A Dog Has Lived

A dog has lived, a friendship shared,

Of silent lucidity, of humanity bared.

A sniff, a lick, an innocent pry,

Vivid conversations, through an intimate eye.

A loyal companion, with a powerful bust,

The gentle giant, a deterrent to trust.

A contagious spirit, he wags his tail,

To embark on journeys, to just set sail.

Alas so near, yet so far he's going,

He feels it too, on his face its showing.

The ghost breathes out, without a sigh,

Silenced by an angel's lullaby.

It leaves behind for us to see,

Fond memories, for all eternity.

And takes away as it departs,

The 'Scamper' that once lit our hearts.

A dog has lived, a friendship shared,

Of silent lucidity, of humanity bared.

--- Alistair D'souza (2010)

Happy New Year

We partied, we played

We stayed up late, all dazed

We sang, we danced

We ate, we laughed

Through all the merriment

Through all the haze

2009 slipped away

2010 was upon us, all ablaze

A millennium has passed in our time

Now a decade within the millennium has also bid adieu

On the brink of another gift of time

I stop and reflect on what has gone by, And on what is to come

This of all years has been a defining one

I thank God for all He has given me

And for all that He chose not to give

I am sorry for a lot of things I did, and some that I didn’t do

As the curtains rise

On another road untraveled

May we make new mistakes

And get closer to who we are to become

May we learn to speak less

And listen more

May we choose to believe in God

And not rely solely on ourselves

May we cherish the gift of time

And be better than we have ever been before


Happy New Year!

--- Margaret Desouza

Canon photo marathon 2009

We were given 3 themes one by one. We had 1hr 30 mins to click a photo on each theme. It started at 8:30 am and went on till 3:30 pm.... The themes were "On the job", "Freedom" and "Stand out".

"On the Job"

Clicked this at the old age home we go to.

"Freedom"

Freedom means diff things to diff people who lead diff types of lives...

tried to capture that..

and sometimes freedom comes at a cost..

"Stand Out"

Felt real bad when the kid to the right innocently told me, "but I can't read"...

used the harry potter books so that it stands out more..

Eurotrip thoughts

We were planning on planning a long trip someplace... just take off from work but the plan was just not falling in place. A meeting was coming up for Margaret in Antwerp and so we suddenly got into planning mode. The lonelyplanet, eurorail was hit on from all angles and after a lot of permutations and combinations the itinerary took shape.

Started with london. Margaret's brother Edward is there who gave us a good feel of the city. One must do is the live theatre scene out there. From london we headed by rail to belgium.. went around Brussels and a beautiful place called Brugges (watch the movie "in bruges").. Bruges is out of this world... like out of a fairytale stuck in time.. it was a trade center like venice but then silt accumulated in the waterways and cut trade.. ppl left the city then returned a few centuries back and rebuilt the place.. the architecture is stuck in medieval times.. very quaint and untouched... cobblestone roads still cover most of the city.. the horses are massive... waterways and canals run thru the city..

when margaret was working I went around Antwerp (diamond capital of the world), Gent, made a second trip to Bruges and then Rotterdam.. Antwerp is quite a nice city with a lot to see. They were celebrating the completion of the rail station with the release of a book which was written in 5 days and was based around the station.. Each day some famous author would sit in the station and continue where the previous one left off. They setup a makeshift printing press in the same location for the release of the book.

In Gent they were shooting a film at the station.. Belgium is known for its award winning intellectual films. I found the people to be very warm and polished in Belgium. They seems to go into details which shows in their intricate knitwork, their showpieces. When I as leaving the station they were completing the final scene of the film.

after Margaret's meeting we went to Amsterdam.. walked thru Anne Frank's place where she wrote her dairy. It was quite an experience.. toured Van Gogh's museum.. at first I was wondering how a looney guy with not much painting skills got so famous.. I mean if you compare his stuff to Rembrant's visually appealing skills you start to wonder... but then slowly it grows on you... the strokes, the style, the abstractness, his thoughts and if I think of it now his ones were the most abstract but are also the ones which have a very strong visual picture in my mind.. you can probably compare him to Frank Kafka who didn't have a real good writing style but his concepts, humanity and _depth_ of thinking comes out thru his writing... it almost like he painted for himself first...

we then took the train from Antwerp to Paris where we spent a couple of days... paris was grand... had a different charm to it unlike Bruges. It is pretty in all its grandeur, Notre Dame, Champs Elysee, Arc de Triumph, Eiffel tour, the Louvre, the art work... the mona lisa was tiny though :) We picked up a B&W painting there and margaret added some red to it back in bangalore.. its come out quite well...

went overnight by train to venice after running from station to station in paris and nearly missing the train :) its in situations like these when you feel that you need to know the local language to survive.. but I guess the travel was going too smoothly till then and we needly that adrenalin rush.. this was our only overnight trip and the station at venice was easier to follow... some of the paintings there were mouth watering.. picked one from there.. the glass work is freaking pretty and intricate.. the grand canal is nice but the narrow canal ways are not maintained that well.. a bit of a let down after seeing bruges :)

rome came after that where we stayed at a hostel run by nuns. There was this very sweet nun who was trying hard to converse with us and find out our relationship before allowing us to stay in the same room :) rome has a lot of history but again we felt it could be maintained better. ppl are a bit lazy in general..

we saw the pope and attended mass at st peter's basilica.. the basilica has michaelangelo's Pieta.. pure genius... The sistine chapel is wonderful.. you need to know its relevance to appreciate it.. from a pure skill point of view, i liked his marble sculpture (pieta and some at the louvre) better than his paintings in the sistine chapel... but the concepts and thoughts to bring that all together in the sistine chapel is genius..

