dome

resident gargoyle, pillar base

greater peninsular railway insignia

offices, circa 1887, still in use

at the gate

above the hawkers

bmc

VT station. I got pictures if nothing else.

My story's up on Pure Slush this fine morning:

http://pureslush.webs.com/arrival.htm

A salute to the Practice group on iWW, this one began there.

Mira

Ok. So DD Urdu shows movies without any ad breaks. So DD Urdu shows stunning movies you won’t find anywhere else amidst the gazillion channels. Last night I watched Umrao Jaan, that first version, that one with the stunning music. And I couldn’t sleep. Without any ad breaks the story hits harder and scrambles your brain.

I awoke grateful for all the mercies I generally scowl at.

I scrounged for time slices on Sunday, scraped out time bits  to read.

--From my newspaper stacks where I got some very interesting stories including the Beatles demo tape, and about ahem difficulties with kindergarten entry in China (though I have no idea what I’ll do with this trivia)

--The Undefeated Mind which I’m perusing page by page, to return with a pen next read.

--Tat tvam Asi.. Satya’s  exposition, which I’m reading respectfully.

--Jagubhai no Punarjanam ( Jagubhai’s rebirth)… a hilarious, mocking tale of a politician on the make. I still don’t know how to translate a single word that means “long-limbed –fortunate-someday possibly-a- ruler”

A day ago, my (very) tiny (very) little apartment turned one.
A year. Already. 
That's a year of fawning over *such nice places* on design sponge and apartment therapy.
A year.
Celebrations~ red fruit on the banyan tree outside.And louder that usual cawing of the neighborly crows
(Newspaper stacks and my unending plastic bag collection are sore points. Aye.)
And right now I got my copy of Real.
Beautiful.

https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/102111611440248729056/albums

Nov 18

Ranjangaon

Morgaon

Ashtavinayak-- this has the awesome mountains and Lenyadri

So ages ago, two some years ago. I had won some prize in some writing contest, ok?

From a government agency in the west. Which of course is the west.

If you’d have told me I could be as persistent in insisting on, following up on my prize—if you’d told me this, I wouldn’t have believed it. Yet.

I am learning new things about money every day. Sobering, eye-opening things. And about the world, and behavior. And I thought the Saturn transit, the one supposed to teach you life lessons, was over. Oh la.

There is a slight nip in the air, even as the evening sky turns mauve before it gives in to creeping purple-black.

How fitting for me to learn the meaning of wealth, and how carefully she has to be prayed to. 

I am also learning with some shock and little surprise how the have-nots try to extract wealth, I tend to be too giving sometimes. The autofellow has been advised to shift to another suburb for a while. My first impression about that woman's good-for- nothing son were not incorrect, a louse.

V says this happened in order to push me towards a more active form of social involvement than writing a cheque. Perhaps an answer to my fervent prayers that my feet stay on the ground, no matter what. To cut a long story short, enroute the suburban station on Tuesday, our new year day, my auto at zero speed but down slope, ran into a Aisamma Besep, 50?, a kachravali heaving an overfull rubbish bin across the road. Remember all those spy torture tales about nails peeled off? Well it is true. Spent most Tues. morn at the hospital ensuring X rays, sticthes, wound dressings, scolding, cajoling and some measure of sanity. The nurse, the girl in the pharmacy, the guard-- all remembered from 2 yrs ago. Anyway... there is a time for all seasons....

I don’t think I’ve seen our colony as beautifully lit as it has been this year.

P and her son surprised me one afternoon with food, flowers and a glass bowl to float diyas in. Now I have to remember a Catholic festival with the same intensity. S, my late friend IE’s hubby called to generously wish..we have been keeping away from wishing Eid so that they have the space to move on… so many life lessons.

The beautiful, perfect puja in the office. The beautifully arranged puja at N’s and the perfect Kashmiri dinner afterwards, (the dum aloo that I did more than justice to) the only aberration being “roadblocks” (as Baba called them) in the vishnu sahatranam where I kept returning to the same point reciting from memory...but our prayers were sincere...next year will be better.

