My Stage: The World

The Has Been, The Will Be And a SASA-Inspired Rhyme

2008-03-30T14:39:00.005-06:00

Back after quite a break. Just a brief recap of the past few weeks:

Music listened to (including, but certainly not limited to): Mostly Belle & Sebastian, Andrew Bird, Pandit Nikhil Bannerjee, Ivy, Public Symphony and of course, Pink Floyd.

Books read (strictly non-academic of course): The Art of Captaincy by Mike Brearley, Black Zodiac, poems by Charles Wright, Maus, graphic novel by Art Spiegelman and a few others here and there.

Classes to be taken over the next couple of months: Moral/Immoral, Natural/Unnatural (Philosophy), Hegel: Political Philosophy of Right (Fundamentals/Humanities), Econometrics (Ugh), South Asian Civ. II. (South Asian Languages and Civilizations).

Given my penchant to go on indefinite breaks, these two links should keep you entertained: Prem Panicker's blog and Amit Varma's blog, both of which are excellent if one is passionate about cricket and mildly interested in the ongoing US Presidential run-up.

I plan to watch a number of movies this quarter, given Doc Films' excellent line-up; Doc Films, incidentally, is the student-operated campus movie theater. Expect plenty of film reviews over the following weeks, given the aforementioned line-up and the absence of certain parties from Chicago.

I have been driven to pen verses now and then, most of them rather contrived and self-important. However, for what its worth, here is one that I was inspired to write at a SASA dance practice. Clarifications available upon request:

Silhouettes on my lampshade
Reflecting the naive radiance,

Outside

Sigh...turn the blasted light off
And lets bask in the frosty darkness of

illumination.

The spatial form is important to me, even if it may appear a trifle odd. More to come.

Smile.

On Facile Durkheimian Rituals

2008-02-22T22:19:00.003-06:00

I'm afraid that my return to the blogging sphere is on a rather peeved note, indeed, a wholly depressing note.

Five people- four of them students- were shot dead at Northern Illinois University (NIU) a week ago. The gunman then proceeded to shoot himself as well.

As expected, reactions to the shooting included the token candlelight vigils, book of memories, etc. The University of Chicago student community participated in these rites of 'collective effervescence' (a reference to Durkheim) with plenty of gusto.

Firstly, one gets gets the sense that people only participate in said rituals because they truly believe that it is the natural thing to do. We now have a culture based solely on perpetuation, without a thought given as to why we do what we do.

Secondly, these rather empty Durkheimian rituals become the public face of the reaction to the awful events that they commemorate; in this there is a real danger. We need real action and real change, not these facile, feel-good demonstrations. There seems to be a very selfish air of self-affirmation driving it all.

Its a harsh reality, but a reality nonetheless. Perhaps a little less self-righteousness and a little more true action will go a long way towards preventing further incidents like NIU from occurring.

Smile

Sonnet XXVII from Part Two, Sonnets to Orpheus

2007-11-27T13:13:00.000-06:00

A wonderful little sonnet by Rilke from Part Two of Sonnets to Orpheus:

Ah, the knowledge of impermanence
that haunts our days
is their very fragrance.

We in our striving think we should last forever,
but could we be used by the Divine
if we were not ephemeral?

This translation is from the Selections from Rainer Maria Rilke's Duino Elegies and Sonnets to Orpheus , translated and edited by Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy.

Quite beautiful really.

Smile.

Mental Cartography

2007-11-08T12:20:00.000-06:00

A friend of mine recently told me about a project that she was a part of in high school: essentially, she constructed a mind map. Her professor instructed her to begin with a central word, from which the other aspects of her 'mind' and consciousness would radiate outwards. The word in question was defined as one that either motivated her, defined her life or reality in general, was influential in shaping her world view, etc. Given that this definition seems a trifle vague, a couple of examples may help in clarifying what was expected of the prospective mind-mappers: compassion, honour, truth and passion were some of the more memorable responses that I received when I posed this question to various friends.

My word would probably be mortality, although this has been contested as being too overtly slotted in the 'motivator' category to be valid. Nevertheless, I think it is the one word that always lurks somewhere in my subconscious, motivating me to act, think and behave in the manner that I do. All the words listed above, admirable though they may be, are transient: do the notions of truth or honour transcend any contextual reference? As a consequence, can one ever define these concepts in absolute terms? Everything is transient, as are we all in the bigger scheme of things. If we are all too mortal, what does that say for our motivators which must, indeed, be inherently tied to us in a perverse embrace of some sort. I won't elaborate too much on this point; there should be enough material here to ponder on.

Smile.

Floyd and Me

2007-10-12T10:01:00.000-06:00

"True love lasts a lifetime" says Emma Thompson in Love Actually, in reference to her devotion to the music of Joni Mitchell. While the phrase 'true love' is worth mulling over and debating in its own right, it shall be left to the vagaries of another post. While I have never found nirvana in Joni Mitchell's music, it is not difficult to understand where Thompson is coming from: my feelings on Pink Floyd are rather similar.

