Music to the mind

Dum-dum-dummakka
Dha Dhin Dhin Dha
Dhanka Taka a Taka Dhanka taka dhum

Can you listen to an hour and a half of this?
I thought I couldn't. And I was so wrong.

Yesterday we had been to the Times of India music fest featuring Percussion Artists from the world.
It was mind blowing.

encore please - Times of India music fest

Taufiq Qureshi - son of Ustad Allarakha - led the stage with a large variety of percussion accompanying him.
So we nodded, clapped, tapped our feet and shook our bottoms to -
tabla, mrudangam, dholak, khanjeera, morching, dholki, Manipuri pung cholam, South African toca, punjabi dhol, Rajasthani khartal, and so many others that I do not know the names of.

Fascinating Taufiq is a master performer on stage and kept us enraptured with the awe-inspiring variety of sounds that he created alone. Whoosh sounds that reminded one of a passing train, the sizzle of a rain and the roar of downpour, tluk-ta sounds made by hitting on an open mouth .... and all these sounds blended so well with the on going percussion to make an amazing experience.
God's gift - to be in a profession that needs heaps of dedication and spreads loads of ecstasy.

The dance-song-drum-talk-drama (barely clothed) ensemble from South Africa was an hour that had us in splits. Some of it intentionally funny some of it ...not!

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Today I Salute
Work means you have to get up even if you are sleepy. Obey orders even if you think otherwise. Get going even if you are not-in-the-mood. These amazing men choose a profession that send them into deep infested jungles ... all in the course of a day's job. 1000 CoBRA, CRPF jawans hunt for Reds

Stinking white flowers

Hey ... I am not being rude. I am just telling you.............
We brought this planter with ready-to-grow bulbs and placed it on the window sill and watched it with pride as it grew long green stalks, and sprouted pretty white flowers.

small smelly flowers

Then we walked around the house saying there is something rotting in the house...
we cleaned the trash cans
flushed toilets
cleared kitchen drains
looked suspiciously at each other
Then the three of us walked into the room, looked at the pretty bunch on the window sill and said
yeowww this flower stinks!!!

Paperwhite Narcissus Flowers

But there must be many winged guys, who take one whiff of this fragrance  .... rub their hands, smack their lips and go mmmm yummm yumm ........  and dive straight towards the stinking white flowers!!
Read more about stinking flowers here

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Do you know someone you like to gift this one??  wink!

The birthday cake

This week has been a busy one. Three parties to prepare for. And with almost the same guest list!!
But this blog post is not about clothes and jewelry and shoes and perfumes. It is about the birthday cake.
After much pondering, choosing, short listing we finally decided to get a really large cup cake with frosty pink icing for my grandchild's first birthday.
So this cake is in the trunk of the car. We collect it on Saturday because the shop is closed on Sunday. I tell my daughter let me make space for the cake in the fridge. And she says no mama I will not bring it up. I will leave the cake in the car.
What!!! I ask. Won't it go bad?
No mama it is colder outside than it is in our fridge...
aaah yes ofcourse... it is 0 degrees C outside
and then this morning she says, I will bring the cake up from the car mama ... and I say, hey, we are anyway going to the party hall, so why bring the cake up...huh?
She says .. the cake is perhaps frozen rock hard by now, I need to bring it up to thaw it ...
oh oh
And I look out and see our black car is white (covered in snow) and fine icicles hang from the bumper

strange are the ways of the world...
eh?

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Paint your pottery

November is Thanksgiving time here in the US. Families find different ways of giving 'thanks'.
Serving lunches and dinners at charity homes - Clothes and toys for the poor - Donations in cash - Dinner with family and friends - are the most preferred methods of offering thanks. But my new friend Mina is warm and unique. She takes two grannies and a nephew for a special experience. I go with them too.

Colour me mine in San Jose has inviting clusters of tables and chairs. Two walls are lined with small and large white pottery and the third wall has brushes, special paints, palettes, stencils, shaped sponge dips. The wall itself is a mosaic of small coloured tiles. Each tile has a number below it. The air is vibrant with creative energy. The tables are filled with busy grandpas grandmas and kids. What are they doing??

Amma and Aunty are apprehensive. The nephew is non committal. What is this place?
Surprise! You are here to paint.
what??
yes, you pick a white pottery, you pick some colours, and you paint. says Mina with a smile.
More confusion. What do we pick? How do we paint? Will it come out good?

