Poetry and Story telling Performance.....

Last evening, I was invited for music, poetry and story-telling performance by a famous group of Tenerife called Sol Y Sombra. After dinner, we went to ´´Casa de Los Caceres´´ which is a heritage building, in Icod de Los Vinos, made of wood and stones. During day, there are many art exhibitions held in this place which exhibits the art and culture of Canarias. The show was held in the patio of this cultural centre and we were greeted with a glass of iced-gin tonic with basil leaves, and we sat there under the open skies, sipping the drink and watching the show. The patio, which is in the centre of the building, is surrounded by wooden windows of all the exhibit rooms, and it was from one of those windows, that we heard the musical voice of a singer, we looked up and saw him move from one window to another with a candle in his hand, his song resonating the patio as he walked down the steps behind the patio and he finally emerged the patio to present the show. The mood was set. There were musicians playing guitar/piano and the two artists who kept us captivated with their songs, poems and animated stories. There was a good interaction between the live music and the song. After each performance, the actors and musicians kissed each other expressing their gratitude and there was loud applause. The audience clearly mesmerised, wanted as many story telling performances as they could get. One could see that each artist performed with great passion, showing stunning melodic creativity and an ever fertile imagination. Although I am not too fluent in my Spanish, I could still follow the story from their powerful expressions. Such was the show that has clung to my memory and I am still relishing the tunes…..

Now Pappu should learn to dance too....tsk! tsk!

The lyrics of the song “Pappu can’t dance sala” of the film 'Jaane tu..na Janne na..(sung by Blaze, Mohd. Aslam, Tanvi, Anupama Deshpande, Benny Dayal,Darshana, Satish Subramanium) is getting quite popular and has everyone dancing on its music except Pappu and it has interesting words too that is something like... Pappu is Popular, a muscular, a bachelor, spectacular Driving girls crazy With blue eyes, like English man In fast cars A Rado watch A Gucci perfume But Pappu can’t dance. Oh Halla! Tirkit tana tirkit tana teeri tana let’s dance Tirkit tana tirkit tana teeri tana let’s dance But, What has Pappu to say about that? Should we be careful in selecting names? My friend tells me that people with names such as Pappu or Baby never grow up and it is an embarrassment to their families when they are grown ups, and their childish behavior never change. Few years ago, we had ads on chocolates, in which Pappu had passed his exams and whole town was celebrating his success because he was an adult and had finally passed after many years of failures. All other smarter Pappu were apologetic. Also there was another ad which abused the name ‘Hari’ It said H for Hitler, A for Arrogant, R for Rascal, I for Idiot. One parent complained that his son (his name Hari) was continuously harassed by his peers and he wanted the ad to be striked off the network. It is strange that I have never met any person with the name ‘Pran. Maybe the parents were afraid that their son would turn out to be a villain as the character in films. Media and films have channelled our pattern of thinking. Few months ago, my friend was searching a name for her dark-skinned daughter-in-law, I suggested ´Saloni´ and she refused to talk to me for days….. So, do the names really matter? Does ‘Himmat Singh’ really have courage? Will Relax Singh ever find a job? And how do we say a polite goodbye to Tata in native Hindi language? I'm trying to get to the idea of whether such superstitions exist or are they merely fabrication. You can get many or most people to agree on whether some things are bad or good on grounds of selection of their names. Other things tend to be more difficult to gain consensus on. But the ground of wrong or right, if such a thing exists, must find its feet beyond human judgment. And what about this craze of selecting the brand name? Any close reference to the brand name sends our antenna up. If we cannot afford to buy ‘Sony’ brand, then we will buy Sunny or Sonny….so closely are we attached to the brand names. And finally we have Ekta kappor who Kares not for Korrect spelling and starts all her serials konnected with names strictly with ‘K’ I don't even care whether she's right. I just don't like the idea that someone with so little integrity and such narrow thoughts could hold so much sway. If consciousness does have an independent evolutionary trajectory, we can only hope that this world will one day be no more than fossils in the museum of intellectual history.

