With my head in the sky....

Today we started out with a bus ride around San Francisco. With the sun shining the city was picture postcard in it's beauty, and the highlight was passing by the home that once used to be Alice Walker's residence. The architecture of this city blends both the traditional Victorian stick houses with modern day architecture, in ways that keep the skyline with open spaces and a harmony of styles. In an uncrowded open air bus, the city held a charm and the people everywhere just engulf you with a friendliness that is unparalleled, in my experience of travel to date.

The Jewish museum was our next port of call where we saw a project titled : As it is Written, which involves a Jewish woman named Julie Seltzer who has chosen to train as a scribe. The project is to write the Torah which is the sacred book of the Jewish faith, over a period of a year, using the museum room as the site at which she does this. She sits in the museum on most days and writes this text in the traditional methodology that is mandatory. A Torah is always standardized with strict laws that govern how they must be written : 62 sheets of parchment paper, 248 columns, 10,416 lines and 304,805 letters. Every Torah must be copied from another existing one and each word must be verbally said aloud before inscribing it. I found this process fascinating because Julie Seltzer is a woman, and traditionally Torahs are only written by men. So in doing so she breaks a huge taboo; yet, she faithfully upholds the sacredness of this ancient tradition in all other ways.

In another room of this museum I saw a selection of works titled Reclaimed :paintings from the collection of Jacques Goudstikker. A Jewish art dealer from Amsterdam, his collection was looted by the Nazi's when he was forced to flee from Netherlands, leaving behind approximately 1,400 art works of historical significance and extreme financial value. In February 2006 the Goudstikker family were successful in reclaiming 200 art works from the Dutch government. The paintings showcase imported goods like Chinese porcelain or luxury English silver, French wine and Japanese silks which were what the middle classes of that era held as being reflective of their wealth and status; and so these paintings were much in demand as they reflected aspects from their daily lives. Normally I am not a great admirer of this style or genre, but these works, not very large in scale, were quite precious in nature.

We returned to revisit the Asian Art Museum again today because it is a space that one can go to many times. I say a beautiful exhibition of traditional Japanese screen paintings. The skill and delicacy of brush work is comparable for me to the Indian traditions of miniature paintings in many ways, only the subjects are so different as is the scale.

Today I felt hugely grateful for Surendran nudging me back into photography, by gifting me a camera when we last travelled to South Africa. After years of adamantly putting aside my camera with a "forever" attitude; today it has blended itself back into my life almost like a silent lover returning to re-seduce me all over again. There is another concentration and focus that "seeing" through a lens offers me.

Tonight I shall head back to a Thai restaurant for my favourite roast duck with jasmine rice. It is yummy beyond description and I fear my waistline is soon going to resemble the duck too! So quack quack and lights out on that note!!

A show to remember.....

When art is relocated into the formal space of a gallery it has to stand tall without any other props whatsoever. Surendran Nair's show Neti Neti opened yesterday in San Francisco to a response that was truly heartening. What becomes important within such endeavours is that the artist must hold true to themselves a genuineness of intention, and keep all doors of communication always open.

Our love story is a special one. Feisty and full of the delights of being friends and lovers; we hold the expectations of truth and honesty of one another, as the circle of belonging uncompromisingly. We have allowed the shadows of one another to be our resting places of comfort at all times, and yet drawn into our personal world an inclusiveness of others that can widen the circle of our lives. It hasn't always been that we can see the light at the end of our tunnel of shared existence, but what we do know is that we hold the desire to survive and live lives of passionate engagement with all that we do.

Watching Surendran engage an audience into entering the world of his imagination during the gallery talk at the opening, was a space of special reflection for me; because what I witnessed was the truth of conviction of self belief define that crucial space of belonging, effortlessly.

Neti Neti is a show that commands you to be silent, and to listen. And somewhere in that silence the quite voice of Surendran percolates the consciousness of his spectators; and what occurs is a moment of wonderment in that visual dialogue, that is quite stunning.

Seven into seven......

