Anjanas Ramblings

The first Sanskrit phrase we were made to memorise in school was Vasudeva Kutumbakam.  It translates roughly to ‘The World is One Family.’  Maybe Lennon’s Imagine was born from this, who knows?  I found my Kutumba, my tribe, my community last Saturday.  When our street in Newton Mearns, Glasgow became one family.  Waking up to a white world, I had dragged myself wearily into jacket & hat, woollies & wellies, and begun to shovel the snow from my drive.  Before long, I realised Doug across the road was doing the same. Emma and Greg had finished theirs and had started on the footpaths outside. Morgan, next door, paused for a break as Maggie brought him a cup of tea. And one for me. Which not only warmed my poor cold hands, but also my lonely heart. 

Before we knew what was happening, there were about twelve of us, shovelling, chatting, laughing, belonging to the same universe. And cursing my husband who had texted through it all to say it was 28 degrees where he was in Calcutta, India.  There was a passer-by, out with his dog, who stopped to chat, and then proceeded to brush the snow off my car. Apparently, I was not doing it right.  I did not know him. And he did not realise he was trespassing.  For those two wonderous hours, there were no boundaries, or differences.  The white stuff had erased it all.  We were just people under one roof.  Vasudeva Kutumbakam.