For Top Ten Tuesday April 21, 2026 theme (April Showers), I chose to go with books (fiction or non-fiction) dealing with rivers and floods (which also happen to have blue covers). I have four here:
1. Naina Kumar: Flirting with Disaster
Having experienced two hurricanes myself, I was initially somewhat skeptical of a romance story about rescuing a failed marriage while trapped in a hurricane. Is it even possible to have sane conversations about marriage and divorce amidst imploding windows, broken tree limbs, fire ants and snakes in a city that has turned into a giant lake? In this well written novel, author Naina Kumar shows that under the wreckage of a natural disaster, it is still possible to find that lost love. Flirting with Disaster is about two people finding the courage to be vulnerable in love, overcoming fear of failure and parental disapproval and, learning to make open and honest conversations with each other. The hurricane is the third main character and effectively provides most of the drama in this emotionally satisfying story.
When the story begins Meena is on her way to her hometown Houston to get her long estranged husband Nikhil to sign the divorce papers so that she could marry her boyfriend and kick off her political career. She plans to be back home the same day without realizing that there is a hurricane on the way. But with the city in a mad scramble to escape the hurricane, airlines are booked, highways are jammed and Meena has no choice but to stay with Nikhil. Seven years ago, she met Nikhil while she was preparing for her bar exams. Nikhil who is in construction business, is a college dropout and suffers from a sense of inferiority, both about his profession and his lack of college education. Meena has her own hangups. She is terrified of failing and disappointing her parents. She desperately wants her parents to be proud of her who were hurt and ashamed when her sister got pregnant and dropped out of college. When she and Nikhil get married impulsively while on a trip to Las Vegas, she keeps it a secret from her parents and never introduces Nikhil to her family. When she fails her bar exam the first time she keeps that also a secret from her family. Nikhil is a rock during this difficult time for her and it is his love and support that helps her prepare for a second try. However, after she passes her bar exam, she leaves Nikhil and Houston behind to take up a job with a legal firm that lobbies for progressive causes in Washington, D.C.
The story is told from Meena’s point of view and it goes back and forth between present and past. In the present, during the days she spends with Nikhil, she realizes that she is still attracted to him and in love with him too. There are touching moments of togetherness when they rescue (using a paddle boat) a neighbor (a NASA astronaut, no less) whose house is flooded. When Nikhil is paralyzed with fear seeing a cottonmouth, it is Meena who steers the boat out of its way. Nikhil takes care of her when she develops a severe allergic reaction to fire ant bites and cooks her favorite pasta. She discovers that he watches reruns of Gilmore Girls and wants to build a similar beating heart kind of bed and breakfast hostelry. Nikhil is a beta hero, a romantic ideal in a minor key, supportive, kind and caring,—qualities that she, obsessed with passing the law exams, never noticed when she was married and living with him. She had no clue about his emotional struggles and insecurities. Her beef with him then was that he never shared any o his work life with her and kept everything bottled up and gave her no chance to help him in the same way he was helping her. Yet, now she finds him readily opening up about his b&b project and the volunteer work he does repairing homes damaged in natural disasters. He shows no hesitation in letting her know he still loves her and is full of admiration for the work she does on the Hill. She too confesses that underneath her badass veneer, her actions were driven by fear of becoming a disappointment to her parents.
Whether intentional or not, hurricane serves as an allegory for the marriage—take flight when a storm is approaching and deal with the wreckage later or stay put, batten down the hatches and clean up the debris as it lands. The author draws a realistic portrayal of what it is to be in the middle of a hurricane—frantic preparations, incessant rains, howling winds, floods, power outages, isolation, using radio as a way of staying in touch with the neighbors and the long wait before it is over. The novel is particularly strong in showing personal development, especially for Meena who finally comes to realize that her marriage is worth fighting for. If I have one quibble it is that I would have liked Nikhil’s point of view too. Secondary characters make brief but memorable appearances—particularly amusing is the NASA astronaut who is surprised that his is the only house on the street that has been flooded, a house which is situated right on the center of a cul-de-sac (even the mandatory flood insurance does not clue him in!).
