-Have been very busy commuting to Cambridge and back and generally feeling very happy attending lectures, but been fluey and too tired to do much else.

-A and I have finally going over to the dark side and have bought a car. We have resisted doing this for a few years. Both his parents and mine have been after us to get one, but what with living very near good transport links we’ve not really felt the need for one or the associated expense. But now as I will be commuting a lot for the PhD, the tube becoming pretty hellish pre-Olympics and us feeling the need to explore England more, we have decided that the time has come. I am having fond fantasises of getting A to drive me to historic sites and gardens and to nurseries. It will mainly be A doing the driving as I haven’t got my license yet. He is trying to change that situation!

-A has been baking nonstop. Chocolate tarts, lemon tarts, brownies…My mother was here for a few days and brought a halwai’s shop worth of mithai with her so there was some seriously unhealthy eating going on here. Not that I’m putting on any weight. Useless.

-Have lately been listening to this album, which a jugalbandi of the Gundecha Brothers (Dhrupad) and the Malladi Brothers (Carnatic). It’s not exactly easily available. They recently performed again in Chicago, here’s a vigorous fast-paced Shankara Girijapati by all four:

Related Posts:

• Introducing Yourself to Indian Classical Music 13-What’s your frequency? The Tanpura/Tambura and finding your Sur, Shruti or Pitch
• Sa and Pa not always fixed?
• A Question of Variety; Carnatic or Hindustani Music?
• V is for Veena
• T is for Tanpura not Sitar; it’s Good to Know the Difference

Cat leaning on foot:

We spotted a kitten who looked like he was wearing specs. He had quite a glare:
The Brain

Sleeping cat in a window of Wat Visounarath:

We went to the elephant village to meet some elephants rescued from the logging industry where they are worked to death. We had an elephant ride around the countryside. Our elephant’s name translated to Mother Lotus Gold. Her mahout had the softest, gentlest voice I have ever heard-we had to strain to hear him. As Mother Lotus walked along, stopping to deforest bits of countryside every few minutes, the mahout would gently tell her off, but she would pay no heed. It was clear theya dored each other.

At one point the mahout insisted I get off the howdah and sit on the elephant’s neck. I was terrified of falling off. But instead of swaying towards the plants as I was scared she would do, Mother Lotus stayed absolutely still and held my trembling legs behind her ears as if to reassure me. Was like two hot water bottles!

A, having a chat with Mother Lotus Gold

A visited a bear sanctuary where they kept Asiatic black bears rescued from bile farms. Some of them had been badly hurt.

Hand reared bear

Play

And finally, buffalos sitting bum to bum, spied from our boat, while sailing on the Mekong:

Related Posts:

• Luang Prabang~1
• Cat Among the Lilies
• A Tribute
• R.I.P Dearest Dante
• Xi’an Once More

Dearest Dante,

You’ve left us behind heartbroken. But, we know you are at peace. All we can say is thank you for the years of love and joy. A and R1 and the parents will miss you terribly. So will I. You were the most wonderful in-law anyone could have wished for.

I remember how naughty you were as a pup, racing across the road, and leaving us with our hearts in our mouths. How you chased rats, barking at the top of your voice. How you wriggled yourself between A and me every time we hugged or were sleeping, and would settle down with a contented sigh, you body pressed against both of us. How you guarded me when I was ill. How you sat on my hands while I was typing at the laptop and looked up at me with your shark-like grin. How you strongly voiced your disapproval when we ate something that you thought you should have too, only to sometimes turn it down after it was offered to you. How you remained still, ecstatic, when you were being scratched just the right way. How you ran, like a bullet-train, from room to room, when excited. How you greeted us all, tail wagging furiously.

Thank you darling Dante, A’s first baby, for reminding us how to love.

Related Posts:

• A Tribute
• Luang Prabang~2 Animals
• Pug Tales
• Misc Nothings iv
• Dear A

The most soothing and effective relief is Neem oil, but I smell to high heaven when I put that on.

Due to my job I meet officials from various different countries sometimes. I don’t like talking about work on the blog, but this can be hugely frustrating as well. What a long way we have to go as a world. Sometimes I feel like tearing my hair out, one strand at a time.

August was a dreadful month. I think I spent most of it dreaming of moving back to India. One of my surrogate fathers in India fell quite badly ill. September is turning out to be better, colder but with a little more sunshine and the surrogate dad is a bit better. The light at this time of the year, honey gold filtering through the trees, is always very special.

I read Enchanted Glass, the new book by my favourite children’s author Diana Wynne Jones and loved it, no surprises there. I love coloured glass and always think its magical, as it is in the book. Re-read The Lives Of Christopher Chant (part of the Chrestomanci Series) that came out of the boxes of books from India that I am slowly unpacking. Re-read Daddy Long-Legs and felt all warm and fuzzy inside. Have started on the The Children’s Book (a book for adults) by A. S Byatt that my friend R bought off my wishlist. Thanks R!

My coloured glass obsession extends to glass eggs and marbles. Here are some of them in my study bookshelf:

Related Posts:

• R.I.P Dearest Dante
• Dear A
• On my birthday…
• Time to change the profile pic on facebook, twitter et al?
• Misc Nothings iii

Who asked you to invite people over for dinner on our wedding anniversary?
To make up to me you have to start singing again.
Or else.

In school you sang to me in snatches, very quietly, so that no one else would hear. The King of Wishful Thinking, Unchained Melody, It Must Have Been Love , The Music of the Night and Stand by Me.

You know that line in the Music of the Night- “Silently the senses abandon their defences?” Well, I abandoned my senses every time you sang it!

Now to mark the occasion of fifteen years of togetherness and five years of matrimony, holy and unholy, please start singing again.

But, I also want to say I love you very much. Thanks for putting up with me all this time. As you said yesterday, we’ve come so far and we love each other even more now than when you were 15 and I was 16.

We’ve been through pain, hurt, struggle, tears and penniless days, but ultimately the love and laughter have won out.

Thanks for finding my new gray hair sexy. I hope you feel the same when I am 85 and ALL my hair is gray.

I love you.

Related Posts:

• R.I.P Dearest Dante
• Misc Nothings iv
• On my birthday…
• Time to change the profile pic on facebook, twitter et al?
• Misc Nothings iii