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December 27, 2004
o promised land, o wicked ground
from a window on the 59th floor; it is a post card perfect day in seattle..yes the sun is out :) reflecting the brilliant blue waters of the lakes and the sound; at places merging with the blue of the sky; boats appearing as white specks bobbling about in the lake while ferries make their island runs in the sound; bright red cranes of the docks tower over container ships waiting to be unloaded; majestic rainier that dwarfs everything while in distance; glaciers come visible on the cascades and olympics that circle this city; i wonder whats to come; when will the plates collide here; when will faults stretch themselves or mt rainier flare angry..
acts of nature/acts of god..we live in mercy, blessings, luck and fate.
san andreas fault
moved it's fingers
through the ground
earth divided
plates collided
such an awful sound
san andreas fault
moved its fingers
through the ground
terra cotta shattered
and walls came
tumbling down
o promised land
o wicked ground
build a dream
tear it down
o promised land
what a wicked ground
build a dream
watch it fall down
- natalie merchant, san andreas fault, tigerlily
Posted by ananth at 08:17 PM | Comments (0)
December 20, 2004
jayendra saraswati
jayendra saraswati; the present shankaracharya of the kanchi mutt; accused of serious wrongdoings; is in the slammer. the followers of the mutt as well as laymen brahmins and millions of hindus are in shock and denial. while the details are murky and so much money involved; with the politians and third parties playing their own games; who knows what is real anymore?
its shameful this sense of disrepute bought to the mutt. while there have been transgessions in the past; mr jayendra saraswati has lent his offices to mediate in disputes and has been involved in numerous charitable causes including engineering and medical schools.
however; there must also be discussions on the relevance of such holymen and the many babas as well. just like the pope; the influence of these men are in wane among the younger generations. do holy men, babas deserved to be worshipped? while we listen to philosphers and preachings from babas; the offerings, rituals on them as a sign of respect; seem to get out of control and over the top at times.
after all; actions like these if true; makes them normal human beings. shivshankar baba and yahava munivar slanging eachother on tv, another baba producing watches and icons...oh well.
the man deserves a fair trial based solely on the evidence rather than a trial used as a witchhunt against brahmins. it has all signs of this and hopefully will not degenerate into brahmins vs others or some revenge for the past.
Posted by ananth at 09:21 PM | Comments (0)
December 13, 2004
seattle - thawing with tullys chai
planes, trains, buses, tuk-tuks, bicycles, mopeds, boats, minivans, subways, and taxis....
~ missed elephants, horses and water buffaloes....
foggy mountains, lazy rivers, hazy hills, wonder wats, rich ruins, green paddy fields, mysterious jars, bomb casings, buddha images, border crossings and exotic markets....
~ stories they dont tell
jackfruits, sugarcane juice, tender coconuts, coconut shakes, rambutan, rose apples, pineapples, guavas, dragonfruit, tamarind, mangostein, pomelos, durian, malaria pills, mangoes, grilled bananas, sticky rice, making fresh spring roles, beerlao, beerchang...
~i had my share..
flavored ant eggs, minced bats, squirrel soup, rice paddy rats, rabbits, pig faces, black beetles, big roaches, frogs on a stick, fried grasshoppers, larvae, crickets, cats, eels, silk worms and all kinds of fishy creatures....
~wait for my new recipe book...
clinics, camps, orphanages, monastaries, charities, asean summits, guesthouses, visas on arrival, to go with monks, refugees, tribes, UXOs, mine victims and fellow backpackers
~ my neurons narrate....
two weeks gone by....
three shades browner
sunny northern central thai and laos;
the vibrant madness with the rural friendliness
its back to the cold cloudy rain
for all the moments; i just can't ask for more........
