Whose conflict is it anyway????

What is Israel thinking of...bombarding Lebanon in such a ghastly manner? Yesterday i chanced upon a rally in support of Lebanon in Trafalgar Square.....there were tourists as well as supporters of both Palestine and Lebanon from all sections of the society. Songs, slogans of protest rented the air...the atmosphere was charged with emotions running high.

I feel strongly for Lebanon and its people. What right has Israel got to infringe international territory and mow people down? Why are they targetting civilians? What has taken the international community so long to respond? And killing Lebanese civilians was not enough...they went a step further and killed unarmed UN Observers as well....its dastardly!!! Well it is very apparent that this war is a weapon for the United States Of America to consolidate its position in the Middle East. Without its support Israel wouldn't have been able to sustain the conflict for this long...

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Some thoughts to leave us by...


And those who were dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music -- Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzche (1844-1900)

Questions show the mind's range , and answers its subtlety-- Joseph Joubert, essayist (1754-1824)

London...here i come...

15th of July...

Took a tour of the London City.....the London Tower Bridge, St. Paul's Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, St. Margaret's Church, Buckingham Palace ( a wee bit of a side angle), 10 Downing Street and all those streets that epitomizes the city...Regent Street, Oxford Street, Fleet St, Bond Street, the M16 and M15 ..... on one of the Hop On -Hop off buses( a double decker bus...the ticket of which u can buy for the entire trip and then hop on and hop off on any similar bus on the route). Also took a cruise on River Thames (which is included in the ticket of the tour of the city) and it was great fun!!! Took a walk along the south bank....and there were numerous street acts.... people dressed and posing as statues (really great...u know..so perfect they don't even move) and comic acts...as well as great music....jazz, rock, instrmental by young and old alike ...all for an extra buck....most of them are very qualified...probably students of music....practising during their summer vacations or tourists who earn while they holiday!!!! It was great fun....the street came alive with the youthful spirit and the sheer zest for life they possess...guess thats what the city of London truly reflects!!!

18th of July...

Visited the Victoria and Albert( V &A) Museum and the Museum of Natural History. The V&A housed relics from all over the world...but what i truly enjoyed was the gallery showcasing art from South Asia....relics dating the Mughal and pre-Mughal era.....exquisite jali work, meenakari, clothes and jewellery....and what magnificent artefacts made from copper, brass, shells and iron!!!!! Simply superb.....

The Museum of Natural History was fun....a whole lot of kids....summer picnics and with teachers...and one should have seen their expression when they came face to face with the mechanized animated T-Rex...they went crazy....all four and five year olds...screaming their hearts out!!! And the braver amongst them, choosing to tease it.....as it towered in all its magnificense over them ......

20th of July...

Visited Wimbledon....and it was packed with people....

Why did Zidane behave that way?

So why did Zidane behave that way in the final minutes of the World Cup Final? Why did he crack up? Was it pressure, tension or a cumulative mass of anxiety and grievances???? I don't know what it was...but it was a sad moment for sportsmanship and the World Cup as a whole....

A Casket of Pansies at Dundee....

Butter Cup...

Pristine White...

Pretty Pink...

Flowers by the wayside in Dundee!!!! In all shades of blue..

Edinburgh Cow as Mowgli.....

View from the Edinburgh Castle....

Waterfront at Broughty Ferry...

T. Ao the Naga player to captain the Indian Team in 1948

The legendary Talimeren Ao was the captain of the first football squad of independent India to the London Olympics in 1948. He was born in Nagaland’s Mokokchung district. Read it....

http://www.indianfootball.com/data/halloffame/ao_talimeren.html

Anstruther, Crail and Edinburgh....

Took a drive to St. Andrews last evening . It was misty and the roads were smooth ....it was soooo romantic , there were vast green fields with red poppies lined on either side of the road and a thick veil of mist hung over it. There were neat rows of quaint little cottages with beds of lavender, poppy and other more exotic and vibrant couloured flowers. St. Andrews was cold...a chilly wind blowing from the waterfront (the North Sea to be precise!) and as we took a detour
on our way back, we stopped by two fishing villages by the coast...Anstruther and Crail....small hamlets, with colourful boats and yachts in the docks and several eateries specializing in 'fish and chips' !!!! On the whole, the drive was heavenly and picturesque and i hope i can take a similar drive with a special someone someday.....the sheer beauty is breathtaking.....

