We are Chhinnamasta

 

 (Click on image to enlarge)

 

2020 was a year of creative collaborations. Such collaborations were a respite from the depression and anxiety which the COVID-19 pandemic pushed us into, and also helped me to deal with the pain of losing a loved one.

It was the year I lost my mother. She had been confined to her bed for more than 6 years after she suffered a cerebral stroke. Her left side was paralyzed and she never recovered completely. She suffered another stroke in 2019 which left her in a comatose condition. She could only open her eyes and stare blankly at us all. Nothing more. We could not tell what was going on inside her. We did not know if she could hear us. Her body did not respond to touch. She was with us in this condition for nearly a year. She passed away on 23rd August.

During that time I got introduced to this wonderful human being, James Strazza through Instagram. James is a talented musician and poet, who is battling disability and chronic illness for a very long time and he has been mostly confined to his bed and room for most of his life. His creativity has kept him afloat. His poems are thick with raw emotions and deep thoughts. 

The struggle of my mother and James, their fight for survival provided me with strength and made me realize that the confinement I was facing due to the pandemic was a minor discomfort compared to what my Ma had to go through or James has to withstand every day. It made me painfully aware of my privileges and helped me to make peace with the emotional turmoil inside me.

All this was instrumental for me to revisit the theme of 'Chhinnamasta'. It was meant as an illustration for one of Jame's poems, for the book 'Lyrical' which is a collection of his poetry. But of course it evolved beyond that and became a symbolic representation of what the eternal mother was teaching me through all the pain and suffering. 

We are Chhinnamasta! Each one of us.