WIFI - St. Patrick's Day

St. Patrick, the Patron Saint of Ireland
Soon - and in all kinds of weather - he got around to saying a hundred prayers ' in a single day' and 'almost as many in the night'. His numbed mind awoke and it occurred to him now that since he wasn't kept in fetters he ought to make a bid for escape. There was always a ship or two at the coast, he had learned during his six years in Ireland, and if he could get onto one, he could get away from the accursed land. He explains this realization as a religious experience. That sounds better than, Jesus, it took me six long years to realize....

St. Patrick's Day Blessings
May the blessing of the rain be on you—
the soft sweet rain.
May it fall upon your spirit
so that all the little flowers may spring up,
and shed their sweetness on the air.

Interesting Facts about St. Patrick's Day
St. Patrick did not always have a saintly temper. Sometimes he lost it and let the curses fly. Some of his curses, with the help of geographical occurrences, worked - like the one that made a certain field sink under the sea and thereby useless for cultivation. St. Patrick's oxen had been refused permission to graze there and that had riled him a bit.

Irish Toasts for St. Patrick's Day
When we drink, we get drunk.
When we get drunk, we fall asleep.
When we fall asleep, we commit no sin.
When we commit no sin, we go to heaven.
So, let's all get drunk, and go to heaven!

Articles on Music

February was a very busy, very satisfying month, but I didn't get much time to blog. And today's blog is one of those 'list' blogs, where you scour through what you've done previously and provide links to that.

I've dug up some articles on music that I wrote for Buzzle. Music is a special passion of mine and I play the violin, the guitar and the harmonium - I'm also a pretty good singer, if I say so myself.

I've been writing for Buzzle for the past four years and it's been a totally wonderful experience.

Here's the list -

The Prince of Venosa

Music in the Renaissance

Johann Sebastian Bach

Sergei Rachmaninov (1873-1943)

Lili Marlene

Nazis and Music

Hollywood Musicals

Music Therapy

The Music Conductor

Musical Mondegreens

Etta James – Queen of the Blues

The Chieftains

Sketchbook Pages

I'm something of a cheapskate (or environmentally aware, ahem) when it comes to paper - if I take notes in pencil, you can be sure I'll write over that same piece of paper in pen the next time and then use that paper, when it's no longer needed, for making handmade paper or papier mache sculpture. Printouts are used for sketching, as you see. Reuse is my mantra.

The above sketch is NOT of the well-known Hollywood couple with the big multicultural brood.

Photo of the Week - Kesharganj

These were taken when I was staying in Kesharganj. This is a very small town about three hours from Lucknow. Part of the road from Lucknow is shaded on either side by some marvelous shady trees - in places the trees meet overhead forming a green canopy. In other places, tall reeds line the road and beyond there are millet and sugar-cane fields.


There is a long bridge across a wide expanse of water and once you cross that you stop for tea and mithai at Shukla's Dabha. They serve the best gulab jamun and baingan pakoda I've ever eaten.

I met some very kind and decent people in Uttar Pradesh.
I'm sorry about and disgusted with the completely unconstitutional and fascist turn taken by the MNS against UP/Bihari migrant workers in Maharashtra .

Learning Curve - Writing for Radio

As part of the ongoing process of polishing my writing skills further, I took a look at the basics of writing for radio, and I found the following links very helpful -

Skills for Radio Journalists

Newswriting for Radio

Writing for Radio

Photo of the Week - Sela Pass

This was taken in Sela Pass, Arunachal Pradesh, on the way from Tawang to Bomdilla. We were stranded here for two hours.  The wheel of our Sumo wobbled and nearly came off, so we had to pull over in the middle of nowhere and wait while the driver and a couple of overanxious passengers discussed the problem. The driver didn't have a repair kit, it wasn't a highly trafficked route and nobody had a cellphone. It was going to get really cold with night-fall. Should the driver walk all the back to Tawang to get assistance? What were we going to do?

For me, it was no hardship. I hadn't wanted to leave Tawang anyway. Reaching it had been the most romantic, magical journey I ever undertook. The Lord of the Rings kind, you know, where you wander through a surreal landscape, overcome several obstacles, and finally reach the golden destination.  And now here we were - what a perfectly lovely spot to be stranded in. The sun was beautifully warm on the hillside where I sat and there was a carpet of tiny blue flowers that, a fellow passenger said, grew only in that particular area.  The clouds were misting over the mountain tops. Tashi, my Lhasa Apso puppy, was curled up in a ball on my lap. There was a profound feeling of peace and of how good my life was.

SketchBook Pages

I've been having a perfectly creative day. The Two Talking painting is coming along very well.

I organized and filed away January's work. So now the only clutter on the work desk will be the one I'm looking forward to making this month. :-)