startling banals
04 May 2007
6 AM
Moonlight through back and side windows.. and sunlight through the front ones. To remind us that we live on earth.
The moon beams come in as well-collimated shafts of light. They look almost magical at night when you turn off the lights. And then you bend to have a look at the full moon. La Luna Chaand Chandaa Chandamama Chandoba.
Woke up at 3.45 AM half-eaten by well-meaning mosquitoes who just wanted me to see the beauty and glory of night. This was after i had spent the whole day in the sun traveling on local trains and walking on roads floating in the human and machine sea of sweat. In a city pushed too hard to become Shanghai whatever that is. Construction work everywhere. Cement dust that enters your nose and eyes and blows on your face when a bus or truck passes by. How can there be any beauty in concrete? But in the age of survival, utility overrides beauty. I shouldn't be so harsh on Bombay.
Also saw the height of post-modernism and the age of contradictions. The bastion of retrogressive political thought Shiv Sena bhavan at Shivaji park- renovated - looking exactly like a shopping mall with tall glass windows.
Cut to present. The night was too good. Especially the mild breeze and the calm. There were some sleepless crows cawing. And as dawn broke amid the sounds of warbling bulbuls, fantails, sunbirds (maybe there were golden orioles, drongos and green barbets too but i didn't hear them) and of course chirping sparrows, I drank the morning in. The perfect opposite of what I had seen and been through the earlier day. Natural bliss after urban angst. A male sparrow came to the window and I said hi in his language.
The moon beams come in as well-collimated shafts of light. They look almost magical at night when you turn off the lights. And then you bend to have a look at the full moon. La Luna Chaand Chandaa Chandamama Chandoba.
Woke up at 3.45 AM half-eaten by well-meaning mosquitoes who just wanted me to see the beauty and glory of night. This was after i had spent the whole day in the sun traveling on local trains and walking on roads floating in the human and machine sea of sweat. In a city pushed too hard to become Shanghai whatever that is. Construction work everywhere. Cement dust that enters your nose and eyes and blows on your face when a bus or truck passes by. How can there be any beauty in concrete? But in the age of survival, utility overrides beauty. I shouldn't be so harsh on Bombay.
Also saw the height of post-modernism and the age of contradictions. The bastion of retrogressive political thought Shiv Sena bhavan at Shivaji park- renovated - looking exactly like a shopping mall with tall glass windows.
Cut to present. The night was too good. Especially the mild breeze and the calm. There were some sleepless crows cawing. And as dawn broke amid the sounds of warbling bulbuls, fantails, sunbirds (maybe there were golden orioles, drongos and green barbets too but i didn't hear them) and of course chirping sparrows, I drank the morning in. The perfect opposite of what I had seen and been through the earlier day. Natural bliss after urban angst. A male sparrow came to the window and I said hi in his language.
Cool summer morning
A sparrow peeps in
"Yes, I'm here"
1 Comments:
maybe its overkill...but you do write like Vikram seth...this post was smooth ! reely nice...you got real talent man !
