Mosaic

सहजच..

2011-04-07T20:34:00.000-07:00

म्हणजे हल्ली इन्टरनेट वर जुने दूर-दर्शन वगैरे वरचे कार्यक्रम बघायला मिळायला लागल्या पासून हा विचार मनात येतो. बहुतांशी सगळ्यांनाच पटेल की ते सगळे जुने कार्येक्रम म्हणजे महाभारत, रामायण वगैरे आता आपल्याला किती संथ वाटतात.. तेव्हा सगळे लोक घरी असायचे.. रविवारी सकाळी चहा-पोहे आणि रामायण/महाभारत :) असा कार्येक्रम. आमच्या घरी, आई बहुतेक स्वयंपाक घरात असायची आणि मधून मधून डोकवायची. ताई, मी, आजी-आजोबा बाहेरच्या खोलीत एकाजागी खिळून.. एक तास ह्या मालिका बघायचो. तेव्हा मध्ये जाहिराती पण नव्हत्या. एकाने मारलेला बाण आणि दुसर्याने प्रत्त्युत्तर म्हणून मारलेले बाण हे आपण पाच एक मिनिटे न कंटाळता बघायचो. मालीकांसाठीच नाही, पण बाकी अनेक गोष्टींसाठी आपल्याकडे वेळ होता. आता ह्या मालिका बघताना कंटाळा येतो. अरे हे काय चाल्लय.. आपण किती वेळ हे आकाशातले बाण बघत बसणार.. असं न चुकता डोक्यात येतं. मग थोडी मजाच वाटते मला. वेळ बदलली, वेळेचं मूल्य बदललं आणि आपल्या व्याख्याही बदलल्या. लोकं असंही म्हणतात की काळाबरोबर बदलायला हवंच वगैरे वगैरे.

सगळं मान्य आहे मला. बदलत्या काळाला माझ्याकडे लगेच उत्तर नाही. पण नकळत मन त्याच जुन्या काळाकडे धाव घेत. लहानपणी सगळं कसं साधं होतं, मुखवटे नव्हते, खोट हसणं नव्हतं. घाई नव्हती, कसलं दडपण नव्हतं. हे हि खर की तेव्हा या गोष्टींचं महत्व माहिती नव्हतं. पण आता जाणवत. झालेले बदल ठळकपणे दिसतात. म्हणूनच.. जरी परत जाता येत नसलं तरी आठवणीत रमायला काय हरकत आहे ? आपण थोडासा तर वेळ नक्कीच ठेवूया त्यासाठी, जपून.

Interwoven

2010-09-17T18:13:00.000-07:00

It is in the vague scent of a flower

and in the vast blue skies

It is in the candle's soft shimmer

and the twinkling fireflies

It is in the candid laughter

and also the silence that we shared

It is in our long walks

and in the assurance to be there

It is in all those true moments

that our lives are interwoven

Lone existence seems impossible

in the world that we have chosen

Traveler

2010-07-24T10:09:00.000-07:00

He is a traveler from THAT city

and THAT is not defined

now it is this and

it will be another in a while

Please don't impose that on him..

He is not here to teach

and surely not here to preach

He says, he has similar questions

Only his path is untrodden

Let him be free, let him be

as his path goes beyond our horizon

Some call him mad

because he can not stop

and some call him obsessed

as he has to walk

He is asked, 'which is your destination?'

He says, 'I don't know..'

He might realize one day,

that his journey was his destination

and he was THE traveler of his time.

P.S. Yes. I'm good at NOT putting the correct punctuation marks.. so, please ignore any mostakes. :)

Madman

2010-06-19T04:49:00.000-07:00

While talking to one of my friend, I remembered the following piece written by Khalil Gibran



HOW I BECAME A MADMAN


You ask me how I became a madman.  It
happened thus:  One day, long before
many gods were born, I woke from a deep
sleep and found all my masks were stolen,
--the seven masks I have fashioned and
worn in seven lives,--I ran maskless
through the crowded streets shouting,
"Thieves, thieves, the cursed thieves."

Men and women laughed at me and
some ran to their houses in fear of me.

And when I reached the market place, a
youth standing on a house-top cried, "He
is a madman."  I looked up to behold
him; the sun kissed my own naked face for
the first time.  For the first time the sun
kissed my own naked face and my soul was
inflamed with love for the sun, and I
wanted my masks no more.  And as if in a
trance I cried, "Blessed, blessed are the
thieves who stole my masks."

Thus I became a madman.

And I have found both freedom and
safety in my madness; the freedom of lone-
liness and the safety from being under-
stood, for those who understand us enslave
something in us.

But let me not be too proud of my
safety.  Even a Thief in a jail is safe
from another thief.

Decentralization?

2010-04-22T23:16:00.000-07:00

Lately, it has dominated my thoughts. Especially, because I can actually hear the alarm. When I walk on the roads, when I am stuck in a traffic jam, when I am agitated because I get up in the morning and there is no water, I hear it, Loud and Clear. I grew up in Pune and now I am in Bangalore. Two cities, growing beyond imagination at a reckless speed. I guess Bangalore was the earlier victim and I see similar symptoms in Pune. I panic. I love that city. Is decentralization a solution? I wonder.

Some years back, I read an article in Hindu, I guess. The way US organized educational institutions, facilitated easy access to excellent education without the need of relocation. The farmers did not have to leave their farms to get good education. Education was brought to them. I am not saying US should be followed. But, what will happen if a farmer's son has to leave his village in Bihar and go to Patna or Kanpur or any other city? His father is either illiterate or has gone to school up to some level. He is not updated about better practices in farming as the son who had access to latest information, is not with him. His son goes to a city which is packed with people, running short of all resources, but there are well known schools a million IT parks and equivalent or more number of cars. Bigger the city, more the money, more the tension and lower the quality of life (of course, this is my view point).

Let me revisit the problem with different examples. There is a small city. Nice weather, ample water and relaxed lifestyle. The connectivity between cities is not that great and people on an average have similar lifestyles- majority being middle class (In this thought process, I am not thinking about the lower class for certain reasons). Then there is some improvement, after few years, the progress picks sudden pace and this little city is transformed. It is a metro! People pour in thousands of numbers. The original small city now can't accommodate so many people. Now, the are nearby villages, small hills are included in city as suburbs. There is a rush of builders to the newly developing areas- in new layouts, soon multistory buildings rise to sky. The water supply and waste water management is still not planned well, but there is no time. People need space to settle. People think, well, will adjust for a while. One day, there is no water. People call for the bore-well. The time passes by and one day, again, there is no water to the tap. People think, the previous bore-well was 750 ft. deep, should we go to 1000 or deeper? I face it. I stay in a suburb which supports more number of people than it can handle. People around are least bothered if water is wasted, if there are heaps of garbage around. I can see the deterioration of the unplanned suburbs. I pay rps 10,000/month to stay in a flat which is an a place that I absolutely dislike. And why do I do that? Because, it is close to my husband's and my workplace. We don't have other options. Can we track the trajectory?

