Tuesday 29 November 2011

De-creeping

Bangalore has a special kind of winter chill (if i may use the W word at all for this place) - it's creepy. It literally 'creeps' inside your body, settles itself there nicely and then starts sends pangs inside your system, everyday. The same cool breeze & sun-less sky, which some weeks back made you scream "awesome mausam!!", now make you cringe and tug your jacket a bit tighter. For some people, it manifests as a never-ending cold - you can't decide you're healthy or not. I guess i'm beginning to understand why some people can wear thick sweaters in Bangalore too - too many creepy winters accumulated.



Though last weekend, i crept outta its grasp and found myself on my way to a picnic some 150kms off Bangalore. I couldn't keep my eyes off the Karnatakan landscape (magically enhanced due to the bewitched, overcast sky) and wasn't really expecting much from the first place on the agenda - Shivasamudram Falls. My first glimpse of it evoked feelings similar to probably what Fernando de Berrio would have undergone when stumbling through the South American jungle he would have found himself in the company of Angel Falls. Shivasamudram Falls felt like another world from another time. The fact that i had to do a little bit of river crossing to reach it, added to the adventure. The Falls' water was pleasantly cool and the water's slaps felt like an aimless massage on my muscles. Though the slimy rocks did play spoilsport and didn't really allow us to play free, everyone looked like a bunch of wild kids let loose after many days. Worth climbing down each step of the 80 stepped, stone set of stairs (not recommended for oldies or those with knee problems btw).



The other place, Talakad, was exactly the opposite of the Falls. We found ourselves plopped on baby-soft, seaside sand on the banks of Cauvery. Cauvery which was ever so gentle and placid, invited you to try all your wildest swimming stunts. The river was so shallow there, that the men giving rides in Coracles (the small round boats, inlaid with woven wooden strips, covered with plastic cover and then tar for waterproofing), also known as "tappas" locally, used only a long wooden stick to push the river's floor and move the boat forward. No oars, no motors - mere pushing. Across the bank i could see a forest so beautifully ethereal that it seemed outta a storybook. I guess the clairvoyant sky added to it. Although it was just across the river, it felt like a land which no one touched or ventured into. Laden with secrets and camouflaged with fleeting pristinity...

Funnily enough, i found myself back into my cotton kurta sans a jacket/stole when i went back to office this monday. I guess i shed some of the creepy winters back there. I think i've found a way to de-creep myself from the Bangalorean chill! :D

The song tonight, is a song which has gripped me off late. Downloaded by a friend on my laptop, this song, "Eyes on fire" by Blue Foundation has a feel which is chilling yet sensuous. I bet you'll be tempted to play atleast twice.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IHFVn0sv14

Tuesday 22 November 2011

10 Best Things About Running A Fever


10. Now, undeniably, indisputably and undoubtedly - you are 'hot'!

9. As a kid, i always thought to myself that with all that heat inside a body? Wow. It must be melting all the 'fat' accumulated inside and all those 'bad wormies' too, which make my tummy rumble. So yeah, your body becomes an incinerator for all things bad.


8. You're allowed to be irritable, lazy, icky and moody. You can pretend to be asleep when you don't wanna take a call or meet someone or answer someone. "She has a fever, she can't help it. Let it be." Untether yourself from social protocols.


7. Somehow, moving though a fever makes me feel that the body is getting catharcised, purged. A general sense of eery, other-wordly lightness is almost always experienced.

6. Cake, capsule or karela - it all tastes the same. This is the time i'm reminded of what my Grandma says, "The tongue is the biggest trickster. Inside the tummy, there's no taste." So, fever allows you to stack up on your nutrition quotient without yucks and throw-ups.

5. It's a couch holiday. You're stuck on one spot the whole day and watch movie+cartoons, read books, day dream, listen to music, day dream some more, have a reunion with all your imaginary childhood friends, rehearse important conversations that might be cropping up in future or re-staging the already happened ones...the possibilites are endless. No chores, no to-dos, food in bed. You might wanna marry your fever, if you could.



4. The heightened body-awareness - each movement, even a finger's twitch is registered and felt. It's like all your cells are high and excited and bumping into each other underneath the camouflage of the skin.

3. The whacky dream potpourri it creates for you. Probably the only access i have right now to 'alternate universes'. Your wildest, awake-state imaginations could be put to shame by the sheer bizzarity - swimming in an endless sea of Coca Cola, turning into your father, squeezing the earth inside a shoe...okay, i think i should brake here.

2. The king of em all - Mum's trebled Love. Mums will hug, cuddle and show you even more love than usual and if you're lucky, baby-talk to you in a way that will make you forget you aren't a 2 year old anymore.

What's that you say? The title announced 10 and i gave only 9 things? Bah! I'm writing this through a fever and it's my prerogative to do exactly as i desire. Phhbbt! :D

And aptly, the song for tonight is one which talks about being "on fire" - by Switchfoot. Burn the night away!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pskjyxykBiE

Saturday 19 November 2011

Beyond the dawn...

We've cooked our heads
and singed our hearts.
The hunger feeds on us;
the thirst drinks us.

Burn it through
raze till nullity -
Pregnant ashes
cries afreshed.

Take me some place
beyond the dawn
into the blue heart
dissolved in the music.

We go, oh we go
deeper but higher.

Newer but unwired
no more blare
no more jagged
we turn into one another, singing
the notes fuse - no brake, no gear...


The song for the evening "Stigmatized" by The Calling. A song often underrated. What a misfortune. Coz "if i give on you, i give on you.." :):)