Eyes are indeed windows to the soul. Not just for humans, for all living creatures. To me, the best bird photos are those that tell me what is going on behind the eyes, in the heart.
Some birds look fierce, like a red-tailed hawk; its eyes do not try to deceive you. They tell you that there is murder in its heart.
But with sparrows, goldfinches and red-winged blackbirds, their gentle, defenseless look makes you keep your distance from them lest they get spooked and fly away.
A snowy egret leans in while wading in the pond ready to spear any unsuspecting fish with its long sharp beak, the madness in its soul reflected in its pale orbs.
Then, there is that stately crane, standing cross legged like a Regency buck waiting for the coachman to bring his hat and gloves. What a pose, what a look!
The mallard duck’s mouth is perpetually tilted in a smile that is reflected in its eyes; maybe it is just grateful to be in this world, living and loving.
The tilted playful look is definitely misleading— the rose-ringed parrot is definitely calculating how much of the tamarind pods it can gorge on before retiring to its nest.
The most intriguing is the urban crow. Perched atop a palm tree, it has a quiet contemplative look taking a moment to observe the world, perhaps wondering where does it fit in this hurly burly world.
Thanks for visiting
Dutch Palace, Mattancherry or Mattancherry Palace
Mattancherry Palace is renowned for its Kerala style murals depicting scenes from Ramayana. These murals date back to 16th century. Despite lighting challenges, I managed to capture some on my phone camera. Enjoy!
Other buildings in the Mattancherry Palace compound.
Two years ago, I participated in a paper weaving workshop taught by Helen Hiebert. I created the above 👆piece titled Marriage of True Minds. Helen included this artwork in her new book Weaving with Paper which came out last December. The book is a treasure trove of weaving techniques all beautifully illustrated abd a gallery of works created by very talented artists. Helen is a dedicated teacher and I greatly admire her teaching approach. I learned a lot in her workshop. I hope to take another workshop with her.
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| Greams Road Thideer Nagar Today |
As a recent transplant to Chennai, my curiosity has been aroused every time I passed this road sign 👆tucked into a little corner of Greams Road. Greams Road is a long road that begins at the intersection of Anderson bridge and College Road and ends at Anna Salai. A quarter of the road runs parellel to the Cooum River but a wall of blue screens completely block the view of the river from the road. For the rest, small businesses, eateries and banks dot both sides of the road. It even has an art gallery. (A google query “Greams Road Chennai” will bring up several videos of Greams Road at various points in time.)
Now coming to Thideer Nagar. Thideer means sudden and nagar means a town or a neighborhood or a human settlement. In the present day Greams Road Thideer Nagar one doesn’t see any sign of human settlement. Google search revealed that Chennai has a number of such thideer nagars—they are unplanned settlements formed when migrants from outside come into the city and settle on the banks of Cooum and Adyar rivers and other waterways. These are shanty towns consisting of several hundred families. Men and women worked locally and children went to neighborhood schools. Because Thideer Nagars are illegal settlements, they could be razed and families evicted without due process. That was the fate that fell upon Greams Road Thideer Nagar. Between 2015-2018, despite stiff resistance, all the families were evicted and resettled in a different location by the Greater Chennai Corporation as part of Cooum river restoration project. A number of thideer nagars by the Cooum river have suffered a similar fate.
Eight years later, what remains of the old Thideer Nagar is a cluster of cars parked where there used to be auto mechanic shops. Based on newspaper reports, it seems that the municipal corporation has not been able to evict them because they had proper patta to their property. So, even if humans have been disappeared, Thideer Nagar still lives.
As for Cooum river restoration, that project supposedly started sixty years ago. The river is still as dead as it had always been. Even the dead would not want to be dead there.
