2487: Movie: The Kominsky Method

Adored this series, both for Michael Douglas and Alan Arkin.....and of course some unbelievably good writing.

Its a series, but it will absolutely leave you wanting more. Take a bow - the creators. Its easily one of the best everyday life watching that I have done recently.

And yes....it peels off layers around old age, loneliness and fallibility with a deft hand.

Absolute must watch...

Overall ranking


A Twelve Year Night
Nise(The heart of madness)
Natsamrat
The Kominsky Method
Bioscope
Revelations
Solo 
Orange Mittai

2486: Movie: Natsamrat starring Nana Patekar

I watched this movie and was blown away by the writing (I can understand Marathi well) and the actor known as Nana Patekar. (Vikram Ghokale is equally good :-))

Nana has been majorly accused during #MeToo and hence I have mixed feelings about the actor....but this one is a performance which is super par with the best in the world.

Watch this movie only for Nana and the writing.

Of course, it is a fab exploration of old age, loneliness and the futility of life as it seems then.

At some point, Nana says something to this effect (in Marathi)
"Birth of a human is nothing but the manifestation of a being who was lured into this materialistic world, and he/she chose the lust of two others, as a bridge to be born into this world. We call him son/daughter....but he is nothing but another being (albeit a selfish being) who has been trapped into this world. Attaching more meaning to this is foolishness."

At another Nana says (to his wife) - something to this effect...(when questioned on an introspective day about his past demeanors)
"I lived in the world of glamour, and like all those who are trapped within those, I too fell into the trap of being beguiled by it. Have I had a fling or two? Of course. But why ask me more. All you need to know is that I too walked the path. And yet today, I realize that the path is a path to nowhere."

Overall a must watch for its class act around writing.

Overall ranking (in order top to bottom)


A Twelve Year Night
Nise(The heart of madness)
Natsamrat
Bioscope
Revelations
Solo 
Orange Mittai

2485 : Reading list 2019 #6 : The flower girls by Alice Clark Platts

A great punchy read. I loved this book, but not for the writing, strangely for the plot.
Go for it. It reads like a graphic documentary, but its fiction :-).

Definitely recommended as a read. A well written taut thriller.

Overall 7/10. Go for it.

At 352 pages brings my 2019 reading to 1558 pages.

2484: No country for old men....

I just turned 43. And as expected I am beginning to focus on my age :-)

I don't see anyone above 60 driving, riding (motorcycles) or even leading the active life. Like I goto speakeasies and I don't see the oldies. I goto malls and the folks who are around are all youngies :-).

It kind of red flags something in me.

If I survive till 60 (and that would be a scientific miracle :-), more on that later).....then I want to ride, drive, drink, travel and have fun in this world.

Not easy on me to notice that the oldies have disappeared. Where have they all been shipped to? Bombay either has very young folks or adults.

Bombay is no country for old men :-).

2483 : Hamara Bajaj

Too many people have written odes about it, but the "Hamara Bajaj" branding line was a complete stroke of genius. It's easily one of the finest marketing jobs we have seen in our lifetimes.

What makes it really a complete element of magic is that the lines don't really rhyme, but the way it was sung....it was just perfect.

Lyrics are (from lyricsbogie)
Yeh zami yeh aasma haan
Yeh zami yeh aasma
Humara kal humara aaj
Humara kal humara aaj
Buland bharat ki buland tasvir
Humara bajaj humara bajaj
Buland bharat ki buland tasvir
Humara bajaj humara bajaj.

Notice that the first 4 lines don't rhyme at all...but it is an earworm in a very poetic way.

The lyricist should take a heartfelt bow :-)

I am terrible at this, but google tells me this is Raga Pilu :-)

2482: From Amit Majmudar's Sitayana

Every now and then I read something that I wish I had written. This piece just blew me away. Its from Amit Majmudar's Sitayana narrated in this chapter in Hanuman's voice.

