On the banks of Seine...

The city of Paris is full of gems, life and street vendors selling crepes! There’s so much to see and do that you can spend days without a minute to spare. Yes – there’s Eiffel tower and yes there’s Louvre but my favorite thing in Paris, rather things are Mont Matre and Notre Dame.

The metro, the trams make travel in the city very simple and quiet affordable. You can be at any place within the city in a matter of minutes. The magnificent Eiffel tower is a monument to see, more like a thing to see at night! During summer, sunset is late and so the best time to be around and/or on the tower is around 8:30 or 9pm. Running up the stairs (half-way) is a much better way to experience the tower. Each bend has some trivia of the structure. Paris looks amazing from the top. The city with the river, the grounds, and the white-roofs looks dense and intense. Like a lot of stuff packed into a small place, the city oozes life. The best part for me was actually laying in the park and watching the top of the hour 5 min light show on the tower. It is quite a sight to sprawl on the cool grass and watch the 1,063 ft tall structure above you light up in shimmering glow.

The Champs-Elysees (Shaun-z-ley-zees) is beautiful. The wide open road leading to the beautiful Arc de triumph is a great place to have lunch and do window shopping! Everything from a Ferrari to an ice-crème is available.

Louvre is perhaps Mecca for those into art. And it is not just the Mona Lisa, it is the huge painting and sculpture collection that stretches across 4 wings. To top it all there’s the palace outside and stunning square with famous Louvre triangles. Château de Versailles is another place to confirm any doubts you might have of Paris’s historic value. The opulent mirror room, gardens and fountains are just magnificent. The scale and scope, more than anything else, takes your breath away.

And now to things I loved! Notre Dame is an exquisite church. I didn’t even get to go to its top (closes at 5 pm) and yet I am mesmerized by what I saw. The eyes have to adjust to the darkness and ears to quiet-ness as you enter the main church. In all directions you see stunning glass work. Light filters in through blue and greens and makes the church look like a different world. I absolutely fell in love with each glass piece and the way it glowed in the filtered light from outside. I don’t know if my spirit moved and soul stirred, but my senses definitely were in a drive.

And then there’s parrtyy! Mont Matre, the humble and underrated gem of Paris is just the place to party. The white-domed Basilica of the Sacré Cœur in the fore front covers an absolutely fantastic array of artists and restaurants in the back. The street around the main square (at the back of Mont Matre) is surrounded by artists showing their work, selling their pieces and engaged in live sketching. In the middle are the patio restaurants and bars. The place has electric energy. And then as you walk to the front of church, the steps are filled with bevy of people just sitting, singing, admiring random performances and enjoying the setting sun over the city. The church is up on a hill (130 m) and gives a perfect view of the city, perfect entrance through old village and perfect experience of party in open with strangers! The best kind!

Oh and then there is Moulin Rouge! The can-can performance and the costumes and the thrill of being in front row, all came together in form of just an amazing experience of music, dance and show-woman-ship. For anyone who loves live performance, Moulin Rouge is one of its kinds.

Paris, a city where art lurks and thrives at every corner – music, painting, literature, food, architecture. Musicians play in metro tunnels, on trains, on street corners. The scale and preservation of history and art is admirable. You can walk on banks of Seine, climb the tower and the hill, walk your day off in palaces and museums, stuff yourself with yummy crepes and there’ll be still something left for the next time. That is Paris. The city just has so much to show off; it holds your daze and persuades you to fall in love with it. Everyone can find something to love in Paris.

Venize

City of bridges, city of water, city of masks! Venice is the most amazing man-made city. 118 islands over Venetian lagoon form this ever floating city. Water-taxi, water-bus and gondolas navigate these water ways. There are no buses, no cars, no cycles. You either walk or you take water-borne vehicle. Even the garbage is taken out on boats; the things are delivered within city on hand-cart! The city, being close to water is humid and hot but the first thing you notice around is the Grand Canal and on both sides of it the patio restaurants and the flowers, oh the flowers! Every nook of the city is filled with resplendent bunches.

Small lanes, bevy of visitors, amazing smell of food, ice-crème shop at every corner (pistachio my favorite), water canals at every bend and masks – is typical Venice. I think there are enough masks for everyone in the city a few times over. Don’t know what the city is asking its visitors to masquerade, but you can find any color, any style and any price on these masks. The streets, hotel-rooms, restaurants are tiny, the canals stink a tad, the Marco-polo (all roads lead to Marco-polo) square is littered with people all the time. The Basilica is beautiful on the outside and serene inside. The difference is literally night and day when you step from bright light and crowds into the dark and quiet interior. The square itself is amazingly roomy. With restaurants all around and basilica and tower in center – the pigeons, the musicians, the tourists, the vendors, the gondola salesmen, and the artists – everyone finds a place here.

