:: naazita ::

Friday, May 27, 2005 at 17:28

Sucker for sadness

Just what is it about melodic melancholy that is so appealing? Why must I be so stirringly affected by Natalie Merchant's divine voice when she sings 'River' or Mark Knopfler's evocative guitar intro on 'Brothers in Arms'. Was having a rummage through my head for my saddest song pick. Let's see. Sara(Fleetwood Mac). The Scientist (Coldplay). Why Must I Cry For You (Sting). Black (Pearl Jam). That I would be good (Alanis). Sullivan Street (Counting Crows) The Living Years (Mike & the Mechanics). Heart of the matter (Don Henley). But hang on, no one does sadness better than Springsteen. If I really got down to making a list, he'd probably take half the top slots. Saddest Springsteen? 'Something in the night' from arguagly the saddest album ever made. Thirty seconds into the song, as it builds up and as his voice breaks, the sadness is gripping. By the time you've got to the last verse (We tried to pick up the pieces, and get away without getting hurt) you're past sadness territory, well into despair. My brother said in his last email 'I decided that
Bruce Springsteen is not good for young, idealistic, purposeful
people to listen to!'. Right on, Fuzz : )

Alright, opinion poll time. Your pick for saddest song(s)?
(Tartrazina, I think I know yours ;)

Wednesday, May 25, 2005 at 08:07

Carne-val

Well, let's just say that Colombia isn't exactly a vegetarian-friendly country. This here picture could be your average meal :) I haven't met any vegetarians here yet, but I'm told there are some (they're all probably at their 8am soul-cleansing yoga class while I type this). Ironically, last year, the one person who came close to convincing me to go veg was a Colombian, the beautiful Susana Mohamad who shuttles between Netherlands and S. Africa these days. Wonder what she eats when she's home for holidays. I often wonder what Deepak ate in Colombia for a year since he stuck to his veggie ways, like a juicioso iyer boy. If it was plain arroz y ensalada most of the way... ouchie... speaking of iyers, gosh I would kill for some quality saambaar right about now...

Monday, May 23, 2005 at 17:56

You can check out anytime you like, but...

It's been nearly two years since I left AIESEC. Attended my first AIESEC Alumni event over the weekend May 20/21. I would never have guessed I'd be attending my first ever alumni event all the way in Bogota, Colombia :) Inspite of the sheer distance and the obvious cultural differences, I'm amazed (yet again) by that distinctive AIESEC culture and spirit that made me feel absolutely at home and even a tad nostalgic I have to admit.

The event had two parts - A formal cocktail on Friday evening - speeches, hall of fame inductions, et al - with some fantastic alumni from as far back as the 60s and 70s. Among the people inducted to the hall of fame, was an ex-President of the Republic of Colombia and a number of business leaders from the region. Very impressive. The rowdy all-day bbq on Saturday was definitely my favourite bit.

at 17:39

We love you Azzy, we do

Azhar, my favourite cousin, and definitely one of my all-time favourite persons (beating the likes of Scott Adams, Tom Robbins, Ali G, Bob Dylan) graduated on May 20th - getting his Masters degree from the George Warren Brown School of Social Work, Washington University, St Louis. Now a cousin graduating might seem like regular news (esp given the number of cousins we Indians have, and the rate at which we like to pile on degrees)-

But for a number of reasons beyond my usual wordiness - this, for me, is the coolest event of the year. Azzy, I'm thrilled, I'm inspired and more than anything else I'm so so proud of you. I know I promised you in January I'd make it to the graduation, and I seemed to have goofed up inspite of making it as far as the same time zone : ) This here photo of old-fart Azzy with his folks (aka my favourite aunt & uncle) makes me more happy now than anything else!

Wednesday, May 18, 2005 at 13:59

The Tambourine Man is on his way

Newsflash just come in! Come June 28th, I will receive my first international visitor to Colombia! Christian Hartmann (the deliciously good looking man on the right), the original madman, is going to be here for 9 days. Chris (a.k.a Carsen) is in the the race for craziest German ever (Lars has competition). This (rather cool) photo is from March 2004, when I met Chris for the first time - on a junk boat trip in Hong Kong. Paulie (the other delicious young man in the photo) and I knew right away we had a winner with Chris, who was soon inducted to the infamous 'friendship futon'. Chris, I am so excited, can't wait for the 9 days of mayhem!

Alright, now what about the rest of you buggers, when are you gettin' your butts here?

