Remembrance

Noreen. I miss you.

Sweet child of mine? Awesome!

foxy disappearance//heroes of the new world

yes, I'm alive and around...life has been taken over by AlterEgo Productions and the latest play - The Leopard and The Fox. More on that here: http://www.alteregoproductions.org/

I had to break my silence to exalt the heroes of the new world - Al Gore and the IPCC - validated by the Nobel Peace prize today: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7041082.stm

Happy Navrathri!!
Happy Friday!!
-Ammu

A sight for sore eyes

I was shocked this morning to see NYC streets not painted in the harsh yellow of cabs.....but instead large colorful flowers!! I thought I was going mad till I saw 100's of these colorful cabs. I googled to arrive at the following: -
http://www.portraitsofhope.org/git/about_git.php

Portrait of Hope's non-profit program - "Garden in transit" is a large community art project underway in Manhattan.

"As part of this groundbreaking motivational art, education, and creative therapy project, thousands of kids in schools, hospitals, and community institutions are painting vibrant flowers -- symbolizing joy, life, beauty, and inspiration -- on adhesive weatherproof panels that will be applied to the hoods, trunks and/or roofs of thousands of New York City taxis. Beginning in September 2007 and until year's end, New York City will be visually transformed, as the ubiquitous yellow icon becomes a mobile artistic canvas or -- "Garden in Transit.""

I think this is uber-cool. Cheers to this amazing idea...
-Amrita

I left my heart in Egypt

My love story with Egypt began when I started reading about the temples of Abu Simbel and Pharoahs in secondary school. I spent years and years dreaming about visiting one day...but I had yet to make a concrete plan. Then one new york morning, a cabbie from Cairo re-kindled that dream in me. And so it began...

I started toying with the idea of actually going to Egypt. A few random emails to friends and casual research got the process flowing. We found an amazing tour via Contiki and started researching dates. I couldn't believe it was happening! It all seemed unreal. We encountered numerous hurdled with visas and tickets.....but in the end, we ended up making it to Egypt!! What followed was 10 of the most unforgettable days of my life. All other travels and adventures have paled in comparison.

I had to pinch myself when I got out of the Cairo airport. I felt I belonged to Egypt the moment i arrived there....it was very strange. It was as if I had found a missing part of my life. Our tour guide, Mohammed, gave me the name - Amun (derived from Amu, derived from Amrita). Amun as in the Sun God. Amun as in the most powerful God of Egypt.

From witnessing the glory and architectural wonders of Karnak, Abu Simbel and Luxor; to having endless discussions about Akhenaten, Ramesses, Tuthmosis and Nefertiti; I felt a deep contentment. Leaving Egypt has left me numb. It was as if Egypt was the way of life and everything else was irrelevant. It was not a casual vacation for me...it was an unforgettable journey.

Shukran,
-Amun
P.S: Stay tuned for a day by day account with pictures...

Only in NYC....

...do stores have DJs playing loud music. I was amazed at this spectacle last weekend at the AX store in SoHo. The DJ was fantastic and the created ambience was so peppy that you wanted to buy everything in the shop. Good ploy!

subway cheer

Seen/Heard in subway stations in New York city yesterday....a Monday! The day when the mood levels of New York City are at a precariously impatient high.

~ * ~

Subway conductor announcement on the 4 train heading downtown....

"The next stop is City Hall. The time is 10:45 a.m. Have a lovely day. And
remember, no matter what the destination, happiness is the way!"

The whole car erupted into giggles and wide grins :o)

~ * ~

At the 57th St NRQW station -

On the station super's whiteboard, there was pleasant image of birds over mountains and rivers. And scribbled in the center was - "Smile! Have a great day! :o) "

~ * ~

It was a rainy Monday. There is this pair of African-American old men, who frequent the 1-2-3 subway line. Every time it's raining in the city, they go from car to car and sing a lovely little acoustic bee-bop number. Their act is complete with finger clicking, heel tapping, Ray Charles-y fanfare. Love them!! So needless to say, they made an appearance yesterday....couldn't have been better timing.