We pick a  tray, a vase, a star and a bank car. We choose paints and brushes and say naa to stencils and shapes. Soon we plunge into the world of colours.
Conversation begins to flow.
We chat about their days of youth. Of days as working women. Of fears about shifting to a strange country. Of grandchildren and the joy of their successes. They joke. They laugh.

paint your pottery

We leave the painted pottery carefully tagged. The pottery will be fired and glazed and kept ready for pick up in 5 days. That was a grand thankgiving. An afternoon to cherish.
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the best gift is a gift of TIME spent.

Do your feelings match mine?

By now you must have gathered that I am a mini TV buff. Currently I am hooked on to a serial about Khushi (18) and Arnav (28). They remind me of the Mills & Boons of my teenage days. The tall curt hero rich and successful, the dainty but spirited heroine, and the inevitable third guy...!! I follow Khushi and Arnav as they play one up over each other and fall helplessly in love!

But yesterday
I am switching channels - JLT - just like that - I stop at a song sequence from the movie Fanaa. It is taken in Delhi at Qutb Minar. Now here is Kajol playing the blind girl and behind her are some of her 'college friends' dancing to the song among ornate pillars. To my utter surprise there is Khushi, dancing as an 'also there' in the background. I sit up and watch the girl with renewed respect. Strangely I just love the song more after that!

A thing takes a new dimension when we 'own' it. The song took on significance because a TV artist I have grown to love is in it. The song, the scenery the actors, nothing has changed. My perception has.

Our ability to accept a person/situation depends on one thing 'How much we make it our own'.
What others see as - difficulty - flaw - pain - we do not even comprehend it as such!

We do not love because
we Love
.
.
.
That's it.
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and if others do not understand why?
don't let that bother you.
It is your heart that matters! Your perspective.


of course ... if it matches mine ... Good for you!

A new Dawn, A new Year

Blown away by Blown Glass Flowers

Wish you all a wonderful, peaceful and prosperous 2012.
May there be many moments in 2012 that take your breath away.

dawn breaks over a sea of clouds

A testimony to precision and perfection
A taste of abundant love
A lack of fear for dedicated labour
I bring to you a most amazing collection of flowers and leaves and buds. For these flowers and leaves and buds are made of blown glass!

maple leaves made of glass

A thing that takes our breath away, fill us with a hope for the breaths we will take in the future.

berries anyone?

Harvard's unique collection of Glass Flowers bowled us over by their sheer magnitude. 4400 exhibits of over 800 botanical species - made by two skilled artists.

Harvard - glass museum

This collection is at the Harvard Museum at Boston. The entire collection was commissioned by a magnanimous rich lady who was amazed by the sample produced by the artists Leopold and Rudolph Blaschka. I must thank my chickappa Ananthramu for planning to take us here. for if not for him, this moment of wonder and hope for me, would not have happened.

fine fern!

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amazing na?

No jet-lag here

just some connectivity issues.

We got back to Delhi last Tuesday at half past five in the evening. were royally received at the airport and escorted to her home in her new car (her = daughter). we rested, chatted, continued our holiday for some more time and returned home to find that the phone bills were lying unpaid and internet was severed.
it took us this long to sort out the mess.
completely our fault. I don't blame the telephone dept one bit.
but to cut a L S S ... the excited We Are Home post got dampened in spirit.

but
i have so many narratives in my head. i have so much to share about our US trip
we enjoyed much warmth and care everywhere,
we saw an America that perhaps very few tourists get to see.

but hey, though we travelled right across many time zones, from the east to the west coast and back, we did not experience jet-lag. perhaps this is the reason:
how to avoid jet-lag

• once you board the aircraft change your watch to the time of destination.
• change your sleep and food routine to approximate destination time.
• drink water and juice - no ice! no alcohol!
• watch movies, listen to music, read, play sudoku,  keep yourself engaged
• visit the bathroom. but makes sense to avoid the pre-lunch post-lunch rush. i hate to see that red-occupied sign!!
• have a definite outing plan on the day of arrival to keep you busy. (i went shopping for grocery with my brother!!)
• or
• have an energetic two or three year old with you! then jet-lag is a mere luxury!!

The setting sun in Chicago

The evening lights in a big city

The rising sun - somewhere between chicago and delhi

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heaven = the smell of baking chocolate brownie ... when you are slightly hungry .. and can wait!

