CODA

When I was planning this post, for my last ritual of the day, it was going to start with:  

This is my mother’s desk. It’s the desk which still sits in her room, which is now the guest room. It’s the desk she wrote on, painted on and even read on. Putting down her cup of tea in pauses, as she did so. 

I would have continued how it was the first day of the Navaratris today, Guddi Padwa and all the other names the first day of Navratri is called/ known by/ represents- names which I don’t remember, having lost practicing the rituals and other observations over the years. A practice she cherished and waited for eagerly, every six months. 

This morning, when I realized the significance of the day, I thought it’s a good day to begin writing my blog posts again, and to persist. Hopefully. Not fall off the wagon. That was the intention. 

However, I forget what it was that I had originally planned to write about, because the evening turned events around swiftly and most unexpectedly. 

We decided to watch CODA after dinner. It’s available on Apple TV and won the Oscar for Best Picture this year. 

CODA is an acronym for ‘child of deaf adults’. While I knew the movie was about deaf people, that was all I knew. I had no clue of the Music connection. While Music is a big part of the movie, it doesn’t stake a claim to being the star. That right remains with the British actress Emilia Jones, who is the CODA in the film, a character named Ruby Rossi. 

The theme of Music asserts itself in all the subtle references and nuances, including a reference to David Bowie passing judgment on Bob Dylan’s voice. The music teacher then calls her ‘Bob,’ which was such a fine nuance, that it’s possible to miss it if you’re not paying attention to the dialogue. 

After a very long time, I cried. Not one to see many movies anyway, I was absolutely and very pleasantly surprised that CODA showcased one of my favorite songs, Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now.”

I was thrilled to hear snatches of the song in the earlier part of Ruby’s musical journey. That they would choose it, was a very happy moment for me, and I thought the director must have copious amounts of sensitivity to choose this perfectly complimenting, off the beaten track type of song in a 2020’s movie. 

However, it’s in the audition scenes that the song totally shines, and makes the movie’s heartbeat reverberate and uplift it’s core to new heights. The movie does as much justice to the song, as the song does to the movie. And, they’ve used the full song. My tears refused to hold back and after several lip quivering moments, I let the tears flow. Later, even thinking about it, made me want to cry. 

Every word of the song scratches the surface to expose what the words so eloquently express. In those moments of the audition, “Both Sides Now” defines all sides of Ruby’s relationships with everyone who matters to her, and she emotes beautifully. She speaks the two languages simultaneously, expressing profoundly in both languages, which are like Ruby’s two nervous systems in her psyche. 

I’m afraid my words cannot do it justice. You have to see it. Some moments will just blow you away. The relationships have been powerfully explored and expressed dramatically and subtlety as and when required. 

CODA emphatically claims that the power of love and duty can sometimes clash. 

Overall, the movie has well earned it’s Oscar. 

Veenu Banga

April 1-2 2022

Copyright Veenu Banga

12:52 am

PS:The audition: https://youtu.be/qlTEAXcKssg

Here, just the song: https://youtu.be/-vbraa31zNI

Written for World Poetry Day 03/21/22

My love nest and my battlefield,

Both travel with me.

My playground and my life’s grind

Are only a thought away.

Come life, let’s entwine together 

Our resources, in a fixed embrace.

All I need sweet life, are 

Words, to take me away. 

Veenu Banga

Copyright composed 03/21/2022. 

World Poetry Day 2022.

 

Thinking of Susan in Gibson Country

 12/14/2021

Thinking of Susan in Gibson Country 

On the next leg of our journey. Hajltland. 

Had a hearty breakfast this morning. Alex and team came and chatted with us again. Nick came to tell us about the second part of the BBC program next week which will be about Delhi. 

Alex’s bride is half Finnish and half Indian. No wonder he’s such a cool guy. No hangups, open, culturally savvy and easily assimilates.

Grateful can be generous with showing appreciation. The lord provides, and overwhelms me sometimes with his Grace that is so magnanimously forthcoming. 

The drive was glorious going through the fabled Southern Highlands. The culture vulture Victorian Romantic historian amongst us of course gave us the lowdown of the wars between the Highlanders and the low landers aka the English. 

As we got closer north, there was snow on the mountains. In the summer these mountains would be purple with the heather we were told by our CVVRH cruise director. 

Boarding was pretty quick. Not much traffic at all. Much smaller vessel too as compared to the Stena ferries. Smaller cabins and bathrooms. 

