arvinder

New Year - Recover health, Diet, Save and make a resolution.

2012-01-19T08:54:00.000-08:00

There is a certain similarity of the experience of these post New Year times with previous years, because we tend to overdo things every year at this festive time. As I write this the best is over and we can safely go back to our normal lives, which if I think about it, is quite hectic at the best of times in my case.
The end of the year brought some good and bad news as one might expect..the good being that 'the boys' came to spend a week with us with their families and partners, while the bad was that we all fell victims to the dreaded virus with flu, cold and bronchitis.
On a more positive note the collective splurge on presents for xmas and Jito's birthday probably kept several countries' economies afloat and the prolonged period of eating out meant that we all carried excess weight around by the time we had wished 'Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year' to everyone and all dispersed again, hence the slant on the title of this post.
Large packages with many stimulating presents were assembled for Jito's first birthday and first taste of Christmas. We made a small party with one or two other small kids in the family and the traditional cake for Jito to blow out the candle with some help from the guests. As he tore open the presents one by one, he enjoyed the surprise and the novelty of each for a few moments, before moving on to the next. The very next day Manjeet, Almu and Jito were meant to be flying back to Madrid, and the restrictions on the luggage while flying meant that a few of these presents had to be left behind to be played with on future visits.
And of course the New Year Resolution.
Now resolutions are personal things, and one has the problem of setting an expectation and then not delivering. I could give up smoking, but I never smoked. Chocolate? its not really a problem. Travel more? have done enough for now.. So what would be a good objective?
Write more
See more of the family
Manage my finances
Learn a new language
Prepare an exhibition of my photos
Do more exercise, play more golf and squash?
But somehow those do not appear to be proper resolutions, just things I would have tried to do anyway. One feels that a resolution has to be something big and daunting that is going to be difficult and require a big sacrifice.Sounds like I am growing too old to worry about resolutions?
That sounds bad and perhaps therein lies a credible resolution...
Maybe the resolution should be to think positive and not to slip into an old age slowdown.
Happy New Year y'all.

The history of where you live

2011-12-15T14:00:00.000-08:00

Every place has a history, since time passes relentlessly and leaves in its wake an infinity of stories many of which are only known locally and do not bother the world at large. Naturally there are places where a lot happens, and they become part of the world historical heritage. Many history books catalogue these places and people everywhere study these and research events to remember for future generations. Big cities like London, Paris or Delhi have a lot of well document history and a lot of it makes fascinating reading. Other places even if they are smaller become famous through some event that thrusts their history to become of worldwide interest. Events such as a natural disaster, a president getting killed or a world war being sparked usually makes a place unforgettable.

I have lived and traveled through many places whose history is generally considered interesting. Delhi, for example, where I grew up, has seen centuries of occupiers, invading armies and massacres on a regular basis. Another place I have known is London which also has had a long and colourful past which includes people like Jack the Ripper, Sherlock Holmes and all the Kings and Queens and miserable stories like the plague, the fire and all the killings in the Tower.

However there are an infinite number of places which remain out of the limelight but create a history, which often remains unwritten and this gets either forgotten or passed from generation to generation by word of mouth. How many among my friends would have known anything about Kumasi or Maracaibo, places where I lived for significant periods. I have not seen too many books about the history of these but they had their periods worth documenting. Kumasi was (and is) the capital of the Ashantis who were a force to be reckoned with and rich because of the gold that was to be found in the region. And Maracaibo, well maybe the less said about this one the better.A bit like the wild west which had little to be proud of until oil was discovered in the region.

The place where I have now come to live in Spain (Laredo) has a rich history since it was established by Romans when this part of the world was part of the Roman Empire. However few people outside of this region would have heard of any of it or much less bothered to read about it anywhere. I knew that some books had been written about it but had not yet fully familiarized myself with many periods of the story of this place.

So when an organisation which brings together the 'friends of the heritage' of the town invited me to attend a launch of a new book about an aspect of the history that I did not know about, I decided to accept, and it turned out to be fascinating and I was not disappointed.The book appeared to document the work and times of a series of 'governors' appointed by the King, who were known as 'corregidores' or correctors. They existed in pre-democracy times between the 16th and the early nineteenth century, and their function was to administer justice and represent the King in the region, often with a ceremonial 'baston' with which he was allowed to beat people who misbehaved. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that this town of a small population was the capital of the region until it was considered more suitable to move the capital to Santander at the beginning of the Nineteenth century.

Now this book may seem to be not too exciting a project, but if we see it through the eyes of the local population, it could be very interesting. And here is the thing I wanted to get down to..that the history of a place is always interesting for the people of that place. Like people, every place has a story and we only need to be in that place to make it worth discovering that story.

It is the history of our world.

Tuesday 13th December

2011-12-13T15:18:00.000-08:00

Unlike most of the English speaking world that trembles if the 13th of a month falls on a Friday, the Spanish speaking world reserves such dread if it happens on a Tuesday. As it happens this December 13th did fall on a Tuesday, today!
I happened to be accompanying a couple of ladies (one of whom was Marisol) around Bilbao today and the thirteenth did have its effect. First the strap of Marisol's handbag ripped unexpectedly and the bag rolled to the ground. Having to carry the bag under her arm as a result was no fun either.
Later I was nearly run down by a car as I tried to cross a road. Lets not give too much importance to the fact that I did not wait for the light which would have stopped the traffic for me to cross the road.
There were other happenings today too, like the strong winds all over Northern Spain (and England) and five meter high waves on the beach, however they were not all bad. We found good bargains and had fun shopping. We made it home without any further mishaps which must be enough of a reason to celebrate.
Later I learnt that our local soccer team 'Racing' of Santander won a close game, when its more normal for them to lose.
So I am not at all sure we can justify the fear that the thirteenth can conjure up, even more so on a Tuesday.
Now its after midnight and its neither Tuesday or the 13th any more!

just google it

2011-12-09T14:02:00.001-08:00

So it happened, I gave the talk on Information Technology to a group of intellectuals in Santander and one of the points I made was that now-a-days people use search engines as an extension of their memories. I had a picture of a young man with a laptop in his hands to show how one can be talking to friends and at the same time using the computer to help with his memory. I mentioned someone I know who could easily have been the young man in the picture.
And I did something along these lines myself the other day. I was reading my e-book, a Kindle from Amazon, and in one of the pauses a random picture appeared on the screen, which was obviously a page from an old book, with some text which was difficult to read and sounded like latin. It went something like:
Izbriu grit cratuerbum guerbumerat abudomgos
It was an intriguing image and I decided it was worth spending a few minutes looking for what this might be.
So I googled it
A few entries in the list that appeared as a result showed that this same intrigue had attracted other users of the Kindle. No body had come up with a satisfactory answer. One responder had suggested that the text may well be a 'Lorem Ipsum'. This was beginning to sound like a mystery..what was this Lorem Ipsum?
Next search showed that Lorem Ipsum was randomly generated placeholder text that publishers often use to display possible fonts and use as examples.
Not satisfied with this I looked further down the list and found a blog on which someone suggested that they had found the same image on a page in an old book of Gospels and described it as follows

'This is confirmed as a page of Lindisfarne's Gospels: It's on page 30 of the British Library's online edition of this book'

What is confusing is that the text does not appear to mean anything in Latin! Its obviously nonsense text which is what Lorem Ipsum is supposed to be.

Now this made a lot more sense and I could go back to worrying about more normal things!

Storing money in troubled times

2011-11-27T14:57:00.001-08:00

Whatever happened to those days when it was safe to keep money in the bank.
Admittedly in troubled times having any money at all is a luxury, but there are those who end up with the money and have to make tough decisions about where to keep it. The pensioners are also a population who should have a sum of money which represents their life savings that needs to be put somewhere.

In these times of low interest rates, troubled banks, sliding property values, debt ridden economies, a sinking stock market and worthless bonds where does one keep his/her money? A financial commentator, one of those who always appear to have figured everything in situations such as these, came on the TV recently and said that the Euro was going to sink and that everyone in Europe were going to lose their savings!

Now, I am not as knowledgeable as this guy, but I would guess that you cannot use a word like 'everyone' in a situation like this, as there are always a set of people who seem to have 'insider' knowledge and manage to rescue their cash before its too late, including I might add, the commentator in this case. I will not ever forget one day when my boss where I worked in Venezuela, asked me if I had a lot of money in local bank. It must have been Wednesday or Thursday, because on the Friday Venezuela had to remove the link of its currency from the US dollar, a move that immediately reduced the value of the 'Bolivar' to half of its value the previous day. It then continued to slide so that after only a couple of months it had touched one fifth. Lucky for me I did not have much money in 'Bolivars'.

Now what did my boss know that I did not? However let us leave that to one side and get back to my original question, which is where should we keep our money, assuming we have some. I dont think we should rush out to buy Greek government bonds or those of Italy or Spain because of the risk associated with them. Banks are an option, however only a small amount is guaranteed to be safe in case of failure of the institution. However lately many countries have opted for rescuing ailing banks in fear of a collapse of the entire financial system teetering because of the heavy debts.

I am rightly confused and no longer laughing at the suggestion to keep all your money in cash under the bed!

Where are we headed with all this technology?

2011-11-14T14:36:00.001-08:00

A local group of artists and intellectuals, which meets every month in a Santander restaurant, asked me to contribute a talk. Apparantly everyone who attends the meetings of this group takes turns to present a talk on a topic of their choice, apart from occasionally inviting other deserving individuals who come to present interesting talks from time to time.

What could I talk about? I cannot claim to be an expert in many things, although I do have many interests. Arts, photography, music and mathematics fascinate me, but I could not do justice to any of these fields. After careful thought I considered travel, but what could one tell anyone about travel? Dont forget to take your passport and remember to get the required vaccinations and those sort of things or perhaps share ones travel photos? No, that would not appeal enough to anyone.

Finally, it appeared there was only one possibility and that was to present a summary of my experiences with computer technologies through the years of my working life. However if I thought that once I had found a topic that the rest was going to be easy, then I was wrong. I found that it was going to be hard to pin down. Unfortunately the pace of change in the realm of Information technologies meant that I would be chasing a moving goalpost.