This year I want to do one thing at a time instead of multitasking and keeping too many mailboxes open at the same time. And I must find the time to write more.

One major learning is that my productivity dips and that too badly when I have tons of free time, I work smarter when I'm cramped for time.

And I must learn to respect the time value of money.

Happy Happy Diwali and Saal Mubarak!
( that's the way we say Happy New Year  in Gujarat)
I wish you a diwali filled with lights and rangoli and flowers and floating diyas and torans and surprises and sparklers and laughter and squealing, jumping children... and the blessings of auspicious pujans.
arrey I forgot....And lots of mithai!

So I can be dropped at the corner of a (known) road at midnight. And still find my way home.
Terribly empowering, this.
Yesterday I was just p*ss&d, now I see this upside.

You go home or the place that used to be home and still possibly is, the memory of the place imprinted in your mind like a real thing, and yes, you still know all the roads and shortcuts. Your take home--what the lady on the train, a youthful 61 year old said—anandit raha… stay happy…

The surprise of low fog at an early 4 pm.. no chance of a Lodhi Garden shot this once…

That random choice of the Habitat Center by a friend as a place to meet—and the amazement of walking into a symposia on language…Samanvay.. meeting an editor who’s published my translations ages ago…

the panel debating seven critical centers for Hindi's evolution

Walking around museum-like inspecting the houses in New Fr Col, noticing with amusement the predilection for superbuilt up and minimal gardens.. and making friends with a confident, happy, enthused Mrs. Kocchar, at eighty-two quite in control of her wits--she still drives--and her domain, her joy at the trees that line those avenues and her pride at the lovely park, a word of praise here, a tiny scold there… what super spirit…

the installation above the India Habitat Center arena

the joy in reaching your own home, your own bed, even if its almost midnight.
and your desk the next morning.

From a function at the NCPA last night.
What a beautiful place.
And what an out-of-this-world location...

I want to instill these greens in my soul. i want to wear these shades upon my skin.

Images from Ozar. 
None of the Ashtavinayak temples will let you photograph the deity-- dunno why.
Kukdi river has a lovely expanse.

Just back from a beautiful pilgrimage-- Ashtavinayak
lenyadri, Ozar, Ranjangaon, Theur, siddhatek, Morgaon, Mahad, Pali.
Jejuri too.
These images are from lenyadri, the first stop. In this Buddhist cave complex (3 BC to 3 AD), one cave has a swayambhu as in self manifesting image of the Lord Ganpati. The climb is a not so simple 150 steps.

inscription on the wall of the cave

Lenyadri-- the cave dates to 3 C BC

arches outside the cave where the Ganpati  deity is

The cave with the stupa

very interesting vaulted ceiling

Rangoli outside the labs

yesterday we celebrated Dusshera puja at work. Wonderful to see the girls in their festive best.
the color was pink, and I had to scrounge though my cupboard to sort of mix and match.

My grandfather, a village doctor, was ambitious for his sons--which is probably why I’m not waiting in queue to draw water from a village well today.
My tribute to my grandfather, Beholden, has been published in a nonfiction anthology, Real.

http://pureslush.webs.com/atasteofreal.htm

REAL

31 writers are featured in essays on life, love, sex, food, art, the future, history, travel, doctors, family ... and more!

Revealing the truth in all its guts and glory!

Featuring the talents of Gessy Alvarez, Cheri Ause, Meghan K. Barnes, Layla Blackwell,Laura Bogart, John Wentworth Chapin, Rebecca Chekouras, James Claffey, Joanna Delooze, Mira Desai, Gloria Frym, S.H. Gall, Cinda Gibbon, Walter Giersbach, Jane Hammons, William Henderson, Gill Hoffs, Claire Ibarra, Joanne Jagoda, Maude Larke,Michael Gillan Maxwell, S.B. Phoenix, Matt Potter, Mark Rosenblum, Shane Simmons,D.M. Simone, Jonathan Slusher, Sharon Louise Stephenson, Thomas Sullivan, Susan Tepper and Diana J. Wynne

Saptami puja at Ramkrishna Math, Khar

Yesterdays color was orange.

