Sunday 21 August 2005

Another Rakhi

Two days ago, it was rakhi. Like every thing else, only emails and e-cards remind of things that are no longer alive. Rakhi is just another memory with a vague sense of what it is supposed to mean.

Marco wants to send a rakhi to his girl friend. I explained to him that it wouldn't be right. No, he said, it won't be a normal rakhi that a boy gets from his sister, it will be something else, something very special.

Shweta telephoned and said that I will get my rakhi next time we meet. Perhaps, this is good, not just celebrating a festival but accepting the spirit behind it, and it does not really matter when we actually do it.

In our Indian association of Bologna, we are already used to this. Holi and Deewali are celebrated according to the availability of the hall, possibly around the actual dates that these festivals are being celebrated in India, but if that is not possible, we are not unduly bothered!

Manish, Sonia's husband, will be coming here on 24 September. Cynthia and Aniket (Mithoo) say that they might plan a holiday in Italy. Recently Riju had come to visit us and I had taken him to Venice.

***

Monday 15 August 2005

A cold rainy morning

It is cold rainy morning in Bologna. Sky is covered with dark clouds, crossed by thunder and lightening. I wonder if Delhi's sky is full of colourful kites! When I was young, 15 August was the day of kite flying in Delhi but perhaps, now children are not so interested in kites?

It is already two weeks since Riju came. From his computer, I took some pictures of Vidhu dada, Preeta bhabhi and Srishti. I have never met Preeta bhabhi and Srishti and this is the first time I saw them in pictures properly.

There is another news. Bukul, who is now living in Australia, is planning to get married to Toni in March 2006 and settle down in Bangalore.

This has been a long weekend for me since 15 August is a national holiday in Italy (it is some religious festivity linked to Madonna).

On Saturday, I was in Rimini with my friend Mariangela. Yesterday, our friends in Bologna, Rajesh and Shweta, came for lunch.

Finally today I am alone. It should be a day of complete relaxation and I am going to watch "Parineeta". I am alone at home, and there is no need even to cook since there is enough food leftover from yesterday for today's lunch and dinner.

Tomorrow, Marco and Nadia will be back. They had gone to Bibione for a week.

***

Saturday 6 August 2005

Cortona - Little monkey with the mother

Cortona is a small medieval town about 100 km north of Rome. Europe is dotted with such towns, with forts on the the top of hills, made for defending the citties from attacks. Unfortunately many of such citties are ghost towns since living there is difficult.

In Italy, the road from Rome to Florence has a number of such cities placed on the top of hills, the most famous of which, is Orvieto, with a wonderful cathedral.

Watching Cortona from the base of the 700 meters high hill is like looking at a little monkey holding on tightly to mother's tummy, afraid of falling down. The houses look as if they are going to come crashing down on your head any time. Walking around in the town gives a strange feeling as if I am a monkey moving around at the top of trees. In between the houses, I can see the empty space and the far away valley below.

I was there only for one day, for a meeting. We arrived late at night and slept in a monastery. Early in the morning, I woke up and decided to take a look at the city before the meeting started. In the main square of the city, a flock of English tourists was waiting for their bus. In the square in front of the municipality, there was a big card-board piece of water melon for some festival, later in the day. In fact, all Italian cities seem to be busy with summer festivals. The thing that I liked most about Cortona was looking at the stairs going up and down, ending in small dead-ends or finishing at the edge of the hill into nothingness.

Once the meeting started, there was no break till very late in the night and then we started back our journey to be back in Bologna.

Riju went back on last Sunday but it seems a long time ago. Time seems to rush past so quickly. I did manage to complete a Hindi story recently - Tumhara Patra. It is influenced by American writer Pat Conroy, who writes about tyrannical fathers and children who carry the scars of their childhood in their souls, never really coming to terms with them.

