Vedasri Siddamsetty

The best memories are not captured. And thats what the security advised me as we entered the Axis Bank gallery at the Museum of Art and Photography that houses the current exhibition titled the Kanchana Chitra Ramayana of Banaras curated at the Museum of Art and Photography. The beautiful book by Tulsidas showcasing the mighty Hindu epic comprised of 1100 pages, 80 of which have been displayed at this showcase. The beautiful pages all framed by a golden border are succinctly lit up. Patronised by the royal court of Banaras this exhibition is curated by the late Kavita Singh and Parul Singh. While the miniature painting style originally brought to India by the Mughals and extensively features their Mughal gardens looked very splendid featuring the main characters of the Ramayana, the Garuda pakshi, who has a celebrity status in our house at the moment and all the other milestones in India’s greatest epic. The create your own miniature painting was a rather cute touch felicitating the gallery exhibit!

On another floor is an exhibition by the British artist Alexander Gorlizki, along with Riyaz Uddin and Pink Studio Jaipur, that takes a rather fantastical spin on the old world paintings from the gallery’s collection. This feature title “What the Camera cannot see” brings out whimsical elements into serious moments. Again the quirks are so mirthful and joy-ridden that it had us in splits as we went from one screen to the other. Black and white photos with flamingoes and what not, that usually would not been there come together and become magical on another note. Again holding forth aplenty is the third exhibit that says Visible/Invisible showcasing women and their glories, dooms, challenges in great alacrity. I for one was happy to spot Jamini Roy’s, Raja Ravi Varma’s exploits and some lesser to me known artists.

On the whole the Museum of Art and Photography located in the heart of Bangalore, opposite the famous Cubbon Park has its heart in the right place. Funded totally by the tech-giants of the city, there is a Kiran Mazumdar Shaw auditorium, the Infosys foundation gallery, the Wipro gallery among others, boasting of donors both famous and anonymous. It is a state-of-the-art gallery unlike its nemesis run by the government on the other side of the street. For a minute I wasn’t sure if I were in India at all. The galleries are interspersed by research laboratories that work on art, rather work on conserving art. The museum shop selling wares by Jamini Roy, was way too expensive, but then a slice of art is expensive no matter to the doer or the seeker! The infrastructure at the MAP could well put Moma to shame, though much more meagre in size. The exhibits were fun to the next level and mostly Indian, except for the Gorlizki, however he was so much fun too. I sure hope the museum turns out its curations just as often as we feel like visiting, or has classes for art aficionados like us, mastering Varma’s style may just be what we like.

P.s. I was also served a reminder on why this blog makes sense, celebrating words without pictures, makes the gram totally lost and them readers win!

The best memories are not captured. And thats what the security advised me as we entered the Axis Bank gallery at the Museum of Art and Photography that houses the current exhibition titled the Kanchana Chitra Ramayana of Banaras curated at the Museum of Art and Photography. The beautiful book by Tulsidas showcasing the mighty Hindu epic comprised of 1100 pages, 80 of which have been displayed at this showcase. The beautiful pages all framed by a golden border are succinctly lit up. Patronised by the royal court of Banaras this exhibition is curated by the late Kavita Singh and Parul Singh. While the miniature painting style originally brought to India by the Mughals and extensively features their Mughal gardens looked very splendid featuring the main characters of the Ramayana, the Garuda pakshi, who has a celebrity status in our house at the moment and all the other milestones in India’s greatest epic. The create your own miniature painting was a rather cute touch felicitating the gallery exhibit!

On another floor is an exhibition by the British artist Alexander Gorlizki, along with Riyaz Uddin and Pink Studio Jaipur, that takes a rather fantastical spin on the old world paintings from the gallery’s collection. This feature title “What the Camera cannot see” brings out whimsical elements into serious moments. Again the quirks are so mirthful and joy-ridden that it had us in splits as we went from one screen to the other. Black and white photos with flamingoes and what not, that usually would not been there come together and become magical on another note. Again holding forth aplenty is the third exhibit that says Visible/Invisible showcasing women and their glories, dooms, challenges in great alacrity. I for one was happy to spot Jamini Roy’s, Raja Ravi Varma’s exploits and some lesser to me known artists.

