i found "a beautiful revolution"...

....and i had to share

Reading this message (which has now found a permanent place on my blog to your right)i realized how easy it is to get wrapped up in things, material things, labels, achieving, struggling to achieve, goals we set for ourselves, the race we put ourselves up to, one after another and yet another. And in this struggle to climb higher, to win, to battle, to prove, we keep getting sucked in deeper and deeper in this abyss, this well that we dig for ourselves. And we get devoured. And we forget.

We forget what it means to just be ourselves. To truly be ourselves and not what other want us to be or how we want others to perceive us as. We forget to look within, to find inspiration in the simple, to find inspiration in ourselves, to have the strength to face our fears. We forget to have the strength to speak our own words, our own language, to speak words that are truly our own.

Here’s to being ourselves no matter who we are. Here’s to recognizing others for what they are no matter who they are. Here’s to writing words of honesty, and here’s to a beautiful revolution!

Note: im a little peeved out about something and at someone today but since i promised myself to stay positive i thought ill vent positively as well. Here's to staying positive !!

Spanish holiday

the city view from the palace; generalife

Briefly blogging about my Spanish holiday the other day forced me to go through some of the photographs of our memorable vacation. I thought I will share some of the adventures with my readers and begin right from the end: Alhambra, Granada; the perfect culmination to a Spanish retreat; the epitomy of islamic architecture, romantic, surreal, spiritual and poetic. I’m also sharing some of the pictures that survived the ill-fate of our Nikon experiment, that don’t do justice to the surreal beauty of the palace.

column detail,ornamental relief, interior

I will not say much as words are not enough. I will let you bask in the reverie of the palace, let imagination take flight, let your thoughts travel back in time, walk through the cool and windy courtyards, delicate and slender columns and arches, enchanting gardens and let you reflect in the glittering pools that are embedded in my memories forever.

“We seem lifted up into a purer atmosphere; there is serenity of soul, a buoyancy of spirits, an elasticity of frame that render mere existence enjoyment..” excerpt from one of the most well written books on the Alhambra that we picked up from their bookshop, Tales of the Alhambra, W. Irving, that you can read here.

courts of lion

And i know i said i won’t say much but i couldn’t resist sharing this from the above mentioned book, “The peculiar charm of this old dreamy palace is its power if calling up vague reveries and picturing of the past, and thus clothing naked realities with illusions of the memory and the imagination. As i delight to walk in these vain shadows, I’m prone to seek those parts of the Alhambra which are most favorable to this phantasmagoria of the mind, and nine are more so that the court of Lions and its surrounding halls. Here the hands of time has fallen the lightest and the trances of Moorish elegance and splendor exist in almost their original brilliance.”

arch detail

More to come on the rest of the cities we traveled to. till then i hope you enjoyed this. a lot many times i had heard people tell me that you have lived if you have visited the Alhambra. i understood exactly why after this.

Blog crushed, 15 randoms and happy weekending

Moments of perfect clarity just made my weekend by picking me, an urbaniche as her blog crush. In the blogosphere, i consider that to be pretty big!!

So i thought i ll indulge in the self and write some 15 random things that make me, me. Of course a more poetic version of myself lives here

1. I have short finger nails that I’ve never grown or painted
2. I have small hands and consequently a fascination for oversized rings
3. I have never had my eyebrows shaped. Ever!
4. I have never changed the color of my hair or dyed them except for once in my life of 30 years when I streaked them red. Now their are signs of salt n pepper, which i intend on keeping.
   
5. I have curly hair that i love but don’t know how to manage.
6. I have had a life time crush on Bono and Johnny Depp.
7. Some of the famous dead people I would love to meet and share some ponderous moments with (maybe even intimate) Anais Nin, Frida, Jim Morrison, Picasso, Audrey Hepburn, Sadequain
8. If i was born in the sixties i know i would’ve been a hippy
9. I like to try everything and anything at least once in my life.
   
10. My most memorable character has been Heathcliffe from Wuthering heights. I love his deep, dark, self destructive, almost sinister passion and uncanny strength. He’s a lifetime crush as well
11. I worked at a school for special children, KVTC, for one whole year. That has been a life altering experience for me.
    
12. I am a black and white kinda girl. There are no in betweens for me.
13. I cannot do without my people and surprisingly they are all ARIES. Aries keeps me going. (theres a post coming up just for them)
14. My retirement plan is to open a flower shop but for now im happy here
15. Old things, old buildings, rusted cars, old cities, dead cities, all things old, fascinate me.

Thank you for dropping by. Lurkers, delurk!
Oh and just cause i had so much fun doing this, i tag the blogosphere to share some 15 randoms about yourself and dont forget to tag me or let me know in the comments so i can come read. Happy weekending!

silent contemplation

I will not be just a tourist in the world of images, just watching images passing by which I cannot live in, make love to, possess as permanent sources of joy and ecstasy.
-
anais nin

need i say more...