spellbound in spiti!! - manali

..so like i was saying...we decided to do the round trip - enter spiti from manali n return via shimla...that way we get to go thru the kullu valley then lahaul next spiti and finally kinnaur...being able to appreciate the dramatic changes in landscape n drive those bloodcurdling roads!so back we were at vineet n rimli's absolutely gorgeous home by the beas at vashist...the last time i was here, the mountain tops were all covered with snow n the apple blossoms had just about begun to sprout...this time, luscious red apples shone thru the green...every shade of green...the view from each of their rooms was so fabulous...i kept wondering what the hell am i doing in the city!their bedroom!the beas raging swollen with recent rain.
the plan was to spend 3-4 days with them, go up to rohtang-la, walk around, acclimatise...going from 0 mt above mean sea level to 5000 is best done slowly...and given our fantastic levels of fitness ;) imperative! but then, it is never easy going up to rohtang. there's always traffic jams due to perennial road construction, widening or landslide clearing.so you just sit back n enjoy the views or walk arounda fab day it was, clear skies n strong sun. what should've taken two and a half hours took over 5hrs!! the border road guys are quite amazing...day in n day out toiling to keep the roads open mostly for us n occasionally for the army (or is it the other way round ;) rohtang itself, arrived shrouded in fog crowning a long drive with exhilaration.but once the fog lifts, the highest parking lot in the world reveals itself! complete with dhabas, yak rides n ski photo ops for honeymooners!...we fled right past n walked towards the lahaul valley overlooking the chandra river...as expected, the altitude kicked in with the heaviness in the head n deep rapid breathing...to acclimatise well they say, climb high but sleep low...we were at 13,000ft! cold crisp n beautiful:)

spellbound in spiti!

...haven't been writing...haven't felt like for some time now...various reasons...but that's another post...ever heard of spiti? am suprised to learn that very few people know or even heard about spiti...tucked deep inside the twisted himalayas, spiti - the "middle land" lies betw tibet n the indian sub-continent...
while doing geo at xavier's i remember spiti being geologically a very imp site but never imagined i'd ever go there...i mean, for starters it is far, very far...you got to go from bom to del then to manali (like we did) or via shimla then cross two very high passes, go thru the lahaul valley n ONLY then are you in spiti!...no wonder then, that Kipling described it as "this is no place for man".

shine on you crazy patrook!

the worst news in the recent past came this afternoon in the form of a brief email - my cousin, patrick passed on suddenly in london. past 60, he was to have an angio done next month...but i guess there's no need for that now...that bolt from the blue couldn't have struck harder n deeper...he was afterall the guy who introduced me to tull, floyd, salif keita, stevie wonder, mj, etc...painstakingly he'd make tape-to-tape recordings n airmail them to me in these bubblepack brownpaper envelopes...i'd squeal with joy n hug the postman whenever he'd deliver one of those packets...each one labeled on tdk d90s...he'd record live concerts off-air on vhs n send me...and films...derek jarman, one world one voice, peter gabriel...i'd see them so often that the tape wore out n he'd have to make me a new recording...this is before cd's n dvd's...tape.....analog!...and i'd sync the vhs video of peter gabriel's secret world live tour with the cd when i finally got one...and we'd dance to it, blast it...
he died alone n i don't even know how...in a sparse cold state-provided home outside london...on my first trip abroad, he was was the first one to greet me with his huge bear hug n his chinky smile when i got off enroute to miami...he took me home to a hearty meal n we talked our heads off n i nearly missed my connecting flight...
he dreamed of coming back home to goa to his ancestral property in colvale, of having a family...but that was not to be...he came often while things were still good when he had a job n the economy was booming...the proverbial santaclaus!...he even gave me his walkman once before leaving...we were his family he used to say n i now feel we weren't around when he needed us most.
he'd end his letters with love and xxx's - bamboo...how much we wrote each other...almost every week for years...until email came...i'd write less n less to him n started this blog primarily for him to know what i was up to...he'd check EVERYDAY...and i wouldn't have written...
he was the first person i interviewed for my goa pedophila film when he had an organisation 'people against pedophiles abroad' papa...i better stop...fuck , am going to miss him so much...i don't think i've come across a person who gave more n expected so little...