On the whole the Museum of Art and Photography located in the heart of Bangalore, opposite the famous Cubbon Park has its heart in the right place. Funded totally by the tech-giants of the city, there is a Kiran Mazumdar Shaw auditorium, the Infosys foundation gallery, the Wipro gallery among others, boasting of donors both famous and anonymous. It is a state-of-the-art gallery unlike its nemesis run by the government on the other side of the street. For a minute I wasn’t sure if I were in India at all. The galleries are interspersed by research laboratories that work on art, rather work on conserving art. The museum shop selling wares by Jamini Roy, was way too expensive, but then a slice of art is expensive no matter to the doer or the seeker! The infrastructure at the MAP could well put Moma to shame, though much more meagre in size. The exhibits were fun to the next level and mostly Indian, except for the Gorlizki, however he was so much fun too. I sure hope the museum turns out its curations just as often as we feel like visiting, or has classes for art aficionados like us, mastering Varma’s style may just be what we like.

P.s. I was also served a reminder on why this blog makes sense, celebrating words without pictures, makes the gram totally lost and them readers win!

The Jonases are those whose stunning looks are matched by the worldly sophistication of their lives. They are everywhere keeping up with things, dragging those with them to the climes of international espionage and creating a furor everywhere they go. The conflict fuels them, and gets them in the throes of emotion that provides a joie de vivre. The places to be in are endless, the things to do are endless and in the swirl of high society while the wealthy remain immune becomes heady for the tawdry. So while in simple terms one does not wrestle with the pigs since it makes one dirty and the pig actually enjoys it.

This last line was unequivocally recited by Dr Balaram Bhargava, a fictional, rather semi-fictional character of the movie “The Vaccine War” he sums up India’s policy as such. While Covaxin was the first indigenous vaccine to be made from scratch by any country, India did achieve a lot in the midst of the crisis. But by taking a stand against those who took unfair advantage and kept the spirit alive to be independent, unsubscribing to toxic policies of hedonistic nations the country had a major win. Rising to the situation, the Indian scientists concocted in record time and for the first time ever something they had never done before. That’s the high and mightiest lesson in working with self-belief, a lesson that various scientists in India from space travel to vaccination have been serving up to the nation time and again over the last couple of years. The naysayers have found their answer and so have the haters, while engaging with them is not the need of the hour, taking a stand is.

As a Bharatiya, a person from Bharat it is indeed a proud time to be an Indian, one in six people in the world is Indian and that fraction is just going to rise over time. While the simple-minded and high-thinking tribe takes center stage in this country, there is also the milieu who are hoarding up what is necessary to keep the economy boosted. The essence of the country though lies in its simplicity and the wealth of knowledge of the past steeped in self-awareness and self-belief. While no country is inferior to another, everyone marching to the beat of their own drum, and respecting the differences is India’s win, and taking pride in diversity is its intelligence. The best thing about India yet, well that’s definitely not keeping up with the Jonases, it is in fact staying miles away from the Jonases.

Getting to your dharma with the world watching, in spite of it judging and being firm in the stance got India miles ahead with the vaccine and will continue to get India vastly ahead in all that it undertakes. The attitude is for the win, after all, it is the attitude that claims the altitude.

Yesterday I got to meet a very interesting man. Quite old of course and a Vaastu consultant. Enough introduction for an architect to be wary of, but interestingly the man was nothing much to be wary of. When I got home after listening to his views on Vaastu, I googled to find him an author of many books on the same subject and some on life-building views like that of water, again an element used in the science of Vaastu, so not to be surprised of. So I had two plans to show him, printed to a scale easy on the eyes I began explaining the building, the plot, and its orientation. Promptly laughing with a twinkle in the eye, he exclaims that the simplest would be to not go with this. Then as his junior prodded him with the virtues of the site, he agreed to use power pyramids to enhance the issues posed by the ancient building science. And then when I showed him another building on a plot rotated at a precise 45-degree angle he said Vaastu wouldn’t apply to this, as the science of Vaastu needs a corner. For example, North-east needs to be a corner and cannot be in the center of a side. Pushing away the plans he said, do whatever you want for design as the principles he talks best about anyway wouldn’t apply. Then he thought how the city layout would be at such an angle asking where the plot was located. The enlightenment then came that even the location has a vibe, or as he Vaastu and this location was generally good. Rolling up the plans in the jiffy I decided to leave on this good note. But the most interesting part was when he asked me how the earlier dwellers were doing in the first building’s case, and in the other case how the current dwellers were doing, whether on matters of health and wealth. When I confirmed that all was well, then he said, there we go, we have proof, it’s in the building (also in the pudding) and hence it should be okay.