Soneri is orange, is it not?

Dazzling golden, fine spun.

Yesterday I was privileged--sat right at the feet of the mother at the Saptami puja at Ramkrishna Math, Khar.

Soneri is the color of the dhaki, and the maddening drum beat that sets your blood cells whirling.

Soneri is spun gold, the color of dazzling light on sea waves at the beginning of creation.

Soneri is the might of young mountains breaking free of the ground, coming to life

Soneri is the sunlight, touching the first trembling leaves in untouched first forests.

Soneri is the color of teardrops glistening on my eyelashes as the hymn comes to an end.

RIP Yash Chopra sir.

Death spares no one--but the city puts one to shame.

Dengue decimates in the priciest areas of town

grey seas, NP

Today’s festival dress color is grey. But there is no way you can wear the grey of uncertainty, or of grey skies,  or hazy grey lines. When I hunted for pictures I notice grey stands out only if there is color or texture to contrast. I shall think  instead about swirling mists and the sheen of grey pearl, and the grey or a rose-tinged dawn.

agave. its tip as sharp as a shrew's tongue

These festival days are supercharged, something dazzling about the light...Today’s dress code color is green, the green of dark forests, the green of light from the other side of a leaf, many hued generous splendid green, from pista to jade emerald.

Though I must admit being more familiar with the green tinge of envy.

Slumzilla past the colony wall lives exuberantly and spoils me for choice --disco garba remixes to the left and traditional garba that I can sing from memory, to the right. Ah, life!

The bauhinia are in bloom.

Nestled in Sunday’s paper was a flyer from Creative Handicrafts, an organization that works with slum women to teach them means of livelihood. Ordinarily, I abhor shopping, specially the mall variety, and operate with little free time, hence the preference for single-store purchase and experimentation with bagittoday. But this sounded good, and so it was. 

kurta detail, change purse

cutwork bag detail

Creative Handicrafts is aided by the local parish, the Sacred Heart, which has been around since this part of the suburb was dense forest, and I have heard tales of cheetahs lolling in the church compound, then it wasn’t slumzilla and post industrial, though the ancient, 1st C? Buddhist caves must have been there. The sale was very good, and the range of clothing and bags/ folders/ cases superbly designed, specially the block printed work and the embroidered shirts. They work using modern machines, and give a fair wage to the women from the surrounding slums
.Apparently most production is exported, and they sell locally what is left over. They also offer a range of jams, folders/purses, soft toys and shoes at a shop just off Mahakali Caves Rd, near Maruti School, also near Bhangarwadi. I reached via a meandering shortcut via the shanties past the Church but I wouldn’t recommend that unless you like exploring  shortcuts, like I do.
ps: this afternoon I took my friend V there. Was blessed! Met Sister Isabel. now 86, who began this effort fifty years ago. She still had a sparkle in her eyes, a proud honorary Indian.

Mother Mary blessed my friend P’s home on Sunday. Her home was freshly painted and decked up with flowers for this all important guest. But the first time I went to her home in the distant west, I was too early, had mixed up the time—so after my usual Sunday prayers at the temple, I went again to pay my respects, even the rickshawalla said, "Darshan adhoora nahin chodna chahiye..." Serene! I have a special connect with Maai.

At the temple in addition to the Vishnu Sahastranam, we’ll now be reciting Shri Suktam.for Navratri, rather Guruji will recite in his perfect Sanskrit and the likes of me will humbly listen, wondering in which lifetime will i learn this! Late last night they brought in Ambama’s statue in the shantytown past the wall, superb drumming and much festivity, lights twinkling late into the night.

Rant warning. I might have gotten myself into a standing battle royale with bagittoday, but I shall persevere, no matter that the return address is so far from Dilli it is halfway to Haryana, or where ever Bhatti village is. Ever gullible and on the lookout for an escape from mall shopping, I  took a deal offered on kurtis, and was sent possibly the smallest size despite asking for generous, big, large-- the tags were altered but they forgot to snip off the cloth tag that is sewn into the seam..