~ * ~

A Malagasy Encounter

I have no pictures to prove it happened. But it did.
I met my first blogger buddy today. The Malagasy Dwarf Hippo himself! :) It was really nice to connect to the person behind the great thoughts.

Venue: my favorite brunch place in the city: Eatery.

The transition between online and real life friendship can be quite daunting. The online communication doesnt easily translate to a real connection. I've been there a few times as I met many Zootopians (U2 fanclub) for a lot of the U2 concerts and events.

But, in this case, I felt completely at ease and had a great time. (I hope Lova did too!! :P) Lova was exactly as I had pictured him in my mind. We chatted away about the Gingster and BooBoo, Africa, U2, life, Dr. Mosi, UN, the world being flat etc. Good times!!

Coming up next: Meetup with the folks at Sepia Mutiny. And hopefully the rest of my blogroll... :)

Cheers,
-Amrita

UPDATE:-

Here's a tell-tale photo :)

Virtual Reality: here we come

Just a quickie post...

Mobile snaps invisible art

"Scottish researchers are turning to camera phones to help bridge the virtual and real worlds.

Using image-matching algorithms the researchers have found a way to adorn the real world with digital content.

The technology has already been used to create a guide of Edinburgh that allows people to find virtual artworks placed around the city using their mobile.

Another related project uses the technology to automatically update a person's blog with their location......."

Very interesting....
More later, rushing to work....hopefully it wont be a 3 hour commute today!!

The advent of the late twenties

It's the beginning of a new era in my life. The one in which I get to be responsible, mature...yada yada. I was clinging on to the faint line of early-twenties till now. 25 was a lovely age to be in mentally. As I was not a girl anymore....but not yet a woman either (Britney Spears be damned).

Here's what I was thinking on the last few birthdays... Hahaha! How come I was always dumbstruck by the reality of age?!

August 2006
20 something...I had myself a happy birthday on 6th August :-) Ushered in a brand new year flanked by friends and family. Never before have I felt so special, fortunate and blessed. The wishes from those near and far meant a lot. Many friends actually took the trouble to fly/drive in to NYC to celebrate ...that was just amazing. And celebrate we did.....night out at Crobar where we celebrated both mine and Krishna's birthdays....lazy brunches....dinners at home....chilling at central park...Gooood times!

Potha actually said..."You just completed the best 25 years of your life. It's all downhill from here" Maybe so, but I choose to think not! :-P

Friday, 6th August 2004
Happy Birthday to moi! I think I'm going to stick to the thought that I'm 21....cant relate to the fact that I'm 23 now! Oh well...in an apparent wave of proud proclmations.....heres to meee! lol...hehehe
Song of the day: 'Stairway to heaven' by Led Zeppelin

Wednesday, 6th August'2003
Happy Birthday to meeeeeeeeeee!! :) i'm 22 today....gosh i feel old! ;) Please see bday pics under the photos section.
Song of the day: 'In da club' by 50 cent

Actually, in all honesty, I'm fine with growing older. The word "Independence" is going to an all new level now. I get to begin a lot of projects that I didn't have the maturity and/or freedom to handle before. I'm taking the initiative to travel and follow my passions. I'm looking at life in a new light as well as I hope to find answers to two big questions by the end of this glorious year. The questions being - What do I see myself doing 5 years from now? And where? Technology has been my interest for a really long time...and I still couldn't give it up. But then there's the other side of me that starts flapping it's wings desperately whenever possible....my alter ego. The Amrita who would rather be a journalist or a social worker or a musician or a stage director. I've been trying to let her take over as much as time and energy would allow. But as internal pressure and restlessness rise, I need to find answers soon.

So what are the deltas in the last week as I crossed the big bridge between 25 and 26? ..... I get annoyed by 20 something scantily clad hipsters in clubs and bars now...shocking!! I want to only hang out at unpretentious joints and spend quality time with intellectuals. I'm also finding it really peaceful to spend a lot of alone time during the week. Self-sufficiency I think it's called.

