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.

One step forward and ten back. You attempt something new. You stumble. Raw skin burns--burns more as the skin peels off-- you wince. You are aghast at how little you know. You wonder about the slope, the sharp edges, the precipices ahead.  You’re equipped poorly, winging it, just your gumption. You remind yourself of places you’ve come from and places you’ve been. You plod on. You put away the thought, regretfully, of this being do or die. You plod on, there is no other choice.

Lovely, somber  temple ceremony for Bhagwati puja last week; reminder to self—learn Sri Suktam. The list grows longer. 
http://www.stephen-knapp.com/prayers_to_goddess_lakshmi.htm

For how long can one drive ahead using the reverse gear, while looking into the rear mirror? Painful + Horrible. Just realized how long- over 1 decade – I’ve been doing this. Sometimes it takes an outside nudge to remind one of one’s self worth.

GK was matter-of-fact as he shared the news. Stoic as ever.  I tried staying on somewhat even keel remembering the story of the Buddha and the mustard seed. And the story of Yudhishthir at the gates of heaven, what is the greatest lie man hides from himself.  So be it.

So many memories. GK had helped Baba with the great subcontinental move, and setting up house. I still remember being taken for a dekko to Qutub Minar and the Red Fort after that historic class 4 visit, the rest of the home visitors had left and I was still taken there in regal style. So many times we’d be asked to visit them in their grand DK quarters, but that never happened, don’t know why. That hospital visit in 2010 when Baba was ill and all of us knew he wasn’t getting any better, that very real shock at the end.  He has been a bulwark. Part of my already-crumbling support system. And now this. The least one can do is stay somewhat as stoic.

Look beneath the surface and there’s always something. Always. That graceful silver-haired lady I complimented (this morning at the park) on having the gumption to dump hair color? Turned out she’s a backpacker, just a few years older than I am.  Back from Tawang. Off to Bhutan. And a survivor post-deep personal loss (We traded stories, this is my scab, what's yours?) Is the freedom to travel-- footloose, fancy free, pack on back and song on lip—a perk that has to be earned? Do we travel because we have to, or simply travel because we can?

94 visits to this blessed blog! Almost fell off my chair.
So here goes:
This is the appeal I mass mailed few day ago. Putting up here too.

Hello!

I recently volunteered at an alternative institute, SECMOL in Ladakh for 3 weeks.

SECMOL is largely independent, a prime example of eco-friendly sustainable living, with self -sufficient solar energy, solar heating, own source of water, organic farming, etc.  The setting is beautiful—on a cliff above the Indus, surrounded by towering mountains.

I’d like to share a water conservation project, The Ice Stupa Project, that SECMOL is working on, along with the monks from the renowned Phyang monastery. HH Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang Rinpochey (one of the highest incarnate Lamas) is actively supporting this project. 

Towering Ice stupas, conical artificial glaciers of about 12 storey height, will be built to conserve water for the time when it is needed the most. Villagers will be able to take an extra crop. This field of glaciers will be created using gravity and school-level science, that water finds its own level.

This project is being funded using crowdfunding on Indiegogo, and I actively seek your support for this:

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/ice-stupa-artificial-glaciers-of-ladakh/x/8841831

Forwarding the text of a mail from SECMOL founder Sonam Wangchuk.

Regards


quote
I am writing this email to let you know that the much awaited "Ice Stupa Artificial Glacier" project is now launched on indiegogo.com. I hope you will like the idea and support it.

I hope you will like the idea and support it.

Please don't feel compelled if you are not in a position to contribute financially now, you can contribute by sharing this idea with your friends, relatives and the media. It's as much an Education Campaign as it is a Fund Raising Campaign. 

You can either forward this email to friends with a note of introduction or post it on social media sites, although studies show that email has the best success rate.

However if you do want to make a contribution then this is the right time. Studies also show that most successful projects on crowd-funding platforms collect up to 30% of the target in the first 3 days.  It is said that this attracts and encourages other unknown potential contributors and the media (which then helps in the snowballing effect) .It also raises the ranking of the project (called GoGo factor) on the Indiegogo site which helps a lot in promoting a project.  

Luckily we seem to be not too far away from this rate, since today, on the third day it has reached 11%.of the target amount.

So whether it is sharing the news or contribution... earlier the better.

Here is the link to the site that has a short film and all details:
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/ice-stupa-artificial-glaciers-of-ladakh/x/8841831

Best wishes and many thanks for your support
Sonam Wangchuk
PS:  Kindly write emails related to the ice stupa project to the dedicated id  icestupa@gmail.com
unquote