Laughter Drops!

I left Mumbai the other day.

I feel joyous about it. Not because of what I am leaving behind. Rather because of what I am taking with me.

 

 I have had my highs.

The feeling of liberation all around the place. The sheer diversity of people you meet. Associated diversity of experiences and perspectives you gain. The 'can do' and 'will do' attitude you come across everyday and that inspires you. Everyone seems to have a dream; and are passionately pursuing it. You tend to realize that if you are always successful then maybe you are not taking enough risks. Successes and failures make you humble; teach you to balance between living in present and planning for future. It also opens up your eyes to the fact that there are so many definitions of success and so you start focusing on what's your dream or goal and stop worrying about running rat race. It makes you take charge of your life. You take decisions and you own consequences. You feel enriched, empowered, responsible, and alive

 

I have had my lows too.

City's super fast paced and till time you can fund a work life balance that works , you can feel really burnt out. You need to consciously focus on your health. With so many opportunities around, you need to make your decisions on affordability. House spaces are small and it takes some time to get used to them. Local trains seemed like a necessary irritant till time I found a solution that worked for me. 3-4 months of monsoons can really get to your nerves & you need to find your own solution to it

 

But whether it be highs or lows, city's basically teaches you invaluable life lesson.

 

The other day I left the city I called home for last 9 years. But I leave a very different person compared to the one of 2005- shaped by a large extent by experiences I have had and people I have met here.

 

During one of my last classes at my dance studio in Mumbai, I became reflective and my eyes filled with emotions. But soon I was feeling joyous and could not stop smiling and performing. For me that was a perfect tribute to my adopted home. Love and celebrate life! My eyes were filled with 'laughter drop'.

 

As I saw sun set for one last time in Mumbai, my heart filled up with gratitude and I heard myself say 'Thank You Mumbai!
 

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Sourav

Purpose

You have achieved a goal you have worked towards long for. What next?

 

Should you set a further goal or should you just left life happen?

 

Well! I think it’s a personal choice. Different individuals may choose differently. Same individual may choose differently at different times of his/her life.

 

What’s becoming increasingly clear to me is that in case you were to decide you want to pursue a further goal/purpose – you will go through a period of uncertainty and working through different hypothesis and scenarios.  

 

Life always travels full ‘ellipse’. Your starting point next time around may be further down the road. But then you will need to start ‘afresh’ on another journey.

 

Where should next journey be to?  There are no straight answers. You need to keep on at forming and shaping your own answer.

 

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Sourav

Flamenco

Gólpe! Gólpe! Gólpe!

Jaleo! Jaleo! Jaleo!

What will come next? Who will lead next part of performance?

Will it be soulful singer whose voice and claps (e.g. of Jaleos), more than her words, keeps me spellbound? Will it be enchanting dancer whose ‘tapping’ feet draws me in and doesn’t let me out?  But hey! Wait!

Why don’t I hear strumming of Spanish guitar anymore?

………Trang! …There! There it goes again – and there starts again medley of soulful singing, rhythmic guitar strumming, and ‘tapping’ dance – each one unique but together producing a heady and unforgettable spectacle!

That’s what I found unique and amazing about ‘flamenco’ during my trip to Sevilla. Flamenco is not only a dance form, a song form, or a music form – but a form and experience created by unison of all 3.

If you are in Sevilla, you can’t afford to miss traditional ‘Flamenco show’!

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Sourav

LFD

 

There’s a term in dancing called LFD – Listen, Feel, and Dance. All of these happen in order – you first listen to the music, let it seep in and start feeling it, and then you dance it out. When you are in LFD zone, dancing becomes almost effortless. You can dance at any speed and hardly be out of breath.

Another concept is ‘choosing your subject’. You pick up a subject to perform to, zone in on it, and maintain the connection through performance.

‘Sense your co-dancers and partners’ and perform along with them’ is a third powerful concept. You look around, sense others, stay in your space, and perform along with others.

I have experienced that all of these to have powerful applications in our daily lives and at workplace too. 

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Sourav

 

Durga Puja and Home

When you have a mobile lifestyle, adaptability is what keeps you going. But then there are ‘sounds, sights, and smells’ that you distinctly associate with certain places. When you come back to these places, your senses start noticing these ‘sounds, sights, and smells’.

I am currently back at my hometown Asansol.