Posted by ananth at 07:10 AM | Comments (0)
December 12, 2004
ms subbulakshmi - a requiem
sri venkatesha suprabatham blaring in the mornings at our homes, an alarm clock sometimes;
weekends as we sat doing our school homework early in the morning..the warm sunlight peering windows; the coffee aromas still swirling, the kolam still fresh in front of the door, while the venpongal and kathirikkai gotsu/gojju (roasted eggplant stew) were cooking
festive occasions; 4 am hurried baths, morning prayers, helping around with various chores in the house, the preparation of food, the excitment for the rituals and gatherings of friends and family...diwali, pongal, janmashtami, maargazhi season...she a default maybe followed by t.n.seshagopalan, some veena or violin, nadaswaram etc
her music brings nostalgic memories of innocent childhoods and lazy summer vacations spent in ancestral homes in deep south. cousins running around; carroms, tops; vendors with their baskets of fruits, flowers for their routine stop by the house; haggling and village gossip; milking of cows; trips to kovils.
a powerful, pious, devout and disciplined voice; an appeal to traditions and simple life and a blessing for a heavy mind..she was. her renditions for classical favorites being the bar for many new music aspirants; she spread the carnatic gospel far and wide.
thyagaraga's endaro mahanubhavulu, ennaga manasukurani , sentimentals vathapi ganapathim, bhavayami's and really special one in ganesh pancharathnam (mudhakaratha modakam) as well as one of the couplets:- moyyar taddam from thiruvembaavai. musicindiaonline has quite a good online collection here . ganesh pancharatnam can be found here.
thanks ms for your contributions
Posted by ananth at 02:47 AM | Comments (0)
December 10, 2004
khaosan road, bangkok - high on beerChang
a backpacker mecca..a road lined with hostels, guesthouses, hotels. sit out bars, people watch cafes, food wheelcarts and pavement side food stalls. new backpacker arrivals distinct with their pale skin, open lonely planet or rough guides and big ass shoulder packs. tanned existing ones chilling and bargaining like locals. hair braiders, tatoo artists, singing beggars and taxi cabs with no place to move.
this is a starting point to many of the travels in the wider region.. some websites specific to this road give more details. the scene however cannot be described only experienced.
Posted by ananth at 02:46 AM | Comments (0)
December 09, 2004
bangkok, thailand - gagging on durian
yes durian is nasty..sorry thai people..rotten eggs flavour, raw hydrogen sulphide maybe a bit of sulpher dioxide..(H2S & SO2) mix back from our chemistry lab days with a fibrous papaya texture and stale jasmine aftertaste...ugh just plain ugh~
listened to sermons from luang ta maha bua, a revered monk 91 yrs old who was on his biannual sojourn (from his temple base at udon thani) at suansaengdham (dhamma light park) in the outskirts of bangkok. he talked about his mission to contribute to the national reserve fund (as a safety for any future economic crisis)
spent time at the phaya thai orphanage with 2-3 year olds; we bought five bags of rice, a bunch of milk powder, snacks, and other supplies. the orphanage encourages physical interaction with the kids. we couldnt shake of the little guys as they were so drawn to us; wanted us to play with them, hold them and talk to them. it was miserable to leave when the visit ended.
drinks later that night at sirocco on the 63rd floor of the state tower at silom; this open to the sky bar is just plain amazing. you can walk to the edge..separated by probably a waist high glass partition.....what a view...WOW...this would never be possible in the united states given the insurance and safety liabilites. there is a sheer drop of 64 floors if you look down..and i wonder how this is so accessible for casual alcoholics..much less to the drunken soul...though the alcohol price does keep the sanity check of folks to do try anything..:)...a jazz singer from a pedestal high above us was crooning to an open terrace where candle light diners feasted on mucho expensive grub..about 75$ a plate..while the bar gave us; with not so fat wallets; the same ambience and visionary dreams with the expansive views and sounds..more discussion on buddhist monks and meat consumption into the wee hours of the morning with anoti and nicole saw us quickly going over the closing hour and being chased out..