To reduce the chance of missing the mark I decided to build the presentation around past, present and the future of IT from one point of view - mine. This had the advantage that if I only covered some areas of this vast field then I could hide behind my personal point of view.

The start was easy and I could spark some interest with my first encounter with a 'computer', a term I had not yet come across at the time, in the jungles of Africa. Not many people in Santander would have heard of Kumasi, and even less have any first hand experience of having been there. The current state of technology most would be familiar with. We are all using or walking around with a quantity of gadgets that would have been mind boggling a few years ago. I still remember 1995, when I was invited topresent some work I was doing at the time, at an international conference in San Jose in California. I was amazed to find that every advertisement in the local newspaper carried an email address with which anyone could contact the company advertising. At the time this was still only occasional in the UK press.

Much more interesting is the question proposed by this post, ie where is all this technology going in future. The members of the discussion group in Santander deserve a proposed future of technology that gives them the opportunity to sink their teeth in a discussion. Latest research is exploring bacterial processors, Quantum mechanics and new materials for molecular level storage. All that promises ever faster and unlimited storage using a minimal of energy.

However that still leaves a hole in the imaginative and visionary view of the state we might be in after another twenty or fifty years. I am tending towards a state in which the Information technology environment will be not dissimilar from the way that nature itself handles and processes information. This environment would have holographic storage systems interconnected by 'quantum' links and processing by biological processors. Sounds like science fiction but this is more or less what nature does. Cells contain all the information in each one of them, neural links connect all the cells in our biological processor - brain.

So that is the possible future and I hope this enthuses the audience and let the discussion begin..

What is your number?

2011-10-31T10:27:00.000-07:00

And I dont mean the phone or other more important numbers. I refer to the latest news on the earth's population. People who are responsible for such things 'reliably' inform us that we are likely to pass the 7 billion mark one of these days. Intrigued about this I looked up the Google search on this and came across a website that tells you your 'possible' number in the overall population on this earth.
So I put in my DOB and came up with this message

When you were born, you were the:
2,492,563,696th person alive on Earth
75,536,789,785th person to have lived since history began

Very interesting I said to myself, while thinking that perhaps the current interest in the number of inhabitants appeared to be aimed at making us think that the population was too large to sustain given the current food production, and the poverty that affects many of the world's countries.

For a little diversion I began to play with these numbers in my thoughts and on the Internet. If everyone who enters my DOB into the program gets the same numbers then obviously they are meaningless. The program never even asked the simple extension of the time of day. I only have others memories to rely on for this but the difference of 65000 that the program produced for a day later suggests that my number could be wrong by upto this number.

Another interesting number related view was suggested by a radio program, where the speaker suggested that if we were to put the entire population (7 Billions) in a square where every person had a square metre of space then that square would measure about 84 Kilometres in each direction. Looking at it this way, you might be forgiven for thinking that the Earth population was not very big at all! However when you walk around some the big cities of this world (and we did just that recently in London) it appears that the Earth far more densely populated than that.

Looking at this the other way around, I calculated if the entire land mass was divided equally then each one of us might have a square about 100 meters by 100 meters.

So, we are getting more and more, where I was 2.5 billionth at birth, now I am 7 billionth of the population.

Now consider this..How much money exists in the world and what is the total GDP (Gross Product value) in the world? This is not totally unrelated as I thought it would be interesting to see how much money on average each one of us could have if we divided it equally, something that the rich people of this world would no doubt object to.

Perhaps the closest estimate to how much money exists in the world was released in January 2009 by Mike Hewitt, editor of the economics blog DollarDaze.com. Hewitt tracked the reporting of 73 currencies from central banks and financial ministries in 90 countries, which cover the money used by 84.1 percent of the world's population. The countries tracked represent 96.7 percent of the world gross domestic product -- the market value of the world's economies combined. Hewitt found that in October 2008, these countries had notes and coins equaling $3.94 trillion in U.S. dollars in circulation [source: Hewitt].

If we were divide the cash in this world equally each person would have 560 Dollars

On the other hand money supply, which is the actual money people have which lies in bank accounts and investments etc is a much larger number. In the US alone this (known as M3) is ten times more than their cash number (M0). If the same is roughly true of the rest of the world then the total money held in the world bank accounts, cash and stocks etc must be something like $39 trillions.

If we divide this equally then each one of us would have about 5600 Dollars

And the world GDP can be approximated, based on China's GDP (about 6Trillion) being about 10% of the world. Which means that the world's total is around 60 Trillions.

Which means that we produce on average about 8600 dollars worth of goods per person every year. Nice to know.

And where does all this lead us?

Nowhere. And now we all have a lot more useless numbers in our heads.
As Pat mcGoohan says in The Prisoner 'I am not a number, I am a human being'. Or was it 'I am free man'? I am forgetting...and it was a long time ago.

Signed (#2,492,563,696 or possibly 2,492,628,700 as I was born around midnight)

Where is one from?

2011-10-25T15:32:00.000-07:00

Where are you from? - I often get asked this question, and its not an unreasonable one if you are confronted by someone who looks like me. I suppose people expect me to say that I am from either a muslim country or possibly India. In Spain there are few people who wear a turban so usually people here have no clue of my origins. However they are more than surprised or possibly annoyed when I reply 'That is an interesting question'.

Occasionally I am pleasantly surprised when a particularly knowledgable person asks me if I am a Sikh and hence imply that I am from India. As many of my friends would confirm, this is nearer to the truth. However the problem is that I am not sure if I can honestly say that I am from India. I may have Indian origins, but that 'from' thing is more complicated. I have not lived in India for 45 years, and although parents and brother live in India, I have few other friends whose whereabouts make me feel particularly Indian.

I have lived in England for the last 20 plus years, but do I feel English? I would have to confess that this is not the case either. I lived in Africa and South America for significant periods, but I dont feel particularly from those places either. It begins to emerge that its not too clear where I am from, and so its difficult to offer a simple reply to the original inquiry.

Just the other day we (Marisol and I) walked into a Tourist Information office in Santander to ask for a map or some brochure. After attending to our request the agent behind the counter asked where we were from. She expected a 'tourist' answer and when we said we were from Laredo which is a few miles down the A8 highway, she looked disappointed. Marisol sensed this and immediately said that we had come from England and this brightened the look on the agent's face.

Similarly I was often asked the same 'from' question when I used to travel to places like China, US, Italy or a host of countries during my working life and I always assumed that they wanted to know where I worked, which would be England. HoweverI usually felt that if I said 'India' then I would get a better response.

So where is one from..where they have lived all their life..where they were born, or where they currently live. Variously I could say that I am from England, India or Spain. None of these answers are satisfactory so I end up saying that 'I am from everywhere and nowhere'. This does have an exotic ring to it, as it sounds a bit like a Zen master giving clues to one of his monks about a Koan. 'How interesting' is often the response from the interested party, and this has the advantage of engaging in further conversation which may or may not be desirable depending on their 'personality'.

A tourist's life is very hard

2011-10-19T13:55:00.000-07:00

As Pablo once told me 'A tourist's life is very hard' and we were finding out that he was right. We happened to be in London for a few days to visit the mammoth art fair 'Frieze' and to catch up with the art scene and at the same time to tuck into a few Indian meals. If I was to say that after a few days of 10 or 12 hours of walking around London, it felt like we were doing the Camino de Santiago, I wont be far from the truth of how I was feeling.

The other day after a six hour review of Frieze with our friends John and Loli, we decided to go to a performance being organised by a group known as 'Spain-now', at a nearby Spanish restaurant even though we were exhausted. The performance consisted of a Spanish graffiti artist 'decorating' the restaurant windows, and the place was packed with fresh faced guests while the four of us were flopped out on some chairs wishing we had badges which said 'I have just come from Frieze - show some respect'.

The other exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery, had the title 'The shape of things to come' and contained work which was a bit like The Sex Pistols hitting the music industry some years ago. Everything looked a bit bizarre, but there were truckloads of tourists and school kids milling about.Perhaps we will see a new wave of art hitting the galleries and museums which will be associated with a new movement. We can start a trend by calling it 'punk art' or 'junk art'.

The number of people in London was frightening and coming from Spain, it was similar to how you might feel when you arrive in India for the first time and see a quantity of people you are not used to. One afternoon we had agreed to meet some friends at the Festival Hall on the Southbank. This concert hall has a huge forecourt and when we arrived we could hardly walk through this space, for the number of people who were just sitting with not an inch of space between them, as if they were in a giant sardine tin.

As it was pointless to try and get a drink on the ground floor bar, our friends decided to seek refuge in the haven that is the third floor bar called something like 'Skylark' or 'Skylon', where I decided foolishly to try a Margarita. This turned out to be rather poor version of this great drink, perhaps because the barman decided to do his own mix instead of relying on the trusted Margarita Mix from Jose Cuervo. To put some salt in the wounds we discovered that this mish-mash 'Margarita' had cost us 12 (yes twelve) Pounds, which is roughly twenty Dollars. Still this is a lot less than the forty Euros that Anmar (who was incidentally one of the friends at the Skylon) had to fork out for a beer and a Tapa in Plaza Mayor in Madrid not so long ago.

The usual shopping activities were also affected by the hordes of people in London, and on one occasion when Marisol tried to raid Primark which is one of the bigger shops on Oxford Street ((with a business model which relies on keeping the prices so low that the sales are enormous), she found that such was the crush of people that it was virtually impossible to even get in.

Leaving Marisol to fight her way through shoppers I decided to head west to Shepherd's Bush to go and pay my respects at the Sikh temple. As I made my way on the Central Line of the London Underground, a young lady who was sitting in front of me, took out a scarf from her handbag and covered her head, then pulled out what turned out to be Sikh prayer book and began to read. It appears that religion is making a comeback in the youth of many cultures. Later I did my own meditation at the temple and hopefully added to my spiritual well-being.

Later in the week we were roaming the backstreets of Liverpool Street and the Spitalfield Market area when we had two unusal things happen to us. First we stumbled upon a sale of antiques and retro furniture, which was labelled 'for one day only', and thats unusual. It was only when we recognised one of the workers seated in the corner of the space as one of the supervisors on the famous TV programme called 'The Apprentice', where Alan Sugar mainly does a lot of 'you are fired' before hiring one 'apprentice', that the event made any sense.

