i.
हमने देखे है लाख ख्वाब
आपकी निगाहो मे
मगर देखा नहीं कभी उनमे
प्यार की हसीन मुस्कुरहट

ii.
वो जो आवाज़ सुनी थी
हमने कल शाम को
आज पता चला की वो
थी आप की दिल्लगी हमारी बदसूरती पर

Carnival kicked off here today at exactly 11:11 am. The streets were awash with people half drunk, dressed in the craziest and zaniest of costumes and by evening the same streets had been marked by puke and scarred by broken bottles with drunk people tottering and stumbling everywhere. The road outside my lab turned into one huge street party. This lovable madness will end next Tuesday. So it is only appropriate that I post a photo connected to Cologne’s crazy carnival. But this photo was not shot today, it is from my first carnival in Cologne back in 2004. The ‘supergirl’ was my labmate. Finally, as they say here, ‘Kölle Alaaf’!

January 2007, Edinburgh.

March 2004, Bruges.

Bruges is a town in the Flanders region of Belgium. It is perhaps my favorite place among all the places I’ve seen in Europe so far. It is one of the best preserved medieval towns in Western Europe. It has become very touristy of late but if you leave the crowded city center and wander off into the quiet and narrow cobbled side streets you will be surrounded by centuries old houses. You will feel as if you have been magically transported into the Middle Ages! I’ve pleasant memories of walking through deserted streets with only my camera to keep me company, of taking part in a silent Easter eve procession in the night surrounded by locals holding huge candles and taking a ride on one of these boats through the lovely canals.

Summer 2002, Hyderabad.

January 2007, Berlin.

January 2007, Edinburgh.

(No, it is not a HDR image.)

January 2007, Edinburgh.

January 2007, Edinburgh.

(The 2007 Photobloggies are open for nominations. If you like the photos I put up then you may consider nominating this photoblog here. Thank you for your support!)

“People, people, people,
listen, listen well to this song
passed on to me by our fathers.
It is about the pale men
who came to our shores
in big brown boats.

They doffed their hats and proclaimed, “Dear sirs, this land is ours”.
We laughed at their funny names and
wrinkled our noses at their peculiar fish smell.
They came up to us and said, “Give us your gold”.
We smiled and asked why.
“To protect you sirs.”
So we laughed some more and opened the temple doors.
We were children of the sun. We didn’t need gold, did we?

Years passed and their numbers increased with every boat load
while our numbers dwindled due to diseases
brought by those greedy men and women.
One day they came and put chains on our hands.
We sighed and asked why.
“To teach you civilization sirs”, they said.
So we bent our backs and tilled our/their lands.
Our sweat turned brown land into green fields.

Years passed, and our last chief
was murdered in the battle of bended knee.
Then they came and took away our children.
We cried and asked why.
“To build a new nation of equals sirs”, they said.
So we broke our hearts, sat around the fire and sang sad old songs.
What else could we do?
The laughter of our children had been swallowed by the molting moon.