vices of the world come back to me, its time to put the cook back to action, of long you sat huddled in a corner, waiting for the expected to happen!
the soups ready, dinner served, action and drama about to unfold, as the host shall today revel the portal of unheeded truth , and anticipate the guests to squirm their reserve!
its a strange party here... there sits a tree at the center of the table... critically watching the show, the fawn has got his first stepshaken, or tries to stand the blow.. but beaten it seems facing the stranger;s hold!
the stranger is in fact a strange man, he claims he came long ago ... just so to know! there is silence between the fawn and the stranger because none knows what more to say! only the air beholds
"answers, answers, answers we all seek! " shrieks the butler , to no one in particular indeed. its a fact one has to accept and move on!
the stranger holds the stare of the fawn, almost hoping to find answers to his questions, but the fawn understands the blow... it didnt come from the stranger, it comes from deep within, it comes from the wasted efforts, it comes from the efforts it made to be liked so hard, it comes from all the 1st attempts, but the stranger must know... that there arnt any answers anymore
the tree sat through all this, who knows how much he knew? he just sat, and waited... in between gave the fawn another hope! but now the fawn sees it all, it should have never seeked so far, when the 1st power was in his 1st steps...
"dinner is getting cold sir", perhaps the butler said... the stranger sits in a gray suit, sad i assume he maybe, yet nothing he can do any more... almost helpless as he can be!
the fawn shall sit in his own soup, learnt a new lesson of life, to face a few facts and "B sensible" ... it had once read, no less no more...
the party shall presume like always, let the fawn take its own toll! we all fall and stumble dont we? claims the silent tree. the fawn doesnt need me,
the butler, should end his song, and now people have gone!
dinner has got over, drama may unfold, the audience has gone, no one clapped this time! they say it was weird this dinner today... weird food they say! but chuckle all cause we all know who they are actually talking about, its just that we dont say at all!
i wish i could give u answers stranger, i wish i could stall the wishes. but the fawn will have to follow a correct path, and the path differs from yours.
sabato 30 giugno 2007
martedì 12 giugno 2007
genoa
Fair enough? Dark alley dark deeds… behind the royal palaces, behind the empty giants a black ghostly trail…but, in
I traveled through these dark alleys, getting lost in the maze, it was quite simple in the map that I had! All I had to do was reach the palaces, cross the alleys and reach the port! But what I saw was a transition from the empty blocks to the hidden alleys and finally the active port…
I faced the sea again, just that this time it didn’t stare back at me, this time they were crowded by rows and rows of boats, curious buildings, amusement parks on the port! My presence was acknowledged by a hooting boat!
The number of people roaming on the port was contrary to the people staring at the rippling walls of the palaces. Its true when they say, that there is so much history in the southern
The port was the new attraction, maybe the only…I entered a huge aquarium which promised me sharks, octopus, dolphins and 25,000 tons of water! It was amzing in the beginning to see the deep aquatic brought to u… but somehow it seems a lot satisfactory seeing them on discovery itself!
The aquarium was fun, but I had crossed my ears of wonderment! I think I find more solace in buildings and empty streets, than cylinder full of fish!
And, as I think of it, who says religion is language or place bound!? In
It just surprises me…
lunedì 11 giugno 2007
cinque terre jignes bhai........ zaroor aana humare gao!
The last time you met me, i was in the college festive spirit, being the joker, looking for interesting people in the given circumstance, and well I still had some dreams to achieve them, but now I have begun to relaize them.
Now if u meet me, I hope u see me wearing a rugged pair of jeans and carrying a happy crinkled smile that tells you abt the places my weather beaten face has seen!
And I speak of all these dreams from one solo trip that suddenly changed my entire view and dimension of travelling.
The Friday of the last week came rather too soon and unexpected! But never the less I did not want to waste another weekend being the bum in front of the laptop or sleep my way thru … this time not anymore, so I figured out a train that left to this place called “Monterossa”… ow before reaching to the conclusion I had to go through the phase of reading and re reading the Italy lonely planet as my bible, figure out how to reach there and where to stay, but let me warn you that no amount of guides can tell u what exactly u will face after reaching a place! And I m happy that they don’t do so and leave a lot to ambiguous imagination!
