Friends- Holiday with Sneha Merin

I was planning to attend India Art Fair in Delhi and thinking about crashing at friends' places, I pinged Sneha and she happily agreed to host me. 

Although, she had a lot of plans, she squeezed the time to arrange everything for me and was an awesome host. She was out but, she made sure I had a hassle free stay until she arrived. A very organised friend. 

After a long day, we caught up at morning discussing what we're up to. Over a strong coffee through a French press, we discussed a lot on what's happening in our lives and common interests. Sneha is relocating to Mumbai in next month. I'm glad I made this trip meeting her one last time in Noida before she relocates. 

Both of us decided to have a breakfast at this new restaurant which seemed promising. Kudos to Sneha for the selection of restaurant. We had sumptuous English breakfast. Pleasant ambience and delicious food. Sharing Hyderabadi memories, we cleaned off the plates. 

On a not so sunny but breezy day, we decided to return home by walk. Sneha would be leaving this place soon. So looking at all the places, she was processing that she'd have to leave all this soon. 

Walking around the towering buildings, we opted to sit on a bench to watch the trees around. 

Sneha is energetic personality and her presence drives you to be as energetic as her, if you vibe with her. Also, her interest in music, food, cinema is immense. The intensity with which she talks laughing in between is a sight I don't forget. 

Theatre Play- Agarbatti by Swati Dubey

Directed by Swati Dubey and written by Ashish Pathak.

This play is based on the story of  widows whose husbands are killed by Phoolan Devi in Behmai Massacre. Government bestows the women with Agarbatti Factory. A house of widows, peeling the layers of why their husbands died the way died.

A must watch. Especially, Men!

My journey to India Art Fair

Deprived of sleep yet, made it to the station in time, thanks to Uber moto guy who dropped me on the right platform. Just near by the railway station, I had Poha. The poha seller whose work seemed to have his own rhythm. The way he spread the masala seemed aesthetic. Well what's aesthetics now?

No idea.

Got on to the double decker train. For the first time, got into the lower platform. Window Seat L 28. As I'm going to spend a whole day at the fair, I decided to rest a bit. Napped for a while and went on journaling. Railway journeys seemed to put me at writing. I write a lot whenever I'm on train. 

The place sometimes puts us to think different but, if there's something that's bothering, nothing seemed to work. 

A quick small walk from Delhi Cant, I got into the Delhi Cant Metro Station. A five minute drive under the Delhi Sun was not bad. I found a few trees attractive. Quickly, got into the metro station and headed to Lajpat nagar, changed the lines to Govind Puri. In no time, I was near India Art Fair. 

Looking forward to some awesome experiences at India Art Fair

Theatre Play- Ek Naukrani ki Diary

Based on the book- Ek Naukrani ki Diary, this play depicts the life of house maid. I like the stage set up. The play went very flat without much of highs and lows. Vaishnavi and I attended this play with a lot of expectations. Not a bad one. 

 

Poetry- Haiku

Let the light not 

take away what's in darkness. Love

not sway away from Life

Poetry- Songs

Tuning to your songs

The while I wait for, night 

turned into a day

Stories on Wheels- Hitchhiking on Hills

As I got dropped at Chamba, a place in Uttarakhand, I had to travel to New Tehri. 20 KM away from the place I stood. Very near, I thought but, in hills it's not about the distance but, it's about the altitude and slopes. As I decided to walk with the rucksack, bags I have, I knew it's going to be tough one. 

The first thing I realized about this hitchhiking is that I got to walk a lot because, in hills, even if people want to help, they can't as it's not feasible to stop their vehicle on the slope. It's very dangerous. Even I don't want to cause such disturbance to any travelers. 

I trudged watching the  XUVs parked on the terrace. As I saw the gas, I remembered how people stood in queue waiting to get their gas cylinders. I watched the white daisies all over the cracks of the hills. Pine trees are straight as chalk, there's different green  everywhere. 

I walked and I didn't wanted to distract myself even with my humming. My voice seems to be a disturbance on the long walk I took. I walked for more than 30 minutes. As I continued walked, the road was big enough and not too sloppy to stop. I tried to raise my hand and ask for help. People here, do not feel bad, if they are not giving help, unlike plains, because, they can't and they've their own reasons which are very justifiable. If they stop at such slope, others behind them may have tough time to wait in such curvy roads. Despite all these, I never gave up and  took a little steps, covering a very little distance. I have no one to match the speed.  I walk at my own pace. 

