This series is an attempt to collate previously penned essays and random musings that may or may not have appeared in different platforms.
I am starting at a big piece of art, around 7 to 8 feet tall and approximately 4 to 5 feet wide. A bold black grooved frame encloses the art without any protective glass on the top. At the focus of the piece, three beautiful women of African origin stand tall. The figures are photorealistic. The three women don three very different styles of attires. The lady on the left has a bright azure blue halter jumpsuit on. The one in the middle looks over her back and flaunts a cheery orange flowy floral maxi dress. The woman on the right is wearing a yellow pullover with fitted cropped jeans. The most striking part of the art is the juxtaposition of the focal subjects and the background. Surrounding the three ladies, who have very resolute expressions, are illustrative depiction of different flowers and ornately meandering leaves and branches. The differences in the artistic styles between the foreground and the background add to the depth of the painting.
After letting my gaze hover over the paining for a while, the stylistic contrast melt away and what emerges is the emphasis of what binds the foreground and the background together: resilience. The faces of the women convey a sense of resolute and resilience. That, to me, is the essence of the feminine that the main-stream societal narrative fails to realize. Similarly, the beautifully illustrated lilies, tulips, and forget-me-nots reminded me how resilient these plants are; dying down in winter and re-emerging from the ground in spring every year. However, resilience and perseverance for life are not the first things that people think of when they encounter flowers. Flowers have been ubiquitously stamped as the symbol of beauty and fragility. The similarity between the ornate flowers and the lovely ladies are further confirmed by noticing that each of the colors in the flowers are reflected in the dresses of the women.
Temporal transitions in a day can indeed be theatrical. The receding morning mist, akin to the parting stage curtains, provided a somber and mystic preamble to a bright sunny day. The cacophony of chirping birds, which drowned the gentle lapping of water and was occasionally punctuated by the sound of passing motorboats, was a befitting prelude to the day.
Fiery red, burnt orange, canary yellow or muted magenta. I love them all! While the chilly north wind during this time reminds me of the imminent dreary winter, the warm hues all around provide some transient respite. Besides the vibrant fall colors, today I had bottomless coffee, a roaring outdoor fire and a hearty brunch to keep my spirits up! Happy belated Halloween!
I have always been drawn to the rustling of leaves. The dancing canopy of verdure accompanying the warm mid-summer breeze, the shiver of crispy senile leaves before they are plucked from the branches by the chilly north breeze, twirling down to ground or the frenzied swinging of the pendulous leaves of coconut and shupuri (betel nut) trees during kalboishakhi; I love them all. It appears to be quite common for people to romanticize this natural event. In fact, I discovered that there exists a word for it: psithurism. So, I am sharing this video for my fellow psithurism enthusiasts. Even though the din of the mundane modern life is marring the auditory appeal of psithurism, it is still one of those simple joys of life that make me smile.
As fires continue to ravage the west coast, we are hunkering down at home; reminded yet again how much we are at the mercy of mother nature. With multiple forest fires raging throughout Oregon, the nearest being only around 20 miles away, we started getting a whiff (literally) of the dire situation from Tuesday, September 8. Though we are not under any evacuation zone yet (thankfully), we are waking up to an amber-hued ambiance every day since last Tuesday. It looks like nature has applied a sepia filter. This sepia filter, unlike the one used by people to make their photos more romantic and dreamy, has an apocalyptic vibe. Haze and a persistent smell of charred wood are accompanying the surreal visual. It is an irony that barbeques, fireplaces, and campfires, which are associated with merriment, coziness and, warmth, emanate the same scent of burning wood. The air quality has worsened drastically. Currently, the air quality index (AQI) here is around 320, which is deemed to be hazardous. We can only hope that the relentless efforts of the first responders result in the containment of the fires.
I walked amidst scores of stacks housing innumerable facts, fantasies, emotions and imaginations recorded in black and white; breathing in the somber air. The air was heavily infused with an eclectic mix of smells. I wandered the library labyrinths. . . overwhelmed. . .
Six levels of an imposing structure entirely dedicated to books . . . The grand reading halls and quarter hourly chimes of its fifty bells add to Rush Rhees Library's charm. . .
As a child I always fancied the majestic library that the Beast shows Belle in the Walt Disney classic 'Beauty and the Beast' . . . I know facts are not as romantic as fiction and also know that there are better libraries with greater resources and prettier façade; but for me Rush Rhees was a close match to the fairytale library that I always dreamt of visiting someday . . .
Still lost among the stacks, irony of life nudged me and made me smile. . . I was once a bibliophile, but some where along the tortuous path of time, I got seduced by the easy 'fun' that social networks offered . . . My habit and I drifted apart . . . So, there I was. . . in a bibliophile's heaven . . . estranged from the habit of reading . . .