Across the road, seas, worlds.

Posted on February 11, 2009 by prashant bhatt

reflections-msida-malta

 

Across the Road-Msida-Malta

Just shifting from one side of the road to the other can make a lot of changes in the way one sees and feels one’s route.

 

The moon on the Western horizon was an imposing presence. The dark pillars of the Safia mosque. The echoes. Adagio in G Minor. And the shuffling of the pace.

 

As I studied the Mahaari sea front and the feel of Medina in the Mediterranean waters, I saw the imposing, more modern structures. The Five inverted bottle towers (Daat-El-Emaad), the Victory Tower (Burz Al-Fateh), the Corinthia hotel, The Grand Hotel (Funduq Kabeer) and Mahaari. Glittering lights. How was it in the times of Othman Pasha? How did a doctor in the times of Dragut view this coastline in 1550s?

 

Remembering Ghalib in the morning hour

 

Dil hi toh hai..Dard se bhar na aaye kyon.

Roenge Hum Hazaar Baar..Koi Hamein Sataaye Kyon.

 

Roughly translated

 

It is just the heart, why should it not be full of sadness.

I will cry a thousand times, whey should anyone care or trouble me.

 

What is there across the road?

What is there across the sea?

What is there across the worlds?

 

Exploring the joys of running, and the joys which go beyond running.

 

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Runs and Joys which go beyond.

Posted on February 9, 2009 by prashant bhatt

As winter gradually turns into spring, it is time to venture out for  lovely morning runs, to get a feel of that lovely magic morning hour-when night turns into day.

 

The Shara Jraba has now been repaired, after almost a year, and as one passes by the

Safia Mosque and looks at those incomplete walls, the run is in. The Fashloom roundabout and then Zawia Dahmaani and then Mahaari sea breeze.

 

I remember so many things in the years gone by while slowly going through them in the morning hour. Not a soul in sight. As one passes through the streets, in some phases one can hear one’s own footsteps echo.

 

The street where I first got introduced to Chopin. That was two years ago. The roundabout where I first heard some of our bureaucrat-diplomats and was demystified and a bit disappointed. When I tried to discuss the books on their shelves-Naipaul-Among the believers-the quick (disappointing) reply was-I have not read it, just bought it.

 

The sun is just coming from the Eastern Horizon. Wait for a while, feeling the grass, and also the breeze from the Mediterranean. Remembered the scent of Kebabs, which one of the Libya veterans from the subcontinent, a KGMC Lucknow graduate-who went to Pakistan, then came here and served for forty years, so kindly treated me to. He is no more now, but that is-physically speaking. They yet remember and respect him here.

 

Hitting the pavement is a joy in the mornings.

Jaanab…(foreigner) they speak out, on seeing me in that wee hour, as they walk briskly to the mosque for the first prayers of the day.

 

There are joys of running which go much beyond the physical.

 

I remember the Wanowrie-Lunanagar circuit of Pune, or the Lodhi-Raj Ghat-India Gate circuit of Delhi or the Worli-Five gardens circuit of Bombay. The St.Julian-Sliema-Strand circuit of Malta. The Fashloom-Zawia Dahmaani-Mahaari-Dahra-Ben Ashor circuit of Tripoli is one lovely one.

 

Running is an interesting way to see a city giving you a feel which can never be got by traveling around in a car. Hitting the pavements, avoiding the potholes, feeling the incline as you slowly tire or the change in breeze with the scents it carries of baking bread mixed with the smell of the sea.

 

A change of pace is one lovely way to feel the power. Sometimes using a cyclist as a pacer, sometimes just slowing down and enjoying the views of Medina and it’s reflections on the Mediterranean from a height as you pass by Mahari.

 

There are joys of running which go beyond running.

 

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THEATER MANOEL

Posted on January 29, 2009 by prashant bhatt

Evenings at Theater Manoel added a further richness to my recent visit to Malta.

The capital city of Valletta, built of Mount Sciberras, has a distinct beautiful feel in the evenings.

 

“The weather is not nice” one of my friends told me. January can be a bit windy and cold.

However, there was something here. The light drizzle and the relatively lonely streets,

a hot cup of coffee.

 

Nothing to beat that.

 

theater-manuel

 

Coffee at Manoel

 

“Prashant, you are living the life which I always dream of” my old friend John told me over the phone, from his office at St.Julian. But it is thanks to John that I have been visiting Malta so often. He is one of the most confident and impressive personalities I have met, never belittling you, always uplifting you.

 

Every time I talk to John, I learn something new. He introduced me to the world of Taschen. He told me about the sea in a different way.

 

“I do not want to do things which do not look like having been done by a non-professional” he told me once. That is a very good lesson, for any professional of any field.

 

Thank you-John

 

Maybe, one day, we will have coffee at Manoel together

 

 

 

 

coffee-at-manoel

 

 

Notice the Chinese sitting there-they are part of the Peking Opera group which performed there on 19.1.09

 

Going to theater and musing there, is an old habit of mine. It all started long ago, on the streets of Delhi, when we used to go and watch Drama at Sri Ram Centre, Mandi house, very close to the hostel of Maulana Azad Medical College. That was when I first came to know about Mohan Rakesh- “Half-Way house” –Adhe Adhure. We all are incomplete in some ways.

 

Then there were times when I went with Nishant street theater group of Shamshul Islam, and he showed me an aspect of reality which I would never have seen in my ‘middle-class-secure’ world. Those experiences matured further as I came to know some very dedicated street theater activists of Maharashtra. Sambhaji Bhagat remains one of the best singers I have ever come across, singing the Balads of the People.

 

The heartrending performances by the great artists of “Asmita” group of Delhi, with their chilling performances like “Court Martial” at the basement theater of Sri Ram Centre or the open air performances of “Cesar” at India Habitat Centre, so ably directed by Arvind Gaur and the music support by Sangeeta Gaur all made a part of my formative experience to be able to appreciate drama.

 

Catching things which the Naked Human eye cannot see

 

The night feel of Valletta…I fell in love with it, when I first visited around two years ago, and every time I go there, after dark, there are new experiences.

 

 

 

valletta-after-dark

Musings of an old friend..in the galleries of Theater Manoel.

musings-at-manoel

Communicating Doors

 

As I watched the play “Communicating Doors” an interesting story about time travel in which three ladies in 1974,1994 and 2014 can communicate with each other by walking through time, using a communicating door.

 

One realizes how one can become wise with hindsight.The same man is involved with three different ladies in different phases of his life. The story is interesting, you should watch the play, but suffice it to say, there is a devil within all of us, and the play laid that devil bare.

 

The feel of Manoel-

 

Interiors

 

feel-of-manoel1

 

In front of Manoel-during the 20 minutes break

in-front-of-manoel 

The Roof of Manoel.

 

The Chinese Spring Festival by the Peking opera was another beautiful memorable performance which I watched.

 

East meeting the West. An Indian watching the Peking opera at Malta.

 

 

The roof of Theater Manoel-Having an eye for imaging-from my field of medical specialization (Radiology) and my passion for photography, I tried to take this image of the roof of the theater. ( I had to do some climbing up, to get this angle of the roof..photography has it’s charms and challenges) The interiors have a different feel.

 

 

 

roof

 

Will return to you, Theater Manoel.

 

http://www.teatrumanoel.com.mt/

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