As far as I am concerned, Pink Floyd is the band that has made the single largest difference in my life. Having grown up in a household steeped in Hindustani Classical music, I have fairly eclectic tastes, with Rashid Khan and Dire Straits vying in equal measure for the post indubitably held by Floyd. To be certain, there are times when Rashid Khan's Bhairavi is the only thing that suffices to appease me, but Floyd's overall track record and emotional appeal transcends sheer moods on a personal level.

Pink Floyd was my stable companion through my formative years in school and continues to play the soundtrack to my life though my college years. Most of us are all too familiar with the phenomenon of, what I call, the 'temporal-niche band': bands that we swear by during certain phases of our life, but eventually come to outgrow. Guns N' Roses would be one such band that springs readily to mind (although I shall never grow tired of the final, blistering solo in November Rain). My American contemporaries would point towards Blink 182, while I daresay that high school mates in India have abandoned the self-indulgent cacophony of Creed by the wayside. However, these bands have merely been a cheap, mass-produced beer to the nuanced Belgian trippel that is Floyd. As the cliche goes: form is temporary, class is permanent.

I am often forced to fend off questions regarding my favourite Floyd number; where does one even begin to pick a premier song out veritably tens of qualified candidates? There are, of course, the ones I listen to more often: High Hopes and its ethereal slide guitar, the haunting melancholy of the Animals album and the eerie, yet soothing, epic that is Echoes being just a few examples. On any given day, I will in all likelihood run through a score of different Floyd songs, each equally satisfying as the other. What makes this truly significant though, is the sheer variety that I end up spanning over the course of this musical journey. Pink Floyd managed to transcend the boundaries of genre and create iconic compositions that sculpted genres of their own. Thus, one can giggle away with the albums from the early Syd Barrett psychedelic years, or mull over the grandiose, meandering chords of Astronomy Domine and Echoes. The Wall and Animals albums provide plenty of mental fodder as far as rock operas go, while even the much maligned Final Cut and Division Bell albums (each the megalomaniac offering of a specific band member) have enough musical genius on them to warrant numerous sessions of careful listening. And I haven't even touched upon arguably the two greatest Pink Floyd albums: Wish You Were Here and Dark Side of The Moon. The sax on both albums marks the zenith for Floyd, when warm melodies, cerebral lyrics, melancholic themes and moving solos seamlessly integrated in a musical celebration.

Indeed, the last word on Floyd should fittingly be their very own. As a matter of fact, I quote the final lines from the final song (High Hopes) on their final album. Pink Floyd was, is and always will be:

"The endless river...forever and ever."

Smile.

Now Lamenting The Defeat Of Shades Of Gray

2007-09-15T14:51:00.000-06:00

NDTV's show 'The Big Fight' usually proves to be an entertaining affair, with healthy dollops of acrimony, mud-slinging, sledging and occassionally, even the odd sensible comment seeing the light of day. One particularly memorable episode saw Anupam Kher (then Chairman of the Censor Board) getting lambasted on all quarters for his ineptitude and downright incompetence as far as his job was concerned. I was initially of the view that the show suffered from its loss of the mischievous Rajdeep Sardesai as host, but Vikram Chandra has proved to be a more than able moderator and now does his own job admirably.
The most recent episode that I had the chance to witness, saw the question 'were the British good for India' being debated. One can perhaps admonish NDTV for phrasing an issue rife with shades of gray in such black-and-white terms, but it certainly did not prevent the episode from losing its focus as it did. Chief perpetrator was Tushar Gandhi, great-grandson of the Mahatma himself, who resorted to rhetorical, flabby speeches that barely covered an inherent lack of substance. Of particular annoyance was his propensity to label anyone who disagreed with him, a 'collaborationist' and 'servant to the British': clearly, Mr. Gandhi is incapable of disagreeing without being disagreeable, a far cry from Bapu indeed.
The other two front line panelists were not much better, with only historian Jasvinder Singh fighting a lone battle bearing the standard of reason. Rakeysh Mehra (director of Rang De Basanti) appeared insipid on his televised feed, although his request to look forward rather than to harp on the past was a suggestion that was more germane to the issue than it seemed.
My own problem with the episode essentially revolved around the apparent inability of the participants to escape from blacks and whites: while one can speculate as to India's development had colonial rule not taken place, it is impossible to say with any amount of certainty that India's development would have taken a specific direction, be it for better or for worse. However, with the benefit of hindsight, while the significant downsides of British rule are more than apparent, the (not altogether insignificant) benefits accrued from our colonial period are hard to deny. The various points have been listed on numerous occasions: the railways, our constitution, the legal system, a common language and above all (although this is a highly controversial point), the unity of our nation. One can wonder as to where the question of independence would have arisen, had there been no body to be independent to begin with? I apologize for the clunky manner in which the previous sentence has been worded, but it drives me to veritable apoplexy when people refuse to acknowledge shades of gray, however unappetizing they may be.
Tushar Gandhi and the interrupting politician who became his comrade-in-arms, kept harping on the point that India could have developed all the aforementioned 'benefits' regardless of British rule, citing Russia, China and Japan as examples of countries that have developed without using English as the prime language. The most glaring hole in their theory lies in the fact that none of those countries had the polarizing disunity that the Indian subcontinent had prior to British rule. One can go back to Akbar and Asoka, but at the time when the British began to take over the subcontinent, there were far too many disparate elements for a cogently definable country to exist. Russia and China have faced their share of partisan elements, but it is rather absurd to imagine that they have been anything on the scale of the 18th century Indian subcontinent.
On the other hand, the British DID impoverish India, set it back economically by decades and humiliate its indigenous people, something that cannot be easily passed over. One can only wonder though, if it is fair to claim that the British raped a country, when the very country didn't exist as a sovereign body and seemed to show no signs of amalgamating into one? I highly recommend G. Aloysius' Nationalism Without A Nation in India for a more in-depth look at this issue.
Altogether though, this is not a defense of British rule in India (as Mr. Tushar Gandhi would love to believe, labeling me a 'collaborationist' in the process). Rather, I am merely pointing out that to bemoan the rule of the British in India, one need not deny the positives that arose out of that period. India is blossoming into a great nation; living in a state of denial and hate will not see us take the next big step as a nation. The great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi should, at the very least, be aware of this.

