Nordic Voyage

Imaginings of your life

ashokganguly — Fri, 14 May 2010 19:22:16 +0000

How do you begin your day, my pretty, fragile, and sincere queen? What are the first thoughts that engulf your mind when you open your eyes? Could I make the assumption that it is not a heavy mix of Neanderthal yearnings for food and copulation? Is a headache, resulting from various nightly excesses, the first physical reaction to the bleakness of day? Do you flip the newspaper and look at the many beautiful people and wonder why you don’t know them? I have never really taken the time to really consider what you want and desire. You, the object of my perpetual desire, never seem to desire anything except a warm hug from your mother, a cup of hot coffee and a nudge from your beatific cat.

Let me try chalking out one of your days. You wake up after multiple snoozes from your buzzing phone. Groggy and irritable, you trudge to the bathroom and splash your face open. Since I assume that your kind is generally of the cleaner disposition, the next step would inevitably involve the systematic cleaning of molars, incisors and canines.

Once you done with the ablutions, you progress to your large and airy kitchen. The sunlight streaming in through the meshed window temporarily blinds you. Once you regain your composure, you will microwave some coffee. While the porcelain cup begins to gently whirl, you collect the newspaper. Entertainment section in hand, and sipping some coffee, you have the first flash of excitement. You have identified a cinematic odyssey which you would dearly love to witness.

Since the clock somehow has a way of reminding everyone about the more mundane aspects of life, you leave the dining table and proceed to take an extended shower. While most men treat this as an unwanted chore, most women, including you, give this exercise the care and attention it needs. Bath done, enfolded in a towel, you walk to your large mirror and stare at yourself. Looking admiringly at the perfect symmetry of your face, you play around with your still wet locks. After a sufficient amount of preening, you proceed to get dressed. This I need not imagine, since I have witnessed your delicate and sensual dress up routine many a time.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Silence

ashokganguly — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 17:42:30 +0000

I just Twittered aloud – wondering why there is nothing left to express. That’s what I feel at this moment – I have become too disinterested in the world outside and spend too much time in the recesses of my mind. While this is a state of comfort, it is also one where life passes you by almost unnoticed. Before its too late, I must try and save the sinking ship.

phoenix

ashokganguly — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 17:49:35 +0000

Sometimes in our life, we do things that we had planned for a very long time. For instance, I am finally typing out something, however irrelevant, bringing my long dead blog back to life. I have heard the dictum that one should write only when he/she has something to say. Well, that’s not the case with me. For some reason, I am just quite lost, without having anything to say to the larger world. Those fanciful images of being a writer often confront me, but those are quickly shut away by a slowly building pragmatism on how things really pan out. Anyways, lets hope for the best. One more shot at trying something .. the goal, as always, is to maintain the flow, something I have never managed to do!

If you have the time, check this link:

Gilles Peterson, BBC [music recommended my a friend, quite chill]

Things to do

ashokganguly — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 13:03:16 +0000

It’s been a while. Riding back home, I thought of the many things that needed to be done and followed up. Things that I had taken up, but forgotten along the way. Promise shown, but interest not maintained. I had studied a level 1 course in Spanish from the Instituto Hispania in Bangalore a couple of years back, but I am yet to pick up my certificate. In the interim, I have forgotten the little Spanish that I had picked up. Then there was this intention to study German – I got hold of a ‘Learn German in 30 days’ book, but after a couple of days trying to memorise stuff, I let things drift. To make things worse, not a trace of the French that I had learned for a couple of years in college, remains.

In April 2003, if I remember correctly, my dad bought me a brand new guitar, keen on helping me out in my fledgling foray into music. I attended five classes and then dropped out for a variety of reasons. I have tried to revive the learning on a couple of occasions, but those attempts could not be sustained. My guitar weeps as it lies on a loft in my room, spoilt by the dust and damaged by a broken top-string – what is that called again?

I began reading ‘Girl With A Pearl Earring’ – was enjoying it actually. After a 100-odd pages, I downloaded its movie adaptation, saw a bit of that, and never touched the book again.

Life is passing me by, while I do nothing about some basic things. Perhaps, writing this down will get me back on track.

Before I forget – I have promised so many friends to burn cds of movies…..

A life less ordinary

ashokganguly — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 18:50:30 +0000

SECRET AGENT OR DRIVE BY?

You have to check out Keith Causton’s show – ‘Life as told by Keith’. It should brighten up your day. Ah, that reminds me. I have to start using my darned webcam.

Africa

ashokganguly — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 16:27:30 +0000

Well, this is a collage of stuff I recently stumbled across which relate to Africa – the mother continent. First off, check out the video for Senegal Fast Food, a collaboration between the blind Malian musical couple Amadou et Mariam and Manu Chao [the-difficult- to-bracket singer-songwriter]. This is from the album Dimanche a Bamako (Sunday in Bamako), which was produced by Chao.

The movie which left me wanting more was the Last King of Scotland, based Giles Foden’s novel of the same name. James McAvoy plays the bubbly Dr.Nicholas Garrigan, a Scottish doctor who spins the globe and decides to travel to Uganda. In this fictional tale, he meets Idi Amin [a role which fetched Forest Whitaker the best actor Oscar] – after which a friendship and the subsequent betrayal take place. Kerry Washington, who played Kay Amin – one of Amin’s wifes, was captivating whenever she appeared on screen.

Kerry Washington at the Tribeca Film Festival

Image Copyright: David Shankbone

And then there was late Ali Farka Toure, the Malian Blues legend. On a trip to Bangalore from Timbaktu , my gang of friends were swayed by his tunes. Check out this video.

Chris Abani, the Nigerian author, talks about poetry and narrative in the African context during a speech delivered at a Ted.com conference

To end this African Odyssey, I present to you Zerenesay Alemseged, the Ethiopian Athropologist, who talks about the origins of humankind – again in a Ted.com session.

END NOTE: Do visit Ted.com

The journey has begun

ashokganguly — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 12:05:50 +0000

After a year and a half of procrastination, I have started on the process of actualization. There is a feeling that things, at least with regard to the next few years, will work out.

And this time, I am giving it my all. The voyage will happen.

The eagle will fly away

ashokganguly — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 07:53:48 +0000

The eagle has decided to fly to the land of his origin. He hopes to hear the familiar sounds of the forest he used to inhabit. He needs to sit on a branch and reflect on cities visited and friends made. Family, which had called on him occasionally in his dreams, has taken priority.

Soaring high, he looks down at the hazy green. His feathery friends fly next to him. This trip is an important one … it has been two years in the making, and that fact that it is on is a testament to their friendship.

When the night calls, the congregation will sit in a circle and converse. The insects, animals and other birds will sing. The humans will sleep. The wind, notorious for its winter intensity shall not trouble them. Hopefully the stream will flow, rounding off the astral orchestra;

The eagle needs calm. The eagle needs resurrection. What better place to start than the place that made him who he is.

Rescue me

ashokganguly — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 14:36:40 +0000

When will my rescue dawn come. Okay fine, I am not a Lt. Dieter Dengler, stuck in a jungle somewhere in Laos. I am just another guy living in a prison of my own creation. Some people say that you can be the master of your own destiny, but I must get off my ass and face my future head on. But yeah right… sitting on my sofa, watching some crap on the news… that looks unlikely.

Zero 7 feat Tina Dico – Home

ashokganguly — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 12:25:03 +0000

Just saw this collaboration between Zero 7 and Danish singer-song writer Tina Dico [or Dickow], who performed on an episode of Jimmy Kimmel.