Second, a little later the same day, when we were still roaming in the same area, someone approached us and very pointedly said 'Holaaa?' . We recognised the face immediately and realised that we had witnessed a fantastic coincidence. It was a lady who lives in an apartment in the very same building where we live in Spain and we normally see her everyday at home. How small this world is or as they say in Spanish 'the world is like a small scarf.'

While we were in London we also had the occasion to celebrate Marisol's birthday and our wedding anniversary, and we revisited the Stanhope Bar on Gloucester Road where we had first met thirty eight years ago. There were also numerous visits to the Massala Zone restaurant to tuck into as much Indian food as possible. Several helpings of Bhel Papri Chat, Gol Gappes and Aaloo Tickis were required to get to a satisfactory state of bliss and to be able to cope with the next few months without these essential soul-foods.

Finally we are now home and trying to rest our weary legs, and to resolve to take it much easier next time we travel. It is understandable that the tourist has to make the best of the time on a short trip away from home but it should be possible to do this without turning the whole thing into a marathon.

Perhaps Pablo will come up with a better saying, something along the lines of 'conserve energy to be happy' or 'the smart tourist does as little as possible' and hopefully he will again be right.

Interconnected events or thoughts

2011-10-06T10:46:00.000-07:00

I had an email from a long-time absent old friend yesterday that started a chain of thought which had me absorbed for a long time. It occurred to me that the brain has a startling capability to jump from one thing to another and one can probably link all of ones experiences in life starting with any thought at random. I wont try and list all my experiences, but I will have a go at a few jumps just to illustrate the point.

The email that started this particular flow of thoughts from Bill who moved to Brazil a few years ago, and said:
"I just happen to be at the OTC Brasil 2011 Conference. Are you here in Rio? It would be fun to meet up if you are."

Now, I have no idea why Bill would assume that I might just happen to be in Rio, five thousand miles away. Perhaps my reputation for travel and showing up just about anywhere has got ahead of me! Be that as it may it reminded me of a portrait of Bill we have in the entrance of our home, which had been a present from an artist friend of ours in London, known only as Marko.

Marko was often to be seen at the London Biennale events, which happened regularly in London during the past decade in which Marisol and I often took part. Marko was (and is) a very generous man and volutarily gave much of his time to anyone who happened to need it. Our friend David Medalla, who had initiated the idea of the London Biennale needed much of Marko's time and resources, so I next jumped on memories of David.

David was (and is) the kind of man who could turn the most mundane thing into extraordinary. For example if you happened to be walking past a building he might say "oh, I danced at a party in this building once and shared the floor with Mick Jagger" as if that was the most normal thing that could occur. Or he might say "when I first came to London, I shared an apartment in that building with so and so (eg David Hockney, Lord Guinness, Yoko Ono etc etc)". This would often hit you side ways and he would embark on his own chains of thought which the London Art historian Guy Brett has turned into a book called "Exploding Galaxies". During one of these revealing moments David had told me that when he was in New York in his youth (many years ago) he had known Marcel Duchamp, no less, and something about a rose that they had called 'Selavi'.

I now turned to the thought of that famous urinal that Duchamp had presented as a work of art and remembered reading recently a news report about a Japanese person, who had left a large sum of money in a urinal in some city of Japan, with instructions that it should be used to help people who had been displaced or otherwise suffered as a result of the nuclear explosion that occurred earlier this year.

By now you are beginning to get the general idea of how thoughts can trigger memories and further thoughts that seem to go around for ever.

The Japanese urinal donation reminded me of a similar act of kindness that prompted a Madrid organisation to set up a dinner at a five star hotel, to collect money to help people who had lost their homes in an earthquake at Lorca, a small town in Spain. Forty five of the best chefs had been invited to participate, and each had prepared a special dish for the event, and for a fixed price the public were invited to come and sample these delights.

Marisol happened to be on the mailing list of this organisation, and we decided to attend the dinner and it turned out to be extraordinary. Our son Anil also happened to be in Madrid and we invited him to join us as a birthday treat. That in itself turned the evening into something unforgettable. I was also interviewed by the Canal 6 TV channel and appeared in their news bulettin that week, and many people called up to say that they had seen me on TV.

This in turn reminded me of a call I had from the state TV network Channel 1, who wanted to know if I wanted to participate in their regular program 'Destination Spain' where they spend time with foreigners who have come to stay in Spain and record the proceedings to be shown on their program. While I have managed to avoid the appearance so far it is likely to happen sometime in the future.

This in itself is a pandora's box of thoughts about our recent move to Spain and all that entails, the emptying of our home in England, the preparations in Spain, my retirement and all the changes in our lives. The thought process goes on and on. On a lighter note we will be in London next week, where we will no doubt try to catchup with Marko, and perhaps David, and I will try to satisfy my craving for that best food in the world, that can only be prepared using spices and chillies!

And perhaps I will send an email to Bill and ask him if he is going to be in London.
Probably not a possibility but worth a try!

4 Friends and a Funeral

2011-10-02T09:34:00.000-07:00

There is something peculiar about Spain and bar owners. Perhaps it is because the Spanish economy depends so heavily on tourism and bars in particular, that there are so many of these drinking establishments and consequently their owners. Whenever you meet people there is a major possibility that among them will be a bar owner or an ex. Recently there have been numerous encounters with such professionals among friends and family, and as Laredo is going through a prolonged heat wave, the nights are balmy and the conditions perfect for such events.

As hinted in a previous post, Octavio was expected in town, and he appeared with three other interesting Madrid friends in tow (that makes four). These turned out to be folks that had crossed our paths in the past, and we met as long lost friends. The friends featured prominently and often among Octavio's stories from Madrid, and regularly populated his blog posts, had a large collection of stories of their own to keep the outings lively and time appeared to pass without notice.

First there was Patricia, who is a singer about to release a new CD and had a nice little side business in silver imported with her travels. She described her narrow escapes with security searches on airports with considerable volumes of cash and the precious metals. She was accompanied by her partner Antonio, who is a movie maker and producer and in turn described his larger than life associates in Madrid and their escapades as a result of swings between extreme shortage and a glut of money. The couple also confessed to their skinny dipping in the sea these days as they did not expect to find such hot conditions here in Northern Spain!

Octavio too contributed a hilarious tale about a French Count who lives in Madrid and who had occasional duties required by the French embassy, one of which had something to do with a royal funeral, and involved a taxi driver, an overdressed count, an urn containing the ashes of the defunct royal and a seedy bar. Not surprisingly the story which involved Octavio's rendition of the count's French accent, had us laughing for a long time, and one can probably come up with their own version with these diverse constituents.

And so we come to the ex bar-owner, the fourth friend, Juan who is retired from owning the often talked about El Manuela in the barrio (area) of Malasaña in Madrid. Over the years Octavio had described the legendary status of this bar and its owners, who we had occasion to meet once or twice in the past. Their organisation of cultural events, including intellectual forums and art exhibitions were much admired in Madrid and beyond. Juan shared many of the friends that Octavio and Antonio talked about, though Marisol and I were just interested onlookers enjoying the stories and the bonhomie of the group remembering old times.

Oh and I almost forgot, the funeral of the grandmother Maria, of our cousins Pablo, Nacho and Valentin...which took place today..RIP

Laredo Diary

2011-09-29T09:32:00.000-07:00

It was one of those days that can bring on a smile and help you to regain your faith in human nature. A study had just reported that the town where we live was second only to Pamplona in its quality of life when compared to more than 630 towns that make up Spain. This would normally be a reason to celebrate, however those who live here would point to several problems facing the town which may be difficult to resolve. The current financial crisis that has taken hold in most of the Mediterranean countries is taking its toll in the north of Spain too. The new 'designed for the future' port, for example, lies empty and unused while the construction companies await payments which are unlikely to be met in much the same way as Greece may default, except that we do not have a big benefactor such as Germany to hand us a bailout. Many organisations are feeling the pain of local governments not being able to pay their bills, and papers are full of stories of unpaid workers and stalled projects.

Nevertheless I decided to inform my usual circle of friends and family of this good news and lo and behold recieved an immediate response from Octavio in Madrid that he would like to test out this 'quality of life' for himself as he would be coming to town tomorrow, perhaps trying to get some fresh air after the summer heat of Madrid. Normally Laredo is a cooler and fresher climate compared to Madrid however this week we are having the best of summer weather and I doubt that it will be much cooler than Madrid tomorrow.
To get back to my initial thought and the topic of 'today' and that smile, the day started when I woke up this morning to the usual noise of magpies screaming in the garden of our building. When I looked out of the window, and found the cloudless sky and a welcoming sight of a sunrise I decided that in the spirit of cooperation in household duties, I would agree to take a walk into town and do the last minute shopping that we required to prepare for entertaining some friends later in the day, before any prospect for a walk on the beach and a swim in the sea.

Straight after breakfast, I headed into town which is a mere five minutes walk from our home armed with instructions and lists and ready to beam at any and everyone. The first person I came across was the mother of a friend who I had not seen for ages, and who had been recovering from an illness that merited a brief conversation which included a sincere expression of joy at how well she looked. Then as I turned a corner of the 'Central Park' of Laredo, I came across a lady sitting on park bench with a two or three year old child. This is not unusual and neither is the fact that this child was pointing to me and saying something to the lady. This happens quite often given my relatively strange appearance for this part of the world and I tend to ignore what I consider 'bad manners'. However the before mentioned smile returned to my face when the child spontaneously said 'hello', and earned a greeting in return.

I was not done with encounters yet, and as I waited in the queue to pay for my purchases at the supermarket, a man approached and greeted me saying that he had met me in Escalante, a smaller neighboring town, that was not even in the list of 630 that Laredo had been compared with. I can tell you that this living in small places keeps you on your toes, as I had to quickly rack my brains to remember the encounter and then make some polite remark such as 'Of course, and how are you' etc. Octavio, the friend who arrives tomorrow, would have been proud of me, considering that he writes a blog on 'Encounters in Madrid'.

