Too much telling and too little showing. Never mind. I'll read some more. This is strange and unbelievable. Never mind. I'll read some more. That is exactly how I ventured into Spellbound. And before I knew it, I had finished reading it. Athene and Zach are opposites in every possible way. They just happen to be brother and sister. Athene hates Zach. She hates him, resents him, and takes joy in bringing him grief. Zach, on the other hand, is a happy-go-lucky kid and never seems to mind that his sister Eeny is always nasty to him. Everything changes when Athene meets Humdudgeon and Huffkin, two members of the Humble Gloam. In a world where Athene, a day creature, is called a 'Glare', the young girl finds the perfect way to get rid of Zach. But she does not account for the guilt that kicks in and compels her to take risks she would never have dreamed of facing for herself, let alone for … [Read more...]
Lyon
On the 15th of June 2006, I validated my second Eurail pass, officially valid for fifteen days. Maybe the official at the station was being nice; maybe he could not count. He marked the end date as the 30th of June, giving me 16 days of free travel. Building up to my departure from Grenoble, we did many, many things. I visited museums and churches. We played children's games like 'Duck-Duck-Goose'. I took a ride in an 'egg' - the ropeway up to the Bastille. My sister was leaving Grenoble, perhaps never to return, so we filled our days with things she wanted to remember. And then, I left Grenoble for Lyon so she could say her last goodbyes alone. Lyon is a place to spend a lot of time or none at all. Around the station, there are business hotels. Reach Lyon, and you get the impression that it is a no-nonsense, commercial place. I'm an unabashed people-watcher, and I felt even the way … [Read more...]
Paid Artists
I have been learning dance for 22 years. Yes, that is a lot. Often, people ask us whether this means that we have our own dance classes. No. That is not the only reason to learn dance. "How much would you charge for a performance?" is the next question. "It depends on what sort of performance it is," I reply. "If you want a full-fledged dance drama, obviously, our cost is higher, so we charge more." If it is not a dance drama, people ask, "Why is it so expensive?" I never know what to reply. I have so many ideas in my head, but I think, "Isn't it obvious?" 1) We practise a lot. If we need to put up something that is professional, it is necessary, don't you think? 2) If you want us to be "professional", at some level, you accept that performance is our source of income. We perform three or four times a year, usually. Calculate how much a performance ought to cost if you think of it in … [Read more...]
Too Small to Fail
I read Now a while ago and I was not impressed. When Too Small to Fail caught my eye, I realised that it was by the same author, Morris Gleitzman, so I put the book away again. When I visited the library, it caught my eye again. And again. It was time to read it. Too Small to Fail was sweet and pacy. I am not a fast reader. I like to mull over books I read as I read them. I don't devour books, unless they capture me wholly. I read Too Small to Fail in one sitting. Oliver's parents own a bank, but he wants more. Not squillions of dollars. He just wants a dog. When the dog is used to blackmail Oliver, he gets immersed in the murky world of investment, banking, liabilities, assets and credit default swaps. He realises that being "nice" and "kind" are not part of an investment banker's job description. The problem is that he wants his parents to be nice and kind. Unfortunately, they are … [Read more...]
Cet espace …
"Yuk, what is that disgusting smell?" I asked. My sister chuckled and pointed to a board - "Ici, je fais ce que je veux" - "Here, I do what I want", accompanied by the picture of a dog. I found that lovely. Not only were there designated zones where dogs could do "whatever they want", there were cute little signs saying so, all over the city. The next day, I took a deep breath, ignored passing stares, and took a photograph of the board. I went around Grenoble taking photos of all the dog boards that I could find, to the amusement (and sometimes wrinkled-nose disgust) of people passing by. Unfortunately, I seem to have lost all my dog photos from Grenoble. So much for my nose-holding, stench-standing commitment to taking photographs. I found two that I took in Annecy, though - here they are! … [Read more...]
Musée Dauphinois
"My parents loved the Musée Dauphinois," a friend told me. "It was the best one of all." Intrigued, I decided to go. As usual, I had nothing to lose - the museum was free for those under 25. It was farther than I expected, not being a fan of climbing the Bastille alone, but I did reach, eventually. "The ground floor was - um - uninteresting, to say the least," I've written in my diary. The museums I had seen before, right there in Isère, were much better. All the Musée Dauphinois had was general information about the history of humankind, without even the audio guide that was available at the Musée de l'Ancien Évêché, a museum I quite enjoyed. What that meant was that I had gone all the way there, climbing up towards the Bastille, to see sharpened stones. The first floor was not much better. I could not understand what had earned such high praise - until I got to the second … [Read more...]
Isère
The river Isère gives a region around the Rhône-Alpes its name. Left to my own devices for a long time, I wandered around, exploring Grenoble and the region around it. Grenoble's Bastille was deliciously confusing. I had wonderful, detailed ideas about the history of the Bastille and the storming of the Bastille and all of that, accompanied by utter cluelessness of the geography of France and where these stirring events really occurred. When I got to Grenoble, everyone was talking about 'climbing the Bastille' and 'going to the Bastille'. There was even a ropeway up to the Bastille for those who could not go up on foot. Later discovered that the ropeway is almost more famous than the Bastille itself. Grenoble's Bastille is an old fortress with a spectacular view, but without the history I had superimposed on it. To phrase it like that it to put it down, though. The climb up to the … [Read more...]
Seshan/XB
Nisha had a 'Carte 12-25', which entitled her to ridiculously cheap tickets on trains in France. When she went to buy tickets from Paris to Grenoble, she produced her card and booked a ticket for her sister and herself. Instead of asking for my name (bound to be a complicated Indian name, of course), the gentleman decided to call me XB. I feel like the distant cousin of a pencil. We reached Grenoble and began to practise for one of the many performances we did in France. We were to perform in a place called Gap, a name that I did not quite associate with France. When we met the person who organised the performance, I realised something that continues to haunt me even now. As long as I'm eavesdropping on someone else's conversation, as long as I am not the only person being addressed, as long as I'm part of a group, I understand what's going on. The moment someone addresses me … [Read more...]
Straight to the Louvre
The conversation I overheard while I was at CDG airport convinced me that I simply had to make the most of my youth and of being young in France. I landed in Paris on the 4th of June, 2006, a Sunday. It was the first Sunday of the month, and I was in Paris. That meant only one thing for us - free entry to the Louvre! So, luggage and all, we went straight to the Louvre. France has always been like that for me. Pack as much as possible, as much as possible, into each minute there. So what if I had spent hours awake, terrified of falling asleep on my co-passenger? So what if I had preferred the beautiful mountains below to the sleep I needed? We went to the Louvre. When would I get the chance again? Later that evening, when I was exhausted and my head was swimming, I thought I had been hallucinating, but it was true. Out of the blue, I met a classmate of mine in the Louvre. To meet … [Read more...]
Flying Alone
"Window or aisle?" "Aisle, please." I took my boarding pass and boarded the flight. No sister with me this time. No one to hold my hand. No one to exchange sparkling glances of excitement with. Sure, I was going to meet her, but on this journey in 2006, I was alone. The journey to Milan from Mumbai was a long one, but I sat straight, willing myself not to fall asleep. What if my head dropped and I leaned against the man sitting next to me? Mortifying! Better to be sleep-deprived. I was travelling alone, I reminded myself, and I had no comfortable shoulder to rest on. Chewing the inside of my cheek, I kept myself awake. I could not bring myself to eat dinner at 2 in the morning, so I drank a glass of water and stared out of the window. The world I was flying over looked like a topo map. I loved topo maps. I found myself marking settlements in my head with red dots, matching the red … [Read more...]
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