O sole mio

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99kjFdLFjH4

Sheer magic being woven…

Room cleaning – Winter Edition

Yeah, yeah.

Books back in the shelf, Dvd/Cds back in some cover-if not its own, table dusted, clothes put out in the laundry bag, few clothes sent to Rakum, cheque books back in the drawer. Even a soapbar found it’s way back to the bathroom !  Some interesting things retrieved: A ‘lost’ copy of Candide, a lone hand glove, a bottle of aththar,  a CD of Marta Sebstyen,  disk 3 from S&G Old Friends.  Counted ~15 unwatched movies.

Needless to say,  I have to now search for atleast 10 full minutes before I find what I want in this new topography. I think I’ll start pointing in the general direction of what I’m looking for and cast Wingardium Leviosa ;)

Chaos is *so* much better organized than Order !

Ps: For all the hardwork, treated myself to a video of an excellent, excellent rendition of Nessun Dorma( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDtcidMR_6I ) and then to a full musk melon.

Vélo News – TdF 2008

Here is the route map for the 21-stage , 3500 kms TdF 2008 that runs from July5th to July27th. 3500 f-kms (freaking kilometers) in 21days - There is no limit to what a human being with grit, determination & self-discipline can do, is there ?

Also, here is the 3D version of Parcours de Tour (Race preview) that came out yesterday.

For rest of the scoop, go here.

Wisdom

Now this is what I call wisdom :-)

A far away friend

Sylvie sends me Jeux interdits, L’odeur de la papaya verte, La Mariée était en noir and makes my day ! :)

For someone whom I’ve met just twice, she reads my mind about things in general and movies & books in particular spectacularly well. It is almost impossible to believe how two very different people from very different cultures can see & hear from each other so very little and still be in perfect synchrony !

And, Bonjour tristesse joins the queue of unread French books. Goodness, when will I ever catch up ? When will I resume classes at Alliançe Francaise ? Amidst all this, I dream of learning more languages. This insatiable urge to try new things , this greed to do everything.. The case is really grave. ;)

It is official now. I’m incorrigible :-p

Mixed bag weekend

We charmed the guard at Malpe port Sunday evening into let us through the already-closing gates of the port and hurried to the jetty to see the evening sun before those ominous clouds engulfed it. Saw the evening sun in all it’s glory amidst all the activity at the port. After about half an hour , just after the sun disappeared behind those clouds, we hear dha-dum – thunder and then the drizzle of the oncoming rain.  Just as we made it to a shelter, the rain came thundering down drowning the sound of everything around us !

A  very ‘note-worthy’ weekend otherwise too – lost a book, my mobile and reached Bangalore after a 15 hour journey from Mangalore through some super jammed roads.

Shot at Malpe

Un-fabled

 The Cat only grinned when it saw Alice. It looked good-natured, she thought: still it had very long claws and a great many teeth, so she felt that it ought to be treated with respect.

`Cheshire Puss,’ she began, rather timidly, as she did not at all know whether it would like the name: however, it only grinned a little wider. `Come, it’s pleased so far,’ thought Alice, and she went on.

`Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?’

`That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,’ said the Cat.

`I don’t much care where–’ said Alice.

`Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,’ said the Cat.

`–so long as I get somewhere,’ Alice added as an explanation.

`Oh, you’re sure to do that,’ said the Cat, `if you only walk long enough.’

Alice felt that this could not be denied, so she tried another question. `What sort of people live about here?’

`In that direction,’ the Cat said, waving its right paw round, `lives a Hatter: and in that direction,’ waving the other paw, `lives a March Hare. Visit either you like: they’re both mad.’

`But I don’t want to go among mad people,’ Alice remarked.

`Oh, you can’t help that,’ said the Cat: `we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.’

`How do you know I’m mad?’ said Alice.

`You must be,’ said the Cat, `or you wouldn’t have come here.’

-From Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Caroll

Drenched..

to the bone. After a long time. Back at home. Sipping tea & reading a book – with Bach playing in the background. All on a weekday. Unadulterated bliss..

Of my new found love..

which is photographing children. Been on this trip for the past couple of months now.. Not only are they natural subjects, but willing ones at that ! I finally get to escape the dirty glances and the stealth shots ;) , besides having a whale of a time !

The only flip side is that the minute these tots figure what is going on, they start posing, thereby very quickly depriving you of all the candid shots. So, here is the tip to work around that: If you plan to shoot children and dont have a long lens, always always go with another photographer. While these enthu cutlets are busy posing for the fellow shutterbug, you get to walk away with all the candid shots :-p

I do hope my street photography will improve and this site will reflect that. Here are some of the more successful attempts..

Of a cloudy trek and what ensued later..

Of all the foolishness & deceit that goes on in this world, this ‘cognitive’ fraud called weather forecast is probably the biggest. The ‘forecast’ seems to be more or less the same as how the weather was today. And naturally, exactly the opposite of how that ‘tomorrow’ pans out.

A friend calls from Switzerland to tell me how unfair life is – Like I did’nt know :). The matter at hand was quite simple. After a wait of 2 days in Interlaken area for the weather forecast to turn favourable, one goes up all the way to Schilthorn to find that the weather changes suddenly, visiblity drops to a mere 10 feet. I try telling him that it is the trek that matters, not the 10 minute view from the top. And nor is everything about capturing a great frame on his camera.  Besides, the 10 feet visibility would also mean that he could still look down and find that his numb toe was still hanging in there in all that bad weather.  And I thought it was a neat feeling. No, he thought not. Why would anyone in his right mind tread all the way up to see his toe, said he. And the more well-meaning I got, the more irritated he got.  Oh boy, undelivered sympathy does incite funny reactions :)

But then later, I mused. But, more like amused :) Why do we seek so ardently to substitute the excitement of an unforeseen future with the security of a predictable tomorrow ? Why is uncertainty a bad thing ? Why this madness to reach that destination? Can’t the journey be both the means and the end in itself ?