Blue Pianos and the heartache of being the last

Author : Miss Frangipani      Blog : The Frangipani Journals      Date : 4/21/2013 6:53:24 PM

'Earlier tonight, while M was having his bath before bedtime, we were discussing Oscar and his cahoots (from Oscar’s Orchestra, the BBC series for children). Oscar is a blue piano who is trying to save the world from an evil dictator who has banned music. M is mildly obsessed with the series and mumbles the [...]'

Read full article

Taking children to concerts

Author : Miss Frangipani      Blog : The Frangipani Journals      Date : 4/8/2013 6:37:36 PM

'With M turning four earlier this year, Mr. R thought it was the right time to introduce him to the magic of live concerts. Of course, we are not idiots, and are familiar with children making complete nuisances of themselves disturbing other patrons in auditoriums and causing great embarrassment to their parents. M, of course, [...]'

Read full article

One Billion Rising – are you?

Author : Miss Frangipani      Blog : The Frangipani Journals      Date : 2/14/2013 6:46:26 PM

'It was late. The clock had fast-forwarded way past M’s bed-time and here he was, still tossing and turning. It was then that I noticed the boom-boom seeping through the old Dutch doors and its vintage, fragile glass right into the pillow. The vibrations echoed in my ear as I fought my rising anger. I [...]'

Read full article

Gandhi’s London

Author : Miss Frangipani      Blog : The Frangipani Journals      Date : 1/30/2013 1:05:00 AM

'In 2007, I went on a London Walk commemorating Mahatma Gandhi’s days in the city and wrote about it. An edited version of this was published in 2007 in the Herald, Goa and in Windows & Aisles, the in-flight magazine of Paramount Airways. The Walk doesn’t seem to be offered anymore – I have queried [...]'

Read full article

Book Review: Accidental India by Shankkar Aiyar

Author : Miss Frangipani      Blog : The Frangipani Journals      Date : 1/23/2013 8:06:04 PM

'Accidental India: A History of the Nation’s Passage through Crisis and Change is journalist Shankkar Aiyar’s fascinating new book which examines the chronicle of India’s history through “seven turning points” in the country’s history. In the book, Aiyar argues that changes in the country since independence have not arisen through conscious decision making or planning, [...]'

Read full article

My Word for 2013

Author : Miss Frangipani      Blog : The Frangipani Journals      Date : 1/2/2013 2:27:37 PM

'I’m not sure when exactly the struggle to get through everyday overtook the desire to write. I still write, of course, but for my deadlines and for my pay-checks. I haven’t written for myself for a long time now. No poetry, no essays, no blog posts, no small stones. And I’ve given up journaling – [...]'

Read full article

Book Review: The Green Room by Wendell Rodricks

Author : Miss Frangipani      Blog : The Frangipani Journals      Date : 10/23/2012 12:24:59 PM

'The Green Room Wendell Rodricks Raintree (by Rupa Publications) 356 pages | Hardcover I was expecting The Green Room to be a glimpse into the inner world of the fashion industry. The book has that, of course, but it is more an autobiography of designer Wendell Rodricks. The Green Room begins with a prologue, a [...]'

Read full article

Lead me back to me

Author : Miss Frangipani      Blog : The Frangipani Journals      Date : 10/13/2012 6:00:55 PM

'Writing this morning as the sky lightens, waiting quietly for words to come rather than rushing and grasping to get something down on paper, I realize that what I’m really waiting for here is a glimpse of the thread that might lead me back to me, or at least back to the person I still [...]'

Read full article

Deadlines

Author : Miss Frangipani      Blog : The Frangipani Journals      Date : 10/13/2012 2:47:37 PM

'Keeping my fingers crossed that you sleep on time tonight, that the internet works in the shadowy half-light of the bedroom where the AC whispers ‘sleep, sleep’ and the light from the creepy Mother Mary lamp shines on your finally dreaming face. Keeping my fingers crossed that the words flow that new discoveries are made, [...]'