I have been thinking of legacies, inheritances. tangible (cash,assets) and intangible (values, outlooks, life priorities), and how they sometimes go beyond flesh and blood.

An elegantly fashioned clothes hanger crafted out of german metal,  with movable hooks, created in a time when such items were not assembly-line manufactured. The person who rescued it from the trash heap- raddiwalla was not a family member, and yet... somewhere the long gone would have been pleased. Very sad to hear of family heirlooms being trashed... at such times I remind myself that this is not exactly my family. It was good I stayed  away, I would have cried.

How many times must I have gone to the central Baroda  area called Mandvi, as a kid? I was a regular at the Central Library a few paces away, and one of my lasting regrets is having dutifully returned an early Dickens edition. Anything good, anything worthwhile in that city and you can be sure the wise King founded or funded it, eons ago. I was in the area over the weekend for some work, and was drawn by this working hospital. What wonderful work even if it needs sprucing up.

1972- 1991
Which ever lifetime you are in now, peace and joy little one, be well.

Delighted to announce publication of a story on Pureslush for their Virtualism theme:

http://pureslush.webs.com/payback.htm

OR

http://bit.ly/RbmqIy

That fantastic drumming and clash of cymbals as deities were taken for immersion. The peace of prayers, mindful of the conjunction of distant planets. Sitting quietly with a friend, hearing her life tale unravel. The shock of a teary birthday wish too late, and much too early in the morning—don’t know why, but I can guess—has anything really changed in the last twenty, thirty years? The scare of a nonresponsive external hard drive, much praying, long distance assistance, and eventual relief at a solution. Some resolutions for the new year, to free up and use chunks of time. Last year’s hit and miss was hallmark plodding mule, but cussed persistence is in my genes.

Sirji-- Mr AB wished me on my bday...amazing.. speechless..

http://srbachchan.tumblr.com/post/32539576583#disqus_thread

Sept 2011- Sept 12 : An account

Wrote 111 story+ verse (not including rewrites)

Subbed to 59

Got acceptances from 15

Watched: two plays, innumerable movies

Visited: Lalbaug Ganpati (2011), GSB Ganpati (2012), Durga Puja (Ramkrishna Mission)

Kabir Concert at Bandra,  Shabnam Virmanis’s Kabir concert at Ramkrishna Mission, Kaluram Bamaniyaji’s Kabir Concert at Chaupal

Trails: Jambulmahal (partly), Bhimashankar, TAW Mahakali, TAW Dharavi NP, TAW Silonda, TAW SGNP2, BNHS Nagla

Yesterday was the seventh day visarjan of Ganpati Bappa .

And I think he was watching over me. And Miss Blue.

Else how would we have crawled home last night—yes, crawled.

First gear, amidst chanting and dancing crowds and trucks with the deity… all clutch brake clutch and nasty nasty traffic, wedged sandwiched between TWO huge BEST buses, and the percussion from those steel drums next to my ear and blaring film music….

30 minutes of waiting on a road that’s usually done in eight.

Sat quietly for ten minutes after reaching home.

Some of these songs we used to sing when the lights went out, and the lights used to go out quite often those days I think…so many from Gandhiji’s Ashram Bhajanawali… one in particular, man mast hua phir kyun boley.. I heard after ages like really ages, only the tune this once is so different, it has the mehak of the earth… this I will try overlay over the previous version that is embedded in my mind, that has the voices of all of the dear ones who inhabit another plane now…wonder how the kid, my virtuoso show off  would have sung this one..

Went to my friend D’s house for Ganpati darshan, and oh la! thought I was running vv late but just in time for the naivedya.. and what a fantastic location, a HILL behind their house, imagine!

A lovely surprise…Panna Naik’s mint fresh book of verse…Gulmohar thee Daffodils on my desk this mid morning… fantastic—what a gift...she didn’t tell me!

Hallelujah...fasting and pp sugar levels I can live with... phew! was worried on account of the rains and no walks. Not under a hundred-- have forgotten what that felt like.

