going going goan (yikes! bad one)

...just back from a short 3day trip to goa...to see how work on my new plot of land is progressing and to discuss a weekend summer workshop with tino - ceramic artist friend...all's well there and we've even hit water.

but on a drive up across the plateau above us we were horrified to see largescale rock-blasting and land-flattening...all to feed a new mega housing project...of course there is no board announcing it, though there's this spanking new road (without a single private car/bike) abuzz with dumper trucks n jvc's. someone's fattening the golden goose!!

back home, on revisiting google earth, we realise that we have the last of the two arms of greenery along the valley down from that plateau...increasing our resolve to preserve it...but therein lies the dilemma - the rubble that will come in to "terrace" our new property is going to come from up there. the wild shrubbery that we're "clearing" to get "an idea of the land" will deprive the multitude of birds their home...tiktoktiktok...whattodowhattodo??

later, i go to caranzalem to anita's...and got lost!! i couldn't recognise the place and couldn't find her row of buildings...the local insatiable glutton mla has filled up ricefields, broadened roads running thru people's houses, put up round-abouts with tall halogen lighting...all for another fat goose - a premium humungus housing project pushed by either the mining dons or sahara! crazy!!

what am i ranting about - the apt i am in now here in bombay is built on a plot which was reserved as a playground for the area. once upon a time not so long ago, this must've been a thick wild forest...and so was bandra...can see goa going the same way but in an accelerated sort of way...and the rest of india and indeed most of the planet...i guess we'll all just evolve to need less water and drop a pill for food!! burp!!!

"Remember that you are dust, and unto dust you shall return". Gen3:19

...thought i'd something more to say

...as i was growing up, when words failed (as they often did), there was ALWAYS pink floyd-
"Sweetheart sweetheart are you fast asleep,
good "cos that's the only time that I can really talk to you
and there is something that I've locked away
a memory that is too painful
to withstand the light of day."
evocative, succinct and bang-on!... the music ethereal n haunting n ever-changing. never imagined i'd see/hear them "in the flesh". but after hearing roger waters perform "dark side of the moon" last night i can die in peace!...i guess...

so what if it was just 25% of the original pink floyd, so what if he was way to old to hit the high notes and had to lip-sync some portions, so what if they said he was egomaniacal and precipitated the groups' break-up...he wrote exactly what was on my mind, in a way that seemed just so perfect. forever critical, very political, often depressing and at times morbid.

tears swelled over by the time he reached
"now i've got that feeling once again,
i cannot explain, you will not understand,
this is not how i am,
iiiiiiii have become comfortably numb"
transporting me back to the time i tried od-ing on calmpose...that was almost twenty years ago... walkin down the corridors at xaviers, sam's blue panasonic walkman blasting my ears with"final cut"...i had discovered pink floyd!

"the wall" eeriely seemed like the story of my own life n living...complete! audio n visual!! haven't ever identified as closely with a singer-songwriter...wished i had bought the 3k tics ...only to have been closer to have touched the ground HE walked on...

"Black and blue
and who know which is which and who is who
Up and down
but in the end it's round and round"

ma i'll call you back in 2 mins!

as usual, my cell phone remained on through the shoot at kbc...as usual, my mum (who lives alone) called...as usual, i said "i'll call you back in two mins"...without listening!...just that, this time when i called back, heard the pain n fear in her voice...she had had a fall while in the bath! and her left hand wouldn't move...

an hour later, at the orthopedic clinic, the x-ray reveals a broken displaced left wrist which needs surgery...thank god for a friend n c! who rushed there. as my rick hurtled towards the clinic, kept thinking about my boys who haveto keep their phones off as it interferes with the video recording...godcursed!

rough cuts!

...there's something about watching rough cuts...i feel completely energised, excited n happy to be part of the process of the making of a film. (so what if my face remains deadpan ;) ...besides a good reminder to go back to my own film!

been watching my students' rough cuts over the last two days. one film turning out really well. one in icu and the other two will shape up in the edit. but it is also that time of the year i feel most frustrated by the course limitations and esp by the director's intransigence about the way stories can be told. feel awful for the students n often find myself stoking rebellion. i need to find myself a new place to teach...any suggestions people?

saw the rough cut of paro's latest film for psbt on the meerut "operation majnu" madness. i remember feeling so much anger seeing that policewoman inspector slap young people -couples, casual bystanders and hangers-around...a cheap publicity stunt by a sick mind which reckless tv news channels hankered over. the film slick, with paro's now trademark style of embellishing the images with sfx, split screens and strapping tv grabs. always engaging n thought-provoking...but the style getting predictable.

then, tomorrow surabhi's caribbean magnum opus about remo n chutney music there. must quickly get back to my film...no more excuses!

dis guy's da god!

one tree, three days, two hours, some fading gods!...and me among a few thousand live-concert-starved fans...sreamed myself hoarse asking for more, but the 10pm deadline rules! sucks really...but, at 60+ these guys still rock - buddy guy, guitar shorty, walter trout...a rare blues blast...n so much fun they had jammin...n so much fun we had...sneaking quarters in my socks...making me feel like some desperate teenager!! but great fun...we want more! we want more!...

...i'll see you on the dark side of the moon next!....