Mera Piya Ghar Aaya, O Ramji !

Blasts

This is too horrible for words.

Morning, 5 blasts in Srinagar.

Evening, 8 blasts in Mumbai.

I was commuting at the very same time. Only in a different city.
Reached home to get this news and spend all evening watching the images.

Of mangled train compartments, rush in hospitals,
rain soaked onlookers,
of first eye-witnesses choking when they recounted what they saw,
people trying to reach home and bystanders helping with drinking water.
The phone lines were down till midnight. Maybe it was a good thing. Gave all sometime to absorb the severity of it all.

On the side: No matter how much we berate the news channels, they have shown maturity in their reporting. All but Sardesai's channel. Now he is definitely out of my TV forever.

Final is over

I stayed up till 2:30. And for what ?
It was such a boring match.
Hardly any goals. 2 goals in 90 minutes. One was Zidane penalty which looked simple, but he dinked it. And other Materazzi's one, which was the only good one.
Then extra time. Nothing again.

2 hours gone, and then penalty shootout.
I mean, what is the thrill about a penalty shootout ?
If that's what they wanted, they could have done it in the first hour itself.
And then, so many contacts, injuries & tiny breaks. Plus, every minute the ball rushed out. No footwork lasted enough to thrill.

For me the highlight was Zidane's red-card. Man ! how can he do that ! It was unbelievable. Really, height of pressure.

As far as I know, all finals are such lacklustre matches. Two of the best, not letting each other excel. Expected.

Under-estimator

Oh my poor blog. No updates for so long.
But I am so relieved - they didn’t destroy it, as a punishment for inactivity.

But I checked - most of my fellow bloggers haven't updated in a quite a long time. Maybe it's that time of the year, when everyone is flooded with work.

So well my excuse is that
with everything happening at work,
and absolutely nothing in personal life,
what can I blog about ?
No movies, no books. Ok, definitely a lot on TV.

I love that "Kaun Rakhe Rang" ad, sung by Kailash Kher. His rendition stands out. Really beautiful vocals. And even more so the visuals. All color, from all across India. Exotic maybe, but definitely beautiful.
I had to watch it 10 times to figure out the product.
Hmm, and visually uncannily similar to LIC ad.

Good music is really ... I don’t know what.
2 other songs that have made home in my head are:

Bijuriya(Remix) - Shaadi se Pehle

Naam Hai Tera Remix - Himesh Reshammiya
Really catchy, dancy songs. They have used good sounds.
(As you might have noticed, I am a Remix fan. More about that later.)
More than TV, they sound better on Radio.

Radio, oh finally we have new channel. 93.3 FM. So far so good.
Less RJ blabber, less ads, less promos and More Songs - something really important. Good quality voice too. They play Hindi songs all night long.

Did I say I didn’t have anything to blog about ?
I am a real under-estimator.
And also in hurry.
(Thanks Kusuma, for pushing me to update)

Ciao for some time now.

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.