Bien dans ma P(e)au !

C’était un appel de la nature! Je me suis dit « Il faut que je fasse un petit retour sur moi ! Et ça y est ! J’ai pensé à aller à Pau, une jolie petite ville dans le sud de la France d’où on voit les Pyrénées absolument magnifiques ! Quel paradoxe, je ne les ai pas vues de loin à cause de la couverture de nuages, mais j’y suis allée, mais vraiment, dans les montagnes avec mes hôtes formidables, les Asselines ! Il y a à peu près 3 ans qu’ils ont décidé d’avoir une maison au sein de la nature, dans les Pyrénées et ce rêve semblant impossible, s’est réalisé grâce à un travail immensément dur de 7 mois ! Et ils l’ont fait tout seuls ! C’était la première fois que je croisais des gens qui se sentent tellement concernés par les menaces posées sur notre environnement. Leur maison est une véritable merveille, avec l’eau chaude grâce aux panneaux solaires à l’extérieur, l’élevage des abeilles dans les ruches ! Quelqu’un a dit « Si toutes les abeilles meurent un jour, l’homme disparaitra de la terre dans 4 heures ! » Je ne me souviens plus qui !

Le fait que je ne les connaissais pas avant m’inquiétait un peu mais comme c’étaient des amis proches de mes parents de la Rochelle, je me suis jetée à l’eau ! Eau chaude…naturelle !!  Et c’était bien ! On a passé un weekend dans les montagnes : on a déjeuné à 2000 mètres avec une vue panoramique de la chaine enneigée devant les yeux, la cuisine dont j’ai tout aimé (en particulier les cannelés) d’Anne-Marie, la volonté de Denis de faire les travaux dans son jardin sans arrêt, la poignée de main chaleureuse de Sila, leur chienne , la visite d’un vide grenier, l’essai de la cuisine indienne qui n’était pas mal, la marche dans la neige, les discussions autour de la table concernant toute mais, presque toute la terre, les gâteaux irrésistibles et enfin la maison ! Une création aussi sympa pour la vie en retraite m’a donné quand même une petite envie de vieillir un peu plus vite !


P.S : Sorry guys, this post is dedicated to francophones...i will put up a translation soon...

Small spaces Part 2 !

This is a bi-sequel. Firstly since its a continuation to the post "Small spaces", the first part and secondly cos its a continuation to my "Posts-dedicated-to-friends" phase. This one is for you Bansal. It was a promise and not venturing into this one would have meant a broken heart ! Mine, ofcourse ! :)

I wrote the first one exaclty half way into our stay in the land of Sarkozy. I hear his name every 5 minutes just about anywhere. These days, I dream of him. This is a serious issue out here. Now you also know why half the days I do not work thanks(?!!) to the frequent strikes. Anyways...yes so this post shall also talk about the same things but in a different perspective. The way I look at this more so, in retrospect. Bansal hasn't really left us. As I am writing this one, I can actually hear her stupid jokes and her cranky laughter and her yelling at me over the fact that I do not hate Sardars (no offense whatsoever meant). :P So (at) this same little (s)pace again in the 2nd half of the stay saw us howl like mad-heads. I pity her (the space). We still spoke into wee hours of the morning but we did not have to get up half the times cos our bosses were on strike ! :D Those falls in every state reduced since our family helped us with the wine-intake business ! ;) Consequently, the sleeptalk and walk reduced since we slept peacefully and at the cost of being indecent, like logs ! Coffee cups were replaced with tea cups and dust with rain. Terrible weather I tell you ! Govinda songs were replaced with Rajpal Yadav songs and louder laughter. Ramp walks became much more appropriate. Since we had used up half our material, things got less and worst lost, so the time gained was promptly used for more nonsensical talks, the tasty tarts and pizzas were replaced very often with Indian cuisine (I avoid mentioning the menu at the risk of it being repetitive :P...i am sure Bansal you will agree with me on this). Some things however will eternally be the same and they certainly need a mention. I am not scared of a beating anymore cos it wont be so soon atleast ! Yes, so to start with, my self-confidence dampening everytime I tried to wake this babe up. That never did and never shall change ! Period ! I lose. I accept. I have a history of friends having their history of falls. So, undoubtedly, that is eternal as well. Bansal, keeping the tradition alive, did fall newly in every corner of the house and broke some furniture without having a sip of alcohol. Dont dare ask me otherwise ! I will send her drunk to your place ! :D She continued my robe-hunting everywhere on the streets and the sanest thing ever that crossed her ming was to accompany us in Switzerland. This needs a special post cos I turned 25 and it was the best birthday until date. She played a keyrole in executing it. Love you girl ! And we got back and started feeling depressed as unknowingly, the countdown had started ! But well, as I recently read in some book about the present moment being eternal and living it to the fullest moment is the most ideal thing to do, we consoled ourselves. We decided not to taint the most lovely period of our lives spent together with our family, by feeling sad about it !