I don't even try because I am in awe and horror. The hall to Ravana's courtroom is a menagerie of caged hybrids. I glimpse a cameleopard, a Kinnara propping a book between his hooves, a rhinoceros with the face of a cow, and most horrifying of all, a monkey with the face of a man. I suppose Ravana likes such hybrids since he is half Rakshasa, half Brahmin. His courtroom is dome painted the color of the sky. Above is a chandelier consisting of enormous glass globes of various sizes. Inside each globe is a slave in silks and a crown, around his neck a placard on a gold chain reading, "I am Saturn" or "I am Neptune" and so on, corresponding to the planets. At the center is the earth, the only planet represented by a woman. Her placard says, 'I am Ravana's'.

2481: Yaman by Kishori Amonkar

Have spent the best part of the last two weeks, listening to the meditative Raga Yaman (again by Tai Kishori Amonkar) and it makes me yearn for a time, space and being that I have somewhere lost.

It takes me into a wonderland where all I have to do is to find myself. Easier said than ever done.

I think every single time I hear Tai singing, I add another hr or so onto my life span. I really believe that, and that's how weird my relationship with this music is.

Tai nails it.

Lose yourself in the Yaman, and possibly find yourself.

2480: Polk Audio Soundbar with Alexa

I just indulged myself and bought this....https://www.polkaudio.com/products/command-sound-barhttps://www.polkaudio.com/products/command-sound-bar

This is primarily to go back to make music an integral part of my life. This little thing fills up my entire bedroom and the fidelity is awesome.

This one of the finest material things that I have spent money on in recent years. Its already been used over 20 hrs in the last 10 days or so.

The bass woofer is delicate, almost unobtrusive, but highlights the right tones. Having Alexa makes it a breeze to connect, change playlists and songs.

2479 : The solitary confinement

I have realized that the whole universe is within me. I hold the cosmos, the space and entire manifestations of time within me.

I am the entire universe, the whole blitzmagic of it. Till the edge of its border, till the singularity event and even beyond. I am the only one.

And then moments later, it hits me hard....I am (now) alone. There is no peer. I am the superset. I am alone. It's terribly lonely. I have become my own quarantine.

2478 : Honest chat

On a lazy sanglorious morning, she broke the silence in the room, "Let's have an honest chat."

To which he replied, "Does that mean you believe our other chats are fully or partially dishonest."

"Arrey baba, you sound like my favorite south Mumbai full-of-himself lawyer with fake vapor fumes coming out of his arse.", she smiled as she said that.

"Lovely.....Can he wriggle his derriere to write Z with his exhaust?"

"....A lawyer with a severe MPD who switches from a tad stiff neck to a pretend french hip hop artist. Will you stop your diversionary musings and instead give me undivided attention - I need to really open up and talk."

"So usually you are all bottled up, is it?"

"The lawyer who when scrutinized, simply chickened up and redacted. Give me a few minutes, thats all I need."

"Ok, go on....all ears. I mean all 42 of them."

She smirks as if she got the joke, (and yet) is feeling all pukey about the crassness of it. She continues,"All of us - all four of us, should have a no-holds barred chat to clean up the baggage in our barrels. That might be what is required for each of us to heal. That might be what will make us see beyond the devil in the other."

"There is no clean up till we look at these "clean ups" as a way to connect and understand the other human being. Under the skin first. See the difference? Usually, an "honest chat" is about clearing the roadblocks for "me", versus I am suggesting - you always start off instead with wanting the other person to win. If you do that, every person (amongst the four) is trying to make the other 3 win. So three folks are propelling you towards your zenith. Versus in our usual approach, we are all rooting for our own egos."

He continued, "So resolving - is more around opening up with compassion, than really being honest. Infact, in most cases, literally "honesty" might destroy more wood than build homes."

