Bozoical Interpretations in white..

With Mumbai having some unusually cold days , Bozo, Mumbai's only dog with his own blog, spends a lot of time ,  sitting on the floor next to Magiceye's sofa, as they watch some television.

Currently seeing lots of folks in white, sitting on a stage, and lots of other folks in white applauding these folks, and so on.  

And Bozo, just reasoned out some answers himself.....

I see all  these guys
at some
Chintan Shibir
on TV;
all the guys in white,
like me,
applauding and garlanding
one guy
in the  centre
again in white.

I wonder
what he has done
and why
he is being garlanded....

And then I hear
it is because
of the important person
sitting next to him....

Well,
I'm in white,
also sitting
next to an important person,
who is watching it all
on television,
and I don't see
anyone queued up
to see me and garland me....


Ah I know.
That new
chocolate two wheeler
keeps being garlanded,
and
she isn't
in touch
with the grass routes
like I am....

I guess
leaders like me
must allow
the sideys
to be garlanded....

:-)

OO-pa-ma, OO-pa-ma, and The Clean Picture!

The Mumbai summer is now setting in, and sitting under a agitating ceiling fan, at a dining table, imbibing hot fresh breakfasts, amidst amazing flavours emanating from a morning kitchen, is infinitely preferable to bending in the hot morning sun, to click the expressions of a narcissistic flower...

Which explains why my blogger friend Magiceye, took inspiration from his breakfast, and captured this photo of Oopma, or Upma, before he possibly tasted it.  This is made, from cream of wheat or rice, with folks in the south tending towards the rice.  It is made in Maharashtra , (from cream of wheat) and called "sanjaa",  and looks a bit different because we also add turmeric powder, and the sanjaa always has a yellowish tinge. Served with chopped fresh green coriander and grated coconut. Sometimes with a yum chutney.




These Upma shades of cream, slight gold, and green slivers in between reminded me of the mundum-veshti traditional dress worn by Kerala women.
  



 
Cream of rice or wheat
roasted golden,
warm particles
gossiping together,
waiting in
anticipation.

Golden ghee
dripping in the color
of the Mundum Veshti
exploding in a spot design
of mustard seeds,
fenugreek and
a shower of
green designer kadhipatta.

The roasted all pervading
cream particles,
coming together
spicily with
a hint of tamarind,
and a casual throw of cashews
amidst the
browns and greens,
and
grated coconut jewellery.

Closed and covered
for a while
she soon emerges
in her
delicious glory,
in her Mundum Veshti
to face another great morning....

Makeup : a bird's eye view in a global world...

My photo-blogger friend, Sylvia, from Tacoma, Washington, has so come "up" in the world, that she now gets amazing mountain views , and visits from worldly wise folks, on her window sill. Sometimes they even preen, pose, and maybe even crib. For a photo. Which she recently posted here.

I wasn't around there , but I do think this is what this bird said....


(photo by Sylvia Kirkwood)
Feeling a bit dull
in my old age,
I flew over
Paris,
Milan,
Cologne,
and even London
searching
for that perfect makeup....

And
I finally found it
in Mumbai,
where
they have
fairness creams.

In a moment
of
narcissistic madness,
I peered into
the Sky Mirror
and
slathered it on,
only
to have it
washed off
in a
thundering
Mumbai monsoon cloudburst.

Looks like nothing black
is turning fair,
and
everything
is supposed to be fair
only
if you are flying high.

As for me,
my full throated shouts
about the creme,
have rendered
my neck
arteries and veins visible,
and the
only thing
that has changed , are my eyebrows.

Black to white ?
Gosh,
the weight of people's expectations !
I can't even raise my eyebrows......

Seeking the grey...

The latest Camera Critters post from blogger friend Magiceye's Mumbai blog.

Green lifestyles yield harmony.

At the end of the day, despite differences, we all enjoy the same branch and same tree.

(photo by Deepak Amembal Magiceye)
While the
Bollywoodian
parrots, parakeets,
kingfishers, and orioles,
pretend,
to enjoy
a Page-3 world,
with a
haughty toss
of their hi-fi feathers,
the
very middle class
but gracefully simple
folks
of the
black-and-white-cinema days,
minding their own business,
realize,
that
their supporting branches
amidst
the peaceful green
are always
a
Mandelian grey....

Why we must take flight with color....

Black and white,
like our
unavoidable politicians,
behave in extremes,
drawing
bad folks
into their
individual corners....

Black,
the original empty vessel,
King of Nothing,
but greatly loved
by those with money to hide.
Hated as a complexion
by mothers of glaucomic bridegrooms,
though
fair beauties with
jet black knee
length hair
and shining black doe eyes
are acceptable, thank you !

White,
the original nouveau riche,
pure and blotless,
colonizing all the colors,
and brow beating them
into a white synthesis;
emotionless,
spiritless,
but shows up the dirt
of puffed up minds.

So much better
to be like the common man;

Where green,
is a jealous sick person,
but also a newcomer,
young and learning a skill....

where blue,
is someone missing someone,
but also
a child honestly
straining to explain,
that he did not
break the crystal vase,
preoccupied as he was
watching clouds
drifting in a blue sky......

where red,
is the danger sign,
and teacher's marks,
but also the
glimmer of a bride's
trousseau,
and the color of
the eyes at bidaaee....

where pink,
is the slow blush,
and a fresh rose,
and a child
coloring your face
in a drawing exam.....

where yellow,
is below-the-belt journalism,
and old waste papers,
but also
the brightness
of a summer day,
lashings of haldi,
hint of a ripening mango,
and the
perfumed color
of a champa flower.....

As for orange,
it's the threat of flames,
but mostly
the fruit and the juice,
and the color in our flag,
and the marigolds
adorning
the puja of the Gods...

White folks, black minds,
Black folks with white minds,
permute and combine that,
in a frenzy of ambition and power,.

And then wonder
how much nicer
it would be
to be
an ordinary citizen,
pink in innocence,
green in approach,
yellow in brightness,
blue as the sky
that gives cover to all,
red ,
as in
life giving haemoglobin,
and orange,
as in the fruit
he shares with all.....

I've always thought
ordinary folks
were so much
nicer than the
B and W politicians.

So why not ?
Take flight with color !


Submitted as an entry for the "Take Flight with Color" contest sponsored by HP LaserJet and Indiblogger.

Deep ruminations of a transparent mind…

Solilo posted this wonderful stuff on her blog.

Watch. Despair.

And then, if you are the bottle, you wonder.....

It’s so cold
but sweet
in the dark
of the ocean…..

Sunny memories of
being a courier of little gifts
green leaves, stems,
shells,
torn scarves;
and
indulgent
glances across oceans
between
the brown and white…….

I lie
rolling
across the ocean floor
watching,
pushing aside
a weed here,
a coral there,
having so
rolled
with the waves
like in another life.

And they fight
for land,
for color,
for power,
without realizing
that
in the end
the brown and the white
all dissolve into
a deep black
down here
in the depths of my mind….