Flashlights in the sky

About our trip to America
We are saying a soft bye to lexington ky as we fly off to San Jose tomorrow.
Yesterday evening we went out for a last walk. We decided to hop across the stones that marked the line between our apartment and the theatre complex called Carmac. The sky started to darken. Thick clouds gathered over our heads. And from the distance we heard deep rumbles.
There are no tall buildings, no towers hide the skyline. we can see the vast expanse of sky above us.
strong winds blow and we can actually see the thick clouds being pushed together. Sample drops warn us of the coming downpour.
My daughter makes frantic calls to tell us not to stir out as there is a storm-warning.
But we only laugh. I look up to catch a brilliant wavy line light up the sky. I keep looking and the clouds oblige. They keep up the dishum-dishum and keep up the white hot streaks.
I have never enjoyed a sight so fascinating. Such a vast expanse of sky. Such thick dark clouds. So much lightening. The white lines are wiggly, straight, curvy, flashy.

these are downtown lights from a moving car....much like the lightnings we saw!!!!!

I love it.
We risk getting wet. We risk being scolded. We walk in the rain to watch the lightning!

A soft goodbye lexington.
You gave us a wonderful stay here.

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Two times on the same day

I don't do this often

I can say I have never done it
it happened on Saturday
........
watched two movies back to back!!
Achu offered to buy tickets online and we went and watched Delhi-Belly....
Sh!t Happens is what they say...well prepared for the bold and brazen we four went and watched it. and really enjoyed it.
Jokes are fresh
Situations absurd
and dialogues HILARIOUS
Topic-bathroom is something all kids love, and adults use it to generate kid laughter. The movie is like that. You wrinkle your nose at the gross scenes but you dissolve into helpless laughter.
like they promised..its bold, its street humour, and story line is simple Tinkle stuff.
Watch it.

We had an awesome dinner at Yo China
We returned and watched READY!
that is awesome HILARIOUS too. I mean its a total Salman Khan film... with crazy one-liners, stunts and funny-fights. Asin provides the necessary support for this purely Salman Khan film.

O yes, this weekend was good. and we are happy to be back at home in Delhi.

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Mothers Day

About the bundle of contradictions called Mom

This Year Mother's Day is on May 8th.
I recall that once Achu had sent this huuuge basket of flowers to office. I was thinking God what a lot of trouble and expense she has incurred...
But the day turned out so different. Colleagues stopped at my desk to admire the flowers. A few graphic-designers had not heard of Mothers Day and liked the concept. They called home just to say Hi to Mom. One of them took home a cotton saree. Another took his mom to her favourite temple.



A Pink carnation

 Some are this and some are that

Funny, forgiving, fretful
Embarrassing, exasperating, eager
Silly, stylish, sweet
Curious, caring, or quite disinterested
Some are this and some are that
Mothers are all this and more!!! (Only to our kids)
My mom is
and so am I 

I have never wished my amma happy-mothers day. It really seems so strange to do that. My amma is now far away from the country of her birth, a country in which she spent seven decades. She is enjoying a peaceful life in her son's house in the US. There is really not much she can do to help around the house...not many people she knows there ... not many guests who drop in ...but she tries to be occupied. She has taught us to face facts. She has taught us to be ruthlessly honest...for finally truth saves.

This is a baby sweater she has just completed. It is for a grand-niece she has not yet seen. The photo is taken by my brother's daughter Vibha.


hand knitted baby sweater

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Anna Jarvis in 1908 suggested that the Second Sunday of May every year should be Mothers Day - a day to celebrate our Mothers. A coloured carnation is worn to show that she is alive and a white one to show that she is no more.

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The Grand Wedding

Like a million people around the world I also sat and watched William and Kate get married. I too waited for them to appear on the balcony and make that first kiss as man and wife.

So many people, went through so much trouble. to be there, and enjoy the aristocratic moment. There was absolutely no confusion. Everything went on in clockwork fashion. I felt I was watching a movie with all the blips edited out. Kate's walk was serene and practiced to perfection.

The guests have been waiting in nervous tension too! So much preparation they had made too. Did you see the amazing hats the ladies wore? There was one that reminded me of reindeer horns!! There was this little blue one that looked like a boat! I really wonder how it perched on her hair. So many men carried their little sons on their shoulders. They had a picnic and even cooked and remained there long after the carriage had left. I saw some girls had travelled all the way from South Africa, America and other European countries.

Call me crazy
call me jobless
but
yah
I sat and watched!

