Excerpts from Brida!

Yes, I thumbed up Coelho again. He is so very philosophical, and wow. Like to read him once in a while, but really just once in a while. I fear that too much of him would turn me into an elusive hermit in search of the meaning of life. Anyway, here are a few excerpts that I appreciated from 'Brida'. Although not one of his best-sellers, it was a popular book. [PS: Wish I could also share my notes from Alchemist and Eleven Minutes, only if I knew where they were now!]

# You can't renounce love in order not to suffer. Its like putting out your own eyes in order not see the bad things in life.

# Nothing in the world is ever completely wrong. Even a stopped clock is right twice a day.

# Sometimes, certain of God's blessings arrive by shattering all the windows.

# Judging oneself to be inferior to other people was one of the worst acts of pride he knew, because it was the most destructive way of being different.

# Nature is God's signature.

# "I have spread my dreams under your feet,

Tread softly because you tread in my dreams." - Poet WB Yeats

# About the transformation of the holy cross as a symbol of Christianity, and the altered significance of sex!

"A Roman would never enter a building with a cross on it. He would think it was a house of torture ever invented by man. The cross might not have changed, but its meaning certainly has. In the same way, when mankind was closer to God, sex was the symbolic means of communion with the divine, a reencounter with the meaning of life."

# When we are in bed with someone, we're giving permission to that person to commune not only with our body but also with our whole being. The pure forces of life are in communication with each other, independent of us, and then we cannot hide who we are.

#"Right now, while we are eating, ninety-nine percent of the people on this planet are, in their own way, struggling with the question 'Why are we here?' Many think they've found the answer in religion or in materialism. Others despair and spend their lives and their money trying to grasp the meaning of it all. A few let the question go unanswered and live for the moment, regardless of the results or the consequences. Only a few are aware that the only possible answer to this question is I DON'T KNOW.

The answer might, at first, seem frightening, leaving us terribly vulnerable in our dealings with the world, with the things of the world, and with our own sense of our existence. Once we've got over that initial fear, however, we gradually become accustomed to the only possible solution: to follow our dreams. Having the courage to take the steps we always wanted to take is the only way of showing our trust in God.

As soon as we accept this, life takes on a sacred meaning, and we experience the same emotion the Virgin must have felt when, one afternoon in her otherwise very ordinary existence, a stranger appeared to her and made her an offer. 'Be it unto me according to thy word', said the Virgin. Because she had understood that the greatest thing a human being can do is to accept the Mystery."

# God is in the word. God manifests himself in everything, but the word is his most favored methods of doing so because the word is thought transformed into vibration; you are projecting into the air around you something which, before, was only energy.

# Finally 'Devil is in the Detail'.

Let us roll baby roll!

I am infamous for being late. Always. But today was an exception. I actually managed to leave home by 10.26 AM, which was four minutes before the agreed departure time (agreed between the man and the wife of-course!). And then began the journey of a lifetime. A nearly 29 hour train ride. As much as I would like to call it a cross-country rail trip, it was actually from the Midwest to the South. Simply put, Chicago to Austin.

Was I nervous? Heck yes! Why was I nervous? 29 hours in a train. Ridiculous idea. So said my mind, heart and soul even while I was booking the tickets. Crowd. Fancy spending a day with strangers? I don't! Even worse, sharing the loo. No way! What else. I was skeptical about the crowd. What sort of people really take trains (or rather not fly)? Assuming that they plan well ahead in time and don't book their tickets two days before the d-day when the fare from mid to south is equivalent to mid to trans-Pacific upto trans-English channel. Finally the luxury of being married, and particularly to a husband who is extremely caring, has ensured that I am always guided (I don't mean guarded). Physically or like a GPS. Raghav doesn't think very highly of me when we are talking directions. Neither does anyone else.

Well, to fast forward, I did manage to take the train. On time. This I did after casting lots about whether to go or not to Texas abroad the Texas Eagle 21. The said YES unfortunately.

Its been a fun ride so far. Spent 7 hours in the train so far. Not enough to pass a verdict. Probably that's why I decided to write this entry and say that I M LOVIN IT so far. I totally see myself pulling out my hair by the time the train tromps to Austin.