Safely back home, with the sun still out in force, a quick change of clothes and we were on the beach before you could do too much damage by not recognizing someone or worse still owed any money by the local government, to spoil your day. The beach was definitely a reason for a smile. My ex boss used to always tell the story of when I showed up for my interview for that job in his department, and he asked me the usual question about what my future goals were. Apparantly I had replied that the future goals had something to do with spending a lot of time on a beach in Spain.

Now I was at that beach in Spain and enjoying every minute of it. Smile.

Austin & Christmas lights

2010-12-27T20:16:00.000-08:00

Congress Avenue and Xmas lights in Austin

South India October 2010

2010-11-01T10:30:00.000-07:00

To see all the photos click here - Para ver todas las imaganes click aqui

October saw us headed for the South of India for the first time in our lives.
First Kerala, where we spent some time in Kochi, Komarakom (backwater lagoons), Munnar (spectacular mountains and tea plantations), Thekaddy (Spice country and the Periyar wild life reserve) and then on to Tamil Nadu..where we visited the temples of Madurai, Mahaballipuram (Mamallapuram) and Kanchipuram.
The hotels arranged by a travel agent of Paramjit's choice were superb, and one of the highlights of this trip were the Ayurvedic massages that we have had!!

Kathmandu, Napal October 2010

2010-10-16T04:10:00.000-07:00

Click here to see more photos
Click aqui para ver mas fotos

Here are a few pictures from our Nepal trip.
Aqui estan unas fotos de nuestro viaje a Nepal..

Muerto de Amor - A new exhibition by SAL

2010-09-28T12:32:00.000-07:00

More pictures - Mas Fotos - Click here

Muerto de Amor is the new exhibition of SAL (Spanish Artists in London). Marisol is part of this group and she participates in this exhibition, which opened to the public in London on the 23rd of September, this month. The exhibition pays homage to Federico Garcia-Lorca, the famos Spanish poet who died young during the civil war in Spain. The private view of this exhibition was on the 23rd and an unbelievably large number of people showed up at the exhibition. Marisol and I came over from Spain for the opening, and will be going on to India from London on Friday!! Marisol's piece is a heart with about 2500 needles stuck in it, titled '2500 needles'.

Encierros Ampuero - September 2010

2010-09-06T05:48:00.000-07:00

More photos - Mas fotos - Click here - Pincha aqui

The Bull runs - known as Encierros - in Ampuero Spain - September 5 2010
several days of non-stop partying, in 10 of which we were involved..food, wine, dancng in the streets, and bulls running down the road to worry about!!
It must be Spain :-)

Sheer Havoc - moving homes

2010-06-08T04:17:00.000-07:00

Thought it would be easy to raise anchors and move home! After 23 years and no holds barred accumulation, its tough to do a complete move without some stress..
Thought it might be interesting to try a new life for a while..but after a couple of months pof non-stop effort, both here in the UK and in our new home in Spain, wish we had tried something simpler. Still no pain, no gain..hopefully all this will be behind us soon and then we can relax
:-?
And what will we do with two homes worth of 'stuff' all squeezed into one..although M has arranged a studio, which I suspect will be a storage dump for a month or two..Will keep you posted but one good decision was to avoid having to drive there and back..instead just giving up the car for now..will see later if its truly necessary to reacquire!
Wish us luck and energy!

Chinese New Year in London

2010-02-22T02:08:00.000-08:00

Picture this - Chinese New Year (Tiger) celebrations in London.
A million people on the streets of Soho
I am standing on Shaftesbury Avenue with Luis (our friend from Chile) waiting for Marisol and Maruja to emerge from a shop.
Three young ladies approach me and say
'ARE YOU MARCO's UNCLE' !!!!!!!!!!$$$$$$$$$@@@@@@@@#####
We are stunned..YES I reply gingerly..
The girls say..We thought so, we are Marco's friends and we have seen you on your blog..and your photos from Australia!!
What can I say - I am famous, and the picture above to prove it!

Australia # 6 - Sydney

2010-02-15T13:56:00.000-08:00

More photos/ Mas fotos - Click Here

And last but not least, some pictures from the Chinese Garden in Sydney and the time with MamaJi, at Deepi's house.

Australia # 5 - Canberra, Sydney and more!!

2010-02-10T21:06:00.000-08:00

More photos - Mas Fotos Click here

Next outings - to Canberra and walk around Sydney, meeting with Artist friend Jenny and Lara Irvine who marries Garry next month!!

Australia 4 - Katoomba and more

2010-02-06T13:38:00.000-08:00

More photos/Mas Fotos

What a beautiful place Katoomba is!!!
But...we have incessant rain, three sisters and lots of sight seeing in Sydney and nearby..and we saw some Koalas!!

Australia 3 - Kangaroos

2010-02-04T15:04:00.000-08:00

Kangaroos in Hunter Valley!!

Australia 2 - Sydney, Hunter Valley and more

2010-02-02T13:11:00.000-08:00

More Photos/Mas fotos

More photos from Sydney and Hunter Valley, Wine, and Kangaroos (will post a video later) - on the fly..no time..
:-)

Sydney 1 - Australia Day

2010-01-26T15:08:00.000-08:00

At Uppinder's in Forestville, Sydney..and Manly Beach.
More Photos/mas fotos

Australia Day - 26th January..same day as India's Republic day and Mamaji's wedding anniversary! Popy,Sangeeta, Deepi,Parveen,Birinder, Guddi, Marisol and I spent the evening watching the festivities unfold at one of the numerous harbour areas in Sydney. The whole of Sydney was there or so it seemed! The fireworks were stunning..
More Photos/mas fotos

Hong Kong - 23/24 January

2010-01-24T01:31:00.000-08:00

Hong Kong - a very welcome break in the long flight from London to Sydney
The first day was just a long flight, followed by getting to the hotel, and we walked around the Causeway Bay area, which was swarming with people. Had an early dinner (declined the chicken feet on the menu!!) and called it a day..

Next day we did the sight seeing with the panoramic view of the skyline from the Kowloon side
Then in the evening metup with Paul and Rebecca, for a great evening at the Foreign Correspondents club. Paul a very long ago colleague, now living here.

The final day was a walk around Soho, Hollywood street and Cat street. Now we are in the airport terminal waiting for the flight to Sydney.

More soon!!! Looking forward to meeting Popy, Deepi.

Ana and Danny's Leaving party

2010-01-18T10:54:00.001-08:00

Danny & Ana in a rare picture from their party!
On Saturday (16th Jan) we attended the leaving party organised by Ana and Danny, down in Guildford. They are going off to start a new life in New Zealand!

There was a great atmosphere with a lot of live music. Jazz, soul and the good old sixties rock music. Danny and his band were really great!
Here are a few pictures to get the general idea, and below there is a short video with some snippets.

Pablo's Birthday

2010-01-03T13:14:00.000-08:00

Pablo Matute's birthday, and an unforgettable Red Beans Lunch! El cumplenyos de Pablo Matute y una alubiada inolvidable!! Tarrueza en el Barrio de Santa Ana

Mas Fotos - More Photos Click here

Happy New Year 2010

2010-01-01T14:44:00.000-08:00

How many stories can you tell in post on a blog..first page 66 of the Laredo magazine called Laredo Lin. There appears a picture of Marisol & I when we have just been sprayed with this gunge from a can while we walked through the route of the Batalla de Flores in August..Marisol was the judge on my side. Cuantos cuentos se puede contar en un solo 'post' en este blog..primero pagina 66 de Laredo Lin, la revista Laredana. Alli parece una foto de cuando fuimos pringados con este spray por un espectador de Batalla de Flores in Agosto...Marisol fue una del jurado y esta a mi lado.

then a picture of my girls and boys..while we parted once more with Manjeet, Almu and Anil headed for different destinations. Seguimos por una foto de mis chicas y chicos..decimos adios a Anil, Almu y Manjeet que salieron con rumbos diferentes.

Then there was the new years eve at Angel and Nelly's..the 12 grapes and the welcoming in of the new year 2010. We drank a toast to all the family and friends in all parts of the world..HNY!! Despues nos entramos el 2010 en casa de Angel y Nelly..12 uvas y hicimos un toast a nuestra familia y los amigos en todas partes del mundo..FAN!!!

next New Years Day..started off with a fantastic sunny morning..Pablo with Marisol and Montse..then unexpectedly a man came out of the sea, put on his clothes and we realised it was Amavisca (Racing and Real Madrid!!) El dia siguiente 1 Enero, empezo con una manyana preciosa, Pablo, Montse, Marisol y yo fuimos a dar un paseo por la playa, pareceo este hombre despues de banayarse, se vistio y le reconocimos..era Amavisca (Racing y Real Madrid)

Finally seen at the 3d projection of AVATAR!!!
What a movie..I cried seeing the views in 3D!! Thoroughly recommend it. But dont see it in 2D.
Get the full 3D experience.. Por ultimo vistos en una proyection de AVATAR en 3D. Que maravilla de peli..puedo confesar que yore..pero no lo vean en 2D..tienen que verlo en 3D..

A big hug from Arvinder. Un abrazo de Dicky.

Christmas in Spain

2009-12-25T00:56:00.000-08:00

Xmas 2009 - All of us, Marisol & I (from Stanstead), Manjeet & Almu (from Austin via Madrid), and Anil (also from London) made our different ways to Laredo, and joined up with Montse, Pirre (from Mallorca) and his gang Alba (from Bilbao) and Marco (from Valladolid) to spend christmas together at our 'chateau' near the beach with Angel and Nelly and the rest of the family including Pablo from Madrid. How we all managed to get here with so much snow everywhere is a miracle indeed. With so many flights cancelled even from Madrid, we all arrived more or less as planned and were delighted to find that this one spot in Europe was still enjoying virtually summer weather.
Here are some pictures from the Christmas evening dinner and soon we will post more from the trip.
Thanks for all the calls on 24th and 25th from Guddi (US), Popy(Sydney), & Pochin (Uruguay) and we also talked to Mom and Dad and Pammi in Delhi. Techonology - its great..however our Interconnection could not handle Skype very well...so the video links were not so successful.
Merry Xmas - and a Happy New Year shortly!
Dicki and the whole group of Bawas and Cavias here in Spain.