What generally trumped his words was, much ever we would like to harness the best of this ancient building science, one must be aware of the happenings of space, for at times we may just chance upon a good alignment without even trying for it. If things are going well, we could just let them, be as they are, riding on the wave as curious bystanders and not obsessive controllers. His experience on letting time decide and leaning into the learnings of science beat his need to bring better, the essence of greed by trying to change, reminding me much of a doctor who would know when to operate and an architect who would know when to build. Sometimes a psychologist could well replace a Vaastu consultant and a happy household with an architect! When the elements of the planet come together in a building, the power to harness the power of earth, water, fire and air remains the goal of the architect, and does turning the whole game at an angle of 45 degrees change the power astoundingly that the science does not work? I am bummed, I have seen fortunes change with a change in Vaastu, as I have seen a change in fortune with a change of name or spelling too, but with this insight I am somewhat turning into a non-believer. Perhaps I’d like to call it the art of Vaastu now and not so much science, for the fact that it could spin a no-baller too at some angles! So the advice then remains, if things are fine, let them be and necessitate an action only when required and beneficial, if immune to action then well, do whatever you want. Much like the advice I think the universe would like me to hear at the moment. The man I am referring to is Mr AR Hari, a who’s who in the building ecosystem of Bangalore, who has written several books as google says.

https://www.google.co.in/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=inauthor:%22A.+R.+Hari%22

This Diwali I headed to one of the umpteen Diwali parties and picked up some really unexpected life lessons. Just like one should know when to stop eating, one should know when to exit a party, and that too gracefully. Also arriving late is extremely fashionable as the mood of the place is just right to pick up the Diwali vibes, so thats one about timing, there is always a just right in time. But more importantly, lessons came unexpectedly on health and loving the human body. Seeing a transformation in about 45 days, it really seems like we can sculpt and architect our bodies. While the average party goers are notorious for lifestyle issues, the scale of people who are sworn into salads or a workout regime is just growing by the numbers. Dont eat dairy brigades are topped by don’t eat gluten brigades, which are in turn topped by dont eat sugar brigades. Even for the fresh live jalebis, a season favorite, the line goes like pehle aap, pehle aap, just cause one clearly does not want to feast.

The only feasting that happens is with the eyes and the only eating with the nose or so I surmise. And then there are those that go the whole way forward, giving up on all the food we call festive and lapping up delicious natural fare, thereby guarding their health and in effect wealth. No maida, puts out most the unnecessary, no sugar takes care of the rest. As an alternative to building wealth, the side effect is building health. And in that there is remarkable merit. Smoking became unfashionable since the dum maaro dum era, then sitting became unfashionable in the next era, today a bunch of things are unfashionable as research becomes more fashionable, health does too. This Diwali it seemed more fashionable to be on a research based diet than in the latest Sabyaschi, great for the pocket and for the real estate space of the house. There is obviously more to it that meets the eye, and when one delves deep happiness is then only skin deep, just like beauty.

This Diwali may Goddess Lakshmi bless you with poorer appetites, an aversion to sugar, a dislike for the consumption of maida, take you far away from manufacturing plants and in corollary a lover of natural plants, a seeker of movement and towards working out if not working and thereby bringing dhan in more ways than one. Happy Diwali!

Just as we sat lapping up some atrociously delicious fare from the ice cream store of Ghirardelli my father read out a news pop-up that claimed dark chocolate and chocolate makers included lead and cadmium in their very popular creations. Lead and cadmium levels could seriously impair human function the study claimed. At the same time, I was reading a book by Gabor Mate that says that there is nothing carcinogenic, but it’s all about how everybody reacts to the element that they are exposed to. While some people could develop cancer when exposed to certain chemicals, others could simply move on without even feeling it a wee bit. The reasons for reaction of course are plenty and could be accentuated through stress that affects hormones more than genetics and hence affects the human body. Mate says that non-smokers have lung cancer since the permutations and combinations for mutations are plenty.