jullllly she will fllly!...

give no warning to her flight...
so many things happening n me just not feeling like writing...the rains they finally happened n me was ready with clear acrylic sheets that kept the rain out but not the fab view...something i'd been wanting to do for years!...chai n bhajias by the window IN the rain :)
am back to class again!...every year i go thru the motions that this is my last year at sophia's but then i go back to another enthusiastic lot, feel all charged up, etc...this year the majlis bmm project also gets off the ground. five bmm students each from five courses get to make a short film around the 'cinema-city' theme. lots of work n tons of excitement!
a quick dash to goa to figure progress of permission to construct...but then, goa is goa...even a snail is faster ;) but the train to n back was awash with green n swollen waterfalls...just the time of year to travel...haven't been on a monsoon trek in years :(
my first ride over the bandra-worli sealink was long overdue...our first attempt ended with a hasty about turn after being stuck in bumper to bumper freebies!...but it is quite a trip! esp how the landmass over shivaji park gets silhouetted by the dancing flames of the refineries further east! the view itself marred by the high barricades that deny a view of the sea. bleah!

...and the first screening with my new projector!...'waltz with bashir' - a film i had seen before, after coming back from my israel palestine trip. brilliantly executed but with some seriously flawed n problematic politics...an animated docu! now that was a first! brilliant but disturbing...however hard we try we can never wash away guilt...it seems...

this time last year i was at camp in maine having the time of my life by the lake pleasant...i need so desperately to get down to my plans for my goa plot n of course my film about my dad...the roller-coaster's still in spin...hopefully will stop soon n i'll be able to get off n do some real work...

delhi in summer i have avoided like plague!...but on a whim, dropped in to say my namaskarums to ramathatha n meekapati...
meanwhile, back in bombay, my sister is hosting an exchange student from belgium for a year...while my nephew readies to fly off to amrika on an exchange...next year, xavier's! :)
also worked on easily the ikkiest show i've ever done for television...moment of truth...never before have i come back home feeling worse about what i've been working on...see it for yourself n tell me what you think...star plus mon to fri 1030pm. or maybe it wasn't as bad as i was making it out to be...maybe just my own state of mind...

saturation!...would i ever be able to quit it all n go do live music lighting design!?!or a commercial bollywood film, perhaps?..

that mesmerising night...13yrs ago

me a mj fan..nah!...never. way too much of a snob to even listen to his music considering how big it was then. my cousin, pat introduced me to his music way back then even before i'd even heard of floyd n tull. but it was pop...cheee!...turned my nose up n walked away...until while at tv18, i couldn't resist any longer n joined the gang going for the concert. mj live in bombay! is really going to come? will thakeray "allow" him to perform? that too at the andheri sports complex...uncertainty prevailed...but then he came...and how!!...we had tickets way back from the stage...but that rocket capsule entry catapulted us over barricades and to the front...a few hundred feet away from the biggest stage i'd ever seen, speakers stacked higher than ever before and so many moving lights, etc that it filled four planes!!...
a hundred thousand watts of music...my heart hasn't pounded like that since...nothing after has come remotely close to the scale of that performance that night of november first...two hours non-stop back to back he moonwalked from one side of the enormous stage to the other...such energy...appearing disappearing magically just like he did in his videos, save that this was for real!...the stage and lighting effects were stupendous like at the end of thriller when this white sheet rolled down out of nowhere n covered the entire front of stage n the song ended with men falling in silhouette to a staccato of ear-piercing gun fire...
the concert ended as suddenly as it begun leaving us riveted to the ground mouth open unblinking...we did not know what hit us. i remember walking up to the stage which was some 2storeys high in a daze...shaking hands with the guys who'd worked backstage thanking them...
the next morning, in office, a colleague lay sprawled on the floor still in a trance...another walked in...no, you cannot share this space sonia, you weren't there last night...
like a shy pre-pubescent boy i trolled the music shops for HIStory, coyly asking, "would you by any chance have any mj cds?"...of course they were sold out!...three days later in sheer desperation, i send an sos to all my friends to puleeze pick up the cd for me...no luck...desperation to dismay...when hemu bails me out...he found one last album...blew the house down finally!

