Photo of the Week - Visitors

 

We had some visitors the other day, a band of seven gray langurs. They turned up unexpectedly in the late afternoon, clambered up the guava tree and sat there for a while eating the fruit, having a sip of water, then leaped gracefully back and forth from the Mango, the Neem and the Gulmohor trees.

They stayed the night and we woke up to their whoops in the morning. The birds, annoyed by the newcomers, were making a huge big din. It was like waking up in the jungle.

They breakfasted on mangoes and then moved on. Good thing. I didn't want them destroying the mangoes and I didn't have the heart to call the Forest Department and perhaps have these lot sent to a zoo. They were having such fun.

Worthpoint Blog

I have a new blog at Worthpoint -

http://www.worthpoint.com/blog/sonal-panse

I'll be writing about collecting Toys - and, hopefully, also on Fine Art.

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