@ 21 Jun. 2008 – 22:03:42
Light and grey in the north
Dusk hands the baton to Dawn
And Night is bypassed.
The longest day came and went
A sunrise in the morn;
A shower in the noon.
The longest day came and went
A coffee in the evening;
'Twas the sweetest thing.
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21st June: Edinburgh.
Sunrise: 0426 hrs
Sunset: 2203 hrs
Best place in the world at 0420 hrs: Top of Arthur's Seat 
Sadly, the days get shorter from now on.
@ 12 May. 2008 – 13:28:12
Some questions
are better left unanswered.
Some, are better left unasked.
Never does the past let you go
Never do you let the past go
You are both stuck in tangles.
Some tangles,
though they beg to be unravelled,
are better left tangled.
@ 14 Mar. 2008 – 18:20:16
That seems to be the sole purpose of them all - Orkut, Facebook and what not. Nothing more. And a place, apart from your beloved IM to put up witty status messages.
There's this application on Facebook called "Compare Friends". On that, three of my friends voted for me when pitted against somebody else for "better singer". If you are one of my friends who voted for me, thank you. Please tell me who you are. I will sponsor a visit to the ENT specialist for you. If you are the person who lost against me (which you wouldn't know, actually), I can only say, please please never ever sing.
Then two days ago, I got this scrap on Orkut from some completely random person:
"hi mate..........tis is --name deleted-- from coimbator............which is best place to study fashion designin p.g..............??? scotland or u.k....???"
This is hilarious on so many levels. And a big ego massage. I get asked for advice by random people. On fashion designing! Wooohooo! Seems like all my hours of watching FTV finally paid off. Dear sir, may I recommend trying out some Italian universities? "scotland or u.k." might not be the best choice. Please do not hesitate to contact me for further details, I have been to universities in all three places: Italy, "scotland AND u.k.". Best regards.
In other news, Orkut today tells me that I am the master of every situation.
Sure.
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Happy pi day. To Americans, anyway. The rest of us will wait until the 22nd of July.
@ 23 Feb. 2008 – 22:39:37
Sweet talk, fresh breeze
Two white swans,
And then it rains.
A coin toss
And then it rains.
Two ducks, on a sticky wicket.
A random generator
not for numbers,
but for words
A random generator
Thrashes out words:
Two white swans.
A tiny little lake
Two white swans,
And lovers lie on the banks.
The random generator
turns out to be
Pseudo-random.
@ 22 Jan. 2008 – 23:44:36
No free time,
Work work work
Euphoria!!!
Chance meetings,
Sweet smiles,
Euphoria!!!
Program, write, run,
Graphs, graphs, graphs,
Euphoria!!!
Cycle furiously, move an inch,
Wind, wind, wind,
Euphoria!!!
I bet all that sounds super sweet in Urdu.
@ 27 Dec. 2007 – 21:11:21
One of my best trips ever was to the Cinque Terre in March, earlier this year. I have been pining to write down an account of it, but have been held back by the feeling that no words and no pictures can do justice to the sheer unadulterated euphoria of those two days. Struck by sudden inspiration, however, I have decided to make an attempt.
Cinque Terre is Italian for "Five Lands". The "Five Lands" are five villages on the coast of Liguria, flanked by hills on one side, and the Ligurian Sea on the other. Sun, sand, waves and terraced hill-slopes used for farming grapes make for an incredibly beautiful combination in the Cinque Terre. The villages and surrounding hills are now part of a National Park which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
After a day in Genova, I set out for Monterosso al Mare early next morning - as early as Trenitalia would allow me, that is. Monterosso, is the first of the five villages going north to south along the coast. As the train came into the station of Monterosso, I was ready to explode with the anticipation that had been building up over the past few months, ever since I had heard about the Cinque Terre, and researched travel guides for this trip. It was a wonderful day in March, in the early days of spring, and yet warm as it can only be in sunny Italy. As I walked out of the station, a fresh breeze hit me, and I laid my eyes on the heavenly beach at Monterosso.
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I congratulated myself on the timing of the trip. It was warm enough to walk about in a T-shirt, but early enough in the year to beat the hordes of tourists that would descend upon these locations later.
The five villages are connected to each other by railway (ugly Trenitalia trains), but also by a foot path that takes you along the coast, over hills and through vineyards. The foot path is, of course, what you should take.
I took in the great views, felt the soft sand of the beach run through my toes, and walked along gently towards where the path begins. It is a gentle trek, and accessible to anybody who is used to walking reasonable distances. The path climbs steadily, as it goes round the first hill. As you turn round this first corner, you come directly into the green vineyards. These are an essential part of the fragile ecology of the region, as they help bind the soil together and prevent the hill-sides from eroding and collapsing into the sea.
The path from Monterosso to Vernazza, the second of the villages, takes about two hours, including time spent admiring the views and taking pictures. As it follows the curves of the hills, parts of the coast hide from you, and then reappear. Vernazza is hidden for quite a while, but at a point, you come round a corner, and suddenly spot it shimmering in the distance, against the sparkling blue of the sea.
Vernazza rests on an outcrop of rock into the sea. As you come closer to Vernazza along the foot-path, you can make out the pretty houses, and the jetty. Everything is 'piccolo' here. The part near the jetty is at sea-level, and paths rise up steeply from the central street towards both sides, including a narrow path that squeezes through houses towards the tiny castle with its tower, clearly visible from a long distance. A visit to the castle and a climb up the spiral staircase to the top of the tower is highly recommended. You get great views in both directions along the coast, but also an awesome view of Vernazza itself. Lunch was at Vernazza, sitting idly on one of the rock benches at the jetty. As you spend time in this tiny place, it grows on you, and is without doubt, my favourite among the five.