While driving down from Kolkata Airport to Asansol, we were on NH2 (or what was previously called G.T. Road – supposedly more than 500 years old).  

Slowly I started getting re-adjusted to seeing swarm of trucks/lorries on the road. NH2 always has been a trade/industrial route. It runs from Kolkata and provides connectivity upto Delhi.  You see more trucks than cars or bikes on this road. There are stretches in between where you will see scores of trucks lining the road on either side – taking a mid-journey break.  Sometimes you see these clearly overloaded trucks and you wonder how long they will manage to chug along before breaking down. Thanks to NH2 being a long distance transport heavy route, there are a string of roadside dhabas – you can’t give a miss to ‘bharer chai’ (tea in earthen cup) chai and roti –rajma at these dhabas.

Back at home, I started noticing familiar sounds and feelings. 

Right outside window of my room there stands a huge tree. In afternoons, you can hear birds chirping while sun streams in through the window. It’s difficult to do anything then but lie down and gaze outside the window during afternoons.

Concept of late afternoon and evening undergoes a bit of shift too. During summers, sun sets around 6:15/6:20 p.m. During winters it sets around 5:10/5:15 p.m. These times are very different from corresponding times in western part of country – a little post 7/6 p.m. in summers/winters. This time around I realized why I am more of an early morning person. During my growing up years I have been used to waking up and sleeping early. Those days, my day ended by 5/6 p.m. – and that’s what I am carrying forward even now.

In Bengal, ending of day is officially ‘sounded’ by sound of Sankha (which usually women of house sounds at dusk). This time around when I heard sounds of Shankha, I started thinking -  ‘what is equivalent of Sankha in our city lives – something which tells us every day that day has ended?’. I find none. Maybe that’s why we find it so difficult to switch off.

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Yesterday I saw these old music records lying at home. In midst of technological advances (cassettes, CDs, and now I pods) we hardly use music record players anymore. But are these record players really outdated? I hear in parts of Europe music record players are back in vogue – it seems music connoisseurs find music quality much better in these record players compared to new age technology music players.

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No trip back home is complete without talk about food back home J.

From kitchen, smells of fish on frying pan waft all over house. Sometimes you heard sounds of ‘jeera’ crackling on hot oil.  While Bengal might be known for fish, it also has a plethora of green vegetables available. During normal days, a 3 course lunch awaits me. It starts with shaag (saag in Hindi)/posto bata (paste of poppy seeds), etc. It then moves on to dal and at least 2-3 vegetable preparations. It usually ends with a fish/chicken dish. And yes – rice accompanies each course.

Given that I am very particular about fitness, my friends/colleagues sometimes are surprised when they see amount of rice I eat. My usual retort is ‘If I don’t eat rice/rice based preparation every day, I don’t feel psychologically that my day has ended’.

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Asansol and Durgapur are 2 adjacent cities – hardly 50 kilometers away. But when you visit them you might feel that you have visited two cities poles apart.

Asansol feels like a commercial and industrial city. It’s a bit cramped for space and is buzzing with activity.

While Durgapur is also a city with industrial roots, it feels more planned and open.

The only difference I can fathom is that while Asansol started in 1800s (when coal was first found in this belt), Durgapur was converted into a planned industrial city in mid 1900s – by the then Bengal Chief Minister Bidhan Chandra Ray.

I find Surat and Baroda (in western state of Gujarat) similar to Asansol and Durgapur. Surat and Baroda are  hardly 100 kilometers away but they give you a completely different feeling. Surat (textile industry, diamond industry) feels akin to Asansol. Baroda (wide roads, well planned, gardens, etc) feels more akin to Durgapur.

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But be it Asansol, Durgapur, or Kolkata – the sights, sounds, and smells of a Durga Pujo pandal usually stay away with me long after festivities have ended.

Peace you find during pushpanjali (prayers to goddess Durga), sounds of Dhak, adrenaline pumping ‘Dhunuchi Naach’, the junk food you can feast on, and the artistic creativity you come across - are experiences/feelings not to be missed!

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Sourav

 

 

Power, Immensity, and Intrigue

I anticipated with baited breath what lay around the next turn!  Steely blue waters and lush green hills interspersed with stretches of brown earth brought home the immensity of what surrounded me! Eerie and beautiful calm all around threatened to break through any moment!