In a white i10, came Saurav, who offered me help. Works for Disaster management and he was heading to work from his home. Over the distance, we discussed trees, pahadi songs, the way people are migrating and a lot about the tehri. Tehri is the story of loss. Many people have been evacuated places. Just to keep things in the memories, the places have been renamed to the old place in a new places. At one point, so involved was our discussion that he decided to stop the music and talk, only talk. 

We talked a lot about the pine trees and how often they have work during the rainy season. "Thank you so much" I mentioned. Arre, isme danyavaad dene mei kya haai, humko bhi accha laga, baat karne se. He came and shook hands and hugged. I was happy that, he enjoyed my company. 

Thanks saurav, he also suggested me where to drink the water.  I continued my walk. Stopping to observe the trees and walk down hills at time and up hill at time. The trees in hills are always straight, there are few trees which are adamant to take their own shape. Wherever you see, there's an toys of trees. I got reminded of people sitting in an auditorium. Walking acorss such sights and walking for long distances with luggage was a good task. 

I walked a long stretch untill, I took a break to share to people that I'm doing this. I took out phone, did some recording. Do I have to share about what I'm doing, I was in dilemma. I continued my walk. I chose not to even sing. I had to think twice before I sing out loud. There's pleasant silence that I don't want to disturb it at any point of time. 

I walked watching the daisies.  At one place, there's this beautiful spot where colorful bench had  a shelter. I took a break, stretching myself. Soon after that, instead of walking on the road, I crossed through the dried pines. I did a lot of sliding, jumping and i lost my phone enroute. 

Jaipur Journals- The Rainy Summer

 Lover of oxymorons, I've picked this title for my 2nd book. Experience of the first rainy summer in this year,2022, is refreshing. Currently, I'm in Uttarkashi and post 2PM, the weather at hills always seemed to be dicey. These rains during peak summers is rejuvenating. 

Visiting the hills as tourists seems to be a bad idea. We visit the hills, stay with locals, eat their food and spend good amount of time. That's refreshing. 

A happy start to mid 2022.

jaipur journals- Table Tennis series

Whenever Malavika and I find time,we reach out to the table tennis. Sometimes I have to insist her but, nevertheless we play whenever find time. This time I gave a tough competition to her. Always neck to neck match. Sometimes a lot of deuce as well. Before we were leaving the beautiful Udham Singh Nagar campus, we had this series drawing 3-2. Malavika won the series. Gonna make it equal in Dehradun.

Memories- Dyu's last day in Sirohi

 20.April.2021

On this day, Dyu decided to leave Sirohi. He resigned from the job earlier, was waiting to leave on some day. On 16.April.2021,there was the lockdown. Having spent the first lockdown together, I wondered how i'd have to spend my 2nd lockdown. He helped me to stay sane during the first lockdown. Dyu's the first person, with whom I shared the house. He watched me being crazy, unstable, panicky and in all other moods. Grateful for his support and patience.

On 18th, Shankar left for his home and 20th, Dyu was leaving. Didn't had much time to process. On retrospect, it was a great journey.

Stories from Sirohi- Navneet and Seeds

Navneet ji, held my hand, to take me to the kitchen garden. Desi mutter. And also another grain which is banned by India as eating these grains would lead to various diseases. Indian Govt banned these and discouraged farmers to produce these seeds as it was effecting our health.  Need to find our more details on the seeds and the names of it. 

Jaipur Journals- Udham Singh Nagar Dairies

I woke up at 5.11, trying to get out of bed with a lot of pains. These too will pass away, I told myself and got ready to get onto the ground with Narasimha a.k.a Mr.Sim. "Today, let's do the same thing, 10 rounds of running and 10 rounds of L-hanging' he shared. 

Yesterday, we did three exercises and today, it's two. "That's it, Only these two exercises, right?" I confirmed. "Yeah, staying at L-Hang for one minute is a big achievement. Let's do it for 20 seconds, he explained."