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Through the main road in Vernazza I continued, and rejoined the foot-path to head towards Corniglia, the third of the villages. This part of the journey takes about an hour and a half. The path is similar to the first one, but there are less vineyards here, and more natural greenery. The views needless to say are just as stunning if not better. There are quiet places along the path where you can sit down, have a drink and carry on. If I remember correctly, there is also a path midway which leads down to a secluded beach. I didn't venture along that, but headed on towards Corniglia.
As the afternoon sun took full effect, the small number of white clouds that had gathered since morning dispersed. The sky grew blue, and the sea returned the compliment by growing even bluer, and shimmered down the middle where it reflected the sun. A strange sense of calmness hung over everything, aided no doubt by the fact that I was literally alone on the trail. It is hard not to be overcome. You can simply sit down and absorb the goodness of the moment.
After much sitting down and absorbing of the goodness of the moment, Corniglia arrived. It is much bigger than Vernazza, but perched completely atop a cliff. Going through small alleys between houses, you arrive upon a terrace which overlooks the sea, and where you can indulge in some more of the sitting down. I proceeded to do exactly that.
The fourth village is Manarola; unfortunately the path from Corniglia to Manarola was shut that day due to a landslide. So I had to take the train to Manarola. From Corniglia you climb down a long series of pretty steps to arrive at the Corniglia railway station. It is a stunning locale for a railway station. There are tunnels on either side of the station: the station with its two platforms is on a small clear portion of the cliff between the hill atop which Corniglia stands and another hill next to it. Next to the second track, is a sheer drop down into the sea (guarded by a railing, of course). The Cinque Terre seem to conjure up surprises every time you think you have seen it all. My disappointment over missing out on the foot-path evaporated as I sat on the platform looking around in wonder, with the sun beating down upon me.
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Truly, by this time I was head over heels in love with the Cinque Terre. And as I discovered later, some of the best parts were still ahead.
The train ride was quick. Manarola is another riot of coloured houses perched precariously atop a cliff. If you were a resident there, I would highly recommend conditioning that prevents one from jumping out of windows in emergencies. You would end up a few hundred feet below, in the sea, if you attempted that. As you descend towards the jetty in Manarola, paths lead to the left and right. The one towards the right is actually the path that would take you to Corniglia (the one that was closed). As I mentioned earlier, the goodies never stop coming. I took the path towards the right, which takes you to a nice patch of rocks in the sea. You can climb right down to the sea, and sit on them, and gaze at a natural arch carved by waves. At another point there are rock-cut steps which lead you down onto a large outcrop of volcanic rock.
Manarola is a heaven if you like to sit down and watch waves crash into rocks. The path to the left leads to several large jagged rocks jutting out just beyond the cliff. Another place to sit with your feet in the water, observe the solitary gull on one of those pointed rocks, and hear the sea whispering to you.
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I could go on and on about perfect solitude and inner peace, but I imagine this conveys my feelings.
As evening drew close, I beamed upon myself again for the perfect timing. The last part of the path is the via dell'Amore ("the path of love") which connects Manarola to Riomaggiore, the fifth and final village. It is a very short path, which is completely paved, and almost level. I would be walking along that just as the sun would begin setting and reach Riomaggiore just before sunset. That walk was magical. There is a kind of tunnel which you pass through on the way, with large windows looking out onto the sea. I can distinctly remember the pink-orange evening sun light filtering through the windows and dancing on the stone walls, and it gives me goose bumps. At Riomaggiore, I stopped on the via dell'Amore, and watched the sun go down. Finally, in twilight, I set about finding the accommodation I had booked for the night.
The night at the shared flat makes for another tale completely, to be narrated when I am in a lighter mood. It involved a couple I was sharing the flat with, and a drunk Canadian whose girlfriend had just dumped him. Minor distractions.
I was up early, and walked around Riomaggiore a bit. There is a nice and small pebbly beach round the corner. My plan earlier was to take a train from Riomaggiore back to Genova. Small chance! I was soon traversing the foot-path in the reverse direction. It was no less stunning. An entirely different experience in the morning air and light. A breakfast at Vernazza. Back to Monterosso, a small trek north of Monterosso towards Punta Mesco. You want to keep exploring, keep walking, and above all keep coming back.
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According to ancient Arabic literature, love is classified into seven different shades: "hub" (Attraction), "uns" (Infatuation), "ishq" (Love), "aquidat" (Reverence), "ibaadat" (Worship), "junoon" (Obsession), "maut" (Death). I am very happy to report that my journey to the Cinque Terre did not include the last two; it was, unlike "Dil Se", a journey through five shades of love.
Humble acknowledgements to Gulzaar, Mani Ratnam and Dil Se (http://www.rage-india.com/dilse/love.htm) for the concept and the quotations (lines from the song Satrangi re).
@ 22 Dec. 2007 – 00:37:01
Some moments are ultra special. Imagine you have just shaken hands with History, and you have just made acquaintance with Future, and you are sitting in the present full of dreams when you are presented with the most perfect sunset.
That was literally it - a tour of the Lord's Museum (a loving gaze from two inches at Cricket's most cherished tradition and trophy - the Ashes Urn), the Long Room, the MCC Committee Room (long debates over the "Leg Theory"), the visiting team's changing room with the famous balcony (picture Ganguly's shirt-waving payback to Flintoff and England) and the Honours Board (Agarkar's splendind hundred earning him a place alongside other more illustrious centurions); a round through the Grand Stand where you can lean over the boundary and touch the grass, and see Old Father Time in the South Stand; towards the futuristic Investec Media Centre, and then when you get inside the spaceship, and watch the last rays of the sun part company with the hallowed turf, you feel you can die in peace.
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