But when industry makers add metals that are better left out of the human body it is deeply hurting, as if chocolate did not hurt enough already! It’s probably a motion to give up the food of the Gods, as how much research can one do or when one can do or then do the research and be assured of what one is putting into the body. The option of course is to banish those stresses away, in fact, listen up to them so that they can leave and then be open to all that the world throws at you, metal or not. The plastics that have entered our cells are tough enough to remove, and then we complain of plastic beauty. Nature has all the answers they say and as long we are in tune with nature we are good, but then lead and cadmium are natural too, and therein lies the irony.

But yes, I’d like lead and cadmium to be on the periodic table rather than my tummy if you please!

https://www.asyousow.org/environmental-health/toxic-enforcement/toxic-chocolate

When I came back from Magic Kingdom I came back with a quote stuck in my head, it was Walt Disney’s “If you can dream it, you can do it”. And several years later, precisely 23, a lot more have found their way into my head, and I’d like to share them here, here they go!

If you can dream it you can do it.

-Walt Disney

Laughter is timeless, Imagination has no age, and dreams are forever.

-Walt Disney

I never look back darling. It distracts me from the Now!

– Edna Mode from the Incredibles

Dreams only exist to be made to come true.

-Walt Disney

There comes a day when you look around and realize happiness is where you are.

-Moana

The very things that hold you down are going to lift you up.

-Timothy mouse in Dumbo

Oh Minnie, youre the only music that I’ll ever need.

-Mickey Mouse

Always let your conscience be your guide.

-Jimmy Cricket

Whenever I am afraid, I tell myself I am not afriad.

-The piglet

When something is too hard, there is always another way.

-Dory of Finding Nemo

Its kind of fun to do the impossible

-Minnie Mouse

Life is a journey to be experienced, not a problem to be solved

-Pooh

All it takes is faith, trust and a little bit of Pixie dust.

-Peter Pan

Some people are worth melting for

-Olaf in Frozen

Ohana means family. Family means no one is left behind.

-Lilo & Stitch

In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun.

-Mary Poppins

Happiness is the richest thing we will ever own.

-Donald Duck

Think happy thoughts.

-Peter Pan

Imagination is the only weapon in the war with reality

-Cheshire cat in Alice in Wonderland

A true hero isnt measured by the size of his strength but the strength of his heart.

-Hercules

Remember youre the one who can fill the world with sunshine

-Snow white

I want much more than this provincial life.

-Belle

You are bonkers! Ill tell you a secret all the best people are!

-Alice

When life gets you down do you know what you gotta do? Just keep swimming!

-Dory

And swimming is what I plan to do. Thank you Dory!!

It is a seven-letter word, beginning with an O and ending with an O and it has land in it. Have you guessed it already or must I spell it for you? Ah well then, it is Orlando! And needless to say Mr Walt Disney has a huge hand in this, and America is known best for it, entertainment and the business of Happiness. No I am not talking about the content happy, not the peaceful happy, not the marvelous happy, not the satisfied happy, not the altruistic happy, I am talking about the happy happy. Orlando is the happiest place in the world with all its gazillion theme parks, its perfect weather, not too hot, not too cold, the winds of fortune and a story telling quality that results from an imagination set wild. This was my third time in Orlando and I have loved it just the same. It never ever disappoints and I wish the theme parks business never goes out of style, I may even buy some stock to make sure it has a few more takers at the stock market atleast. The world of magic that Disney started with Mickey and his friends, I personally love and vibe with the charm, grace and optimism of Minnie, getting us to believe in fairy tales, is taking on in its own way with Harry Potter, the Marvel super heros and when Universal walks in Disney’s footsteps one is happy that this trend is here to stay. Checking oneself into one of these parks is like literally gifting oneself a day of happiness. I couldn’t help but feel so very happy, no it isnt always internal, happiness can be manufactured and it certainly is contagious. And it is most evident in the world that started it all, the Magic Kingdom!

This would be Disney’s greatest gift to the world, though they do their bit in every piece of the pie, the online streaming, the merchandise, the production of movies, but it is here that they literally collaborate with even their main competitors to bring out the best to the average park goer, no wonder most of the people I met there and struck up long conversations with, mostly Brazilians speaking Portuguese with alacrity and having kids in tow, come in year after year, sometimes 35 times a year, to have a good time. If that is your purpose in life then I would recommend the annual pass tickets for all the very many years you have left! I am a disney child, in the 90s just having discovered language I first read the disney fairy tales, graduating to their kid literature, their young adult fiction, and now science fiction as I cover a third of my life. I pretended to be Belle from Beauty and the Beast, why I even was Belle at my own birthday party, sang along to all the Disney songs, flew on the magic carpet with Alladin, and set my imagination on fire as I read, I have also watched all the Disney movies, in rapt attention. When the fireworks come on and the chant is now go home and make your dreams come true, I believe what I am told, that we can all make our dreams come true. Walt Disney’s quote that stayed with me from my second trip in 2000 was that if you can dream it you can do it, well the manifestation experts say that today, and manifesting is trendy today, but Disney had covered it long before. The park is marvelous the attention to detail is so very comforting, and the rides well they are the bursts of happiness.

