The story of my life this past month

The story of my life this past monthThe story of my life this past month

October 31, 2010

Karthik Raja borrows’ from Mahler

Listen to the intro of this song from the Tamizh movie Ullasam. Stop after ~13 seconds.

Now jump to the first movement of Mahler’s 4th Symphony.

Filed under - I am not sure whether it’s a hat-tip to Mahler or plagiarism’ bucket.

August 29, 2010

Grilinctus

I’ve just been prescribed a cough syrup called Grilinctus. The name sounds less like a cough syrup and more like a large, furry animal that’ll crawl out of the Forbidden Forest at night and will be fed and befriended by Hagrid.

The label on the bottle promises that the concoction is non-narcotic. This factoid hasn’t stopped it from inducing spells of sweet slumber that all cough syrups are so good at bringing you down with.

August 10, 2010

The way the world works

Anything that is in the world when you’re born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works. Anything that’s invented between when you’re fifteen and thirty-five is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it. Anything invented after you’re thirty-five is against the natural order of things.

—Douglas Adams, The Salmon of Doubt (via)

August 4, 2010

Ladakh in April - Day 4 - Snowfall in Leh

When I drew the curtains off our ground-floor room’s windows I saw a sea of white. My first reaction was that I had been struck by the opposite of blindness; though once I put on my glasses it became evident that I was merely looking at what was left from last night’s heavy snowfall. We swaddled ourselves in whatever clothes lay at hand, grabbed our cameras and scrambled out of our room. Having never been exposed to such vast quantities of snow, we were worried that it would all vanish before we had had our fun.

Something plodded through the snowSomething plodded through the snow

Our guesthouse's kitchen garden after snowfallOur guesthouse's kitchen garden after snowfall

Snow-covered mountainous landscapes evoke images of regal, grand beasts such as snow foxes, polar bears and snow leopards in one’s mind. A confused cow is all we had to be content with.

A regal cowA regal cow

Everyone at our guest house was busy scraping and shoveling the snow away. In fact, practically every household in Leh had someone on their house’s roof clearing the snow away. It was almost like Sakranti in Gujarat or Independece Day in Delhi minus the kites.

Clearing the snow from the roofClearing the snow from the roof

The snowfall had caused the weather to clear up. The harsh Leh sun felt very welcome. Stray dogs had by now overcome their surprise at the sudden change in their landscape and had found themselves warm, dry, sunny patches of road to sleep on.

A dry, warm patch of road just for meA dry, warm patch of road just for me

We had our brunch at a café near our guesthouse while looking at tiny streams of water from the melting snow dripping down the café’s ledge. We spent most of the day wandering purposelessly in the market.

Walking in the Leh marketWalking in the Leh market

Random snow-covered pebblesRandom snow-covered pebbles

Sidewalks that were shaded, had patches of snow that were now turning into slippery ice. In other places snow and dirt’s unholy matrimony was already begetting mud. By the time we were back (late in the afternoon), the cows had trundled back home and the landscape had drunk all the snow and turned ochre again.

The landscape was ochre againThe landscape was ochre again

As much as we had enjoyed the snow, we slept with a silent prayer for better weather the next day.

July 29, 2010

Rant

38ºC. At 10:30 PM. The arrival terminal is always overcrowded at night. The conveyor belts are too close to each other and the space between them always cramped with big trolleys that were definitely not meant for this airport. You must travel lock, stock and barrel to this city must be the unwritten diktat somewhere. The luggage always arrives on one of the two conveyor belts adjacent to the one that the airlines actually announces. One out of 3 taps in the loo don’t work. The queue for taxi at the private taxi counter moves at a glacial pace. Poor souls looking to commute to the satellite towns don’t have any other choice. The pre-paid taxi queues at the government provided counters move fast but once you are outside with your receipt, the cabs don’t come. If they do, they refuse to board you; numbered bays not withstanding. Of course, it’s all supposed to give an impression of order without actually being orderly. I am completely in awe of flying. That we can cover distances that took months to traverse in mere hours is indeed fantastic. It is the ordeal that I must go through every time I get down the plane at this city is what gets my entire goat pen.

June 21, 2010