Hmm...what else is different? Ah yes! The marriage scene. All of a sudden for my elders....I'm precariously close to my expiry date for marriage...cos I'm no longer 25. In the one day, that it took me to turn 26, I'm suddenly too old to be married. My parents are actually quite cool...but they sometimes give in to societal pressure. This is the point when I have to intervene and reiterate for the 200th time that I'm not married yet out of choice...and not some grave tragedy. Mentally, I'm ready to settle down but not settle ...you know what I mean? I'd rather wait for a while and make sure I'm doing the right thing than repent later. I'm too rebellious to settle for anything anyway...so I'm not worried!

Till then, there are oh so many things to be done in life. As one of my friends recently said "30 is the new 20". Cheers to that concept!! :-)

Love,
-Ammu

Happy Birthday to me

Turned 26.....aging like fine wine hopefully :-) YAY!

August 3rd news

- Arkansas couple welcomes 17th child. Is it just me? Or is this ridiculous!!
- It's a long weekend for me... :) Cos hey shawty....ish my budday....on Monday!
- There was a gorgeous clap of thunder outside right now..
- I think some guys have stopped going dutch in restaurants now...they expect the woman to pay... hmm...worrisome
- What should I do with myself on my budday? Spa visit?
- I'm writing performance reviews for work ...and it's booo-ring!
- I just realized that the last few months can be categorized as quarter life crisis
- Strange sub found in NY
- My buddy just got a second ear piercing....i'm really kicked about getting a second one too...an awesome excuse to buy more earrings. (I loove earrings!)
- I love my friends...truly...
- I can't believe i'm in the latter half of the 20's in 3 day! :S
- I need more shoes! And music!

Was listening to:-
~ 'Pehchaan' by Penn Masala
~ 'La Valse d'Amelie' by Yann Tiersen
~ 'Throw it on me' by Timbaland
~ 'Billie Jean' by Caetano Veloso

Love,
-Ammu

Music for the soul

Ack! I woke up today feeling totally crap. A bad headache fuelled by non-stop work since Monday. Yes - I've been working since Monday without a break. Fun fun! And then, I resorted to the cure-all -- music. I've been listening to U2 for the last few hours and the headache's gone...and so's my frustration. It's cloudy outside, all the lights in my house are switched off, feels like it's almost dusk, I'm sitting on my couch and working while sipping coffee....and I'm suddenly smiling again.... :)

Playlist...albums...
- Achtung Baby by U2
- All that you can't leave behind by U2
- Boy by U2
- How to dismantle an atomic bomb by U2
- The Joshua Tree by U2
- October by U2
- Pop by U2
- Under a Blood Red Sky by U2
- War by U2

Love,
-Ammu

Simple pleasures

Lives can be enriched so easily by indulging in the simplest of pleasures....
Here are some of mine, in no particular order....
What are yours?

1. Walking barefeet in grass
2. Walking barefeet on the beach
3. Sitting on my couch, sipping coffee and staring out at the sunset
4. Cosying up next to Tiglu and reading a good fiction novel
5. Dark chocolate
6. Listening to my iPod while going for a walk.
7. Taking a long, hot shower
8. Staring out at the passing scenes from a car
9. The wind in my face
10. Sunsets
11. Sunrise
12. Dancing
13. Old people. I love it when I make them smile.
14. Getting a call/email/IM from a long lost friend
15. Watching a funny movie
16. Watching a romantic movie
17. Friends
18. Getting wet in the rain when i have nowhere important to go
19. the smell of the earth when it starts raining
20. A clean house
21. Laundered clothes
22. Staring at the stars
23. Hiking
24. Driving in Arizona
25. Listening to loud music
26. Listening to soft music
27. Taking photographs
28. Viewing photographs
29. Reading blogs
30. Writing blogs
31. Cooking (sometimes)
32. Water
33. Fitting into clothes that were too tight
34. Birds chirping in the morning
35. the smell of 'agarbatti' in the evening
36. Hugs
37. giggling
38. Snuggled inside the house, sipping tea and watching the rain fall
39. Singing
40. Travelling - but that's not a simple pleasure anymore - usually expensive :)
41. The colors of the sky, the clouds in the sky
42. Convulsive laughter

My ....