San Francisco is sleepy in comparison to New York city. I know that comparisons are odious, but it really is a small city that is only seven mile long and seven miles wide; and the pace of life appears to be quite laid back, with no real urgency that can be noted. The number of homeless people are really quite sad to see, because unlike the poverty in India, many of these people are those who appear to have just fallen through the cracks of a system, and not because they were necessarily born without opportunity.

We visited the Asian Art museum and it made my heart stand still. The brilliance of the curators of such institutions stand out, and it makes you cringe when you recall the pathetic management of our National Gallery of Modern art in Delhi. Also the collection of art objects indicates the serious nature of acquisition that institutions of such repute and significance are committed to. Many pieces on display are gifted or on loan to the museum, making a connection of personal pursuit and collective consciousness result in a public having access to facets of world history from the insightfulness of individual contributions.

We walked into an art gallery that exhibits Picasso's and Chagall's and Miro's amongst a host of other "big names", and both Surendran and myself were rather amused to note that even the great masters had a bad day once in a while! But maybe the wily art dealers live in the hope that a great discovery will emerge, to become the next "great find" that will make headlines in an auction one fine day.... some time soon, hopefully, maybe, perhaps....?!!!! Anyway the gallery management thought we were potential buyers (!!!) as I commented upon "favourite works"; and they inched closer towards us hoping a sale would materialise!!! Poor souls....what they don't realise is that a big name doesn't always guarantee excellence, and much of their stock looked sadly substandard, to put it mildly!

I'm still on the lookout for a cafe that has bagels with sour cream and smoked salmon on their menu....and a blueberry muffin is a ritual that has yet to be had!

First Blog Posting from San Francisco.....

The sun was waiting in the skies to greet us in the Golden Gate city! After a rather zig-zag route over the seas that took us from Baroda to Mumbai to Singapore to Seoul and finally to San Francisco, my tolerance for bad Hollywood films was at a low! Sincere advise to any traveller: take a route that does not seduce you with short stop overs. Looks good on paper but is a nightmare in reality We were like two India spies in a remake of a James Bond film that started with two Singapore airline officials waiting for us on the threshold of the Mumbai international departure doorway (!) and scuttling us through all formalities as we bounced behind him like bunny rabbits on steroids. We jumped queues and elbowed out other passengers who were waiting patiently for their turn, and high-pole vaulted security ropes whilst looking every inch the part of shady undercover agents, with a dubious art mission on hand!

At Singapore we were whisked off once again with poor Surendran who almost fell off the in-service buggy-cart that took off before he had actually sat down! With shin cuts and band-aids in place, we reached our next destination, only to be power-walked from one end of the Seoul airport to the other, with seconds to spare to meet the take off time! Any hope of wandering into duty free shops or using a toilet facility were only a distant wish that never materialised.

The Frey Norris Gallery Management are truly wonderful. One of them were at the airport to meet us with a smile that dissolved all my fatigue in an instant. The Hotel Adagio where the gallery is hosting our stay is just a few doors from the gallery which is on Geary Street, and it offers a very relaxed and easy paced schedule for us for the next six days that we are here in San Francisco. At FNG Surendran's paintings were all lined up against the gallery walls in their bubble wrap petticoats (!) waiting to be placed up on the walls. The gallery management sensing our tiredness very lovingly sent us off with strict instructions to have fun and leave the work to them to do.

After settling in to our hotel room Surendran slept for a while, and I chose to unpack and get that chore out of the way. Then we both showered and stepped out to wander the main street we are located on. We finally went into a bar and toasted ourselves with the old Bacardi and coke concoction, and ate a cozy dinner at a Thai restaurant next to our hotel. At 11 pm local time even missy RR was with her batteries down to zero (!), and all I know next is that I woke up at 7.30 am this morning to yet another sunny day.

Well Mr. Obama don't say I didn't bring a gift with me! An email from home told me it was rainy and over cast back in Baroda. So sunshine and clear skies are wrapped up in ribbon clouds with a message that reads: from India with love!

If you are going to San Francisco.....

Am flying off tomorrow......

Wish all of you could be with us for the opening on the 11th....

What fun that would be!