So, I packed my bag and decided silently that come rain, snow or storm nothing shall stop me from heading for “ Cinque Terre”. But to all the Jignes reading this , I should first tell you about the legend of “cinque terre”(CT)…
Flashback…….It so happened that one day one of my frend had heard from an italian’s mouth about this wonderful place called CT and came raving about it and since then the seed got implanted in my mind and any Italian I met I asked and inquired about CT, always getting a good response… but, no amount of looking for images on the net, forming a visual refrence helps!
So after a sad delay of 2 weeks I couldn’t wait no more and for no one! This time I had to go and see it for myself . the word CT means 5 Territories and is a collection of 5 villages ( Monterossa, vernazza, Corneglia, Manarola and riomaggiore)… which lie one after the another along the west coast of italy facing turquoise emrald Ligurian sea….
Aaah.. here I want to take a moment and devote it to the mesmerizing power of the hills of liguria to stand defiantly the huge vast sheer of the sea… it is like this huge giant of blue gently pushes the tall mountains, stressing its power… but ever so gently.. and the mediators to this clash is the most happening spot… if the power of the clash is greater it is balanced by the soft warmth of the sand… and in places where the clash has been sober, it is balanced by huge white rocks…pateinly waiting for their turn to tumble one way or the other…. The tall cliffs of the mountains give a sharp contrast to the rounded huge stones at the depth of crystal blue of the sea…
Just a moment… it took ……….
Just an eye view of the sea gull I wished… for once!
But coming back.. I caught the train to Monterosso the 1st town from Milan at 7 15 in the morning and was off my way reading “atlast shrugged”! well, sleeping half my way! And reached stacked with an umbrella, a heavy jacket, jeans, shorts and a pull over! ( didn’t I say I was ready to face any kind of weather)… the only thing I was not ready to face was the extreme opposite! Coz soon I realized that all I needed was a sleeveless and shorts!
So, as soon as I got down from the train the 1st thing I faced was the colourful umbrellas and people enjoying their sun bathing under the hot Italian sun! beaching themselves to glory! And then I saw the caves, the gorges, just like how Enid blyton used to describe in her books.. where the famous five would go, looking for treasure! Curiously I always wanted to George amongst them too! And I felt like one, carrying a huge back pack, armed with a gulp of wine that I had just had! So much for starting a trek!
Haha…
The 1st few kms of the stretch was quite a task.. I had to walk steep steps and sweat like a pig…well that is if pigs sweat.. but then there was no way I was gving up when I had just began and especially when I had paid 5 euros for the day for the trek…but…I had my ipod for the company! and other trekkers to look and stare at! Apparently the 1st trek was the longest but it never seemed like that to me … as a matter of fact when I reached vernazza I saw another small clove of a beach, and people sitting next to it having lunch in front of these small café’s … there was a lively group playing Sicilian music which went like “ volla volla”… swinging their instruments around, I could see the feet of all tourist tapping despite the exhaustion of walking all that long!
Boy! Armed with a bottle of ice tea and the heavy back pack of course I had a good time looking at the crowd around! The numerous wine glasses clinked with pretty tanned women in bikinis, a cotton dress hanging loosely on their bodies, men digging into the bread… and amusing smirks on the face of Americans( since they consisted most of the tourist population, which I later realized also included of Australians, German and many Italians too) at the name of Gelataria, which means ice cream in Italian!
Ah! I think ill dedicate a special column to the gelataries of italy! ….for the later though!
“Should get back to track! Shudnt i???” this is wht I thought when I had spent sometime in vernazza, engulfing myself in the general gaiety of the crowd! So off I went aiming for my next stop to be in corneglia…this time the view was tht kept me enthralled! The huge expanse of the ocean and the high hills! And I felt proud as I walked between them! Walking sure-footedly on the ancient Italian rocks! Corneglia came across as a sleepy town… clean and bathed in the warm glow of the sun… it nearly breathed this clean sense of purity which comes from isolation of such villages! So.. I stopped here to catch a bite of some local dishes! But guess wht! The whole of italy eats Pizza as their local and but obvious favourite dish! So do i!
A huge margarita packed in my stomach gave me energy again to continue my trip ahead! Facing the mountains , my next stop was to be a Monarolla where I had planned to drop in the youth hostel!
The only problem a single traveller faces is clicking pictures while trying to face urself in the view! So before I started from corneglia I requested this girl to click a picture for me .. and since she was travelling alone too, asked me to click hers too! This is how I got introduced to Jessica, the American who had come from California and was an art student taking a break off for 3 months to travel to italy, which she did part with her boy frend and part alone! And this stretch she was doing it alone! … so we walked and talked together! For me she was a stranger with a nice weather beaten face and someone to talk to, to tell her what a lovely experience I was having and to her I guess I sounded like a mature girl who was trying to vainly to describe the dry creamy buildings of delhi!