The magic of Disney is lead forth by Universal too, with their Islands of Adventure and their theme park with the best of the rides, not to forget the Harry Potter world. I once was a major potterhead, immersing myself into all the stories all through school, but time had me forgetting so many details, yet Lumos and Stupefy came to me and the spell of Patronus. In the Harry Potter world the charm comes alive especially at Olivander’s wand shop where the wand supposedly chooses you. The Diagon Alley, the train ride at Kings Cross and the Hogsmeade village were so believable, yet Hogsmeade my favorite. Stepping into your favorite piece of fiction is somehow a dream coming true. My favorite Hagrid had a ride to his credit but the waiting time even with an express pass kept me waiting! The beauty of the Harry Potter world, the magic it has is just the magic of the fairy tales going strong even in the 21st century! And when they add food to the mix, the magic just gets into your system, am talking of the butter beer and the butter beer icecream, just so right to be had in that world. The Gringotts bank and the Hippogruff rides make the magic real, just as so many others. The minions and the transformers had my little munchkin transfixed. There are plenty of parks by Disney and Universal, not to forget the Lego land and all else. Yet this magical land with Disney Springs and all the allied locations has Mickey and his friends accompanying them everywhere. After a day of Jurassic world, Harry Potter, Minions, Transformers when we stepped into the Popeye ride we came out soaking wet, to the bone and for the first time ever stepped into a person dryer and boy that was fun!

Epcot is so very cerebral with its educational rides and has always been a go-to especially as they always have something new up their sleeve. All fun while teaching the laws of the land, if not those of physics, chemistry and some biology. Everything in epcot is my favorite as they marry science with the world of travel. The world pavilions bring the best of every country around a man-made lake that is also the background for the most spectacular fireworks at the end of the night. The Japanese pavilion has a the best vantage point with the red Torii framing the Epcot ball, the geodesic dome, (EPCOT stands for Experimental Prototype for the Community of Tomorrow) showing off all that the park has to offer, yet the French pavilion is undoubtedly the most snazzy with the Eiffel tower standing out. I am biased to France, Air France is the only airline in the world that offers Hot chocolate along with coffee and tea, it is the birthplace of Belle, the place of voule vous, Napolean and ofcourse Pain au chocolat! But yes also the place of the Seine, of drinkable water from every tap, of the book store Shakespeare and Company, of Monet, of Art Deco and this pavilion does it all to capture the best of France! The Guardians of the Galaxy ride, a brand new one at Epcot is the funnest ever and will have me busy watching the trilogy as I finish this post. Wonder what kept me away. Like I said, a trip to Epcot always gives me homework. The other one being the show Down to Earth. Phew! For the curious, time is never enough!!

But my favorite park to this day is and probably will always remain the Magic Kingdom. While Mickey handles all his friends very dearly, Donald is at his grumpiest best, Goofy is well just happy and Minnie is her stylish best, she is my favorite with her poodle Fifi and polka dots, (Figaro her cat was incidentally Walt Disney’s favorite character, who’s so very cute too!), Disney has kept all of that and come ahead with fairytales from every country, a trend they are still winning at with Frozen from Norway, Coco from Mexico and Moana from Hawaii, in case you haven’t guessed I am totally crushing on Moana at the moment! But moving beyond all the fairy tales Disney has made one solid leap with their latest ride of TRON. As I am into science fiction now, Passengers the movie began the trend for me, yet this story of TRON is as intriguing as the ride. Even if the story is incoherent and gets the critics talking, the latest ride at the Magic Kingdom, that of Tron will silence anyone! Sitting on the light cycle or the motorbike, it is stunning with visuals, and the ride up to the ride is so very thrilling. All that build-up, with ominous music and very fancy interiors, made me wary of the ride, but the ride is anything but wary, so very enjoyable that sitting on a bike kind of a way. The harness holds one from behind, the whole experience utterly futuristic. Watching others on the ride trunk up my heart beat but being on the ride was not scary at all. The future may well be the place to be, to aspire to be but on the rides and at the Magic Kingdom, the present may well be the only place worth being. And the most delightful and relevant experience of them all probably came from the Laugh Floor of Monsters Inc, as the audience laughed the characters from Monsters Inc showed a battery that charges. I for one, feel recharged laughing and that makes this magical science so true for me.