Tuesday, May 17, 2005 at 18:03

I now have a favourite tree

If you saw my previous cowgirl post, then you may have noticed the spindly palm-like trees dotting the beautiful cocora valley. (Ok, well, look again then, you'll see one sprouting out of Javier's head below) That's the Palma de Cera, national tree of Colombia (aka 'wax palm'). Now, it's not often you see blog posts on trees (just not as sexy a subject as say the iPod), but this is one cool tree and I couldn't resist. And just why is the Palma de Cera so cool:

- It's the tallest palm tree in the world, grows up to 70m
- This tree is a bit of a loner, likes to grow in places far away from humans and animals
- What's more is the Palma de Cera generally fancies growing at high altitudes, literally in a forest of clouds...
- The only place in the world you'll find it is in the Colombian Andes
- Valle de Cocora, where I was off being a cowgirl, is the called the cradle of the Palma de Cera, and is abosulutely divine... believe me, there's something special about seeing these crazily tall palm trees sprouting from the mountains...in a sea of clouds... : )

Saturday, May 14, 2005 at 16:44

Cowgirl in the clouds

Sort of what I felt like atop my horse, beginning at the valley of cocora in the lush coffee zone (near Armenia) and ascending the mountains on horseback and looking at the world below from 2700m above sea level. Given that my only prior experience of horse riding was when I was eight or something...a 10 minute pony ride on Chowpatty Beach in Bombay... I'm not even sure if that counts :) now, ascending the Andes (ok, one little mountain) on horseback is a whole different thing... somehow I have been convinced that I can do this... and off we go. Possibly one of the coolest things I've done.

Breathtaking sights. That's the view from top of the mountain... as you can see, we're well above the clouds. All the way on horseback!!!

This valley is simply divine, and everywhere you look is picture postcard perfect. Of course, instead of communing with nature, I spent most of the ride up the mountain closing my eyes and trying to regain control of my heartbeat which kept going beserk, dizzy from the height. It almost felt like being in some sort of crazy 'trust game' with this horse. Especially going downhill, steep slopes, marshes and what not. Mama Mia.

The horse turned out to be a decent enough type, quite mild. Of course, I did fall off one time, but I have a feeling that was more my fault. Must have spooked the horse with my screaming. What a beautiful place this valle de cocora is... you can bet I'll be going there again... perhaps for more than just a 4 hour horse ride. Very cool day, felt very Sundance Kid-ish.

Friday, May 06, 2005 at 09:08

Decidedly Tropical

Last weekend, we went to Carmen de Apicula (among other things, venue of momentous tejo game). The plan was fairly last minute, on account of an invitation from Roberto and Tatiana. All I knew is we were heading off to spend the weekend at some 'farm' near Bogot� and that's about it. Dozed off in the car during the ride. Got up, and surprise, surprise, we've descended from the mountains of Bogot� and its sweltering tropical heat. First time I've felt hot & sticky since I left Chennai in February. The happiest I've been in a while! I swear to God, getting up in the morning that Sunday morning, not engaged in a battle with the blanket, toes and fingers feeling normal... as opposed to freakin' frigid.. but getting up under the cool breeze of a fan... looking out the window and being greeted by coconut trees and a swimming pool... yesssss... paradise...

Decidely tropical. That's me.

Off to Manizales and Armenia this weekend. Long weekend of fun, with a bit of business thrown in. But no coconut trees this time around, just good old Andean altitude... should be fun. Back on Wednesday!

Tuesday, May 03, 2005 at 17:48

Mech-cha!

On Saturday, I discovered an awesome game called 'Tejo'. Favourite sporting pastime of rural Colombia. We had a go at it on Saturday, when we were out in warm Carmen de Apicula, a small (and I mean, small) town about three hours away from Bogot�. Tejo (te-ho) is sort of like bowling. Instead of a bowling ball, you have a small but heavy stone (sort of like a cross between shotput & discus:)). Now instead of bowling pins, imagine a tray of clay that you hurl the stone at.

The objective is to hit one or all of the four marked spots in the clay. And here's the best part: the marked spots are actually little firecrackers that explode (quite loudly I might add) when you hit them. And when you do (took me about 30 minutes of trying) everyone screams 'Mech-cha!!!' and believe you me, it's a rush!!!

What a killer game! Really popular too! People were streaming in the other day just to spend their Saturday evening drinking some beers and watch the local tejo heroes do their thing. Here's another gem. See the photo below? That's the loo right in the middle of the tejo tracks : )

Quite practical for a quick pee - much better than walking out of the tejo 'shed' dodging flying tejo stones and probably getting killed. And besides, tejo is a very male sport so peeing discretion is hardly priority : )