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

Oh - and also - My Concert Lineup this year. :)

Chilean lake disappears

A 100-ft deep lake disappeared suddenly in Chile over the course of the last 2 months. Global Warming? But the ice is still there!! Hmm....someone must have been really thirsty....

Here's a transcript from BBC's article on this.

Scientists in Chile are investigating the sudden disappearance of a glacial
lake in the south of the country.

When park rangers patrolled the area in the Magallanes region in March, the two-hectare (five-acre) lake was its normal size, officials say.

But last month they found a huge dry crater and several stranded chunks of ice that used to float on the water.

One theory is that an earthquake opened up a fissure in the ground, allowing the lake's water to drain through.

"In March we patrolled the area and everything was normal," Juan Jose Romero from Chile's National Forestry Corporation, Conaf, said.

"We went again in May and to our surprise we found that the lake had
completely disappeared. All that was left were chunks of ice and an enormous
fissure."

Geologists and other experts are being sent to the area, which is some 2,000km (1,250 miles) south of the capital, Santiago, to investigate.

The region is shaken by frequent earth tremors and one idea is that a strong
quake which hit the neighbouring region of Aysen in April opened up the fissure
in the bottom of the lake.

A glacier specialist, Andres Rivera, told Chilean newspaper La Tercera that the lake's disappearance seemed to be part of the continual reforming of the landscape. The Magallanes area "has seen interesting changes in the last few decades," he said, noting that the lake itself had not been there 30 years ago.

Awakenings

This is probably the first time in the last 6 or so years of blogging that Amrita's Musings has been post less for a few months. (I personally don’t count photos and videos as posts :P !)It has been a writer's block of the worst kind. Now, as I sit here drinking my cup of hot coffee and watch the rain sing an end to another busy weekend, I think it's time I tried hard to flush out the block.

May has been a month of awakenings - cultural, physical, spiritual, musical and psychological. I'm usually a happy and positive person, but a series of upsetting events in the last couple of months threw me into a very morbid state of mind. I have been stimulating myself rapidly and doing things that make me feel good about myself. I did take one item off the list of 3 things to do before I die - I colored my hair red. Seriously! And it looks fabulous :)

The soundtrack of this musing is ...
- Rahat Fateh Ali Khan's album Tere Bina
- Cafe Del Mar #1
- Lounge Café
- “X&Y” by Coldplay
- Incredible India

Parsing Psychologies...

My mind has been a veritable mish-mash of issues, events, people and stress. While trying to sort through these, I read an interesting quote by Albert Einstein. He said, “No problem can be solved from the same consciousness that created it. We must learn to see the world anew.” The solution lay in raising my consciousness and investigating possibilities.

I used to live by the phrase “You don’t find happiness, you create it”. But it’s not that simple anymore. Finding mental peace has become a challenge. I attribute New York City to half of the turmoil. The other half is life. I’m not new to dealing with life, but what was missing was a realization of self-worth and my priorities. Thankfully, every experience - good or bad - leads to an increase in self-awareness. You realize what's important to you and what's not. How to deal with people and circumstances. How to manage expectations, of yourself and of others. How to strike the right balance between giving too much of yourself versus being selfish. How to make it in a man's world as a woman. Do I need to stuff a pair of socks down my pants to be recognized for my professional worth?

I felt so wronged a couple of months ago when a relationship came to a crass end. I could have chosen to turn the other way and never talk to the person anymore. But I’ve always lived by the principle of forgiveness. It’s easy to block the person out of your life but it leaves you with such a stinging bitterness that it erodes your soul. So I chose the exact opposite. I detached myself from the hurt and opened all channels of communication. I feel so free now :-) People think I’m stupid…. but I’m only preserving my heart and soul. This relationship did make me realize what was important to me in a partner. So for that, I’m thankful. As pressure builds from the home front and by my imminent 26th birthday, I’m getting nervous as I am also realizing the importance of having someone to share my joys and sorrows with. All in good time my love…all in good time.

