Wayfarer's window!

Mr. Shashi Tharoor, an Indian parliamentarian famous for his overwhelming vocabulary and mastery of the English language, may have (as there is no way I can confirm) posted the following tribute to the letter "T".  It is a clever ballad of the "Tongue" and I got it while it was doing its rounds in WhatsApp groups. So here it is: A tribute to the letter "T"                 The tongue’s terrible tendency to tell tall tales totally tarnishes traditional transcommunication theories. The tempestuous tirades traceable to the tongue testify to the traumatic tactics of this tiny tab of tissue. Thousands that take the time to think, try to tame the tumultuous torrent of the too talkative tongue. Temporarily, the tide turns. Towering tempers turn to tenderness. Then, tragically, the trend tapers. The tongue trips, teeters, then takes a tumble; the temptation to trifling twaddle triumphs. Take time to tabulate this timeless truth: to train the tong...

 "Philip Bhai ko Garage", can be found in Kalimpong, at the intersection of pathways famously known as Bar-Bot, Bong Bustee. Our own life intersected with Philip's when he was a small child. Since then, he has been our brother. He has a remarkable story of survival, fortitude, and resilience.  Today, surpassing his challenges, he has found a space of his own. He is popularly known in the town of Kalimpong for his motorcycle repair and makeover skills.  Catching up with the "You-Tube" fad of sharing skills and advice, Philip has a "Tutorials for two-wheelers" channel, which I came across by chance! He embellishes some of the tutorial videos with songs and music of his own, and the roar of engines gets tuned to the melody of the guitar. Sharing this as my own bookmark and for my readers!

In India, the best appetizers for food are the variety of spices that are used in cooking and garnishing. For a change, it is time the bland discourses around nutrition get a special zing. What better than Chatkare Zindagi Ke..to spice up your life. Keep watching!

Perchance, in one of my routine visits to Delhi, I came across an exhibition of ancient and curious scripture texts, which had survived not only centuries but also perilous times.  Some were not the original texts but close copies. They all had unique stories of how scripture had been preserved through ages and arduous situations. The following Bibles with their remarkable stories caught my attention.  1.The Dead Sea scrolls:  These were some of the most ancient Bible texts ever to be discovered. Written on leather scrolls and packed in clay pots, they had survived centuries. They were found in some caves near the Dead Sea, by a shepherd boy several decades earlier. The text in the ancient scrolls were comparable in accuracy with the modern day versions of the Bible. Although the version exhibited was a copy, it still gave me a sense of awesome sanctity. 2. Binders during the Spanish Inquisition (1400s): Jews have been persecuted through centuries, and the Spanish inqui...

 A quick trip, with plenty of busyness during the day, left me only with the nights to see some prominent places in the city of Mumbai, a city that never sleeps. Here are a few glimpses, particularly of heritage buildings and places, which have been lighted so well., and a visit to the famous Leopold cafe, Bandra beach and a late-late night train ride....

With a special reason to celebrate a hot summer weekend, we set out on a road trip to a couple of unusual destinations. The first, a set of ancient caves carved out whale rocks, the Barabar caves, said to be the oldest surviving rock-cut caves in India  dating from the Maurya Empire  (322–185 BCE) . The caves look like a couple of conjoined-twin whales from the top and has three carved out cave sets with a large hall and a small room each, inside. What impressed me was the shine of inside walls, a distinct polish, that has endured centuries; and still reflected ones images quite clearly. For comparison, I took a photographs of the inner polished wall and an external hard surface, and was impressed by the difference. The last time I thought of visiting this place was twenty years ago, but was advised not to venture into left wing insurgent territory. Thanks to much better governance and law and order prevailing in Bihar, visiting this place no longer posed as a security threat....

"Agrasen ki Baoli" was on my bucket list for a long time. As I sat within the monument surrounded by its ancient walls, I found it  ironic that the many steps leading into the deep well was made precisely to do away for the need of a bucket. Having lived in Delhi for over seven years and despite having lived so close to this quaint site for so long, it was also ironic that I would finally reach the step-well only as a visitor. I had imagined this site to be somewhere in Old Delhi, among narrow lanes and packed houses, but it came as a surprise that it was actually in middle New-Delhi, and a walking distance from the famous Connaught Place with its wide roads and tall stately buildings. In the same afternoon, I got an opportunity to walk past Delhi's famous Lotus temple, designed after India's national flower that blooms on water bodies. Later in the day as I re-read Psalm 1,  I reflected whether life was really about finding water so that flowers would bloom and fruit...