Visiting Buena Vista

I have been under self imposed curfew for the simple reason that I want to take no risk in hurting myself with one more fall. It ain´´t easy scrambling about, trying to do all jobs with just one left hand, you know. I am spending most of my time watching Canarian news on TV which is quite interesting, but sometimes my brother does take me for long drives through the city. Like the other day he drove me up to Buena Vista, which is about 30 minutes up north of my house in Buen Paso. It is located in the extreme northeast of Tenerife, next to the Teno Mountain range (natural area protected within the category of rural park). This place is visited mainly by tourist who enjoy Golf and by locals who enjoy fishing. This area has mild climate all year round. We drove via Icod de los Vinos driving through Garchico, up Los silos, passing though banana plantations and reached the beautiful spot at Beuna Vista. The golf park occupied a vast area and is mostly visited by German tourist who have vacation houses nearby. I envied those three women friends who had come to fish with buckets and fishing rods. They had prohably spend a long day at the sea, sitting on the rock, sharing gossip and waiting for the fish. they looked quite pleased with many fishes in their bucket and I wished if i could befriend them and enjoy the dinner of fish and chips. There was a nice, flowers hedged path leading towards the beach, with breeze so strong that it is impossible to walk alone. The lovely Canarian restuarant, at the foot of the beach, was quite empty, eagerly awaiting for busy week-ends....

Visit to Garachico

I normally avoid walking, especially if I am injured. Had a minor accident, broke my bones, was hospitalised for a day and now in plaster on my right hand for one month. But no problem, I can manage with my left hand….. I asked my brother to take me for a drive and we drove up north towards Garachico, which is about 20 minutes from my house in Buen Paso. After a drive through a sixty-seconds long snake-like tunnel that had large circular window facing the sea, we reached the town of Garachico In the fertile lowlands of Tenerife’s North West tip, Garachico is officially one of the unluckiest towns on the planet. In its short history Garachico has endured Bubonic plague, floods, storms, fires, plagues of locusts and volcanic eruptions, the worst of which in 1706 destroyed a large part of the town and the source of its wealth; the harbour. What remains is one of Tenerife’s prettiest destinations with cobbled streets, beautifully restored churches, coastal sea water swimming pools hewn from volcanic rock and a steadfastly traditional Canarian character. Even though, I was just perched in the car, I could still enjoy the cool air of the sea, playing against my hair, tickling my face. There were many people walking in a festive mood. There was a stage put up near the shore, in the plaza de Libertad, where music and folk songs were being performed. Further up, in the church compound, there were couples dressed in traditional Mago clothes, dancing to the Spanish music. There were mobile stall selling hot dogs and Churro de chocolate. On our way back, we stopped by a restaurant and packed a dinner of carne de cordero (lamb meat, which is very tender and was cooked in sauce), papas arrugada(small potatoes boiled with their skin in salty water) and salchitas (fried sausages). This is a typical Canarias cuisine that has no spices nor any chillies and is yet too tasty…….

Immigrants

Tenerife is a beautiful place and over last 15 years, there have been lots of new constructions everywhere. The booming economy needs manual labourers, and many foreign tourists who come to Tenerife, stay back to fill those jobs. Last year, many of Latin Americans who, entered the country as tourist, were given residency permits as the government called an amnesty for illegal immigrants with job contracts. But there are many more immigrants who risk their life and enter the country illegally. These immigrants are mainly from neighbouring countries such as Senegal and Morocco. They brave the high seas in small fishing boats and reach the beaches of Tenerife in pitiful state. Most of them are sent back after they are brought back to health, but some of them manage to creep into the city and live in miserable condition, working on low wages. Is it worth risking one’s life and living in fear in a foreign land? So many of them never reach the shores and many are too weak to go back. Few months ago, when I was in Africa, I saw the locals very contented in their own land. They were poor but they all had a smile on their faces. They seemed happy. Being with our own kind gives a great pleasure but economic needs, if not satisfied in our own country can give us so much pain. I have noticed this everywhere, that the foreigners always make more money than the natives. Maybe we are careless in our own land but are wiling to work hard for others. I think if the government paid more attention to their own country men and created more incentive for their own people, nobody would find the need to cross the borders to decorate the neighbour’s lands.