Here are some pictures from the Cortona visit:

Cortona, Tuscany, Italy - images by Sunil Deepak, 2005

Cortona, Tuscany, Italy - images by Sunil Deepak, 2005

Cortona, Tuscany, Italy - images by Sunil Deepak, 2005

Cortona, Tuscany, Italy - images by Sunil Deepak, 2005

Cortona, Tuscany, Italy - images by Sunil Deepak, 2005

Cortona, Tuscany, Italy - images by Sunil Deepak, 2005

Cortona, Tuscany, Italy - images by Sunil Deepak, 2005

Cortona, Tuscany, Italy - images by Sunil Deepak, 2005

Cortona, Tuscany, Italy - images by Sunil Deepak, 2005

Cortona, Tuscany, Italy - images by Sunil Deepak, 2005

Cortona, Tuscany, Italy - images by Sunil Deepak, 2005

Cortona, Tuscany, Italy - images by Sunil Deepak, 2005

Cortona, Tuscany, Italy - images by Sunil Deepak, 2005

Cortona, Tuscany, Italy - images by Sunil Deepak, 2005

Cortona, Tuscany, Italy - images by Sunil Deepak, 2005

***

Saturday 30 July 2005

Of biting and chewing!

Have I bitten more than I could chew? I mean managing three blogs and writing regularly on all of them, can I really do that? I guess, people will just stop going to a blog once they find that it not updated frequently so it is not a tragedy or something! Any way, I am concentrating mainly on my Hindi blog these days. Rediscovering Hindi is such a pleasure. Perhaps another reason is that people seem to be reading it and occasionally commenting. I tell myself, this may only mean that there are not that many Hindi blogs to choose from and not necessarily that what I write is too interesting. If you are interested in the world of Hindi blogs, take a look at the Chitha Vishwa website that brings together many of them.

I am back from Ecuador. The image of the country lingering in my mind is that of beautiful high mountains, roads snaking around them, in the middle of round lakes that I feel are spent openings of old volcanoes. The guidebook does say that the road going down from Quito to Cuenca is lined with old spent volcanoes. Another lingering image is that of so many child workers, cleaning shoes, in workshops, selling by roadside. And yet another image is of amerindian persons wearing traditional dresses. I wanted to be photographed with them and discovered to my pleasure that they thought I was kind of exotic and wanted a picture with me. So when I took out my camera, they also took out their cameras!

Riju is here.

Day before yesterday I accompanied him to Venice. I love going to Venice but it was so hot!

***

Friday 8 July 2005

Bombs in London

Yesterday, when the news of bomb blasts in London came, it suddenly brought back the anguish of 11 september 2001. Except this time, I was safely at home since I had the good fortune of coming back from London a day earlier.

Just twenty four hours earlier, on 6th July morning, around the timing of the bombings, I had travelled on Hammersmith and city line for going to Liverpool street station, passing through Edgeware road and King's cross.

To see those names on the BBC's website and the pictures of persons walking in the tunnels was terrible. Actually I have never been too keen on travelling by underground, especially when you have to go one or two levels under ground, but there is not much choice since it is fastest way to get around in London. However, next time in London, there will be a little fear on travelling by underground.

11 September 2001 was worse since that day I was supposed to travel to Lebanon while mummy was traveling to Washington. My flights were first diverted to Milan and later I was sent back to Bologna while mummy had been diverted to Canada and for days we had no news about her. The global village brings with it new forms of terror and anguish.

***

Saturday 2 July 2005

Bent nail syndrome

The story first appeared about a week ago in an Italian magazine called "Venerdi" that comes out as Friday supplement of a newspaper and is the talk of radio shows and forums in Italy. It is about a disease and it is rare for news about illnesses to get such wide publicity. So much so that people in bars, sipping the morning cappuccinos and caffes, have been reported to smile snidely as they ask each other if they have got the chiodo piegato, or "Bent nail syndrome".

It seems that the northern province of Treviso, close to Venice has the distinction of being the Italian capital of persons affected with this disease. It is also well known among orthopaedic surgeons in USA where it is also called Texas syndrome since it seems to affect the Texans more than any one else.