"(Sigh.....)....A lawyer who serenades as a Buddhist poet, who also peddles quack on health. At times you sound convincing and authentic. Mind you......Only at times....and at those times, I wish you should have been named Amitabha. I am sure you would love it that way too."

2477 : Boisterous sexists

Have been meaning to write about this quite some time. This is about the Hardik Pandya and KL Rahul incident.

Something in that whole incident and then the following backlash - bothered me then immensely and still bothers me. So here goes...

For the record, I am not proud of anyone disrespecting a race, gender or put simply another sentient being. Yet, the show is about fun and presenting celebrities who are quirky.

Here is my question to those who took offense. How many of you have not had a dirty or evil thought in your head ever? Like how many of us have not pined for something (like money, sex or drugs or really whatever) that is forbidden? Even Adam and Eve could not escape the apple right? Hand on heart, I have enough demons in my closet who only feast on forbidden fruit. So mea culpa.

So why judge someone for their bias? Its a bias, and not an explicit act of violence. Though I agree that bias can be the underpinning of potential violence.

Why judge someone for being honest?

Would you rather Hardik be the crude ass weird gobbysmack person he is, and be honest....or be dishonest and appear as slick and clean as Nirma (the washing powder:-).

I prefer the honest Hardik anyday. 

Do I admire his biases or condone them? Neither...but I do unequivocally accept them. He needs help, not condoning.

Is he morally bankrupt? Potentially yes. But its weird that he is being judged by boards and committees which have been built on foundations of ineptitude and discrimination. 

He is the least of our problems and deserves nothing but to be ignored and let be. Also the buddhist in me says....accept and let the river flow....it will eventually run dry.

Why will the river run dry, you ask? Because like Hardik, I am from the dark side too :-)

2476: Vishal Bharadwaj's Nude

Have almost finished reading Vishal Bharadwaj's book of poems called Nude. (More on that including a reading list post on that later).

I have loved the book....but more than the pure poems, I loved the ghazals....I have always had a deep love of ghazals, esp the metered kick which is delivered with immense rhyme and word play. A lot of the ghazals in the book are beyond stellar.

Let me start off by stating one of my favorite ones (I hope that I don't fall into copyright issues :-). Vishalji...a true fan :-) spare me).

Yeh Benares nahin hain, Dilli Hain,
Ulti Ganga yahan pe beheti hain,

Gour se delhi nude painting ko,
Kitni pakeezhki jhalakthi hain,

Ghar ki roti khilayi choohon ko,
Yeh Siyasat ajeeb billi hain,

Sher spare lage kharab ussey,
Ab toh nadeem kamayabi hain,

Rooh se jism ko uttara toh,
Buddha ke shyam jaise halki hain

Translatation (from the book too)

This is Delhi, not Benares,
Here, even the Ganga would flow in the reverse,

Look at the nude painting closely,
What purity radiates from it.

Feeding rats home made roti,
Politics is a strange cat indeed

He finds my verses worthless
Success is perhaps around the corner,

Stripped of the body, the soul
Is light like the Buddha in meditation

Images from Indian express and Harper Collins

2475: Tai's Todi Redux

Posted a few days ago, about Tai (Kishori Amonkar) singing Todi and how its the closest thing for me to "divinity". The part of the composition that I referred to was "Allah ke Samne/Begun Gun Gave"....which is obviously the faster tempo and much more inticing part of the composition.

There is an earlier part though, which is more meditative...explorative....the meend gliding seamlessly...and almost entering your subconscious....

This part is "Mere Mann Yaho"

Both compositions together here in the video below.

Stop finding the God which has always eluded you...she is here. Finally she has come for you :-)

2674 : Movie: Tamil "Revelations"

I am not sure what prompted me to watch this movie. There was something alluring about it, almost drawing me into it.

The movie is simple (and I won't reveal much) - it's about an old son (and an older lady) who both move to Calcutta from Chennai. How they (re)build their lives, along with the help of a younger Tamilian couple.....

