औदुंबर - बालकवी

ऎल तटावर पैल तटावर हिरवाळी घेऊन

निळासावळा झरा वाहतो बेटाबेटांतुन

चार घरांचे गाव चिमुकले पैल टेकडीकडे

शेतमळ्यांची दाट लागली हिरवी गर्दी पुढे

पायवाट पांढरी तयातून आडवी तिडवी पडे

हिरव्या कुरणांमधुन चालली काळ्या डोहाकडे

झाकळूनी जळ गोड काळिमा पसरी लाटांवर

पाय टाकुनी जळात बसला असला औदुंबर

Nostalgia

जबरी nostalgia आला आहे. बऱ्याच काळाने जरा उसंत मिळाली आहे. कोरोना प्रकारामुळे बरेच दिवस घराबाहेर पडणे झालेले नाही. काम चालू आहे. पण ठराविक लोक सोडून कोणाशी बोलणे नाही फारसे.  टीव्ही आम्ही पाहत नाही. फोनचा कंटाळा येतो. त्यामुळे असेल.

मागची 4/5 वर्षे फार धावपळीची गेली. शिवाय आई बाबा,  बायको मुलगी सगळे  बरोबर होतो. आणि रिकामा वेळ स्मार्टफोन आणि सोशल मीडिया खात असे. मागे वळून बघायला वेळ  झाला नाही..

काल परवा जुने ब्लॉग वाचले काही. ती दुनिया अगदी वैराण झाली आहे. लेखन फारसे नाही आणि मलाही वाचन झेपत नाही आहे. Attention span कमी झाला आहे. Bulletin boards फारसे धड नाहीत. चाळीशी नंतर सिंहावलोकन करु सवडीने.

मराठीपण

रविवारची दुपार. जेवण झाले आहे. आज मी घरच्या ऎवजी hoboken  मध्ये पिझ्झा खाल्ला. घरी जाताना जरा एक इंटरेस्टिंग हॅप्पी hour वाला बार दिसला. हरकत नाही. बघूया जाऊन. व्हेरी comfy. लोकसत्ता वाचायला घेतला. लोकरंग वाचून अचानक मला मराठी असल्याचा खूप आनंद झाला. थोडा थोडा अभिमान पण वाटला. दर्जेदार पुस्तके, प्रतिभावंत कलाकार आणि त्याची कदर असणारे लोक. संस्कृतीचा आणि परंपरेचा वेगळा काय अभिमान असणार अजून.

Tokyo Again

Visited Tokyo again after 2 years. End of spring, means the weather was pleasant. Having experienced hong kong a little bit, had a little different perspective. Was not sure what to expect while visiting the city 10 after my first encounter with her.

Was good to catch up with colleagues , but time was limited. Stayed with my cousin at Funabori after the official trip was over. Went to Hitachi national park in a rented car over a weekend with his colleagues. Was a fun road trip-my first time in Japan.

Throughout the trip, I realized how the world has come closer in 10 years. With the penetration of Whatsapp and 3g/4g, making a call home or getting one from home was no different than a local call. With apps like AIR news and wynk, the Indian contents were available throughout.

Tokyo has started preparing big time for the 2020 Olympics. Push for English is evident. I was pleasantly surprised when a girl handing out BigEcho pamplates helped me with an address in perfect English. On a couple of occasions, when people realized the sorry level of my Nihongo, they pulled up a translation app to talk - now everybody owns a smartphone!  Restaurants had English menu cards, special options for vegetarians and explanation of contents.

I could explore Tokyo for a week. Met a friend for lunch around Kagurazaka. Came across a jinja while strolling and realized that I had visited the same one during my stay a few years back. Deja vu! Went to the Waseda University-good campus. Caught the only tram in Tokyo from Waseda to the last station Minowa. Was a fun ride on the Arakawa sen. The Minowa area has a local market. A lot of cemeteries in the area indicate how old it must be.

Searching for the Sakura and onsen experience, went to Takaragawa onsen. Travelled by local trains and buses. Tick off travel by shonan shinjuku line. There was rain, a little snow, no crowd as it was a weekday- a memorable trip. My earlier visit to Minakami a few years back was for rafting.

Caught up with old friends over beer and pizza. Visited shinagawa, ebisu, shibuya, roppongi, akihabara etc. Visited denenchofu , but the bungalows failed to impress me this time. Perhaps the Pune scene of Mahatma society, Abhimanshri, Ideal colony, Prabhat road is now irreplaceable in my mind.

Could not visit Meguro, any gardens and could not walk much around the city. I still feel the city is my home away from home. Don't know why the last 2 lines of the below poem came to mind quite a few times..

