65

I had dinner at the Gs today. When I kissed friends and kids and dog goodbye and walked to the road, I realised I shall take the bus home. A direct bus. The first to spring to mind was Bus #65. I said to myself, "Sixty-faaiive." I realised what I was saying.

It was from "'65, tensions running high...in my high school", which was from Springsteen's My Hometown. I did not have it on my iphone. I youtubed it. Heard it a couple of times as I walked to the bus stop and waited for my bus. I was moved. I walked, thinking it wonderful how a song so deeply & specifically relevant to America in the 60s could resonate with a 10 year old in Delhi, India. And now with a 30something year old in Singapore, in different ways and also in the same old way.

My undulating day bonded with the me that was being moved by the song. Circuitry connected, welling saltwater threatened, my inner rawness found new (even silly) connections that even in fleeting were weighty. I listened to music (Heloise now) and read nothing, did not even take out my book. I just sat in the bus and came home. I now don't even know what I thought of, or what I saw or quite what I felt. I just was.

And oh, I caught bus #64 home.

And oh, I just realised 65 is how I often refer to this place. The 'plus six five'.  

Flipwish

I love Flipboard. It is one of those apps that genuinely value adds to my iphone (and occassional iPad) surfing experience. Two features that would make me 'live' in Flipboard even more?
1. Integrating a 'Read it Later/Pocket' type feature. I use Pocket and it resides within Flipboard, but I still have to launch Pocket to read the links I have deferred.
2. A delicious equivalent so I save links for later.

Of course, what would really kick these in is a Flipboard for Mac app. Now that would be something.

On pain.

How do you take yourself to a 'bright place' in your mind when pain pierces your body?
Th

Does your threshold for pain change when you know what to expect? Is it more when you don't know what's coming?

DNA lights

The Helix Bridge by night with the Marina Bay Sands in the backgroud.

Singapore.

from flickr

Tatooine?

at Tabo Monastery, founded 996 AD.

Tabo, Spiti, India.

from flickr

anti cool

wall philosophy in Venice, Italy.

from flickr

sacred tangle

Praise of the Hindu god Ram, on a wall above the back lanes.

Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India.

from flickr

Looking to Mohali

Ok. It’s a World Cup semi final against Pakistan. It’s not f’n war! It’s not about history or Prime Ministers or soldiers or bureaucrats.

Having said that, it’s a WORLD CUP SEMI FINAL. Against PAKISTAN.

Some points that I don’t quite know why I am trying to make:

1. To self: it’s going to be tense. Deal with it.


2. To team and fate: PLEASE, please bat first.


3. Talk rationally. Or emotionally. Or both. But don’t joke. Nothing’s funny on Wednesday, I can tell you that right now. No, not even Munaf Patel.


4. I understand that booing is part of sport. I don’t agree with it but I accept it. I cringed a few times when Ponting was booed. But that was Ricky. To Mohali: Please don’t boo the Big Green Men on Wednesday. That will not be cool.


5. I can’t watch it in a pub. Scars from 2003 remain. Also, I don’t want to watch it in a pub.


6. Don’t expect ANY work to get done.


7. I am struggling to think about the match. What is at stake and potential after-effects derail any normal thought processes that begin.


8. To Mohali: back the team. Cheer when it’s tough, not only for runs and wickets. Focus on the game.


9. Don’t. Give Up.


10. To everyone: Don’t get tense. Ignore me in point #1.

Indiaaaaah, Indiaa!

Just got back from a live cricket game. That's right, not just any live game.

I'm still a bit spaced.

showcased

A sort of live display at the Mehrangarh fort : charming but also a bit sad. On display is a hookah and also the apparatus used to consume opium.

Jodhpur, India.

from flickr

thirsty traveller

a stop, a sip.

Kunzum La Pass, leaving the Spiti Valley.

Himachal Pradesh, Indiaa stop, a sip.

Kunzum La Pass, leaving the Spiti Valley.

from flickr

Plugged

We all turn our headphones on to each other. It's like we want silence in the proximity, to be disconnected while still mainstream, here but trying to be elsewhere, pushing out and hoping to reach in, plugged in and plugged out.

locked away

A very old, beautiful lock at the Ki monastery in Spiti.

Light

I have seen sunshine on gold that enters my inner self, I have have seen dark golden rays that cover my head in primeval beauty, I have seen the flash of momentary brilliance, I have seen cold blue light that glows in the dark and warms me with its untouchable purity…

I have been touched by the light of her smile, the joy it contains, the warmth it brings, the unknowable beauty it hints at at.

And I know nothing can be like it.

setting out

Kibber, Spiti, India

pouring

you know how it is sometimes when you open a bottle of whisky, and then when you pour your drink into the glass ... instead of seeing the dark gold splash onto the glass, you see it gush into a big cylindrical puddle...because you didn’t realise there wasn't a tap on the damn bottle.

Then, because its your third drink and you couldnt be bothered with getting another glass and making things more sane, you just add your soda and drink it anyway, you wonder if it might symbolise something a little bigger. Like letting go even though you don’t want to, or venting what’s inside unwittingly, or your madness spurting out, or splurging when you shouldnt, or something bigger like letting life take its course without being too controlling, letting things happen of their own accord without being worried about them being part of the norm...Or how this whole thought process coupled with (sparked by) a physical/spirit gush would make for an interesting scene in a movie...

Then , the next thing you know, that drink is half over and you have already typed out words in much the same way that whisky gushed out.

* Chivas you stupid shit of a premium whisky, get a tap!
** This belongs here but it also belongs here, so I feel bad I am not posting there; but neither do I want to make a habit of cross-posting (habit and 'posting' in the same sentence, ha!), so I just thought I would mention it...

"oh, that's so..."

Sometimes I think that, at some level, we're all snobs.

Confucious say:

If you don't know where you're going, any road will do.

12000km

Oh, Motorcycle Diaries, why did we wait so long?

Ledger

A couple of days ago, my bank balance was around the lowest it has been in the last 5 years or so.

Ah, well.