The music – fibrous, raw and riveting – seeps in all the four directions touching the sky and the earth alike devouring every happy heart and announcing the arrival of all the gods.
They are here to celebrate the Great Night of Lord Shiva and show reverence to the supreme one.
The deities in exuberance dance and sing and chant and revel. Fully aware, their rhythmic movements slows the time and the thundering clouds rains to shower it and rains beautifully… refreshed, the cycle of time resumes as if it had never slowed down.
So simply this revival occurs, revival of the five elements, the minds, the hearts and the souls, the revival of the gods and of the fleeting time, all in the presence of Lord Shiva.
Enchanting folk music is played on this occasion. [Source – hpmandi.nic.in]
An office room, yellowish wallpaper, green warn-out yet full of warmth carpet, dark brown wooden chairs, small tables and an old drawing board. The man sitting and illustrating is also jazzing, listening to the melodious record ‘In Walked Bud’, relishing the classic Monk effect.
The surprising and free rhythms touch his soul and soothe his forehead wrinkles. Piano teases sweetly, bass and saxophone builds a smoky castle in the air and the drum beats make him spill the rum.
He laughs and continues drawing, with two colours maximum, he walks the jaunty jazz path.
Paul Bacon
And he did it till the very end. He was Paul Bacon, an amazing American album and book cover designer and also a jazz musician.
With a decent dose of technology available at that time, he drew all his designs by hand (used photographs for some of his album covers) and his minimalistic book cover style – bold title, author’s name and a symbolic image – known as the ‘Big Book Look’ became famous in the late 50s.
Paul Bacon designed around 6,500 book jackets, some of them are –
Giving this crazy classic a crazy touch.
Psychedelic soft colours
A twisted touch.
Visions… on the road.
The ‘R’ sways like a flag. Subtly symbolic.
Intense look.
And we are cornered.
American dream, just a fable?
BOLD!
The most beautiful map.
We did?
The Asian saga, part one.
Bold colour for the bold classic.
Living in the golden jazz age, attuned to Bebop, Paul breathed his passion for jazz into his illustrations. Apart from the name of the composer, it was upto the designer to catch hold of as many jazz lovers as possible, to reach out and rule.
Paul’s magic worked without fail. The album covers reflected the mood of the music enclosed in the round disc beautifully.
Paul Bacon’s first album cover for the company Riverside.
How powerful his work is! All the illustrations are no less than a wonderful jazz composition.
Strong and straightforward designs that play the voice of the artist! He carried the charming jazz era within him without any embellishment to glorify it; he was just a true lover of the jazz music.
Things are looking up (2002) – one of Paul Bacon’s two albums.
To read more about the fabulous Paul Jazz Bacon, click here.
Check out the track In Walked Bud, by Thelonious Monk here.
Running lines, zigzag running lines fuel the mind often. Like lost in a busy city, burning with shiny lights, where no one knows whether it is day or night, I am lost walking, running, gliding on a zigzag path.
Neither snow white wintry nor swoony soft summery winds can be heard here, who knows why.
All I can hear is the hub-dub of my heart.
Trapped in this maze, facing dead ends and memory monsters, I solemnly walk ahead. And after an endless time passes by, I walk out of the maze. Exhausted, yes, but hopeful, why, for I kept walking.
Looking back from the mountain top I can see a cloud of zigzag lines, an imprint of time, a link between battles and victories, between a structured confusion and a messy exuberance. Ah! It goes on and on.
My heart is eager and my mind alert for the future to reveal itself.
I am not afraid anymore for the zigzag lines are transparent and always in a rush.
Flowing like water, befriending every rock, shaping it and letting it shape the movement… flowing like water, at peace with the dirt that blurs the vision, that disrupts the course and just letting it settle down… flowing like water with an open heart, warmth for the tiniest being and love for the fiercest soul… flowing like water nurturing and rejuvenating, sprinkling and splashing… flowing like a stream, a river, attuned to a wonderful rhythm, spirited to meet the sea, the supreme in the end… I wish to be, rejoice and live like water.
The post is inspired by what architect Douglas Wan said in this video – ‘people are like water… more adaptable than objects.’
Those childhood days gone by, gone by in playing, playing hide and seek, ice-water and cycling, cycling all day long like a crazy fool and laughing, those childhood days gone by eating candies and ice creams, hopscotching and skipping ropes, flying kites, strolling aimlessly, gazing at the sky, merry minds flying high, those childhood days are now a dream.
I remember, I still do, Aru and I were sitting, Pinti was roaming around as always; Aru was talking non-stop, sharing one of her charming stories, a feature film story I must mention – our protagonist, a little girl, the best detective in the town, begins her quest, she is looking for some stolen bright precious stones – we paused the story and went to play hopscotch with Pinti, she had re-drawn the rectangle-y pattern for us, sweet Pinti, we talked and played, then followed the clouds, just when we were about to get hold of the moody clouds, they turned and shouted, “peek-a-boo.”
We screamed and ran back, but could not out-do the rain bullets. And then… then we guffawed and danced in the rain, I remember.
