Almost two months in.

I can't believe it will soon be two months!

Where has the time gone?!

I live for the weekends. That's when this city comes alive to me....music and theatre and church and friends and sleeping in late and adequately long phone conversations and long walks and the city and fresh cold air and rest.

Music is stirring within me again. It can't be missed. Everywhere in this city it calls to me and envelops my soul. Fulfillment I haven't found in a long while. And I'm playing the piano again. Schubert and Chopin flow through my fingers. Impressionistic and romantic. Where have they been all these years? How could I ever have let them go?

And God is very real again. With guardian angels stationed at every tube stop, at every unfamiliar crossroad, and in some old known faces.

So here are some pics from a lovely lovely day. Pics courtesy Annie, who is a wonderful photographer and even caught the sea gulls.

Hugs to everybody back home.

I'm Here!

British Museum

The O2

The Monument

I have arrived! Two years of waiting and mentally preparing myself are now over.

It's been good so far. I've been blessed to meet good, kind, and warm people over the last few days. The weather's just like home at the moment, and my hair is behaving. Behaving very well actually...putting up its best front for a new place I suppose.

I hope to settle on a church soon. Everybody on the Barge has been very welcoming, I could think it would make a good home church, but want to check out a few other options first.

An apartment is under negotiation, but the hostel is a very cheerful place to be in for the moment.

If my family and closest friends could be here with me, life would be complete.

Till later then. 

A page about to turn...

I treated the first of my "juniors-to-be-treated" today. It reminded me of some happy moments in law school...of poetry and concerts, and first year perm time (oh yes, excitement associated with that too!), of friends made and kept over 4/5 years, of dreams fulfilled, of hours spent in bookshops (and yes, I was right, the high piles of books did have to fall!!)...and so many other things. Nice things. This is what treats are about....this, and of course, pleasant company and conversation.

I know everybody's been doing this, and I guess I'm ready to do this now. So here are some of my favourite moments from law school...there have been others, but these are the ones which spring to mind....

1. The singing auditions, first year, and singing Masquerade. Sallie and Thomas judging and being very serious.
2. My first few LSC trips.
3. Talking until the wee hours of the morning in the Training Centre with JTP and AM.
4. CR election results, second trimester. 
5. Long walk in the very early hours of the morning with JTP in the Nags forests (is it a forest?).
6. Motorbiking to Magadi and back with Dev M..taking every detour possible on the way and swinging from trees.
7. The singing auditions, second year...and finding and releasing my voice's power with "Rainbow High".
8. History being taught by Rohit De....and my very first "O" Grade!
9. Poetry-sharing with Don in second year.
10. Poetry-sharing with Gautam Bhatia on the training centre steps. (This looks like the start of a beautiful friendship!)
11. Family Law.
12. Walks and talks with Sasch.
13. Univ Week.
14. Exploring the Amazon River virtually with Vikram. 
15. Long walks and talks with Vikram/Gow/Madhav/permutations of them in BU campus.
16. Terrace chats with Sallie.
17. Walks and talks with Tuhina.
18. Singing "Diamonds are a girl's best friend" and finally winning WMD vocal solo!! 
19. "Paper Rain" duet with Sanj and being a mentor.
20. Most DISCO room-checking duty times, long chats, and the friends I've made in that bunch of first year girls.
21. The Mid-Law school party....even all the running to cunningham road for medicines and the mad ride back to college in the car (that was the most fun actually!)
22. Buying wine with Shore as a Christmas present for my parents and most of that evening actually. 
23. Massage sessions with Kush.
24. Watching NWD's skydiving video in the common room. Nandhivarman being so helpful. More helpful than he could have ever realized then.
25. The night before leaving for the Worlds in fourth year....wrongly believing I had click-locked my keys inside the suitcase, and all the associated tamasha.
26. Heart to heart convos with Annie.
27. At Heera Panna with Roh, Annie, Krish and Kush.
28. The "infamous" girls' night out with Sushila and Sonam...(and yes, Sonam, I know there was nothing infamous about it....but let's just say there was... ;-) )
29. Walks around campus with Gow.
30. Walks around campus with NWD.
31. Strawberry Fields in my fourth year and NWD.
32. Deewar lunches with Nandhivarman.
33. Dinner at Rohini with some of my favourite people, Annie, Gow and NWD....and ordering more garlic in the egg burji and debating less.
34. Culcomm meetings.
35. Getting "The Call" from CC.
36. The first LPD class for the third years...experiencing the other side of the podium.
37. "Tainted Blood" - the performance and all the practices and people. Meghna, you fulfilled my last unfulfilled fulfillable wish in law school. 
38. Writing this post and feeling grateful for all the good times.

Home

I love home. I love it when my family is all around me, and I love it when I am all alone. The past few months have taught me to embrace solitude. The peace around me. Being able to think, being able to read, to exercise creaky finger muscles over the piano keys. The silence of the night is beautiful, broken only by the rustle of a page turning.

I can't wait for my family to return. But until then, I'm in love with the solitude. It's something to look forward to throughout the day. The moment I enter in the door, all the vibes soaked up during my day in law school dissipate, and I am at peace again with my thoughts clear in my head.

St. Augustine's Pears

This song has been my favourite one for almost the last ten years now. Every time I listen to it, it reveals some other aspect of my life/thought process/itself to me. So absolutely love it!

St. Augustine's Pears
- PETRA

Words and music by Bob Hartman


Late one night I heard a knock at the door
The boys were really painting the town
I was just another bored teenage boy
Kickin' up and actin' the clown... Yeah

One dare led to another dare
Then things were getting out of control
We hopped the fence and we stole the pears
And I threw away a part of my soul
Yes, I threw away a part of my soul (now it's)

(Chorus)
Haunting me how I stole those pears
'Cause I loved the wrong
Even though I knew a better way
Not for hunger or poverty
It was more than pears that I ended up
throwin' away... Yeah

Time goes by - now I'm old and grey
Those pears are just a memory
I would gladly pay all I have today
But that's just not the problem you
see... ('cause it's)

(Chorus)

Bridge:
Why do we love all the things that are wrong
Forbidden fruit has a strange siren song
Why do we do what we don't want to do
When we live with regrets our whole lifethrough

Repeat Chorus

And I don't even like pears that well...

All's well that...

At the close of the day, everybody gets what they want and all ends well.

:-D

I'm at peace.