Friday 30 June 2017

Enjoying the illusion - A letter to the diva

Dear Vimla,

Would it be an overstatement if I said that this past year has been the most intense one of our respective lives? For different reasons. You witnessed your family fall apart and lost your 'home' and your friends. Those who were supposed to be on the forefront and support you simply walked away upon realizing that things were about to get messy. At the same time our paths crossed and we reacted similarly acknowledging the fact that everything happens for a reason. Today, I can't help but think that our story is very Paulo Coelhoesque: two persons at the crossroads of their lives come together and decide that no matter what happens, life is a merry-go-round which needs to be ridden. We also agree that over and above everything life is but an  illusion. We decided soon enough that each and every moment would matter and allowed ourselves to let go of our  fears.

You taught me to reconnect with nature and the simple pleasures of life. I taught you to reconstruct your self-confidence. You showed me to laugh at little nothings and I showed you to stop paying attention to pointless matters. Our positive vibes and energy are a natural match at so many levels that the mere thought of you makes me happy.  Today the greatest thing about that relationship of ours is that we can easily survive without each other. Experience has taught us that attachment only brings suffering. I left for New York for a couple of weeks and we carried on with our respective lives merrily. You will be leaving for Nepal for a couple of months, yet we both know that when we will meet again, we will have so many adventures to recount. I can listen to your stories for hours without ever getting tired and you can listen to my silly anecdotes with a smile on your face.

I am so happy to have gotten out of my old dreams to create new ones with you...



Monday 19 June 2017

Insight Out

I have been doing a lot of thinking about inter-religious marriages.I have a very dear muslim friend who has been going out with her tamilian boyfriend for 4 years. They now want to get married and she has figured out that the only way to go ahead is for the boy to get converted to islam. That's the way things work here. She has asked him to convert but somehow I have the impression she is not feeling totally comfortable with this idea. This situation is very cruel and is putting a lot of pressure on the couple. I suggested they do a civil wedding and follow their own religion individually but instead got a grudgingly awful look as reply. In my opinion, it's the only thing that makes sense. Apparently not to islam.

Can someone be asked to convert in the name of love? Can a person be whole again after such a thing? If someone chooses to convert out of his own will, then it makes total sense but when asked to do it to prove something, how do you integrate that in your own being? This part needs to be explained to me. Shouldn't anyone be allowed to express his own identity in terms of religion, like a declaration of who you are and how you choose to live?

I am being asked to give my opinion into this matter but there is nothing much to say...les dés sont jetés. Honestly, out of all persons I have, since long, done my coming out as the least religious person ever, so why would anyone ask for my opinion on that subject? I am no voice of reason either. I am just a guy who figures that some things make sense and others don't.Why should everything look so intricately complicated when they are actually so utterly plain and simple? People live in the fear of being rejected by their community or family, in the fear of not being understood,in the fear of not being accepted. They tend to forget that not being accepted can sometimes be the greatest gift ever. It can be synonymous to freedom and connecting to your very own self. In my opinion, this is the ultimate self-realization.

Sunday 18 June 2017

Usual stuff + Emily Dickinson

It was nice to catch up with Tats for lunch last week. It is always such a delight to be in her company.
These past days have been quite busy; Ashna's surgery, meeting all my friends, spending quality time with Sid and lending him a caring ear, hooking up with a hottie, having dinner with the gonssclub, bringing mum and my sister for a long drive, listening to Nasreen voicing out her 'situation', going for a 3 hour walk in the national park, discussing loneliness with Vimla and coming to the conclusion that you can only be alone if you keep yourself isolated, talking about  non-duality and reading Emily Dickinson's selected poems.

I think I will never really be alone in this world as long as I carry with me Jacques Prevert's "Paroles" and Emily Dickinson's "Final Harvest".


I know that He exists.
Somewhere - in Silence -
He has hid his rare life
From our gross eyes.