Instead of flocking to Bangalore, if IT companies disperse to Belgaum and Aurangabad how would the picture change? Today, I see only old or very young people on the streets of even cities like Kochi and Aurangabad forget the villages (that's my observation again and not a statement). Where is the youth? Where is the earning class? The situation is some countries is so bad that 60% of the population comprises of aged or children. And when I know this, what am I doing? I am thinking. Not doing anything. I am waiting to finish my Ph.D because, I think then I can do something. After I get Ph.D, I will think after blah blah happens, then I can do something. Will this go on and the thoughts will just be incubated?

It might be difficult to to gauge the volume of what we will face one day. The process seems unstoppable and the aftereffects unimaginable. Can we see the problem? Can we identify the cause(s)? What should be done?

Mandar posted this on buzz http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b5dfac22-4dd1-11df-b437-00144feab49a.html

Take a look.

Coulors of life

2010-03-08T01:57:00.000-08:00

Source: http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/03/holi_2010.html

I remember playing colours with my friends.. it is a pure form of joy! You laugh , you play.. shed the inhibitions.. for few hours, you are free.. free to be a child again

Lost and found.. or still lost?

2009-09-18T23:57:00.000-07:00

Please note that my blogs do not follow any format.. I write as it comes my head..

I was reading Ashwin's post just now and that got me thinking.. Usually, my thought process is fast enough to make me forget the start point (or am horribly forgetful and my thought process erratic).. :p Any way, I remembered this conversation that I had with this person- about how Indians had already discovered that earth revolves around the Sun long before the heliocentric views surfaced in the modern world. He took out a fat book which had translations along with shlokas. He asked me to read this particular one, which in his view proved the point. I read it and I did not know what to say really.. My linguistic skills are terrible enough that I can not comprehend the original shloka written in Sanskit (I really feel ashamed). Thus, I read the translation. It was two pages long and vaguely conveyed his point. I did not know if the one who translated, superimposed his/ her views on the actual matter..

As I see it, the problem is at two levels- 1. hardly anyone today has a good hold on Sanskrit (am talking about mass. Adwait's Sanskrit is fantastic compared to mine). 2. As most of the literature available is not easily read in the original language, one tends to read the views of the person who translates it. For anyone who thinks logically, 2nd point strikes while reading translations. At least as far as I am concerned, I have to read the actual text it to believe that that is the matter author is trying to put forth. I can not believe just because someone told me that 'they' have found ancient Hindu texts sighting the inventions of the olden times and how they were advanced. Prove it.. show the original texts.. carry out carbon dating.. Many tend to receive my stance as 'she does not believe in our culture or something like that..' Now why will I do that? It is a simple thing that scientific proof is required. It does not take an Einstein to consider that one who knows Sanskrit can easily write what he/ she wishes. It is like, how do you know that it is not a fake Picasso?

All our texts are with Germans (how shameful is that!!) and on top of that, most of the people are educated in English who can poorly read their mother tongue.. leave apart Sanskrit. As most of the mass is of that kind (including me, though medium of my education was Marathi and I can read Marathi very well, I can't understand Sanskrit much) we are so ignorant about what was already known to ancestors.. I was reading this book on Greece and I was stunned to know that majority of the mass knows about how Greeks lived in the past, what they knew etc. It was so well preserved through the time. Now, Greece compared to India is a very small country with almost a single language of communication. I know that. We have too many languages and slowly we are losing on the knowledge of those as well..

We need to collaborate.. the people who know current science and people who have good hold on languages in which olden text was written. Western people are coming here to excavate and find how Aryan towns were planned.. why can't we do that? Rather, why don't we already know it? I really am thinking of learning Sanskrit all over again and keep it alive in my head. I don't want to read translations. Think about it. It is in our hand to preserve what's already known so that learn from our past and take it along.

:)

Action please..

2009-08-10T20:52:00.000-07:00

After retirement, Adwait's father (my father-in-law) started to work in small factory in Aurangabad. When he came down to Bangalore for work, he stayed with us. After having lunch, we began to chat.. him, Adwait and me. Adwait said, ''I am thinking of selling my Enfield. Probably, I can buy a bike which gives better average." Adwait's father and I just fell silent. We knew how Adwait loves biking and his Royal Enfield. He can spend hours to make that bike shine. I could almost feel his pain. Adwait continued,"I will waste less petrol, by doing so. We have no right to discuss about ever increasing prices if we keep wasting things." He is right. Absolutely right. Adwait's father said, "one day, after lunch I heard two workers chatting. One said, it is so costly to educate children these days! I have to pay Rs. 4,000 this month to my daughter's school. The other said, what? Is it so costly? How will you manage? The first one replied, we will try and pull as much as we can. Otherwise, one day, along with my daughter I will.... (commit suicide)." Oh dear lord! My mind was numb.. All these days, I heard of such thing only in news and in news papers about farmers in Maharashtra. However, Adwait's father knew these workers. They worked under him everyday.. I asked, "How much are they paid every month?" He said, "Not much. four to five thousand a month." I had no idea that majority of the working class earned so little. When I began my Ph.D, I was paid 12,000 and I hardly kept a track of how I spent. I felt so ashamed..Right now, dal costs close to Rs. 100/kg. How the hell was this worker going to eat? Largely, these people will then stop eating rice which is part of their staple diet. Or they will try and eat other pulses.. This whole thing is crazy.. The main occupation of our country is 'suppose' to be farming and we import the most basic ingredients of meal. We import fruits.. what not? It has been two years since I saw indian apples in shops.. Apples are now Rs. 180/kg in Bangalore. Who can afford that? We know all the figures.. these many people can not have two meals a day.. What do we do about it?? We blame the government and every other thing we can think of, but never ourselves.
It is time for action, people. Take a moment and think. Have you gone to marriages where they arrange a buffet? Do we look at the baskets where we keep used plates? There is so much food wasted.. thrown away..
And it is not only food.. time, money, resources, intelligence.. everything. Let us think and use. Let us use wisely. Let us not waste..
I used to give reason of running short of time. Then I really sat down and thought, can't I organize things in such a way that I will still have some time to make sure that I do not waste anything? Is it really so impossible? Obviously not! Now, it is not that I am managing it all.. but, I have started. Taken a step ahead. I ask you to think.. and find ways that you can use things in a better way and try not to waste. We can make it happen.