...and then there are assorted characters.....each of whom plays a pivotal part as the story unfolds.

There is not much of a story, and in that sense, it is indeed as "art" as an art installation gets.

The movie has a very unhurried pace. Almost as if there is nothing to tell, and nowhere to go - as an example - in the first 3-4 minutes of the movie - not a word amongst humans is spoken. Everything is just scenes stitched together.

The second facet is subtlety. As an example....someone dies....no body, no corpse, no funeral....not even the actual science of death....just a simple images of flowers floating on a river.....that conveys the whole construct.

The movie in itself a steady and slow exploration of various human emotions, but in a very "underlying" fashion. There are strong undertones of:
1) Lust: Yes there is a bit of bodies having their own compulsions (well explained with being explained....and hence I called this a true art installation)
2) Remorse: How difficult is that to emote and convey...and yet.
3) Compassion
4) Dog eat dog world
5) Respect for women as if they were complete equals (which is rare for either west bengal or tamil land....and hence this movie just hits it well...). The husband, the old son - all of them treat their women with immense respect and care...and yet....
6) Forgiveness: The immensity of this is so heartbreaking in the scence where the mother weeps alongs with her son (or maybe???)
7) New beginnings
8) Acceptance of the present (This too shall pass)
9) Complete acceptance of your circumstances

Each of these explorations is truly marvellously told. If you care to watch those signs.

Loved this movie, though I might not want to watch it very often again. Its too intense, and too much.

Its like reading Kundera. Forces you to think....forces you to face your inner demons.

Overall ranking


A Twelve Year Night
Nise(The heart of madness)
Bioscope
Revelations
Solo 
Orange Mittai

2673: Everybody loves Raymond

"Everybody loves Raymond" was a fantastic show in the 2000s featuring Ray Romano. You just have to watch him at 52 return to comedy in his new special called "Right Here, Around the Corner" and you shall know why everybody loves him.

He is handsome, self effacing, caring, authentic and just completely adorable.....The reason why Everybody still loves Raymond :-). Give me older Raymond over older Seinfeld, any era, any time . (The only other comedian who made such a deep impact on me was the boisterous George Carlin...more on him later).

Image from Upi.com

2672: Movie Nise(Into the heart of madness)

After the book of light, (a book), I watched the movie Nise (into the heart of madness) and was completely mesmerized by the movie. This month is about being mad in the world's eyes....of folks who fall off the regular curve.

It's about a hospital(institution) in Brazil, where Dr. Nise is a psychotherapist and she works out an unusual program to provide therapy for her clients (she refers to patients as clients).

She encourages them towards art....and he gets encouragement from none other than Carl Jung.

Two things completely shook me in a good/bad/"get hold of me" way.....

1) The scene where the animals are all poisoned dead. It's a terrifying scene, not due to the horror or the scariness...but due to the immensity of the human (living) tragedy. It singes.

2) Finally, towards the end, the real Dr. Nise comes over and gives a quote - which I absolutely loved. Its essentially about 10000 ways around finding meaning for yourself. And her advice is go do it :-).


Go for it. It will show you the power of compassion to heal this world. I am a wannabe Buddhist :-).

Photos of Real life Nise and the hospital at http://kalopsia.me/category/interviews-remarkable-figures/ 

Overall ranking amongst the movies so far

A Twelve Year Night
Nise(The heart of madness)
Bioscope
Solo 
Orange Mittai

2671: Dignity

Spent a large part of my day at a cancer clinic...Not for the first time and definitely not for the last time :-).

It always amazes me to watch the faces of the chemo of the radiation patients. They dress up as good as they can, they part their hair, they are groomed to perfection.

And this inspite of their inherent imperfection. Like there is distortion in the hair (and hence it is off the normal curve) of a cancer/chemo patient. He simply has no hair or has evidently thinning hair.

And inspite of that imperfection, they take a lot of effort to groom themselves...which is kind of charming in a very adorable old-world manner.

