Angkor

It was an intense experience, I still dont know what it meant for me to be there, standing by myself.. I'll come back to this eventually.

to Bangkok

This was on a sixteen hour long train journey between Surathani and Bangkok. There was a Pantry-car that served Noodles, Yogurt, Coffee and Beer. The only seat empty was the one in front of this cop. I drank my Chang Beer and he his coffee and we smoked a hand rolled palm-leaf beedi. 

Arguably the best food in bangkok (according to Sohrab) is Crisp Fried Basil Duck at Soi Samsen, near the blues bar. This is what the dish looks like. And that is Shiela (from Shanghai - a very cool photographer friend of Kapil's)

This is the secret museum of a famous photographer/collector (philip blenknisop) - where he collects rare-weird-cool artifacts from around the world. In a small alley in Chinatown -  it seemed like this was where artists had their hidden studios. Unfortunately the museum was locked and so was his apartment. 

fellow-companions

We met five year old Lali on Koh Jum Island in Thailand and travelled together for a day and half on our way abck to Bangkok. She and her mum were travelling together from Aus. Lali and Kapil became close friends the day they met and were inseparable till we had to go our different ways. 

Hamish and Andy, two very sweet boys from Edinburgh, were on the bus with me from Siem Reap in Cambodia to the Thai border at Aranyaprathet (where one has to cross the border in order to enter Thailand). I befriended them at the immigration queue as I was traveling alone and was feeling slightly edgy. As it turned out, the queue at the border was three hours long, instead of the promised half hour, making me incredibly late for my flight back to Bangalore from Bangakok airport. Hamish and Andy came to the airport with me in order to make sure I made it in time and in one piece. If not for them, I think I would have died in the cramped corner of the mini-van in stress or would have been lost to the dark rainy evening of Bangkok.

The two twenty-two year olds, best-friends for 10 years, decided to save all their money and travel through south-east-asia and Australia for a year - working, surfing and discovering new places. 

From Dharamshala, earlier this year

And Sindhu, you too..

biennial fishy

the word biennial was everywhere. and everyone said it 'the right way'. binahley. no big deal. the kashmiri shopkeepers especially loved to chant it with a mock italian incantation. "binnaaahley, binnaaahley! ah, come to my shop!" auto drivers and medical store owners also, muttered it under their breaths. and "would like to try our binahley fish, madam?"
conspiracy theory brewed.

I went here

The borrowed jungle

This is what the front lawn of Amber looked like before they started planting in the back.

I remember everyone who passed the truck that had these plants and soil in it had a big grin on their faces. On that dusty afternoon when all we'd been hearing was sounds of drilling through concrete and cutting stone with metallic scrapings that crawled along everything, it was so refreshing to see live, green things that took over the whole lawn. 

 I stood very, very close to the banana plants for a long time, just to get some green on me.

Afternoon dream

I've gone home to live, and everyone at home is bickering. I can feel negative vibes from everywhere. I slip out for a few moments to let things settle and for me to have some time. I go out onto  balcony. The colour is mostly pale green and it looks like it's been molded in plaster of paris. There are lots of odds and ends in the balcony. I find a lovely, smooth reclining surface to sit on and gaze out onto the-

It's the sea. The balcony is a boat now. I look around and I see Abhay. He's with 2 friends. They're laughing. They say they've always wanted to go surfing into the sea. I think about Pallavi- and there she is, plump like she used to be when we'd gone to Lakshadweep. She's wearing a grey zipped-up jacket and shorts. She's sitting on the far end of the boat and she's slouching and smiling at me a little sadly. There are lots of other people sitting on the left edge of the boat, who've all come to surf.

Suddenly, the boat is huge, huger than any boat I've ever seen. Pallavi is a speck in the distance, that's how big the boat is. The waves are really huge, dark grey in colour, and are falling onto the boat in large, sharp rectangles, and with great force. When a particularly large one has passed, I am surprised to find people still on the boat. I get some spray on myself now, and I see that everyone is having a really good time, cheering and screaming. 

I am back inside the house. It's Shamoo's birthday. Manjoo atya and Aji and Aai and Jaydeep are at home. Maybe jaydeep has just come from somewhere. He has a helmet in his hand. 

There are puranpolis with a bright blue filling. There's no cake. Aji tells Shamoo to cut the blue puranpolis instead of cake. She's okay with it. It seems normal, there being no cake. Maybe she chose it to be like this. Shamoo comes down in the black and white Chinese dress. She's wearing some strange crystal thing in her neck, like a small crystal locket on a chain. She says, "How do I look?" She looks happy. 

Rice fields

Bus ride from Siem Reap to Poipet border in Cambodia, on my way to Bangkok. My co-passengers were a young thai girl and an old Russian man on their way to Pataya. They were eating sweet mangoes which was making me very nauseous. Somewhere half way there, a woman started screaming "Tuk-Tuk - Hospital - Stop - My husband - He is dead" I froze. I saw two seats ahead of me a man was lying lifeless, his woman hysterical - unwilling to touch him. There was a doctor on borad who revived him. "He has suffered a minor stroke, but is stable" she declared. After sometime, we were on our way again.

Love from Siam!

diwali 2012

happy diwali! had a "proper" diwali with the family after a long time: mums fussing over kids' safety, peacocks shrieking after every cracker went off, NRI cousins running away triumphantly without having lit the fuse.. and of course - great food and the incomparably warm feeling of having so many people who love you unconditionally (impossible for all the awkward moments to add up to "a celebration" if this weren't the case).  

Sindhu 22

I'd promised you this a while ago, because I thought of you when I made it.
Well, here it is.




I think I've lost the original.

Ajoba

I want to remember him happily, solving his sudoku and finding immense pleasure in his coffee every single day. 

Here he is.

I love you both.

   

From Ahmedabad

I jut got home at 3 am! Have been dancing every night (garba) for 4 straight hours! It's the most beautiful - to connect to the body with rhythm. only the (drum), no vocals. A long 14 step sequence. With Diyas in hand. Very enchanting.
promise me you'll come next year, without any excuses? I miss you.

The just-post-afternoon sun at 5th block is absolutely heavenly. My window faces the west, so at about 5 o'clock in the non-winter months (and earlier these days, as we approach winter), the wall opposite my bed gets painted in the most amazing moving-light imagery.
If the curtains are drawn, then my window looks like this.
The tree near my window is a telltale sign of the climate outside. When it rains, the leaves droop low, and suddenly spring up as the water droplet rolls off. In the non-monsoon months, it just sways a little every now and then, its dark green leaves shivering in the wind.
I am going to miss living here so much. 

Sindhu- legs