Peace

2009-05-24T21:44:00.000-07:00

It has been some time since I blogged. In fact, it has been six whole months! In Dec. I got married and after that time flew by managing work and the rest of life. Today, I want to slow down a bit, after working the whole weekend. Breath deep. Not get involved in filthy things that tag along with professional life.

Yesterday, I did a very unusual thing. I wrote the most harsh mail to my Ph.D guide. Of course, there was a reason. And I felt free. As if, a huge burden was off my chest. My husband (Adwait) got his MS degree certificate and we decided to have chaat and stuff at this place which is a small shop. It felt so good to get in touch with a tension free, relaxed, simple life.. Happy. I felt free. I slept off with a smile on my face.

Other day, I was talking to one of my colleague. We are close. He is like a brother. I said, Adwait was asking me the other day, when will we get time to trek up Sahyadris and stand on one the peaks, facing lashing rain. To just stand there.. to wash off all unwanted masks that we put up, wash off all the anger, restlessness.. when? To feel the peace and content. My colleague smiled and said, I am married for last three years and have been away from home and wife for more than two years. And we will get Ph.D!! Wow! We both sighed.

I was going home in a bus. It began to rain. I thought, do I feel content? Have I found my 'drive'? Why do I remember standing under a tree planted in my grandfather's garden in this small village? And when I remember that, why does it suddenly feel peaceful? Many times, I feel that my husband and I just leave everything and move to a village. Leave Ph.D and go for farming? It is really unsettling to know that you hardly know anything about yourself, what you really want. And even more troubling is the fact that, whatever you say, you will be always a bit scared about uncertainty. The worst is, feeling of being lost.

It is easier, to gather yourself and collect these moments of content. To live in the present and nurture it. Give time to yourself.

Peace.

We the book lovers..

2008-11-06T21:03:00.000-08:00

Well, hello.. I guess you are also a book lover and LOOOOVE to read. The title of this blog is inspired from 'we the living' by Ayn Rand. It was one of her early books. I like her work.. a lot. This blog is dedicated to all those who love to read. I am a typical traditional reader.. who loves leather bound books containing pages of slight rough texture. The reason I thought of writing this lil piece is what Steve Jobs said when asked about Amazon Kindle (http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/15/the-passion-of-steve-jobs/). If it is true, it is sad. At least in India, the situation is not the same, I think. We love to read, largely. Some famous people wrote some good things about love for books (which I found on net!).. :)

All good and true book-lovers practice the pleasing and improving avocation of reading in bed....No book can be appreciated until it has been slept with and dreamed over. ~Eugene Field, Love Affairs of a Bibliomaniac (1896) (true, true..I love to read before I sleep)

To distract myself from tiresome thoughts, I have only to resort to books; they easily draw my mind to themselves and away from other things. ~Michel Montaigne

I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library. ~Jorge Luis Borges

I am pretty sure you have visited sites like http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page and http://manybooks.net and if not, I suggest that you visit them. I personally don't like reading books on comp. However, I guess I should work on it. I heard from this nano tech scientist that they are developing a material on which you can download a book and it will not emit lighte like the comp screens do, but it will be like a book page on which light would fall and we can read :) I am really waiting for it. Yeah.. we are moving ahead with time..

Keep reading and dreaming.. :)

Cheers!

Nandini

Our own GOOD world

2008-10-28T03:14:00.000-07:00

It is my dream to get my neurons fired in a perfect setting. e. g. I am sitting in a french window looking upon vast greens, holding a steaming hot cup of coffee. Well, as you can guess, it doesn't really happen that way. What I am going to write is what I began thinking about when I was cleaning the vessels!! What a perfect setting! Well.. something better than nothing..

It was the time when these serial blasts happened in number of cities in India. In my opinion, there are two ways to look at the situation. You can suggest the third one, if any. One being macroscopic and other being microscopic way. I started with the later. Let me think about what happened to me. If I sit down and try to make a list of people whom I hate, how long does my list go? Hmmn... OK. I thought about my childhood, adolescence and past few years. Whom do I hate? I did not know that this was such a difficult question. It does not mean that my life has been rosy pink. I have had unusual childhood when compared to an average maharashtrian kid from city. I have had bitter experiences. But, the question is, do I hate the people associated with such experiences? Notice the word associated. What I mean by that is, if I had a bad experience in my childhood for which I thought person X was responsible at that point of time, in retrospection, largely, I found those people to behave in that way given the circumstances that were there and the kind of thinking they show. And as a result, I tend to erase the label 'bitter' and just catalogue it as 'an' experience in my brain. The hidden meaning of the dialogue (or monologue) above is that every person is good. This can be more evident in the 'networked' world. Let us take an example of Orkut. Strange as it may sound, it is true. I did an experiment. In my post graduate class, there were certain people who sort of troubled me (knowingly or unknowingly). As a result, I kept away from them as much as possible. The image that I had in my mind of them was obviously murky. This troubled me a bit for some reason. What I did was I visited their Orkut page and read the testimonials that other people had written. Apparently, to those who had written testimonials, these people were real good human beings. That struck me as a bolt of light. Wow! it was a discovery (or reinvention of things that someone has already said somewhere).. really there was no reason for me to dislike anyone. Trust me, it is a fantastic feeling! One often takes hatred and dislike as normal reactions and gets used to their expression. What we forget is that we just don't express, but also carry an impression of it in our mind which is a mighty heavy load. After shaking that off, I really felt light and refreshed. And something very important is that if I want to make a list of people who have been really good to me, it will be a LOOOOOOONG one (that includes people from many religions).

Now let me turn to the macroscopic view, where I am just a dot in the picture. Obviously, there is lot of pain, agony, hatred. We can say that unless one goes through the situation that these blast or terrorism victims did, it is easy to blabber about liking everyone around, peace, love and blah blah. I know that. And I agree that what happened and is happening is hurting, leaving scars. But, is revenge always the way? I can not say. What I want to say is, let us start at the grass root level. From self. Me liking (or at least, not hating) x number of people is going to have an exponential effect. Forgive and forget is really possible. Small small things one day reflect in one huge thing.

I see a good chance that if one thinks and decides, it is possible to make it happen. I am positive and have a lot of hope in the fact in near future, everyone will feel that it is 'our own good world' that we live in.

Cheers!

Nandini

Phir Dekhiye..