The more I think about it....I am beginning to believe it's about dignity. These folks are fighting to fit into the curve, to have a shot at what (for them) constitutes as stolen(away from them) dignity.

They want their dignity back....and that's such a fantastic road to root them along on.

Go for the goal fellas :-).

2670: Reading list 2019: #5: A book of light by Jerry Pinto

Just finished a fascinating book "A book of light" by Jerry Pinto. It's easily one of the most moving books I have read in recent years (Similar to Far from the tree by Andrew Solomon...another book that breaks into your psyche).

A book of light is a desi version of this, just much more relatable and much more reachable. The stories (real stories) in the book about mental illnesses and challenges...shake up your core (at least mine did).

A part of me felt vulnerable, another part of me felt enlightened by the insight, and yet another part of me felt the dimness of how far the human race is down the rabbit hole.

Strongly recommend a read. Possibly a 10/10 on the overall scale.

At 216 pages brings my 2019 total to 1226 pages.

2669: No country for old (wo)men

I have definitely posted about this earlier, but one of the most difficult things to experience is to watch someone grow old.

The zen in me tells me that - everything fades, everything entropies....

But the poet in me just succumbs to this process of aging. Including my own aging. It’s hard to see youth slip away. It hard to accept a society that does not respect the old. 

Remember, I live in India. In India, the old are caught in classist sort of way. “Old” is like “blacks” or “Hispanics” or “Kurds” or “Shias”.....Old get some extra things like possibly old age income (which means the younger folks provide for that, or so I believe), but for some gracious items which come into the catch list, conversely what goes onto the altar of the dropped list is “dignity and respect”.

Like for my parents, just crossing the road has become a burden. Doing “something” with purpose (unless you call going to a temple as a purpose) is almost everyday a little more infinitesimally difficult. “Purpose” itself becomes alien with age. Of course, with age comes health related issues.

So....

I feel quite weighed down by watching the world around me grow old. By watching the world around me progressively reject “art” as I understand it. By watching the world focus on the present as it the only thing that ever mattered. The past will complete the circle. The future is encircling us.

Age is no longer just a symptom. It’s unfortunately a modern day malaise too.

2668 : Music: Gully Boy OST

And before you think that I am just a noveau (read fraud) art peddler, lets go contemporary.

Listening to Gully boy (as a complete OST composite) - I rarely shuffle albums. I listen to them in the sequence the producer intended for us to consume them...think of me like a digital turntable affeciando :-), but someone who is stuck with ITunes :-).

And the album is a rare display of originality in a modern din of rancid voices.

Enough said, but I am not going to do a full review. All I can say - go for the entire album. Groundbreaking, original and probably the OST album of 2019 in Bollywood.

Take a bow Farhan Akhtar and team.

2667: Music Raga Jog Kauns by Ustaad Vilayat Khan, Zakhir Hussain and Hidayat Khan

I have been listening and discovering Vilayat Khan from my own immense collection of classical music (hell, how deeply I miss Rhythm House!!. What a price to pay, this modern world).

And listening to the live edition of Vilayat Khan play Raga Jog with the other two ustads....is not just magical, its ethereal.

I am now listening to Vilayat Khan almost everyday.

Something in me believes that this aides my weak bubbling heart. My achy breaky heart :-) (Billy Ray Cyrus forgive me :-))

Listen (and watch out) to the crescendo in the end, its what apocalypse should possibly feel like :-). Mad and yet stunning. Masterful yet sublime.

Go for it. (Below is the actual score I have been listening to...thanks youtube)

2666 : Senna by Asif Kapadia

I am one of the most unabashed Ayrton Senna fans that must be in this part of world, in this day and time.

As I watched (for the 3rd time) the documentary on Senna and his brief career...could not help have goose pimples all over again.

