An addendum to the post below.
In early 2009 between Feb & May 2009, I spent some 3+ months in Baroda. I city which I have come to love very much in spite of its many limitations. Somehow there is still some small-town charm there, that appeals to me. I feel out of depth in the larger cities in India. The above mentioned 3+ months were among the most relaxing in my life.
It is not to say that the fact I wasn't basically doing anything with my life during this period was all charms. It did have its share of ennui-induced frustrations. But the fact remains I got to know a lot of new people, helped them in small but easily forgotten ways. These had no pecuniary remunerations, but gave me immense pleasure. And the ability to do things without thinking about the future is an indescribable stimulant.
Needless to say, looking back from among the stream of 'profitably employed people', rather than living by my own means and wits has made me nostalgic again. Suffice to say, there is a certain deadness when life goes on from one deadline to another. Yet, you are still alive to feel the tribulations after the deadline. So much for living life for the moment.
Some more pictures from those days of mental-vacation, so-to-speak.
Baroda/Bombay Feb-May 2009
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Photographs and more ...
Just logging in after more than a couple of years into Blogger. I am just too lazy to become a dedicated blogger I guess ... :( ... thought I would post some of my photography album links, that is the only thing that I have been doing with some semblance of regularity ... though did get to indulge in my see more of nature and new places in the past year or so. It came in lieu of a messed up professional life though ... ;-) ... but then its the end that matters in such things rather than the means, and then the quantum of happiness gained is more than enough recompense ...
I am keeping most of my online viewable pictures in PicasaWeb, still haven't come to love Flickr as many well-wishers fond of my pictures have told me to ... there are too many pictures that I haven't sorted through ... so, here goes ...
Elk Creek Mushroom Hunting, ID, Sep 2009
Pullman - 1, WA, Aug 2009
Puducherry, June 2009
Puri/B'swar, Orissa, June 2009
Kumaun/Garhwal, Uttaranchal, April-May 2009
Saraswati Puja, Storrs, CT, Jan 2009
Garhwal, Uttaranchal, July 2008
I guess looking at the list above one would think that it is enough of traveling to new places to last me at least another 2-3 years, but then such is the nature of vagabonding that it is never enough. The "urge to be anywhere but here", as Steinbeck would have said, is a strange affliction of the professional bum.
In stabler moments of my life, when things are in a more even keel, I seem to think that for some people, listening to other people, and working in a system is not something that they do naturally. This is a natural handicap in a systematic human world, those of us suffer from this are never completely happy doing things from the external perspective. Let me rest it rest it at that for today.
I am keeping most of my online viewable pictures in PicasaWeb, still haven't come to love Flickr as many well-wishers fond of my pictures have told me to ... there are too many pictures that I haven't sorted through ... so, here goes ...
Elk Creek Mushroom Hunting, ID, Sep 2009
Pullman - 1, WA, Aug 2009
Puducherry, June 2009
Puri/B'swar, Orissa, June 2009
Kumaun/Garhwal, Uttaranchal, April-May 2009
Saraswati Puja, Storrs, CT, Jan 2009
Garhwal, Uttaranchal, July 2008
I guess looking at the list above one would think that it is enough of traveling to new places to last me at least another 2-3 years, but then such is the nature of vagabonding that it is never enough. The "urge to be anywhere but here", as Steinbeck would have said, is a strange affliction of the professional bum.
In stabler moments of my life, when things are in a more even keel, I seem to think that for some people, listening to other people, and working in a system is not something that they do naturally. This is a natural handicap in a systematic human world, those of us suffer from this are never completely happy doing things from the external perspective. Let me rest it rest it at that for today.
Monday, June 25, 2007
The links below are mostly non-functional, being more than 2+ years old in the this transient virtual world, nevertheless if you want to listen to the songs just search for them in sites such as esnips.com, raaga.com, youtube.com or musicindiaonline.com
There is a certain pathos and odd enjoyment in reminiscence ! These songs somehow remind me of my home town, and my provice, so warm and green, and now lush in monsoon. Just listen to them and enjoy !
Ei meghla dine ekla
Aami gaan shonabo
Bonotal phule phule dhaka
Alo amar alo ogo
Amar mukti aloy alo
There is a certain pathos and odd enjoyment in reminiscence ! These songs somehow remind me of my home town, and my provice, so warm and green, and now lush in monsoon. Just listen to them and enjoy !
Ei meghla dine ekla
Aami gaan shonabo
Bonotal phule phule dhaka
Alo amar alo ogo
Amar mukti aloy alo
Monday, June 11, 2007
Mountain Nostalgia
Himalayas Trip - June, 2004
This morning I was looking at these old pictures again. Reminded me of those boundless eight days in the lap of nature. Will have to go back there pretty soon if I am to keep myself alive. Any way, got to go now, and do the drudgery ...
Thursday, May 10, 2007
War and Peace
Ha! Ha! ... I just love Watterson's C&H ... sad he doesn't make 'em anymore ... so much philosophy in the guise of cartoons !