Blog Surgery

2007-08-28T07:44:00.001-06:00

Clearly, revamping the blog template was not going to be a one-time fix; it is a work in progress and tips from readers (thanks Sameer Dada) go a long way towards enhancing the finished product.

I found this photo resizing website a great help in cropping my headboard picture. As with many other similar sites, this one provides free, non-downloadable software. However, this website has the added advantage of allowing the user to set any width desired for the photograph, with the height being adjusted proportionately. This is rather convenient for most other image resizers only provide standard width settings. The upload-download interface is also very user-friendly and on the whole, makes for a very simple experience for less tech-savvy bloggers such as myself.

I actually stumbled upon the headboard picture purely by chance and found that it served my purpose much better. It is a photograph of a section of The Magnificent Mile in Chicago, seen through the fog. To the right of the picture towers the distinctive John Hancock Center, with its twin transmission spires. In order to make more customized changes to the template, I need to make sure I am fairly sure of my way around html code...I still find myself getting lost in there on an alarming number of occasions!

Finally, on a completely unrelated note, here is a video that many of you would have seen. For those of you who haven't...well, I will let you make your own judgments. The music playing in the background is titled 'Mona Lisa Overdrive'.

Smile.

Pinpoints Of Light In A Sea Of Darkness

2007-08-25T13:21:00.001-06:00

This past 15th of August was the 60th Anniversary of Indian Independence. Bahrain boasts over 250000 Indian expatriates and the celebrations were proportionately large, something that many folks back home in India may find a little surprising given the poorly informed misconception that often prevails about NRIs having lost touch with their 'Indian-ness'. However, the spirit of patriotism does indeed run strong amongst the Indians here and it was ordained by the consulate that a dance recital by the Mamata Shankar Dance Troupe be held in order to celebrate Independence Day with the suitable amount of pomp, splendour and so forth.

Dance aficionados will have no doubt heard of Mamata Shankar and her modern dance form. Having watched her turn in some fine performances on the silver screen for director Satyajit Ray, we approached the program with high expectations. I last approached a concert with similar expectations when Sonal Mansingh performed in New York in 2002; I was certainly not disappointed on that occasion and on the strength of that experience, I placed my faith in Mrs. Shankar's hands...or feet, if you will.

The concert began with a disembodied voice informing the audience that the first piece would be set to the song Vande Mataram. "Interesting choice," I thought, " but 'who dares wins' and all that jazz, so perhaps Mamata Shankar and co. will pleasantly surprise me." The curtains lifted to reveal Mamata Shankar, gyrating with flowing arm movements reminiscent of some prehistoric cephalopod. Cephalopod quickly gave way to raunchy item-number as Mrs. Shankar proceeded to voluptuously undulate on stage, at complete odds with the
soulful rendition of Vande Mataram coming over the speakers. Vande Mataram personifies India as the mother, not as a nauch girl; I found myself thinking that the dance would have looked far more appropriate had it been set to Kajra Re or a similar song-and-dance number ala Bollywood.

In all fairness, the opening number was the worst part of the performance and from thereon out, it did improve. However, it was average at best and I came away thinking that as with all forms of art associated with the Shankar family, Mamata Shankar's choreography commands a lot more hype than it warrants. The aforementioned flowing arm movements formed the backbone of nearly every scene in the first act (titled 'Discovery of India'), with an overwhelming monotony of form persisting throughout the performance. The dancers were certainly synchronized admirably and danced as one unit, while the costumes were bright and colourful. Unfortunately, this could not detract from the unimaginative choreography and the first act came up short in fulfilling its goal of displaying the diversity of India; costumes aside, there was little in the dances that set apart Kerala from Bengal. The sole redeeming feature was an entertaining number featuring a fisherman and his wife, standing out for its boldness and originality.