If there is one thing to learn/notice in such a narrative, its the wisdom that human beings are capable of no limits to their greatness, edges - that to most of the lumpen this would be “impossible” or simply ‘unbelievable”.

Senna showed us a crack in the “matrix” (to use a popular phrase), to glimpse a possibility that most of us would believe is in the realm of the imagination.

He will remain someone that I will immensely cherish and idolise and I sincerely wish my daughter one day sees herself in the image of Senna. That too would indeed be a blessing.

(Images from Gaurdian)

2665: Hanuman by Sharanya Manivannan

The god in me saw the god in you.
Our demons saw each other too.

2664: Tai Kishori Amonkar singing Allah ke Samne (Todi)

I have posted this a few times, but Tai singing Todi (Allah ke Samne) remains one of my all time favorite classical scores. There are often times when I am walking in a random place, and this tune would pop in and play incessantly in my head.

To me this is as close you can get to experience divine in this world. The voice, the devotion, the faith and the beauty of the rendition - each of them humble us immensely.

Tai will always remain one of my gateways to seeing the divine.

हे बेगुन गुन, गाइये अल्ला के सामने जब जाओगे पूछेंगे बात || नबी का कलमा हर दम जबाँ पे रखना हाँ जब जाओगे बात आजीज हूँ मोजीज, तुमी हो पैदा किये कि शरम तुमी को, मन में अपने सदारंग गात ||

2663: Acharya Goswami Gokulastav Ji Maharaj

This is the (possibly :-)) the 10th time I am possibly posting about this very unheard of artiste...but someone who remains one of my very favourite musicians.

I am listening to bageshwari, gurjari todi, bairangi....and about 20 of his other renditions...and am humbled by both his wisdom and his music.

I am blessed to be able to hear recordings of him. Also dont having third world problems, gives me enough mindspace to be able to understand (partially) and appreciate this kind of music. (I really mean this in sincere gratitude).

Life is nothing but a gravy train of blessings and good fortitude.

(Image from GSOmp3.in)

2662 : Fifty Shades of Mirth

I am sitting next to someone on a flight who is reading fifty shades of grey (EL James) and is making some unusual sounds. I am not daring(yet) to look at her, but am praying these are just simple everyday burps or farts.

What luck I say 😊.

2661 : Raag Lalit

There is something very primal about listening to a long exposition of Raag Lalit (or for some of my other favorite ragas) on a vocal adventure. I mean the Hindustani Vocal, though now I listen to Carnatic vocal too.

Some really fantastic loop unwinding.

Languorous and very calming. In the past 6 months, this has become my urban meditation.

2460 : Marriage by Martin Amis

Easily one of the best statements I have read in a long time :-) :-)

“After a while, marriage is a sibling relationship - marked by occasional, and rather regrettable, esisodes of incest.”

Take a bow Martin Amis.

2459 : Reading list 2019: #4 - The Queen of Jasmine Country - Sharanya Manivannan

Every year I read and discover a few books that make me wonder what I have missed in my life thus far. And every year without a miss, I find something that not just singes me with its beauty, but also makes me long (almost achingly) on understanding the true origins of such inspired art.

2018 was Durga Chew Bose and Sara Blume, both astounding in their range, and their sheer ability to dimunise (a play on the feeling of being so small you almost disappear) you and the world around you.

And 2019 there is Sharanya. Sharanya Manivannan. And I am just not singed, I am razed, I am like the one who saw the resplendent beauty of the sun, only to be blinded by it.

I read the “The Queen of Jasmine Country” and almost did not want to finish it. This happens to me all the time. I dont want a good writing to ever reach its ebb. And this one, I never ever wanted to end. 

This book is about Andal, the Tamil poetess, and the anguish of the artist that she was. As an artist who never was (conversely to her), I felt a stab in my weak heart as I read the passages.

Made me yearn for being born in a time and era when art meant something, when the world was simple yet laden with metaphors, when beauty was both in the eyes and the beholder.