Everytime I have wine, I raise a toast to you, to us and to our family ! Cherishing it all, life goes on. Hope you are all colourfull in our land ! I shall see you soon girl ! Miss you ! :)

Tchin to Chinar !!!! :D

Well...now first things first...I have to explain what this idiotic looking title means. Everything is written for a reason and this is no exception. I agree that I have some time but not enough to wile it away on blog titles either. Anyways, so Tchin is the sound we make and the word we say ( pronounce it as chin, it anyways gives the widest grin at such times...you will soon know why! ) when we drink wine with the French anywhere on the planet. And Chinar is the tree after which is named my friend's hostel in MICA in Ahmedabad. This freaky creature is my darling and my biggest inspiration to write this particular post. IN SHORT : (for those who are still reading this) : I raised a toast to a particular Chinar tree sitting in Ahmedabad which used to scare my poor friend out of her wits and made her change her sleeping pattern. I am doing the same over this weekend. Hence, the post. Here, I shoot (hope not myself during the night).

So, I landed in France with a comforting thought that I was staying with a family or I might end up staying in a studio, (it costs a hell, therefore, it has to be small, therefore it wont have rooms, therefore, I could sleep alone !!! )were my ensuing thoughts ! I then met a lovely roomie, just like my MICA friend did. We hit off like a house on fire (that happening literally too...galati se) just like my MICA friend did and I forgot that I was scared to death of sleeping alone in a house. It so happened in 7 months that only on a particular night, I was house alone, but I could call another SOS friend to sleep over. 7 months down. Roomie in Chandigarh. I am still in France. People go away. The house is empty. But I am still in the house. And I have to sleep alone tonight. I made the mistake of reading MICA friend's blog where she has weird ideas, which have not helped me really you know...i mean i am scared of my own reflection in the mirror but then ghosts and other planetory or whatever objects passing by without reflection was news to me ! Anyways, at least I was inspired to write. Besides, its keeping me busy !

Yes, so after a smooth ride of 7 months, I am undertaking the biggest venture of my life and I need luck from all you readers. I will write more. If, I survive. Unless if you really did not love my posts, in which case you can wish otherwise. I will welcome all techniques for tonight ! I am going to employ the one suggested by MICA friend already. I think I will sit up studying until 5 am in the morning or just watching a film or TV or some music, my all-time love and life saviours until date and then when all those unseen objects will go to sleep, I shall sleep too. Or maybe, I can keep writing the whole night. No, not posts, i do not wish to be out cast. I love my friends. Or maybe, I can speak to my would be husband. But he is sitting...no sleeping...in India. And I am still here. And he works tomorrow. Let us see (maybe speak). Or maybe, I can speak to some friends who are some hours behind me and still enjoying sunshine !

I am still thinking and I will welcome all suggestions ! All the windows are already shut and all the lights are on. The TV, laptop (obviously) and all other gadgets are handy and I know there is nothing to fear about.

Wish me luck. I hope to see you all tomorrow. If I do this once, I am sure I will manage everytime(!!!??!!!).

Shades of my life !

It has got nothing to do with a shady life ! These are days which I saw in different shades of blues, greens, reds and whites ! I shall come to them individually ! I have been getting up every single day of my stay here feeling a new colour ! Mondays have always been blue ! Now that is not surprising is it !!? A rainbow weekend is often followed by foggy weather, whether you like it or not ! But the tiny ones are such a joy that I feel the colours back ! I saw kilometres of meadows here and I fell in love with green ! The lndscapes are so magnificent and so positive ! I hardly see it in Bombay, and I have it in abundance here ! Its such an optimistic colour ! I saw life and I saw the life of the contryside people too ! They live ! They really do and so do their pets, of all colours ! The best green I loved was the Green Man, the GO man in Berlin, the signal man ! See,,,i said its an optimistic colour ! Nature does teach you a lot ! VERTical is how you should climb in life !! (Vert = Green). I saw blue on other days too ! In the skies and its lines ! I actually realised one day that my definition of a skyline was not really accurate ! But it still shone blue so its ok ! :D And at the same time, I saw the Lady Eiffel behing me, so vehemently lit up ! The yellow shone poise, attitude and pride ! How I loved her ! :) She was also blue towards the year end but she looked beautiful then too in starry nights dressed in a starry robe herself which glittered every hour ! If you see the Eiffe; Tower gliterring at the same time on 2 consecutive days as a matter of pure conincidence, its considered to be heavenly lucky by the way !! :)