Act 2 was an even more ambitious venture, attempting to narrate a story from Indian mythology. Glimpses of imagination showed through in the performance, particularly during one scene where flowing mud was depicted by balls of interlocked dancers 'rolling' across the stage. Unlike in the first act, some of the dance steps seemed to have a purpose, leaving less to the imagination of the audience. However, there was still a noticeable lack of variety in the movements and the monotony of the first act was hardly dispelled. In short, while the second act attempted to eliminate the abstract nothingness of the 'Discovery of India' endeavour, it failed to go the distance.

Ultimately, the concert scored highest on its musical score. From the lively 'Dithaam Dithaam' (a popular Bengali folk song) to Anindo Shankar's beautiful compositions, it succeeded in infusing the dance recital with some much-needed energy. Anindo Shankar's music was particularly noteworthy for its soaring melodies and cascading note-patterns. Sadly, the dance centerpieces could not quite live up to their promise, with highlights being few and far between. One can only hope that in future performances, acts like the fisherman's song will be the norm and not the exception and that the concert's few pinpoints of light will shine through its sea of darkness.

Miscellaneous

2007-08-20T16:40:00.000-06:00

The good news is that we are finally done with the 'Great Adventure...' posts and I promise not to post on travel for a while, which shouldn't be too hard given that I will be staying put for a while now.

It should be glaringly obvious that the blog template has changed; I think it looks better and I trust that you will feel the same. The only real change of some note is the addition of an RSS feed from The Slow Bouncer, my cricket blog. I am currently working on jazzing up the template there as well, but I post regularly (usually once every other day at least) and postings will be forthcoming, template-work notwithstanding.

Do take a microsecond out of your hectic schedules to plug in your answer to my one-step survey on this blog; it helps me to gauge readership preferences. Come to think of it though, I would probably continue posting whatever takes my fancy, regardless of reader feedback. In fact, it is probably rather presumptuous of me to assume the existence of so many readers, let alone reader feedback. Ah, will my optimism know no bounds?

Until next time then...

Smile.

The Great Adventure concluded...Skagway, British Columbia and The Yukon in Pictures

2007-08-17T14:20:00.001-06:00

Following our return to Seattle from Alaska, we flew back to Bahrain via Chicago. The Great Adventure had finally come to a close, but we flew away with many photographs, memories and satisfying experiences. My blog has been dominated by this vacation for the past couple of months, albeit with the posting being spread out longer than the duration of the trip itself. Expect more diverse postings in the near future. Until next time then.

Smile.

The Great Adventure contd...Juneau, Alaska and Whale Watching in Pictures

2007-08-17T14:00:00.000-06:00

The Great Adventure contd...Ketchikan, Alaska in Pictures

2007-08-17T13:47:00.001-06:00

The Great Adventure contd...Mt. Rainier National Park in Pictures.

2007-08-14T15:32:00.001-06:00

The Great Adventure contd...Mt. Rainier National Park and Seattle

2007-08-14T14:45:00.000-06:00

Day 15: The original plan had been to head over to Seattle and spend the day there, making an excursion to Mt. Rainier National Park the following day. However, a quick estimation of the distances involved yielded the alternative of heading to Rainier on Day 15 itself, following which we would make a beeline for Seattle.

Mt. Rainier National Park was one of the first parks to get official park status from the NPS. It revolves around Mt Rainier, a towering leviathan of a volcano, which though active, has displayed no alarming activity for a while. Mt. Rainier is visible on most days from Seattle, looming in the distance, with the ubiquitous tiara of clouds perched rakishly on its snow-capped peak resembling an over-sized fez of some sort. Rainier is said to create its own weather, with a swirling pattern of clouds often restricted to the mountain's immediate vicinity and at odds with the skies of the surrounding climes. While serious climbers may scale the mountain with adequate gear and a license, less experienced 'climbers' have plenty of opportunities to enjoy the park by way of its numerous trails and hiking routes.

Mt. Rainier itself is visible from virtually every point in the park as it towers benevolently up to the heavens. Some notable vistas include the view from the wadi en route to Madcap Falls and a reflection of the mountain in Mirror Lake. In addition, visitors will certainly be awestruck by the impressive Narada Falls. Born of glacial runoff, the Narada Falls thunder down by Rainier's main road, liberally dowsing visitors at the lookout point, which is a mere hair's breadth away. Despite having seen some magnificent waterfalls in Yellowstone, the falls (named after sage Narada, the messenger of the Gods) rendered us momentarily speechless.

We had approached Rainier expecting a park similar to Olympic's Hurricane Ridge area, with temperate grasslands and glaciers. However, Rainier gave us a much closer look at the glacial formations, taking us right into the snow belt and virtually on the many glaciers that lazily drift down the mountain's slopes. While we lacked the experience, skill and equipment needed to make the two-day trek to the summit, Rainier certainly justified our decision to visit the park. It remains an enduring symbol of Washington State, with a silhouette of the mountain embossed on every WA number plate. Photos of Rainier will also be posted separately.

