Tuesday, May 15, 2007

SNIPPETS

Parts I want to remember. Random.

Good to be back at my desk. Reports, newspaper stacks, result season and all. The suits continue to be as sweet, asking one thing and meaning another, interesting.

Recovery is slow and gradual, though his RBC is worrisome, his spirits have lifted skyhigh with the return home.

“On Golden Pond” is beautiful, shimmering gold. Velvet greens. Blue violet waters with the mist rolling in. Katherine Hepburn is amazing. A darlin.


Chatting with the niece. SO smart at eighteen. What about? Crushes and boys, and Money. Seriously smart kid, at mindboggling 12th board percent. I see stars in the daylight when I hear the cut off. Biology is much better anyday, and quicker too than medicine. Hello S’pore, GO girl, go!

Walking through Alkapuri with the stash from Crossword. Sukhbodhanandji. Sudha Murty. That’s for Papa. Celebrations in Silence/ Sri Sri Ravishankar. More. Splurged. BUT another Amrita Pritam Autobiography, Aksharon ke saye. And Gulzarji/ Raavipaar. Lovely, I’m rich! Are there times when its right, as in apt or fitting to read a particular author? The earlier once with Rasidi Ticket,the background to that reading, and now this book and the background to this.So reassuring to read through, like a smiling touch on the shoulder.

Read the story behind “ ye kahani nahi”, everything IS grist to the mill. What a terrific sense of gratitude and end-of- the- road futility she’s conveyed with so little said.

Some stories you will never touch to translate. Sir’s “Vandevtaa”,and Amrita pritam’s “ye kahani nahi”. Adding ones own little slant , shading the words as one if forced to do, prone to do, would be a sacrilege. Best to leave be.


The houses in Alkapuri, Kunj and Arunodaya in particular, are any day better than any JVPD bungalow. With gardens that are proportionate, green creepers over the trellis, and a sense of history. This city will always be the center of my universe.

That soles burn when you step to the terrace in the harsh afternoon sun, there is a strange bravery in withstanding this, even a frisson of pleasure.

Swaad panipuri, now with a new name, is still right there at Racecourse, with the white capped ninety-one year old Chachaji still watching over his customers. His grandson’s a chartered accountant, he tells me proudly. Was nice talking about the vast properties that lined this road, now a busy mall lined city hub with lousy traffic.

Completely random.

16 comments:

mystic rose said...

random snippets.. like having a little conversation with you.. :)

lovely.

Anonymous said...

not so random after all :)

austere said...

mystic- I smile more than I speak, in person. :) but yes.

b- eh? whyso?

Anonymous said...

Good to meet you again.

Anonymous said...

Hello Austere!
Your comment to Mystic "I smile more then I speak in person..." indeed. You know more about me then most people I see every week. :> And I too, sometimes allow the suns touch upon things to burn me as well. Yep, still alive, I say.

-P

mystic rose said...

I just finished the story.. posted the whole thing now. would like to know what you think of it.

Anonymous said...

the city will always be the centre of my universe......yes...i remember stepping in as a timid boy and coming out a man..i grew there, it nursed me. On second thoughts don't you think it would be a nice challenge to touch those stories???? I know you will...

AmitL said...

Hi,Austere...u had to go and make me reminisce about Baroda...(Longing to be back,one of these days/years.:))Crossword,defi my fav. haunt on each visit...am not sure about Swaad panipuri..trying to remember whether I went there ever..is it a shop?or,one of those 'stand'-based paanipuri?

austere said...

mago- great to meet you again too.I mean it :)

proxima- before I go back home which is getting more lawless everyday, I will come to seatle and take weapons training. Alive and kicking. :)Isnt it uncanny? how we know each other,and how mago caught on to Istanbul?

Mystic- it was unsettling, shaking-up, beautiful.

shiv- no, not these stories. some things you leave well alone. :) send you the originals?

Stand based,Amit, opp BBy shopping on Racecourse near Sweet Corner.maybe the memories were tangy.:)

soleil said...

i rem the sole burning part...and the thrill too. and throwing sev/chakri in the puddles left behind from rain to see the rainbow from oil. aah well.

:)

Billy said...

Random, eh?

austere said...

soleil- I remember bhel on linking road too. :) ah wellllll?


abbagirl- entirely completely:)

AmitL said...

Stand-based?Then I know.:)

Anonymous said...

yes, the originals are welcome..!!

austere said...

Amitl- what were you doing so far from Fatehgunj, haan? :) ay hay kya baaaaat...

Shiv- mail me your address?

Anonymous said...

Brings back a lot of happiness and pain at the same time. Not nostalgia, just gripping aches that run down the sides like ice slivers on a hot summer day at Akota.

That city was my fave until Mama passed away. I haven't mustered the courage to go back yet. Some day... the city consumed the two ppl that I virtually lived because of. Anyways... random snippets repaid with random words. Thanks for the post. Austyji, guess you would know how much the city really meant to me. :-)

- Heretic