No big deal, I thought to myself. As I finished my first round and approached the bar, I couldn't even lift my legs straight and hang still. I could only swing holding the rail. It was tough. 

Sim was equanimous about it, he said, it's okay, just hang in there and hold tight, he encouraged. Twenty minutes of work out, I was panting. During the workout, the act of looking at the dried leaves, fallen leaves and a dried tree amidst the green trees, kept me continuing. Also, the sunrise and moon set. It's heartening to start the day with the sight of moon and also the sunrise.

Poem of the day- Interesting poem on Migrants and compassion

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/157521/from-substitute-heart

Interesting poem on Migrants and compassion. Enjoyed it. 

Jaipur Journals- Sense of humour

A few of my friends are the one who literally criticize and drag me all the time to quit painting. They're casual about it but, as they keep repeating, I had this acquaintance who visited and couldn't stop laughing looking at the paintings. It was more of mocking. I was bit disappointed by the kind of reaction I got from the acquaintance. 

I shared the same with one of my friend. 

"Why don't you feel that you're giving them an experience of humor with your paintings?" Malavika advised. 

 That's a good way to see, I'm evoking some experience or emotions, I thought and laughed it off.

Thanks Malavika for the words. 

 

Jaipur Journals- The Udham Singh Nagar Dairies

Woke up early after a lucid sleep. Narasimha and I joined at the ground. Today let's do 10 rounds of running, 10 pull ups, 10 lunges. 

Woah this seems too be doable, I said yeah I'm up for it 

After a round, he said 10 pulls ups and 10 lunges. In that way, we gotta rrun 10 rounds of running, 100 pull-ups, 100 lunges. 

10 rounds of run, 100 lunges I could do but, then I was panting and struggled. Good Day to start with physical activity. 

Jaipur Journals- The usual preparation

As I'm on my work trip again, I got least time to prepare mentally for it. For 10 days I'll not paint and I can't revisit my journals. As I got an idea to work on my book, I'm running through all my journals which is like a time machine. The work may get halted as I often love to refer to my journals to rework on poems and pick the journal entries to create poems on them.

At the last minute, I packed my stuff and wondered how many books should I carry. As I knew that I'd spend most of the time chatting with colleagues, I picked only two books. One, 'Poets Handbook' and the other, 'My name is Red.'

This time, I had Aman, Shankar, Azhar with me heading to their destinations. Dropped them at the station and headed for my bus. 

Poetry- Haiku

Say something nice, said

The muse, sleeping through the night

Wish the time slumbers

jaipur journals-A good evening

It's a good day. We started and and stock to the beds rolling on it. While I was trying to read a new book, my name is red novel by Orhan Pamuk. Shankar, Azhar and Aman were stuck to screens.  I was almost maintaining the Roza until evening. We never got out of the AC room at all. By evening, we got all the veggies, cleared the room, cleaned the space and got into cooking. I insisted that I'd cook Dal in  the new way I learnt. Azhar began to cook potatoes. Over some music, we Azhar and I took space in the kitchen to cook. Like old times, we broke the Roza with some lassi and fruits. I was in a mood to create art, write poetry. I continued to write for a while. I went out for a walk and enjoyed the meal with friends. It was a lovely meal. Good time. 

Poetry-Haiku

Fourteen days of love

Is it not enough? To be in

Fourteen days of love?

Poetry- Nila Velicham

Moon light kisses skin

Nila velicham* she whispers in

slicing breathe by kiss

Moon light in Malayalam*

Poetry-Haiku

Fragrance of the song

Pervades across screen, you & I

Can we be rhythm &tune

Fragrance of the song

Pervades across screen, you & I

Can sail through its stream

Poetry-Haiku

Crossing paths by choice

Stripping souls through words, moments

vulnerable we!

Poetry-Haibun

Is it all about the time? she lives there. I live here.  Why can't we live through hours minutes, walks, smiles, hugs, cuddles, snuggles, and all those little kisses that inspire words, images, poems, paintings and memories. 

Caressing through voice

Can't get enough of each other

Time is the culprit

Poetry- Miss V

Soaking in blue moon

Sitting through out for the hours

Stares at void Miss V

It's been a long time since I tried my hand at Haiku. Haiku is challenging as it limits with it's syllable count. This haiku is inspired by an artsy picture. 

