As with all my posts this one is long overdue - I squarely blame my laziness.
The Library here subscribes to a copy of the India Today International Edition. Now, when I first picked it up, I expected to see a watered down version of the magazine back home - no so much Pakistan or Musharraf bashing - a little more concern for the views held by the larger international community. I was proven wrong by the cover of last months issue - splashing the General's face on its cover and declaring his book a pack of lies. Since then, convinced that this ,indeed, was the real thing and not a watered down version -I have read every issue since, religiously.
The last issue of October carried a quote in bold which made me feel positively uplifted - "With the support of the US - Musharraf may even win the Booker Prize for fiction this year" - apparently declared an ex - general of the Indian Army. The sheer political incorrectness of the comment delighted me. I dont much care about the political goings on of the world - and I am convinced that I havent heard all sides of any story. But reading the comment made me feel like I was reading it next to chat bhandar in Hyderabad. I have a sneaking doubt that the international edition is merely a reprint - and a part of my mind says that is how it should be - its just unexpected..thats all.
Well anyway..this is all a digression..but what the hell!
The issue in any case was titled Indias best - and featured short writeups about the best India has to offer about anything.Nostalgia stirring stuff. Of course the write-ups are written by fairly famous and therefore fairly well to do people .. and its a little hard to identify with a few of them. But all in all - an excellent article - one thing I would agree vehemently with is that India best Food Street is Kolkata.. the city. It also featured what was supposedly the most romantic spot on India - a getaway near Pondicherry called Dune. It seemed nice ..and made me think.
A couple of weeks back I went trekking on the gorges along the Genesee river. It was beautiful. The fall colours were in full bloom along the gorge and the river itself swollen with muddy rain water. Along the place where we trekked the Genesee passes through three falls - called the upper, the middle and the lower. 50 feet above the Upper falls - over the yawning gorge - runs and old freight rail line.. still in use. The Railway bridge over-hangs the gorge and the river itself. And looking over the railings you see Nature in one of those moments - that defy definition and arrest all thought.
Now that was one hell of a romantic place. Of course I mean romance in the sense it is most commonly used. A word of advice to whoevers reading this - if you ve met this girl you really like - and you're wondering if you should pop the question - the usual butterflies in the stomach thing ..you know.. Take her to this railway bridge - gaze into the view over the railings together and murmur it out into the breeze... it would be impossible to reply in the negative.
Please extrapolate the advice according to your own needs.
