2009-02-12

I am changing my tires and I am changing my gym. Updike is dead and so is Hazel.
I lived with my tires for 4 years and now it is time for them to go. Most probably I am going to get my battery replaced and change the oil and filters when I am at it. My gym membership is coming to an end. I enjoyed climbing but now I am looking for something more economical. I am getting an unbeatable deal at another gym which has an indoor pool, racket ball courts and a regular gym. Updike died a few weeks ago and it reminded me of college when I used to read his books while drinking Golden Eagle. I feel sad. I was also devastated when I got a message this morning about Hazel. She was a great dog. It is tough to lose a pet. I don’t know how Toton is taking it. I don’t know what to say to him.
Let me try and beat my blues.
Deliverance–
I saw this movie a few weeks back. It was very honest and poetic. It felt like I was reading back issues of Nat Geo and when I think of back issues of Nat Geo, I am reminded of the endless days of trying to build the perfect boomerang. The damn things never worked; probably because I used cheap plywood to make my boomerangs. During my boomerang days, there used to be this buffalo near my house. The buffalo would come and stand outside our gate every afternoon to get a shower from our garden hose and I would oblige. We became good friends and the buffalo even gave me a ride now and then to the neighborhood shop. Another animal I became friends with and had the pleasure of riding on, was a camel called Kalu, in Rajasthan. We were filming ‘Turjya’ and took the camels from Jaisalmer to Sam sand dunes. There were a couple of French tourists who were riding with us and I was amused when I saw them change into silk pajamas when they retired for the evening. The only other person I saw in silk in the middle of the desert was Prince Feisal in ‘Lawrence of Arabia’.

Talking about the French, I was pleasantly surprised when I was in Paris last month. I had heard a lot of horror stories and was not really expecting much but I enjoyed Paris as much as I enjoyed Madrid in ’05. We were at a hostel in the Latin quarter with its small eateries and pubs and lot of backpackers. We stayed very close to Ernest Hemingway’s first apartment in Paris. Just before our trip I had the pleasure of watching “Quiet Days in Clichy based on Henry Miller’s book by the same name. I wanted to check out the neighborhood and it came about in an unexpected way. Pramida fell sick early one morning and I rushed out looking for a pharmacy. I was in my pajamas and flip flops 🙂 and it is not really nice when it is zero degrees outside. The neighborhood pharmacy was closed so I walked to the main street and took a cab.
The cabbie was this friendly Moroccan guy who went out of his way to be helpful. After several closed pharmacies, we decided to ask for help and asked a cop who directed us to an all night pharmacy in Clichy and that’s how I finally got to see Clichy! When the cabbie dropped me back, he refused to take the tip and asked me to enjoy the rest of my stay in Paris. The food, the beer and the people. All very refreshing.
Just being at the Arc de Triomphe brought back memories of hundreds of films from the 70’s most notably of Alain Delon driving on Champs Elysees. Paris is just that. A cinematic place. A place full of stories. I won’t bore you with the details but you must go to Paris.
It was a cathartic experience and talking about catharsis you should check out Liam Neeson’s Taken. Written by Luc Besson, the film is one roller coaster ride. Like we say in Hyderabad, “kya khatti tha!”
Brussels and Luxembourg were pleasant. I enjoyed myself at the Belgian Centre of Comic Strip Art in Brussels. I asked Pramida to take silly pics of me pretending to walk with TinTin and Haddock. I had waited to see this for over 20 years. I was so overcome with emotion that I decided to get a tattoo of the fetish with the broken ear from ‘Tintin and the broken ear’. I am still trying to figure if it is a good idea. I will probably get it one drunken night. The main square in Luxembourg is very cinematic. I could almost picture a dictator walking out and giving a fiery speech from the balcony!
A trip to Western Europe is like time traveling. The great wars, the artists, the writers, the imperial colonizers. It is too much to absorb, but the feeling is like chasing the dragon.
This was our first couch surfing experience and our hosts in Amsterdam were such great people. We spent the New Years with them talking politics and philosophy (they are students of philosophy) and drinking vodka. My one-off indiscretion while I remain faithful to beer, rum and my new mistress the single malt! We plan to go to Africa this year with Toton and Preeti and I have invited our hosts to come along. Hope we get a chance to host them and make them feel as welcome as they made us feel. Same with Dada and Lena who opened up their home in Delhi to us. More about that in my next post.