I also want to thank Jeffrey Archer. I love you Jeff. You made this journey bearable. Actually fun. Until now. How? A Quiver Full of Arrows. More than half way through already. Sigh. I do have a Paulo Coelho but am a bit skeptical about whether I would enjoy him again. Enjoy him. Urrr.

My pack of peanuts has been fun too. How much? Probably two inches by the time I am back to Chi-town.

And guess what, I am carrying my Kellogg blanket for the night. Raghav was gifted the blanket, along with other trivia, as a token of appreciation for his long hours as the Adcom reader. And look who gets to use it!

My bag that I have been told to clutch to my heart, just after my dear life, also deserves a mention. My husband has ensured that I carry three credit cards and keep them at three different places so that losing my bag doesn't mean that I am stranded. Well, but I am to guard my bag dearly for the iPad because in there lies my savior, a zillion movies that Raghav has downloaded for me knowing well that I wouldn't ever watch them under any other circumstances.

More about the interesting people around in my follow-up post tomorrow after I have pulled every hair out of my scalp.

Merits of Hope!

I oscillate between the two extremes of being an eternal optimist and being entirely hopeless. Funny? Indeed! Still trying to figure out which state takes precedence when!

Anyway so just yesterday, when I was in a near-dejected form, Raghav sat me down on his lap and carefully explained to me the merits of hope and why we shouldn't lose hope. After a long discourse, he decided to cite an example - "If I had lost hope, I wouldn't be able to marry you". My quick retort was, "If you are HOPING that one day I will turn into a loving and adorable wife then seriously don't even try to hope". In his reply, Raghav put-on his best Bollywood accent and claimed, "Pyaar mein bahut takat hoti hai" (Love is very powerful). To which I joked in a melodramatic tone, "But I married you for money honey". Raghav's classic end to the discussion, "In that case, tumhara double chutiya kat gaya!" (...translation required!!!)

Darling Darrr-ling!

What's with London's fascination with the word 'darling'? It's one of the few words that everyone in the extremely multicultural city of London seems to have picked up! I am greeted with 'how are you darling' at the grocery stores and 'see you again darling' at the coffee shops; even the Moroccan guy at the dilapidated internet cafe and fax center said a 'thank you darling' after handing me my change. The darling-phrases sure are on everyone's lips, and perhaps also one of those few bits and pieces that every Londoner (referring to those who currently live in the city) seems to have caught-up regardless of whether he or she can otherwise comprehend or speak fluently in English.

Traveling Light

I wouldn't trade a very many good things for the experience of watching a lovely play at the National Theatre in London. The fabulous production 'Traveling Light' in the lovely Lyttelton theatre has truly been a remarkable experience.

What made the production so incredibly beautiful was the superb talent and passion of the actors. I was actually transported into a different era, the late 19th century Britain, and I so felt a part of it. I was truly in the actor's world, and laughed with them, cried with them and got just as startled with them. I would give full credit to the performance of the actors, and not to the script, for the success of this play and also in general. This perhaps is not completely true for cinema where the actor is allowed re-takes and breaks. The actors were actually far too brilliant than what the words can describe, making the play incredibly amazing!

About the play:

The play centers around a remote village in Eastern Europe, from around 1900, where the young Motl Mendl is entranced by the flickering silent images on his father’s cinematograph. Bankrolled by Jacob, the ebullient local timber merchant, and inspired by Anna, the girl sent to help him make moving pictures of their village, he stumbles on a revolutionary way of story-telling. Forty years on, Motl – now a famed American film director – looks back on his early life and confronts the cost of fulfilling his dreams. How had a twenty-two-year–old pretentious layabout made a discovery that would elude every other cinematic pioneer for years to come?

The play is a funny and fascinating tribute to the Eastern European immigrants who became major players in Hollywood’s golden age.

Hither or Thither?

Traveling brights up a spark in me, oh how I love to travel, just walk around unknown streets. I really do lust for it. Off-late, I realized that its not fair to compare places because every city has something new, different and special to offer, and rather than comparing and contrasting, we should try and enjoy such subtleties that appeal to us. I still believe that Paris is the most beautiful city on earth, but its true that I enjoyed myself the most in Rome, and simply fell in love with Scotland. Ah! My dream job would be anything that pays me for traveling, for sheer traveling. I can probably write about the places, cuisines, people. That's not easy, is it? I can do without holidays and the only perk that I desire is my husband's company because no place is half as much fun without him as with him.