A Little Detour

When you feel the impulse to do something completely off the chart and the impulse get's so strong that you almost can't think of anything else, then it's best to go forth with it.

Such an impulse struck me all day today when I wasn't in the mood to brew up another review, instead I wanted to share some more randomness. The past few days of this year were spent 9000ft above on the mountains and in the valleys of India. Finding serenity or being brave in the cold- call it what you may. As the year's motto for me is to 'Take it Easy', I'm loosening up from the monotony of literary content to share some things that just might be purely pleasing to look at and nothing more. Without getting too personal and crossing the boundary of oversharing, I hope you are will enjoy glancing through these little tit-bits of India as I rediscover it anew.

Change is always good.

View from a remote point from our drive in and around Shimla

Summer capital of the British

Our little trek to Mall Road was scenic as ever

Breakfast table view 

Turn around to face the stunning topography of Himachal at every corner

School's out - snow day at a local school

Serenity - the trees whisper cold wind in your ears

Hope you enjoyed this little visual treat, even if managed to refresh you for a minute. I'll be back with more reviews soon.

خُدا حافِظ

Splatter Days

Paintings by Mehreen Shaikh

Sometimes I just crave a blank canvas to spill out everything that's bottled up in me. Like a gush of paints and ink splatter. In no order or any sense, yet hoping you will read off your screens and nod your head,barely able to understand what I'm trying to say and still be able to say to me telepathically, 'Hey, it's okay, we all have our days'. Splatter days I want to call them.

    

It's like waiting, endlessly for something you have no idea about. Like waiting at a curb looking for cars to pass by or in a hospital corridor at 3 AM with just the breeze of doors being pushed around. You don't see anyone and it gets quiet again. You try to hear something familiar to you or something that holds a faint meaning. But instead, all you see is blank spaces. So blank, they make you feel all eerie inside. You see random people occasionally who've seen and dealt with the situation themselves or could be battling their own inner demons, handing you obscure advice. More splatter. You think you don't need that advice till one day it all begins to resonate. Can you still call it a painting if it isn't complete? Will it ever be complete?

I see mimes with all the upside down smiles, shaking their heads. No. They pat my head, trying to console me. There, There. They don't convey anything more than that. They can't. There is nothing left to be addressed. They know it's my journey and I'm on my own.

I take a few steps ahead in the name of moving on. For the sake of moving on. Let's try to collect more splatter - I can't help look back again and again as I go forth. I move ahead a few steps more till I can actually walk by myself..... steady.......steady.......I look back lesser now.......but I still look. Hoping the deeply missed splatter shade will bloom on my canvas some day.

خُدا حافِظ