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Today i took a tour of Edinburgh. Went early in the morning .....by train to Edinburgh...took the 9.59 am train (yeah yeah....on the dot that too!!!). Reached Edinburgh in an hour and a half. Hopped off the train and bought the tickets for a bus tour of the city. The buses were the usual double-decker ones, that are so essentially a part of the roads in the UK. There was a cheerful guide who not only gave us an overview of the places visited but also interspersed his narrative with funny anecdotes and tongue in cheek comments about everything on God's earth including the Royal Family!!!!

We saw the old and the new town of Edinburgh, and also a quick tour of the places where great playwrights and literary figures like Robert Louis Stevenson and J.M Barrie (Peter Pan) once lived. The tour also touched upon the port where the Royal Yacht Britannia is now docked. I got down at the dock but didn't enter the yacht....more like a ship ....its a huge thing!!! Visited the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the Queen's official residence in Scotland. Also visited the Edinburgh Castle and witnessed the change of guards and took a stroll round the grounds. An impressive layout of massive grounds and well reserved canons and objects of yesteryear. But somewhere down the line, i felt that everything out there was highly commercialized....it was teeming with tourists...of all shapes and sizes (including us ofcourse!) and there were shops selling souvenirs ,within the precints of the fort.

The weather was a mix bag....it rained, and then there was a bit of sunshine and then it became dull and weary yet again. It was almost 3.30 pm when we got over with the tour. Took the 5.05 pm train back to Dundee and since i've got a terrible cold, the days' events have slowed me down and i just want to curl up in bed and doze off!!! Its five minutes to 9.00 now and its bright as a button outside...if i didn't have much faith on the world around me...i would have thought that it was 9 in the morning!!!!

Michael Palin's 'Himalaya', Love and Life...

I am currently reading a very interesting travel book 'Himalaya' by Michael Palin.......a coffee table book on an expedition by Michael Palin and the BBC crew on the Silk Route....beginning in Pakistan, moving across to India(Amritsar, Shimla, Chandigarh,Kashmir,Ladakh,Mc Leodganj), Nepal, back to India(Assam and Nagaland) and then Bangladesh. Its beautifully written....a smooth narrative interspersed with witty anecdotes and fantastic photographs.....absolutely mindblowing, capturing the essence of the places and the people!!! I love reading about places and i'm crazy about travelling and travel books and travel shows (i used to love the programme on Discovery Channel 'Lonely Planet' hosted by Ian Wright and i adored his quirkiness!!!!). 'Himalaya' is a must read....its captivating...

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What would Love mean for an eleven year old? Love as in romantic love. I had a candid chat with my young cousin last night about love. He supposedly has a crush on his classmate and he thinks it is a mutual feeling. ....and like all yound people he was absolutely wide eyed when he spoke about her. He sought my 'expert advice'....and very innocently he asked me if 'the following meant anything significant . I believe the whole of last year whenever he looked at her, she looked away....so he kept asking, 'does it mean anything?'. I didn't know what to say....i tried my best and told him that it could possibly mean that since she liked him as well, she probably felt embarrassed to look at him directly...maybe she felt shy !! Well who knows....I am not the best of people to seek advise on relationships...considering my track record....but never mind :)!!!

Last night's conversation made me feel a lot older....this young boy talking about love ...an eleven year old in 'love'...amazing man!!! Love is such a complicated phenomenon...i wish i could sit and tell him all about it....but i didn't want to erode his innocence....i wanted him to feel all excited and gooey when he thought of 'her'...the special someone in his life....!!! He wasn't quite sure what it mean to be 'going around' and he infact asked me...what he could do with her...! I told him that perhaps he could take her out for a movie, share his secrets with her....confide in her and basically take her as a close buddy.....

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Life comes full circle....children are growing up fast these days...well...i can't remember being interested in the opposite sex that early in life....or perhaps i was but i wasn't aware of it...i dunno....life is just very confusing...