Jaipur Journals- A meet after long time

Pooja visited Jaipur because of work. We got a chance to catch up. We spent good time playing table tennis. "It's been long time since I played," she mentioned but, she was good at it. While others joined us, we continued playing. I gotta chance to meet Pooja's friend, Abhijeet. 

In a soft tone, we wished each other and carried on our conversations as we were heading home. 

"How did both of you meet?," I asked. 

Smiling and looking at each other, Pooja hinted Abhijeet to explain. "Books."' Abhijeet replied in one word. "Tell me more," I requested to explain, withholding the curiosity.

Do you know Alchemist? He questioned me. 

"Yes. Paul Coelho." I replied. 

"I believe in omens and pooja's status is 'believer in omens.' When I saw her Instagram profile, I texted her, 'Omens with a question mark,' thus began our conversation." 

Pooja, dropped in explaining further. That's again another omen. Of all the 100 DMs I get In Instagram, I chose to reply to only this message because it was about omens but, not the messages like, Hey babe, you look beautiful. 

Catching over the conversations, they continued sharing their lives and when they got a chance to meet for the first time, they met in Jaipur, rented a bike and went off to Jal Mahal for a sun rise. 

Both took their own turns to explain the whole adventure they took upon on their first meet. Abhijeet hails from Gujarat, spent good time in Jaipur. 

He runs a  trekking company called, Cloud Runners. He has also tried his hand at hitchhiking to test his endurance. A lot of beautiful stories to be shared. Over some snacks and fruits, we enjoyed the company of each other. While I returned home, it's was Pooja who encouraged me to go out and check the theatre, which I wanted to go. May be, it is that way, it is supposed to happen. 

"Believeing in omens makes life easy.That's what I beleive in," she mentioned. 

In one way, it's good to follow the vibes and believe in love and life. Thanks Pooja and Abhijeet for dropping in. 

Books- The Book Thief by Marcus Suzak

Narrated by Mr.death, a story of a book thief who finds solace in words, peace in words, answers in words and also hates words because, it's all because of words. It's because of words, Hitler could bring the world down. It's because of words, the book thief survives. Set in 1940s, in Nazi Germany, a story of ordinary lives who exempt love and kindness.. 

Leisel Meminger, along with her brother is taken to Munich by her mother to hand over to foster parents. Lesiel brother's doesn't make it. He dies in a train and mother never returns. Leisel had to stay with the Hubermanns, her foster parents. A home of Hubermann, has a silver eyed accordinist, Hans Hubermann, the who survived wars with the luck of devil, a kind painter and doting father. Rosa Hubermann, is woman of big mouth and fearing person. 

Two Strangers- A walk

 A walk through the writers' basti that's filled with papers and ink pens. One, a fast walker and the other who takes her own time to sweep her feet on the ground. Reading aloud the letters, she spots, she got stuck in writers' Basti where all the words are written on the papers and posted across the poles, walls, telephone booths, foot path, notice board, cards, windows and everywhere. 

Writers' they are, they are also striving for some aesthetic sense. Clutter of papers yet, they stop themselves to clutter around their basti. 

Writers. Thoughts. Basti it's called, as it's a small town devoid of the Netflix, Prime entertainment. Libraries are still a rage. Kindle has it's own fans. Amidst such happening and boring place, arrived two strangers. Stranger to themselves and also to the writers. N I R, continued reading  Anima, V R I T H I. 

NIRVRITHI. read out Anima, as she continued reading whatever flashed across her sight. 

On the blank side of cheap blue pamphlet, words are scribbled. 

Green boots. 

Yellow Ghungat. 

Baffled eyes

Searching for stillness

Can NIRVRITHI be described in this way? She thought. Yellow Ghungat over a person in green boots was a hard sight to imagine yet, the baffled eyes that got concealed through the Ghungat seemed plausibility. 

Searching for stillness. Does Nirvrithi seek stillness? 

While the slow walker got stuck with the blue pamphlet and a few words,  the other stranger crossed the basti and got into the Singers' street, listening to an age old album. 

Jaipur Journals- Walks. Wandering. Music. Melodies.

