Agobai ! Monalisa Vahini !

A friend of a FB friend Deepashri Bharne D'Melo shared a great photo of someone called Monalisa Deshpande.

Probably  the daughter of Kokan, from say, Devrukh, with the complexion like the ocean foam, and typical hazel green eyes,  now married into a Deshpande family, and nicely settled in Pune

I sort of fell sorry for the actual portrait in the Louvre in Paris. Had to write in Marathi and in English ......

I mean nothing beats this .......

देवरुख ची कन्या , पुण्याला आली, आणि देशपांडे बनून गेली..... आणि बघा ! तिच्या शोधात इटलीचे लेओनार्डो द विन्ची , चक्क पुण्यात आले , नारायण पेठेत रमले, आणि सभोवताली पु. ना. गाडगीळ , भाउ चीन्गुशेट शिवरकर, अष्टेकर, आणि नदिपल्याड लागू बंधू, पेठे , आणि इतरांना बघून पुन्हा चित्र रेखाटायला बसले..... आणि पैठणी वरचे सोनेरी बुट्टे सर्वत्र शिंपित जाणारी, गळ्याला साज आणि चंद्रहाराने सजवणारी , कानात भोकरं आणि वेल घालून, चाफेकळी नाकात मोत्याची नाथ , घालून, सुंदर चंद्रकोरीचे कुंकू लावून, अचानक दोन्ही खांद्यावर पदर घेउन, स्मितहास्य करत म्हणाली , " लेओनार्डोभाउजी , इथे पास्ता-मद्य वगैरे कसल घेता ? चला, व्यवस्थित वैशालीत जूनमसाला डोसा आणि कॉफी घेउ की !"

Lo behold, the daughter of Devrukh in Kokan, now a Deshpande of Pune. Searching for her, Vinci's Leonardo actually reached Pune and settled down in Narayan Peth. in the midst of the abodes of jewellers PN Gadgil, Bhau Chngushet Shivarkar, Ashtekars, not forgeting the Laagus and Pethes across the river, and he actually decided to paint her again. She came, sprinkling the golden dots from her Paithani, the Saaj and Chandrahar glittering around her neck, canopy-style pearl bhokrs in her ears held with rising gold creepers in her hair, and a pearl and ruby "nath" nosering. She stopped, tired of posing, put on her new moon shaped tikka on her forehead, adjusted her palloo on both shoulders, looked at him and said " Aho Leonardo Bhau, this ain't a place for pasta and wine... Chalo, we go to Vaishali for a great coffee and a masala dosa....coming ?"

Little Cormorant, Big Guts.....

 My blog-and-FB friend  Bhavesh Chhatbar captured these wonderful scenes of a "little cormorant"  at the Okayama Garden aka Pu la Deshpande Garden in Pune.  To those unfamiliar  with Pu la Deshpande, he was one of the most celebrated , contemporary, best loved, humorous, satirical, musically talented, actors, author , playwrights/literary figures, of Maharashtra;  and one with a lot of guts, in the face of a government clampdown on freedom of expression that happened in 1975. Today, politicians misuse this freedom for personal advancement, and Pune has lately been witness to physical attacks, tarring ,throwing ink black, and defilement of homes and works,  of men of letters , who happen to think a bit differently.

The expressions on the face of the little cormorant, the location and the clicks just brought all this back in mind ....

Standing
at the air lectern
displaying full plumage
hands held out
in messiah position,
addressing
all the trunks and bushes
I practised my maiden speech.

Only to hear
wild crowd noises
shouting against me
and approaching
from the left
iron rods and tar
and ink pots in hand.

I watched,
wings together,
terrified,
and looked away,
thinking.....

And I raised my wings,
once again,
to shrug off all doubts,
taking courage
from the man,
after whom the garden was named.

Among other things,
he would have
been amused
at the thoughtless protests
in throwing
dark colors
on someone
who was already black,
but shining..