Yes so lets continue with different strokes of our paint brush ! Remember ! We are in the tiny world ! And it is RED ! People who have read them will know !!! :D I call them apples. These are the kids whom I teach. They are red, round and they are fresh. So, I call them apples. The red on the cheeks gets redder if they smile and its a hell lot of a task to make them smile ! So its a hard earned colour ! Now you know why it is the colour of love too ! :) A colour of rage, passion, strong emotions and also a colour which makes me stop and think....at the lights ! A colour which the French don't see so often. They prefer lighter shades, in clothes, food and conduct ! You will not see people flaring at eachother that easily !

I am a completely adherent to black ! Its however ironical that paranoia ends with me when it comes to darkness which is pitch black and I do not like solitude either cos idle hours often make me sorrowful, again portrayed black ! But off late, I have fallen in love with white ! I met snow for the first time in such heaps and I fell and I fell for it ! I felt like taking it home in mountains ! I felt purity and peace to its zenith with so much white around me and showers of it refusing to stop ! It was stunning ! The company matters too ! It was so honest and truthful a colour the way I felt and saw it because I was with whom I was, that I donot want to unfeel and feel again the first experience of a snowfall ! A BLAN(c)ket of it!!!! (Blanc = white).

So I try and keep all the shades on me all the time to make my days colourful ! Days make all events and all people around me colourful too ! I EVENTually thank these shades which guide me so much...you know...just how strokin....oopss...strikingly !!! :)

Small spaces !

No ! Its not a continuation to the tiny text ! Its about spaces. Which a lot of people talk about ! Which a lot of people crave for and which becomes a reason for a lot of disputes ! I used to talk about it a lot too ! Yes, the space is important but here, on a foreign land is where I realised that it’s the inner space which matters much more than the materialistic and the literal space ! I had never thought of sharing as little a space as is required to maybe just move around, with a complete stranger ! We started with “Lets give it a shot !” and we did! We have come to vodka shots and falling around and doing the craziest things ever and its already 4 months down ! I did not realise ! In retrospect, I think that the need for space becomes a problem when you let it ! I managed to find a lot of this newly discovered inner space and it was such a ride ! I felt contended and I was happy to be able to make the most of this stay with somebody who is not exactly the way I am and who thinks quite differently from the way I do ! Neither of us had ever shared our so-called space with anybody else before, at least not to the extent of getting used to it and, here we never miss it !

So this little space has seen us howl like mad-heads, talk into the wee hours when the apples were waiting for us for a class the next morning, some crazy falls (in)sane states, innumerable attempts to wake somebody up every morning when I leave (I feel such a failure till date :P), empty coffee cups, dust, wine, sleep, sleeptalk, more coffee cups and nonsensical talks, some Govinda songs, never-ending itineraries, crazy choreography sessions, some more sleep, classes and their preparations, discussions on the most off-hand topics ever, some ramp walks in not so appropriate clothes ever, things getting lost (they do the worst and the most often, in the crampiest places ever), some lights on and people trying to sleep, some pull-eachother-out-of-the-bed sessions cos we are eternally late, some concocting of names (which are too personal for this blog and simply because I want to save myself a beating), some tasty tarts, wine, cheese, giggles, more sleep, bag packing sessions and bag opening sessions (this took longer, naturally), some windy sessions, loud talks over the laptop, some videos shot, saved and re-re-re-re-re watched, some more people coming in and wonders of wonder !! – 4 people on 2 bunkbeds !! whoaaa we need a legion d’honneur !, hiccups, burps, sneezes and noises……..i can go on and on

I guess I will wait for the next half of the stay to get over ! A continuation to this one is due !!! Soon to come…..

My first attempt !

When those tiny little thoughts start clustering in your even tinier brain, its tine...oopss...its time to WRITE!!! I get these urges very often and every time, my tiny little blue Reynolds would do me tiny favors ! But I realised that this is good too ! To each his tiny charm ! These days, I am forced to think tiny ! I see tiny everywhere, in books, in hands, in colours, in songs, in those wide eyes, in those illegible letters ! The tiny ones have taken me back to me when I was tiny ! I wished I had a tiny elephant's memory too ! It would have been quite a nice thing to recolect stuff ! Well...the first post dedicated to the this tiny and thankfully untouched world, should obligatorarily be....need I say...TINY!! :D