Reminds me of that quote I heard from my dad, (he attributed it to Robert McNamara) " ... the history of the world is largely that of war, punctured by periods of exhaustion which goes under the name of peace ..." - I would say that hits the nail on the head in succinctly describing the innate vices attributed to mortal men - a lifelong accretion of material objects most of which we do not need.
While I well understand the rationale behind the Darwinist survival of the fittest, I fail to understand how our "superior" intelligence have enabled out continued existence in this chimeric world. In my humble understanding, it is only humans who have the habit of taking more than they require from Nature, and it is this tendency that will be our downfall. All other species, take what they will honestly require. Ever heard of a tiger killing two deer, when it takes it a week to consume one ?
We humans have complicated our lives with the unnecessary accoutrement of civilization. We are continually working towards a less enriching life, and I talk of life as the sum total of the human species' ability to live happily ... but more on that later ... in another of my tirades ...
Sunday, May 14, 2006
A return ...
Hello !
Well .... writing a blog after a long time .... wrote last almost 3 months back ! but today, I was reminded of blooging and its certain merits by a link sent by my friend Satyajit (aka Ali .... I wonder where he got that name from .... never asked him ..... ;-)) ....
Any way spent most of the of the day sleeping ..... awoke at 11 am and brunched and then listened to Hariprasad ..... he is just to good with that mere piece of cane ! Sometimes I feel if only I could do something wonderful like that ..... I am sure creating something like that takes you to a higher spiritual level, all with your feet still on the ground !! Such music is elevating ...
Well then I spent the next couple of hours from late afternoon 4 pm ?? till 6:30 ?? basically watching Hum Tum for may be the fifth time .... I kind of like the goofy / cheesy humor of Saif, the dialog is pretty cool too..... even tho' it is an adaptation from Hollywood's Harry met Sally .... but I would say an excellent adaptation to desi mentality and street talk ..... tho' missed some parts due to use of panjabi lingo ..... punjabi stuff seems to have gripped Bollywood movies this last few years ..... and this was a Yash Chopra production so I guess panjabiyana was bound to leak into it ! ..... tho' I didn't like it when it also seeped into Saif's Parineeta that I watched sometime back ..... I am more or less sure that you didn't have "horde" (chorus singing to be polite) singing at upper middle class Bengali pre-nuptials, I doubt whether you have it today also ..... and definitely not in the 60s which it is supposed to depict ..... (forget about the 20s ..... which the original novel was based on ..... but let's stick to the 60s ... that that's what the film makers say they wanted to bring forward into from the 20s ) .... guess this was just to give it an India-wide appeal .....
Well basically watched because my new roomie hasn't watched it before ..... but I fell asleep some 20 minutes to curtains I think ..... and as usual woke up 3 hours later ! God knows why I can't sleep less than that .....
Well some other time .... someone's calling on the cell ......
Well .... writing a blog after a long time .... wrote last almost 3 months back ! but today, I was reminded of blooging and its certain merits by a link sent by my friend Satyajit (aka Ali .... I wonder where he got that name from .... never asked him ..... ;-)) ....
Any way spent most of the of the day sleeping ..... awoke at 11 am and brunched and then listened to Hariprasad ..... he is just to good with that mere piece of cane ! Sometimes I feel if only I could do something wonderful like that ..... I am sure creating something like that takes you to a higher spiritual level, all with your feet still on the ground !! Such music is elevating ...
Well then I spent the next couple of hours from late afternoon 4 pm ?? till 6:30 ?? basically watching Hum Tum for may be the fifth time .... I kind of like the goofy / cheesy humor of Saif, the dialog is pretty cool too..... even tho' it is an adaptation from Hollywood's Harry met Sally .... but I would say an excellent adaptation to desi mentality and street talk ..... tho' missed some parts due to use of panjabi lingo ..... punjabi stuff seems to have gripped Bollywood movies this last few years ..... and this was a Yash Chopra production so I guess panjabiyana was bound to leak into it ! ..... tho' I didn't like it when it also seeped into Saif's Parineeta that I watched sometime back ..... I am more or less sure that you didn't have "horde" (chorus singing to be polite) singing at upper middle class Bengali pre-nuptials, I doubt whether you have it today also ..... and definitely not in the 60s which it is supposed to depict ..... (forget about the 20s ..... which the original novel was based on ..... but let's stick to the 60s ... that that's what the film makers say they wanted to bring forward into from the 20s ) .... guess this was just to give it an India-wide appeal .....
Well basically watched because my new roomie hasn't watched it before ..... but I fell asleep some 20 minutes to curtains I think ..... and as usual woke up 3 hours later ! God knows why I can't sleep less than that .....
Well some other time .... someone's calling on the cell ......
Wednesday, February 22, 2006
Chicken Pox
America is a strange place ..... here you have to have a car to go any where worth its salt ....
even the nearest shopping mall is 8 miles away .... and there is a limit to how much you can walk ...
I tried that when I first came here ..... its no joke walking that far to grab a cabbage !!
Even riding a bicycle is difficult, the so called freeways are so unfriendly to bike riders,
only on the backroads, which usually lead nowhere (nothing of a "civilizational" nature at least) sometimes end up as muddy ruts in woodland or turn back upon themselves, and just cater to a couple of houses along that road ....