Castellano
Navidad 2009 - todos nosotros Marisol y yo (desde Stanstead), Almu y Manjeet (Austin via Madrid), Anil (Londres), llagamos a nuestro 'chateau' en Laredo desde nuestras variadas locaciones y reunimos con Pierre (Mallorca), Alba (Bilbao), Marco (Valladolid), Pablo (Madrid), Angel y Nelly. Como pudimos llegar aqui con tanta nieve por todo alrededor es un milagro. Con tantos vuelos cancellados todavia llegamos mas o menos como planeado, y sorprendidos por las tempraturas muy agradables que encontramos en esta zona en medio de tanto frio y caos.
Aqui teneis unas fotos de la fiesta de Navidad en casa de Angel y Nelli, y tambien unas fotos del grupo desayunando. Pondremos mas fotos aqui mas adelante.
Gracias por todas las llamadas durante 24 y 25, de Guddi (US), Popy(Sydney), y Pochin (Uruguay) y nostros tambien hablamos con mis padres y Pammi en Delhi - que maravilla la technologia...aun que el Skype no funcciono muy bien con la coneccion que tenemos aqui.
Feliz Navidad y un Prospero 2010 (que ya viene) a tod@s!
Dicki y todo el grupo de Bawas y Cavias aqui en Laredo!

US and the Halloween Parade in New York

2009-11-04T09:34:00.000-08:00

I was in the US last week to bid farewell to my numerous friends and colleagues, and stayed over the weekend to get a taste of the famous Halloween Parade in New York.

The fall colours were spectacular as the couple of photos from Pennsylvania above will confirm

More photos from the parade

And the Parade was fantastic..I arrived in New York early and spent a couple of hours at Moma, walked the length of Manhattan (twice - about a 100 blocks in total) before ending up at the Spring Street start point of the Parade. I was early, and many thought that I was dressed in costume (perhaps as a terrorist) for the Parade, and asked if they could take my photo. Later all the surrounding streets were closed off to cars and you had to be registered to come into the parade area, which was also closed off to the public. But I was already in!
Later when Jasvinder (the sis) and Birinder (B-I-L) arrived, there was nowhere to park..so Birinder had to drive around for an hour, while I sneaked Jasvinder into the area where everyone was preparing to start the parade. A policeman on duty, let me back in, because I had made sure that he would remember me, while I left the area briefly to meet up with Jas.
We had the wildest time, took lots of pics which you can see by using the link for 'More photos'.
Later we caught up with the roving Birinder and headed for the most amazing meal at the Rosa Mexicano on Columbus Avenue. We entered wearing our masks (Brinder had his up-side-down! but still looked ferocious), and caused quite a commotion. Normality returned when we revealed that we had a reservation! And we were led to perhaps the best table in the restaurant.
Later at home we even managed to catch up with the third game of the world series which the Yankees won, thus making J and B really happy!
What a day!!

More photos from the parade

Lil Brother - Big Brother (Pammi in Epsom)

2009-09-24T07:39:00.000-07:00

Pammi&Chanda....................Pammi at home
last year..............................19th September 2009

Last week Pammi was back in London for a conference and we got to see him again! I can get used to that. But not before the most amazing coincidence. Pammi and I were making our way to Epsom from different directions on Friday 18th.
I was headed back after Marisol's exhibition in Leeds (See next story below) by train, and there was a delay of one hour because of some accident on the tracks. When I boarded the train to Epsom at Vauxhall I sent Pammi a text message as previously agreed. Here follows the transcript of the message sequence.....
Me: 5.30 Getting on the Epsom train at Vauxhall
Pammi: Just left Waterloo on the Dorking train
Me: So you are just behind. U did not pass Vauxhall yet?
Pammi: If its the first stop after Waterloo then yes passed it
Me: Then we are on the same train! Which car from the back? I am in the 3rd from the back.
Pammi: What? on the same train? Weird man. I am in the 2nd last or last, not sure.
Me: I will try and move down the train. Its packed. Definitely see you at Epsom

And a couple of hops in and out different train carriages, we found each other!!

And spent a lovely few hours together.

Marisol at the Leeds College of Art

2009-09-21T11:37:00.000-07:00

We were in Leeds last week for the inauguration of Marisol's latest exhibition at the Leeds College of Art and Design, and I can tell you that it was stunning! The hair piece which was made in China and made a trip to London in my luggage, was beautiful. So was the I-Myself installation of eyes from every year of Marisol's life. To top it all the video from 'Forgotten Languages' was projected along an entire side of the college cafeteria.
My favourite story is that there was a flyer in distribution, the entire sheet proclaiming Marisol Cavia's exhibition at the college, with a photo and a description, and at the foot of the sheet in small letters there was this note: 'Also a set of prints of Chapman Brothers'!!
Marisol is the main attraction. The curator Terry Jones wrote to say
'The show looks great – The students have all returned today and there was a big crowd looking at the hair'
More at Marisol's website marisol.co.uk

Batalla de Flores, Laredo, Spain, 28 August 2009

2009-09-08T12:23:00.000-07:00

More photoos of the preparation - Mas photos dela preparacion
http://www.flickr.com/photos/marisolcavia/sets/72157622250924560/
We were back in Laredo for the Batalla de Flores in Laredo, and this year the authorities asked Marisol to be judge. This was hard work for her and for me, the photographer and umbrella holder..On the day of the Batalla, even google.es was decked out in flowers!
Above some photos of the work on the night before and below the real batalla procession in video.

Estabamos de vuelta en Laredo para la Batalla de Flores, y esta vez las autoridades invitaron a Marisol para formar parte del juzgado. Mucho trabajo, tanto para ella como para mi, el fotografo y el portador del paraguas! Hasta el Google.es estaba hecho con flores este dia.
Arriba fotos del trabajo de noche anterior y por la manyana del dia dela batalla, y abajo el video dela procesion.

If you cant see the video, try the link below to Youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrLqJWXMICg

regards,
Arvinder.

Pelayo Fernandez Arrizabalaga plays jazz at the private view of his new exhibition

2009-09-06T03:08:00.000-07:00

Pelayo Fernandez Arrizabalaga plays jazz at the private view of his new exhibition of paintings, at the Espiral Gallery in Meruelo, Spain..August 2009

Pelayo Fernandez Arrizabalaga toca jazz por la ocasion de la inauguracion de su expo de nuevos cuadros, en la Galeria Espiral en Meruelo, Spain..Agosto 2009

If having difficulty viewing click on link below to see the youtube directly
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKxYd9X-iaM

Regards..

Concert of Bells Ringing

2009-08-25T03:05:00.000-07:00

A concert of Bells ringing in the valley of Meruelo, in Cantabria Spain.
Llorenc Barber, Montserrat Palacios and their friend Karina Serrano held this concert at the small barrio of Vierna in the valley of Meruelo, near Santander and Laredo.

A video of the concert is attached below....

Warm Nights in Laredo - SanRoman

2009-08-20T02:32:00.000-07:00

Click here to see more photos: Pincha aqui para ver mas fotos

Its August 2009, we must be in Laredo!!

Here are a few pictures from a dinner at Laredo, where everyone had to don a wig!

Es el Verano de 2009 y estamos otra vez en Laredo

Unas fotos de la cena en SanRoman, donde todos teniamos que ponernos las pelucas!!
Click here to see more photos: Pincha aqui para ver mas fotos

Longshore Drift at Shoreham Beach - 9/8/9

2009-08-12T14:56:00.000-07:00

Marisol and I participated in the Longshore Drift, on Shoreham Beach, an art event organised by our London Biennale friend Katie Sollohub. Marisol organised a Talisman making contest and held consultations where questions were answered using a book, in this case a Rabindranath Tagore novel! And I had live posts into Facebook with pictures and also to Twitter, to bring the art world into the twenty first century!

Pammi in the news

2009-08-01T04:26:00.001-07:00

Tee Off in Style..hosted by Visit Britain's Paramjit Bawa!!
Click here to read story in the Hindustan Times

This was obviously a big event!
And Pammi looks a lot more presentable than the British High Comm Sir Richard

Congratulations and well done P.

Ecos de Lorca

2009-07-26T11:58:00.000-07:00

A music and poetry recital inspired by the poems of Federico Garcia Lorca by the Valencian Choir: Orfeo Veus Juntes
At the Willesden Green Centre in London on 24th July. Organised by Lorenzo Belenguer.
A truely memorable concert which had elements of drama, emotion, music, dance and much more.
A few seconds from their presentation, video taken from my seat. Apologies for the breaks!!

Official Photos from Wedding of Manjeet and Almu

2009-07-10T08:55:00.000-07:00

You all will be pleased to know that the official photos from Manjeet and Almu's wedding in Madrid last month are in (all 1221 of them). Dont panic..I have selected a few and put them on Flickr.

Click here to see the photos!

Las fotos oficiales de la boda de Manjeet y Almu estan ya disponibles (todas 1221 de ellas). No se precupen, porque he seleccionado unas pocas y las pueden ver

Hagan click aqui para verlas!

Many regards y muchos besos de

Dicky y Marisol.

Michael Jackson

2009-06-26T02:45:00.000-07:00

Sad news...
Let me tell you all my story of meeting MJ once in London a couple of years ago....
I was in the foyer of the Photographer's Gallery in London, near Leicester Square, on the phone to Anil, and a limo stopped in front of the building
Out jumped two guys from Matrix, with dark glasses and microphones and headsets, and looked around for a few seconds, then this darkly dressed short figure slowly emerged and walked into the gallery. As he passed he stopped and looked at me and said 'I love your turban, man'
Now I am not much of a MJ fan, and I had to think for a second to pay back a compliment on his dancing routines.
Anil said on the phone, 'who are you talking to?', and when I said MJ, he said 'you must be joking'
So I said to Anil, 'No Joke - here you say hello', and extended the mobile to MJ, who said something like 'hi' to Anil!!
and he was gone into the gallery.
Sad news indeed.

