Yonder Yellow In Pennsylvania!!

First published on May 14, 2012----this is here...because I have a long connection with these beautiful yellow flowers...and I see them everywhere I go...

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These yellow flowers reminded me of Pennsylvania when I first spotted them in Karlstad two years ago.  Although, in Karlstad they bloom for a very short time, in Pennsylvania they were one of the first flowers to bloom in spring.  And one would see a whole row or fence or lining by the street bright yellow, in early March.  I remember the shrubs that covered one side of the building next to the bus stop.  That splash of yellow always brightened me and I shared a private thought or two with these beings....I noticed the shrubs throughout winter and come spring I used to stop and pay my Obeisance by silently bowing to them.   If I were to use an Indian metaphor, then 'I was standing to get their darshan'.  Darshan, which refers to vision and seeing, is actually quite different from just seeing.  It actually means, 'to be seen'.  And we usually go for God's darshan or some holy person's darshan.  For in their presence we bathe in pure energy.  That is what I wanted from these flowers.  I would bow in reverence and hope that they saw me and colored me 'bright yellow'  I have attached a little write-up from my journal about these flowers.  I wrote that more than a decade ago, wondering where I was ever going to use it.....Thank Goodness for blogs!!

There are these yellow flowers that grow (are in bloom) all the time.  I mean they are perennial in the real sense of the word.  You can see them in the heart of winter, and at the peak of summer. They somewhat seem lost during the spring when you have flowers galore … but they are there when you really need them.  They are striking yellow, and they seem to grow off dried brown, almost dead and brittle stems.  I don’t know their name and don’t think I need to.  To me they signify life and live to their fullest.  So I call them “Gurus”.

During all my years in Pennsylvania, I have looked at them, enjoyed their beauty and tried to use them as my role model for inspiration.  Some time when I don’t want to use them for inspiration, and want to bury myself in sorrow and petty helplessness of my life, I shy away from looking at them.  And yet, it is then that they give up their bashfulness and stare me right in the face.  Almost throwing their minuteness in my face, they know that any second they can be crushed by a thoughtless child, or they could even stop breathing under a bird poop.  And yet they smile.  May be because they have accepted their mortality and minuteness.  In that lies their infinite existence.

                                                                                                    ------------------   journal, 1998

Celebrating a Decade: Stockholm Snapshots!- 5th Most Popular

Last posted as recent as May 26, 2019, this post is originally from 2011, when I was still new to the country.  And believe it or not, I am still as fascinated by the country as I was when I came. I will say though that I know I have to move on--and should be thinking about it soon.

Regardless, here are some shots from Stockholm.  The reason this post has been reposted in such a short period of time is because this is the fifth most popular post on the blog.  Obviously, it is because of the pictures.  But hey, the blog gets some more eyes, if not readers!!


Not sure how but this post got posted as being from September 1, 2018.  But it is actually from January of 2011, if I remember correctly.  I was still very new in the country.  And its lights and sights excited me.

Strangely enough, they still do!! The joys of being an outsider, we never become blind to the beauty around us.....for its always new, like the world to a child. 

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In the middle of January, I had to be in Stockholm. A friend who I knew from Fiji, and had live in Europe for the last 2 years, was heading home (Fiji). She stopped in the capital for two days. Two days, many sights to see. Inches of snow on the ground and the fact that this was my second time in the city made it difficult to reach places in time. But we had fun in the mean time looking around.

A shot from Hermans. All vegetarian restaurant in Stockholm. Highly recommended. The lights on the left upper corner of the picture are the lights from the restaurant reflected in the pic. I always enjoy taking pictures of reflections, especially through windows that allow for an overlap of the scene through the window and parts from the surrounding of the photographer. Merges the two worlds. Always creates an interesting effect.

Entrance of Vasa Museum. Vasa is a ship, that never really sailed....

A model of Vasa in the Museum.  Notice the ornate work on the side of the ship. Vasa (or Wasa) was a Swedish Warship that was built from 1626 to 1628. On August 10, 1628, after sailing merely one nautical mile the ship foundered (go down/ being lost in the sea).  In the 17th century, most of the bronze cannons were salvaged, and Vasa was forgotten.  However, in the 1950s she was located again, in a busy shipping lane just outside the Stockholm harbor. She was salvaged with a largely intact hull on 24 April 1961.

Vasa was housed in a temporary museum called Wasavarvet ("The Wasa Shipyard") until 1987, and was then moved to the Vasa Museum in Stockholm. The ship is one of Sweden's most popular tourist attractions and has since 1961 attracted more than 28 million visitors.