Picked from Miss V's Playlist. Aaraadhike is a soothing song sung by Sooraj Santosh and Madhuvanti Narayan. There are songs composed for a particular scene and particular context of the film. Listening to a song without a clue of  it's context and the movie helps me to see how this song evokes. 

With a constant clutter of trending songs, I've tough time to pick some gems and listen to them, travel with them and ponder over them. 

Listening to Aaradhike, I decided to get onto the Public bus. It's been ages since I got into a public. With the last mile connect, I was relying heavily on Ola and Uber. Why did I feel like getting on to the bus? That's another story for another day. 

As I boarded the bus, listening to the song, I notice the crowd in their own lives. A few that got my attention

Green Cap

Yellow Ghungat

Size 4 Blue shoes

Red Scarf

Dangling blue Earrings

Full volume hair

A song changes the mood. I was listening to the song until the conductor reminded me to get off at my stop. I got off in a hurry and removing headphones, for a second, I reallised i'm in the middle of the city. I took a pause and walked around to figure out a safe footpath. 

As I got onto the footpath, I got back into loop of Aaradhike. 

Watching people being caught up in their lives, I walked around until I had to decide at the turns. Right or Left. What turn brings what? 

 I chose to walk the lanes I already walked with the muse.

I took a right and continued. I want to paint, lemme buy some stuff I thought. Where can I get a white plain cloth? I asked. Number 70. An old man replied. Counting the numbers and spotting from 56, I reached 70. At the shop no. 70, I got a metre cloth worth rs 80. "Where do I get the colors?" I asked the No. 70 person. "370" He replied. 

Trailing through the lights and the numbers, I walked a long way, watching the city buzz fading by 8PM. I quickly spotted the shop, got some colors and continued my walk. 

Tired of walking around, lemme hop on to the e-rickshaw, I thought. I chose a blue e-Rickshaw that was heading to the other corner of the city. I  hopped on watching the city pass by. 

One song. One message. That's what it all took to make my day turn bright. 

quote of the day

There were people everywhere on the city Street, but the street could not have been more alone is it had been empty.

Jaipur Journals- Jaipur Friend

Thanks to G. I got to know his photographer friend, Aishwarya, a Jaipurite . As I relocated to Jaipur in the month of July, I wanted to explore the local places rather than the tourist places. In such thought, I reached out to Aishwarya through Instagram. I do not know her except, that she's good at photography. I asked for help. She was generous and always showered me with a lot of suggestions. Be it a food place to eat or the art place to hang out, Aishwarya was the first person to reach out. She heartily helped me in the need. 

After 7 months of helping with a lot of suggestions  now and then, we were at JKK, sitting next to each other unaware of each other's presence. 'Where are you in the concert?' she asked. Right to the console I replied. "Abhinaaaay" came out a stretched hand with a wide smile. 

Pleasantly surprised for the sudden meet. 

Aishwarya is cool person to hang out with. We caught up over coffee along with her friends, Rafay, his brother Ali, and Aishwarya's brother who doesn't miss a chance to pull her leg was also present.

Had a great time catching up with her. Thanks to her friends, I'm getting a lot of place suggestions to explore. 

Jaipur Journals- Hamlet Scenes by Department of Dramatics students

 As a part of practical, groups are supposed to select particular scenes and enact. the marks are given based on the actors' performance, stage production, lights, sounds and also a viva on the whole play. 

I got to know about this today only. On the first days, Along with Gaurav, Vrithika, Anuranjan, I watched a few scenes in the compact black box room. Gertrude in a flashy red gown, polonius in a formal white shirt with a blue tie around his neck. It seemed the players were so tensed that, the dialogues seemed mechanical and and expressions seemed animated. 

The next play was directed by Sunaina. They picked the scene where Hamlet meets his Father's ghost. With pure play of light and sound, they could create an eery experience. Walking on the dried leaves amidst leaf less trees to  watch the play was fun. As we need dark space to focus the light on the stage, we stayed in the natural night light for long time, waiting for the play to begin. 

Vijay performed in this play and I've always seen him in serious roles, a total contradiction to his real life personality. 

The first day was all about technicality. There was a major play with light, sound and stage. I called it a day walking around the university after watching a few plays. 