Pippa, Vanessa and Doug in London

2009-06-23T15:14:00.001-07:00

Click on pictures to see them larger
June 2009 saw the first trip to London by Pippa accompanied by mum Vanessa, dad Doug, grandma Arlene, to visit uncle and aunt in London at the birth of their son Geoffrey.
We took the opportunity to meet the whole family and spent some time with Vanessa and Pippa.
Have a look at Pippa's video below, which we are hoping to keep somewhere to show Pippa when she is twenty!!

If it wont play then try going to the youtube website by clicking below
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84NI1onYj1w
Regards.

Liliana and Carlos - music on a summer's eve

2009-06-22T15:34:00.000-07:00

Open art studios at Liliana and Carlos's studio in the basement of the family home, turned into a marvellous music evening when Liliana and family sang some 'buleares de donosti' and an Englishman known as El Maestro Roger, picked up his guitar and played the most beautiful Flamenco guitar. Watch the video below!!

If it wont play then try going to the youtube website by clicking below
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4UtJbtjbEA

Regards.

Congratulations Manjeet & Almu - wedding 6th June at 6pm

2009-06-09T12:11:00.000-07:00

More photos from Alba/ Mas fotos de Alba

Here are the first pictures from Manjeet and Almu's wedding thanks to Maria, Alba and Valen.
More photos when they become available.
Great, wonderful, all the superlatives. We all looked great, Manjeet and Almu looked fantastic and Marisol and I in Indian attire.
The dinner afterwards was really good and we need to diet for a few weeks!

Marco, Alba, Pirre and Montse came..also Pablo, his brother Valen, and Marisol´s aunt Consu and aunt Montse from Laredo, and their husbands joined us. All of Almu's sisters and her brother were there with their partners.

I made my speech about the Sikh culture (Speech Text), which was very well received..The priest had lived in Maracaibo, and we talked for hours over dinner as he was on our table. Also we found that we had mutual friends with Almu´s God parents, and the priest was a friend of one of Marisol´s cousins from Ciudad Rodrigo.

So many great memories, new family, and everything worked out as Manjeet and Almu would have wished.
Regards,
Arvinder (or Dicki)

More photos from wedding by Alba/ Mas fotos de la boda por Alba
Spanish
Aqui teneis las primeras fotos que me ha mandado Maria traves de Manjeet.
Fantastico, maravilloso, enorme, superlativo!! y eramos todos guapisimos..Manjeet, Almu, Marisol, Manolo y Marisol y yo en ropa India.
La cena despues era maravillosa, y ahora tenemos que hacer dieta para una semana!
Marco, Alba, Pirre y Montse vinieron desde Laredo y Mallorca. Tambien tios Consu/Carlos y tios Montse/Valen, Pablo y la familia Valentin por supuesto.
Yo tenia que hacer un discurso sobre la boda en la cultura Sikh (Texto de discurso), y fue bien recibido aun que el sistema de sonido en la iglesia no era muy bueno. Lo repeti durante la cena despues.
El padre (priest) estaba en nuestra mesa, y habia vivido en Venezuela y una temporada en Maracaibo. Pasamos horas hablando de las experiencias, y el tambien conocia un primo de Marisol de Ciudad Rodrigo! que casualidad!
Los padrinos de Almu tambien conocian Laredo, y discubrimos que teniamos muchos amigos mutuales con ellos. Tio Carlos y el recordaban haber saludado en Laredo! Que pequno es el mundo.
Cuantas memorias buenas, una nueva familia, muchos cuentos y todo salio como Manjeet y Almu habian planificado.

Un abrazo
Dicki (o Arvinder)

Arvinder's Speech on Oriental Culture Texto de Discurso de Dicki sobre Culturas Orientales

Laredo/Santoña/Rioja April 2009

2009-04-17T12:59:00.000-07:00

Marisol and I were back at Laredo for a quick break last week at Easter 2009.
Here we met with many of the friends who had kept our appointment in India in November 2008, and some who could not make it.
Weather was kind and we recharged.

More Photos from Laredo/Santoña/La Rioja

Montse had arranged a trip to the Rioja and in particular to a tour of the Marquez de Riscal winery, where we got our first look at the new Frank Gehry building. And everyone agreed that the 2004 Reserva is a very fine wine indeed!

A short walking trip to Santona proved to be a real cosmic energy builder, and unmissable.
Real thanks to everyone, too numerous to name, who made the trip unforgettable as usual.

Mas Fotos de Laredo/Santoña/La Rioja

Spanish
Marisol y yo volvimos a Laredo para el fin de semana de Semana Santa.
Nos encontramos con muchos de nuestros amigos que acudieron a la India por el motivo de mi cumpleaños en Noviembre 2008, y muchos mas los que no pudieron.
Y el tiempo tenia un poco de todo, lluvia, sol y nubes.
Montse habia arreglado un viaje de muchos de nuestros amigos a la Rioja, donde vimos uno de los procesiones de Semana Santa mas conocido en el norte, despues visitamos las bodegas de Marquez de Riscal, donde vimos por primera vez este edificio maravilloso que el famoso architecto Frank Gehri ha hecho para esta bodega. Y todos estuvimos de acuerdo que el tinto reserva de 2004 es muy bueno!
Finalmente una caminata por la playa de Laredo, despues Santoña y el fuerte en la peña de Santoña fue fantastico, y nos cargamos de nuevo con la energia cosmica, para aguantar un poco mas en Londres!

Regards,
Arvinder.

Pammi and Spring 2009

2009-04-08T01:09:00.000-07:00

Pammi and spring sunshine here in England
Pammi's quote about his trip
"You are all right, Paddy...two pints of Guinness please!"
He had been to Dublin and Belfast!

Mike and Celie celebrate!

2009-03-17T13:20:00.000-07:00

More photos from the Prested Hall party - click here

March 2009 saw Mike and Celie celebrate several birthdays and relationship anniversaries.
We attended the party at Prested Hall, where many friends from the past assembled for the festivities and to catch up with old friendships.
Really nice to see all these friends and to make new ones!
Prested Hall is shaping up to be a great venue, hotel, spa, tennis etc etc.
Look up the website at prested.co.uk

And below see Celie enjoying the event!

Madrid in February 09

2009-02-18T10:53:00.000-08:00

more photos from Arco

Marisol & I spent the week of 7th to 15th of February in Madrid, staying with Manjeet and Almu in their lovely apartment. Montse came over from Laredo and we had a fantastic week of much activity..
First there was the Arco 2009 - the great Madrid art fair..They had extended their hospitality as in previous years by giving us at least one pass..although due to changes to their systems we did not have the multiple passes as in previous years.
However our artist friend Gayatri, was helping her family's Kashi Gallery at the fair and she arranged for all the passes we were ever going to need!
India was the invited country this year, and we happened to know the owners of two of about ten galleries who were exhibitting from India. Peter Nagy of the Nature Morte gallery which we happened to visit about a year ago in Delhi in the company of Trolley (otherwise known as Brian Mulvihill from Vancouver), and of course Gayatri's friends of the Kashi Gallery from Kerala in South India.
Picture from El Correo newspaper!

Icing on the cake, during the exhibition the Basque El Correo newspaper ran daily stories on Arco and a photo of me and Marisol appeared on at least two days. See the links to the articles below..
El Correo newspaper from 12th Feb (third photo)
El Correo newspaper from 14th Feb

Madrid.......................Real/Racing/Bernabeu

Montse ......................Manjeet/Almu
More photos from Madrid
Then there was the family/friends/shopping/dining/St Valentines
We caught up with our friends Leandro/Natalia (who made us a wonderful Peruvian meal including Pizco with dates!), Puri/Pedro (accompanied us on two shows), Alfonso/Paz (more dinner and visit to studio), Valentin and Lurdes ( invite to a very nice lunch at their home), Octavio (Lunch at a nice restaurant), and even by a strange coincidence Pelayo from Switzerland was over doing a music concert which Marisol managed to see while I accompanied Manjeet to Real Madrid v Racing Santander football match!
Specially should mention the time with Manjeet and Almu (who arranged a long overdue get together with her large family!) plus Pablo and Montse. We also met with Tio Carlos and Tia Consu, still enthused from her trip to India in November! at my birthday - see stories elsewhere on my blogs.

And Madrid was really sunny and wonderful!
Regards
Arvinder.

Later - on a walkabout around Epsom

2009-02-02T15:20:00.000-08:00

Chalk Lane

Click here to see all the photos from my 'Walkabout'

Later in the afternoon, I ventured out to walk around Epsom and took these photos of the Snowscape!!
Chalk Lane, GrandStand, Rosebery Park, The Centre of Epsom, Dorking Road and back home!

We are SNOWBOUND!!!

2009-02-02T03:32:00.000-08:00

Click Here for More Photos!!

You can not believe how much snow has fallen on us (Surrey and England) in the last 12 hours!!
About 18 Inches!!
We are stuck at home for now..

Click Here for More Photos!!

After the Party - SIX-O!!

2008-12-25T03:25:00.000-08:00

Yes Indeed - The party is over..and all is revealed on the Party Blog!
Click below!
Arvinder at 60

Let the party start

2008-10-30T08:35:00.000-07:00

Ok, so we are starting the migration to Delhi
All is set for the 11th so see you all at the Habitat Centre
Here are some photos for you all to get in the mood
They are from various stages of my life
And they will be on show at the party.

Click here to view Photos

Regards.
Arvinder.

A week in Spain & Marisol's Latest Exhibition

2008-10-26T12:38:00.001-07:00

Earlier this month Marisol & I spent a week in Laredo, Spain where marisol was curating and also participating in an Exhibition at Santander. We also caught up with a group of friends and family who have made arrangements to travel to India, and also celebrated Marisol's birthday with a big dinner in Santander.

Marisol's exhibition named 'ENGLISH Translations' which involved two different shows, one in London and one in Santander. Organised by Jesus Alberto Perez and Marisol, this has been a very successful event, and the Santander show attracted a lot of publicity in the press, television and in the art world in Cantabria. So much so that when we went out to a small restaurant in San Miguel de Haras, a small community of about 100 inhabitants, the waiters came out and told us that they knew us, and that they had seen us in the newspapers!!
Below Nick does an Impromptu performance alongside Marisol's installation of 'Genetic Selection' (as if pleading with Rapunzel!)

