She giggled, and started spotting other shapes. There were two dragons, a snowman, and a fork in the sky. So we decided to weave a story around that. The two dragons were fighting over the fork, and the snowman was helping resolve the fight.

In the end Tara giggled and said, ” You are so silly.” And I got the best compliment of my life. I love being silly. Being silly keeps us happy and young. We went back to spotting random shapes in the sky and calling each other silly billy.

Today is Basant Panchami/Saraswati Puja. Saraswati is the goddess of knowledge, wisdom, and art. For the little Saraswati in our life, I came up with a little prayer .

“May she be wise. (Silly but wise).

May she create more than consume.

May she appreciate art in all its forms.

May she value knowledge, more than money, and love more than comfort.

May she love with all her heart and give with all her might

May she be kind, honest and full of life.

May she keep weaving stories in the clouds and find joy and beauty in simple things like raindrops and tears.