"This one's for you" she said..

For they could not love you
But still your love was true

And when no hope was left in sight
On that starry starry night.
You took your life
As lovers often do;
But I could have told you 'Vincent'
This world was never meant
For one
As beautiful
As you.


* From "Vincent" by Don McLean

Dosti

After all the abuses and torn shirts, these two young boys from Kashmir are an example of youth, forgiveness, and friendship.

They may have had profanity on their tongues, but there was such purity in their hearts and spirit. They were unaware that they were being photographed.

Dedicated to the children I had the good fortune of meeting in Srinagar-

ishq pe mita doon

luta doon

main apani khudi

yaar pe haan

luta doon

mita doon

main yeh hasti

Yaar pe qurbaan hai sabhi

(Sung day and night, while running up and down the stairs, or playing makeshift football in a not very big courtyard, or whenever someone requested for it)

Songs can fill one with so many different emotions, just by virtue of one's associations to them.

Every single time I hear this one, I can picture 67 different gleaming, smiling, bright and lovely faces before me.

And I feel both sad and happy, and end up giving in to the smile tugging at the corners of my mouth.

Did you ever hear about the....?

...Wizard who got stuck in a Neem tree?

Incidentally he was Indian, late fifties, with orange turban and was zipping past Kawad village in Rajasthan.

His wandering eyes got distractedly drawn to a woman in ghoonghat carrying three pots of water on her head (on left in photo), started to follow the "gaja gamini"* and pulled his head along to join the party.

Next thing you know, crash! He was entangled in the welcoming arms of Azadirachta Indica

He can be seen in picture picking neem leaves to make new broom. Old broom, as picture shows, was gobbled up by wandering goats.

* 1. The one with the walk like an elephant. Used to refer to a characteristically South Asian woman's walking style, with hips swinging from side to side in a slow rhythmic way, resembling the gait of an elephant- very sexy if done well! Woman in picture mastered the art, as she was using her free arm to propel herself forward and maintain a delicate balance.

2. A fairly complex and parallel-est of parallel cinema film by M.F. Hussain. It starred Madhuri Dixit, who, it has to be said, was quite well endowed in the hip region, thereby enabling her to pull off a great elephant walk.

Sharing the wine of wisdom

TQ: Jab tak bike nahin the koi poochta nahin thaAapne kharid kar humein anmol kar diya..
I cant quite grasp the density of the sentiment behind this.. pl shed some light if u can..


Holy Cow: wah wah
actually the lines are...
jab tak bika na tha
koi poochta na tha
tune mujhe khareed ke anmol kar diya


TQ: :) beautiful
who would say this.. and when?
am feeling quite blank..

Holy Cow: its a sufi state of being

that only when I sell myself to you, do I really become priceless.
and my worth and value is only that you bought me
and I, was bought willingly by you


TQ: hmmm.. it is the monetary transaction aspect which I cant grasp.. but I guess buying and selling doesn't necessarily involve money



Holy Cow: To state it differently- all the material things of worth, against which I was thus far being valued, are nothing compared to what I become when I become yours

A wonder called snowflake

"Every crystal was a masterpiece of design and no one design was ever repeated. When a snowflake melted, that design was forever lost. Just that much beauty was gone, without leaving any record behind"

- Wilson "Snowflake" Bentley, 1925.

http://snowflakebentley.com/snowflakes.htm

How can something be so mind numbingly amazing, and spirit free-ing-ly beautiful?!

I tell you, the way I feel when I see these things, is the reason that I am alive.


Nature is the best thing to have happened to man.

And man is the worst thing to have happened to nature.

When the grater reminded me of the Great one.

Woody Allen once said, "How can I believe in God when just last week I got my tongue caught in the roller of an electric typewriter?"

I got reminded of that when I accidentally scraped a part of my finger against the sharp blades of the grater, while grating a potato.

Then of course, my dear friend Calvin popped into my head. The little guy once said,

"There must be a God... Coz surely somebody is out to get me"

:-) ouch!