The very slightest of changes in the air, the humidity a tad kinder than it has been, monsoon just round the corner and it is unnerving how the birds always know, they are quieter though an insistent cuckoo yodels regularly at 4 in the morning.

After long it has been good to get back to the words, after that mammoth *memwa*tx that feels like going round in circles. Finally returned to the practice with a sub last week, and began to tx again, tinkering with verse this once, felt so good to have the neurons a word-stretch. Anguish and helplessness are so difficult to tx. One does what one can.

Piku was superlative, after laughing so much I teared up the first time in years. Bombay Velvet has a solid plotline, amazing recreation of the 1960’s but it is a film about gangsters so…maybe the violence could have been cut down 30%, alluding to hits instead of showing them in graphic, gut wrenching detail…Mrs. S, who has lived in So Bo and CP in the tumultuous 60’s said that this is what happened, this is as authentic as it gets, this is how land was reclaimed by pumping out water… she remembers bodies being washed ashore every few days…

Can changing sofa covers be a prescription for joy? My day feels brighter after the patterned Swayam covers.

THE BIG NEWS!
 Harper Collins has published my book!
A political novel.
In translation from Gujarati.
Original  title-- Jagubhai no punarjanma.
Seems so weird to see my name on the cover.

August Rush... for the stunning visuals and the music...the tagline, follow the music-- I need to remember this.
the storyline prodded the sceptic in me. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_Rush

This is awesome: https://medium.com/@elleluna/the-crossroads-of-should-and-must-90c75eb7c5b0

April is the saddest/sweetest month...so many things happening...seems like I'm either getting on or getting off trains/ planes..

Never in my wildest dreams did I think of stepping into the estate better known as 7RCR... what an immensely beautiful place.. the lush lawns and the call of the peacock amidst reverential hush ... this will stay with me. Didn't know copyediting something gratis, just to help someone out, would take me there...


Ace journalist Urvish Kothari surprised us all with an article about the Icestupa in Gujarat Samachar, the state's most widely read newspaper... when I thanked him he was kind enough to publish an English tx of his article on his blog.

 http://urvishkothari-gujarati.blogspot.in/2015/04/crowdfunding-way-of-bringing-unusual.html

After the big move waiting for the next steps, incremental though they may be... at peace with myself after so long....

So well the deed has been done, the die cast. Or whatever it was that kept me awake at night for weeks, debating the right way to do things, only that there is no right way to do things—the first time ever, now I know what tossing about sleepless and desperate for respite feels like. In a way, nice to finally get this done before (but just about edging in) the end of the financial year. So yes, now the what next. Kept myself busy, writing, translating, taking up deadlines for stuff that’ s too big cause, people spend lifetimes at this art.

In a splendid out-of-the-blue  surprise last Sunday,writer-journalist-blogger Urvish Kothari wrote about the Icestupa in Gujarat Samachar (the largest selling Gujarati newspaper). My translation and the original here, on his blog:

 http://urvishkothari-gujarati.blogspot.in/2015/04/crowdfunding-way-of-bringing-unusual.html

In Phyang the air is so fine… like an elixir. Despite the cold.  Despite the minus 4 or 5 or whatever min that you’ve plunged to, from your  cocoon of Mumbai 35 deg C. And then you realize how sharp clean the air is, even if your heart thuds at twice its usual staid speed.

You walk for miles it seems, and there is NO SOUND except the crunch of grit underfoot. And yet, you know you are safe.

For you have been blessed and protected… a darshan that can change your lifeline… what a privilege. Abundance. And gratitude.

You come back home, come back to the same old… yet you know something’s changed.

After long I feel --on some fronts-- life has moved to first gear, finally. Did some assignments. Helped some, gratis. Felt good. Perhaps it was the dizzy activity of the industrial estate, the buzz and clatter of the presses that felt good, reminded me – of being me.

The Whiplash OST is a must listen. Reminded me of the steel drums that play Ganpati-time. What precision. And what a story.

The BRKA letter to shareholders is a must read.

Tonight, I leave for Leh, for temperatures below zero. If this flight takes off, that is. Have already had to reschedule twice. But such is the magic of the land.

Why Is learning something new so difficult? Perhaps I need to recall what it was like, writing the abc’s in kindergarten, tongue stuck out, brow furrowed in concentration, hand jerky… why should this be any simpler? What a shot of pure adrenalin at the FWA meet. People standing on desks, people sitting on the floor in the passage way. What a briliant presentation by Jaideep Sahni.  Movies are magic… anything can happen…My entertainment spend has shot through the roof. Bought titles from the 60’s, 70’s….

A week of many firsts

The first time ever I watched a movie in the matinee show, logging in late at work…A Theory of Everything well worth it.

First time ever I left for an early morning, predawn puja and somber yagna on Ganesh Jayanti.

First time ever I made it to distant Peddar road to the Films Div campus and distant-er Thane both on the same weekend, using public transport. The frugalista in me much satisfied.

First ever I helped albeit in a minor way, with a crow’s rescue.

Yesterday I saw a bright blue kite lying in the parking lot. In the hometown people must be celebrating Uttarayan or as its called… Utraaaaaaaaaaaaaan.  A truly festive life celebration, flying kites and soaking in the sun…a salute to That time of the year when the Sun changes its direction.

