I am on a rolll with taking pics these days... I never was much into it.... I suppose, I should start taking a normal camera around rather than depend on my phone-camera....
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Monday, April 27, 2009
Sunday, April 26, 2009
... Capitola, CA
A sunday well spent in Capitola, CA on a beatiful spring afternoon pretending it as summer !
an afternoon in Sausalito, CA
...doing nothing but soaking in the beauty on a beautiful day ... took these pics with my phone -hence the mediocre quality.... Notice the fog covering the view of San Francisco - looks like a bandage!
Place: Sausalito, CA
Date: April 18, 2009
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Friday, April 17, 2009
A Line in Water by Amrita Pritam
Given to my tendency to be distracted as often as possible while working on a "have to" (in comparison to a "want to"), I had an opportunity to read Amrita Pritam's A Line in Water.
Researching for a god-knows-what project at the university library, I chanced upon a frail little novella by Amrita Pritam which immediately caught my attention. It was about ninety pages - paper-back, hidden like a shy little school girl among her better looking contemporaries.
Ninety pages - I thought - about two hours. I can afford that much of a break for Amrita Pritam, since, living in the US, finding anything by her is like chancing upon a steal.
Next two hours - I spent with a woman falling in love with a man who she could never have ... I don't know what disturbed (or unnerved) me more - her purity or her delibrate choice of going down a self-destructive path! She was falling - she knew she was falling; she could stop but she chose not to!
In one scene - Kumar is getting ready to visit with his Rs. 20 per night prostitute. Alka stops him and says, she can do what that other woman would do for him for Rs. 20 as well. He agrees and after calmly pulls out a 20 and gives it to her. Alka, for whom he is her first, takes the 20 like its the most priceless note she ever laid her hands on.
I never wanted to go back to this story again because I want her to live in my mind the way I first met her - living bravely and honestly and not catering to the norms or her surroundings . . . Its been so many years,; I know that if I went back, I won't be able to appreciate her romance as I did back than.
Today I googled for her and this is what I found - it is blogworthy so I can come back to it someday again ---
From the back cover:
Beginning of the story - quote:
Researching for a god-knows-what project at the university library, I chanced upon a frail little novella by Amrita Pritam which immediately caught my attention. It was about ninety pages - paper-back, hidden like a shy little school girl among her better looking contemporaries.
Ninety pages - I thought - about two hours. I can afford that much of a break for Amrita Pritam, since, living in the US, finding anything by her is like chancing upon a steal.
Next two hours - I spent with a woman falling in love with a man who she could never have ... I don't know what disturbed (or unnerved) me more - her purity or her delibrate choice of going down a self-destructive path! She was falling - she knew she was falling; she could stop but she chose not to!
In one scene - Kumar is getting ready to visit with his Rs. 20 per night prostitute. Alka stops him and says, she can do what that other woman would do for him for Rs. 20 as well. He agrees and after calmly pulls out a 20 and gives it to her. Alka, for whom he is her first, takes the 20 like its the most priceless note she ever laid her hands on.
I never wanted to go back to this story again because I want her to live in my mind the way I first met her - living bravely and honestly and not catering to the norms or her surroundings . . . Its been so many years,; I know that if I went back, I won't be able to appreciate her romance as I did back than.
Today I googled for her and this is what I found - it is blogworthy so I can come back to it someday again ---
From the back cover:
Set in the picturesque Kangra Valley, this is the sympathetic story of a woman who is even willing to become a prostitute to the man she loves. It is also the tale of a man who has no time or inclination for a permanent attachment; he needs many new women to feed his artistic creativity. The relationships thus formed are separated only by a tenuous line almost as impossible as the proverbial line in water.
Beginning of the story - quote:
Kumar held a lantern up to the wall. Rippling streams of water seemed to be flowing from it. With alternating strokes of indigo and chalk Alka had caught that scene from nature with a vividness all its own. As he looked minutely into every touch, he observed a very fine line in the water.
'You can't draw a line in water they say.'
'Would you say so as well?'
'I couldn't since I've put my foot on the line.'
Alka smiled at the smart way he had gone off at a tangent by trying to be witty.
'I couldn't say why you drew it, but I could give my own interpretation of it.'
'And that is?'
'I have drawn a line in my own mind,from one side of which flows hot water, from the other cold.'
'From one side love, from the other hate!'
'Alka!'
un-changing
qalam surkhoo hai
ki jo maine likha
vohi aaj main hoon
vohi aaj tu hai
My pen is placated
I am what I have written
I am still the same
and you haven't changed.
- Ahmed Faraz
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
That "rascal"
I believe that it must be to the date last year - I drove under this dark cloud ... It was so overwhelmingly magnficient that I broke down ... Not because that the gloominess of overcast makes me sad; in fact, it is the opposite. I love the pretty gray of cloudy days! It was that moment which promised that everything is bound to be ok ... but ...
Today, again I remembered how down I had felt during the April of 2008 - I looked up and I am certain it was that same dark cloud that loomed over ... I swear it even winked at me affirming its return. I winked back --- I think it did not like it; before I knew it, I was admist a hailstorm while the sunlight still escaped through the corners of the cloud ... I rolled my windows down hope to catch a few hails ... for good luck!
Location: Livermore, California - Highway 84 @ 6:30pm on 4-14-09
Splish Splashhh
Boat Ride from Pier 39 --- Personal opinion - go for the small persoal boats rather than the big yatch. You get to sit so close to the water ...
... watching the sun set
During the college years, one of the most favorite hang out spots was the Oakland Marina ... sitting by the ocean and watching the sun go down has always been one of the most delicious experiences for anyone given the opportunity. While witnessing the sun set, I remember being greatful for this possiblity - that this is my escape! You could also watch the planes land the Oakland Airport which is right accross ... That was in the late 90s ... I ended up there this past week when my work lost all internet and telephone connection thanks to someone kindly hacked the fiber-optic cables!
Along with one of my friends, I ended up at the Marina for a quick lunch at the El Torito... I could not help but take a few pics ... sadly though, like everything, the landscape has changed due to development... why can't some things be left alone!
Friday, April 10, 2009
bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, . . .
Young Noah: [humming] Bum,bum,bum,bum,bum,bum,bum,bum,bum,bum,bum,bum.
Young Allie: [laughing] You're a terrible singer.
Young Noah: I know.
Young Allie: I like this song।
Young Allie: [laughing] You're a terrible singer.
Young Noah: I know.
Young Allie: I like this song।
From: The Notebook
*** I don't know why, but I wanted to share this here!
I suppose cuz, I can hear the melody ...
Thursday, April 2, 2009
April is . . .
Just seemed like something to include since I just re-read this poem and what better time to mention that . . .
| APRIL is the cruellest month, breeding | |
| Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing | |
| Memory and desire, stirring | |
| Dull roots with spring rain. "The Wasteland" by T.S. Eliot |
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