2008-09-11T03:00:00.000-07:00

Love this song.. well composed n sung :)
Song Title: Phir Dekhiye
Movie Title: Rock On

Aankhon Mein Jis Ke Koi To Khwab Hai
Khush Tha Wahin Jo Thoda Betaab Hai
Zindagi Mein Koi Arzoo Kijiye
Phir Dekhiye ……

Hoton Pe Jis Ke Koi To Geet Hai
Woh Haare Bhi To Us Ki Hi Jeet Hai
Dil Mein Jo Geet Hai Gun Guna Lijiye
Phir Dekhiye…….

Yaadon Mein Jis Ke Kisi Ka Naam Hai
Sapno Ke Jaise Us Ki Har Sham Hai
Koi To Aaj Se Apna Dil Dijiye
Phir Dekhiye…..

Khwab Buun Yeh Zara Geet Sun Yeh Zara
Phool Chun Yeh Zara
Phir Dekhiye….

:)

Dance like no one is watching.. :)

2008-08-20T06:46:00.000-07:00

Instead of giving URL, I thought pasting the page contents is a better idea..

We convince ourselves that life will be better after we get married, have a baby, then another.

Then we are frustrated that the kids aren't old enough
and we'll be more content when they are.

After that we're frustrated that we have teenagers to deal with. We will certainly be happy when they are out of that stage.

We tell ourselves that our life will be complete when our spouse gets his or her act together, when we get a nicer car, are able to go on a nice vacation, when we retire.

The truth is, there's no better time to be happy than right now.

If not now ... when?

Your life will always be filled with challenges. It's best to admit this to yourself and decide to be happy anyway.

One of my favorite quotes comes from Alfred D Souza ...

"For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin.
But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life."

This perspective has helped me to see that there is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way.

So, treasure every moment that you have. And treasure it more because you shared it with someone special, special enough to spend your time ... and remember that time waits for no one ...

So stop waiting until you finish school ... until you go back to school ... until you lose ten pounds ... until you gain ten pounds ... until you have kids ... until your kids leave the house ... until you start work ... until you retire ... until you get married ... until you get divorced ... until Friday night ... until Sunday morning ... until you get a new car or home ... until your car or home is paid off ... until spring, until summer ... until fall ... until winter ... until you are off welfare ... until the first or fifteenth ... until your song comes on ... until you've had a drink ... until you've sobered up ... until you die ... until you are born again to decide that there is no better time than right now to be happy ...

Happiness is a journey ... not a destination!!

Thought for the day:

"Work like you don't need money,
Love like you've never been hurt,
And dance like no one's watching."

I saw this posted on Steve Jobs' blog and I liked it.
:)

On THE rainy morning..

2008-07-17T06:17:00.000-07:00

Rains were lashing the black tar road that went winding behind the tall lush green trees. Rain drops seemed to bounce off at least a foot high. It made a rhythmic loud sound which intermingled with the whoosh of wind that I though could uproot our tent and send flying back to city! I peeped outside to get a broader view of how spectacular nature looked. The bonfire seemed to have fallen off to sleep in ash and unburnt wood. I liked the smell of it. Up in the canopy, I saw monkeys sitting on a branch. They were drenched. I turned my head to see birds perching patiently, waiting for the rains to stop. The tiny bright wild flowers made the whole scene so picturesque that I wanted to carry that moment back with me! I held hot mug of coffee in my hand and listened to rain. Even in that loud background, everything inside was so calm.. at peace. This noise didn’t bother me like the city traffic. It had the same soothing effect of sound of ocean waves.

After a while, the rains stopped and we decided to take out our jeep in go in the forest. That must be around 7.30 in the morning. In a few minutes we left the main tar road and went deep into the forest. Everything around looked so full of life and verdant! We had the buzz of bees and animal calls as an intermittent interruption to the thick silence around. Suddenly, we all were alert! We heard alarm calls of monkeys from somewhere near by. My heart was pounding.. we were in for a treat! No one spoke a word.. the only expression that everyone had was overwhelming anticipation of which great carnivore were we going to sight? Will we see a tiger? No.. but they were not so common in that forest. But who knows? We might.. or is it leopard? Oh my god! Will it be? It is so difficult to spot one..Will we see the kill? My heart beats were going louder and monkeys were almost shrieking now! We stopped at a little clearing and we were looking in the direction of alarm calls. We must be very close to the predator. Our eyes were searching for that one sight which would stay alive in our minds for ever. Minutes passed, but no luck. Alarm calls were still loud. We got a little disturbed.. we didn’t even manage to spot where the mysterious predator was. My friend sighed and took off her cap. He turned to keep it in the jeep and I suddenly felt her grip tighten on my shoulder. I almost skipped a heart beat. Now was the moment! The predator that we were searching for all this while was sitting with the kill on the branch of a tree around 35 feet behind us. It was a HUGE male leopard. It looked in our eyes and jumped off the branch to disappear in the jungle. We stood there for several minutes spellbound! Man! We saw a leopard! And that too in a situation where he looked at us so closely much longer than we did! We sat in the jeep to head back to the tent and every one was going, ‘oh my god!!’ I am sure the leopard had a smirk on his face seeing that.

It is time..

2008-05-17T21:00:00.000-07:00

Empty nights and hollow days,

I look at the rose that once you gave

It sleeps in the book that I then read

Petals now look transparent, but the pages red

It was past and it is past

But there is so much of us in it, how do we deny?

We went full circle and have come face to face

I say No! And run away

What am I scared of?

I do not know

Is it the possibility of failure?

And the pain that I can’t hold.

On the floor so cold awake I lay

Wondering why I didn’t finish putting

Tiles on the wall that we left half way

How do I finish the part that you drew?

Now almost all tiles are in place but a few

Probably now I know what not to hold

It’s time I let myself fly

and the waters flow

What could be the title for this post???

2008-04-19T23:53:00.000-07:00

I was watching a video on TED.com on rethinking music videos which set me thinking…Jakob presents one of his creations, moonlight glory. Take a look at it. What do you think?

I thought I should take a closer look at ‘expression of music’ in my head. I closed my eyes (that seems to be the first step for me!!). Music started.. I am still in my room.. I am mentally very aware of where I sit and what is around. Then it slowly fades… I am listening to music intently… I love guitar.. beats are good.. very pleasant tune.. I am smiling. Ok…. Now I am at this resort I went to 2 years back.. at the Singara foot hills. It’s a star studded night sky. There is this strong wet wood’s smell in the air. I am sitting by bonfire in a recliner.. gazing stars… I feel so relaxed… Music stops. I take a little while to come back to my room mentally.

What happened? Music had this inherent mood. The moment I connect with it, I associate a visual impression that I vividly remember and which identifies with the mood. This is what happened with this music piece.. But there were times when I visualize places that I have never been to or even at times, don’t visualize anything but a few abstracts.

