Mellow...

Sitting by the balcony, a lazy breeze wafting in through the doors left wide open, the scent of Ceylonese mint tea par excellence meandering its way upto my nostrils, I can't help but let my mind drift and generally take stock of things. The first-half of the year, has by any standards been one crazy roller-coaster ride, each new development taking me by surprise, good or bad.
The other day I was chatting with a close buddy away in the land of golden opportnities since a month (he objects to my flagrant disrespect of people's privacy on my blog, so I shall restrain from naming him) and it struck me on just how much has happened this month. There were the days of sheer workoholicism and there are the days of sheer idleness and daily vellagiri. I've met someone of whom I'm strangely fond. I've been at the receiving end of very flattering attention, which has made me question its source and wonder why it couldn't have been more appropriate. I've felt lost, lonely and anchorless. I've learnt how to battle my demons with greater efficacy than ever before - and yes I think I'm slowly learning to talk about them as well...i.e talk when it matters, not when the demons have been temporarily slayed! I've dealt with work-place politics and discovered that I'm quite my father's daughter in dealing with such things - something that not only reassured me but also filled me with pride. Incidentally I do believe that the winds of change have started blowing and the work-place should soon become more than just a professional stop, with the general atmosphere improving vastly because of certain developments.

Prem Joshua is playing on Papa's laptop as I type this - and strangely enough for the second time in two days I'm itching to write again, after more than a year. Speaking of music, I never got around to talking about the two concerts I attended this month, both organised by AFP as a part of the Fête de la Musique celebrations - for the uninformed, the Fête, is celebrated every year in France on the 21st June (summer solstice) since 1985. Started off by Jacques Lang, it basically is a celebration of music with concerts held everywhere - on streets, in cafés, in schools, hospitals..even prisons. AFP did its bit, by organising a pre-fête concert of world music and ofcourse the main event on Saturday, albeit a couple of days after "the" day. The world music concert, inappropriately titled Jugalbandi, was quite mindblowing stuff to put it mildly. If not for the sad choice of venue, it would have been one rocking concert - a group of people from vastly different cultural backgrounds came together to make some kick-ass music. For the brief hour or so, I was transplanted to another plane and I remembered why I used to say that Music is my Porn! :-)

The second concert, which Aristera has also spoken about was the main Fête de la musique concert, organised in collaboration with Max Mueller Bhavan Pune. The venue, this time was perfectly divine - a cozy atmosphere at the MMB lawns on a cloudy, monsoon evening. The students and staff of both institutions put up a pretty good show - whether it was the renditions of western classical masterpieces (Beethoven and Mozart) on the piano, or the utterly charming pocket choir, or the rocking performances by the AFP students and faculty - nothing like a good musical evening eh?