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Holiday in Dundee, Scotland

In Dundee, Scotland now. Reached here last evening. Here for a short vacation. Its beautiful and picturesque. Rolling green meadows with lazing cows and sheep, dark green conifers and bright vibrant wild flowers lined the roads on the way from Edinburgh to Dundee (which is an hour away from Edinburgh). But its soooo very quiet...not a soul on the road...the silence is deafening!!! The only sound is that of the occasional passing cars.

Walked down to the pier on the River Tay as it joined the North Sea. Cries of the Sea Gulls rented the still air. Beautiful houses....with neat pots of flowers lined the doorsteps on the river front. Picked up some river-washed smooth pebbles and took some lovely photographs....(planning to upload them soon).

And surprises of all surprises, it remains bright as daylight till around 10.30 pm at night....its amazing...seriously...my body is taking quite some time adjusting to the new time frame!!!

The streets are so neat and clean and beautiful shrubs and flowers in full bloom line the roadsides. The houses are picture perfect, with well manicured lawns and rock gardens on the front. Its splendid!!!

Plan to take a tour of the castles and the lakes sometime during my stay here....

Its very beautiful...the landscape reminds me of Shillong and the other regions of the Northeastern part of India ...minus the dirt,noise and quintessential paddy fields (that are soo symbolic of the Indian countryside) !

Will sign off now...

See ya later...

Do take care...

Hiatus.....

Well i'll be off for a month .....for a holiday........

I'm looking forward to it...maybe i'll upload some photographs while hoildaying....till then...

Do take care..
Love...

Loreto Convent, Shillong, Class 1, 1987

With Mrs. D'Costa and Sr. Monica, class 1, 1987 Loreto Convent, Shillong..

Did we ever think how time would fly so soon...??? Here i am...almost twenty years hence...

If Men Could Menstruate......

Yeah...if only they would :(...

Anyways, check out the link below....its tongue in cheek and really funny!!! And i'm sure the men are going to agree with it....

http://www.mum.org/ifmencou.htm

Being Schizoid....

I am quite Paranoid. Like the other day i was telling someone....i'm really scared to part with my personal details on the internet...what if...there are 'dangerous' people lurking around. Not that they would be on a prowl to hunt me down...but who knows rt? Anyway, been thinking about it lately...perhaps i'll upload my picture on the blog one day or reveal my name ...

I think i've become very comfortable in this sense of security....to be known as just schizoid to my unknown audience. In reality Schizoid is not just any term that i have taken a fancy to ....i think the term reflects a part of who i am ...i am a bundle of contradictions... i'm sure most people are...but i'm a people's person on one hand but i'm quite a loner....most of the time...


to be continued...

I love my space...i'm quite guarded about "my space".I think....perhaps i overdo it at times....just think and think about life and career, relationships ....or the lack of it :( .....I dunno therez always something thats weighing on my mind. At present its the project report to be submitted....its just that and nothing more. I sometimes wish i didn't have to think that much...what kind a life would that be...i can hear a voice in my head saying "relaxed"....i'm sure thats true...but that would require some time...to be cool and laid back and "relaxed"...... hmmm ...

I also tend to go over details of some past events over and over again...so much so that it gets magnified....the "repetition trauma" the psychodynamic theorists would eagerly point out. But you know its not always bad....when i spend a lot of time thinking about some issue and analyze it from several angles (as in try to see my stand and the other's) ....over time...it ceases to hold that great a significance. I feel that perhaps my mind becomes weary and stops reacting to it...and the issue then becomes like those countless other issues that are just mundane without much substance....

Anyways, i dunno if i make much sense...but this is how my mind works time and again...

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Music that i'm listen to these days:

* The Vienna Choir Boys ( and especially their rendition of 'Amazing Grace'......its brilliant and very soothing!!!)
*Green Day (When I Come Around, Time of Your Life - Really like this one specially!)
*Melodies of Tibet ( a rather different collection of music from the Land of the Buddha.....its good!)

Quite an eclectic collection....but thats what keeps me going....Music is all about moods...and like my temperament, what i listen to also changes from time to time....