My Light Reflections

By Monita Soni

To read Dr. Monita Soni's My Light Reflections, is to try and take the measure of light in its myriad illuminations, the shifting rays that color a landscape stretching from Huntsville, Alabama to Mumbai, Jaipur, the Aravalli hills, to a garden, a wilderness, a "reflection pond," a kitchen, an artist's studio, and a pathology lab. Her book is lesson, a lexicon, a legend, story, journey, travelogue, a gift of laugher and exquisite joy. Dr. Soni's reflections are illuminations; they are moonlight and sunlight, science, and art and "a trajectory of life," to borrow the title of her initial poem. To read her poetry is to truly "step out in pure awe."

Dr. Soni's kaleidoscope nourishes the creative spirit as the myriad reflections that bring to view family relationships-the love for a father who quotes the Bhagavad Gita, Arabic poetry, Charles Dickens, and Mark Twain, for a son who lives in Jaipur, a daughter who is described as a moon-maiden. The book is savory "parathas" (griddle-flaky flat bread) and mangos. It is stories of sisters, the very "keepers of each other's identity": it is bed tea, and "butterscotch laughter." My Light Reflections traces the soul's journey to that place within where the "thousand petal lotus blooms." Dr. Soni reminds us as loving earthly beings that "our body is precious; it is our vehicle for awakening." A painter, poet, physician and philosopher, her words are prescriptions for how to live both fully and well.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Apr 20, 2012
• ISBN: 9781468574470

Monita Soni

Monita Soni directs a diagnostic pathology laboratory in Decatur. She and her daughter Abha Soni have lived in the Tennessee Valley for most of her adult life. Monita’s first book “My Light Reflections” is about images that touch the lens of her soul as her eyes focus on imprints in her light microscope. Her second book “Flow Through My Heart” reveal a fairytale like charisma of a daughter’s love for her beloved dad. A warm, kind, erudite and brilliant man who instilled the love of literature in her at a young age. To read Monita’s stories is to share the light that flows from the latticework of a grateful heart.

Book preview

MY LIGHT REFLECTIONS

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A KALEIDOSCOPE

OF

POETRY AND PROSE

MONITA SONI

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AuthorHouse™

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.authorhouse.com

Phone: [phone]

© 2012 by Monita Soni. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 04/11/2012

ISBN: 978-1-4685-7446-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4685-7447-0 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012905812

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Contents

FOREWORD

ENDORSEMENTS

I STEP OUT IN PURE AWE

HE IS SO CUTE

MY FATHER:

IN THE AUTUMN OF HIS LIFE.

GIFT WRAPPED

HAVE I BECOME SO DIFFERENT?

SWEET PERSUASION

FLOWERS WILL BLOOM

MAYBE IT’S MAYBELLINE

NOT A SPOT OUT OF SPOT!

PAINTING MEMORIES

OH WHAT FUN!

MOONFLOWER (I)

MOONFLOWER (II)

A JEWEL ON MY FOREHEAD

MAHARANI GAYATRI DEVI

I AM EVE

FUR AYUSH

AWE-STRUCK

BUTTERSCOTCH LAUGHTER

MANGO MADNESS

LADDOO TALES

ELBOW MAGIC

PRIDE OF FAMILY

SPLICEOSOMES

YOUR MOTHER-IN-LAW

REALLY LOVES YOU!

BED TEA

IN REPRIMAND OF A MAN

WHO WOULDN’T DRINK HIS TEA . . . .

CHANT

YOUR FEET ARE TOO SMALL FOR YOUR BODY

APRÈS LE DELUGE, NOUS

HARK

NIGHT FLOWERING JASMINE

TURNING IN THE WIND

MY LIFE-NO EXIT

BUDDHA’S FEAST

ARE YOU FROM INDIA HE ASKED?

PORTION

BRUSH STROKES

BURN SLOWLY

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

GLOSSARY

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The time has come, the Walrus said,

"To talk of many things:

Of shoes—and ships—and sealing-wax—

Of cabbages—and kings—

And why the sea is boiling hot—

And whether pigs have wings."

Lewis Carroll-Alice through Looking glass

Foreword

To read Dr. Monita Soni’s My Light Reflections, is to try and take the measure of light in its myriad illuminations, the shifting rays that color a landscape stretching from Huntsville, Alabama to Mumbai, Jaipur, the Aravalli hills, to a garden, a wilderness, a reflection pond, a kitchen, an artist’s studio, and a pathology lab. Her book is lesson, a lexicon, a legend, story, journey, travelogue, a gift of laugher and exquisite joy. Dr. Soni’s reflections are illuminations; they are moonlight and sunlight, science, and art and a trajectory of life, to borrow the title of her initial poem. To read her poetry is to truly step out in pure awe.

Dr. Soni’s kaleidoscope nourishes the creative spirit as the myriad reflections that bring to view family relationships—the love for a father who quotes the Bhagrad Gida, Arabic poetry, Charles Dickens, and Mark Twain, for a son who lives in Jaipur, a daughter who is described as a moon-maiden. The book is savory "parathas" (griddle-flaky flat bread) and mangos. It is stories of sisters, the very keepers of each other’s identity: it is bed tea, and butterscotch laughter. My Light Reflections traces the soul’s journey to that place within where the thousand petal lotus blooms. Dr. Soni reminds us as loving earthly beings that our body is precious; it is our vehicle for awakening. A painter, poet, physician and philosopher, her words are prescriptions for how to live both fully and well.

Sue Brannan Walker, Ph.D.

Poet Laureate of Alabama.

Endorsements

"Viva Life!"

Have we forgotten how to stand? asks Monita Soni. Read her Light Reflections, and you may begin to remember.

Soul-wisdom With a hint of mischief: when Monita Soni quotes Lewis Carroll’s walrus to introduce her collection of poetry and personal