Then I close my eyes again. I go back to the same resort.. star studded sky… which is this music going on in the background? It is the music piece which listened to when I was actually there..not the one I listened to a few minutes back.

In a way this was not an unexpected outcome for me. I am more of a visual impession person than an audio impression one! The reverse synthesis of music doesn’t work for me! Are these two processes interconnected necessarily? Hmmnn…I remember sitting in my garden back home and I just had music notes in my head… no visual impressions..music emerged like a fountain from somewhere unknown Well, I used to compose music… a few years back.

I am a little surprised at how my brain works knowing how much I like music , drawing, painting or visuals in any form! Or am I taking wrong parameters into consideration? Hee hee…

Cheers to the colorful musical world that we share!

Anubhuti

2008-02-24T21:31:00.000-08:00

chocolates, music and much more

2008-01-19T22:47:00.000-08:00

That's a great way to start a new year, isn't it? :D chocolates, music...wow! I haven't blogged for some time.. and now I have something to write about, something to share or nothing at all.. just some random thoughts.. random is what's natural to me.. that is why the name mosaic as i have mentioned in my first blog. To be honest, this randomness is not completely true.. which sort of makes me a little sad. there is a link.. so deep that it's not apparent superficially.. but i can sense it. For my own selfish satisfaction, i would like to accept my thought process as random.. it gives me a pleasure of being... ummnnn... kind of rebellious!! hee hee.. Am i making any sense to u?? Any way, chuck it!

So.. CHOCOLATES... whoever discovered this divine thing, should be given the highest honor in the word!! According to the history, Aztecs of Mexico discovered chocolates. then, was i an Aztec in my last birth? hee hee.. If I wasn't the one who discovered it, am sure I must have been among those who promoted it! I just love chocolates!! and unfortunately due to my weak vocab i can't stress it enough! To bore you a little, chocolates are thought to have link with levels of serotonin, a hormone, an important one. Chocolate lovers, do take full advantage of this link to serotonin!! :D next time you are tempted to have chocolate when you are just not suppose to, throw in this nice reason... for good health! :D Just chocolate, chocolate ice-cream or chocolate pastry or any other form of chocolate.. enrich life in true sense.. hee hee.. one bite.. just one bite and it's so soothing! have you tried eating rich chocolate pastry with hands and not use a spoon and a fork?? I did.. on 1st of jan! Its lot more fun u know!! when there is chocolate all over your fingers.. you feel like you have really eaten a chocolate.. being sophisticated just doesn't help here, my friends! really, try it out. And if you eat like that in a place like ITPL, where there are lot of sophisticated IT people around you, like i did, it rocks!! It's a pleasure to look at people when they are amazed to see that one can truly enjoy something without worrying about what world says! And on top of it, you have really enjoyed your chocolate pastry! ha ha...

In the first week of jan, I attended this awesome concert by Sanjeev Abhyankar. I know it's a little unusual combination.. to like both western and indian classical music. I love yanni's compositions as much as a raaga sung by sanjeev abhyankar. I do not understand technicalities of either but i listen to them keenly, experience deeply. Even as of now, I can hear One Man's Dream.. as if played somewhere far away..It has an ability to make me forget everything around and take me into a different world, confer a mood... When I listen to Megha malhar, i experience it.. live it.. there is thunder, there is lightening, heavy rains and human emotions in response to all this.. To demonstrate all of it in just five notes of which Megha Malhar is composed of.. man! that's quite something!! Hats off to whoever composed Megha Malhar and many more such raagas! It really is not necessary that you understand technicalities of things that give you pleasure.. or do it the way world has been doing it over years.. It is for you, your happiness..and the fact that it helps you live that moment to the fullest! do it the way you really enjoy it and.. you will smile.. smile from within :)

Cheers!

Crazy about Corwin!!

2007-10-30T20:37:00.000-07:00

Jeff Corwin shows have been an integral part of my relaxation time! He has produced two shows on Animal Planet- of The Jeff Corwin Experience and Corwin's Quest. I absolutely admire this guy! My favourite is Corwin's Quest, which sadly is over now :( If you have not watched any of his shows or have read about him, following are some of the links that you MUST visit to get the glimpse of this unique species called Jeff Corwin! :D
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Corwin
(wikipedia page on him)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jt1JSnUj_r8
(funny him!)

Jeff, U ROCK!

Two interesting stories..

2007-10-17T01:21:00.000-07:00

Two interesting real life stories, read on,

STORY NUMBER ONE

Many years ago, Al Capone virtually owned Chicago . Capone wasn't famous for anything heroic. He was notorious for enmeshing the windy city in everything from bootlegged booze and prostitution to murder.

Capone had a lawyer nicknamed "Easy Eddie." He was his lawyer for a good reason. Eddie was very good! In fact, Eddie's skill at legal maneuvering kept Big Al out of jail for a long time.
To show his appreciation, Capone paid him very well. Not only was the money big, but also, Eddie got special dividends. For instance, he and his family occupied a fenced-in mansion with live-in help and all of the conveniences of the day. The estate was so large that it filled an entire Chicago City block.

Eddie lived the high life of the Chicago mob and gave little consideration to the atrocity that went on around him. Eddie did have one soft spot, however. He had a son that he loved dearly. Eddie saw to it that his young son had clothes, cars, and a good education. Nothing was withheld. Price was no object. And, despite his involvement with organized crime, Eddie even tried to teach him right from wrong. Eddie wanted his son to be a better man than he was. Yet, with all his wealth and influence, there were two things he couldn't give his son; he couldn't pass on a good name or a good example.

One day, Easy Eddie reached a difficult decision. Easy Eddie wanted to rectify wrongs he had done. He decided he would go to the authorities and tell the truth about Al "Scarface" Capone, clean up his tarnished name, and offer his son some semblance of integrity. To do this, he would have to testify against The Mob, and he knew that the cost would be great.

So, he testified; Within the year, Easy Eddie's life ended in a blaze of gunfire on a lonely Chicago Street . But in his eyes, he had given his son the greatest gift he had to offer, at the greatest price he could ever pay. Police removed from his pockets a rosary, a crucifix, a religious medallion, and a poem clipped from a magazine. The poem read:

The clock of life is wound but once,
And no man has the power
To tell just when the hands will stop
At late or early hour.
Now is the only time you own.
Live, love, toil with a will.
Place no faith in time.
For the clock may soon be still.

STORY NUMBER TWO

World War II produced many heroes. One such man was Lieutenant Commander Butch O'Hare. He was a fighter pilot assigned to the aircraft carrier USS
Lexington in the South Pacific. One day his entire squadron was sent on a mission. After he was airborne, he looked at his fuel gauge and realized
that someone had forgotten to top off his fuel tank. He would not have enough fuel to complete his mission and get back to his ship. His flight
leader told him to return to the carrier. Reluctantly, he dropped out of formation and headed back to the fleet.

