Saturday 23 June 2007

A summer-y of my MIND!

Summer in England is truly awesome, but didn't quite realise how much till recently.

The other evening when Mehuli and I went for a walk to the Tower Bridge, we spotted some really lovely blossoms... Well, don't know if I should call them wild flowers - you see them in the bushes in this part of the world, but how many of us actually notice them? Want to take a closer look?

Luscious lilacs...



Stars in the daytime!


Blooming blossoms!



Yes, that's by the Thames...



Colour palette


By the way, here's another unusual visual for you - Rion, Mehuli and myself would often go to the Crossharbour-Mudchute area to visit this swan couple. The female of the species was pregnant and so, the local residents had created a floating house for them on a quiet corner of this canal that leads to the Thames. Did you know that swans are the Queen's property and its illegal to hurt them? Also, it's on this bank that the water chase in The World is Not Enough was filmed.

One fine day, we spotted a tiny little baby swan (yes, she did look like an ugly duckling compared to the parents) trying to swim under the able guidance of the father, while a visibly tired mother rested on the wooden plank. It was one of the most amazing scenes we have ever come across.

We were hoping to see more babies the next day we visited them. But unfortunately we reached them a bit too late - the family had shifted base and we don't know their new address!

Swan-ky life!

Friday 15 June 2007

On my MIND lately...

This timeless classic (also introduced to me by Rion) has been on my MIND of late. I have already created a fan club for it among my chat-friends... Here's for you to join in too, if you please... One of my favourites! Happy listening:)

Nmae of the song:
Perhaps Love - duet by Placido Domingo and John Denver

Lyrics:
(Placido Domingo)
Perhaps love is like a resting place
A shelter from the storm
It exists to give you comfort
It is there to keep you warm
And in those times of trouble
When you are most alone
The memory of love will bring you home

(John Denver)
Perhaps love is like a window
Perhaps an open door
It invites you to come closer
It wants to show you more
And even if you lose yourself
And don't know what to do
The memory of love will see you through

(Placido Domingo)
Oh, Love to some is like a cloud
To some as strong as steel

(John Denver)
For some a way of living
For some a way to feel

(Placido Domingo)
And some say love is holding on
And some say letting go
And some say love is everything
And some say they don't know

(John starts joined by Placido)
Perhaps love is like the ocean
Full of conflict, full of pain
Like a fire when it's cold outside
Thunder when it rains
If I should live forever
And all my dreams come true
My memories of love will be of you

(Placido Domingo)
And some say love is holding on
And some say letting go

(John Denver)
And some say love is everything
Some say they don't know

(John starts joined by Placido)
Perhaps love is like the mountains
Full of conflict, full of change
Like a fire when it's cold outside
Or thunder when it rains
If I should live forever
And all my dreams come true
My memories of love will be of you.

Audio link:
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VDO link:


Cheers!
Long live golden oldies!
(Thanks for the links, Ando)

Monday 28 May 2007

Once upon a time on the tube... MIND-blowing!

Rion showed me this cool clip and I thought I would share it with you - taken on the Paris metro - cool, huh? They're called Naturally Seven and are an amazingly talented acapella group. Enjoy!

Embedded (video) on my MIND!

Trying this out for the first time, so fortunate to have Rion around - most times :)

Friday 25 May 2007

The window to my MIND:)

Thanks to 'Sentimental Pilgrim', I could upload all of those photographs in my last post. I struggled quite a bit before the 'help' came along! This is what happens when you depend too much on techies...(Are you reading?) But then, you pay the price by becoming a prey to their 'experiments'! They know every single password to your (virtual) world without your knowing... Now, is that fair?

Anyway, here are a few more photographs. I couldn't upload them with my previous post - guess there's a limitation to how many you can at one go. Some of these were taken by my mobile phone camera and so the resolution is not so good - guess you can mark the difference.

My favourite spot on this planet - A view of Greenwich from Canary Wharf across the Thames river. Clicked at 4 in the afternoon against the sun.


Look closely... Human statue with a ticking heart! - Southbank


Yet again...!!

Matter over MIND!

