in the rains

Dahl- the violent author?

 google celebrates roald dahl's birthday -www.google.com i was reading some of his story summaries and frankly, 
i was shocked. i mean the guy who wrote matilda and james and the ...
 
also wrote-
" Finally his turn is called, and he is led to the "schackling area" where the pigs are grabbed, looped about the ankle with a chain, and then dragged up through a hole in the roof. While he is watching, one of the workers slips a chain around Lexington's ankle and before he knows what is happening he is being dragged along the path as well. "Help!" he cries. "There's been a frightful mistake!" But no one stops the engine, and he's carried along to the sticker, who slices open the boy's jugular vein with a knife" -review of  short stories by roald dahl - 'PIG'

and ..

"but when bringing a leg of lamb to the kitchen for the evening meal, she encounters her husband. In a fit of rage she kills him with a blow to the head from the leg of lamb. Thinking quickly, she goes to the local store to create an alibi for herself, and when she returns home, calls the police. They come quickly, and after verifying her alibi, they begin the search for the murder weapon, unaware that it is cooking right in front of them. After a fruitless hunt for the weapon, Mary Malone offers the officers the now cooked lamb. As they discuss the location of the weapon, Mary begins to giggle.." - lamb to the slaughter
all his adult fiction is the same..crude violence

rethinking his childrens fiction , they too had a violent humour..maneating giants, children almost dying in a choclate factory etc...

he remains to be one of my favorite authors

cruise to Alaska atlast!

i remember the excitement overflow and goosebumps....finally the high point of the trip. i was really shocked to see the ship, it was enormously large-like a floating city. it had 750 crew for around 2500 passengers. it was grand from inside, you could call it baroque- overly decorated. we were assigned our staterooms which were quite tiny according to american standards and quite large according to indian. ours had a window and a great view but who cared? we all rushed outside to the deck on the 12th floor...

12th floor through out the cruise remained our meeting place, if someone was lost - they were found there. it had the market place- which was a buffet eating place- huge, the game room, card room, library, spa n gym, open deck- pool and water slides, the theatre, the auditorium(600 seater with balcony- rococco style) and essentially the spinnaker lounge. the ship had a spectacular lobby on the 7th floor, triple heighted with a lounge and bars, discs and restaurants- i could go on and on about the ship but thats all for now.

exploring and knowing the ship took us probably first half of the trip...it was really exciting.

all these lounges and restaurants and other areas overlooked everchanging outside. the feeling was stange, you are in the same place with a different outside.

i can say one thing for sure the cruise was totally worth the money, and if u eat every living thing on earth - you must go for it. the feed u as if there is no tomorrow, and the charge is all inclusive so no worries. make sure u take a free style cruise, who wants to stick to schedule on a holiday?

Seattle

our cruise to alaska started from seattle. we had a day and half to explore the city. we walked for really long in really cold weather and bythe time we reached somewhere - the city was shut. dissapointing. so on the first day seattle seemed to be a dull city with grey weather - turn off. even in big cities everything shuts very early in US.. its strange by 9 pm absolutely everything is shut...and there is daylight till then so you dont even feel hungry enough for dinner..


we walked past Gehrys building and the seattle needle(strange monument from outer space). gehry i must say has done a good job with the exterior..flashy and ostentatious but interesting. his usual silver material with which he clads his building was replaced in some places by pink n yellow flashy materials which gave the building a weird look - as if it was some craft model done by some kid. but again it was 430 PM and it was shut.

the next day i almost forced my brother to take me to gehry's building...which by the way is called - The experience music project(EMP). we went inside to find out that it was a dull and boring museum absolutely opposite to starnge exterior. there was no experience of the building in most parts and the interior might as well have been put anywhere. the dynamic outside and boring inside...beauty is only skin deep? probably the best part of the building was that the sky rail runs right through the building..we were not allowed to take any pictures inside, but trust me it wasnt even worth it..

besides the EMP there was pikes market, which was almost exactly like our juhu fish market. only difference was it was it was tourist friendly..it had restaurants n cafes and signs.
Downtown seattle was just okay. the only thing was that it was used up well. seattle is a major port - it reminded me of mumbai ka dead east coast..and to think the east coast of mumbai can be like that?

The Experience Music Project- Frank Gehry

U.Va

roman pantheon

Rotunda - Uva

University of Virginia seemed like a small town by itself. the buildings are short and spread out, seperated by vast endless greens- almost like a garden city. walking from one building to another seems to be enough excersise. it was designed by thomas jefferson, who was inspired by the roman architecture. In his words the experience of the college should be like a 'academic village'. the roman influence could be seen in a few buildings like -the Rotunda- library building at the head of the garden. the buildings were all inset with a colonaded pathway all around. over all it was a pleasant place straight out of history, with changed use.

Uva- pics

charlotesville- my brothers place

initially i did not like c'ville too much.. .. there is almost zero life - actually only 100,00 people and a lot of green all around, but thats because i am used to bombay. A fter visiting other big cities i am sure i liked c'ville the best. the drive from DC to c'ville was a good refreshment after the long flight and mumbai hassles.

c'ville started out as a university town(UVA)-with all possible amenities, good food and a cute downtown. its green all around with amazing colours. my brothers place was even better than i expected...last time i visited him, he had an apartment which was absolutely dirty- a typical bachelors house. this time, because he is married, their home is beautiful, with a forest and stream behind, large sloping back yard-on which they grow various fruits n flowers, a well landscaped front, and a typical american(venturi) home.

it was good fun to stay at his place. he has a game room in the basement(pool and tt), and a forest behind to explore- where i spent most of my time.

f ront - with his spurano

his back yard- merges with the forest
exploring the forest

colors

pre ad vivas, i guess eveyone wants to get it over with!

After effects...

pink hair...

its more pink but cell phone camera not that great

Happy Birthday Dad and a very happy holi

I might have entered the kitchen and actually done some cooking for the first time today....the entire morning i spent making dads birthday cake wich turned out to be reallly cool...mom and the two grannys made other dads fav dishes...it took us 3 hours to finish cooking. i was exausted by the end of it...

In the evening we did a family holi puja in the terrace, while my granny recited the shlokas, my parents put various things in the fire. this was the first time we did anything like this.

Moms new haircut...

Inspired by me, mom too went to HARSH for a haircut. i think he took 20 years off....even at 50 she looks more like my sister!!