Kali Rides

Author : Anil P      Blog : Windy Skies      Date : 5/5/2013 2:35:00 PM

'That evening in Calcutta we wandered among people aimlessly and soon I found myself seeking the boats that’d take Durga home. But as I walked towards the ghat on the river, the waters strained away from me, retreating slowly but surely, pushing at the land on the other side until they could push no more. Confused, I paused and wondered - How was I culpable? That’s until I saw Kali'

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Sooni Taraporevala’s 'Parsis' Exhibits at Chemould Prescott Road Gallery, Mumbai

Author : Anil P      Blog : Windy Skies      Date : 4/5/2013 2:20:00 PM

'The Mystic Piano Tuner, Mr. Ratnagar, Bombay, 1985   Photography often draws on different sentiments to connect the viewer emotionally with the images on display. While the degree of the connect with photographs is often determined by how closely the viewer can directly relate to the subjects photographed, it can however be extended to include the associations the viewer has made with'

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Prayer Time At Delhi’s Jama Masjid

Author : Anil P      Blog : Windy Skies      Date : 3/8/2013 6:38:00 PM

'As the clock struck 4, a barely perceptible crackle over the public address system soon turned into a mellifluous call to prayer at Delhi's Jama Masjid. I sat on a raised platform facing the historic masjid in old Delhi. The platform ran east-west along the length of the quadrangle enclosing a large courtyard where visitors milled about and joyous children scattered hundreds of'

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David Rocco’s Dolce India Swings By ITC Grand Central, Mumbai

Author : Anil P      Blog : Windy Skies      Date : 3/3/2013 10:16:00 AM

'I learned of David Rocco’s Mumbai visit to film his new series in India centred on food only recently. Scheduled to be broadcast on FOX Traveller, his India episodes are said to be along the lines of his charming Dolce Vita episodes in Italy, exploring kitchens and restaurants, and people and places. A quick swing by ITC Grand Central and I’d have gotten a glimpse of his team at work'

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The Colour Of Candyfloss

Author : Anil P      Blog : Windy Skies      Date : 2/12/2013 6:59:00 PM

'Sharmaji and I take a leisurely walk across the bridge over Brahma Sarovar in Kurukshetra.A bite of candy floss to sweeten the stroll would’ve added just the right touch to a listless morning, a far cry from when the Mahabharata eventually culminated in a ferocious finish about this very place in Haryana in the distant past.I had noticed a speck of pink in the distance. In time the speck grew larger, revealing a youth selling candy floss by the side of the road.If he thought no one (...)'

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A Swing And A Miss

Author : Anil P      Blog : Windy Skies      Date : 2/10/2013 6:42:00 PM

'It’s nearing ten in the night. Everyone, well almost everyone, is out. It’s Durga Puja. It’s Kolkata.The “Playing XI” consisted of just one bowler, a batsman, and a wicket keeper. The rest of the fielding was done by enclosed walls.They had abandoned the red ball, never a good idea under lights to begin with. The white one was a better option. Yet, he took a wild swing, and missed it.Some habits die hard even if you are not old enough to have acquired them. They’re acquired from see(...)'

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A Poem to Sani Care's Rescue

Author : Anil P      Blog : Windy Skies      Date : 1/29/2013 8:17:00 PM

'Someone decided that just the name wasn’t enough to make passers-by step in and buy into the Sani Care promise.So, a poem was marshalled to do battle. And it went like this:Sani CareTake CareSanitary FairSani CarePlumbing RareEsteemed BuyersBe AwarePick Up The BestAnd The RareUsing Your Own FlairStepping In ToSani CareAnd, dear readers, as you can see, the poem has stood the test of time even if the coat had an issue with ‘Plumbing Rare’. Where else but Kolkata.Note: In the American(...)'

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A Mirror In The Verandah, Crabs Roadside, A Signboard

Author : Anil P      Blog : Windy Skies      Date : 1/18/2013 6:30:00 PM

'Past Bhoma, off the road that runs on to Panjim, I remember a house set back from the road before it cuts through paddy fields and climbs over the bridge at Banastari a short distance away. It sat in a cluster of trees like many Goan houses do as you move away from urban centers and meander in the hinterland.From the window of the bus I would see a mirror hanging by the door that led into the house. A verandah ran across the front. It seemed to be an old house. The sloping tiled roo(...)'

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Footnotes: Moments In Repose, An Exhibition Of My Photographs

Author : Anil P      Blog : Windy Skies      Date : 12/25/2012 8:18:00 PM

'Click images to enlargeMy photography exhibition - Footnotes: Moments in Repose - opens at the Jehangir Art Gallery, Kala Ghoda, Mumbai, today.The 50+ photographs on display were made over years of my travels across India, seeking backdrops that place the everyday in historical, cultural and traditional contexts. They are about people, and their immediate contexts. Moments caught in transit. Moments that came to stay.I’ve attempted to turn the fleeting into a temporary permanence, s(...)'

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Geeta Saar, Immortal Wisdom

Author : Anil P      Blog : Windy Skies      Date : 11/30/2012 5:28:00 PM

'I’m in Kurukshetra. It’s warm and sunny. The visit took a long time coming. Someday, I used to tell myself every once in a while over the years gone by, that I’ll walk the hallowed grounds and imagine the setting that defined the consciousness of a nation, and the centrality of life in a home my Mum shaped for us. Accompanied by Sharmaji I walk slowly toward the chariot behind Brahma Sarovar. I can see the charioteer in the distance. I see Arjuna. Both are frozen in a moment frozen (...)'