आणीबाणी

अशा काही रात्री गेल्या ज्यांत काळवंडलो असतो
अशा काही वेळा आल्या होतो तसे उरलो नसतो

वादळ असे भरून आले तारू अडकणार होते
लाटा अशा घेरत होत्या काही सावरणार नव्हते

हरपून जावे भलतीकडेच इतके उरले नव्हते भान
करपून गेलो असतो इतके पेटून आले होते रान

असे घडत होते डाव सारा खेळ उधळून द्यावा
विरस असे झाले होते जीव पुरा विटून जावा

कसे निभावून गेलो कळत नाही, कळले नव्हते
तसे काही जवळ नव्हते - नुसते हाती हात होते!

कवि अनिल

Revisiting Tokyo

Visited Tokyo for a week. Was a nostalgic trip after a gap of 5 years. The office has shifted to a new place-Otemachi, which is business district near the Imperial palace. Everybody told me  Ebisu was nicer. I agree.

Visited all the places that I used to frequent - old home, old office, indian and Italian restaurants. Lot of them still there, but a few are gone. Caught up with friends over beer. Went to Yoyogi and Harajuku. Walked a lot even though it was very hot and humid.  Night walking remains my favourite activity in Tokyo! Still a few places could not be covered.

The feeling that I get is the city has remained the same to a large extent. But I did not feel the same this time about it like when I did while revisiting 6 months after shifting from there. I think it's really a case of कृष्णकाठी कुंडल आता पाहिले उरले नाही..

From android

writing this blog from android app. The apps have sure proved a game changer!

The lost songs - found again

Walking in Tokyo is a very nice experience. Big roads, empty footpaths, no pollution, greenery around, mild weather and absolute safety - it feels blessed to be walking. And such walks invariably result into some philosophical thoughts.

Five -Six months after I'd bought iPhone, I was walking to a friend's place. He used to stay near Tokyo Tower which was a good 5 km from my home. And I started thinking how much dependent I had become on iPhone. I could not imagine a train ride in the morning without bbc news podcast, nytimes and wsj, lunch without checking twitter and facebook, evenings without songs, weekend train journeys without games, songs and maps. I didn't know how I was surviving before iPhone. Medium of entertainment after a period becomes a prime dependency. Think of the internet. How did people stay in foreign countries when there was no Internet? What did people do when there were no radios? 150 years before that, when there were no newspapers?

Fast forward by one year- and am actually surviving w/o iPhone. Started listening to radio in Mumbai, but the old charm is gone. There are 10s of channels, but none can make me want to tune into. Marketing has taken precedence over content. RJs think lack of knowledge and preparation can be hidden if they use slang and bright adjectives.
In the sadness that this realization brought, I remembered the AIR days -Vijay Raghav Rao's flute recital caught on Hubli or some such station out of pure luck on a quiet late night, Satish Vyas's unforgettable Chandrakaus broadcast, Harsha Bhogle's thrilling commentary of the Hero Cup semifinal, beautiful unheard Marathi songs played in the morning on Mumbai station.

And then I thought of finding these Marathi songs on internet which I could never find in any music stores. That completes a circle- a new medium giving me back what the old medium had introduced to. Here's a list of the Marathi songs that I found-

1. This song I'd heard in 90s. Seems they have come up with a collection of Ramds Kamat's old songs in 2007. http://www.hummaa.com/music/song/Ya+Viraat+Gaganakhali/135654

2. http://music.guruji.com/redirects/redirectplay.php?target=http%3A//www.hummaa.com/gurujipoplayer.php%3Fid%3D135012&vertical=music&songPos=1&playPos=0&title=%3Cb%3EPanyatale%3C/b%3E%20%3Cb%3EPahata%3C/b%3E%20-%20%22Sobati%22&weakresult=0

3. http://www.musicindiaonline.com/album/72-Marathi_Bhakti_Geete/16770-Naam_Sankirtan/#/album/72-Marathi_Bhakti_Geete/16770-Naam_Sankirtan/
- 7th song. Maya javal nase ya

4. http://www.in.com/music/disco-dhamalmarathi/songs-49673.html
-Shalela Nightana song

5. http://aflatune.com/#content/Bhavgeete/Vakalya_Disha_Fulun

6. http://aflatune.com/#/content/Bhavgeete/Sarva_Sarva_Visaru_De

7.http://aflatune.com/#/content/Bhavgeete/Un_Aso_Va_Aso_Savali

8. http://www.musicindiaonline.com/list_albums/i/89-Marathi_Compilation/280-Suresh_Wadkar/#/album/89-Marathi_Compilation/11495-Dayaghana/
Song 11- tujhech roop

9. http://music.guruji.com/redirects/redirectplay.php?target=http%3A//www.smashits.com/player/flash/flashplayer.cfm%3FSongIds%3D165701&vertical=music&songPos=1&playPos=0&title=%3Cb%3ETalvyaver%3C/b%3E%20%3Cb%3EMendicha%3C/b%3E&weakresult=

10. Still not found- Hasalis Ekda Bhijalya Sharad Rati ( Singer Bhupendra, Music Ashok Patki)