Well she was quite surprised to hear my age though! But hell here I was! On my own!
Anyways, while talking she told me how she got bitten by bed bugs while she was staying at this place in riomaggiore, so I offered her to come and look with me the “ostello” in manarola, which when we reached we came to know was full and had no spare beds! As far as I was concerned! I had no back ups! The hostel was my only option, but with jessica’s coming i got another suggestion and we both thought, we may look where she was staying! So, this time she guided me to this another place called “mar mar” which was ideally located and incidentally they had just 2 beds! (well, usually in any other time period or place, I would have said tht this is the usual business phrase that people use, but under the circumstance of the rush of tourist , I would rather consider this as pure luck)… but the bed bugs were itching weren’t they! And the lady at the reception saw it!
She asked Jessica if she was bitten by bed bugs, and saw the huge traces all over her arms! Jessica was perplexed! She didn’t know how to answer her! For me it seemed like no big deal! Of course bed bugs isn’t no harm except gaining some sympathy from the viewer! But it Italy it didn’t seem so! It came like a crude shock to me when she refused to give Jessica the bed! Coming from India, bed bugs was the last reason for any transaction of money! And yet it was such a big issue of getting bugs in their beds and fumigating the whole dorm… I stood astounded by the hygienic standards of the country! Slowly learning from this encounter … while Jessica nearly got tears in her eyes…
She said she was happy that at least I got the bed. I thanked her genuinely and asked where will I meet u know, she said “ oh I don’t know..” and I replied very confidently, ow never mind I ll come to ur hotel and sort mama rossa ( the source from where she got the bugs) together…
We parted then….
I went to my room, with clean bed, a window, which started at the terrace of an Italian house! And she went to hers…
I freshened up and got out again to look for her and to see the sun drown in the sea from the rocks! I went to moma rossa, I shouted her name and believe me the entire village of riomaggiore is not bigger than a vasant kunj of delhi.. and yet, when all tourist come out in the evening to eat, I kept on hoping that I would meet her, bump into her…but I didn’t!
I went to the rocks, I saw the clouds from shapes of wondering rabbits, I saw the sea at my footsteps, and I thought of nothing for a long time… when I finally got up and headed back to my room, just when the entire village got happening again!
I was trying to fight the growing lonliness , I started to miss people, I thought I would find some comfort in the books .. but as soon as I entred my room, the outsides screamed at me again.. this time from my stomach! I was hungry, after all tht walk.. I needed food in this expensive place! I wanted energy!
After doing a thorough search of prices in all the bars and tratoria’s I settled for one very close to my place and decided that I would settle for mixed salad as my treat for trekking for 18 kms that day! But…I had to wait for a table!
It felt a bit foolish, there, to wait alone! The waiters wont even look at me! People came and people stood, they would come up to them and ask.. how many?? 2, 3 ,4.. and I think they assumed I was waiting for someone, or I just liked to stare!!
But… if this was how it was going to be I wudnt get a table and I woudnt get food! I had another thought! Of getting my food packed! But this restaurant seemed to full to do that! So …I saw these 2 middle aged ladies getting a table… this was my chance, my opportunity! I went politely to them and asked if I could join them at their table!
“Yes u can! As long as u paid your own bill”, said Su one of the 2 Australian ladies whom I was dining with! Actually both their names were Su, and I had the most amazing dinner with these ladies as we talked about our respective experience of being in Italy. One of them had these animated joyful eyes which would roll up in the most playful manner when she would excitedly comment on her frend.. and the other looked a kind patient lady with tortoise movements.
But I had fun! It was a wonderful evening… I went back to my room this time, happy and not missing my loneliness!
The next day… I got up early, packed and saw the fresh sea again… paid my gratitude for the lovely day and pushed off to genova…
Now if u meet me, I hope u see me wearing a rugged pair of jeans and carrying a happy crinkled smile that tells you abt the places my weather beaten face has seen!
And I speak of all these dreams from one solo trip that suddenly changed my entire view and dimension of travelling.
