All About The Cloud

Give. Me. A. Break.

Okay so what's the temperature today? 47? 48?

New Kurtas in my favourite colours from "Sabhyata" in Lajpat Nagar. Felt nothing. Lunch with my Mom's colleagues. Zilch. 5 articles in the hope of posting at least ONE of them on my blog tonight. Nothing. Found out that J.D. Salinger passed away in January, this year. Friggin' jackpot. Zee Studio aired Uptown Girls, starring Dakota Fanning and the recently deceased Brittany Murphy. Huh! Don't get me started on the avalanche of depressing thoughts that followed.

And finally, a walk to IHC.

Oh boy. I am gonna dwell on this last one.

• Is the Habitat Centre not supposed to keep the Visual Arts Gallery open so that I can sneak in and amuse myself and photograph paintings and installations on exhibition? Sure it is. So did they have anything on display today? No!
• Is the Amphitheatre not supposed be reverberating the sound of some college play or some Indo-Austrian band like Amridaan or some folksy sounds like those by the band Dr. Chef? Well, were they doing that? No!
• Am I not supposed to be carrying at least 10 bucks so that I can go and get myself a delicious, slurpy Vanilla/Strawberry softie at Eatopia? So did I carry it? No!
• Am I not supposed to carry at least my debit card so that I can drop in at the All American Diner for a beer or a hot dog? Well? Was it there with me? No!
• The lawns. The blessed lawns that boast of Shubha Mudgal concerts and conferences and Career fests. Ploughed. Are we on the sets of Lagaan? No!
• Is the Stein Auditorium not supposed to screen movies based on a theme I like? Was there any movie being screened at all? No!
• Is the Convention Foyer not supposed to have a proper exhibition of paintings and not some wooden frames lying around hither thither with a bald guy mumbling instructions in Hinglish? Well? Could I enjoy what I saw? No!
• Are the Summer workshops supposed to be for kids and not people of my age? No!
• On a day that I spent writing about Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze and their chemistry in "Ghost", should they be having a Pottery workshop that I shouldn't be aware of? No! No! No!!!!!
• I sent out a couple of urgent messages to my parents. Did they even read those? No!

Oh but let's rewind. There I was, sitting in between two flowerpots, near the Plaza Steps. Hoping the gardener would come by and water me absentmindedly. Don't judge me. Not a leaf was out of place. No wind. No breeze. Not even a whiff of air. A stunted tree with a bushy haircut isn't my idea of elegance. And a lazy couple ambling by with a persistently glowing butt of cigarette doesn't really help. Nor does a printed yellow kurta on a woman who suddenly stops walking and turns around, facing me like a zombie. Woman, you're too old to be playing Statue. I wish I was one of those winged creatures today. What were they, actually? Bats? Birds? Paper planes? Overgrown moths? Supermen? A flight to Bhopal?

Who cares?

Cribbing, am I? There were a couple of small mercies, I guess. That musical totem pole by Naresh Kapuria is still there in front of Gate no. 2. I swayed it from side to side and said a prayer. Hope that works. And the Open Palm Court Gallery is currently showcasing the works of Shukla Chowdhury. She calls it "The Phoenix Sings A Song". The pictures you see above are from there. Which is pretty much what I feel right now. God bless her, though, for the orange juice and the chips.