'Tis an instant's play.
'Tis a fond Ambush -
Just to make Bliss
Earn her own surprise!

But-should the play
Prove piercing earnest -
Should the glee - glaze -
In Death's - stiff - stare -

Would not the fun
Look too expensive!
Would not the jest -
Have crawled too far!

c.1862

Thursday 1 June 2017

For the love of NYC

Has this trip to NYC been the best one of my life so far? Most probably. Has it been the most meaningful one? Definitely!!! I have decided not to post any picture of my holidays on facebook because I do not want to share my memories publicly. This encounter with this good old buddy is so very intimate that by just posting a few pictures out there would be like a lack of respect towards it. New York deserves better than people 'liking' it and barely paying attention to what it has to say. New York needs to be told to people you love around a meal. What am I saying? several meals... Of course, every adventure has its exaggerations and embroidery and my recounting the tale of my adventures in the big city to friends and family members will be sprinkled with additional flavors but at the end of the day, it is the only way I know how to pay tribute to what is now a good friend. Only me and me alone know how delightful and unforgettable this holiday spree has been and how kind the city has been to me.

The town has that wry sense of wit to it, one can't deny it.  It teases you all the time by unraveling new places to you when you thought you had already been taken aback.On the plane back, I tried to list down the best moments I experienced only to realize that each and every minute in the big apple had its own charm and carried its load of good souvenirs. Was it the pic-nic I had in Central Park before falling soundly asleep on the grass to later waking up to the sound of the squirrels fighting over a nut? No,wait, it was probably my walk on Brooklyn Bridge on a cold, rainy day where it had been deserted and I felt as if I owned the place. That's not right again, it surely must have been when I was sipping into that divine prosecco at Tomi Jazz at 1am listening to that band led by the lady with the mellow voice.Or was it when I let a tear roll down my cheek while admiring 'La Repasseuse' by Picasso at the Guggenheim? On second thought, I will give the credit to that stroll in strawberry field down to the bow bridge on a warm sunny morning. But then again, there was ballet night at the Lincoln Center... The New York City Ballet performing 'A midsummer night's dream' must surely have been the highlight of my holidays. but what about The Botanical Garden in spring with the blooming  flowers and Smorgasburg, the outdoor foodie market in Brooklyn where I tasted Argentinean beef? Seriously, I cannot pinpoint one specific moment over another where I felt more overjoyed.

The greatest thing about this holiday is that I was there on my own for fifteen days and I never felt lonely or depressed. I managed to make friends and engage conversation with perfect strangers. Walter, the old black, homeless guy in Brooklyn who shouted 'Hey mamoo' at me near the subway station. 'Do you know the meaning of mamoo?' I asked him, to which he surprisingly replied "Yeah, it means uncle in hindi'!!! - that was my OMG moment / Soraya, the puerto rican lady in Harlem  who engaged a conversation with me about the queen and Lady Di. We talked for an hour and she made me laugh so hard / Peter, the kind gentleman who lives in Queens and provided me with so many tips about how to get around and find the best seats for the shows / Margarita at the ticket counter at the cinema theater who advised me to take a taxi from Columbia Square to Lexington Avenue after the midnight session of the Rocky Horror Picture Show. From what I have experienced, New Yorkers are nice and friendly and helpful and I really fell for that place. To wrap it up, how can I forget about my dear Polish friend, Thomasz and his cult phrase, in his charming broken english, which left everyone laughing their head off :  "Global warming, global warming...what global warming?!? Come to Poland, Global Cold!!!".He was so upset the evening everyone turned him down for the drinks at the bar. It was funny and at the same time said so much about his character.

So far I always had a soft corner for London - 1998, that spectacular year where my life changed forever. How beautifully has 2017 made the tables turn! New York City has just become my favorite holiday city.







Douze petites minutes

Quatre rues séparent ma maison de C hez Ram où trois pains maison chauds chauds  m'attendent tous les matins. Cinq minutes à pieds pour ...