As he was returning to the mother ship he saw something that turned his blood cold: a squadron of Japanese aircraft were speeding their way toward
the American fleet. The American fighters were gone on a sortie, and the fleet was all but defenseless. He couldn't reach his squadron and bring them
back in time to save the fleet. Nor could he warn the fleet of the approaching danger.

There was only one thing to do. He must somehow divert them from the fleet. Laying aside all thoughts of personal safety, he dove into the formation of Japanese planes. Wing-mounted 50 caliber's blazed as he charged in, attacking one surprised enemy plane and then another. Butch wove in and
out of the now broken formation and fired at as many planes as possible until all his ammunition was finally spent. Undaunted, he continued the
assault. He dove at the planes, trying to clip a wing or tail in hopes of damaging as many enemy planes as possible and rendering them unfit to fly.

Finally, the exasperated Japanese squadron took off in another direction. Deeply relieved, Butch O'Hare and his tattered fighter limped back to the
carrier. Upon arrival, he reported in and related the event surrounding his return. The film from the gun-camera mounted on his plane told the tale. It showed the extent of Butch's daring attempt to protect his fleet. He had, in fact, destroyed five enemy aircraft.

This took place on February 20, 1942, and for that action Butch became the Navy's first Ace of W.W.II , and the first Naval Aviator to win the Congressional Medal of Honor.

A year later Butch was killed in aerial combat at the age of 29.

His home town would not allow the memory of this WW II hero to fade, and today O'Hare Airport in Chicago is named in tribute to the courage of this
great man.

So, the next time you find yourself at O'Hare International, give some thought to visiting Butch's memorial displaying his statue and his Medal of
Honor. It's located between Terminals 1 and 2.

SO WHAT DO THESE TWO STORIES HAVE TO DO WITH EACH OTHER?
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

Butch O'Hare was "Easy Eddie's" son.

The Real World Journeys

2007-09-13T20:59:00.000-07:00

When i was in Pune, TRAVELING in the city did not occupy any position in my thought process.. It was mechanical. It was short and quick with almost definite required time. It was only after I landed here in B'lore that I think about traveling.
On this occasion, let me do a little burai of ITPL* buses :p Trust me, when i used to take ITPL buses, they would make me sick from inside. It's filled with people who's life is computerized. They are always thinking about how they can look more cool etc etc.. no one talks to the person sitting next and they are perpetually listening to the songs on their funky iPods!! How pathetic!
Slowly I grew sick of these uneventful long journeys and decided to get my bike to B'lore. Now, it so happened that, ITPL refused to give me 15 days bus pass so, i had to go for the local buses. I was lil tensed.. yeah... though it sounds funny, that is the truth. I have hardly ever traveled by local buses in Pune. And this was B'lore..
To my surprise, I found those local bus journeys pretty amusing, of course in a different way. It is tiring when u don't get place and have to stand for an hour... that part apart, I got to c a lot of different things. What I felt something like a fresh air current was that I was among the real people!! The people who talked to the people who sat next, who had natural expressions on their faces.. who were eager to help u when u got onto a wrong bus.... really, it felt so good when I saw all that.
I see so many different people on the bus.. small kids, girls n guys from colleges, old people.. I remember there was this old couple who were fruit stall owners in a near by village i suppose n they had sacks full of fruits.. we all helped them load the sacks onto the bus.. they were happy then n gave us a banana each! how sweet! :) I would surely not get to experience this on a ITPL bus!
The other event that has left a deep impression on my mind is when I met this little kid. He and his sister got onto the bus to go to the school. he must be 8 or so and his sister around 10. He sat next to me and smiled at me .. He was wearing a white shirt.. which was looking more on the brown side with a collar torn, a tie almost torn.. the same was the condition of his sister's uniform. What was very striking was that these kids were very happy!! I did not understand their language, but I could make out that they were joking and laughing over something that was innocently funny.. some minutes passed and an old lady got onto the bus. She had to go a long way n did not get a place to sit. Seeing that I offered my seat to her. This kid who was just 8, saw all that n was almost on the verge of crying because it did not strike him first that he should have asked that old lady to sit on his seat.. he got up and offered his seat to me and said something in Kannada. I must have had a blank expression on my face so, his sister looked at me and said, please sit down. Of course I said no. I was really surprised.. such little kids and they were so well behaved..
Ten min. must have passed after that when their school friends also got onto the bus. And I heard the same innocent laughter again... These kids dint have money to buy new clothes.. but they had something precious that made them happy, cheerful and nice human beings! Even now as I think of those kids, I smile :)

* ITPL is a place in B'lore where there are lots of computer companies, and my institute, where I work.

An Amateur's attempt

2007-08-26T21:49:00.000-07:00

Sketching.. is a way of relaxing for me.. Usually, when I draw, it goes on for 1.5- 2 hours... and I completely forget the things around me. It feels great. :)

One Man's Dream

2007-08-16T01:37:00.000-07:00

I close my eyes and drift into a new world... with the Piano composition.. One Man's Dream. Like a feather we dance, take circles at the most gentle breeze... i feel as if the music is emerging like a fountain from within..so beautiful.. so soothing.. it fills me.. and shows up on my face in the form of a smile..smile for no reason.. or just for the reason so important, so obvious that I have almost lost the touch with the world around... tune is neither happy nor sad... is it compassionate? yeah... I think it is... we drift along..touching the grass so green that I pick up a little green.. we move ahead to the vast meadows and then to mountains which appear as if they are in deep meditation... we reach the top of the mountains... I look around..what fills the air is peace which you c on the face of a sleeping child.. something that I have not even begun to understand... with this tune as I drift, it appears as if with everything around and the reason within, we are timeless.. like One Man's Dream!

Tears in heaven (Eric Clapton)

2007-08-07T23:38:00.000-07:00

Would you know my name
If I saw you in heaven?
Would you feel the same
If I saw you in heaven?
I must be strong and carry on
cause I know I dont belong here in heaven...

Would you hold my hand
If I saw you in heaven?
Would you help me stand
If I saw you in heaven?
Ill find my way through night and day
cause I know I just cant stay here in heaven...

Time can bring you down, time can bend your knees
Time can break your heart, have you begging please...begging please

Beyond the door theres peace Im sure
And I know therell be no more tears in heaven...

Would you know my name
If I saw you in heaven?
Would you feel the same
If I saw you in heaven?
I must be strong and carry on
cause I know I dont belong here in heaven...

Living a PG life..