Just back from a splendid concert.
Shri Kaluramji Bammaniya from Malwa presented Kabir Bhajans.
Thanks to Chaupal and The Kabir Community of Mumbai.
His young daughter, Arpita also accompanied him.
i took photos. And in the fitness of things the best sound recording features my sleeve.. did not know the camera was on... sheepish.
Amazing experience... the kind that gives you goosebumps.

This is a beautiful time of the year

Lights twinkling by the roadside

Hymns and prayers in the air even if they blare non stop

The rains have taken a break for a while

Ganpati processions.

Crackers

Smiling people

And above all, the percussion beat of the Dholi

Yesterday I scurried around town visiting friends who had invited me for darshan.

Borivali- Dahisar- Thane-  Andheri E in a matter of hours, yes the roads were blissfully empty.

My friend V took me for GSB Ganpati darshan this morning. Amazing. Serene.

I feel blessed

RIP Dinesh Thakur.
What a presence. Too many plays to mention.
You held the Prithvi audience in the palm of your hand.

I’m glad I got over sloth yesterday morning and went tree watching. On a trail that is so unknown that I shall not name it here. A quiet forest path as it should be, just the birds trilling and leaves rustling. Saw rare gems—Jyothishmati, an endangered climber. Coral mushroom. Glory Lily. Drank in the smell of the forest, with like minded folk.

Not that I’m ever going to wear those clothes.

(salwar Kameeze’s are a fantastic camouflage. And I’m firmly in the Aunty age group. And enjoying it)  

Or style–blow dry my hair to frame my face. Oh la!

But Soha Ali Khan and Aki Narula on TLC are very, very good.

And “What not to wear India” is smart, sassy and oh hell such a shot of hope.

You have to look at the befores and afters to believe in a Fairy Godmother. Seriously.

(The Hans Cristen Andersen kind, just to clarify). 

What total transformations. You can see the spring in their steps, the glow in their eyes, and tak-tak of their shoes.

And at ten in the night one thing I do need to round off my day is “Hey this is good!”

Yesterday I did a translation, Hindi- English after AGES.

It felt so good to immerse in the words, to pull at the gray matter for close equivalents.

I was driven—after long. Impassioned.

In one of Pravinsinh Chavda’s stories, I think A String of Words, there is this line about a man in a dusty library, surrounded by piles of books he’s researching…the lines say how his face bore the sweat-lined pride of a farmer surrounded by his flourishing crops… this I can understand when I return to translations after a while.

Sahansheelta= fortitude/ forbearance/ tolerance?

Realised how some words can only have wishy washy equivalents, or cannot be shifted across tongues, the cultural underline is too strong… In our culture, putting up with something, adjusting to, withstanding something for long periods is a virtue.

Perhaps in the west it is not, rebellion is strength? The closest word someone suggested was endurance. Doesn’t seem to have much of a positive quality about it, in my opinion.

Today I walked in the sunshine
Step after step after step
Can there be a greater pleasure in life?

On Sunday I had a friend over for tea. Yes, sugarless tea- no sugar jar in my house.

Put it down to Saturn transit or whatever-- these days I learn a lesson a day.

Some happen to me, on some I’m an observer, my eyes fall out. Or its extended family stuff and I learn new things oh really! and hard edges about kith and not so kin. So the lesson this once was—its one thing being alone. Tis another thing altogether to be alone with no money, zilch, zoomba and ground zero. As in owe on your credit card, your friends, have your electricity cut off, have a year’s dues at the grocer AND your personal life in shambles.cause in a span of a year your bf has walked out and your grown up kids are on their own trip and have left.

What a lot the Good Lord loads sometimes. 

Why?

Yesterday was a day of much mortification. Such horrendous shame that I almost fell off my chair. Stared for hours at a wall, suchlike. So, I’ve goofed up. Bigtime.

I deal with double digit inflation every time I buy groceries and balk. The social support system, such as it is, is in tatters. Health insurance is non existence, and even if you’re terribly prudent, covers paise on the rupee as I’ve learnt.

