Russia – Matryoshka Dolls

It’s April of 2021 and Day 18 of the A to Z challenge. This year, I am doing the theme – “Travel the World.” I am visiting countries from A to Z and presenting stories with 8 line poems.

Day 18 Country: Russia

I had a hard time selecting one from the world’s largest country Russia. Potential superpower, high human development index, rich in culture, tourism, art, cuisines, museums, lakes, artefacts, there were numerous known’s to pick one. I finally made peace with Matryoshka dolls. Also known as babushka dolls, stacking dolls, nesting dolls, Russian tea dolls etc. are a set of wooden dolls of decreasing size placed one inside another. The first Russian nested doll set was made in 1890. They are a traditional representation of the mother carrying a child within her. The doll set envisages chain of mothers carrying on the family legacy through the child in their womb – usually a set of nested 5 dolls (the original older set had 8).

Credits: by 0x010C – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=37316716

Poem:

Bravery will house brave,
Real, more real.
Dreams grow likewise,
Zeal and passion along.
However, one must be,
fearless enough,
To stand,
And stay still.

In similar ways, the fearful will gather more fear and carry the same legacy.

Heart’s Retreat

Eyes have begin to think,
Wrinkles on the face,
Lips aren’t moving the way,
Things aren’t the same,
Heart isn’t in the hall of fame!

A heart does not need a brutal reason to go disheartened. Even just a reason can do it well. A small incident can bring out the tears and later repenting for being so idiotic. In a way, it’s much okay. It is always better to welcome smaller pains now and then following that heart finds a new direction to think for refreshment.  Though the consequences and side effects all lead to the disturbances, still it brings a hope of new thinking.  If the pain is bigger, then it’s more prone to bigger accidents.

The strangest thing is that we fine tune our feelings in such a way that a little hurt from near ones is more suffocating than a hard hit from one we are not closely associated with. We have our neighbors among-st us who have turned out the pain into sparkling achievements and also those who have lost the track only by thinking on minor issues majorly. It’s time to make the most subtle statement that everything depends on our way of taking and thinking.  That’s why many times we feel how foolish we were yesterday!

Once I got an opportunity to visit a heart. The pathway was pathetic. There were no doors or windows, but only long high straight walls. Crying posters hanged up on the walls. Hoarding which announce larger punishments even for smaller mistakes. Notices to digest all the pains and suffer in silence.  There were thorn bushes so as not to overcome the problems and fears with black marks and holes. I somehow could not take all this facts.

I broke down the walls and made larger windows and doors. Cleaned up the patches on the pathway and made them smooth. Rolled up the crying pictures with thorns and threw them away. Captured smiling faces and put them up on the wall. I changed the hoardings with good quotes and positive thoughts instead of crying ones. I finally came out smiling.  Then I saw the smile on the face. Who am I? Who was it?

Eyes have begin to smile,
Cheerful is the face,
Lips are moving with ease,
Things aren’t the same,
Heart is indeed in the hall of fame!

How is your heart? Have you ever entered it?