Upon our return to Seattle, we checked into our hotel before heading over to the Seattle Space Needle a mere two blocks away. We just caught the sunset on Seattle harbour from the top of the Needle and called it a day.

Day 16: We were the stereotypical tourists on our one full day in Seattle. A conducted tour of the city saw us ride our first amphibious craft, courtesy 'Ride The Ducks of Seattle'. The refurbished World War II vessel showed us the sights of Seattle by land and water; the vehicle slid smoothly into the water, when the time came, and chugged along merrily past the houseboats. In addition, we also took in Pike's Market (Seattle's version of an Arabic souk, with fish stores, souvenir shops and the odd hole-in-the-wall restaurant) and the other sights of Seattle. However, we were mentally already on board our ship to Alaska and British Columbia, which we were all set to board on Day 17. While I will not be writing entries for the Alaska leg of our journey, I will post separate photographs.

The Great Adventure contd...Crescent Lake in Pictures.

2007-08-13T16:59:00.001-06:00

The Great Adventure contd...Olympic National Park (Crescent Lake, Hoh Rainforest and Ruby Beach)

2007-08-13T16:30:00.000-06:00

Day 13: One runs out of adjectives to describe the scenery with when one visits a number of national parks. With each region having its own peculiar/ unique beauty as well, it is hard to pin down any one place as the most scenic on a trip...or so we thought.

Crescent Lake made me rethink Kerala's claim to being 'God's own country'. The weather conspired to give us perfect conditions as well: bright, cloudless skies, warm 60 degree weather and minimal wind. Crescent Lake is a glacial lake hemmed in by glacially carved hills on all sides. Its unique chemical composition (low in Nitrogen) makes it exceptionally clear, with one being able to see up to 60 feet deep in some places. A number of short walks meander through the woods around Crescent Lake, notably the 'Moments in Time' trail, providing visitors with an opportunity to admire the lake's beauty while simultaneously walking through ferns and moss-covered stumps. The Lake Crescent Lodge is perched on the banks of the lake and while our hotel in Port Angeles was very comfortable, we rued the fact that we had been unable to get a reservation in such sylvan settings. However, we still found the time to have lunch by the lake, hike up to a nearby waterfall and bask in the sunlight on the Lodge's patio. I will post a separate set of photographs for Crescent Lake, for in this case, a picture is worth far more than a thousand words.

From Crescent Lake, we headed around the park's north-western perimeter to the Hoh Rainforest in the park's west. While the trails at Hoh were similar to the Moments in Time trail, the rainforest gave us an up-close look at the gargantuan Sitka Spruce and Douglas Firs, many of which were long dead and supporting new life as they themselves decayed. While the trees towered above us, moss and ferns covered the forest floor, flourishing in the moisture-laden environment of the Olympics' windward side.

On the way back to Port Angeles, we stopped over at Ruby Beach. With the sun setting on the vast Pacific and the silhouettes of the arches and stacks spreading finger-like shadows across the pebbles, we strolled beside the Hoh estuary. It is truly a testament to Olympics' diversity that in a single day, we had seen snow and glaciers, glacial lakes, rainforests and an ocean ecosystem. While Olympic may not have the organization and polish of Yellowstone, it certainly lacks nothing in terms of natural beauty. In addition, a friend of mine rightly pointed out that it is the closest thing to Alaska outside Alaska. However, it could do with a little more tourist friendly development.

Day 14: Day 14 was spent in lazing by Lake Crescent and visiting some more of the beaches along Olympic's Pacific preserve. As in Yellowstone, it was a day kept for contingency arrangements and it afforded us the luxury of visiting some of our favourite spots in Olympic a second time. Day 15 would see us breeze through Mt. Rainier National Park before spending a day in Seattle prior to heading out to Alaska.

The Great Adventure contd...Olympic National Park (Hurricane Ridge)

2007-08-13T16:10:00.000-06:00

Day 12: Much to everyone's consternation, it turned out that our flight from Denver to Seattle was scheduled for 0700 hrs. Factoring in reporting time and allowance for returning the hardy Trailblazer that had served us so well, we were up and running by 3:30 am. Most airports are unwelcoming at such an unearthly hour and Denver's was no different.

All said and done, we finally arrived in Seattle at 9-ish, following which we immediately hit the road to Olympic National Park on the Olympic Peninsula west of Seattle. The journey was a relatively smooth 3 hr+ journey, barring some initial hiccups courtesy of our dysfunctional GPS unit. Our GPS unit evidently subscribed to the 'all roads lead to Rome' school of thought, directing us all over the place in the vague hope that we would eventually arrive at our final destination. In that, our trust GPS unit also believed in sheer, dumb luck.

Nonetheless, we were checking into our hotel at Port Angeles (just outside the park's Hurricane Ridge entrance) by teatime. We barely made it to the Visitors' Center before the exclusive 5 pm closing time...clearly the Rangers were hinting that we weren't the only ones on holiday.