Vasa was built top-heavy and lacked sufficient ballast. Despite an obvious lack of stability in port, she was allowed to set sail and foundered a few minutes later when she first encountered a wind stronger than a breeze.

This picture is of the real ship. Show how much intricate work was done on the ship. A ten minute movie at the Museum details the restorative process. I was half asleep when I was watching it, but clearly remember that the only gold item they found on the ship was a ring. The short documentary is really amazing to watch, of how many people got together to restore Vasa to its original glory, where it brings back people to the times gone by!! I remember feeling like a midget standing next to it. What if it never sailed, it gives such a joy to the eye and provides labyrinths for our imagination to run wild!

Entrance of Ethnographic Museum in Stockholm

My friend P, at an exhihit/set up in the ethnographic museum. This set up is to show how in the 50s people sat around in their living rooms, huddled around a radio listening to a show on culture. I think we can still use such shows. In general I find Swedes pretty well informed about the world. In a conversation, when asked what are the first things that come to mind when you think of Asia, or say India to be specific, the answers have often been, 'technology, population, democracy, diversity, and yes poverty' But poverty is not the first thing that is mentioned. Which shows that they have a more holistic view of the world in general, and are not simply biased by one sided coverage of places and events.

Afternoon sun, benign but welcome...

A teepee outside ethnographic museum. I wonder if teepees were just in North America, or if they were also used by other populations under similar climatic conditions by other populations?

I found this fascinating. These were just stickers about Native Americans on a poster. So many of these tribes are just footnotes in anthropology books now.

Outside Hermans: A visitor from Fiji.....what does it feel to be ankle deep in snow instead of the Pacific. She kept commenting how even in Switzerland one never saw snow for a long time on the streets. She was fascinated with it. I like it too, but it stays too long. So I kept joking, why don't you take it with you....

Cooks and caretakers of Lao Wei. Possibly the best Chinese but Vegetarian restaurant. However, the staff is mostly Thai. All of them nearly fluent in Swedish, have spent the last 15 years of their lives in this multicultural city.

A picture I took on my way home from Stockholm. Home is only a few minutes walk away from the final bus stop. There is something about the light in Sweden. It makes things and places seem magical. Only if it were not biting cold, I would sit outside and just breathe in its beauty.....

Sea Story

First published on December 26, 2009, here is is again as a follow up to the last post on the Vietnam, which has been the third most popular post on this blog. 

Do watch the video, that has a few seconds of strikingly beautiful sunset!

Hulong Bay, Vietnam, June 2009

Remember the sea was once sole monarch, utterly free.
Land rose from its womb, usurped its throne,
and ever since the maddened old creature, with hoary crest of foam,
wails and laments continually, like King Lear exposed to the fury of the elements.RABINDRANATH TAGORE

Hulong Bay, in gulf of Golkin (Vietnam) isa World Heritage Protected Site.

Celebrating a Decade: Simply Sapa, Vietnam (3rd most popular)

First published on November 20, 2011--here is the third most popular post on this blog.  Vietnam was a dream, a thought, an idea.  And it happened in 2009.  Just like that. I still remember my joy--which manifested in an outward calmness, when I first saw the rice fields.  It felt like I was gazing into a green ocean.  

There is a whole book on that year that can be written.  Hopefully some day soon!!

Sapa, Vietnam, June 2009.  This woman was stunning.  Later in the week, I saw her picture at a tourist bureau.  Apparently we were not the only ones who were enchanted by her beauty.  

One of my favorite image of Vietnam.  This form or a variation of women in traditional Vietnamese outfit were everywhere.  Hanoi, Vietnam, 2009.

J & M, on the roof top, in Hoi An, Vietnam, June, 2009. 

A young boy carries freshly cut branches on his back.  Possibly for his goats? Sapa, Vietnam, 2009. 

Children show off their play-skills as we point our cameras at them.  Sapa, Vietnam, June, 2009.

This little one caught my attention, his cheeks were as bright as the tomatoes in the bowl beside him.  May be because he was growing up, far far away from the pollution of the city. Sapa, Vietnam, 2009. 

Terrace Farming, Calm Valley, echoes serenity.  Sapa, Vietnam. June, 2009. 

Stepping into the valley.  Sapa, Vietnam.  June, 2009. 

As is the case with my travels, I knew I wanted to go to Vietnam, but had no clue from there. I had a few things in mind.  Hanoi, Ho-Chi Minh, and possibly the Mekong Delta.  What happened once I entered Vietnam was just mind blowing.  Strangely, I had dreamt of the country for several years.  I knew little about vietnamese food. Although I had been to a few Vietnamese restaurant, both in Washington DC and in State College.  Often times, people know countries through food and art.  Two things  that directly reach our hearts.  For me though, it was the greenery, the simple faces.  And an interest in its history, its struggle with the US and even more importantly, its old name-Anaam.  Anaam,  which in Sanskrit means without name, no name, was the old name used for Vietnam before 1945.  

