The past

should be left where it was, she raged at him. He chose not to reply, looking at the crack in the window pane instead. His cigarette lay unattended, in between his fingers.

He looked up at her. She was beautiful, if her kind of beauty appealed, he thought. Glorious red head, tamed into a chignon, hazel eyes and a strong dominating chin. The diamonds at her ears sparkled with life. He had given those to her for their 10th anniversary.

His decision to open that envelope would cost him their marriage.

All it takes is a crack

he thought standing at the window. The morning cold hit his face viciously, the wind blowing, as he sucked the cigarette into his mouth. His wife lay under the warm blankets, huddled as if in a cave. Occasionally she would make her morning sounds - a murmur, a sigh, in his mind, something intimate, meant only for him.

The wind she slapped at his face again. He heard the rustle and then the start of a child's wail from the other room. His morning had begun.

2011 has almost passed

I am writing because it has been ages since I wrote here. I think Tumblr and Twitter have overtaken my life. Long posts seem unbearable when I can say things I want to in 140 characters. Tumblr is even better, doesn't require me to say much at all.

First I want to say egads again to Blogger. I feel like I am alone on an ocean of white, adrift in all this minimalism you have thrown at me. Quite disturbed by it. Expect a nurse to pop out any minute to offer me some pills for my depression.

After the cribbing about Blogger (you idiots), I want to talk a wee bit about 2011. Whoosh, the year went by, didn't it? I finished a year of shaadi, survived my first giant earthquake, saw and experienced Japan's cultural uniqueness, moved to Hong Kong, went to India for a 3 week vacation this month and well really had a blast.

There have been so many moments that made my life just so amazing this year that honestly I can't wait to experience 2012. I know people who hate 2011 and just want it over and done with but me, I really enjoyed it. Having a husband around with the same tastes really helps of course :)

I still have my grand plans for my photography but I am always worried I am never going to know enough. I want to have my own website up and running by next year for sure. It was supposed to happen by this year end but you know what they say about best laid plans.

Can't wait for 2012 to start. Oh yes, its also the year when its all supposed to end. Should be interesting times ahead for us. See you on the other side. 

The departure

You walk into a country that is as foreign to you as those chocolates that your Dad's friends would bestow on you generously when you were a but a kid. You don't know the language - a dialect that is lost to you. Everything is fascinating - the people, the clothes, the food.

And then one day it becomes yours. You begin to understand the nuances of what should be said in an elevator with neighbours. Food, once exotic is dare I say, common, like dal. You even begin to learn to live with the earthquakes - something that shattered your world has again become a thing of day to day living. You love it for it is your home.

I am leaving my home tomorrow to make another one. The transition is difficult but exciting all the same. New people, new experiences and same lust for what life is going to bring stays with me.

My 9 months in Tokyo, Japan have taught me this. Any place can be called a home as long as you are with someone who you love and care for. We are going to celebrate our anniversary in a new country, I can't wait to begin the journey. :)

Summer in Japan

Humidity. Sweat dripping down your back. Walking down shade filled avenues. Warm fizzy taste of shandy. Brunching. Barbeques. Ah, the smell of barbequed meat sends my stomach into a tizzy. More shandy. Air conditioning. I lived without it all my life in India. And now I have such a yen for it.

Heading to the beach. Splashing, playing in the blue blue waters of the sea. The waves and me play Tag. I win occasionally. Taste of beer on my lips. Pizza for lunch. The tomato sauce so fresh. The peppers crunchy.

Drinking cold coffee. Reading from my Kindle. The smell of books is lost on me now. I yearn for it again.

Ah summer....subarashii desu yo (its wonderful!)

Conversations

Lady in elevator with twin girls in a pram: Konnichiwa
Me: Konnichiwa (stealing glances at the very cute girls)
Lady: Atsui desu ne (Hot innit?)
Me: Hai, so desu (Yes indeed)
Lady: Garbled question which I translated in my head as (Is it as hot as where you are from?)
Me: Dochira mo atsui desu (Both places are equally hot)
Lady: Ahhh (The Japanese are big on exclamations :))...Doko de (where the hell is this that you are talking about)....(trailing off)
Me: Indo de (In India)

Elevators clinks to a stop...end of conversation.

The famed Bombay spirit

died in 1993 when Hindus and Muslims went to war in my city. Nothing has ever been the same. Ever. I was too young to know what it meant when a mosque in another city is destroyed and there are repercussions elsewhere. We learned to live again. Some said the spirit had come back. Normalcy had returned.

Cut to 2003 and blasts rock Mumbai through the year. And then came the 7/11 train attacks. I was working in Powai then and understood what those attacks meant. Everyone talked about how Bombay went back to work the next day. What option do people have I ask? You take the very same trains that someone has planted a bomb in the day before and head to work. Or don't get paid.

And then came our biggest attack - 26/11. That destroyed our city as much as it destroyed me. I spent a week, even two, soul searching, binging and trying to come to terms with the fact that terrorists had attacked my city. The city recovered, I recovered, much to my surprise. And we had our 'spirit' to maintain non?

And now yesterday. The pointlessness of the situation makes me cringe, it makes me to want to rave and rant. One press of a button, lives are lost. Innocence destroyed. The bomb doesn't see who is Muslim or Hindu. It just kills without thought. Whole families have been torn apart because someone somewhere decides that a bomb blast is the solution to their problems.

And the famed Bombay spirit. It is but a shadow of what it was. It limps and struggles to be.

Feeling the pulse of a city

An afternoon spent meandering around the bylanes of SoHo, one of the really cool neighbourhoods in the city. Streets that are on a steep incline. Small friendly boutiques. Interesting restaurants. But today it was mostly about the people.

I shopped today hence all the interaction with people. Very cool boutique shops - paper, leather, vintage clothing and accessories, you name it, they got it.


Great customer care and every so friendly. And the language, everything from propah Queen's to broken 'you want, you try, you take' kind of English. Quaint little restaurants called 'Yorkshire Pudding' with signage like a London Tube station.

And an art gallery called Madhouse with interesting contemporary art from artists all around the world.

And outside the gallery's entrance this.


I tried some amount of street photography and here are the results.




Hong Kong is grey today. Mist surrounds the tops of the skyscrapers. Gentle inconsequential rain. A different side to this totally fascinating city.