“ I saw the skirts of the departing year”

Charles Lamb, 1821

Charles Lamb (1775-1834) was the writer I read while recovering from Jet Lag after returning from India. The body clock is still set to Indian Time. The Home Library (HL) which my parents first introduced me to in my pre-school years is my reliable knowledgeable constant companion. That was the year of the formation of Bangladesh. The maps in the encyclopedia had blacked out the Indian subcontinent. From the happenings in Bangladesh and surrounding areas now, there is much unrest there still. 

Walking into a Picture-New York City-The Terminal, 1893-Alfred Steiglitz

What would it be like, to all your senses, to walk into the Terminal, Jennifer Cognac Black gave this interesting prompt while describing her own engagement with the atmosphere of a wintry Harlem Morning. This reminded me of last February (2024) walk to the Port Authority Bus Terminal early in the morning to catch the bus to Worcester, on way to Barre for a Guided Retreat. On the previous evening, had gone with Sagar to Dera in Jackson Heights area.

The Terminal, 1893, Alfred Steiglitz, Harlem New York City

The slush of the street resembles the primordial soup of creation. The tracks of carriages show lines of journeys. The horses take me back to the millenia embodied in the culture of caring and taming animals. Harlem sign reminded me of July 2022 when Sagar left 697 to work and live in New York City. The atmosphere tastes expectant. The industry of men who help people commute has an energy and vigour.

The transition time reminds me walks and fellow travelers-

Landour Mussoorie area-2014

Flying Spray of Glasgow

The theme of walking into a photograph made me review Frank M Sutcliffe’s – The Flying Spray of Glasgow. It is resting at low tide by the harbour wall at Coffee House Corner in Whitby, North Yorkshire. The slats on the paddle casing rhyme with that flight of steps leading up to the Marine Hotel. The boats site contentedly on their reflections in the still water. This photograph of the 1880s portrays the fishing community in Whitby and the abbey and harbour with its bridges. The underlying subject, quite apart from such ostensible topics as harbour traffic, was security. Sutcliffe’s ideal harbour is homely and reassuring. Here, the day’s work is done and the doors of the Marine Hotel, will soon by open. (Basilico Berry, Phaidon The Photography Book, 1997)

These themes made me revisit some art walks. In the nature drawing course of Petra Zanting, Visual Arts Mississauga, Sahil spent a few hours drawing the bark of a tree

Sahil- 2016-Visual Arts Missussauga

Earlier Perspectives: 2009 Feb One with Beauty-Remembering Ansel Adams | Prashant Bhatt’s notes

Examining Self Created Old Bastiles

Reading Charles Lamb (1775-1834) and his experience of retirement, “ For the first day or two I felt stunned- overwhelmed. I was in the condition of a prisoner in the old Bastile, suddenly let loose after forty years’ confinement.” This passage reminds me of periods of transition when I had time, and the routine structures of work, life, relationships had been altered. One such period was the New Year time of 2017 when after over 3 decades in Imaging sciences I decided to try my luck in Canada and stay here permanently rather than keep going and coming. The uncertainty and pain of that period was reduced by the structure I got from attending a sonography class. One veteran told me to not change my plans and do one thing consistently for at least a year and then test the results, refine the approach. This was also a period when I joined the Tim Horton’s Club. Many were the afternoons and evenings when we would unwind and review. One friend from those days, after a particularly intense session told me that what I had told him was very similar to what his Uncle (from Pakistan-settled in Toronto for over 30 years) had told him, however, my way of telling was softer. From then on, I have become his Indian Chachoo (uncle-father’s brother).

  These hours of discussion, reading, reflection have over the past eight years of staying permanently in Canada as a landed immigrant helped me examine many self-created Old Bastiles. The writer psychotherapist Lori Gottlieb in her book “ Maybe you should talk to someone” told of the prison cells we create, not realizing that there are no bars on the side, and we can walk away.

I had grown to my desk, as it were, and the wood had entered into my soul….Charles Lamb, 1821

Valletta -2016 August

As part of the transition, many immigrants take up survival jobs. Mine has been to have some form of imaging device, as I am learned these skills when I was young. The assignments I got due to this skill helped me explore parts of Hamilton and Halton which I would not have otherwise done and I came to know persons of different ages and backgrounds whom I would not have met in my routine life as an immigrant. Indian origin immigrants generally stick to their own stock and I observed that they have regional associations of Mumbaikars, Bihar-Jharkhand, Andhra, Maharashtra and so on, which further adds to their identity.