So all this while I was comfortable- there was always Mister Market. In my part of the world we count on Mister Market. Who helped put me and the sister through school and  music class and college? Mister Market. Who helped even out cash flow, spend on that not-so-fancy-but-costs vacation? Mister Market. Mister Market was the savior when the index was sub-1000’s, when one had to take a bus to the broker’s office at the other end of town, when orders had to be phoned in to Ahmedabad or Bombay.

So yes, Mister Market would salvage my old age, whenever old age nods and clears its throat. Mister Market ALSO helps me earn a wage, ok?

And then. Yesterday I calculated the CAGR of scripts in my portfolio.

Line by painful line. Some of the sure calls have been terrible. Not nice at all. Huge splashes of red all over the page. A lac (or several) shrunk to a few thousands.

The country’s leading engineering company – with a return lower than a bank deposit, taxable.  Some scripts are swimming along fine, even burdened by deadweight. Logical thing would be to chop out the sludge, deadwood and cleanup, add more fuel to the ones surfing along fine…Then why the hell can’t I?

Yesterday’s set of meetings were at the fanciest new hotel in bkc.. OMG but what were they thinking… décor was abominable… out of a french bordello, boudoir or worse.  Gleaming, gilded lamps, overdressed windows, a GILDED b&w supposedly art deco print for a head board, and a whole lot of gleaming: gleaming wood, gleaming tiles, gleaming marble, gleaming onyx., gleaming fittings, gleaming glass fronted bathroom rendered unusable… fat, opulent and best the money can buy—but money cant buy taste. The guest and I took ten minutes tearing the room apart.

yesterday it rained. And rained and rained. A nonstop, vehement clamor from the skies, mist and rolling clouds obscured the distant apartments. BMC and the police did an excellent job, but nature is nature and listens to no rules, so in due course subways/low lying areas/ train tracks were flooded, and yet again the slightly fractured spirit of Mumbai dusted its hands, pulled itself up and did what  had to be done. The next morning it was life as usual. Now part of the metro's - a pillar, a column-collapsed even as it was being built.

I’ve slowly come to realise aha Eureka! That I’m not as nice a person as you’d think I am if you met me. That I have claws. That I can be rude if I want to, and so often I want to, and I do. Sometimes subtly, sometimes elegantly, and more often than not, whatever. Whatever works. And that I don’t particularly care what you think of me. Maybe there was a veneer before. Maybe there wasn’t. I don’t even know what set off this ramble. Maybe the viral thing shut off the politer part of my brain. Or maybe the antibiotic and all the hot water, yes? Maybe its just the weather. Maybe this is, but this is true.

Hidden in the deep stack of n'papers perused: Begum Samru. What a tale.

AND, the Garden of fools. 

Kindly google.

Enough of offers to promote the blog.
Enough of offers to sell me discounted medication of all rainbow colors.
Enough, already.

So that post on the trip to the forest never got written.Much as I wanted to write about the BEST red bus materializing magically in the dark rain. Much as I wanted to write about the magic of the trail, quite unconcerned about one kind of grasshopper or another, happy to move far ahead of the group discussing this kind of leaf or that, just the path rich with the scent of the wet earth and the song of the water gushing and trees with room to grow and more.

So the post on the trip never got written and I was frazzled by the weekend criss crossing the bridge that connect the have-nots of the distant suburbs with TOWN, attending endless meetings speaking non stop. Pays the bills.

In the end it was the different kinds of air conditioning that got to me, cool to chill to very cold, though I should have guessed from my lethargy on Sunday, where I had to talk myself into my usual temple visit. Monday, one more conference and post midnight I think the fever was a hundred-two. Old dependable ayurveda- kadu, karyatu, sudarshan in a convenient tab form, Trishun. I spent the last two days in bed, using my sick leaves after ages. Yesterday morning when I awoke it was with immense gratitude for Baba and my grandfather, a doctor, who in some intangible form from another plane had spent hours sitting vigil, I could sense that. So many debts of gratitude.

So finally back at work today, though drained by whatever virus this is. No reflexes worth the name yet, so no driving, not on my road you don’t.