When Andal yearns for the lord, I almost lost track of my time. When Andal sings in his praise, I heard the songs. When Andal weeps for what was not, I could see what has been.

Miss Manivannan, you made me almost weep. Take a bow.

A compelling testament on art, beauty, poetry and magic in prose that is way out of the normal league. This is legend. This is what Arundhati was in “God of small things”.

On a scale of 10, probably a 20. A flawless book - one to be read every 3 months, till every word in the book seeps into the soul. If there was an audio edition of this book, I would buy it for keeps.

Take a bow again Sharanya. You make me want to believe again. You make me want to live till I am 90 to read every book that you may ever write.

Go for it. Order 5 copies, one for every bookshelf you have.

At 156 pages brings my 2019 reading to 1010 pages.

Image from her site.

2458 : In praise of movement

Journeying is quite a urban phenomenon. It’s different from motion. It’s purposefully gliding towards a singular destination. And in there lies the essential difference between a “modern day” workout and “what we call as traditional body movement” -dance.

A workout’s basis is ambition. A dance’s foundation lie in spirit and hence beauty. On one hand the cold calculated expenses towards an outcome, on another the fluidity of a river bending around an access channel.

A motion defined by spirit is its own purpose. There is no other purpose to a dance Mudra (the lovely poised interplay between the fingers trapped in a palm), than the explicit desire to sculpt something beautiful. The goal of a tango is just that, harmony between the body(ies) and the air its cuts through. The essence of Kathak is to essay a narrative.

Dance is nothing but motion. Motion which is not without purpose, but one whose victory is a reward for the spirit. Our bodies are natural motion engines. Motive engines which are driven by emotions : and hence “e”motive :-)

What comes in the dance(s) way, is our own blockages. The inhibitions born out of urban “civility”, the walls that we build around our expression engines. It’s the same suppressive force that culls our desire to wail, when all we want to do is to mourn a loss. It’s the same sense of transgression (albeit wrongly) that we nurture when we sing loudly (but in a tone which we self judge as being tuneless). A blasé world where being child-like is frowned upon in an game where “being an adult” or being an urban “sophisticated” adult is the minimum standard (and so it goes till the “gold” standard).

When I was younger, being uninhibited was considered unbecoming too, but I chose to dance, because my body was naturally harmonising with the world around me. The guile of a snake, the grace of a peacock, and the glide of a feline - all inspired me towards motion.

I remember on my first set, an infectious dance “master” coaching, guiding us through the dance steps. As we endlessly practised, I remember the one thing that she told me/us - on the day of the actual shoot, improvise (not just overall), but with every take. “Make every re-take a fresh dance of the soul. Make every movement the script of a new story. With every gesture, give your life a new spirit.Let go.”

In the last 20 years, that reminder to “let go” guides me in all my excursions. My body, my temple, my dance, my pilgrimage.

2457: Hall of mirrors by Sharanya Manivannan

Never love a man with more faces than a hall of mirrors. He will never be able to tear his eyes away long enough to look at you, a luminous thin, blinded by the dark gravity of your love.

2456: Music Dhristi (Kishori Amonkar Tai singing of a pain that seems her own, but she makes it collectively ours)

I am a Luddite by choice. I dont like listening to music on Youtube, even if forced to.

And then.....

I grew up listening to Dhristi's music and Tai singing Ek Hi Sang Hute.....(Tai is Kishori Amonkar).

The whole album of Dhristi including the two recorded Alaaps are ethereal. This kind of music completely humbles me, and makes me realise how inadequate I am. I wish I had spent more time with music in my life.

But now....

(on the youtube thingy)....Now apple music serves this masterpiece.

I have been listening to this album almost everyday. If nothing else it transports me to an era and time, when everything was fresh, clean, uncomplicated for me. And most importantly there was hope.

(I have never seen Dhristi as a movie, hope to see it one day.)

(The video below is NOT from Dhristi, but the song is...)