See more photos of the exhibition at www.s-a-l.co.uk and at Marisol's website www.marisol.co.uk

Mutation - Ricardo Gaete at City Hall

2008-10-05T06:19:00.000-07:00

Ricardo Gaete's 'Mutation' Performance at the Old City Hall in London.
Although I did not grab a video of Ricardo's performance, here is a glimpse of one I recorded in November 2007 at the Truman Brewery.

Travels in Asia - August 2008

2008-09-15T12:32:00.000-07:00

See more fotos on Flickr - just click here

In August once again I had to get back to our team in Shanghai, and this time I had the good fortune of being invited to Kuala Lumpur for a Diversity presentation. Luckily that meant that I could spend a weekend in KL which I had not visited before. Now KL is famous for the tall towers that you see above and some fantastic food. One night I was taken to a fruit stall where we pigged out on an unimaginable quantities of exotic fruits, many of which I had never eaten before, and that is saying something after all my years in India, West Africa and Caribbean.

I was also in time for the Independence day celebrations in Malaysia. The Folks at the office invited me to take part in the celebrations, I had to make a speech, and to present the award to the best Male traditional dress in show, arranged at the office. Here is a video of the traditional dress competition.

While in Shanghai, I was treated to a visit to a nearby town of Hanchow, which turned out to be a real surprise. We hired bicycles and covered a large distance, which would not have been possible otherwise. Very beautiful town.

Of course no trip to China is complete without some unusual purchases for Marisol, and this one was no exception. Two art works manufactured in China and each weighing around 20-25 Kilos were waiting to be brought back home. So my luggage??..two suitacases with one work of art in each and nothing else. All my travel stuff was stuffed in a carryon case..still we got home with all this stuff without a major mishap. Luckily noone asked to open the suitcases!

What's next you ask?? US, Spain and India in quick succession..no rest for the wicked!

Looking forward to meeting many of you in November in Delhi!
Arvinder.

Longshore Drift - Brighton Beach - 2 August 08

2008-08-05T15:12:00.000-07:00

Katie's annual art event at Brighton Beach - performances by 5 artists.
Marisa, Katie, David, Mabel & Marko.

Still photography (embedded in the video and below) by Marisol Cavia

Marisol & I in Spain June/July 2008

2008-07-23T10:21:00.000-07:00

Last week in June Marisol and I flew off to Spain for a short holiday and a couple of interesting experiences.
First - Noche de San Juan, 23 June, we dined with friends and I learnt how to jump backwards and forwards on a fire - an ancient tradition in Spain.
Then..Spain went and won the European Football Cup. What a night of noise, fireworks & celebrations.
Next, we happened to be discussing a future exhibition which Marisol is organising through the Santander Port Authority, with the Santander contacts, and we got invited to act as judges for a painting contest for the immigrant artists in Santander. So we went along and picked the winners at the building that houses the Cantabrian parliament. The following week we got invited to attend the prize giving ceremony, and I got interviewed by the TV Cantabria, and appeared on state television's all news bulletins the next day!
(This is the winning artist)

Later we flew to Barcelona, where I had some business to attend to, for a lovely weekend. One of the colleagues I was working with invited me to fly with him in his plane (alas Marisol could not come as it was just a two seater). And do you know, he let me fly that plane for a few minutes. That was exciting! but dont tell the authorities ;-)

Then Pirre showed up in Barcelona with his daily ferry boat from Mallorca and Menorca. How lucky we are that all the brothers and sisters can meet in different combinations in so many different places in the world every year. Shanghai, Delhi, London, Barcelona, Laredo and New Jersey. Next year we will attempt to make it to Sydney.
See more pictures from Spain by clicking here. (Ver mas fotos)

Sevillanas in Regent Street on 25th May

2008-05-26T05:54:00.000-07:00

Alba, Marisol & I went to witness the breaking of the record for simultaneous Sevillanas dancing last Sunday 25th May, at Regent Street, London. We met Marisa Rueda there and look at the video below! The record was confirmed!

2008-05-17T10:38:00.000-07:00

Click Here to see more picture from Shanghai

Marisol and I were in Shanghai again in April for a few days, and apart from a few flu and other ailments it was a very enjoyable trip. I had to work..but Marisol did everything. We were less adventurous then normal, however we entertained a lot, went to a few art exhibitions (with Marisol around that was to be expected), shopped till literally dropped and generally had a good time.
Having signed up for the Air Products Golf society's beginner's club, knowing their first outing would be the week following from our return, I decided to buy the whole golf kit in Shanghai, reasoning that it would be cheaper. I had seen Uppinder and his colleagues buying Golf equipment on previous occasions, so I headed straight for the same shop in the Clothing and Gifts market near the Technology Museum. We discussed makes, bags, shoes, gloves and everything about the clubs..made a list of my Golf set icluding all of the above..and negotiated a price. It all came to 1000 RMBs, which roughly translated is seventy pounds! remarkable. In London a pair of shoes could cost you that much!
Mike and Aimee, who were working with me..helped me get this stuff back to the Hotel, covered in a travel bag which came with my set..in the rain. It was quite a sight! Later Virgin Atlantic let me get the whole thing (in addition to our normal 100 Kilos or so of stuff) back to London, and in a big limousine back home.
However not before we had the scare of our lives getting to the Shanghai Airport.
We were picked up at 7.30am for a 10.40 flight. However we got stuck in a traffic jam about 30 kms from the Airport, and it took us two and a half hours to get through..arriving at the Airport after 10 we thought we had no chance to make the flight. Not understanding too much of the conversation we were checked in with hardly anyone in the new International terminal at the PuDong. Later someone explained that the crew of the flight were still further behind us in the jam, and had been sent back to Shanghai to get the fast Maglev train to the Airport. Flight was delayed and we even had time to swig a drink or two in the Lounge!
Now we are back and as a result of the flight and flu I totally lost my hearing. Now a few weeks later I can hear reasonably well again. Getting too old for this.
Oh..and the golf events..I have played in two, and the groups I have been in have won both the events. So far so good ;-)...a hundred percent record. I even won the nearest to hole in the last event!

Regards,
Arvinder.

NewYork March 29/30 2008

2008-04-06T11:44:00.000-07:00

Sis, Birinder & I hit the Armory shows in New York at the end of March, and my connections to the London Art groups, gave us VIP passes to all the exhibitions we went to, which made the experience even more pleasurable! Birinder was the rich buyer, and Sis was an associate from the Organisation.
So we saved a lot of money and got to see the biggest Art fair in New York.

Later we went to a Mexican restaurant with Mabel who was visiting from London, and what Sis and Mabel were doing under the table is difficult to say but they had the whole restaurant in fits of laughter.

Garibaldi Exhibition reaches Montevideo

2008-03-21T03:40:00.000-07:00

Garibaldi Exhibition in Montevideo

TITOLO: "Giuseppe Garibaldi...hombre de la libertad, hombre de la humanidad..."
CURATOR: Enzo Marino
LUOGO: Sala de Ceremonias de la Intendencia Municipal CITTA': Montevideo - URUGUAY
PERIODO: 26.27.28 marzo 2008

Garibaldi Lives On by Arvinder

Memento by Marisol

After the inauguration of the exhibition in Bergamo in Italy, Enzo Marino's exhibition with the participation of the International Free Artists about Garibaldi's 200th anniversary, is now going to show in Montevideo!
Both Marisol and I have one exhibit in this exhibition
And here are the images!

More Information at International Free Artists Garibaldi Exhibition website

Also more about the International Free Artists group here

Here is a ‘shair’ for Garibaldi in the Persian tradition.

From the Canadian mountain to a restaurant in Singapore, I tell you
A tree in Bedford, a whole city and sculptures galore, I tell you
G was a star of his time, Liberator of many, though hated by some
Even buiscuits and a colour! Garibaldi lives on evermore, I tell you.

BHB meets in Frankfurt

2008-03-03T12:46:00.000-08:00

Click here to see more photos from Frankfurt and Rudesheim

Last weekend 1st March saw a reunion of the three friends who first worked together at Maraven in Venezuela more than 20 years ago. Rafael, Jerry and me! And we had all the ladies - Rosemary, Margarita and Marisol join us. Can you believe we all had a different country of birth and four different continents!!??
Wonderful - and a special thanks to Margarita and Jerry for putting us up at the Hotel Helmick!

India December 2007 - 3 Jan 2008

2008-01-15T13:42:00.000-08:00

Click here to see more photos

Marisol & I spent 3 weeks in Delhi recently during the Xmas and New Year holiday season. As always we ate and shopped a lot. Had a lot of fun in the company of seniors in Delhi, and were well looked after by the facilities at home. Uppinder & Sangeeta happened to be over from Australia and we joined them on a short trip to Amritsar and Jullundhar, where we made some long overdue visits to family (Kaki Aunty) and friends (Gunit & Tara). The end to this short trip resulted in the hair raising taxi ride home at midnight which will be the subject of a forthcoming book! Paramjit and Chanda also played hosts for a short visit from us to Gurgaon and with only about ninety kilos of luggage to be brought back to London, Virgin Atlantic once again gave us a royal treatment.

Barcelona November 07

2007-12-02T14:33:00.001-08:00

More photos - Mas fotos
When it was time to visit our Barcelona office again on the 23rd of November, Marisol & I contacted our extended family in the area and they all made a special effort to join us for lunch on the Sunday, (actually Tio Yayo used his seniority to override all other attempts to pay!!) and what a marvellous day we spent together.
I believe everyone is preparing a pilgrimage to India!! ;-)

Cuando surgio otra oportunidad para reunir con la oficina de la empresa en Barcelona la semana pasada, Marisol y yo nos contactamos la familia en la ciudad y todos ellos (Tio Yayo y May, Victor, JoseJuan con las familias) hicieron un esfuerzo especial para reunir el Domingo siguiente para pasar un dia divino incluiendo el almuerzo. (Tio Yayo no dejo pagar a nadie, desde aquella vez que nos peleamos para pagar los taxis, yo siempre recuerdare como Tio sacaba los billetes como pistolas). Marisol leo las manos de todos y espero que disfrutaron.
Creo que todos estan planeando un peregrinaje a la India!! ;-)

Meet Uppinder & The Maglev train - Shanghai October 2007

2007-11-05T00:41:00.000-08:00

Here is a video of the Maglev train ride from Shanghai's Pudong Airport to the city centre! Takes all of 7 minutes to go 25 KMs and reaches speeds of 430 KM/Hour.
Hang on to your seats!!