When my boy said Have fun guys to the folks ahead of us at the Space Mountain ride in Disney’s Magic Kingdom, in a parlance we don’t often use, I realised that America rubs off onto us and onto the world with every single move of it. I sure hope its unbridled confidence and belief in itself rubs onto me. The founding fathers did something really right with it from the very beginning. Into its 3rd century as a country, they booted the British first and long before many others with their landmark Boston Tea Party and becoming the Land of Opportunity. What I really like about the country at large is their fearlessness to fail, dropping out of college is normal, as is marching to the beat of your own drum, if not gun, yet it is the kindest country to entrepreneurs, that allows more that ever facilitates thinking beyond, getting on with the necessities through a button life and going beyond the toils of living, not holding back to customs and traditions, one that factors in a strange mix of soaring to the skies yet having a social welfare net. Talk of the benefits of early realizations I say. We’re awesome! Here’s a toast to the land of Chipotle, Apple, Instagram, WordPress, Disney, New York, the Skyscraper, Lincoln, Twain, Franklin, Gatsby, and hence Fitzgerald, Two Faced, Shea Moisture, Costco, Harvard, Boston, Public Libraries, Ihop, Ann Taylor, Kate Spade, Tory Burch, Micheal Kors, Facebook, Whatsapp, NASA, Marvel, Ironman, Spiderman, Batman, Times Square, Ghirardelli (though I may have to rethink chocolate, that’s for another post though), Amika, American Express, Starbucks, Amazon, Sheila G’s Brownie Brittle, Malin & Goetz, Tiffanys, the MOMA, Warhol, Frank Llyod Wright and lots more. With all that love for the United States of America, I constantly wonder why life never planted me there. I dream of living in Boston, as a professor at Harvard, if not building that skyscraper in New York or having my latest book a bestseller at Strand. God Bless you America, you are always great to me! You are the Happiest Place in the World, my favorite too!

How can you be so splendid Miami? So splendid that it could actually hurt. Oh well I am talking of the Miami beach specifically, and more specifically the Jelly fish in the waters of the Atlantic that kisses the shores of the city of Miami, a younger more vivacious Manhattan, with sunshine all the year round! Sounds like a dream city? Well cause it totally is. Maimed by a jellyfish while unabashedly swimming in the waters, well that’s quite another story, but to be honest, seeing jellyfish so up close is splendid to say the least. Its blush pink head swimming through the sea much like a sheet of transluscent fabric bumbling along in broad strokes, going up or down as it pleases!

While not frolicking on the umpteen beaches of Miami, that is a lot that happens in its 200-odd perpendicular streets to its beaches, starting from Art Deco buildings that could impress even the grumpiest of the lot, to the swanky condominiums and hotels, some trump and others bump, to the beautiful Miami beach homes, the city is steeped in design. The latest hotspot for millionaires and their swanky mansions, the pride of Miami as a design destination and its offering of the sun and sand makes it super fun. In fact its main Lincoln street was redesigned in 1960 by architect Morris Lapidus who pedestrianized it and famously said that an automobile never bought anything! For a country that is insanely bound by the automobile I have great respect and admiration for any city in the United States that shuns the automobile and makes it irrelevant, hence the love for New York City and its likes. The art deco style of Miami is more rooted and ground levelled unlike in NYC where the skyscrapers don the same vocabulary in building construction. An ode to the Art Deco in every form, at one point I felt like I stepped into a page of the Great Gatsby and what a page it would be to step into!

