Happy Holi

It's that time of year !
Time for gulal, and water ballons,
To be doused by buckets of colorful water,
and forcibly plastered with gulal and other colors.
There is no escape, coz
It's Holi !

Wish you all a very Happy & Colorful Holi !!!!

TTC Subway

* TTC Subway
I have to say, I was most impressed by the subway system of Toronto. Entire public transit system actually - TTC.
Bangalore commuting hassles being what it is, it is no wonder that the one thing I valued was the convenience of this transit system. I made the most use of the Weekly Pass

Want to cross a few blocks ? Hop in the nearest subway.
Live in the suburbs ? No problem. Park your car and use the subway for downtown shopping. No hassle of parking at each halt.
Trains every 2-3 minutes. Even till very late in the night.
On so many occasions, after reaching my destination, I would find that I have forgotton my wallet at home. But no prob. Went home and back in no time.

With Street Car, you can get a complete but unguided tour of the city. What I did was, used the subway to go to last stop. Got in a street car, for an art gallery. But this turned out to be the wrong car. It started going back to downtown. I didn't mind that; gallery for some other day. It winded through the suburbs and downtown streets, which till now had been underground subway stops.

Subway stops are unique, characterized by their advertisements and artwork. Advertisement in neat frames. Different color tiles for each stop. And then artwork - murals depicting the character of that stop - College, Queen, King ... Instructions everywhere - escalator safety, exits, washrooms. More than technology, it's the design and planning of this system that is noteworthy.

Subway Musicians really add character to this place. And they play so well. Mostly guitarist, with vocals. (Just now came to know that they play a license fee to TTC !) They also sell their CD's here. But mostly they play for money from commuters. My constant question was "how much would they earn this way ?" Nevertheless they play unobstructively at their usual hours in their usual place. This is a romantic contrast to our train singers, who have strong poverty-driven aggression.

And then there were commuters. I have to say "Commuter" is a universal class of people. They exhibit similar behaviour in both parts of the world. Group of people, packed in a box together. Each in her own world - planning, thinking, day-dreaming, reading book or taking a nap. Holding their bags in tight clasp. Once in a while something grabs everyone's collective attention. A mad-cap attention-grabbing one in open shirt with a body-builder physique, whistles for everyone's attention and then does pushup, right in the middle of the car. Oh yes, I saw this. Then there are people in bathrobes, or with 3-4 dogs. One time a fellow sitting behind, talked non-stop about everything on this globe - Hamas win in Palestine, his pet dog, why people in India hate dogs (I have no clue), then organic food, yada yada. All this to a sympathic lady, who patiently heard him out with a "sure" & "ok", till she got off at her stop. That was some 30 minutes !

This was my first hand experience in slowing time and squeezing in more in short time. It's delicious ! Toronto felt like a small world city, though it's immensely bigger than Bangalore. I wish Bangalore had Metro built long back. Imagine Malleshwaram to JPNagar in less than 1/2 an hour. Yumm ! But now, I am not sure about living through the under-construction hassles, for the convenience for that may come after 4-5 years. Anyway, it might happen any time soon. Ah ! the scarifices one has to make ...

Niagara Falls

Here is the grand Niagara Falls ! From Canadian side.




It was huge and definitely beautiful. But it took us nearly an hour to settle down and have a good look. Man ! the mist doesn't let you stay still. Coupled with a cloudy sky, it completely drenched us. Raincoat ponchos from the sovenier shop, where we took refuge, came to our rescue.

Speaking of souvenir shops, I seriously looked out for WonderFalls :) After all those months of weekly sightings on TV, I finally saw the real thing. I mean, the Falls. Now I wonder, if I liked that show because of falls, or is it the other way round ...



Begining of the Fall



Rainbow bridge between Canada and USA



US Falls



US Falls and Niagara Falls



Maid of the Mist boats

Kingston

While Montreal & Quebec were all snow covered, the very same day Kingston was completey snow-free, sunny and beautiful. The sunny bit can very deceptive. Temperature would still be in the negative range.

Kingston was erstwhile capital of Canada. In 1844, only after 3 years, capital was moved to Ottawa. Reason being Kingston's proximity to another country.

This is the Kingston Townhall, which was Parliament House in those prime years.


What I liked best were these pretty and cute houses !

Montreal & Quebec

 

Tour guide told us an exotic story of how after this place was found, the discoverer wanted to name it "Mont-Royal" after a French prince. He shipped a letter saying so. But by the time ship reached France, that letter was subjected to generous dose of sea-water, thanks to storms. And Mont-Royal was mis-read as Montreal.

Pronunciation of both is very pleasent actually. The Royal goes a grandoise Royaaale..., while Montreal has the bicycle bell sound - tri i.e. Montreeyaale. Sounds great.

Saint Joseph Church, Mont-Royal. Highest point in Montreal.



Now that we are nearing end of Feb, am not sure how cold it is now, in Montreal and Quebec. But this is how they were, a month ago.

