Sunday, December 17, 2006

Christmas Carols, Dec 2006

This is our church in Sanpada, Navi Mumbai. The cross is behind a glass partition.
The Choir Singers.
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Thursday, December 14, 2006

My favorite subject


My favorite subject, Ronnie.

Ganga, Anita and Julie


Spent some time last sunday with Ganga, Anita and their bitch Julie. We were then joined by Sanjeevan on the way to Felix's house. Felix is having problems and so we friends decided to go and meet him. We were all students of Adarsha Vidyalaya in Chembur. Felix lives in Tilak Nagar where I used to stay. The place has been made over, made up, or whatever!

Saturday, September 30, 2006

Congratulations and Celebrations! to me, me, me!

Today is a happy day. Yesterday at Fab India (where I buy my kurtas and ethnic clothes), I heard a girl say, "This is a happy, happy, happy, happy color, will suit you just fine." I liked that, huh, though, what she meant by "happy" raised to the power of four flummoxed me.

What do I see first thing when I open my blog? Google has upgraded my page rank of my main blog to 4 on 10 from 3 on 10 (zigzackly has 6 on 10!). Some promotion this. Yippeeee! Check it out. Out with the bubblies, no, an extra cup of coffee towards evening, perhaps, if wifey permits.

I have also staked my claim to be the most consistent solo blog and the longest running solo blog at the same URL at the Limca Book of (Blog) Records (the Indian equivalent of Guiness Book of World Records). Isn't that a reason to smile?

Thanks visitors! Do please, please visit me daily (;and give me those hits I deserve;) as I write in this space every day.
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Sunday, September 24, 2006

Me Reading at the Sept. Caferati meet


John
Originally uploaded by soney.
This is me reading my story "To Rachna from Rajesh" at the September 2006 readmeet of Caferati.

Monday, September 18, 2006

My Poem on Beirut

Read my poem on Beirut here

Beirut was once known as the Paris of the East. No more. Now, militaries of Israel, Syria and Jordan enter and leave it at their whim. Its streets are full of bombed buildings and its citizens live in fear of being killed. This is a poem to its brave inhabitants. "Cedars of Lebanon" is a reference to a passage in the Bible.
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Friday, August 04, 2006

Wednesday, August 02, 2006

Thursday, July 13, 2006

Bombay Train Blast


Bombay Train Blast
Originally uploaded by vis-a-vis.
This is what the train looked like after the July 11, 2006 blasts in Bombay. Read my report here

Thursday, February 16, 2006

Kala Ghoda Arts Festival Pictures

standing aurogita akshaya peter arjun geeta pawan pallvi john, sitting neel yati manish sonia

The Caferati gang after the Kala Ghoda event. We had performance poetry, violin and piano performances, a painting all under the influence of dangerously addictive poetry and fiction.

Wednesday, February 08, 2006

Shreeji, Jugal and Hemant


DSCN0183
Originally uploaded by johnpmathew.
The caferatii at Horniman Circle listening avidly to someone read. From left are Shreeji Doshi, Jugal Mody, and Hemant Suthar.

Arnica, the compulsive blogger!

This Arrnica who is a compulsive blogger and my colleague at Lester. I clicked this photograph in the office on my Nikon Coolpix.

Monday, January 30, 2006

John


John
Originally uploaded by soney.
Shooting the shooter! Suniti and I engaged in a photographic duel at the Horniman Circle readmeet of Caferati. Guess I lost the duel as she shot me first! (Photo courtesy: Suniti Joshi)

ammachi last journey


amma last journey
Originally uploaded by johnpmathew.
An impromptu poem I composed for her:

Decked in flowers,
Swaddled in gold filigreed shrouds,
Smeared with perfume,
She travels to the world beyond,
A life of love lived,
A life of more giving than taking,
Living a life of choices,
Turnings, and crossing she had missed.
She lies besides father,
In a grave prearranged for her,
Knowing she would accompany him,
In this last stage of creation,
When we all must self destruct.

ammachi with thoshapa


ammachi with thoshapa
Originally uploaded by johnpmathew.
End of the journey! She was a teacher who sacrificed her career to look after her five children. In the process she became old, wrinkled, and lost her teeth and her eye sight. Her regret was that she didn't pursue her career as a teacher. If she had she would have been drawing a good pension, a fact she regretted all her life! Each time I used to phone her she would ask, "When are you coming?"

When she was grieveously ill and bed ridden she actually told me, "Why don't you lie down somewhere, you look tired." Guess mothers are always like that, sacrificing, giving up, letting go, releasing, and still willing to give unconditional love in spite of all the cruel neglect they receive from their children.

ammachi decked in a thoshapa and the coffin that I bought!


ammachi with thoshapa
Originally uploaded by johnpmathew.
Ammachi's last journey to the world beyond. She died on 06/01/2006 and I was with her when she died. She was eighty-eight. A priest said during the funeral, "You are only prepared to live, if you are prepared to accept death." How true.

If this is the end - for which we all have to prepare - then we better start living, loving, celebrating, creating, sharing, revelling in this journey called life.

Are you prepared to die? Only then can you prepare to live, as our priest said.

Sunday, January 29, 2006

Me Reading at the Horniman Circle Readmeet of Caferati


IMG_0117
Originally uploaded by neomatrix.
This is me reading at the Horniman Circle readmeet of Caferati - The Network of Writers. It was dark and you can see me straining to put some feelings into my reading. To no effect. Except for Ravi who seems to be listening intensely, the rest were enjoying "soggy" sandwiches. What did I read? "William Wordsworth's Legacy" of course.