The candy floss nature and the pop of color in Miami is so contagious that even the skies of Miami turn pink, turquoise and all else! The residents of this fun city do not shy off from painting their buildings in all shades of pastel and agains the gorgeous clear blue skies its a winning stroke for sure. Why even the life guard stations are candy-flossed and seem fun yet when their more important job is to put out flags warning the beach bums and occassionally even stepping in to rescue. I was told upon being bitten by the jellyfish that the South Beach was cleared the previous day due to a shark visit! The beach here is not clearly for the faint-hearted. The city though could be, a breezy balm in today’s age with adorable colors and Art Deco proportions. The city is also a starting point of many cruises especially those to the Caribbean, and here in the Miami harbor we spotted over 11 cruise ships in line, all furnished with roller-coaster slides from the upper-most deck to the lower decks, the minimalist ships were from Germany while the most atrociously luxurious one was hand down the Royal Carribean! Its a sight. I would love to hit the Carribean though Vishwa, my friend sold Hawaii to me on this trip, going to Hawaii is going to paradise literally she emphasizes. Miami may be close I think.

The skyline of Miami is not too different from Manhattan, yet these wondrous marvels grace the sky nimbly and are pretty spaced out to let in some sunshine. In the sunshine state of the United States, the state of Florida, Miami is the city of sunshine. I could live here in spite of all its vice, for it has color, design, the beach and most importantly the sun! If you’re one to want the beach and the mall in the same zip code, Miami is the place to be, with the Bahamas just a hop away or probably a ship ride away its all fun. That said human trafficking is a serious concern (out of many others) in Miami and I learnt the codes or hand signals for human trafficking through posters stuck everywhere but more so on the female restrooms. I certainly hope that is one concern that Miami breezes through, cause it is the best otherwise! The party scene in Miami is rave too, though we didnt want to hit the party scene, the remnants were quite obvious. Early morning at the beach we spotted many party animals being woken up the first rays of the sun on the beach!

The southern most tip of the continental United States is also here in the State of Florida, a short distance from the city of Miami called Key West. An island city just 90 miles north of Cuba, the influence is thus untenable. The bluest of blue skies and the bluest of blue waters, the high way connected to Key west is endowned with mansions, beach resorts and people ferrying their yachts or boats through their cars. It is exceedingly beautiful to drive up to key west and enjoy sunshine, or at times hurricanes I am told. The food’s plenty like most beach resorts, and the relaxation is a lot. While the country is a place for the automobile and most roads the same, this drive to Key West was my favorite of them all. Not one who loves the road, but this one was incredibly beautiful and the bridges that go up and down make for an exhilarating experience, planet earth is a blue planet, the sky is blue, the waters are blue, much for a reason. Though in the backest seat of the car viewing this blue through a portal, blue is the color that is excessively relaxing and perhaps that is the way to live life right, relaxingly, at least in the mind. While Miami is best seen in an open-top blue Lamborghini, it is best felt sitting on the beach with the wind in my hair, playing kabaddi with the ocean is a fun way to be, and all the adverts that come to one through the sailing ships and the plane lead waves, are just the right ingredients to tell oneself that pop is popular for a reason and fun can be funny too for a season!

I am safe, for not all maimes turn one into a mime, for dolphins are immune to jellyfish stings, yet looking for signs of turning super human! (Well blame that on all the marvel and magic that would come by me in the next few days or posts that I was and you will be subjected to!)

The city of Montreal is drenched in French and thus in all things beautiful. The unquestionable lurking of art in every corner is morely supplanted by pretty streets that could put even the streets of Paris to shame. And their Notre Dame, a 1:1 replica os the original one in the city of lights is a beauty to reckon with, now with its original having gone up in flames. Such a pity I couldn’t speak French I thought, and without having any french to pardon we settled into our hotel across the Notre Dame marvelling at its beauty and the Place’ d Armes that it is lurched on. As we walked the streets of Montreal after 5 days in Toronto, the clean surrounds of Toronto became increasingly clear, well with art there tends to be a mess, or what else can I say! Sitting jet-lagged halfway across the world now in Bengaluru, even Montreal seems very clean now, but then in comparison to Toronto, its a lot earthy that the clean, clean Toronto. But the soul of Montreal is unmissable, it is indeed extremely beautiful and with it’s French feels extremely charming.