I have to say the gondola ride (in my opinion) is over-rated. It is short and in small canals (which stink due to stagnant water) with a few minutes in the Grand Canal and through historic buildings of Casablanca, old market, jail and first Venetian bridge. And there’s no traditional singing by fellas. Not even humming, sometimes not even talking!

Bellini was invented in Venice and historic Harry’s bar offers some delicious food, lots of choice in Bellini and a fine view to go with it. The square is the place to be at night with musicians at every corner. The hour of the night is signaled by bells on basilica by metal figurines. The streets at night are less crowded and very safe. The edge of square becomes calm and as gondolas park for the day, looking through to the islands and listening to gentle water washing on steps is very soothing.

I also walked to the other end of the main island and watched the beautiful city from across the main channel. A looming statue of a boy with a frog in his hand is quiet amusing. Venice is a beautiful city, a unique place. I can’t imagine living there - imagine grocery shopping. And that’s the reason the city is so touristy! All you see are hotels, shops, restaurants and gondolas. It has had issues with flooding and constant danger of sinking, but for what it is and how it is; it is a place you have to see for yourself to believe it exists.

Pride 2009

Love makes a family – doesn’t it? Shouldn’t it?

What other law, what other policy do we need to put in place that trumps this?

For families to have kids they want, for those kids to have homes that are safe and environment where their childhood is happy and growth into good citizens is ensured.

For people to have a loved one around when they are sick, sad or just alone.

For anyone to have someone to rejoice with, travel with, spend vacation with.

For anyone to have someone they can miss, they can cherish, they can love.

And an equal right for everyone to pursue this.

What good are societies if they can’t deal with differences with dignity and evolve with time to understand that differences are created for a reason? If we were all the same, we all wouldn’t be needed. We built society to safeguard humanity. We built rules to facilitate communities. Not to weed out differences like well, like weeds.

And who is anyone to say what differences are right and wrong. They just are. We are all the same, in the make-up of our ‘human-ness’. Flesh and blood and emotions and flaws and capabilities. Same origin of birth and a same end goal of death. Who is anyone to decide that the path anyone follows in that journey is wrong just because it isn’t like theirs?

And this is what I felt at pride 2009. As I thought about last year and happiness and hope of equality, I was so upset by harm Prop 8 did. Who gives anyone the right to take away other’s rights? Where’s empathy, where’s juts basic good logic and sense?

No one can stop progress. No one ever has stopped evolution. If a community is asking for its rights to be treated and acknowledged equal and committed to pursue happiness, may it thrive! And be well. And have all the power it needs to make it happen. The colors of rainbow, the ‘pride’ will thrive.

The King of Pop...falls

June 25th, 2009
The first time I saw Grammys, BAD was nominated in 5 categories and he lost in all of them. But, what I found that year was a deep admiration and love for his artistry. The ‘king of pop’ was THE legend when it came to originality. He invented dances and created such mesmerizing music with voice and video that it always left you in awe. He was not only an icon, a musician; he was a true entertainer.

No matter what is said about his personal life and behavior, the recluse artist, to me was a genius. His music cut across all boundaries and tied together all cultures. ‘We are the world’ is what his music really was all about.

What I found moving was no matter how famous, how rich, how immensely unique you are, at the end of it all you like everyone else are a mere mortal. As he laid there on a stretcher with tubes in mouth and as his body was taken to morgue wrapped in white sheet – life showed its face and death showed its power. We are alike, made of the identical flesh and blood and when its ashes to ashes and dust to dust, we all go the same way into the same mysterious place.

The shinning glove didn’t make him feel less pain, neither did it save him from the fated end. The glove came off, the final curtain call was, as always is, painful. It was tragic and shocking and disheartening that when he was about ready to put his life’s pieces into place, time ran out. In an instant. And there was no puzzle to be put together, nothing to figure out. He was preparing for a grand, never seen before – MJ style, ‘comeback’ tour. For the king, there will be no comeback.

R.I.P

And I touched love….

I saw two rainbows lined up in the sky….
In my rear view mirror…
I wiped it clean….and I touched love

I saw the moon perfectly aligned
To the blinds of the windows….
The clouds parted like the curtain
Moonlight on my pillow….and I touched love

The setting sun …..the wide ocean…
The golden rays jumped in water
Squirmed and dissolved….
The water bounced off my feet….and I touched love

A lazy morning …in a long queue of chores
I looked around for diversion….
To shake me up from boredom….
An old woman’s smile…wearing same emotion…..and I touched love

Melting ice-crème in sweltering heat
Three flavors …..the joy of Sundae…
Closed eyes, dirty clothes…..
A satisfied smile of a child….and I touched love

I see it and still I run…..I touch it and yet I yearn….
Is it love or is it me….Or is it a little of both….
That I need to learn….

Women I admire...and why...