Stylish Blogger Award

When I began to blog I did it just to stay focused. Slowly it grew into me and became a passion. Today I got this lovely award and truly it has made my day.
Thank you Divya from  http://divya-art-room.blogspot.com/

 

 

Here are 8 things about me

• People inspire me
• Love reading self help books
• Enjoy cooking, but hate doing dishes
• Like being with nature
• Don't get angry easily, but take time to cool down
• Do watercolours
• Spread the word about TED talks
• Like Indian clothes

 

Ondu Plate Maggi Noodles

In Bangalore shops I need to ask for Maggi Noodles. But in Manali when I say Maggi noodles, they ask me
maggi? or noodles?
I say Maggi....very firmly. chopped veggies go into it and finely cut tomatoes. In 7 minutes Maggi is ready.

Maggi is
A harassed mom's saviour
A bachelor's refuge
A teenager's timepass
An old man's dinner
A travellers safe bet
but
on the freezing slopes of the Himalayas
it is better than the best.
A five course meal
A chef's offering
A soulful experience!!

I donnno why
but a plate of hot maggi and steaming tea poured out from a flask, taste heavenly in the snowy slopes.



maggi and chai on solang slopes

 and while we were having our plate of maggi there was this three year old who was crying bitterly. She was infact petrified. A lady was trying to pacify her in broken kannada
amma baratte
crying beda, crying beda
she kept saying!
I call to the little one and speak to her in Kannada. She is consoled for a short time.
her mom and dad have gone paragliding and she is with a known friend who has no kannada!
She looks at the vast white playground and weeps...amma kalad-hogidey (my mom is lost)

I give her my 10/- rupee stick.
idu magic kaddi. idarally dhairya idey. hidko. (this is a magic stick. it has courage. hold it) I said.
And the little one held it tight and swallowed her tears.
30 minutes of sheer hell for the baby .. that she soon forgot
and 30 minutes of awesome fun for her mom-dad...that they will never forget.

I dint think the tears were worth it.
But my younger friends seemed to think it is.

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what say you?
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Bundled up to be Free

About letting our hair down

while we are zipped up into snowsuit



Paragliders come sailing down the sky in a whoosh. This looks thrilling. But I notice they all take a rough landing on their feet and tumble into the soft snow. I so badly want to try the para gliding. But we are concerned about my knee. So we settle for the smaller thrill of sliding down the snow. We slide down snow slopes (before that we trudge to the top … no pain no gain!)

sliding down a snow hill

Snow lumps together when I roll some. I make a Lilliputian snowman and give him a matchstick to smoke.

Hubby does not find the snow too cold. He plays with it without the gloves on. A mountain of snow makes a cool mouthful.

There was this tall mound of snow. I wonder how it piled up there. Anyway we had fun conquering this mountain! One of the EASY Mountains my husband has conquered.

Do you recall our game of throwball in Janapada Loka? I wish we were a large group here too. I miss my family here. But we play throw and catch with large chunks of snow!

Do you think a real closeup shot will reveal Snow crystals? haha try and see them here...

snow crystals

Once in a while its fun to just let go. The best part was...no one knew us here...so we could just freak out! We chatted loudly in Kannada to each other, we had many more kannada families coming up to us and sharing a smile. We clicked pictures with strangers, shared chai with touring families and consoled crying babies. That is tomorrow's story.

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hysteria - march-world cup

Today we are
breathing cricket
eating cricket
and living cricket.
though I am not a real big fan or anything like that
I am blown away with all the fervour
so I will be glued to TV too
and watch the India Pakistan World cup semi finals.

the kashmiris are holding prayers for an India win
in chennai homa is performed
astrologers are looking at stars and making forecasts
today
when fans sit in a position and find that runs are coming
they will not move...even to go to the loo!!

I can hear Dhoni on TV answering some questions
wow...this is big

A Hand to Hold

We get into the bus that is to take us to Manali. Young couples move around us hand-in-hand. When the driver warns us with a deep honk they hold tight even while finding their seats in the Volvo! Bright sindoor at hair parting, dozens of bangles resting on their wrists and ready giggles give away their new found status.


A hand squeeze, a finger held tight, a tune tapped into a palm, are silent conversations that tell much more than a dictionary of words.
I trust you, I live by you, say these stolen movements.




a hand to hold


A kid or two later hand-holding is more
to restrain the energetic toddler from wandering away into some corner of the mall especially the expensive kid-toy sections)
to save the toddler from dangerous edges and slippery pools
to together jump a squealing kid across a puddle
to lead the child to happy happenings

A decade later
it is more about shaking hands than holding them. It’s more about chasing success and money making and reinventing the proverbial bubble. A time when often it is a friend's hand we hold in pain or in comfort.
(A teenager’s hand holding is a big No No! He would rather die than be seen holding his mom’s hand! But hey! A pat on the back, a ruffle of hair, a warm smile, yes that’s welcome.)