Once I arrived in Vietnam, I met two young Dutch people.  A young man and a young woman.  My two weeks in Vietnam were spent with them.  Both of them turned out to be great companions.  But more than that, their presence highlighted a great combination of learning---since we talked about cultures, languages, histories and continents.  One of my favorite memories is stepping out of our hotel window and sitting on the roof, discussing the idea of friendship.  

Vietnam, was also one of the most exciting countries I have visited.  Definitely more tourist in so many places, and limited by what tourists expect of it....there was a level of efficiency and productivity that I had not encountered anywhere else.  In addition, I found the culture in both north and south to be markedly different.  Hanoi, the place that has not, in the modern history, ever known anything but communism, was not as vibrant as its southern counter part, Saigon, or Ho Chi Minh city.  Ho Chi Minh, was alive and much happier, in a way that showed in its wide roads and slightly more organized traffic.  

The above picture was taken in Sapa, Vietnam.  Sapa, is where one goes to experience rice fields.  Vast span of terrace farming.  As you walk up, your mind stills, and all you can do is admire the human-industry that must have been employed to work on these fields, year after year.  A country where three meals and possibly even snacks are rice based, rice is a life-line.  But beyond that need, there is a beauty to rice fields, which are very different from the wheat or mustard fields that people know in north India or have seen romanticized in Bollywood films.   Terrace farming, looks like a green-silk carpet that was laid out for some royalty to walk on.  While the wheat and mustard crops, when ripe, sway and dance, in the wind, the rice fields merely show a ripple.  I remember taking a deep breath there and thanking my stars that I was so lucky to have seen that. Although I had seen that in Indonesia the year before, Sapa is known for its rice fields that tourists come to see.  In addition, these guided tours that are given by the women dressed in traditional clothing, as shown in above picture, cover miles of the valley, and end up in small villages alive with the chuckles of young children and barks of stray dogs.  

Sensing Spring!!

First published on May 14, 2012. I have to repost this for several reasons. One that it is 7 years later and I still find it hard that I have been writing this for this long. Second, it is that time of the year. But more importantly, I forget how many pictures I have taken and recorded them here. I keep taking these pictures every year and always think of putting a collection, according to time and seasons, not realising how often I have already done it. Documented my time here in this beautiful country. May be this is where I spend my time, noticing, documenting.  Not useful on any professional level. Have only a few readers, and have kept it that way on purpose So, why then? 

No reason....just to see how different this country can be in different seasons. Stark difference, that one cannot experience anywhere else. 

So, here it is, once again, just look at the pictures. Just look the moods mother nature reflects!!

The following pictures were taken over the last four months, notice the changes in the intensity of sun, the happiness of the daylight and softness of the ground.  How you ask? Ah the blinding sun is obvious, happiness of daylight is reflected in how much it illuminates so the pictures are clearer, and the softness of the ground is visible in shooting leaves, alive and green.  The silence of it all is obvious in the rain drops on the buds.  

Frozen lake Alster, but as the impressions of the ripples on the surface reveal that it has been a wobbly winter.  Sometimes cold, sometimes not so much.  That change in temperature can leave its marks on the surface.  I cannot help but think of the concept of Sanskara, in the vedic tradition. The images, ideas, concepts and experiences that leave a mark on us, that are not experienced with detachment they create the 'sanskaras'--the innate tendencies we are born with.  Often referred to as the past Karma.  

Its problematic if you see links everywhere.......

Houses by Lake Alster.  I have often ended up at dead roads with huge houses.  Often just one --as far as the eye can see.  I wonder what happens to a spirit that does not encounter the sounds of their neighbor's children? or any neighbors for that matter.  And many a times, I have stood staring at the stillness in awe. Then linking it back to my experiences and notions of the "LIfeTime TV' I have sprinted away.....wondering if it was serial killer who lived there......

Lake Alster, January 2012.

The above picture was taken on my way back to town after a quick walk to Lake Alster.  It must not be more than 5 pm, in January.  I saw this car pass by and quickly snapped a shot to show how dark the roads can be by that time.  

The above two pictures were taken shortly after the car passed by.  Notice how dull the sky is at 5 pm.  It looks so dark, partly because this road cuts through the forest, ended up at the lake.  But by the end of January we start to see some hope with regards light....