Read full article

The quandry of finding ethical work

Author : Miss Frangipani      Blog : The Frangipani Journals      Date : 10/12/2012 6:21:28 PM

'Over on Twitter, I recently had a discussion on the ethics of supporting events and projects backed by Goa’s mining companies. If you have been following the news in India, you might have heard of the Shah Commission and what its report on mining in Goa has said. The impact of the report has been [...]'

Read full article

Thought for the month ahead

Author : Miss Frangipani      Blog : The Frangipani Journals      Date : 9/30/2012 6:55:00 PM

''

Read full article

A Page at a time

Author : Miss Frangipani      Blog : The Frangipani Journals      Date : 9/18/2012 11:32:10 AM

'The days are getting away from me. Today, M begins his week-long holiday for Ganesh Chaturti. The festival is a big deal in Goa. Even bigger than Diwali or Christma. Everything shuts down. Even restaurants. You’ll be lucky to find something open tomorrow or the day after. It is such a big deal that the [...]'

Read full article

What I’ve been reading

Author : Miss Frangipani      Blog : The Frangipani Journals      Date : 9/17/2012 4:22:52 AM

'I’m trying to catch up on books that have piled up for review and am delighted to be whittling down the stack rapidly. Here’s what I have been reading lately:   The Queen – a life in brief by Robert Lacey : Robert Lacey has devoted much of his career to writing about the monarchy [...]'

Read full article

Diving into heaven

Author : Miss Frangipani      Blog : The Frangipani Journals      Date : 8/27/2012 1:32:00 PM

'The chapel bells were tolling. I looked up from my afternoon coffee and said absentmindedly, “Someone must have died.” M, sitting on the high chair next to me, “Someone dived?In the Mandovi?” Died. Dived. Who wants to explain the difference to a three-year old?'

Read full article

What we need…

Author : Miss Frangipani      Blog : The Frangipani Journals      Date : 8/26/2012 6:57:12 AM

''

Read full article

Stop the sun

Author : Miss Frangipani      Blog : The Frangipani Journals      Date : 8/18/2012 7:08:00 PM

'Stop the sun from setting, you beg me as I wonder how to calm you. I can’t do that, I say and I can see you beginning to protest in your head. Your eyes say Yes, you can. You are my mama. You can do anything. I don’t want the moon to come out. I [...]'

Read full article

Finding new markets to write for

Author : Miss Frangipani      Blog : The Frangipani Journals      Date : 8/18/2012 6:03:36 PM

'This morning’s plans to visit the library were thwarted by something unexpected. After lunch, M couldn’t sleep, so I asked him if he would like to go to the library instead. “I’m so excited!” he said and bounced on the bed. So we had a quick tea-time snack, put on our shoes, packed the [...]'

Read full article

I wish I had this problem…

Author : Miss Frangipani      Blog : The Frangipani Journals      Date : 8/18/2012 6:42:31 AM

'The pile of unread books is still there. By my table, in a cupboard, in the bedroom, in an old suitcase that has lost its lining. Here and at my mother’s house. I dare not touch them now. I have other things to fill in that empty space where stories once lived. And I let [...]'

Read full article

Grace

Author : Miss Frangipani      Blog : The Frangipani Journals      Date : 8/14/2012 12:44:13 PM

'Last night, as we snuggled under our duvet in a bed-time ritual that involved a story, some remembering and lots of cuddles, M suddenly asked me to “say that prayer to Mother Mary and Jesus”. Once, in a desperate fit of seeking solace, I had said the ‘Hail Mary’ aloud to him. Just once. He [...]'

Read full article

Sorry for the interruption

Author : Miss Frangipani      Blog : The Frangipani Journals      Date : 8/7/2012 10:57:53 AM

'I was looking forward to this morning. After dropping M off to school (no tears, yay), I put the laundry on, then dropped Mr. R to a friend’s house where he was going to spend the morning connected to the strangely superior internet connection listening to the Berlin Phil on his Sennheiser headphones. On the [...]'

Read full article