Be still for a spell.

Hello! I almost forgot I had a blog. Okay, that's pushing it but yeah. It's been a while.

There are things that I want to blog about - things that suggest that I do think about things beyond my little world ;) but that requires time to sit and ponder and stuff and quite honestly I haven't really had that kind of time. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. I like to be busy and between classes, K'SCOPE, and all this crazy reading that I've suddenly gotten into; it has been pretty busy around here. I like to be busy because that helps the missing-home thing and other various things that I worry about (Global Warming, world peace and all that stuff :P) but according to my doctor, somewhere along the way I am apparently subconsciously thinking about all of this anyway which finds it's expression not through my mouth but through my body and this is not so good. So maybe I need to make time to sort out my thoughts and EXPRESS myself and this is one of the primary reasons I started the blog so... Hello blog.

Yesterday, my friend Antu and I went to this amazing exhibition at Jehangir Art Gallery and it was just... beyond words. It was organised by this man called Neville Tuli and his OSIAN Foundation who has this massive collection of photos, paintings, posters, artefacts, etc. There were paintings and photos from like centuries ago depicting the 1857 Mutiny, actual photographs of Mahatma Gandhi, original Clint Eastwood and Amitabh Bachan film posters... It was crazy and oh-so-exhausting to take it all in and apparently what we saw yesterday was just a tiny fraction of everything that he has... Whoa! If you live in Mumbai, it's still on till the 2nd of July and then they're starting in Delhi on the 3rd. Go check it out!

I decided to do my Gender & Society project on Aung San Suu Kyi and Shirin Ebadi as Human Rights Activists. I'd been thinking about Daw Aung San Suu Kyi from the beginning and the lady with whom I had the amazing conversation with on the train a few weeks back also suggested it so I talked to my teacher and she seemed pretty enthusiastic... YAY! And then I went to this place Centre of Documentation in Colaba which is this amazing place where they document all these newspaper/magazine articles in these huge files according to the topic and I came across Shirin Ebadi who I'd never heard about but it'll interesting finding out more about her especially in the light of the current circumstances in Iran. So yay, again! :)

On Sunday, Sonu and I went Landmark bookstore and spent some quality time there flicking through books and even though I resolved not to buy anything because I have so much to read anyway, I couldn't resist and ended up buying a classic. Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell. We had studied North & South by her in A'levels and so mostly I wanted to read another Gaskell for nostalgia's sake but I am glad I bought it. Classics are the cheapest books to buy so it's almost guilt-free and I am really enjoying reading it...

I'm also reading Hot, Flat and Crowded by Thomas L. Friedman (my dad's recommendation). Honestly, I was pretty skeptical about getting through this book because I'm not much of a non-fiction reader and if you see the size of this one... it's pretty daunting! I have to admit though that I am impressed and am actually enjoying it. It is so well-researched and such an important issue and one that I am concerned about so I recommend it too!

In the music scene, I'm still mad about Brooke Fraser. Her songs bring me joy for hours on end. :)

In the autumn on the ground,
Between the traffic and the ordinary sounds,
I am thinking signs and seasons while a north wind blows through
I watch as lovers pass me by
Walking stories - whos and hows and whys
Musing lazily on love
Pondering you
I'll give it time, give it space and be still for a spell
When it's time to walk that way we wanna walk it well

I am waiting for you baby,
I'll be holding back the darkest night.
Love is waiting till we're ready, till it's right
Love is waiting

-- Love is Waiting by Brooke Fraser