The following few pictures were taken on the way to Stockholm, early April.  Around 9 am.  Again notice how bright the sun is, and only in January it is dark until after 9:30 am.  

The following few pictures were taken in late April. I went for a short walk after my lunch, right behind the university.  This sign, Atelje, which means Studio (I think) is my mark of halfway 40 min long walk between University and Lake Alster.

So, this is late April and the lake has melted completely.  The sun is more relaxed and beginning to breathe.

The following few pictures are from the walk, on a road less travelled. I had actually gone off the regular path that I take and wandered into the woods. I stayed there a few minutes so that I could capture the sounds of the birds.  Forests are alive in spring with the sound of the birds.  Come June, it all quiets down.  Know why? The mating season is over, and the gestation period begins.  The seed for newness has been laid, and we must mull over it to reflect by autumn, and learn by winter...and deliver again by spring....the cycle continues. 

I can almost hear the silence...in the pacing of my heart beat as I look at this picture.  Can you?

I took the above picture not for the green but for the bare shrub, not ashamed of its nakedness and poverty to stand amidst the green and lush....

The sun filtering through the trees. Looks like two bollywood stars will emerge anytime now and break into a song...

And the long shadows and reflections.....

I rested on a stone--and did something we fail to do everyday. Notice my own feet--well, shoes.  but grateful for what I can accomplish simply by being----I have just been reading how we should pay more attention to ourselves.  Not in a selfish way but in an appreciative way.  We take so much work from our body, but never express gratitude.  Simply wearing good clothes and buying expensive perfume does not do the trick.  We must bow down to what we can do for ourselves, others and the world by the magic of a healthy body....

By late April, the sun is up way beyond 8 pm.  This above picture was taken at 8:30 pm late april.

And then I turned around and took a direct shot of the sun.  Truly a magical country I must say.  Starting Spring to the end of Summer there is magic to this gorgeous country.  Now I can see the 'Midsummer night's dream being enacted here....' absolutely...

The above pictures are close ups of Cherry Blossoms that, even though took a while to sprout, lasted only for a few days.  But for those few days, it felt like we were bitten by 'pink'.  Truly a gorgeous site. Here the color is not that clear because of the gray skies.  These pictures were taken with an iphone, so there was no filter for light. Apologies  :((

But the following pictures taken on a different day are slightly better. 

The following pics are these flowers--I do not know the name of. They seem to belong to Cherry Blossom family.  

The shrubs above are already half filled with leaves. The picture was taken end of April, so only two weeks ago.  See below..

The bud here is now a full blown stalk covered with leaves.  See the following two pictures...

And here is a tree next to the shrub, about two weeks ago.  The sky is clearly visible through the branches.  And the following picture was taken a week ago.  The leaves are already starting to shut out the sky, and be ready to create a shade for the extra sunny days. 

The above picture is only a few days old.  It shows how quickly it all came upon us.  Everytime I leave the house, it is a completely new world to see....

Ah the following picture--my favorite.

This is a branch that I have noticed for all year.  It falls right outside my kitchen window.  I have a picture of it somewhere with frozen droplets on it.  I have seen it shift from stiff to supple over the last few months.  Soon there will be tiny white roses on it.  I am attaching a picture from last June, that shows the whole plant.  This special branch that hangs loosely in front of the kitchen window is my connection to the seasons and in some ways to myself.  Always brings me a smile, like a good old companion that has been there for you through the seasons.  Like O. Henry's last leaf--alive....only determined  to live season after season.....

The bright sun....reflected in the kitchen window.

The following picture is of another bare tree that is just getting ready to be there....reminds us that trees....are not all the same either you know....just like us, varied, different......although with the same principle....

The above two pictures were taken only two days ago.  May 2012.  The flowers are white in color.  The glow on the side is not the sun, but a street lamp.  The time must be close to 9 pm.  But these flowers bloomed in the last week.....I wish I knew the names of these beautiful things....

On my way back from the grocery store I stopped by this house to get pictures in their yard.  These flowers are just gorgeous.  Huge buds, and in the evening their pink looked slightly pale. 

And the rain drops, hang, adding such depth to the bud.  She seems like this elegant lady, wearing a pink gown, waiting for someone special--drowning in her own perspiration. 

Yeah....May, 2012 and the picture was taken close to 10 pm. 

Past 10 pm, May 2012

The above three pictures were taken yesterday, when I rode my bike to the lake.  The time was only noon, but since the sky was a bit overcast, the pictures are not clear.  Again we can blame the iphone. But notice how everything is green now, and the lake is flowing....we even have mosquitoes....

Yes, Persephone is in business!!