The disease affects middle aged men, between 40 to 60 years old, especially those who are away from home, staying in a hotel for the weekend and especially those who use viagra tablets. The Italian doctor with largest experience about the disease says that it does happens mostly with men who have younger girl friends, who try to impress them that they still have the vigour of younger men and want to try more exciting of kamasutra positions. It does not happen with wives since there one tends go by habbit, in the usual positions.

You must have guessed by now, what is this disease! A fracture of the penis. The doctor goes on, the men are often asking that their wives should not be informed, though it is difficult to hide this condition since the plaster cast on their dicks is not easy to hide!

***

Thursday 30 June 2005

Sounds and lunatics

".. any way, no wild land is entirely still and silent. It has its own discords and detonations. Earth collapses with the engineering of the ants; lizards smack the pebbles with their tails; the sun fires seeds in salvos from their pods; pigeons misconnect with dry branches; and stones left loosely to their own devices, can find the muscle to descend the hill."

Wonderful language. Makes me think of flat pebbles bouncing on the surface of the water so lightly that they hardly makes a splash. I am reading Quarantine by Jim Grace. I like to read aloud the parts that strike me particularly.

Opening my mouth wide and articulating each word, trying to see it take form and spread its wings before flying away. What is the speed of the sound? In a few seconds, the sound viberations, rising from my vocal cords trembling like a diapson, spread out in the world, like children suddenly grown up and wishing to be independent, travelling kilometers in that unseen dimension, colliding with sound waves of that couple fighting, that boy whistling, the girl gasping... and finally coming to stop near that blade of grass, making it tremble exactly like the diapson of my vocal cords.

I read on.

"This was the season of the lunatics: the first new moon of spring was summoning those men - lunatics are mostly men. They have the time and opportunity - to exorcize that part of them which sent them mad. Mad with grief, that is. Or shame. Or love.Or illnesses and visions. Mad enough to think that every thing they did, no matter how vain or trivial, was of interest to their god. Mad enough to think that forty days of discomfort could put their world in order."

Lunatic. Touched by Luna, the moon. I think of my head line going up from the mound of Mars, going over the mound of Mercury, stopping just short of the mound of the moon. "Emotional, but balanced by the rational pull towards the Jupiter. This cross here, this is the island of death. It means the death of the persons, who will love you." That was the Pandit ji in Mohan Nagar ages ago in another life. What does it mean?

No one has died. Does it mean that people in my life don't really love me? Or does it mean that gods does not have the time to sit down and mark lines properly on our hands?

***

Tuesday 28 June 2005

West African dances

Last night I went to see the west African dance show in the Villa Angeletti garden. It was supposed to start at 9.30 PM but at 9.40, when I reached there, it was not yet started. They had set up two bars on two sides, one of which was blaring out loud music and had a hyperactive DJ.

In another corner of the park they were showing the old classic film "Casablanca", but its sound was drowned in the loud music.

University students from near by Galaxy hostel thronged the place, drinking beer, chatting, smoking. At 10.30 PM, they had still not started the show. I told myself that I will wait for another 15 minutes and if they don't start, I will go away. They started just before it was time for me to leave. Some drums, they were not bad but not that great as well.

Then there was a group of Italian girls doing the dance with their west african teacher from Guinea Konkry. It was nothing like the lovely west African dances done by Footprints international from Ghana that I had seen in January.

I am gearing up for more travel. Rome, London, Quito-Cuenca-Gauyaquil (all in Ecuador), all in July. I am sure to get good pictures for the blogs.

***

Thursday 23 June 2005

Holidays are almost over

The days have passed quickly in Bibione. Tomorrow we shall go back to Bologna, even if I don't start working till Wednesday 29th June.

Writing three blogs (in English, Hindi and Italian) has been impossible and I decided to give precedence to the blog in Hindi. I have written it in unicode even if because of the Italian keyboard, I am unable to write 'e' and some other signs.

