Emotions and all that

On a Friday evening just before I head off into the mountains of Coorg to spend some time on top of a windswept hill, I'm thinking about a conversation I've just had.

Someone I learnt to care for deeply has moved on.

Moving to Bangalore implied a lot of friends in Bombay would gradually lose touch, gradually move on..that was to be expected. The life of a 30 something year old is full of these moves and shifts of place, friends and emotions. Every move I've made (and I've made a few) has resulted in losing old friends and gaining new ones (and losing them in turn). The semi-annual pruning of the phone numbers just brings that to mind most vividly..

But there are some friendships and relationships that just stick on. Linger around long enough that one can meet after a year and just carry on where one left off. Memories which are a warm blanket on cold Bangalore nights.

And then one of them moves on.

It's a weird feeling to know that one person suddenly doesn't think of you the way they used to. After all the work to get to a certain place, the target is moved yet once more. Distance - the great leveller. I've already lost someone I cared about deeply because of the miles between us...and now I've lost another.

Distance makes hte heart grow fonder. What a crock of shit that cliche is!

Out of sight, out of mind...now that's more like it.

A creature of routine

Saturdays

Max Cafe at the Goethe Institut

A phone that never rings

Coffee

Nicholas Ostler's "Empire of the word"

Rattan blinds swaying in the wind

Unshaven

Sleepy

BORED. Of life. Of work. Of men. Of routine.

A very Japanese weekend

So after a week spent re-reading one of my favourite books (Shogun by James Clavell), eating wasabi peas and listening to Pizzicato 5 on loop, I'm totally in a Japanese mood right now.

All I seem to want to do is head to Homestop-buy some bonsai and tatami for the house and eat every meal at Harima on Residency Road till I choke on my sashimi. (I still can't get myself to say Harima till I say Harami about three times. Giggling all the while.) Dare I get stereotypical and say take pictures of everything in Bangalore as well?

If you haven't read Shogun (and the others in the series by Clavell - Gai-Jin and Tai-Pan are my favourites), I'd totally suggest you do. Historical fiction isn't everyones cup of cha but it sure is mine...was amazing to read the (fictional) retelling of the events leading to the Battle of Sekigahara and all about samurai and bushido and seppuku...honestly, the way Clavell tells it, even suicide seems like an honourable thing to do.

It just seems like such a different culture...so different from India..and for sure different from the West. (Then again, all I've been reading about is 16th century Japan...today like all Asians, they're more Western than the West!) I'd like to visit someday..though knowing me I'll just hang out in the Ginza watching all the cool kids walk about. Pity I'm not into Asian guys, some of the Japanese guys are awesome looking - the best fashion sense ever.

And I'd give it all to meet Nomiya Maki from Pizzicato 5..I'm so in love with her!

(Sidetrack: What is it with me and women singers? Nomiya Maki, Francoise Hardy, Chrissie Hynde, Susannah Hoffs...I'd give anything to meet them for a drink! NO man singer makes the list! Mika is close...but drinking isnot what I have in mind for him...)