What about "public transportation" you might ask ..... don't joke my friend is all I would say, except in the very big cities (NY, Chicago, Boston, LA, Frisco...)and their vicinity you don't have any worth while public transportation network .... everybody uses cars .... probably you would have to take a car ride to the nearest sulabh as well if it were India !! But yes, people can relieve themselves in the wooded patch off the road I guess, and in the US you do get to see people do that, India is not too bad man ..... the frequency is bound to be atleast ~10 times more ..... (three times the population, one third the area .... :-) ...)
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Last two weeks were a bit of a down-drift .... I contracted chicken pox from a friend who was returning from India, poor bloke had his rashes break out when he landed here, after enjoying 3 weeks of leisure at home !! .... atleast I had the worst period spending time at my apartment here !! The medicines they give you here are really powerful, back home in India, when we were young "pox" used to be a 2 week letdown .... here you are up and running in a week .... but I guess it is worse for children, because you cannot administer such high dose anti-virals .... Anyway it was nice seeing so many of my friends here getting concerned over me, and my apartment mates were so helpful by helping me out with some of my usual duties and by being considerate .... these little things makes one feel better so far away from home ....
Now I am feeling so much younger and energetic .... having "basically a childhood disease" at 26 makes one feel like this I guess ..... :-) ... however my fave is a motley patchwork of shades .... these will take some time to go I think .... (if at all they ever go) .... asked the doc the "medical" name ... and infection of "varicella zoster virus" .... quite a mouthful ....
Any way got to go .... there is a seminar to attend, let us see if I can find it interesting enough to listen to ... or may be 45 mins of napping or doodling .... !
even the nearest shopping mall is 8 miles away .... and there is a limit to how much you can walk ...
I tried that when I first came here ..... its no joke walking that far to grab a cabbage !!
Even riding a bicycle is difficult, the so called freeways are so unfriendly to bike riders,
only on the backroads, which usually lead nowhere (nothing of a "civilizational" nature at least) sometimes end up as muddy ruts in woodland or turn back upon themselves, and just cater to a couple of houses along that road ....
What about "public transportation" you might ask ..... don't joke my friend is all I would say, except in the very big cities (NY, Chicago, Boston, LA, Frisco...)and their vicinity you don't have any worth while public transportation network .... everybody uses cars .... probably you would have to take a car ride to the nearest sulabh as well if it were India !! But yes, people can relieve themselves in the wooded patch off the road I guess, and in the US you do get to see people do that, India is not too bad man ..... the frequency is bound to be atleast ~10 times more ..... (three times the population, one third the area .... :-) ...)
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Last two weeks were a bit of a down-drift .... I contracted chicken pox from a friend who was returning from India, poor bloke had his rashes break out when he landed here, after enjoying 3 weeks of leisure at home !! .... atleast I had the worst period spending time at my apartment here !! The medicines they give you here are really powerful, back home in India, when we were young "pox" used to be a 2 week letdown .... here you are up and running in a week .... but I guess it is worse for children, because you cannot administer such high dose anti-virals .... Anyway it was nice seeing so many of my friends here getting concerned over me, and my apartment mates were so helpful by helping me out with some of my usual duties and by being considerate .... these little things makes one feel better so far away from home ....
Now I am feeling so much younger and energetic .... having "basically a childhood disease" at 26 makes one feel like this I guess ..... :-) ... however my fave is a motley patchwork of shades .... these will take some time to go I think .... (if at all they ever go) .... asked the doc the "medical" name ... and infection of "varicella zoster virus" .... quite a mouthful ....
Any way got to go .... there is a seminar to attend, let us see if I can find it interesting enough to listen to ... or may be 45 mins of napping or doodling .... !
Monday, November 14, 2005
For want of a shoe ....
This week end, on Sunday, I enjoyed trekking and cycling in the neighbourhood, first instance of my legendary walking abouts in the US ..... was a bit windy, and the ups 'n downs of Storrs taxed my lung and legs ;-)
Nice place where I live .... my friend Jaideep thought that this was some exotic locale away from where I live ..... but it is the self same 'Orchard Acres' outside the University campus .... poor fellow little does he know ..... it is a bit disconcerting knowing that the University of Calcutta is in the midst of a bazaar ....
Now it is Tuesday ..... week will be a bit lax .... little TA work ....
How is little sis doing in Helsinki ?? ..... got to ask her in detail ..... !
will be sort of a madhuchandrika for her !!!
raat tinte bajlo ... jhNapi namai ...
Nice place where I live .... my friend Jaideep thought that this was some exotic locale away from where I live ..... but it is the self same 'Orchard Acres' outside the University campus .... poor fellow little does he know ..... it is a bit disconcerting knowing that the University of Calcutta is in the midst of a bazaar ....
Now it is Tuesday ..... week will be a bit lax .... little TA work ....
How is little sis doing in Helsinki ?? ..... got to ask her in detail ..... !
will be sort of a madhuchandrika for her !!!
raat tinte bajlo ... jhNapi namai ...
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