Of PC , Ithaca-The Poem and the Big Fight with Zahir

I had heard a lot about Paulo Coelho and how his novel The Alchemist never fails to inspire the readers to do new things. And somehow I had always avoided this book . I very frequently came across this book in most unimaginable places and I always left it like that . And so when I landed in kerala this time and went about all the books in the house , i saw two of PC's book lying around . One was Alchemist and other was Zahir. And with nothing much to do , i started reading both of them together. I was very much impressed by the poem Ithaca with which he began the Zahir..

As you set out for Ithaka
hope the voyage is a long one,
full of adventure, full of discovery.
Laistrygonians and Cyclops,
angry Poseidon- don't be afraid of them:
you'll never find things like that on your way
as long as you keep your thoughts raised high,
as long as a rare excitement
stirs your spirit and your body.
Laistrygonians and Cyclops,
wild Poseidon- you won't encounter them
unless you bring them along inside your soul,
unless your soul sets them up in front of you.

Hope the voyage is a long one.
May there be many a summer morning when,
with what pleasure, what joy,
you come into harbors seen for the first time;
may you stop at Phoenician trading stations
to buy fine things,
mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
sensual perfume of every kind-
as many sensual perfumes as you can;
and may you visit many Egyptian cities
to gather stores of knowledge from their scholars.

Keep Ithaka always in your mind.
Arriving there is what you are destined for.
But do not hurry the journey at all.
Better if it lasts for years,
so you are old by the time you reach the island,
wealthy with all you have gained on the way,
not expecting Ithaka to make you rich.

Ithaka gave you the marvelous journey.
Without her you would not have set out.
She has nothing left to give you now.

And if you find her poor, Ithaka won't have fooled you.
Wise as you will have become, so full of experience,
you will have understood by then what these Ithakas mean.



So impressed was I with this poem that i searched for it over the internet , read some of the treatise of it and then sent it across to some of my friends who are studying at Ithaca .. I started reading Zahir during my idle times , during my commute time to physio therapist , during my physiotherapy sessions and so on. I had informed SK and some other friends about my India trip. As people called me up to inquire about accommodation and other mumbai arrangements for me even before I reached Mumbai , I marveled at the concept of favor bank and realized how my deposits in this bank had smoothed my path most of the time , got me new friends who opened up much faster  . And while everything was going on pretty ,suddenly I realized that the Zahir has become a Zahir for me.. I was continuously thinking about how the story will progress. How and when the author will meet his lost wife. Wondering about the reaction of the author , wondering about how I will react in case I am in a similar situation. As the author went through many selfish/spiritual/mind opening experiences which changed his outlook , I also traveled in a parallel world of my own taking a peep on my past wondering whether I did the right thing or not whenever it mattered. And then since all things good or bad are supposed to end , Zahir novel also ended some 1 week before i left my home for Mumbai .I got busy with my packing and farewells and my Zahir didn't resurface. I came to mumbai , got in touch with old friends , made fresh deposits in the favor bank and as i fitted into a daily routine , I again met my Zahir. And this time it seemed more persistent. I tried other books but my Zahir on Zahir refused to go .
A long weekend came and I used it to go to kerala to pick up some of my stuffs. I picked up the copy of Zahir too and started rereading it. My dad observed that I had already read that book once . I replied back I am not having any other book to read.. So he gifted a recent english novel . I finished it off in 3 hrs and went back to Zahir ..
In Mumbai, with the life becoming a pattern , Zahir became my steady companion for a few days .And then the unthinkable happened. I misplaced the Zahir somewhere in the office. And now with Zahir gone , I started trying to get a replacement for the Zahir. As i searched the bookstores for Zahir, Gafoor suggested to check internet. And I saw a collection of 14 PC books for sale.
And so  now instead of one PC book to deal with , I was having 14 PC books to finish off.

The Chillo Effect

So Once Upon A Time in Mumbai at about 11:00 pm me , SG and AS were having our dinner along with the regular meaningful discussion on challenges in life and it was decided to eat some ice creams so as to ease out on the sufferings coming because of the challenges in life( as well as the hot humid weather of mumbai) .. And so we trooped towards Naturals outlet nearby .. But due to some reasons the natural's ice cream was not upto it's natural mark .. so we decided to seek refuge at the Baskin Robbins outlet to overcome the disappointment at Naturals ( not to forget the challenges in life ) .. as we reached the shop , we observed that the baskin robbins vendor was closing off the shop since it was midnight.. The Thane SME suggested that there is a Mocha near the hiranndani complex and it was suggested by the honorable SME that we walk over to Mocha @ Thane and beat the challenges in life ( as well as the midnight blues ).. I had some doubts about Mocha being present in thane but knowing the stature of the SME, was afraid of speaking out my thoughts ..

And so we reached the Hiranandani complex and discovered that there is no Mocha over there . And so we took this opportunity to curse the no longer honorable SME to our heart's content .. A brain storming session was held outside CCD @ midnight to discuss on the plan of action for overcoming the challenges in life and it was decided that we will all be going to the CCD.

We entered CCD to What the glare from the attendants who were about to begin their winding up business for the day ... We made ourselves comfortable on the couches provided as the attendant came to take our order , i asked for some ice cream shake. I heard mr SG asking for Cappuccino whereas Mr AS went for some ice cream. I wondered out loud how come SG can have a capuchinno @ midnight to beat the mumbai heat-humidity combo to which SG responded back in his customary unprintable words .