And if thats not enough excitement for one day, Uppinder from Sydney had to be in Shanghai the same week as I.

Seoul, Korea its October 2007

2007-11-03T23:52:00.000-07:00

Lucky for me, an extension of the trip to Shanghai to Seoul gave me a weekend to do some sightseeing, and JC from our office volunteered to take me to the Korean Folk Village, that is popular with tourists and the Koreans alike.
MORE PHOTOS : For a full set of photos click here

Below is a video of the Korean Folk Dance known as Hanguk Minsokchon

Stop & Search

2007-10-16T11:07:00.000-07:00

Well , well! Can you believe it? I got my first Stop and Search in London a few days ago.

Marisol & I were accompanying Susil who is a photographer/lawyer, who has offered to make a video for the SAL group (Spanish Artists in London) which includes Marisol. We had a pile of bags and equipment, and we were setting up a shot opposite the Parliament buildings in Westminster. Along came a couple of police and gave us a hard time. In the end they filled in this form, which I am going to frame. And I have no trace! thank God.
You will node that my IC code is 4 and the SDE code is A1
You can figure out all this mumbo jumbo for yourselves, from the pictures of the forms! :-)

Cosa Nuestra Dinner # 5

2007-10-09T13:49:00.000-07:00

Geoff arranges the latest (Oct 5) Cosa Nuestra Dinner at La Mancha restaurant in Putney, London.
Only seven of the possible thirteen members are present. We have a stand in for Bill, who had to attend to urgent family business. Its the Bag which contains Bill's dinner :-) Bill ordered many tapas, and a portion of Paella. Hope it all tasted good Bill!
Great meal, good wine & strong sangria, and even better the Caipirina(s) at Bill's afterwards.

identidad.es - A major SAL exhibition in London

2007-09-15T10:01:00.000-07:00

More photos - Mas fotos

On the 13th of September saw the Private View of the latest SAL (Spanish Artists in London) exhibition of which Marisol is a member. This was when the SAL artists totally took over (invaded!) the Instituto Cervantes in Eaton Square, London. I am proud to say that I am listed as a Sponsor of this exhibition. We will soon have full information on the SAL website.

There were about 300 people at the exhibition notably the Spanish Ambassador and his wife, many of our dear friends and artists from the London Biennale. Needless to say the artwork was excellent, and here to spark your interest are some pictures of Marisol's main pieces. My favourites being the stairwell installation called 'Between Two Worlds' and the drawer installation titled 'Tia Maru'. All the banisters of the stairwell through four floors are interconnected with an artery that starts from a dress representing Marisol, and the drawer, when opened, reveals Tia Maru, you can see and hear her laughing.

I recommend you should see this if you happen to be in London in the next two weeks!

Click here to see the invitation - Click here to view the Press Release
Marisol's Website
SAL Website

Español
El 13 de septiembre vio la vista previa de la nueva exposición de SAL (Artistas eSpañoles en Londres) de que Marisol forma parte. En la exposición los artistas de SAL tomaron totalmente (¡invadieron!) el Instituto Cervantes situado en Eaton Square, Londres. Estoy orgulloso decir que soy listado como un 'Sponsor' de esta exhibición. Pronto tendremos información repleta en el sitio web de SAL.

Había acerca de 300 personas en la exhibición notablemente el Embajador Español y su esposa, muchos de nuestros queridos amigos y artistas del Biennale de Londres. Innecesario decir que el trabajo artístico fue excelente, y aquí ven algunos fotos de obras principales de Marisol. Mis favoritos que son la instalación de hueco de la escalera llamada 'Entre Dos Mundos' y la instalación de cajón titulado "Tia Maru". Todas las barandillas del hueco de la escalera por cuatro pisos son interconexionadas con una arteria que empieza de un vestido que representa Marisol, y el cajón, cuando abierto, revela Tia Maru, y se puede ver y oírla reír.

¡Recomiendo que ven esta excelente exposicion si estais en Londres en las próximas dos semanas!

Laredo, Spain - Batalla de Flores, Fireworks!! - August 2007

2007-09-10T00:11:00.000-07:00

Last week of August saw Marisol and I in Laredo for the end of summer festivities. Manjeet & Almu were also there from Madrid and Pirre came over from Palma de Mallorca. Great to catch up with family friends and the Batalla de Flores (or the Battle of the Flowers) that Laredo is famous for.
Ultima semana del Agosto, Marisol y yo estuvimos en Laredo, para las fiestas de Batalla de Flores. Tambien visitaron Manjeet y Almu desde Madrid y Pirre desde Palma de Mallorca!

See all the photos here(pinchar aqui para ver mas fotos)

A video from the procession of the Batalla follows. Un pequeno video de la Batalla.

Rags in the Wind II - Magic , Graz, Austria

2007-08-24T09:15:00.000-07:00

"Fetzen im Wind II - Magie" Graz, Austria

A picture of my submission for the exhibition in Graz, a turban with the Sikh Greeting inscribed on it.
WaheGuru Ji Ka Khalsa || WaheGuru Ji Ki Fateh || Guru Gobind
Title of the work - Magic of Guru Gobind

Also the Invite to the exhibition. Notice the work shown the background!
Art Directors of the exhibition - Christine Kertz in Austria and Enzo Marino in Italy
More Information about the exhibition Here

Randomless - Shoreditch Gallery - Shiro Osseiran

2007-08-18T11:43:00.000-07:00

Went to see this exhibition at the Shoreditch Gallery called 'Randomless'
Artist is Shiro Osseiran
Interesting concept randomless(ness) - i guess some kind of order.
Marisol & I met several friends including Marko, David, Rosemary, Jill, Jo, Richard & many others.
See Shiro explain 'randomless' under my videos on the right
Exhibition runs to 31 August, 5 Hoxton Market, London.

Longshore Drift - Brighton Beach - August 4

2007-08-05T08:58:00.000-07:00

Once again the annual Longshore drift event organised every year by Katie Sollohub, took place at the Brighton Beach, and as we have accustomed, another gorgeous day was given to us, and this year the event organised by Marisol & Marko, was very enjoyable occasion indeed. Althogh several notable LBs were missing, the occasion was made memorable by some participatory performances.
Marisol gave us 'Talisman made from natural objects from the seabed', where people found stones or other objects which had holes in them and Marisol made a talisman to be worn as a necklace. As the evening fell Marisol held a very moving 'powering the talisman' ceremony to enable all the talismans so that they would work for the wearer.

Marisol also held a 'Language of the Fan' class, where several ladies (Loli, Susan, Elaine and Marisol) played out a series of phrases such as 'I love you', 'I am married' etc. for the delight of the audience.

Meanwhile, I - Arvinder, held a series of Oracle consultations, where anyone could ask a question to the I-Ching, and tried to interpret the results. To my surprise several very rare hexagrams were obtained as answers among them the perfect six solid lines hexagram 1, The creative (Elaine) and one thrown by Katie which contained 4 changing lines. These are rare.
A memorable event and a perfect day.
And someone flew a plane and drew a heart with an arrow going threw it in the sky in front of us!

Here are some photographs and there are some videos from the event on the right among Arvinder's Videos.

Hunters and Collectors exhibition at The Gallery, Willesden Green

2007-08-03T05:56:00.000-07:00

Hunters and Collectors - our friends Carlos & Lorenzo featured in this exhibition at The Gallery next to the Willesden Library. The other pictures here are works of Stuart Mayes & Colette Brannigan. See artists John Say and Sheena Vallely talk about their work in the videos section on the right.

Cricket test match Its all over mate!

2007-07-31T12:34:00.000-07:00

After 'getting out of jail' with a last minute downpour in the first test, India came back strongly to trounce England in the 2nd test. Read the story at BBC here.

Andy, get ready with the fiver!

Cosa Nuestra Dinner #3

2007-07-28T09:13:00.000-07:00

The Cosa Nuestra club celebrated its 3rd dinner at Veerswamy Restaurant in London.
Of the 6 members only three made it with their partners
Marta & Richard (our man in the Polar regions)
Myrian & Jes (soon to be seen in the new series of Baywatch)
Arvinder & Marisol (My ticket to the Cosa Nuestra club!)
Apologies (not accepted) from Jose, Rafael, Bill and Geoff

SAL - Spanish Artists in London - 2nd Birthday

2007-07-28T09:05:00.000-07:00

SAL
Spanish Artists in London

On Sunday 22nd July, The Artists group known as SAL (which has Marisol among its members) celebrated its second Birthday, at our place in Surrey.

here are some pictures

Geitsu Dock Sessions in Santander, Spain 13 July.

2007-07-18T13:47:00.000-07:00

Marisol & I were invited to the Private View of the Giejutsu Dock Sessions exhibition in Santander which showcased some art work of Japanes artist Yasue Kobe, Spanish artists Yolanda Novoa & Damien Verloop. Our friend Pelayo Arrizabalaga played his magical mix of Sax and Vinyl samples on a portable turntable!!
A highlight of the excellent catalogue were the amizing Haikus written by Ana Rodriguez.
Here are a couple

Solo el sol
te deja hablar a solas
contra tu sombra.
(Only the Sun
lets you talk alone
against your shadow)

Tu reflejo devuelve
un rostro inverso.
Tu eres el otro.
(Your reflection returns
an inverted image.
You are the other.)

When I have figured out how to connect to the YouTube videos you will be able to see Ana reading her haikus below under Arvinder's Videos

Reunion on 23rd June

2007-06-23T13:44:00.000-07:00

Manjeet/Almu & Anil at home

Pammi is here from India
Fionuala/Phoebe/Anmar/Nick
Also
Idries/Lisa/Meena
We are all together at home.

Manjeet/Almu/Anil/Pammi/Marisol&Me!!

2007-06-23T08:34:00.000-07:00

Its 23 June and we are all together with Pammi at Home!

Hi I am Arvinder, and I will be with you soon!!

2007-06-22T00:32:00.000-07:00