And the season begins
when the kids have flown to make their own nests. Age catches up and there is more hand holding! This time it’s more about…
look where you are going, oops I missed a step, o watch out, hey see this

And silent conversations happen again.


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hold a hand - it helps
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Thank you God for the food we eat

Thankyou god for the world so sweet
Thankyou god for the birds that sing
Thankyou god for every thing.

My daughters studied at a missionary school. They said this prayer as fervently as only small children can. They sang this at school.  And after they came home they played school-school and taught the song to the array of books-dolls-trucks (read that as ... students)
!!
but let me tell you why I think of that prayer today
and yehhh.....Hey !
I am back. It's so good to be talking to you again. I really missed you these 4 days.
But we had an amazing time in Manali. This hill station in Himachal Pradesh is a feast for the eyes. Called the Green Valley it is surrounded by tall pine forests and majestic snow capped mountains.
there is lots I will be blogging about.
But first a vote of thanks
I am filled with a sense of gratitude
that we make this trip together,
that we enjoy the ability to do this,
that we see nature in its winter glory,
that we see spring marching in,
that we locate a most hospitable hotel to stay in,
that we get tourist friendly drivers to take us around
that we make friends with couples just beginning their life together,
that we have Google and blogging and
that I have internet access so I can share this with you all.
and many thanks to you guys for saying wonderfully kind things to me to make me write more.
love you guys.
you rock.

(er I got that right na? You Rock andrey you throw rock antha alla thaney??)

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I kind of liked my previous post...but che, you never told me 'good'
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From Darkness to Light

Deepavali is a festival celebrating the movement of man from darkness to light.
This is the month of Kritika or Kartikai. We light two munnina deepas which my grandma used to call hanathey at the doorstep to invite goddess Lakshmi into the house to lead us from darkness to light. A hanathey is a small mud lamp into which you pour a spoon of oil and place a thread or cotton wick. The lamps are placed on either side of the door. But I like to keep two porcelain lamps in a silver tray in a special place inside the house too...

We were sitting around minding our business when suddenly the lights went off . There was a power cut (thanks perhaps to CWG). With the harsh brightness of the tube lights and incandescent bulbs switched off the oil wick lamps spread a soft glow.

I brought out a few more lamps and candles and we sat in that semi darkness.
That moment when darkness suddenly envelopes you. You know that everything around you is the same. You are infact in your own home, familiar room. Still you hurry to light candles and bring in assuring light.
That moment of darkness is a moment of faith?
A moment when your sense of trust is uppermost?
Then the candles are lit, and an illusion of familiarity is created.


In India power cut is the time for families to gather round the lamps and play games and sing songs. To groan over How Much there is to study while secretly enjoying the break! To open a packet of potato chips. To tease. To say things that would not be possible in harsh light.

But….we just took some photographs.

from darkness to light...........

Is That You?

Sometimes

You do little things to bring on a grin.
You buy a gift – for no rhyme or reason.
Your hug is healing. Your smile has meaning.

Sometimes
You’re judgemental and spicy.
You’re opinionated and dicey.
Pure and delightful, gossipy and soulful,

Sometimes
Vigorous at work, daring, ambitious,
Spontaneous, planned, and copy book.
But at all times

Be sure, YOU are YOU.

Your dreams are important
Your hopes are valid
You are PRECIOUS
Imagine!!! We have only ONE OF YOU.

Bikes, Cars and Xbox are for guys
Ribbons, flowers and perfumes are for gals
Huh! Why be caught in ancient shackles?
Why conform when we can be different?
This for you………

and this to take

this too, for the lapel

 one for the road

HAVE A GREAT DAY

Did you like this?
In a mood for a laugh? May be you can read  Engaging Accents.

Dhanaulti, natural alpine forest reserve

I like to see this picture when I want to feel happy.
So I share it with you.
Some people, some places and some thoughts bring peace just by being what they are.
Radiating a sense of wellbeing and satisfaction.
This is one such place, the curve of the road, the dipping fence, the green grass and the pine trees.....  I took this picture at Dhanaulti.

Does it make you happy too?

• Do you have your own set of happy pictures?
• Pull them out.
• Put them where you can see them.
• Will you do that?

For some pictures of the Eiffel Tower click here.