2007-08-01T04:08:00.000-07:00

Living a PG (paying guest's) life... is an experience indeed! Considering the fact that this is the first time I am staying away from home for a long time, my mom was worried (a lot!! :P) and me curious...
My PG accommodation hunt dint have a very encouraging start. My friend and I visited some places but they were all sad considering that I am pretty finicky bout things like clean surroundings and all..Friend who accompanied me belongs to the same species in this matter so we quickly rejected all of them. At the end of the day we returned.. tired, lil shocked ( by the kind of places tht we saw) and frustrated as we could manage to c only 3 places.. (c, how output oriented we have become.. thanks to the corporate world!! hee hee.. :P ) The next day, my mom and I set out to look for a PG accommodation after a heavy lunch (stupid thing to do!) Thankfully, the first place we visited, satisfied all our conditions. So.. this is the place where I stay now.. a lil bungalow, with big evergreen trees around :) I share my room with another girl who works in IT. Best part being that she is on the phone 90% of the times ( for the reason we all know ;) ) giving me loads of space.. :)I can do things in my own style ( I have purposely used this word :p ) without getting any comments :)
Another thing which I would like to mention which is trying to become an integral part of my PG life is Cooking... Considering my great enthusiasm... its still trying :P Believe it or not, but I actually plan as to which vegetables I am to buy on my looooooooong (approx 1.5hrs) journey back home (whenever I decide to cook :P ). To put it on records, I HAVE COOKED 4 times!! ( I feel triumphant as I say this) and ppl liked it :D
I have to mention my NEW FRIENDS.. everyone talks about the Human friends... I will try n be lil adventurous here.. no fun in doing what everyone does, right? So.. we have a million ants, house lizards and a humongous rat ( who visits us every night.. I really admire the consistency!!!). The time I got to know my this new friend, I was zapped as he banged against my foot and ran off ( consider the fact that I have not even seen big cockroaches in my Pune ka ghar!) ! I still don't know the exact number of lizards.. no one knows for that matter as every time, there is a new one! I am trying to accept their presence still...
Overall its fun.. trying my hand at cooking, watching any crap on TV, chatting with other PG mates late night and yess... getting to know my NEW FRIENDS :P hee hee..
Cheers!!

City called Banglore... frm d view point of a Punekar

2007-07-27T21:07:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, I am in B'lore now.. doing Ph.D in...4get it. Wont tell you the tech. details :) (Ppl who r interested, can contact me :) )
The main point is tht.. am in B'lore. City, not so new to me as my aunt stays here n have visited her lot of times b4. Talking about the weather, lot like tht of Pune ( just love Pune - People who hv listened to 'Asa mi asa Mi by PuLa, will get wht i EXACTLY mean when i say tht.. hee hee..) That is damn imp 4 me... I hated Delhi cuz of the weather.. it s BAD.
I got here 2 wks back. From airport we traveled for around 45 min to go to jyamahal (my Aunt's place) and traveled back in the airport direction (!!!!!) to visit Inst. Of Bioinformatics ( another 1 hr !!!!). IOB is the place where i am doing my Ph.D. Then off course search for the PG accom. We went to the places near by n got back traveling 1.5hrs back again. plz do the math as to 4 how much time we were traveling. Pune standards about distance n the required time to travel are LOTTTTT different. Think mainly cuz Pune is comparatively a small city with less traffic. I better not start talking about B'lore traffic.. its HORRIBLE. its sad that I start my blog with b'lore traffic.. but that is the thing tht u face 1st whn u land here.
Otherwise, b'lore has changed a lot over the years... now its more cosmopolitan.. bigger.. People are good. they DON'T stare at you while u r walking on the road.. :) there are these slight differences between Pune and banglore. In banglore, you will find ppl who come from all corners of india.. 4 tht matter even world
You get all sorts of things in the malls... right from kerala parotha to chitalenchi bakarvadi...most of the ppl in ITPL wld be wearing branded clothes .... IT IT everywhere...huge money flow... Still there is some kind of 'sticking to culture'.. Ppl will offer prayers every morning.. there will be rangoli outside the bungalows.. early morning kids will practice Karnatic music... :) Pune... you wont find that.
The garden city is going to be the place to stay for coming 3-4 yrs :) and am pretty happy about it (nothing can be compared PUNE tho :P )

http://www.travelbangalore.com/html/banglore_city.html

2007-07-07T11:16:00.000-07:00

Lil dots that made the Paint Stroke

Its about my evening walks. I swear I tell u, these walks were concentrated feeling of my world. the world that I carry along everywhere. Then I remember what had happened long back. I remember having this distinct feeling when I was looking into the mirror 13 yrs back. The realisation of my world being independent of those around me. Realising that, i think so much about my people, my work, my existence, my world being of supreme imp to me and everyone must be doing that... and if I get the top view, where does my world of supreme imp to me stand? then I go higher n higher... n my world seems smaller n smaller... till the point that its just a point. A point among a million others..a million other points.. do they look different from the top? NO...... they really seem to carry lot of similar elements.. a feeling of uneasiness.. of course! its like an identity crisis! i laugh.. god!! now I c those imaginary walls that I created. Its like, u fence a field n think that its different than the earth around, missing the 3D!

Observations and discoveries!

2007-03-17T10:36:00.000-07:00

Last wk was hectic. on Thursday n fri got an opportunity to attend some really interesting lecs in a symposium 'recent trends n modern biology.'
i assure u tht am not going to give tech details :D so u can relax n go ahead n read ths post. :)
One lec was really gr8 by a scientist from NCL. Actually he is a physicist bt is working on some interdisciplinary problems.
This man is working on the IN field: nanotech. has published over 300 papers etc etc..
What i liked the best 'bout this man is that he OBSERVED!! he observed everything.. men around him, animals, non living things.. everything! We only See things. I mean at least i do so. there is difference between seeing n observing. this man n many like him watched what was happening around them n tried to immitate that. They came up with astonishing discoveries!
There is a reptile called geko. he runs at the speed of 1m/sec. I know this fact. even u know it. then what do WE do? we r AMAZED at the nature!
These men go beyond that. these nano tech people have studied the molecular details behind this process and one day we might have gloves with the properties that geko's web like feet have!
this NCL scientist did something which amazed us. He was making a nano film n due to oxidation at points, there were spiral patterns. This man once was going thr something tht related to the chit ah. N guess what?! he fund a solution for his oxidation problem. With some computational work he proved that spiral pattern was adapted cuz its like a spring which can take up certain flexibility.
There are so many examples like that..
Lets try to OBSERVE things. :)

Cricket mania!