Since we’re in upgraded cabins get to sit and be served in the Magnus lounge. Free drinks and bottles of water, fruits and cookies and newspapers and magazines. At table service. Jonathan was the host/ Matre de and served us dinner of something vegetarian. Curry rice and awesome soft rotis. Charged us only for one, because our first choice of leek and potato soup was not available. The chef came out to apologize for the soup getting over. 

These guys are so sweet here. Such excellent and exceptional customer service. You just have to look their way or even a half smile at them and they will come running and ask if there’s anything more they can do. Convinced that it’s just that way here. As was at Chakoo’s and Balbir’s. Good quality produce makes a huge difference.

9:37 pm now and in bed writing. Huge window starboard side, instead of a porthole. Water churning below and open sky with stars overhead. Took pictures of the moon in a clear sky with stars. Earlier a gorgeous crimson sky in the parking lot of Peggy Scotts Services. Was an awesome stop, great food and she brewed us fabulous hot black tea. So much to be thankful for. 

Quite a ways from midnight but sweet slumber beckons. All good, maybe in my dreams when I miss people, they will appear. As mundane as running into someone at a gas station. The sweet joys of surprise, that much the sweeter when shared. 

Veenu Banga

12/13/21

9:48 pm. 

PS. Was sitting in my drafts. All these posts that I don’t post. For some reason when I wrote this, I thought, ‘maybe nah, not this.’ Wonder why. Had posted about it being my father’s birthday. 

03/ 21/ 2022

11:00 am

Sent from my iPhone

Muses and musings

Oh, muses and their excuses, and muses and their uses. We’re always making too much of the muses. I wonder if the muse realizes, that it’s not really about them. Not always, not all the way. 

The creatively inspired are a generous species. They give of themselves to the process more than they to the muse. They can get so enamored in their process of expression, that it’s no longer then about the muse. It’s very essential in the creative process. To lose oneself, and disappear in the creation, creating by growing out from inside it. 

It’s not about whether one’s creation is good or bad- that’s the perception in the eyes of the beholder. The creative types more likely forget this fact. They can be happy only, only when they create/ write/ paint for themselves, not for an audience. That’s the thing to remember. 

Singers, songwriters, musicians, poets and artists are all  creatures of expression, which is a very personal experience. It’s their perception of the muse that manifests their creative expression, not necessarily the reality of the muse. They express what they feel. Sometimes, the pen takes over, most times actually, the words pour themselves out. As if they had been in there incubating all along, and destined to be expressed. 

Similarly, when we do not write, or do not create that which is yearning, and hankering to be given form, we abort and thus kill our untold stories. A certain sadness is almost a pre requisite and aids the creative process. However, if left unattended, sadness can quickly decompose and become toxic depression, causing neglect of when self care. In that sadness, out of that pain, we must seek joy. Finding joy in life is far more productive, than surrendering to grief. 

Muses abound everywhere. We don’t always write about beautiful things. Muses can also inspire introspection. I think that’s what happened to me two nights ago, as I watched Safari videos. This time it was not all pleasant. Rather it was most distressing. 

I wondered if in a previous life, I had been a predator? An animal perhaps like a hyena or a lion, or a hawk? Why else would I be pained watching these kinds of videos. 

It is so much more than killing life. What we cannot give, we have no right to take away. By cutting short a life, we take away potential, by depriving them of their growing years. We steal their experiences, their time on this earth. We deprive the souls of all the relationships they would have forged. We deprive them of their eternity, that their offspring may have produced. So in this life, if we are suffering, it’s good to remember, that we may be discharging our karmic debts. 

It’s far too complicated and there are many schools of thought. However, if we take into account the science, and that every action has a reaction, or what does up, must come down, it will be easier to bear our suffering. That is why, Sikh prayers always include the reciter to pray for the welfare of all.

On this good thought, I will call it a night. Thank you God for another day! 

Veenu Banga

21st January 2022 (night of 20th January)

2:34 am

What a pleasant surprise from SG!

My new love, Sky Guide, sent me a message earlier tonight, that the ISS is peaking in 5 minutes! Then K spotted it in the sky. And lo and behold, I pointed the App to the sky, and there it was, the ISS was with me all the way on my drive home! I actually took photos. 

Had a marvelous evening earlier, with Surinder. We enjoyed a nice dinner together at Chatwala near her house. Chana bhatura and masala dosa! She’s so lucky to have so many Indian restaurants in her area.

Grateful for all the gifts of togetherness, and awaiting the gifts of tomorrow! 

Veenu Banga

19th January

11:54 pm.

All the languages that I speak..

 With my smile! 

I can smile in English, I can smile in Panjabi, and I can smile in Hindi, and I can smile in every other language in the world! 

Veenu Banga

16th January 2022

11:53 pm