The next day, I walked in at the right time, witnessing some powerful intense plays. Somesh is the show stealer. His commendable acting was engripping that I wanted to watch all his performances. 

Catching up with Gaurav, Vrithika and another friend, we watched all the plays. The scene of Hamlet meeting his father's Ghost was performed by different teams. Picking up the natural spots as the stage, the teams performed well. The last show was delayed due to power cut. 

Jaipur Journals- The Learning Conversations

 Talking to A, I asked, 'Do I behave in a condescending manner and be boastful?'. I felt safe to ask the question and also felt safe enough to listen to 'A' opinion. 

"Yes, you're condescending in general, not boastful." A replied.  

Often, I'm not conscious of how I behave with others.  I was okay to realise how I behave at times. Time to work on it! I felt grateful to have people whom I could ask and be okay with whatever answers they give. Many a times, because of insecurity and criticism, I deny my personality traits. Thanks A for pointing it out in a helping manner. 

Jaipur Journals- The PoE Comes to an End

 A 14 day residency program named, Perspectives on Education. It's an introductory course where a lot of colleagues from all over India come to Jaipur to attend it. 

This time, I was not part of it as a participant. However, I mingled with the group. Attending a few favourite sessions, I spent good time with a lot of people. 

I got a chance to catch up with the colleagues, whom I met for small amount of time. Vaishnavi from Bangalore, Kushal, Saurav from Raigarh, Geetika, Jayant, Nawlesh from Sirohi were present. 

Keeping the old habits intact, whenever we found a tea-break, I played table tennis with kushal. Over the time a lot of people got interested in it and we had great time playing at every break and every evening. 

Got to spend some good time and had learning conversations with a lot of them. Discovered the talents of many of our friends. Jayant picked the Table tennis really well and also won the PoE Table tennis tournament in the end. Supriya is amazing in creating art. She  drew a lot of illustrations of her experiences at PoE. Vaishnavi, also picked table tennis quick and gave tough time to all the old players. Mustaqee, Vimit, Kushal, Saurav, Mukul, Satya, Vaishnavi, Jayant, Padma and a lot more  became seasoned players at Table tennis. 

Threw a house party to Tirang, Padma, Supriya & Vaishnavi. Tirang is equally a host as he does all the things. Vaishnavi, Supriya & Padma wer tolerant of the not-at-all-cleanly home.

Got a chance to collaborate with Vaishnavi on creating art. She also shared some cooking lessions. Thanks Vaishnavi for that. 

Played a lot with 8-year-old friend Somyo. It was easy to enact and play with him as king, protector and live in fantasy world. Also, made a cute painting with him. 

Juggling between work and some PoE sessions, I had great time catching up with these amazing people. 

I couldn't get a chance to catch up with everyone as it was a group of 38 members. I was happy to catch up with small group and had a lot of meaningful conversations. 

As I got a time to create something for the friends, I sketched some art  and handed to all the dear friends. 

At the end, as Vaishnavi, Padma & Supriya were leaving for the airport. Imran, Bhagyashree, Mukul, Jayant & I joined to give a send off. The send off seemed to be a closure to PoE.  I walked into the empty basement and took my own time to realize, the fun, the 14-day journey came to an end. 

Many of them didn't enjoy Jaipur, thanks to it's heat or whatever-be-the-reason. Hope to catch up with these friends in some other course, at some other place. 

Looking forward to catch up for more conversations with these interesting people. 

Thoughts- Question n Answers

A lot of times, people ask questions on a topic seeking the answer they want. When they don't get the answer they want, they deny any other answer. I realized that sometimes, we don't need answers for the questions, we need stories, anecdotes, analogies to make the person who asks questions feel valued. Because not all questions for simple answers. 

Jaipur Journals- The Disappointing Ola ride

 I booked an auto from Albert Hall Museum till Sanganer. After the long ride, the serious driver dropped me and demanded cash. "I already made digital payment," I told. "I paid online through Phonepe," I explained him. "I don't know what are you talking about. I only take cash and I've cash," he was determined to extort money from him. I stood by my words. I paid him through Ola app and I'm not paying him again. 