Mary Carillo – Mary speaks her mind, and speaks it well. She sees what she calls ‘her’ game with clear eyes and wants women to be competitive and excel. That is a true sports person. I didn’t know her until I recently (not too recent) started listening to her at tennis grand slams and Olympics. She mostly speaks for my favorite sport- tennis (being a tennis pro herself) and, I’d like to meet her to thank her for the tremendous value she adds to my game-watching. Not to mention her humorous comments and interesting tit-bits which add to my tennis IQ.

Terri Gross – brave woman. For a diminutive, shy person Terri has created something unique on radio. She has created a new genre of exploring art, social science, political science and writing and molded the process into interviews. Talk about asking the right questions. With an infectious laugh and incessant curiosity she pulls out the story behind a topic, a book, a movie, any piece of work. If I ever wrote something that gets published, my mark of success would be an invitation on her show.

Steffi Graf – The greatest athlete ever, in my mind. She is the toughest player I have seen who played the game of tennis. She possesses unwavering mental toughness, infinite athletic ability, quiet passion, and deep ambition. She continued that throughout her life, doing what she wanted with the same poise and control as on court. With a complete game for all surfaces, whipping forehand and perfect backhand slice she’s the only one to win a golden grand slam. She led the women tennis for more than a decade and after her it hasn’t been the same again.

Priyanka Gandhi – A woman possessing such contrasting qualities and using them all at a right time in right places. People skills come so naturally to her as if she was born with them and yet she is a self proclaimed recluse personality in private life. She comes across as polite but firm, strong but charismatic, thoughtful and yet impulsive. She connects with the crowds in a language they understand and with thoughtfulness they long. She is clear headed about her role, her choices and her place in the Indian politics. She is not a politician but boy! she understands the politics of the that nation and its people.

Rachel Maddow – She is by far the most refreshing face in media. Intelligent and witty, this woman is not afraid to show who she is, what she thinks and all with a jocularity that could make anyone crack a smile. Sarcasm is an art, and Rachel charismatically brings it to daily news analysis. She has brought charm and politeness by treating people like guests. Her ‘no-confrontation’ policy ensued logic in debates and kept drama out of the daily dose of ‘what’s up with the world’. It took a woman to bring chivalry and decency to television.

Ellen Degeneres – three words you can learn from her - fun, dance and Vodka! Am I right ladies?! With an exceptional sense of comic timing and clean humor she brings to life her priceless expressions. She is a poster child for someone who lived and learnt and came out smiling. I think I share most of her ‘likes’ – white shirts, dance, drinking, games, laughter. Of course, she does all this in style and has become an iconic brand for ‘joy!’ Can you think of anyone else that conjures better picture of joy than Ellen as a celebrity? I like her more because she likes what she does and is gracious about it.

Shabana Azmi – coz’ she is a fire cracker! A feisty, fun loving woman who is so ahead of her times and yet completely in stride with the world around her. The only true feminist I can see in India, a voice for minority – be it the desolate gay community or the poor slum dwellers. She is politically active and not afraid to muster up a rally for a cause she believes in. She is a brilliant actor by profession. She lights the screen on fire and commands attention. Her personal life choices have been bold and her reel life portrayals have been nothing short of masterpieces. A vibrant lady with shine in her eyes, doing her part for everything she feels on and off screen. A self described secular liberal Shabana is AAA – actor, activist and azmi!

STORAGE = Store and age?

Public Storage…have you ever wondered how did this industry come up? Did someone have too much crap they didn’t want to part with? Too much good stuff! And then that someone thought there’d be more like them? What does it say about us – we need a place to store stuff we cannot keep and we do not need in our daily lives.

So, first we buy stuff to fill our space and meet out “needs”. Then we rent a space for that stuff. Be it separation, togetherness, loss of house, gain of relationship, no matter what the excuse is, the truth is it just means we have too much stuff. So much stuff, that we need storage to keep it, time to visit it, and money to rent it its own space.

Even if it is temporary, having to store something means…well, it could mean one of two things. Either the reason why we have to part with it is temporary (at least in your mind) or we just have too much stuff. It is true that we live in times when things are not needed but wanted. Things are not required but willingly acquired. The world we live in – things make us happy. New stuff makes us happier. But, is there a point where a line is crossed? Is renting a storage the point where we need to say to ourselves – “I have too much of what I don’t want”. To me, this marks the point where too much of good stuff is a bad thing.

This concept would work so well if applied to our emotional baggage. Store it away; visit it once in a while, but mainly, once you leave it behind you live in the moment. Memories worth keeping, heart breaks that we can’t let go, feelings we hold on to just because can safely be deposited and neatly shelved. Once we visit them, laugh and cry with them, we dust ourselves off and walk away unattached and brand new. The pain that won’t let go, the smiles that you don’t want to forget, all stacked up leaving you free to create new memories, explore new feelings and live in the present. I’d pay for that storage! I would store that and let it age while emancipating myself from binding age and time.

Memories for storage!