For long now I have been thinking of Pitamah Bhishma, lying on a bed of arrows, patiently waiting for the Sun to be in the right quadrant.  Knowing completely well what happened, what was ordained to happen … and his own role, compelled by events long long ago. It had to be this, and no other.  And I think of Baba, in the cocoon of the ICCU  with the whoosh of the AC and the beep of the respirator for company, did he know about Utraan too, did he wait for the day to pass, did he will his exit? On the 19th, it will be 4 years.

Earlier this month, NRG poet Bharat Trivedi’s launch of his latest work Chakravyuh (meaning the impenetrable maze-- from the Mahabharata)-- was a feast for the soul.  Upcoming as well as senior, established poets read aloud their work. I wondered at what kind of a life these people must have led, how closely they must have stayed true to the rhythm, the warp and weft of life... only then could these lines and these words have sprung to life.  The Marathi and English translations of his work, Acchandotsav/ A Festival of Free verse were also formally launched.

I came back humbled. Recharged. Raring to go.

Released today! The Dhauli Review, Winter 2014 features a translated story, Handover. 

Particularly gratifying, satisfying to see this one come to life. The original by Shri Pravinsinh Chavda is titled “Navu patra” or “New actor”—It has his trademark stunning  sense of loss and time having moved on, leaving some stuck in a time warp.

See: www.dhaulireview.com

Just as I was about to write that last year wasn't hot writing-wise, the cell beeped.

A Festival of Free Verse will formally be launched in A'bad on Saturday.

Reminder: Celebrate victories.

2014: Two important- to-me  essays saw light of day: Remembering Awe and Charcoal & glitter

Work on the mammoth tx and etc continues.

My heap of rejection slips grows larger.

Things I did this year; Continued to live frugally +

1.       Invested in select close ended micro caps funds.  Other than the inherited ELSS tax ones this is the first time I went closed ended.

2.       Invested in small caps watching volumes and rule of ten. Some worked, some didn’t. This is more for my brain rather than some path breaking return.

3.       Disconnected from pink n’papers. Put in more google alerts. Subscibed to some fantastic inv blogs.

4.       Continued to inv in large cap MF

5.        Continued to add to “what has worked” core stocks. Sometimes the price was right sometimes not. What has worked is based on 2008- 2014 CAGR on holdings.

6.       Reached a comfort level with a 5 figure price. At a 52 wk low, I’ll take it.

7.       Continued to look at div payout and ROCE as key factors. Micromanaged dividend payouts. Cash flow!

8.       Continued to inv in PPF. Taxfree, thanks to GOI.

9.       Continued to track costs. Now I have data from 2008 (minus the time I was away on parent duty)

10.   Last few years I was midcap fund heavy for new inv. I can live with that.

11.    Did the paperwork for junk owned. You never know when the land suddenly turns valuable. Or the Co is acquired.

12.   Need to begin to sell based on perf. Need to be able to sell a parent owned stock even though he was very good a picker. On the other hand these amounts were minimal so let it ride.

13.   For the first time bought back something sold if the perf justified it.

I took this off yday after looking aghast at the counter. Put it back today, who cares.

What a beautiful time of the year. 
All the homes decked with lights. 
Everyone smiling and wishing. Carols. 
Marzipans and plum cake!

Yesterdays a wish and tomorrows a dream...
~ Here's to an enriching, meaningful, wonderous 2015!

So DELIGHTED to see the Icestupa project on Indiegogo close ABOVE  target.

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/ice-stupa-artificial-glaciers-of-ladakh

Forces one to reevaluate one's perception of the world...

What kind of scoundrel would kill innocent children at school?
So this is what a Rakshasa, an ogre is like. May they all burn in hell.
We have a saying-- if you feed a snake milk, he is still a snake, he will bite you one day for sure.

On FB, the page Bloggers of years past or some such has come alive, of course I joined up. And of course I stayed quiet. WHO the hell wants to be reminded of the person-that-one-once-was, naive and delightfully trusting. Very "look- ma- no-hands". Anyway, with the people who mattered one has kept in touch IRL. The rest? hmm....

This whole crowdfunding experiment has been tremendously interesting. More later.

Watching a not-bad movie on TV last night, believe it or not a light flickered on, bright and happy in my mind. A *batti* moment. Sure put the zest back in my mornings.

Usually I don't say no to work or ask for more time. (This is about non-work work.)
But today I did. 
With unexpected consequences. Which is surprising. 
Also opens a window to knowing another facet of a person.

To be too busy at some work. And to not be busy at all. What a dichotomy. 
A different pace. The evenings come in sooner, the colors more pastel than you could imagine.
A time for all seasons....

Loop mobile ought to be sued to the skies for dumping users. No outgoing calls from 10/11, do wtf you want. I worried,  cussed, changed phones. Previously I'd always wondered why people needed two sim cards. Duly ported after pulling a few strings.

When you have GOT to extend a tale, everything's fodder, all is fair. Names, people, places, everything is game, pick and use. Yet.

Vulnerable? Cant think of the word without thinking of you. smoke and mirrors make good telling.  one does never forget. never. everything changes and nothing does. goosebumps-wary.