We decided to use the evening to cover Hurricane Ridge, giving us a view of the Olympic Mountains and a chance to do some walking high up along the mountain ridges. At Olympic, temperate rain forests thrive in the shadows of snow-capped mountains and glaciers, with the sea being mere miles away. This unique set of overlapping ecosystems results in some curious weather and our first encounter with said weather occurred in the form of low-lying clouds on the drive up to Hurricane Ridge. Most of the drive up was done under a thick white blanket, with visibility down to 20 meters or so. While we were unable to see the view on our left, there was an eerie beauty to the whole scene. A deer would suddenly materialize out of the mist, or a gushing mountain spring would make its presence felt first by sound and then by sight.

Shortly before Hurricane Ridge, the road emerged above the cloud line, with a magnificent vista of clouds beneath us and the Olympics in the distance. After heartily kicking myself for forgetting my camera (we returned two days later to make amends, but the low-lying clouds had dispersed by then), we proceeded to walk along the ridges. Tame black-tailed deer sauntered past us on the paths, throwing only desultory glances in our direction. While the encroaching twilight cut short our plans of hiking up to the peak of Hurricane Hill itself, we hiked alongside some spectacular ridges and got a good look at the glacial features of the surrounding mountains. In the distance, the Pacific was a sliver on the horizon. Olympic had begun on a promising note indeed.

The Great Adventure contd...Yellowstone Masquerades as the Grand Canyon, etc.

2007-07-15T14:12:00.000-06:00

Day 9: With two days left in Yellowstone, we were left with only the 'Grand Canyon of Yellowstone' to see. As the name suggests, the canyon has been carved by the centuries-long flow of the Yellowstone River through the valley and the distinctly yellow rocks of the canyon give both the river and the Park their names.

We wound our way back up to Mammoth and then headed east to Tower, from where we started down south along the canyon. Our first stop came right at Tower, with a steep descent leading us to a spectacular view of the lower reaches of the canyon (see above) and a distant view of the river's lower falls to the north. Most of the day consisted of periodic halts along the canyon, during which we would charge 500-700 down a steep path along the canyon walls to a lookout point overlooking the river down below, then charge back up to continue on our way, with the next stop coming along just as we were catching our breath. Once we realized that the trick was to keep walking without stopping, regardless of the ascent, we found ourselves marching all over the canyon with ease, barely breaking a sweat. While the day could be summed up as such, there were some stops that are well worth a mention of their own. We can start with the lookout right above the lower falls. Like most of the paths, it was a steep descent to the lookout point, although the path seemed a trifle as we were galvanized by the sight of a number of elderly folk trudging along the path. The overlook itself was right over the falls, allowing us to feel the force and sheer power of the greenish water as it plunged over the hard basalt ledge. The upper falls had a similar lookout point right over the falls, although the approach was a matter of a few hundred feet. The spray tossed up by the falls created a number of shimmering rainbows on the edge of the falls, adding even more colour to the reds, yellows and browns of the sun-baked rocks in the canyon.

Further on up the road from the upper falls overlook, the road looped over the canyon and then started to head up along the eastern rim of the canyon. We drove up to the main lookout point and from there, walked to the upper falls panoramic point, which encompassed a large chunk of the river's upper bends, along with the upper falls and a viaduct further up the river (see picture below to the left). While much higher up than the lookouts we had descended to on the western rim of the canyon, it afforded us a better view of the canyon against the park's backdrop.

In the early days of the park, a gentleman by the name of 'Uncle' Tom used to take visitors on a steep descent of the canyon's western walls for a close-up view of the lower falls towering above them a short distance away. While at the time he was often forced to use ropes and harnesses to facilitate his guests' progress, the present descent to Uncle Tom's Cabin (as it is known) has countless sturdy aluminium steps to mark the route. While inadvisable for heart patients, the short hike down is well-worth the view it affords of the lower falls, making it arguably the best lookout point in the entire Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River. One rival to this claim may be Artists' Point, a little further up the road on the eastern rim. Most photographs of the lower falls are taken from Artists' Point and have found themselves plastered on postcards all over the park. The point provides a nice view of the lower falls, framed by the canyon, with the yellow tint brought out to maximum effect.

That in essence was the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. We drove back to Old Faithful after a long day of trudging around the dusty canyon, exhilarated that we had finally seen the 'yellow stones' of Yellowstone.

Day 10: Day 10 was more or less like a rest day for us; not unlike the rest days between test matches when you are using the time to recharge your batteries, while at the same time taking care not to fall out of the rhythm one has established. We spent the morning taking a guided tour of the historic Inn in which we had stayed for three nights, following which, we walked around the 3 km or so of boardwalks in the Old Faithful geyser basin. While the geysers were fast beginning to register little impact on our saturated brains, there were some choice specimens such as the emerald green Morning Glory Pool, the sputtering Castle Geyser and of course, Old Faithful itself. We dallied briefly in the hopes of the odd geyser erupting before pushing off once more for the Grand Canyon, thirsting for more of the visual feast we had witnessed the day before. While the splendour may have been a little diminished the second time around, we returned from the valley sufficiently satiated.

