a bit of japan

I finished my first Haruki Murakami!!! The wind up bird chronicle! And what fun it was. Not in a literal sense. But in a quirky way!

Anywho without further ado, I will jot down my musings during this phase.

* It truly felt like a diary. Of Mr. Wind up Bird.

* Parts of it was so bizarre, that I could not tell what was real and what was not. Felt like a David Lynch movie. Mulholland Dr. to be specific. One can even say shutter island or inception!

* What quirky names! Noboru Wataya, Malta, Creta, Nutmeg, Cinnamon. Of course, I am not a Japanese, but still!

* Murakamai's pop culture references, put forward Japan in a totally new perspective. Have never been there, have never read much about it, but always had a feeling that it would be weirdly orthodox. May be I am wrong.

* I again use the word dream like. I am still not sure, what was what. But whatever it was it was very intriguing and kept me hooked.

* Most of the times any writer's ability or eye for detail normally impresses me. This time super impressed by Murakami's ability to dig deep and describe weirdest of thoughts using simple words. Basically I am a word fumbler. Hence.
* I have decided my next Murakami would be Kafka on the shore.

Co-incidentally they were having an Ikebana workshop in office. I basically like flowers and the freshness they bring to any room. And I had always wanted to learn it since school days. So I automatically signed up for it. What fun it was! More than fun it was very relaxing and calming. If you even distantly like nature, trees, plants you should give it a try. It is sooo zen ;)

Some pics for public disposal. 

my first arrangement..has basic elements and teaches you subject, object  fundas - courtesy my nokia N72

my second arrangement..seeks balance..check out the flower structure to see what I mean ;) again taken from my Nokia
N72

the freestyle..again seeks balance, made using bamboo sticks and minimal objects- taken from my nokia N72

the welcome arrangement - by the teacher, isnt it just wonderful  ? :) 

~nightflier :)

P.S. Please don't copy the pics without asking, specially the last one. Thanks!

phew!

Moving/shifting is good for the soul. Specially if you are the archer types. Since most of the mess I (we) create, is in the head, starting to live in a new place feels like a fresh start. At least in the head. Plus the newer the old illusion, the better fool you can make out of yourself. Anywho I don't like condescending talk specially from me-to-me. Because, even though I *sometimes* appear like this sorted out, zen person to myself, *sometimes* I am not. :P


Digression. Digression.


The new place is so spacious and nice. I instantly felt connected.
Also my bed is adjacent to this huge window, from where I can gaze into the lovely weather (on weekends only, sob) and pass time without even getting out of the house. Lame confession, I have a thing for windows, give me one and I can sit through the day with a cup of coffee or a book without troubling anyone the slightest bit. So anywho, the kitchen is even bigger. Plus I am not sharing it with anyone, so I get to be the boss! And I am practicing all the monica gellar-ish traits of my ex-roomie, in a good way. Yay!

google image

But the house still does not have this! -> 
Alas. But I have the build myself a book-shelf project. So until then, I guess I don't mind living without a walk-in closet! :D


Oh yes and the internet at home got activated today. Finally. I must not have missed blogger so much. The way I was glued to the laptop proves it :( But the unplanned hiatus kind of worked, as I hardly missed facebook and other stuff. I feel *zen* like. Again. Almost ;-)


Anywho, a lot more awaits my blog space. Japanese. Do you get the zen fixation ? ;-)


~nightflier

Post palace of illusions

Post palace of illusions.

Mahabharata is something that finds its way to you. Of course if you are born an Indian, its easier. One can say Mahabharata stories were typical bed time stories as kids. One grew up on the fodder of virtuous Pandavs, evil kauravs, cunning shakuni, danveer karna, mayavi Krishna.

It was always Karna and Bheeshma  though who mesmerized me. Strangely I find Bheeshma  Dumbledore-ish. Also the other way round. I think liking for Bheeshma increased many folds because Mukesh Khanna portrayed him so well. And I was always a fan of BR Chopra's epic that the Sagar's over-dramatic version of Ramayan.

When I read Shivaji Sawant’s Mrutyunjaya some time at the age of 14-15, I was instantly connected to Kunti. Her character eluded me. With a powerful boon like hers, I would always think how tough it would have been. But the one thing the book did to my mind was give Karna an irreplaceable place in my heart. You can call it instant teenage fixation for a tragic hero (Andrew Manson, Macbeth, rick blaine, jai later on). May be this is how strangely destiny fulfills itself. (Karna was cursed to be not remembered for his valor but later got counter cursed wherein he would be revered for his greatness). When I would read the book again during engineering, I would just feel helpless at Karna’s unfair treatment. While reading difficulty of being good, which was thoroughly philosophical I experienced the same during the chapter on Karna.

Thus Mahabharata is something that has found its way to me. Through TV, books or otherwise.
So when I took Palace of Illusions for reading, the first thing I realized was how little I knew about Panchaali. Rather how little I cared to know, except she was this lucky female who got to marry 5 men. As a teenager that almost felt rebellious to me, with a ‘polygamous women must be really strong in a patriarchic society’ feeling. Of course I left it at that.
Also I don’t know if I can call myself a feminist although I believe in being myself and everyone’s right for being so. Man or woman. So the book in a way did open my eyes. To a perspective of a woman who came into the world somewhat unwanted, caused a great war, suffered a lot and in turn fulfilled her destiny. That also made me wonder, Panchaali in a way was lucky, she knew she was born to change history and she believed in it to her heart’s core. How many of us can believe in destiny so strongly ?
And her such starkly gray portrayal. Even as a narrator and protagonist, how many can manage to keep that objective view about oneself ? Of course I talk as if Panchaali told me the story herself. The book felt that way. And a really good book can make you feel that way.

At this point, I am terribly missing sharing this experience with KT. She is the strongest questioning feminist I know. And this book would have ensured a great philosophical talk/debate with her. :)

P.S. You might think why I used Panchali instead of Draupadi. The book will explain better. :) 

Hiatus

There is no internet at home currently. Plus work policies include blogging into "social networking" and thus *no access zone*.

And I have had the most lucid thoughts flowing through my head during this one week, which have found a place as random scribbles in my notepad taken during sessions/meetings. Irony or what ? Or certain mr. Murphy's yay moment ?

Anywho, till then.

~nightflier

Space and time

When bamboos and mangoes started living together, things were pretty good. 

Everyone got ample sunlight and water.

The bamboo's nature was to grow tall. The mango's to grow deep. 

But Bamboo was a little mad you see. 

Tired of seeking the sun, one day  bamboo suddenly decided it wanted to grow deep. 

Mango in its all encompassing big hearted nature thought maybe Bamboo will let go of its silly whim.

But stubborn was our Bamboo and continued on its fancy whims.

Mango was a better friend, it gave Bamboo all the time. 

Bamboo was a stupid brat and took Mango's all space.

Space and time thus got divided (?) and did not know where to belong.

~nightflier

P.S. I feel like Bamboo today :-/

This is an old draft, posting it today as the realization runs pretty deep.