The Friday of the last week came rather too soon and unexpected! But never the less I did not want to waste another weekend being the bum in front of the laptop or sleep my way thru … this time not anymore, so I figured out a train that left to this place called “Monterossa”… ow before reaching to the conclusion I had to go through the phase of reading and re reading the Italy lonely planet as my bible, figure out how to reach there and where to stay, but let me warn you that no amount of guides can tell u what exactly u will face after reaching a place! And I m happy that they don’t do so and leave a lot to ambiguous imagination!
So, I packed my bag and decided silently that come rain, snow or storm nothing shall stop me from heading for “ Cinque Terre”. But to all the Jignes reading this , I should first tell you about the legend of “cinque terre”(CT)…
Flashback…….It so happened that one day one of my frend had heard from an italian’s mouth about this wonderful place called CT and came raving about it and since then the seed got implanted in my mind and any Italian I met I asked and inquired about CT, always getting a good response… but, no amount of looking for images on the net, forming a visual refrence helps!
So after a sad delay of 2 weeks I couldn’t wait no more and for no one! This time I had to go and see it for myself . the word CT means 5 Territories and is a collection of 5 villages ( Monterossa, vernazza, Corneglia, Manarola and riomaggiore)… which lie one after the another along the west coast of italy facing turquoise emrald Ligurian sea….
Aaah.. here I want to take a moment and devote it to the mesmerizing power of the hills of liguria to stand defiantly the huge vast sheer of the sea… it is like this huge giant of blue gently pushes the tall mountains, stressing its power… but ever so gently.. and the mediators to this clash is the most happening spot… if the power of the clash is greater it is balanced by the soft warmth of the sand… and in places where the clash has been sober, it is balanced by huge white rocks…pateinly waiting for their turn to tumble one way or the other…. The tall cliffs of the mountains give a sharp contrast to the rounded huge stones at the depth of crystal blue of the sea…
Just a moment… it took ……….
Just an eye view of the sea gull I wished… for once!
But coming back.. I caught the train to Monterosso the 1st town from Milan at 7 15 in the morning and was off my way reading “atlast shrugged”! well, sleeping half my way! And reached stacked with an umbrella, a heavy jacket, jeans, shorts and a pull over! ( didn’t I say I was ready to face any kind of weather)… the only thing I was not ready to face was the extreme opposite! Coz soon I realized that all I needed was a sleeveless and shorts!
So, as soon as I got down from the train the 1st thing I faced was the colourful umbrellas and people enjoying their sun bathing under the hot Italian sun! beaching themselves to glory! And then I saw the caves, the gorges, just like how Enid blyton used to describe in her books.. where the famous five would go, looking for treasure! Curiously I always wanted to George amongst them too! And I felt like one, carrying a huge back pack, armed with a gulp of wine that I had just had! So much for starting a trek!
Haha…
The 1st few kms of the stretch was quite a task.. I had to walk steep steps and sweat like a pig…well that is if pigs sweat.. but then there was no way I was gving up when I had just began and especially when I had paid 5 euros for the day for the trek…but…I had my ipod for the company! and other trekkers to look and stare at! Apparently the 1st trek was the longest but it never seemed like that to me … as a matter of fact when I reached vernazza I saw another small clove of a beach, and people sitting next to it having lunch in front of these small café’s … there was a lively group playing Sicilian music which went like “ volla volla”… swinging their instruments around, I could see the feet of all tourist tapping despite the exhaustion of walking all that long!
Boy! Armed with a bottle of ice tea and the heavy back pack of course I had a good time looking at the crowd around! The numerous wine glasses clinked with pretty tanned women in bikinis, a cotton dress hanging loosely on their bodies, men digging into the bread… and amusing smirks on the face of Americans( since they consisted most of the tourist population, which I later realized also included of Australians, German and many Italians too) at the name of Gelataria, which means ice cream in Italian!
Ah! I think ill dedicate a special column to the gelataries of italy! ….for the later though!
“Should get back to track! Shudnt i???” this is wht I thought when I had spent sometime in vernazza, engulfing myself in the general gaiety of the crowd! So off I went aiming for my next stop to be in corneglia…this time the view was tht kept me enthralled! The huge expanse of the ocean and the high hills! And I felt proud as I walked between them! Walking sure-footedly on the ancient Italian rocks! Corneglia came across as a sleepy town… clean and bathed in the warm glow of the sun… it nearly breathed this clean sense of purity which comes from isolation of such villages! So.. I stopped here to catch a bite of some local dishes! But guess wht! The whole of italy eats Pizza as their local and but obvious favourite dish! So do i!