Our last night at Yellowstone was spent in the Lake Yellowstone Lodge, the oldest hotel in the park. Where the Old Faithful Inn's charm lay in its rustic wooden decor and log-cabin setting, the charm of the Lodge lay in its quiet, English tea-house atmosphere, completed by the prim lounge, with white wicker chairs, a grand piano and numerous cushions covered in summery floral patterns. The room eschewed the imposed 'rustic' antiquity that some such lodges are famous for and revelled in its modern, yet quaint, nature. All in all, it ended our stint at Yellowstone on a decidedly pleasurable note.

Day 11 : Nearly the entire day was spent in driving the marathon distance from Yellowstone back to Denver, from our early morning start to our evening arrival in the city. Yellowstone gave us a fitting farewell indeed: on the road east to Cody, WY, we chanced upon a Grizzly Bear foraging right by the side of the road, a little distance in from the entrance. It was our third Grizzly sighting in Yellowstone (fifth if one counts the two cubs separately from the mother), but the first time we got to admire it at length, mere feet away from our car. The bear was oblivious to our presence, concentrating on its breakfast intently; I suppose it will never know that it made our day. That however, was our final farewell and by nightfall, Yellowstone was a long way off as we tucked ourselves into bed for the intense four hours of sleep we planned on getting prior to our 4 am departure for Denver airport. Olympic National Park and Alaska beckoned...

Smile.

The Great Adventure contd...Yellowstone (Norris/Mammoth)

2007-06-18T23:13:00.000-06:00

Day 8: Having covered the major geyser basins (barring Norris Geyser Basin) on Day 7, we were left to cover The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River (known locally simply as Canyon) in the center of the park and Mammoth Hot Springs in the north west section of the park. Logistically, covering Norris and Mammoth prior to Canyon seemed more feasible and we headed out to Norris early on Day 8.

The Norris Geyser Basin is Yellowstone's largest geyser basin, with over four miles of boardwalks criss-crossing across the terrain, eerily reminiscent of some alien planet seen on a sci-fi show. The world's largest geyser, Steamboat Geyser (major eruptions of which can soar over 300 feet high), resides in Norris with the last major eruption having occurred in 2005. While large and varied though, Norris was not as interesting as some of the other geyser basins though. Midway Geyser Basin, for example, had the large Excelsior Crater and Grand Prismatic, a colourful spring that claims to be the largest hot spring in the park (over 200 feet in diameter at its broadest point). Mud Volcano had the sputtering, fuming Churning Cauldron (a bubbling mass of mud) while Sulfur Cauldron is known to have a pH level close to that of battery acid. All in all, I suppose Norris Geyser Basin had too many dormant geysers for my liking and the smaller geyser basins had more diversity going for them.

From Norris, it was straight up north to Mammoth Hot Springs. Mammoth lies close to the park's north entrance and the Theodore Roosevelt Gate. The north entrance is the only entrance that remains open in the winter and Roosevelt Gate was originally built when the park opened to public, lending it some historic significance. Mammoth is a rather long drive from Old Faithful, but with the break of journey at Norris, the distance didn't seem as long.

The hot springs at Mammoth are unique in their range of colours, with the blues and greens of the lower geyser basins being replaced by orange and a porcelain white. In addition, the runoff from the springs creates curious terraced formations (see above) that characterize Mammoth. These striking features lend many of the formations names like The Orange Sponge (top left), Main Terrace and the interesting Liberty Cap (a dormant thermal cone). Mammoth township itself is rather quaint, with the rugged countryside around offering plenty of hiking trails for those so inclined.

Following our tour of the terraces at Mammoth, we visited the Roosevelt Gate (see above) and then drove the long and winding road back to Old Faithful. We were quite pleased to finish up Mammoth and Norris on Day 8, leaving only Canyon for the remaining two days. This has been a brief summary of the day's events, but it should be sufficient. Until Day 9 then...

Smile.

The Great Adventure contd...Yellowstone (Old Faithful Inn/Geysers galore)

2007-06-18T22:47:00.000-06:00

Day 7: We checked out of the Grant Village Lodge following breakfast and headed out west towards Old Faithful and the other major geyser basins. We were scheduled to spend three nights at the Old Faithful Inn, a historic hotel that claims to be the largest log cabin in the United States (and possibly the world). The Inn is a hundred feet or so away from the famous Old Faithful Geyser (left), a geyser that gets its name from its predictable eruptions that occur every 92 minutes with a margin of error of only ten minutes (most predictable geysers have a margin of error of over an hour). We witnessed one of Old Faithful’s famous eruptions prior to checking into the hotel and then set off for the Black Sand Basin, one of the many spots of thermal activity in the park.