visits to chatuchak and various markets in search of exotic animals; we saw beetles, frogs, larvae, grasshoppers. we couldnt find the cobras that was mentioned in the bangkok airways magazine article and my enquires in search for that particular stall went nowhere. supposedly cobras are slit while alive; and their blood is consumed (an aphrodiasic the article mentioned)
Posted by ananth at 02:55 AM | Comments (0)
December 07, 2004
vientiane, laos - making fresh spring rolls
the capital city of laos, an old lao friend somphonh lives here. with the recently concluded asean summit; in which the entire city and the province was closed including the airport; he has some stories for us; him being involved with security.
big tipping sultans, ministerial security wants and huge media delegations; it seems to have been a hella busy week for this small recently spruced up city. we chug beerlao; swap stories with somphonh and sample local eateries and bars.
drinking dragonfruit, sapota, mixed fruit fruitshakes (made with ice and condensed milk), eating indian food with our newly made phonsavanh friends and just lazing on the mekong river (looking across to thailand); time seems to fly by quick.
tomorrow its an all night bus, starting first through the border to nongkhai,thailand (about 90 mins) and then all the way to bangkok. the trains are sold out :(
Posted by ananth at 02:46 AM | Comments (0)
December 05, 2004
mines advisory group
mines advisory group is not-for-profit ngo that works in lao's country side clearing them of UXO's.
Posted by ananth at 07:59 PM | Comments (0)
phonsavanh, laos - drowning in beerlao
from luang phabang; after a long 6 hour windy, twisty ride (made with a couple of really friendly quebecois helene and patrick) through sadly denuded hillsides (because of nomadic tribal farming)..we came to phonsavanh:- a city in north central laos; a stop to visit the mysterious plains of jars scattered around a treacherous and toxic country side; bombs, mines yet unexploded frequently referred to as UXO (unexploded ordinances)..remnants of a war not known as much to the outside world..
khong keo guesthouse with its gutter mouth but eccentric owner was the perfect place to drink beerlao and lounge around a warm firepit made out of a cluster bomb shell to swap stories with other fellow backpackers...an eclectic group; some in search of themselves; some in search of their dharma; while others being plain tourists.
mr. khong keo told us an r-rated lao folk tale of water-buffaloes and why they have no upper front teeth..(shown in the foto here :) though his story was different than a similar themed vietnamese folk tale here The Peasant, the Buffalo and the Tiger
Posted by ananth at 02:35 AM | Comments (0)
December 03, 2004
luang prabang, laos - munching sticky rice coconut flavored
a sleepy little town where time stood still..a world heritage site, you see layers and layers of hills, mountains reaching higher and higher from the fields as you sit by the confluence of two rivers..you marvel at the fresh air, the laziness and the abscence of autos.
you think you should become a writer, you think you want to retire here. the december mornings crisp; a foggish haze drapes the hills and mountains in all shades of grey and blue as the peaks blend into the morning sky.
as drums sound pre-sunrise; they signal the morning rounds of monks on to get their alms; what they will eat for that day. they march..200 or so of them in a single file..bright orange robes, pale brown robes, young to old as they have for centuries.
an old capital city with its own distinctive sweeping style roofed temples, a long gone royal family, verdant countryside, laid back locals, late night markets and beerlao ..a must visit
Posted by ananth at 02:45 AM | Comments (0)
December 01, 2004
chiang mai, thailand - ravishing jackfruits
moats border of what remains of the old walled town; we were right there for the loy krathong festivities..floats, performances and a grand parade through the streets.
chiang mai is a little noisy but neverthless pretty city however overrun with tourists; too many old men walking with really young looking thai women.. a bit depressing to look! night bazaars are vibrant with plenty of deals to be had.
we ride our rented mopeds(scooters) to go to doi suthep ( a temple/monastery high up in the hills overlooking the city)..beautiful and windy up 1600 metres.
the surrounding provinicial country side is much prettier, skipping the city for which might not be a bad idea.
from here; we fly to laos tomorrow to luang prabang...cant wait!!!!
Posted by ananth at 02:44 AM | Comments (0)