good morning!

spot

class 2A dabba batli matunga! i remember almost all their names!!

pure blisssss!

so it arrived finally yesterday!...my technics 1210mk2...after years of looking!...and i haven't stopped spinning since :) for years, my aunt's western classical lp collection sat in boxes ever since i salvaged them from nagpur...bach beethoven haydn tchaikovsky strauss vivaldi handel...music we woke up to during the christmas break...such a purist she was...berlin philharmonic for her, that too conducted only by karajan!
o to hear them in their analogue beauty...warm, rounded, scratchy n unhurried n most importatntly, uncompressed! of course i was way to young to operate what looked like an immensely complicated piece of rotating machinery...it was the madman who let me...years later...first, to only touch the records n eventually pretty much everything. that i think was my first taste of hifi!...arphi aquarius speakers, soundcraftsmen equaliser...shakti mahavishnu manhattan transfer paul simon eric clapton jean luc ponty ...i remember exactly how it sounded even now...and today, remembering him 25years later n wishing him the sweetest sound of music...

50 years ago (pt2)

let's do mass here, she said...only us familyfor it was here they got married - don bosco matunga...moments before mass...such happiness!we later settled in to a cozy quiet chinese joint that anil m had taken mira to over 25yrs ago!over dinner, we got her to recount for us that day, 50yrs ago!...for the first time :) slowly n very reluctantly...

finally!...

...2years after we won back some family property n lots of family pride...and 6months after we had celebrated the win, anil n his family moves into the spacious chembur apartment today. such a momentous moment (!)...anil had been pivotal in this n it is just right that he's going to be staying there now...one guy up there is gonna be smiling so widely :)

50 years ago

summer's almost over but the drought is not :(

...it's been a torridly hot summer parching my brains dry...barren...desperately waiting for the monsoons to revive them...
the further you travel , the less you know...n even after getting to know, i haven't been able to write all about my israel-palestine trip. project goa languishes meanwhile and my dad film...the less said the better...n the only silver lining is some work end june n july...till then, i'm hoping for an early monsoon :)

anju's farm@dahanu

end-may june is that time of the year when the family goes out for it's annual overnight picnic...last year, we'd had a fabulous time at gupte's farm at amba ghat...this year, the picnic almost didn't happen...as the years go on, it seems harder to get all 12 members free at the same time esp when the kids have grown beyond school...after much juggling we settled on last weekend at dahanu. anju's farm 120km from bombay seemed next door...ac rooms with food in a sprawling 12acre chickoo n coconut plantation.da car just back from servicing, purr-ed down nh8 with half the family...mum stayed back n so did ro n s. somehow, this year felt differentmaybe, just in my head...next year, baba won't be there :( but we're all excited about his year ahead in amrika!pooja finishes with srishti this year-end as an editor!...while ro hopes to finish his be-it...mira pondering...jim n anil celebrate winning pictionary - the family's official game!!the next morning, dahanu beach beckoned...dirty black sand, brown churny waters n a garbaged beach ensured the fat lazy noronha clan got no walk at all!

Summer Workshop in Verna, Goa

Summerfun by the Uddear Spring!
19th to 23rd May 2009 (9am to 1pm)

Springs have long been nature’s bounty to mankind but man’s increasing disregard for nature has seen a rapid deterioration of such springs. How will this affect our lives and the life of our planet? Is there anything we can do to reverse this change? How can we express our concerns and share information with each other?