We are friends of photography, hence we are friends….A photography teacher, 2005

The first time in my life, when I started staying alone, after many years of married life, children I took up a course in photography to help decrease the negativity and confusion. This helped me see the city of Delhi in different times of the day, in different seasons, on different days of the week in a different way. It also helped me develop a unique section of my home library dedicated to art and photography. Though the books are few, they are a significant addition to novels, memoirs, diaries, self help books, and scientific books. My appreciation of works like “The Terminal” (Alfred Steiglitz, 1893) and  The Flying Spray of Glasgow (Frank M Sutcliffe, 1880s) grew as I learned what it is to draw with light. It has many similarities with sonography – to draw with sound, and other imaging methodologies. It also helped me watch city scapes in a different way. 

Earlier Perspectives: 2009 Jan Museum Imaging-Malta | Prashant Bhatt’s notes

Sleeve of a departing year 2024

Sleeve -is part of a garment that wholly or partly covers a person’s arm. This year, I was able to transition from doing probono work in counselling to developing stable clients of my own. Being in the healing professions since 1980s, counseling approach led me to read the basic works of Carl Rogers, Fritz Perls, Erik Erikson, Christine Padesky amongst others in a more intimate way after finishing the rigours of the masters program in Counselling.

The trip to Worcester and Barre Massachusetts which I had mentioned in the earlier part of this blog, (Feb 2024) helped me see what parts of my helping healing practice I need to develop and deepen. 

Just as staying alone had helped me develop the Photography and Art section of the Home Library, studying Counselling at an academic professional level helped me develop understanding of works on Grief and Existentialism. Yalom has become a regular go-to when I am stuck with a situation. How to give the gift of therapy, help persons develop their observer mind (OM), uncover Blind Spots (BS1) and Bull Shit (BS2) without making the person run has been part of the growing process.

Developing landscapes in Barre Massachusetts, Manresa Pickering 

Some of my Thinking Places

I did go to these two places two times, first in the beginning of the year -2024 and later to Barre on a self guided silent retreat, after meeting my nephew Mayank (Rawat) at Rochester in September and Manresa-October 2024- to develop the nuances of different approaches to recovery and healing. 

These retreats have become sleeves of the departing year, landscapes which I have examined with fellow-travelers, alone and also with fellows who may talk to oneself across time. Reading the 1821 works of Charles Lamb on a quiet winter day in December 2024 made me remember my own transitions, how I have tried to adjust. It also reminded me of the transitions which I helped and witnessed for my sons- Sagar going to New York City in 2022 and now settling in the rhythm of that city and the younger one- Sahil finishing his Masters and transitioning into being a PhD candidate at Toronto Metropolitan University. 

Coffee at Bloor….Toronto..Opening to Eternity

        The wood had entered my soul….those words of Charles Lamb made me reflect on the images which have been part of my existence, the worksheets which we make, the checklists which we revise and also the photo-sections and trips made to different galleries. The basement section of the Art Gallery of Ontario has beautiful ships which I have visited over the past decade. One friend with whom I have coffee on a weekly basis, helped me understand what it is to have time and be ok with it, not trying to fill it in with any form of activity. Just feel the sense of having time. This exercise helped me open myself to Eternity.

Do you have any such activity which transcends the day to day?

Sleeve of a Year-2024: Museum Walks- Met -New York, Feb 2024: The Dioramas of the Met, NYC reminded me of the walks in North Africa, Egypt, Libya in the 2000s when I first started staying there. The first new year 2004-outside India, the friends and fellow travelers – who helped me understand and shape my identity as an Immigrant Professional.

Earlier Perspectives: Exploring and Learning from Literature

Walks at Port Credit-Brueckner Rhododendron Park-2024- One of my Thinking Places

Brotherhood- With Ajju (Ajay Thapliyal) in Dehradun- December talks, revisiting years gone by. A kind soul, he took in a dog from the street who was feeling cold. But she wanted to have both the street in the day and the warm room in the night, thereby putting his other puppy and other humans who stay there at risk. So “Laali” had to go.

A message on Fences and Choices.