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Cops, Sunglasses, Roadside In Daryaganj

Author : Anil P      Blog : Windy Skies      Date : 11/24/2012 7:13:00 AM

'Three 'newly' minted cops of the Delhi Police find themselves in the bustle of Darya Ganj on Netaji Subash Chandra road in old Delhi. It’s Sunday and 'Life's Good'. The lane heading north toward the intersection with Meena Bazar that runs on to Jama Masjid is floored under all manner of wheels. The other lane is relatively empty. If it isn’t for the fact that it’s a pleasant winter morning and nothing is amiss in the capital, the flood seen from a distance would appear to be the onl(...)'

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Uttarayan Time On Ahmedabad Streets

Author : Anil P      Blog : Windy Skies      Date : 11/20/2012 8:23:00 AM

'“Hum Gujarati log mast log hai,” the rickshaw driver merrily informed us in Hindi liberally touched with Gujarati accent. He was smiling away and looked at me in the mirror to gauge my reaction. We had seen enough evidence of the Gujarati joie de vivre already, on the streets and elsewhere to take him at face value.“I know,” I replied, “People here are generally joyous and easy going.” My answer pleased him as I knew it would. It is one thing to believe it yourself and quite another(...)'

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Gauri – Ganesh Visarjan, Day 5 Of Ganesh Chaturthi

Author : Anil P      Blog : Windy Skies      Date : 11/16/2012 6:08:00 AM

'I position myself roadside, out of the way of crowds streaming toward the lake, the men bearing Ganapati idols, and women, Gauri idols. Men carrying Ganapati outnumber women carrying Gauri. It is day five of Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations.The police have blocked off the approach to the lake for regular traffic, only letting in rickshaws or tempos bearing devotees carrying Ganapati idols that come to a stop at the entrance to the lake. Families get off. The head of the family, a male,(...)'

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Meandering Among Ruins And Memories In Bijapur

Author : Anil P      Blog : Windy Skies      Date : 10/31/2012 2:34:00 PM

'  A snake lay flattened on the road. Using a stick I found in the brush roadside I turned it over to see if I could identify it. I couldn’t. It was flattened to its skin, scattering its scales about, making identification difficult more so since I’m no expert on snakes.Ahead, the Ring Road sloped and ran straight before curving out of sight; later in the day we would ride it on our way to Torvi, past Navraspur. Trucks droned up the incline, shattering the silence in the co(...)'

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Durga Homebound

Author : Anil P      Blog : Windy Skies      Date : 10/30/2012 4:31:00 PM

'KolkataWith Panchami approaching, artisans ferry Durga out of Kumartuli. A truck awaits the goddess in a nearby street off Rabindra Sarani (formerly Chitpur Road). It will ferry the idol to a Durga pandal in the city where the goddess will be the focus of attention of visitors hopping neighbourhood pandals, each pandal decorated and brilliantly lit to set off the goddess in the night.© Anil P.'

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Sunday Brunch at ITC Grand Central, Mumbai

Author : Anil P      Blog : Windy Skies      Date : 9/21/2012 7:17:00 PM

'I find communities interesting not merely for characteristics, cultural, linguistic and other traits that define them and set them apart from other communities, but equally fascinating for the reason that bring them together. And reasons are many in a country as diverse as India, and more so Mumbai, the very microcosm of India if ever there was one.Even so when they gather they do so around shared traditions, and customs, each unique to their heritage, religious and geographic, and (...)'

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Roadside, And Waiting

Author : Anil P      Blog : Windy Skies      Date : 8/29/2012 5:28:00 PM

'Past Jhalki on the NH 13 bound for Solapur, villagers wait roadside by a temple, likely for a bus that winds through the countryside, past homesteads on farms that stretch to infinity, and beyond. The sky is overcast and a breeze is about. The Bhima is a ten minute ride ahead where it flows by Vadakbal. Ah, the Bhima, such a long journey. So many memories. And it’s a morning to spend by a window looking out at the world passing by, except I'm passing a world looking on.   (...)'

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Ramadan Time In Bijapur

Author : Anil P      Blog : Windy Skies      Date : 8/18/2012 6:34:00 AM

'“Gareeb bacchey hai,” the elderly Muslim man in a white skull cap and a red gamcha around his neck said as he stopped to speak with me on his way through an old quarter of Bijapur, the ancient city in the Deccan.It’s likely he had noticed me watching on while he was stopped for chocolates by five children, three boys and two girls in what I believe is a regular occurrence in the kindly man’s day. I had seen him before at the gate of an old masjid watching the faithful walk in throug(...)'

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My Name Is ……..

Author : Anil P      Blog : Windy Skies      Date : 8/15/2012 7:31:00 AM

'No, it’s not Anthony Gonsalves!From where I sat in the bus, wedged between passengers crowding the aisle on my right and a fellow-passenger in the window seat enjoying his music on my left, I could not see the words framed on the passenger window on the back of the rickshaw clearly in the twilight hour.The bus soon came to a stop among honking auto rickshaws, trucks, cars and other buses, headlights waving about and stuttering  as impatient souls at wheels sought to throw the g(...)'

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Bal Krishna On Gokulashtami

Author : Anil P      Blog : Windy Skies      Date : 8/10/2012 5:51:00 PM

'Mumbai, 2012A boy dressed up as Bal Krishna looks on as visitors crowd available balconies in old buildings on Ranade Road, Dadar, for a glimpse of Govindas girding up to battle rival groups for a crack at the Dahi Handi on Krishna Janmashtami today.© Anil P.'

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