Join in a five-day multi-media workshop, by the Uddear Spring - one of the last remaining springs in Goa. And explore the world & the environment around us using various media - digital photography, video, pottery and art.

Participants will be encouraged to write, draw, paint, use clay and take photographs to express their ideas. In doing so, they will learn the basics of creative writing, story telling, digital photography, film-making and pottery. An exhibition of completed works will be held on the last day.

The Workshop will be conducted by Valentino Gaspar and Ajay Noronha at the Red Earth Pottery Studio. The Studio is tucked in a quiet, lush corner of Voddlem Bhath at Verna, 2km away from the old Panaji-Margao highway at Verna.

Valentino Gaspar – is a ceramic and terracotta artist who runs the rustic Red Earth Pottery Studio. He is an accomplished stain-glass restorer and theatre director.

Ajay Noronha – is a Bombay based film-maker, cameraperson who divides his time between shooting for television game shows, documentary films and teaching.

Course fees: Rs 1500 inclusive of consumables like paint, clay, videotape, etc. Please carry your own snack, compass box, brushes and camera (if you have one).

Registration open! Hurry, limited seats only. Last date: 18th May 2009
Email: redearthpottery@rediffmail.com or noro69@gmail.com
Call: Valentino (0832) 2888308 or Ajay 09820291396

palestine/israel - meanderings

what a trip this has been...midway into my trip n my head is swimming. didn't think i'd ever realise this one big dream i had. ever since the seeds of peace camp last year, i'd been aching to come...to see for myself n understand the situation on the ground as it were...we had spent 3weeks discussing, arguing, crying over the conflict then...my journey here started as nastily as my worst fears...el al security went thru me n my baggage with the finest tooth comb...i just made it in time for the flight! i guess, travelling single with a videocam, big still cam n one instant cam with just an invitation letter wasn't enough :( they almost didn't let me carry my cams as cabin baggage...at which time i said i'd go home!...
mercifully, at tel aviv on arrival it was smooth...tho they tell me leaving will be another ordeal. but screw all that now...here i am in haifa, by the mediteranean sea...up on the hill!...its so quiet...not long ago, missiles rained in from lebanon.
before i got here, while i was reading up in bombay n seeing films...the two nation solution seemed most appropropriate...but now, after going around in jerusalem, ramallah, bethlehem n now haifa...n seeing how enmeshed, intertwined our past was, i think it is going to be v v difficult to try n divide, to demarcate n live...
the way forward seems to me to look at things that unite us, make us similar not things that divide us n polarise us...but obviously, easier said than done :(i mean, everywhere i go, places of worship are adjacent to each other n were historically looked after by all the communities involved...how does one divide a city like jerusalem?...at prophet samuel's tomb there are 3 separate enclosures under lock n key for devotees to pray! madness!!
how can you have a country that is divided in two parts separated by another country? will we ever be able to live as one?..like all religions supposedly profess.
at the end of the day, it is all about power...mighty dynasties and rulers have risen n fallen...man has done unspeakable unimaginable things to man...we know it n are horrified by it but we're unable to stop ourselves in the present. the wheel continues to be in spin...the present now will later be past...while we try to do our lil bit for history...the museum of the holocaust was the toughest so far...the closest i had been before this was alain resnais' "night and fog"...my blood curdled then, silencing me for a long time...but to see it all for real depressed me no end...the museum itself, designed to make it experiential...not allow you to forget, quite like resnais.
dates and events are of utmost importance to everything here...not as casual as my history class back in school. every conversation is marked by an event n the date it took place...2000yrs ago or 1948 or 1967 or 2002...with so much living in the past, i cannot imagine how we will even begin to look at how we want to live in the future.
there was a hymn we used to energetically sing in church when i was at school...
"i rejoiced when i heard them saying
let's go to the temple of the lord
and now, at last our feet are standing
within your gates, o jerusalem.