Those childhood days gone by were full of dreams, dreams of the future, pocket full of adventure and sweets and joy and endless playtime… those dreams were of the future, a hidden gold chest…
Through those dreams we time travelled and blushed, knowing well that we have to wait a bit before we discover this treasure… we treasured the future and waited.
Those childhood days gone by, what a sweet melody… the future we still dream of, what a happy idea…
And what is left is the present, this very moment – quiet, true, rudely true, factual and boring, but euphoric if grasped and powerful enough to change everything, the past as well as the future.
Take the golden thread I say, take it and chart the course, know that it will not break for it is tied to you, you of the past and you of the future.
Mirai is a Japanese animation film written and directed by Mamoru Hosoda.
A truly beautiful and emotional film, it is a must-watch for it is a piece you need to get hold of to solve this jigsaw puzzle called life. It is beautiful!
The times when the sky mirrors the sea and the sea mirrors the sky, when the horizon disappears and the sun’s reddish stroke colours both alike, at those times you get a glimpse of the whole Universe celebrating life.
Children of the Sea is a Japanese animation film directed by Ayumu Watanabe and is based on Daisuke Igarashi’s manga series.
The story unfolds leisurely as the protagonist Ruka, a teenager, meets two brothers – Umi and Sora – who are from the ocean.
While the grown-ups stay occupied with understanding the physiology of the two boys, hoping to know through them the secrets of the marine world, Ruka, Umi, and Sora go through a magnificent journey.
The unseen and the unknown happen for Ruka as she sees and lives the connection… the connection of every being with the universe.
Umi and Sora tell her that every living being is waiting to be found, that the awakened bright light in one finds the other and that if you pay attention and listen, you can hear the sea and the sky talking.
Quite depths of the ocean await the light of the comet for it is then that the celebrations begin; all the marine life gathers to be in this light of the comet.
Umi and Sora take Ruka along as a guest to witness this mystical event, themselves turning into a comet and disappearing forever.
Ruka on one hand cannot forget the surreal experience, cannot forget Umi and Sora, on the other hand, she just can not understand the meaning of it all and is not ashamed to say it out loud.
Dede, an old lady, tells Ruka that she also met a boy from the ocean when she was her age and that she did not understand things just like her, but she learned to understand the sound of the wind that carries secrets from the five oceans of the world.
Ruka’s confusion reminds me of Arjun from the Mahabharata, he, after witnessing the supreme lord in his absolute vastness and glory and listening to him, requests the lord after winning the battle to elucidate once again the message of the Bhagwat Gita.
An unfathomable experience and a human’s forgettable nature…
Summer vacation ends and Ruka heads back to school, to the routine life, on the way she hears the ocean and looks at the sky, she feels the secret is within her and smiles.
The times when the sky mirrors the sea and the sea mirrors the sky, when the horizon disappears and the sun’s reddish stroke colours both alike, at those times the Universe shares a message, one that is meant for you and only you.
Haiku
Endless footprints following footprints/
When suddenly a few of them rise/
To bloom like a flower.
Greetings!
A storyteller, following the ancient tradition of cave chroniclers, standing in vrikshasana (the tree pose) on a hill top (it is sunny, but windy), breathing in and out stories (relishing it all, but at times overwhelmed), declares animatedly that she will continue to – tell stories, share rare story gems, and connect with the pacy universe while also keeping the website ad-free.
Big thanks to my readers. Stay tuned!
Also, a humble request to the new subscribers to check the spam folder after subscribing. Silly (but necessary) confirmation emails often land there instead of the bright inboxes. Merci!
Ya-hoy!
Chiming Stories (formerly Home Chimes)
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Gabbeh, the 1996 film, is a simple tale of a gipsy girl, her clan and the way their life goes on. Unfolding beautifully just like an artist painting a canvas, Gabbeh quietly touches the grand questions.
Ranked as one of the greatest British films of all time, The Lavender Hill Mob confides in the audience, letting them see, feel, laugh and think without tickling persuasively with a joke here and a punch-line there.
Godard… Breathless and Alive
A Tribute to Jean-Luc Godard, the Film Philologist who Reinvented Cinema.
Yes fly! For walking on the second track is dull and usual, but dreaming high, high, high requires tools. Tools like the right pair of shoes, a chirpy, gritty soul that eats butter-jam dreams, a soul that drinks milky-milky creams.
Silver cascade shimmering the night sky, music to the waves and surreal beauty to the eyes, the Moon loves the art of discipline.
It may be difficult to believe for the Moon’s splendour defies time, it stupefies the clock, it follows the path of a dreamer, but how could this be possible if the Moon knew not discipline?
In this moment, I am a little bit of this and a little bit of that, I am complete and incomplete, I am pleased and uncertain, I wish for nothing and I know I have to wait.
Because the distance covered reminds me of the hurdles I have crossed and the ones I could not, it reminds me of a throbbing past and a dreamy future and it reminds me of how much time is left.
Meredith and the Green Lake
Illimitable Splendour
A joy so complete without any rise or fall, so free without any time corners, so real without true being false, false being true.