I was getting a taste of ‘Flores’, an Indonesian island unique in many senses.

Stunningly beautiful Indian ocean, rare ‘carnivorous’ Komodo dragons, corals of different colours, and snippets of local and unique history will make your travel here worthwhile and will make you want to come back again.

Labuanbajo, a small coastal fishing village is a good hosting point to go around Flores.  The first thing that strikes as you land at Komodo airport (even the airport is named after Komodo dragon J) in Labuanbajo, is its proximity to the sea. You feel as if you are landing on sea – the way you feel when you are landing Ngurah Rai airport in Bali.  The smallness of the airport is the second thing that strikes you. It literally is a few rooms big and stays locked up (literally with locks) when flights are not taking off or landing.

As you start spending sometime in Labuanbajo you start getting more of a sense of what all makes this island unique.

I came across tree shapes, tree types, and flower types I had never seen before. Maybe it is because of Flores being below ‘Wallace line’ J (do some reading on Alfred Russel Wallace and his work in Malaysian Archipelago). I noticed that the features of the people around were less Indonesian like and more Australasian like – broad foreheads, high cheek bones, darker, etc. Indian Ocean drew me in – dark, ‘mirror’ like, and opaque blue. I was initially apprehensive of but finally enjoyed eating ‘king sized’ Bintang/Flores bananas.

A bit of trivia about ‘Flores’. Flores was discovered by Portuguese sailors.  They named island ‘Flores’ (flower in Portugues) as the surrounding Indian Ocean is full of corals that impart to the ocean colours of different hues. I noticed different shades of blue, green, pink, yellow, and violet in various parts of Ocean. So Flores was for a long time a Portuguese island. But then it changed hands to Dutch. As per local history, Flores was supposedly sold by Portuguese to Dutch (and that too by local Portuguese administration without permission of Portuguese government).

The Indian Ocean around Flores is intriguing. At most places it looks like an unbroken glass of deep blue water.  Water shines due to sunlight but it is mostly stunningly opaque. It changes in colour where the corals are present.  But wait till time you get further into Ocean and you will be up for surprises. You will see form and shape of waterscape changing. I saw series of whirlpools. I saw many different streams of water, possibly signaling to presence of strong and different currents here. I saw places where water was bubbling up J. All this while my boat traversed in between low lying hills on either side chugging slowly towards Rinca and Komodo islands.

I could see Rinca island from distance. Soon our boat was flanking island. I peered at it waiting with bated breath to sight the Komodo dragon whenever I could see a glimpse of patch of brown earth in between the dense vegetation.

A bit of trivia about Komodo dragons. The movie ‘King Kong and Godzilla’ is inspired by Komodo dragons. These dragons are giant carnivorous lizards (and hence have lizard like tongues) – and have a history of attacking and eating men too.  Rinca and Komdo islands are only places in world where these dragons (numbering around 5000) still exist. They supposedly are only remaining linkages with old world dinosaurs.  The forest rangers in these islands are hired by Indonesian government and they live with their families in the villages there. They are not allowed to kill dragon and can only beat it back with sticks if attacked. Amazing dedication to saving an almost extinct species.

Soon we had docked at Rinca islands!  While walking the forest trail with the rangers we came across full body skeletons of different animals – attacked and eaten by the dragons. Supposedly only body part dragons don’t eat is the hair. So if you are unlucky enough to be attacked, you might disappear unnoticed. I was not sure whether to feel comforted by the presence of the ranger – what exactly could he do if we were attacked. I was scared and excited at the same time. Suddenly I saw a number of dragons right infront of me. I froze still and breathed in easy to calm down.

I had heard they look lazy but pounce on you without warning. They did look lazy, almost asleep. But a look at their front limbs, claws, and powerful jaws warned me of danger of getting too close. I managed to zoom in enough to get a close shot with my camera. But my heart was thumping and I was sweating. I remembered the instructions given to me by ranged – run zig-zag if chased by dragon and climb a tree. Dragons find it difficult to run zig-zag and can’t climb trees. I had told ranger that I don’t know how to climb trees. He had answered calmly I will learn it immediately if chased by dragon – he had seen such cases before. J

Well I spent about a quarter of an hour with the dragons; all the time alert and observant. That quarter hour is photographed in my mind.