The Notre Dame was built in the 1800s by a protestant architect who is said to have turned Catholic by the end of the construction. The technology was a lot more developed that when the original was built yet the younger Notre Dame is just as beautiful, it may be missing the Seine, there is the St Lawrence, but then the visuals of the streets that surround the Notre Dame more than make up for it. In city planning function is alluded to more often than form, but only if we could garner up as much or even more importance to form we will be living not just in luxury but a thing of beauty. Montreal is extremely beautiful as it feels like one of the cities that pays attention to its form. Lined with art galleries and pretty cafes, the streets of old Montreal doesnt feel real, right from a story book, yet it is gorgeous. The kiosks that line the main plazas also have artists sketching up the city’s frames, turns out every side you look has a visual worth capturing. On the other side the cruise ships dock as its passengers get out for a walk in the streets of this beautiful city. We were entertained in the Place Jacques Cartier with scrumptious Italian food, kiosks that bring in Paris and a view of the new Montreal that is dotted by glitzy skyscrapers of the future.

The Centaur theatre, the village, the Museum of Illusions are other fun spots while gallivanting in Old Montreal, the atmosphere buzzing with artists and art aficionados alike make the city absolutely electric. In the province of Quebec, a stone’s throw from the capital city of Ottawa, Montreal has the best of Canada with a bit of France thrown in and the potion that this cauldron holds is alarmingly wonderful. While the Notre Dame is also very close to China town (now which city can escape from its Chinatown!), the momos folded up here especially in Soup and Sammi is just the best perhaps in the world. When you are eating piping hot momos as the snow flurries around you, looking onto a Notre Dame in french-speaking Montreal, you realise that the world is indeed flat or it has been flattened. The coming of the jet has opened up planet like never before but this city was built in the times of the pirates and the ships and hence its development would have been slow and organic, feted out in good time, the infusions layering on over time making it so very real.

The next morning as we made our way to the St Joseph’s oratory of Mount Royal we were treated to views of the city that would ring a bell. The beautiful church with its wrought iron fences all twisted in pain, probably the pain that Jesus felt nailed at the cross, had devout Christians praying, in all earnest. The modern church with it’s pipe organs and high vaulted roofs bring the massiveness and other wordlyness of religion into the picture. Looking down from the steps of the oratory we view the magnificient University of Notre Dame laid out in neat lines with all the Tim Horton’s muddled into it’s structure. A lot of Indians are seen and felt in this country, studying, working, finding opportunity in a country that gives them all the makings of a great life and perhaps good health. The book I was reading then – The Body says No by Gabor Mate refers to a lot of studies conducted at the University of Toronto, at the University of Notre Dame and all other universities of Canada and I can see how sitting in this beautiful country with great weather for half a year how the minds intelligence is magnified. When the conditions are tough or the land and mind are allowed to fallow, genius is born. What I mean to say is that the break that nature bestows on people with the extreme change of weather, or on land, the trees shed their leaves, the land lies fallow taking a break from living or doing and simply being allows a fine productivity. The Mount Royal with its coulorful trees in the fall and its stunning skyline is a ballet between the beauty of nature and the beauty of the human mind, that can create in all glory. My favorite season is the summer, but then fall is the season to be, to reflect and to take in beauty on orange, as the fall fairy comes out lighting up the temperate forests across the world.

As the sun set and the La Metropole lights up my brother drove us to yet another marvel of the architectural world, the Habitat 67, built for the world expo that Montreal hosted in 1967. The fifteen feet cube is used in various numbers, molded together to create a habitat for the humans, a successful experiment of building using only concrete, that is strengthened to have living spaces of sleeping, dining and living in various compositions to allow for a form that is both delightful and light. The signages all across the road of this building are dotted by do not stop, considering the number of people slowing down to take in this wonder. As I stepped into the lawns to cut a picture the speakers blared out warnings of this building being a private property. With no fence, we just cannot know what is the public sidewalk and what is the private domain, the boundaries are blurred. The building has the most incredible view of the Montreal skyline across the river St Lawrence. Beautiful buildings should be allowed to view, atleast for architects! I heard Moshe Safdie, its architect, talk about his work at the World Architecture Festival in Singapore in 2012, but seeing it in real, the effect is totally something else.

A brief stop at the Olympic village, Montreal is also the city that hosted the summer Olympics in 1976, makes one really wonder at all the feathers this city has in its cap, the retractable stadium and its swimming stadium at the Olympic village had me all heart, and the city had me all heart and soul. Decidedly one of the most beautiful cities in the world, wit art at every corner and laughter every turn, Montreal’s soul and its buzzing electricity, makes it charming, most loved all the same, and when it can serve up the best vegetarian dumplings and that too by the dozen, it’s winning, hands down!