Packed, strapped and ready to rock!

The last fortnight has been hectic! With our trip to San Francisco looming closer and a zillion things to attend to (!!!!), I felt as though each step up the mountain of chores only found me slipping back to the starting position each day, as more chores got written on the bright blue pages of my rubberband book that has pages of "to-do" lists. However with all this I had a precious interlude of family and friends on the 31st of October which rejuvenated me to jump up like wonder woman on a steroid fix and dive back into operation go to USA!

In the midst of all this my TV unfailing spilled out the news of my nation like a soothsayer with a time warp. Much ado was made of Arundati Roy's views on Kashmir, and like a bad reality show, eager viewers took bets on whether she would become the next celebrity jailbird to grace hotel Tihar jail! Mores the pity that diverse discussions that are serious and contextualised are not encouraged, and that liberal thinkers are quickly labeled hard-line extremists if their views do not subscribe to mass appeal. Well so much for the maturity of my great nation; and with Arnab Goswami and his tribe at the helm of media debates on topical issues, we can only expect The Great Indian Tamasha to be what finally becomes the most credible news program to watch on TV soon!!!

Well Obama comes and the babus in amchi Mumbai sulk! What the khadi brigade needs to understand is that most often security issues related to visiting dignitaries are meant to be stringent and probing, so as to avoid the embarrassment of shoe throwing specialists and their likes making it to the front page news each day! Sometimes goof-ups do occur in the over zealousness of enforcing security measures; but aren't we forgetting that as the hosts we need to stop pouting and extend a generosity of spirit to this state guest on his visit? Let us instead focus on being firm on issues that effect the economic and strategic relations of the two nations, and drive a hard bargain where it matters the most, showing therefore that India is firmly capable of parity on the world stage of international politics. But hey! Let's get real here. At the end of the day most of our elected representatives in government office would look rather bewildered if asked to put country before the self!

Sticking to the topic of Barrack....I was considering dropping him a line and suggesting that I could send some of my woollies on air force one back with him to the US. Given that there is a decoy plane and the real thing, it would seem only fair that he understands that the two bag 23 kilo each luggage allowance is a bummer for me; and I am going to freeze my sweet ass off in his country unless I can lug my various layers to shroud myself with. I hope buddy Obama understands that generosity is reciprocal!

Well my next blog will be from the considered land of opportunities! Ta ta for now. Next stop mission USA!

Keep-sake or keep safe?

My tigress is finally finished! Shiny from her coating of melamine she sits rather regally on the floor of my studio, pleased to have me off her back and able to rest without being prodded and poked about! From a white albino fibre-baby, she has transformed into a bollywood shake-a-tail girl; bling pink and sequined to the hilt, she truly is a beautiful girl! Covered in chamak gulabi roses and adorned with painted oriental lilies that climb up her spine, each day she has infused a presence of her own in her temporary home that is my studio these days. As she tilts her nose rather disdainfully in the air, perhaps chastising me for "dressing" her in open view of all and sundry, I am beginning to have my heart strings tugged upon knowing that shortly she will be off on her jaunt to Delhi, via Mumbai.

I am not certain if she is a party-type girl! From her get-up one should assume so; but then her fiercely piercing eyes suggest otherwise!! She has two tails that nestle calmly curled at her feet, but in the watchful stance I sense that in an instance she will pounce and hold you pinned to your conscience; for her glittering skin is not to be eyed or coveted, but is to remind you instead that you alone can become the saviour of her extinction.

Pukkaar-billi-billi! Call out, and do not let a piercing silence engulf you from the greed of trafficking in tiger skins and relics. Pukkaar-billi-billi, and hear instead the deafening roar of these beautiful beasts command your fear and respect. Help them to propagate in their natural habitat, and build back their numbers through our vigilance and nurturing. How is it possible for this endangered animal to still be poached and slaughtered so openly in spaces where they are expecting to be protected? The trail of blood most certainly leads to positions of power and political connivance. Be cautioned, we may only have artists renditions of this amazing animal if we do not act with responsibility, and make it a personal mission to save the tiger.