jerusalem, o mighty city
so strongly bulit
one united as_____
it is here where the tribes now gather
all the tribes to worship the lord

there are those who have eyes
but refuse to see
the inhumanity to men
there are those who have ears
but refuse to hear
cries of men in agony"

i suprised myself!...i sang it in my head after over 25years!!

manaaaahli!

apricot blossoms! n
:)
one day v woke up, pointed to the "rock" 2000ft above n said let's go there
pfunsook...THE place to hang out with v and r by the beas...the best roasties ever!
the view from my window :)

shimla kalka train shoot

my first time to shimla...for a docu film shoot on the hilltrain for the bbc...flew into chandigarh for the first time...this obviously wasn't parts that corbusier designed...from here, a long car drive to shimla 4hrours away from nothing in the middle of nowhere...rises this monstrously huge mall but at kalka, the last of the plains...the beginning of the rail line. over a hundred years ago, this was the angrez getaway from the heat n dust...mighty deodhar groves stand tall against the otherwise denuded mountain sides...hadn't expected to see so much bare brown :(
i don't know, if any of you remember solan number 1...the most visible whiskey when i was growing up...imagine, i didn't even know solan was a place!!...so, much excitement happened as i passed the brewery :)the timing was perfect...by sun down, i had almost reached shimla...but nothing could prepare me for the shock the first morning when i drew the curtains...

off to palestine and israel!

come tuesday night n i go off to palestine n israel...cannot believe it is actually happening...eversince that wonderful month in maine at the seeds of peace camp, i've been totally inspired to want to extend my current work to the area of conflict resolution. i'd been proposing digital photography workshops for kids from both sides - india, pak...palestine, israel on the theme of self-portraits and identity and using it to help better understand self and the "other".
out of the blue, one day i get this email, asking me to do a 3day workshop in ramallah for a group of palestinian educators to introduce them to the wonderful medium of film, to help them use it for educational purposes...
i jumped to the idea...and immediately got down working on it...the visa was the first hurdle...rude rude guys at the consulate. kept my calm, answered the questions that were being barked thru bulletproof glass...they agreed to give me a visa n i left...but the tone stayed with me...
several nights later, while in shimla, i had this elaborate long dream about a mossad agent coming to my bedside at 10 to 4 in the morning and interrogating me about my reasons for wanting to go to israel...i remembered his face from the fuzzy silhouette n even went later to the israeli consulate to complain about him! :)
crazy!...
the nice part is that by now, i have friends in all these places i want to visit - bethlehem, nazareth, jerusalem, jenin, nablus, etc... i have 10days to trip around after the workshop...the hardest part is deciding whether it is prudent or plain stupid to carry my video camera...yes no yes no...i guess, i'll just take it...and my laptop n still cam...phew!
meanwhile, i've been reading, watching films, etc...quite depressing...how small i feel...n will i really be able to do something meaningful....

anurag rules!

...just back from watching gulal for the second time in two weeks...he is easily the most exciting, biggest risk-taking director in recent times...if dev d was scorching for turning devdas on its head, gulal spiralled brilliantly out of control in the seeming pursuit for power...enough has been written about the man, his passion, his contemporary story-telling...but what i stay with after watching the two films, is a man saved from the brink of self-destruction by these two films (back to back)...manic n possessed, his anger seething from every frame...and above it all - love...or rather, unrequited love...which drives him to utter n complete destruction...
piyush mishra...what a revelation!...and to think he lives in the same building! superlative performance crowns excellent music n lyrics (so what if i didn't get all of it)...dev d too, the music was brilliant...and rekha bharadwaj - just wah wah!
both films wonderfully shot by rajeev ravi - the way he interprets the spaces the characters inhabit most refreshing...paharganj, rajasthan...guess it must all come from anurag's lived experiences...the intimate details all adding up to the multi-layering of both these films...
intelligent, in-your-face, raw n provocative...love him or hate, you just cannot ignore him...he's certainly scaling the peaks for this generation of filmmakers (ok i'll stop now :)