Anyway a ton of n’papers got looked at. And I had enough oats porridge to last a few weeks. Cant get any stranger. And Ferrari Ki Sawarii is very good.

Nagla. water over rocks, and the sound of green.

Yesterday in the park I watched a beautiful moth thrashing about in a delicate-as-lace -steel spider’s web. And I walked away.

I met the crow lady yesterday. A silver-haired Anglo-Indian with a penchant for cats and birds, including the beautiful baby crow perched on her shoulder. And immense bitterness—no faith in anything at all, not even an afterlife, not even a karmic balancing or life-lessons. So much so that my day seemed drained for a while, and I had to make an effort to return to my prior expecting-nothing state. I resolved to never be like her. Even choosing delusions or bitterness or angst or “rewards because you’re a good person” or victimhood is a choice, and one is always free to take a choice. Always.

Haven’t laughed so much in ages either. Put puzzles together with five year old D and my friend her mom—though I must admit Snow White got too much, with the seven dwarfs. The kid much too sharp for her age and fluent in three languages. All energy and brightness and hullagulla despite the fact that she has no usable teeth, and hence has been and will be on a paste-like diet till her permanent teeth grow in. Choice!

Have been working late for a bit so the decorated stage that suddenly came up by the roadside for Janmashtami just sort of registered on the memory fringe. So when I turned the corner past ten pm on Friday, I was flummoxed to find the road full of Govindas, at least a few hundred young men seated on the road after the day’s dahi-handi revelry. I was terrified and the lone lathi -wielding policeman was worried, but volunteers materialized out of nowhere, cleared a path for my little Miss Blue to navigate that sea of humanity, to the chorus of “Make way for Aunty ”.

Three of those men could have crushed the car in a second if they’d wanted to, but Mumbai is Mumbai.

Where are you from?

Where am I from?

How is one “from” someplace?

Can I be from two places?

Why? What to do, my loyalties switch between the home town and Big city bad lights.

In one, I grew up. The other made me grow up.

Why not?

Can I be from ten places?

What about the original village of family origin? Am I not from there? Some of the words I use, some of my attitudes?

How am I “from there” if I’ve been to that place for two days in all my life?

Then, what about the city of birth? The trademark bridge like steel lace joining the two shores…seen after forty some years, how can that be home? Or is the imprint on your genes for ever and ever?

Talking of genes, what about the community story, about the great migration from the temple city, from centuries ago? Does it stay on, does it play on, even if you’ve never been there?

Can I be from ten places?

So...Where are you from?

Have watched more TV news since Saturday afternoon than for the entire year.  Have stared at the tiger-pouncing raging waters of the Bhagirathi, its color a dirty brown, angrily surging ahead. Have watched the shots of the Ganga looking like a violent sea, breaching banks. Pushpavathi and Alaknanda swollen to many times their earlier gentle- stream sizes. Of all the tourists and pilgrims stranded on the highway for hours, stopped short by landslides. Hundreds rendered homeless in the cold. And those buildings toppling over like a piece of wobbly jelly.

When nature stops us short, we are NOTHING.

A few more hours and I would have been there, trapped in that chaos.

Thank you, Mister God.
Once again, I have been shielded, protected from havoc.

Flash floods in Uttaranchal.
My trip is cancelled.

Ok, so here we are! butterflies, mice in the pit of stomach, drumbeat pulse and all.

Trying hard to imagine what 14000 ft feels like.

Back after the 12^th, God willing.

Rain began as soon as the train pulled out of Baroda station, fine rain that left droplets on the huge picture windows, and later the downpour drenched the countryside in shades of green and caused impromptu lakes to reflect the skies, and instant streams to rush to wherever they were flowing to. Stations rushed by, and the sky was variations of slate to the horizon, unnamed trees  flowering in the distance, some bore new leaves. I stared till it was too late, although the book I was reading is pretty absorbing too—a magical new world built on snippets of our pasts. Must be one of the pleasures of life, reading to the gently rocking movement of a train. I’m quite liking Meluha, though I’d like to run a red pencil through the adjective OD.