The Statesman, 4 February 2004 I noticed them after a couple of days of my moving into the flat on the ninth floor. When I opened the door to the balcony, I found a pair of pigeons reposing calmly on the railing. With their tails to me, they were surveying the sky above and the… Continue reading A LOVE-NEST FOR PIGEONS
Month: July 2021
FROZEN MELODY
The Statesman, 27 October 2003 Funny how the most unlikely object can transport one to a faraway world from the past, not physically but through an uncanny presence. It happened with me that, one day, tired of hearing the same, monotonous answering “tone” on my mobile phone, I wanted to change it to something else.… Continue reading FROZEN MELODY
MELLOW WAKEFULNESS
The Statesman, 31 August 2006 It is the sweetest alarm clock ever. The cuckoo in the tree next to my window may not be as minutely accurate as the cocksure cock when it comes to timing the break of dawn, but its soft cooing is any day preferable to the latter’s “rude awakening”. In fact,… Continue reading MELLOW WAKEFULNESS
STEPPING STONE TO HEAVEN
When my father passed away, my younger brother and I travelled to Shanti Kunj near Haridwar to immerse his ashes in the Ganga. On my earlier visit to Haridwar, that holiest of holy places, I had been mesmerised by the evening Ganga aarti at the Har ki Pauri Ghat (literally meaning the Lord’s Steps). As… Continue reading STEPPING STONE TO HEAVEN