Frozen St Lawrence River in Quebec



Nearly 2 feet snow on rooftops














 
In Quebec, the bus stopped for dinner. I browsed the closed shops.

 

Art Gallery of Ontario

Visit to the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) was umm ok-ish, at first. But it ended well.

First, I spent considerable time to hunt it's location. Based on their postal address, I got off at Dundas Street West subway station and caught a street car to somewhere. It took me on a complete city tour (my mistake, not their's). Next time I tried the smarter approach - of calling first for landmarks. Turns out it is on Dundas Street West, but a block away from McCaul Street ! (This is like half-way across the city from where I got off the first time). I forgot that the streets here run across the city and beyond.

AGO location is great. Neighborhood is cluttered with Art supply stores. Crowd is also artsy looking type. And that is because Ontario College of Art & Design is AGO's immediate neighbor. Now, this college building is worth a watch.

At AGO, they had a Favorites exhibition on - set of diverse paintings, favorites chosen by eminent personalities of Toronto. Was good. So was the "Entire City" collection by Michael Awad. He clicked similar places across the city and stuck them together seamlessly. It looks like an entire city captured on one frame. So we have all super-markets in one frame. Likewise escalators, Toronto airport, all stores of Queen Street. Good project. I hope they soon come out in print poster form. Apart from these, nothing of interest. No offence, but sculptures and installations bore me. Give me a painting anyday.

The exhibit that I loved most, was a Wallwork*. It so happened, after getting lost in most of the gallery, I finally reached their store. I hoped it would pep me up. But no. They didn't have any of my favorite painting prints ! So I crawled away to the next room, which seemed completely empty, but for sofa. I sat on one of them, and turned around to the door, and boing ! What do I see ? I see this.



I said, now you are talking !

Didn't note the artist name. He had used all modern day common objects, to create pillar and sculpture, for an adorned doorway. All in twos , in symmetry on either side of the door. Stuff like bed breakfast table with used plates having bread crumbs. A coffee table with coffee mugs, mobile phone, cutlery, even used tissue. Then, a slept floor bed, jeans spilling out of a closet, Redbull cans, sandals, doormat, underwear, marker pens, post-its, file folders.

I was amazed at the strength of glue to fight gravity ! It's like an entire section of floor was transported to the wall.

I have to say, this wallwork is the best part of this gallery ! Wonder how the artist will dismantle it ? Maybe it is a permanent exhibit after all.

* Wallworks are artworks produced directly on the surface of walls. The artists who adhere to this method of working dispense with the tradition of the canvas, preferring the hard vertical surface of walls, often incorporating texture and existing architecture into their work.

Montreal Olympic Stadium & Biodome

Olympic Tower at 1976 Montreal Olympic Stadium.



Montreal BioDome is located next to the stadium. From the snow covered city, suddenly we were transported to Tropical forest. And then again to Antartic !

Zoos don't lose their appeal, do they ?
We were just as excited as kids in the group
to spot hidding tiny blue Frog and another orange one, identify the Anaconda among deadwood, discover that the source of loud cracking background noise is a large blue Parrot and sit quietly for a show of Penguins being force-fed !

Bata Shoe Museum

Bata Shoe Museum at 327, Bloor Street West, Toronto.


With Bata being such a part of growing up in India, I just had to visit this museum. Also to check out how different it would be from any of the Bata shops around here. Yes, it was different. The obvious one being, not more than one piece of a model. (Ok, bad joke).

It was amusing to browse thru such a variety of Shoes. There were silk, wood, leather and even ceramic shoes. It can be really amazing to see the evolution of something we take for granted. And funny too - to see various shape used by our ancestors. I mean, there were some from French court, which were platform with no heels at all. How torturous !

Then there were from different ages and cultures. And another section for celebrity shoes - Elvis, Marilyn Monroe, Churchill, Tiger Woods and more. And an entire section for the European ones with bows !

My favorite section has to be the one by influential designers of 20th century. All the high-heeled ones with beads, sequins & flowers. Piece of art actually. Some of them modern art.

Quick tour of their collection here. Some of them captured for you, here ...

Back in Bangalore

I had my usual rava idli vada breakfast and now it hits me. I am back home !

This trip has been great. Thoroughly refreshing. I got myself a fancy haircut, met newborn baby of an old friend (she is cute & spunky :), saw snow for the first time in my life. Mostly I walked around the city, rode the subway, watched people, window shopped, bought books on sale & gifts. I have not walked this much in years. This trip has given me something to talk about. Hope to post them all soon.

Not much has changed here. No, actually we have a new chief minister now. The coup had only happened when I left. After that I lost touch. Now I learn there is a new government and new CM. Interesting.

Now it's time to catch up on backlog mails.

Addition to library

Bought 5 books today. 2 shops, bargain prices. Could not resist.

That's a record one-day addition to my library. But I only hope they don't remain in my bought-long-back-but-not-read section for long !