2007-03-06T19:53:00.000-08:00

With this post, I know I am going to be criticized by the hard core cricket fans. Even i like the sport.. it is fun to watch n play too.. I used to play cricket in school (arthatach gully Cricket!) It was real Fun! :D
Still.. There are some issues to be considered..It all began in yr 2000 or so i suppose. The business out of this sport i mean. Here I am using the word SPORT and not GAME! According to me, there is nothing wrong in doing that. Problem is realising the extent to which its to be done. Sahara has given them homes worth crores, they are in advertisements fetching lacks/crores of rupees, we spend hours sitting in front of the TV and RELIGIOUSLY watch the matches, we have all the records by heart! What must be the total amount of money that's invested in this GAME?? I don't know the figure but for sure i know its MUCH more than required.. Seriously, If all those houses are sold and whatever money generated are given to the underprivileged.. can u imagine HOW MANY villages will be benefited?!
On top of all this we have match fixing which over the time we coolly forget and start worshipping the players all over again!
Thing to consider is that, when we have ENORMOUS amount of energy and money to be spent on cricket, why don't we channelise it where it is really required??
Another thing is that why don't we focus on other SPORTS too?? Probably we have forgotten that our national sport is HOCKEY.. (!!??!!)
Any way, this is what I think.. rest is for you to figure out.
Enjoy the ICC cricket world cup! Its an exciting game!
:D

outline, define..

2007-02-24T20:00:00.000-08:00

This may be the fault of my weak vocab or just my nature..I often come across situations when i have to define what i feel or i have to outline my thaughts!! And i really tell you.. i go blank! one of my fears.. how do you define what is good or how do you define what is an achievement? these are scary quastions.. what's good to me is what's good to me.. why do you want a definition?? thn i go, 'ummmnnn... according to me.. 'and then your opinion 'bout it.. then how my good slightly is different than yours (some even go to the extent of giving me a feel of free fall!!). words are good. i have no objection over ths means of letting ppl know what u hv to say.. the situations, like ones mentions above, FOR ME, are like a web.. u have to balance, be carefull. Boy n am bad at it

The take-over

2007-01-31T19:46:00.000-08:00

Everyone knows 'bout THE take -over. Actually i should not be using THE for the Tata- Corus deal as bigger one was the Mittal. Still the steel progress is beyond my comprehension! This might sound foolish as all know that rank 1st, 2nd and now new 5th are Indians in the Steel industry. What i don't understand yet is how is all this going to improve the Indian scenario? As far as i know, we still are to go miles and miles in improving the steel involvement in Indian 'everything' meaning the rail-roads etc etc.. I know this is my sheer ignorance but this troubles me. It's something like going way ahead in theory n not knowing the practical applications of it. If any one really knows how all this is going to improve the Indian scenario, please post that in comments.

2007-01-30T10:56:00.000-08:00

A Puzzle

In my trip to the enigmatic city of Mumbai I had decided to utilize my time, every minute of it. Usually whenever I go there, I visit a million of my relatives who stay there and whole time goes in traveling from one relative’s home to the another’s ( as one would stay in Dadar n other in Belapur). And I hated all that. Really hated it as I don’t like crowded places and Mumbai is CROWDED. I believe that for India, the word Cosmopolitan originated from the city of Mumbai. What do you think? Am I right or am I right? Hee hee hee…
I went to my mama’s place in west Santa Cruz by bus. I don’t know why that area is so hyped about. It’s OK. Not great or something. My Mami obviously had prepared awesome food. Hogged n then took a nap. In the evening we went to Juhu beach. They have cleaned it!!!!!!!!!!! That’s good news for beach lovers like me. We had gola and such other ‘unhygienic’ stuff which is not much appreciated back home. Sound of waves… I can listen to that heavenly sound for hours and hours. Sadly it was being contaminated with at least 2000 people talking at the same time and in various pitches! Then we went to a micro mini movie theatre called Gem. Watched a real good movie called ‘Flags of our fathers’ directed by Clint Eastwood.
The second day is what I want to talk about. I am SCARED of local trains. My mama insisted on us going by train to VT. I ‘bravely’ agreed! We went to Santa Cruz station. All Mumbai stations look alike. They typically have this bridge over which a million people RUN every day, some people try to sell some cheap stuff like pirated C.Ds , trousers for 30 rupees (!!! Yes. You get to hear such things only in Mumbai!) Etc. And to tell you, they earn very well. You buy ticket here and catch the train at the other end of the world. They have those many platforms. Uncountable locals running following time table sec by sec. I prayed hard. God is sweet. There wasn’t much rush for our train.
We then went to Jahangeer Art gallery. It was my dream to see it, to tell you the truth. I have a belief that probably best of best paintings from India are displayed there. Before that we saw this incredible thing on the foot path. That place is allotted to some artists. They display their work there, on the foot path. Some of the paintings were really good. Every artist has a soft corner for some element e.g. water, villages, scenes from club houses or for that matter a color! And you would see that reflecting in each of his paintings. Then at Jahangeer we saw this exhibition of modern art. It was good and I understood most of the paintings! You have to agree with me that it’s a tough job. There was another exhibition of modern art which I did NOT understand so, it wasn’t all that good! Hee hee hee…
There was one with the theme of Buddha by an artist called Satish Pandey which was really fantastic!! He had made a huge statue of Lord Buddha in bronze. I could really feel some vibrations out there… felt so calm looking at that tranquil face of Buddha. And in a sec all the things that I saw that morning flashed in front of my eyes. All that rush, thousands of middle class people running, carrying there small worlds around, my Mama’s Big flat in a posh locality, story of one of my far off relative who’s daughter is completely spoilt and spends at least 3000 rupees when she goes for shopping every wk, those faceless artists, and that tranquil Buddha! I could feel my heart burn. Was this the reason why I did not like to come to Mumbai? The severity of that ever growing paradox is too much for me to take. Even today as I think of Mumbai, after a while my brain goes numb. No doubt I had a fantastic trip n visited lots of places after my visit to the Jahangeer but the puzzle of Buddha’s tranquility in the middle of that paradoxical world will always trouble me.

2007-01-29T20:08:00.000-08:00

The name mosaic seems to be right.. unrelated pieces making a sensible picture!
I am not very comfortable writing such things.. open for public. Thinking of giving it a try.
Currently I'm injured. met with a small lil accident yest.. thnks to tht drizzle, 'bout which i was very happy till the time i realised that was sliding on the Balgandharva bridge (ltrs of oil on the road n drizzle is a BAD combo!).
had gone to Mumbai 4 the weekend. Decided to do something different this time. I don't like to shop as means of passing time. According to me it's an awful wastage of time. Visited Jahangeer Art gallery and many more things. will write 'bout all that when i get a little better..
c ya soon.