He showed the app and he already earned 554 rs for the day and he says, "I don't understand  these app and the money, hand me cash!"  I was assertive and I didn't. "You talk to Ola and let me know that you paid," he came up with new demand again. The Ola doesn't have the option  of customer care at all. The User interface is so stupid, I couldn't find the option of call in support at all. Everytime, I receive an article when I need a human help. He kept insisting to have a conversation with Ola Team. I couldn't do that.  

He trailed me and he asked to show my phone, asked to click a picture and kept following me till home. I got into the gate and still he was calling me out. The whole scene lead to a lot of spectators walking  into the scene. 

After the shared explanations, he was still determined and threatened at the end, "I've your number and i'll see you!"

The driver acts naive but, he's not. He earns money through Ola but, he doesn't understand how online payments work. And also the Ola is not at all supportive. I've such a driver walking at my home saying things like, I've your number, I'll get what I want. Ola just shares an article and gives no support. I'm determined to get off Ola and get into Uber. 

Jaipur Journals- The remote session

Hosting the remote session gives me imagination of an orchestrator. With a switch, I can zoom into participant's face and put it on big screen. Watching the hang-over face, tired sleep faces, I wonder how difficult is it to host a session and transact the knowledge. 

Virtual sessions can only be a cost cutting methodology but, not replacement to in-person sessions. 

Thoughts- Awareness

Recently as I was talking to my friend, I was trying hard to process the intense emotions I had. Talking to friend, and reflecting on my words, I could realize how swayed am I to the emotions I went through. There are a lot triggers I couldn't identify. 

"What's making you feel that way?" my friend asked. You can express how you feel, the friend affirmed. 

I could sense the honest communication. Listening to the friend, I could feel what honest conversations and being involved means. May be that's how trust is being, by being there, totally and completely, listening without a judgement. 

It's good to experience honest conversations. 

Thoughts- The Nice Things

 When we are often asked, how is it going? How are you enjoying the trip/work/life?

 We sulk (At least, I do in the beginning.) Often, I enjoy my work, work related travel, the people whom I meet, the conversations I make. When someone asks or before someone asking, I nag, "I'm always traveling."

Talking to a friend, I realized, we often don't accept the abundance of life we're living. From now on, I'll try to acknowledge the good things in life rather than complaining. 

Thoughts- Beginning the day with drawing

The first thing in the morning I used to do is write three pages of my thoughts. Incoherent, inconsistent, ambiguous thoughts, fears, desires, doubts. Everything is put on page through words. I picked this from Julia Cameron's book, "The Artist's Way." 

Today, I tried drawing with pastels as a morning routine. I had had an inspiration pushing me to complete the work. As I got into the process, I spent 40 minutes working and re-working on the piece. I felt better after finishing the piece. I was thinking, why can't I start days with painting, drawing for a change. 

Morning seems to be the best time for all the creative tasks. Earlier, I used to express my emotions through painting after a long tiring day. Today, painting as the first task seemed to set the tone of the day. Will try to be consistent with this.

Jaipur Journals- Dal.Rice.Lemon Pickle

"Let's have dinner," my friend suggested. 

I think, I should invite people often, atleast to keep the house clean. External Motivations. Friend was okay with the messy house. Over some music and bright lights, we began to hustle up in the kitchen. I was clumsy around the kitchen and friend took over the control, got the onions chopped, tomatoes chopped, everything was to the finest. When we had to search for chillies, we went on the terrace, searching for chilli. I dropped a lot of things enroute. In the darkness, we were searching for chillies. 

Embarrased by the empty fridge, empty kitchen I got, I made it up by picking some chillies from the roof top garden. 

The first lesson I learnt is to fry the onions and tomatoes, before we boil everything in the dal. Such a simple thing but, I was in awe of the process. First, the fried onions, then the tomatoes and then the dal. Will follow the protocol from now on. 

Unaware of how my pressure cooker works, I gave it up on further cooking process and my friend took it over. Friend waited for the blow of whistles. As we lost the count of whistles over the conversations, we over cooked the dal a bit. However, it came out delicious. 

Dal. Rice. Lemon Pickle. A simple dinner. 

Often the simple dinners are the most memorable events. Thanks dear friend for the dinner and also some cooking tips.