Spiritual Sunrise

Summer is here! And the sunshine has done me good. I spent a weekend bumming around on the beach in Southampton. Life looks beautiful when you’re well stocked with Vitamin D and especially when you’re lying in a hammock staring at the blue sky through lush green trees. Suddenly the leaves part and the sun shines through…and everything is ok :-)




Adrenaline Pumping..

It's a spectacular feeling to do a grapevine to ‘bhangra’ with 1000 other people under the brilliant sunshine in Central Park. That was how the SELF workout in the Park went. There were a ton of workout sessions of different kinds. Some friends and I attended most of them. The most funnest of all was “Masala Bhangra” by Sarina Jain. 4-5 hours of sweating it out was a really great way to get the blood rushing through my head.

Musical Me

You know you're different from a typical techie/banker when you read the Rolling Stone on your commute to work instead of WSJ or Economist or Wired!! The 40th anniversary issue has been a fun read so far.

That being said, it's been sad to be stuck in a musical rut. But that's another area that I revived with a bit of help from my friends. I attended a string of concerts in the last month that has left me tingling for more….

Shivkumar Sharma with Zakhir Hussain - Town Hall, May 5th 2007

This was a great concert albeit sleep inducing owing to the soothing strains of the Santoor. Zakhir pulled me out of my lulled state of mind by slapping out unimaginable beats.

Arcade Fire - Radio City Music Hall, May 9th 2007

What a concert? I've loved this band since the days of Vertigo (U2's tour in 2005). I'd never seen them live and jumped at the opportunity when Rick offered me his extra ticket. (Thanks buddy!) The ensemble was phenomenal live! They played some instruments that I'd never even seen before. Very talented and energetic band. It was also great to hang out with my old U2.com gang again. (Missing Noreen and Nivi in the crew)

Raagamala – New Victory Theater, May 13th 2007

Raagamala is a Bharatanatyam troupe from Minneapolis. Founded by Ranee Ramaswamy, the troupe offers a fresh take on the dance form by fusing it with ballet, jazz and folk. The show was great and the finale was spell-binding. Raagamala collaborated with Art Lee's Taiko ensemble - Wadaiko Tokara. The fusion of these 2 beat heavy art forms was magical.

Falu - Mercury Lounge, 31st May 2007

Falguni Shash a.k.a Falu is quite talented. I’d heard of her before but this was the first concert. I’m definitely going back for more. I had a great time at this one. Her voice is powerful and sweet. The band itself is really down to earth and friendly.

Kings of Leon - Roseland Ballroom, June 5th 2007

Ok, what just happened? I used to hate them in Vertigo days....they sounded awful. But they kicked ass in this show. I'm suddenly loving their songs and their performance. There was actually a mosh pit going on during the show....I couldn't believe it! KOL rocked. I'm seeing them again in September

Next up… A.R.Rehman on June 16th 2007. Looking forward to it :-)

And to sum things up…

I’m back. I feel complete. Hopefully, no more serious writer's blocks....
Cheers, Have a good week ahead :-)

Love,
-Amrita

Oh Joe!

Joe Perry = Coolness.
Of all kinds.

And he just proved he's cooler than Ozzy.

International Dance Day

So according to Wiki/Alicia - today is International Dance Day! :) The videos below are a tribute to the styles that I've loved and learnt - hip-hop, salsa, merengue, bachata, kathak, bollywood, belly-dance.

Here's a classical Kathak / Bollywood song which is beautiful in it's fusion of the old and new. We're actually reproducing this for Kathak Ensemble's performance in June at the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater. Very excited about this!! :)



Thanks to Alicia for pointing out this video. Looks like my man can dance... ;-) Go (The) Edge!!



And y'all must have seen this one! :)

This makes me very happy!

Coming up in a few weeks......Pirates of the Caribeean - 3 and Harry Potter - 5 ....YAY!!! :-)