And so our order was delivered.I sipped on my ice cream shake ,AS nibbled on his ice cream and SG stared at his cappuccino with wonder. And then he looked at us .. AS quipped you got what you ordered ( in a tone similar to as u sow so shall u reap ) . SG said this was not what he ordered and proudly called up attendant and asked him what he had bought.. The attendant in full innocence said capuchinno .. Mr SG says it was lo and not no, it was chillo and not chino , it was cappuchillo and not cappuchino.

As all present in CCD realized the implications of the lo and no, Me and AS exploded laughing , the attendant pushed the menu on the SG and said we don't serve any cappuchillo , only cappuchino is mentioned on the menu.

It is rumored that next day mr SG was asking for cuttin chillo at the office tapri ..

The End Da Style .....

Today had been a bit of a hectic day .. So as I, after a sumptuous sub , walked towards my house I met KS and RC chit chatting. They told me about the various happenings of the day and how the stock markets tumbled over the day because of the some official getting caught for corruption ... And as I opened the doors ,I cursed the Indian leaders and concluded that nothing can be done ,I saw a video from AM1 on the facebook.

http://www.facebook.com/nitin.kp#!/video/video.php?v=143035945734046&comments

And as I was watching this video , i thought about all the things which had been happening for past few days and wondered with the type of institutionalized corruption prevalent in India and even a bribe needed for a person to do his job can things ever change.. At that time the below video came to my mind ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0m9G0nacuP4

I hope the political leadership of the country has the will to weed out the corruption from this country otherwise it will be The End for the country and whatever this country stood for .....

A meaningful week , finished of two books
- Before Memory Fades by Fali Nariman .... Nice book about most of the various meaningful court cases in India specially those challenging the constitution or seeking to amend/tamper it or the ones dealing with interpretation of the law as well as what happened in India during his lifetime.. One sentence which made me pause for a minute - "Angels can fly because they take themselves lightly"

Three Mistakes of my Life by Chetan Anand -- Ok novel .. bit like the Indian Movie .. One nice sentence which made me pause for a minute "Am i missing something by being agnostic?"

finished of reading P Chidambaran's A view from outside ... Nice informative book

JRD - The effective execution of a plan is what counts and not mere planning on paper; it is not what we put on our place or even what we eat that provides nourishment and growth , but what we digest ..
Paulo Coelho - The hours of waiting have been transformed into tension, the tension has become fear, and the fear makes you embrassed about showing affection.

Of Calm and Content in Mumbai…….

I had always wanted to write about Mumbai, the obvious reason being all good famous writers write about Mumbai. However Mumbai as a subject turned out to be very difficult for me, the main reason being I was not able to find any good headline for Mumbai .And so I started searching for an appropriate headline for whatever I was planning to write about Mumbai somewhere last year (2007). And this search saw lot of good ideas being lost in the mist of time. Anyway some of the headings which I thought of where:

Sleepless in Mumbai : This topic was inspired by one of my friends in Seattle who had made her orkut profile as Sleepless in Seattle . Well, I had this peculiar problem of sleep eluding me in Mumbai .There used to be time I used to be awake till 2:00 am and then when I realized that the problem is becoming too much , I started going on nightly walks through the bylanes of Borivali . Long walks on the road divider armed with a umbrella to protect self against unexpected rains as well as curious dogs. When my roomie started cribbing about my night walks, I was forced to cut down on this simple inexpensive hobby.

Of Love and Longing in Mumbai: This was a very catchy topic with a lot of commercial value considering the way bollywood love-stories had fared recently on the box-office .I am a person who can go and go and go and go and go and go and go and go on writing about Love as a subject. But then the experience of Longing is something with which I am not very familiar with.

Of Calm and Content In Mumbai: This topic came to my mind when I was going through the book Shantaram by Gregory Roberts. I got hold of the book during my 2008 India visit. And the author was telling about his serene peaceful sleep in his hut in a Mumbai slum. At that time, i recalled one incident which happened in Mumbai Local Trains. Mumbai Local trains are famous/notorious for the huge mass of human race who board it daily from suburbs to reach their work places. For a person visiting Mumbai , this is an experience which he should not miss and for a person who lives in Mumbai , this is one experience which he would love to miss.

Anyway coming to Mumbai and the day, after a 18 hr flight and 2 hr sleep, I was roaming around Mumbai covered in a mist of jet lag with famous Mumbai rains giving me a steady company. At about 8:30 in the morning, I pushed myself into a local compartment loaded with a huge bag on my back ( courtesy Santi’s consignment ). As expected , at the next station one of the person standing behind me started cribbing about my bag and as I resorted to my once familiar tactic of ignoring such bickering on locals , a person standing in front of me appreciating my strategic ignorance, gave one of that illuminating smiles about which I had read a lot in Santaram. And as I smiled back to that unknown person who I will not be meeting ever in my life again I had this feeling of serenity and calmness pervading me, the same peace which one experiences when being surrounded by familiar ones. For a moment I was surprised on how I, with less than 8 hrs in the hot humid climes of Mumbai, can be at so much peace inside a crowded local train in Mumbai