It's another of those long lonely evenings stretching out before me like an endless ocean - can't see what's beyond! On second thoughts, I know very well what lies ahead - it's too predictable to not know...
In spite of all my resolutions to not crib about my lack of social life (the kind of socialising you do at night or late evening), I can't really help it:)
Nah, I shall put my time to better use and post this blog along with some photographs - I have been meaning to upload them in a long long time now!
Here you go...

Tower Bridge on a bright day!


Tower Bridge by night


How calm is my basin - Shadwell basin.


Dicken's Inn - As you go 'in', you learn that the 'inn' was inaugurated by Charles Dicken's great grandson... phew! It's as pretty as Dicken's novels!


Somerset House on a Sunday morning. You can see the children frolicking in the hot water springs in front of the building.

Friday 11 May 2007

Games your MIND plays with you...!

Yes, I am back to my space after a somewhat long hiatus... after several (nagging) requests from friends and well-wishers... I feel like asking them to swap their lives with mine and then ask me again 'Why I haven't added any more posts after the introductory one more than a month ago...!' .........:) no, for once I am not irritated by your repeated requests (read: nags). It's somewhat comforting to know that I still occupy enough space in your MINDS to want me to share my thoughts with you.

I was reading Mimi's blog (http://mimisgl.spaces.live.com/default.aspx?_c02_owner=1) on the travails of motherhood and how it is so so difficult for a full-time career woman to suddenly switch jobs and become a full-time mother... I couldn't have agreed with her more. More so as it comes from a really and truly dedicated mother.

Maybe for Mimi it was a 'conscious decision', but for us it was pure and simple 'accident'. So, you can well imagine the compounded pressures we went through... Even after getting over the stages of 'breaking' the news at home and at work, going through the never-ending check-ups and regimented diets, dragging through nine long months, waiting for the bundle to peep out of her comfort couch and see the light of the day... phew! and then finally holding her in my arms... to trying to be a good mother in spite of the relocation to a completely different continent and the subesequent adjustments... it's been a long long journey, believe me. But then, I realise that my journey has just began - Mehuli took her first confident step last Monday (she's so hooked on to her new-found freedom that it's a task putting her to bed every evening).

I have miles to go before I can hope to get back to my old self... if at all! Will those days ever come back when I could stay out till late in the night partying with friends or get happily sloshed on New Year's eve with merry abandonment? When will I again dress up for an eveing out or dance to trance till the daylight creeps in? I would be a hypocrite to say I don't miss them...:) By the time my daughter grows up and gets independent, I would be too old to go on such binge outings... alas!

So, you see, I am almost cut off from the rest of the world - the world I was so much a part of even a few months back. My socialising, catching up with friends is mostly virtual... I feel so alienated at times that I wonder if my friends still remember me... now you can get a feel of how precious these 'nags' are to me...:) Really, really apreciate from the bottom of my heart!

Well, to be honest, I am somewhat learning to live with my present situation... coming to terms with the motherhood that's been bestowed on me without my asking (while so many actually yearn for it and consider themselves privileged when it actually happens to them)... I agree, I AM a bad mother. I am not the fussy/ protective/ caring types... you know what I mean. Neither do I feed her till she starts screaming with hunger and is tugging my shirt to draw my attention, nor do I remember to change her nappies on time and make her comfortable...

But it's moments like the ecstatic look on her face when I pick her up from her childminder, or when she wakes up in the middle of the night and looks around for me and only me, or gives that wide sleepy grin when she finally wakes up and tries to mumble sweet nothings in her own unique language - that my maternal instincts reach out to give her a warm cuddle. It's worth sacrifising my career, my life and even my friends... (I believe the good friends are those who stand by you through thick and thin!)...

So, what I teach her instead is to communicate, to talk... And, guess what, she does respond! Hope that day is not far away when I find my best friend in her...:)

The other day, a friend commented: Life is dynamic. Just to add to that: Evolving with it is what 'living it up' is all about!

Saturday 31 March 2007

Do not BIND my MIND!

Voila! Here's the new life I grant myself today with this blog-space. My own little hole to rant and rave without bothering about who hears me and what. Here I shall collect all that touch my heart... be it in words or through photographs / paintings.