Long walks along the sea, lot of sun, some swimming in the sea and some reading, that can be the summary of these holidays. I have turned darker and hopefully leaner in these days, though I am afraid to go and check my weight on the weighing machine!

Fortunately it is still not very hot but Bologna would be hotter and more humid.

In the June issue of Hindi magazine Hans, I have read Mini didi's poems and one very powerful self-story or atam-katha by a professor of journalism in Delhi, Mr. Shauraj Singh Bechain. It is really well written story of his life as a child labourer and his journey from being "Ganghi chamar's grandson" to the school. The contrast between the situations in the story and the holiday life here with the seaside tourists is so extreme. Probably because of it, words from his story keep on resounding in my head for days.

Here are some pictures from these holidays in Bibione.

Holidays in Bibione, Italy - images by Sunil Deepak, 2005

Holidays in Bibione, Italy - images by Sunil Deepak, 2005

Holidays in Bibione, Italy - images by Sunil Deepak, 2005

Holidays in Bibione, Italy - images by Sunil Deepak, 2005

Holidays in Bibione, Italy - images by Sunil Deepak, 2005

Holidays in Bibione, Italy - images by Sunil Deepak, 2005

Holidays in Bibione, Italy - images by Sunil Deepak, 2005

Holidays in Bibione, Italy - images by Sunil Deepak, 2005

Holidays in Bibione, Italy - images by Sunil Deepak, 2005

Holidays in Bibione, Italy - images by Sunil Deepak, 2005

Holidays in Bibione, Italy - images by Sunil Deepak, 2005
***

Thursday 16 June 2005

Finally Holidays in Bibione

Finally the holidays in Bibione.

In my opinion, this is the saddest part of the holidays when they actually begin, since it means that soon they will be over!

I have a long list of things to do during these holidays. I want to start with the second draft of my book, write something in Hindi, make some interactive animations with the help of flash and a graphic tablet... For my birthday, I asked Miriam for a graphic tablet and it is wonderful to design with a pen on it and see the designs on the computer.

I am sitting on the terrace in Bibione and it is raining and there is a cold wind. I am back in Bibione after two years. Last time I had come for a couple of days with Meghna in July 2003. Nadia and Marco have gone to the supermarket. In the afternoon when we had arrived, it was sunny and warm. Marco had fixed the long beach chair and I had plonked myself on it with the newspaper, saying that after half an hour I will go the beach for my first swim. I think that I fell asleep after ten minutes. Two hours later, when I woke, the sky was already covered with clouds.

On the way to Bibione, near Portogruaro we had left the main road to go to Brussa, a small village lost among a vast area of green fields, small canals and lovely house, to an old restaurant called Mazorak, where they serve wonderful fried fish. You can also go there by boat and there is a Mazorak boat stop. I must have gone there for the first time with Miriam and Lino, probably in 1982 or 1983, before Marco was born. It was a simple place, eating there didn't cost much and food was superb even if their menu was limited. The menu is still the same, the food is as good, but the place is not so simple or cheap any more. It is now really famous with people travelling 50-80 kms to come and eat there.

The owner of Mazorak, once he knew us all. He would greet us like long lost friends. Marco, a small baby at that time, played with puppies in their house behind the restaurant, while his wife cooked polenta with corn flour. Now his children are all grown up and his grandchildren work in the restaurant. Today, his wife was no where to be seen and the owner, he looked old and sick, while a line of cooks worked like an assembly line production in a factory to produce roasted polenta for the thronging crowds. I am glad for their success but it made me feel a little sad.

Then, Nadia said, "One day we will come here with Marco's wife." I said, "May be we will come one day with Marco's children! While they will eat, we will take out the children for a walk." "You remember that time in Connaught Place, when Marco was crying so much, that you had to take him out and we had to eat by turns?" Nadia asked. Marco rolled up his eyes, he has heard this story hundreds of times!

Suddenly it is wonderful to be on holidays.

***

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