We walked a lot in rome, the colosseum at night was lovely.. The piazzas were quite lively with art of all forms... Jazz on the street is something.. the way those guys improvise and communicate... they were enjoying themselves.. extremely talented to have to earn a living on the street.. picked some water colour paintings in rome... oh and then you had these nice roley poley gladiators charming tourists..

it seems the locals can easily point a pickpocketer from amongst the crowd.. managed not to get pick-pocketed in rome inspite of the dead give-away. big camera around the neck, map in one hand, travel bag, fake italian accent :)

from there we headed back to london and were treated to some of edward's culinary skills and then to bengalore where I watch "Nigella bites" under the pretense of learning how to cook :)

A select few are present here

The complete albums are here

I miss the dreams

Random writing on a friday night on scraps of paper.

"I miss the dreams… is it maturity that kills the dreams… for the life of me I can’t figure it out… the dreams were always big though- me as a jazz concert pianist, me as a world famous painter, me as a sports hero… strange that I could still be any of those things… I miss the simplicity of youth.. the silly problems and thoughts that had me all worried for nothing… indeed everything is relative… I long to connect… it happens so rarely though.. I never thought myself to be a people person… but yet, I yearn for the connections… everyone is so caught up in a whirlwind of the present though, and don’t really have the time or inclination for real conversations… the ones without the crap and façade… ah to be free- to write without caution… a real conversation albeit with a piece of paper.. still feels good… is that what we have been reduced to… conversations and connections- the real ones- with inanimate matter and masks with the people. my brain is riddled with thought unexpressed in consciousness… that’s probably why I love to sleep… that’s when we possibly truly dream… I don’t think we laugh enough either… at ourselves, at our lives, at our silliness and obsession with everything… we also don’t let go… we carry this nonsensical baggage everywhere and then complain life is tough… I have no idea where all this is going… and it feels great J no beginning, no end… just the journey" - Anonymous

Simple H1N1 preventive measures

Got this as a forward and found it to be quite logical and useful. Contains a simple explanation of the stages before you get infected by H1N1 virus. It also suggests simple preventive measures.

Some tips for prevention from an AIMS doctor

=======================================

Friends,

Thanks to media hype about H1N1, several people who trust me have either approached or called me to advice. The hype in media about the utility of face masks and N95 respirators as a tool for general protection against H1N1 can't be deplored enough. Yesterday, a friend who listened wanted me to write down briefly what I advised so that he could tell others in similar words. Hence this short email to friends whom I have advised recently (and others whom I haven't yet). Please realize that this is not an official advice, especially the one about face masks or N95.

Most N95 respirators are designed to filter 95% particulates of 0.3µ, while the size of H1N1 virus is about 0.1µ. Hence, dependence on N95 to protect against H1N1 is like protecting against rain with an umbrella made of mosquito net.

Tamiflu does not kill but prevents H1N1 from further proliferation till the virus limits itself in about 1-2 weeks (its natural cycle). H1N1, like other Influenza A viruses, only infects the upper

respiratory tract and proliferates (only) there. The only portals of entry are the nostrils and mouth/ throat. In a global epidemic of this nature, it's almost impossible not coming into contact with H1N1 in spite of all precautions. Contact with H1N1 is not so much of a problem as proliferation is.

While you are still healthy and not showing any symptoms of H1N1 infection, in order to prevent proliferation, aggravation of symptoms and development of secondary infections, some very simple steps - not fully highlighted in most official communications - can be practiced (instead of focusing on how to stock N95 or Tamiflu):

1. Frequent hand-washing (well highlighted in all official communications).

2. "Hands-off-the-face" approach. Resist all temptations to touch any part of face (unless you want to eat, bathe or slap).

3. Gargle twice a day with warm salt water (use Listerine if you don't trust salt). H1N1 takes 2-3 days after initial infection in the throat/ nasal cavity to proliferate and show characteristic symptoms. Simple gargling prevents proliferation. In a way, gargling with salt water has the same effect on a healthy individual that Tamiflu has on an infected one. Don't underestimate this simple, inexpensive and powerful preventative method.

4. Similar to 3 above, clean your nostrils at least once every day with warm salt water. Not everybody may be good at Jala Neti or Sutra Neti (very good Yoga asanas to clean nasal cavities), but blowing the nose hard once a day and swabbing both nostrils with cotton buds

dipped in warm salt water is very effective in bringing down viral population.

5. Boost your natural immunity with foods that are rich in Vitamin C (Amla and other citrus fruits). If you have to supplement with Vitamin C tablets, make sure that it also has Zinc to boost absorption.

6. Drink as much of warm liquids as you can. Drinking warm liquids has the same effect as gargling, but in the reverse direction. They wash off proliferating viruses from the throat into the stomach where they cannot survive, proliferate or do any harm.

All these are simple ways to prevent, within means of most households, and certainly much less painful than to wait in long queues outside public hospitals.

The 12 disciples

We attended mass at the Home for the Aged
That bright and beautiful Sunday morning
We entered the holy sanctuary and waited
The organ played a soulful melody
They sat in the front pews, 12 children under 3 feet tall
The celebrant began the Eucharist
I braced myself for distractions, noise and annoyance
I was indeed distracted with the children before me,
with awe though, rather than annoyance
The 12 children uttered prayers clearly, and slowly, all in unison
Their heads were bowed, their hands joined before them in prayer
They never turned right or left, their eyes never left the altar
They didn’t speak to each other, or murmur or giggle
Their knew every part of the mass and what it required of them
Their hearts were focused only on His Majesty
Those 12 children drowned the rest of us 500 gathered there
With their praise and worship of the Lord
I was humbled during that Eucharistic celebration
By voices and hearts much smaller and yet so much larger than mine
I learn't a lesson that beautiful Sunday morning in that Old aged home
Indeed, one has to be like those little children,
in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven

--- Margaret Desouza