Later in the day at sunset, further away from Rinca island, I saw thousands of bats migrate to Rinca island from Kalong island. The Indian ocean at sunset looks stunning. Strange shaped clouds, surrounding hills, and play of light in the sky and the water makes for an overpowering image – not to be missed. I sat at the bow of the boat looking at the sun set, while we slowly trudged back home.

I have heard somewhere that you should never underestimate Indian Ocean. With about an hour left to hit the coast, I found out why. The winds picked up and water became rougher. I felt we were taking an eternity to reach the harbor while our boat crashed from one wave to the other and swayed around. The sailor’s gentle and confident smile and reassurance that we will make it back to the port calmed me down.

I did made it back, with a bagful of unforgettable memories and experiences.

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Sourav

Photographs

Photographs are souvenirs that help you at a later time to recall/revisualize an image/event/person.

There are times when the experience is so powerful and so encompassing that you choose to 'live' the moment and in doing so, the moment gets imprinted in your memory irreversibly. You can even recall image and reexperience associated feelings at any later time with or without a photograph.

Few of places I travelled to, over last few years, have left such 'imprints' on my mind. Here's first 3.

• Niagara falls- You see it from a distance. It looks beautiful! You come closer. Sight slowly draws you in! Water sprays hurl towards you. Boat's all tipsy turvy and you hold on to railings. There's a deafening sound around. And all the while you approach the waterfall slowly but surely. And then amidst all  chaos, when you are perilously close to actual waterfall, amazingly, deafening calm settles in. Boat steadies!  Chaos prevails but beyond circle of serenity that surrounds you. You look at everything while within the circle. Water looks beautiful green. You can make out different sprays of waterfall; see water mists rising from water.; and hear humming sound of waterfalls. You are drenched to the bone. But really - does it even matter?
• Kecak dance, Bali- do you believe in  spirits and people doing things under a  trance? I, at the best, am doubtful of anything related to supernatural.  Kecak is a traditional dance form of Bali. Late in the evening, against backdrop of a traditional Hindu temple in intriguing Ubud, i observed dancers perform to continuous 'Chak-chak' sound of chorus singers. Sound had kind of a numbing effect on mind. I got drawn in to the performance and drawn out of everything surrounding. I saw dancers dance till they fainted. I observed a man using a horse's costume (presumably to take on animal spirit) dance on dried coconut shelves set on fire. His face seemed emotionless and his body seemed painless. Intriguing! I still have not been able to understand what happened there. Sometime back I had read Carl Jung's works on dream symbolism. It talks about how collective unconscious expresses itself through dreams, and how not everything can be explained by conscious. I am also reminded of Nyepi day- the Balinese new year. This is a day of complete silence and inactivity throughout Bali. No one is allowed on roads, or to speak. The belief is that devils visit island on Nyepi day and not finding anyone/any activity there -leave island in peace for next year. Even airport remains shut on this day and you can't even check in to/check out of a hotel.
• Mount Bromo, Java- Nature in Indonesia seems to be ripe with possibility of transformation/turbulence/change. You might remember that Tsunami a few years back had originated there. It seems there's a strong fault line that cuts across Indonesia that makes it very susceptible to earthquakes. There supposed are two different kinds of vegetation in Indonesia  and you can literally see transformation when you travel from Bali to Lombok. I even found facial and body features of people in Flores (an island in South Indonesia) very different (more Australasian) from those in Bali and Java (more Asian). Additionally every island I went to also seemed to have a dormant/active volcano. It almost seemed like 'we are x/y/z island and here's our volcano'.  Mount Bromo in Java (largest of 1300+ islands in Indonesia) was one of these majestic active volcanos I visited. A trek upto peak of Mount Bromo is worth the effort. You walk up a plain and then a hill of grey and dusty ash against a backdrop of green and colorful plains and valleys. The ash arranges itself into interesting and strange mound and shapes along the way. When you reach top you find smoke coming out in spurts from depth of volcano. Few hours earlier, in midst of pitch dark night, I had travelled through steep and winding roads to a viewing point on an hill opposite to Mount Bromo waiting for sunrise. Dawn started breaking in but clouds threated to be spoiler. Slowly clouds stared settling further down. Peak of Mount Bromo emerged against backdrop of streaming golden rays of rising sun. Spellbinding beauty!

 

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Sourav