A huge margarita packed in my stomach gave me energy again to continue my trip ahead! Facing the mountains , my next stop was to be a Monarolla where I had planned to drop in the youth hostel!
The only problem a single traveller faces is clicking pictures while trying to face urself in the view! So before I started from corneglia I requested this girl to click a picture for me .. and since she was travelling alone too, asked me to click hers too! This is how I got introduced to Jessica, the American who had come from California and was an art student taking a break off for 3 months to travel to italy, which she did part with her boy frend and part alone! And this stretch she was doing it alone! … so we walked and talked together! For me she was a stranger with a nice weather beaten face and someone to talk to, to tell her what a lovely experience I was having and to her I guess I sounded like a mature girl who was trying to vainly to describe the dry creamy buildings of delhi!
Well she was quite surprised to hear my age though! But hell here I was! On my own!
Anyways, while talking she told me how she got bitten by bed bugs while she was staying at this place in riomaggiore, so I offered her to come and look with me the “ostello” in manarola, which when we reached we came to know was full and had no spare beds! As far as I was concerned! I had no back ups! The hostel was my only option, but with jessica’s coming i got another suggestion and we both thought, we may look where she was staying! So, this time she guided me to this another place called “mar mar” which was ideally located and incidentally they had just 2 beds! (well, usually in any other time period or place, I would have said tht this is the usual business phrase that people use, but under the circumstance of the rush of tourist , I would rather consider this as pure luck)… but the bed bugs were itching weren’t they! And the lady at the reception saw it!
She asked Jessica if she was bitten by bed bugs, and saw the huge traces all over her arms! Jessica was perplexed! She didn’t know how to answer her! For me it seemed like no big deal! Of course bed bugs isn’t no harm except gaining some sympathy from the viewer! But it Italy it didn’t seem so! It came like a crude shock to me when she refused to give Jessica the bed! Coming from India, bed bugs was the last reason for any transaction of money! And yet it was such a big issue of getting bugs in their beds and fumigating the whole dorm… I stood astounded by the hygienic standards of the country! Slowly learning from this encounter … while Jessica nearly got tears in her eyes…
She said she was happy that at least I got the bed. I thanked her genuinely and asked where will I meet u know, she said “ oh I don’t know..” and I replied very confidently, ow never mind I ll come to ur hotel and sort mama rossa ( the source from where she got the bugs) together…
We parted then….
I went to my room, with clean bed, a window, which started at the terrace of an Italian house! And she went to hers…
I freshened up and got out again to look for her and to see the sun drown in the sea from the rocks! I went to moma rossa, I shouted her name and believe me the entire village of riomaggiore is not bigger than a vasant kunj of delhi.. and yet, when all tourist come out in the evening to eat, I kept on hoping that I would meet her, bump into her…but I didn’t!
I went to the rocks, I saw the clouds from shapes of wondering rabbits, I saw the sea at my footsteps, and I thought of nothing for a long time… when I finally got up and headed back to my room, just when the entire village got happening again!
I was trying to fight the growing lonliness , I started to miss people, I thought I would find some comfort in the books .. but as soon as I entred my room, the outsides screamed at me again.. this time from my stomach! I was hungry, after all tht walk.. I needed food in this expensive place! I wanted energy!
After doing a thorough search of prices in all the bars and tratoria’s I settled for one very close to my place and decided that I would settle for mixed salad as my treat for trekking for 18 kms that day! But…I had to wait for a table!
It felt a bit foolish, there, to wait alone! The waiters wont even look at me! People came and people stood, they would come up to them and ask.. how many?? 2, 3 ,4.. and I think they assumed I was waiting for someone, or I just liked to stare!!
But… if this was how it was going to be I wudnt get a table and I woudnt get food! I had another thought! Of getting my food packed! But this restaurant seemed to full to do that! So …I saw these 2 middle aged ladies getting a table… this was my chance, my opportunity! I went politely to them and asked if I could join them at their table!
“Yes u can! As long as u paid your own bill”, said Su one of the 2 Australian ladies whom I was dining with! Actually both their names were Su, and I had the most amazing dinner with these ladies as we talked about our respective experience of being in Italy. One of them had these animated joyful eyes which would roll up in the most playful manner when she would excitedly comment on her frend.. and the other looked a kind patient lady with tortoise movements.
But I had fun! It was a wonderful evening… I went back to my room this time, happy and not missing my loneliness!
The next day… I got up early, packed and saw the fresh sea again… paid my gratitude for the lovely day and pushed off to genova…
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