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One Sho(r)t of the Devil

10 Feb

According to Dewdrop Dream’s tag, I must pick up the sixth picture in my sixth photo folder and post it here with a brief description/explanation.  Here you go:

new-york_cp


[Credits: OJ and her then fairly new Canon Powershot.]

It was Christmas Eve 2005. I was scheduled to leave America in 6 weeks and was in New York for one final fling with the city. The weather was cooperative and this picture was taken at dusk, atop the Empire State Building. For some reason, I can clearly remember wearing a green foam Statue of Liberty hat and swigging Minute Maid lemonade. New York has always held my attention. My heart, not so much. Love was for other places. Syracuse, Boston, Philadelphia. Real places, with memories I can grab by merely closing my eyes.  But when I do think of it, this is how I want to remember New York in my mind’s eye: coming alive under a twilight sky, one busy and strangely detached December, as I looked at oft-viewed people and places with the eyes of a girl departing.

After the Night

9 Jan

sun lamp_cp

Credits: An OJ finger on an Olympus E-520 DSLR clicker.

Time & Yuletide

25 Dec

Either it’s old age playing catch-up or it’s the time of (this particularly painful) year that has me oozing sop all over this page. This post may go down when I see it in the stark light of the morning, so don’t yell if you find it gone.

One of my (many) pet peeves is symbols. You heard me. And, by extension, symbolism. I have a theory about how the human race thrives on symbols because they help us make sense of the world and compartmentalize ideas/objects/people into neat little pockets of supposed comprehension. What I get annoyed with is how we use symbolism as a crutch that prevents us from thinking abstractly, out-of-the-boxedly, individualistically.

Now scratch everything you just read. Because for the first time in my adult life, I willfully created a symbol. Humbly. Out of sheer need. The need to hope, wish and connect. To do something with my hands that would help heal my heart. For the first time in my adult life, my annual Christmas tree routine took on critical, absolutely-must-do-or-I’ll-bust-all-my-blood-vessels proportions. And I dragged an already willing Boy by his full head of hair through an elaborate trim-the-tree ceremony because I had to (gosh I can’t believe I’m saying this, someone shut me up, please!) perform an act of love and meaning. I decorated this tree like my life depended on it. And, with the Christmas cake I’m going to ingest today, I also eat my words. Okay, I hereby ban myself from this blog.

Merry Christmas, folks. Here’s the tree in question. I’m off to pray for peace and sanity.

Credits:  The Boy’s Olympus E-520 DSLR, in his hands.

P.S. Click on the volume icon (top left hand corner of the picture album) to play Faith Hill’s ‘Joy to the World’ as you view the pictures.

Peace on Earth & Goodwill to (Wo)Men

15 Dec

It’s all very well to howl over your heartbreak and sniffle into your coffee about admittedly horrific events so close to home, but beyond the pain is the practical and that’s what this lady and her team of mostly mommy bloggers have been doing so well. (So the next time anyone thinks mommies are about just nappy-talk and burping babies, think again. Or I’ll sit on you until you do.)

Now, where were we? Oh yes, the India Helps blog. Especially remarkable because it’s really as basic as having good intentions and making them work. This group of proactive women has banded together to make a grassroots, human connection beyond writing out cheques (though those are great too—keep ‘em coming!).

It is my privilege to be able to contribute a little something through connections in the social work field, and request that all of you reading this visit the India Helps website to be a part of the effort in your own way. Spread the word, send links to related articles/new developments, draw attention to other similar efforts—every little bit helps. Let me be very clear. No one’s rushing into this. None of the bleeding hearts throwing money in an outpouring of temporary compassion bit. The groundwork needs to be done first. To figure out the most effective, useful ways to help. And these may not necessarily be the most obvious ones. India Helps is currently trying to contact people and organizations in the social work field to determine how resources can be best put to use. If you have ideas, do share them directly with Kiran and her team. If you don’t read regular post-26/11 updates on this blog, it’s because I encourage you to get your information from directly over there.

Here are some pictures taken on December 2nd. Thanks to the Boy really, because I was busy bawling like a baby. The ones from the December 3rd rally can’t go up until I knock some sense into my silly old camera, but I do, do want to share those with you. That rally was the single most cathartic, enthralling, amazing social experience of my 30 years and nothing I’ve been part of anywhere or anytime else comes even close.

Life is rumbling again, but just barely, and for once I know that the heaviness inside doesn’t stem from the extra pounds I lug around on my bones.

Stay well, people. It’s 10 days to Christmas.

Hope

14 Dec

hope

Credits: OJ fooling around with the Boy’s Olympus E-520 DSLR.

In Defiance of a Mumbai Morning

27 Nov

Hush, little dog,

There are terrorists about,

Maybe you’ll be exempt

Because they don’t kill their own kind.

Credits: OJ and her Canon Powershot in sepia mode. The result of much gadding about in happier times.

P.S. Tweets updated.

Trinity

18 Nov

trinity1

Credits: My old faithful Canon Powershot. No filters, no special lens used. The lighting is all natural.

On Diwali

28 Oct

Tomorrow, we shall make the world a better place.

Today, enjoy your mithai.

Warm wishes for peace and progress,

OJ

Available:

30 Sep

One umbrella stand,

large,

unpolished oak wood,

natural finish,

multiple pegs,

solid immovable base,

communal sharing permitted,

not for sale.

History

20 Aug

Credits: The Boy’s Olympus E-520 DSLR. (And, ahem, my hands.)

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