Black Sand Basin and Biscuit Basin each had a number of unique thermal features, spawning hot springs, geysers and fumaroles. Black Sand basin is named for the obsidian and sinter deposits (thermal residue) present around the hot springs. Biscuit Basin was originally named for the biscuit-like features found in the basin, but an earthquake in the 1970s destroyed most of the ‘biscuits’ leaving most visitors perplexed as to the origins of Biscuit Basin’s name. While a name change would seem in order, the National Park Service requires that any name changes in Yellowstone be passed through Congress; should any of you happen to know a Congressman, do pass on this suggestion to him/her!

A trail led from Biscuit Basin to Hidden Falls, a waterfall in the backcountry. On the way back from Hidden Falls, we climbed a fair bit and hiked along the ridges all the way back to Biscuit Basin, affording us a glorious view of the area around us. Over two-thirds of the park’s forested area was burnt down in the great fires of 1988 and from our vantage point, we could see part of the vast extent of the fire, with miles and miles of burnt Lodgepole Pines covering the hills. However, there were plenty of bright green patches visible as well, indicating the presence of young Pine forests coming up amidst the death and decay of burnt trees. The process of life and death in Yellowstone is indeed going on, regardless of the fires.

Most of the afternoon was spent in walking around the thermal basins. Wooden boardwalks constructed by the NPS ensure that visitors do not go crashing through the crumbling sinter, although even the boardwalks could not shield us from the pungent Hydrogen Sulfide vapors that emanated from the sulphurous pools. With clothes and hair smelling, we finally arrived back at the Old Faithful Inn by dinnertime. The Inn is a quaint building, constructed entirely of pine and Rhyolite rock quarried in Yellowstone. Four stories of ornamented pine tower above the maple-wood lobby floor and a large clock adorns the face of the stone fireplace, weighing a few hundred tons by itself. You can see pictures of the Inn here, since the photographs I clicked do not do the Inn justice.

Following dinner, we decided to go animal watching. The two hot spots for sighting bears and wolves in Yellowstone are Lamar Valley in the Northeast and Hayden Valley in the center of the park. Given that Lamar Valley was a good two hours’ drive away from Old Faithful, implying a return time of 11 pm, we decided to strike out for Hayden Valley. We had seen plenty of Elk and Bison by then, even sighting a Moose in GTNP; thus, our true goal was to sight a wolf or a Grizzly. On the way to Hayden Valley, we passed a contented Bull Elk munching on grass right by the roadside, providing us with the perfect photo-op. A brief stop and fifty miles later, we were at Hayden Valley, where a number of other animal watchers were peering through binoculars at a distant hill. At first we assumed that they were looking at the Bison scattering the hills, but one of the observers informed us that a Grizzly and her cub had been sighted just prior to disappearing beyond a distant hill and everyone was expectantly waiting in the hope that she would come over the ridge again Patience may be a virtue, but when we learned that one of the men there had been waiting for over an hour, we decided to head back home, convinced that luck wasn’t on our side.

Lady Luck hadn’t finished with us yet, or so we thought, because as we approached West Thumb, we chanced upon a smaller crowd with a Park Ranger. The Grant Village Grizzly and her cubs had crossed the road a few minutes prior to our arrival and one of the people present showed us pictures of the bears. Cursing our timing, we despondently started to drive back to the inn when some movement in the forest to our left alerted us to the presence of the Grizzlies just a short way off in the forest. The mother was trotting along, parallel to the road, as her cubs scampered behind her. They could not have been more than fifty feet away from us and we got a good luck at the three bears, before they strolled into an empty car park and then a clearing beyond that. As the gloom of dusk deepened, we got our fill of Grizzlies as the cubs played in the grass and the mother maternally watched over them. It was the perfect end to our day and we headed back to the inn, thrilled at having seen the famous beasts up close.

Smile.

The Great Adventure contd...Yellowstone (Grant Village/West Thumb)

2007-06-18T22:25:00.000-06:00

Surprisingly, Yellowstone National Park (henceforth referred to merely as ‘Yellowstone’) does not have Internet access available within the park, forcing me to write all my entries on this famous park, off line. Thus, in all likelihood you will be reading this four/five days after I have written my entry; no harm done though. I trust my photographs of GTNP and RMNP were company enough until now! Moving on to Day 6…

Day 6: The previous night saw GTNP rocked by a ferocious thunderstorm: it’s a minor miracle in itself that we got any sleep amidst the clatter of hail on metal roofs, rain draining off the hillside and whiplash lightning followed by roaring thunder. I can’t imagine the Elk, Moose et al. had a very pleasant time out in the open and our cozy log cabin felt infinitely cozier with the storm raging outside. Thankfully the weather had held up all day, despite projected late afternoon showers, much unlike Chicago where the fundamental rule seems to be: everything that can go wrong with the weather will go wrong.

Regardless of the night’s storm though, Day 6 dawned sunny and warm, with hardly a cloud in the sky, barring some low-lying ones that made for a splendid vista of the Tetons unlike any we had seen in the previous two days. In order to savour the scene a little more, we went for a walk by Jackson Lake prior to heading out to Yellowstone; that final amble along the shores of Jackson Lake marked the perfect end to our time in GTNP. Even though we have seen a fair number of National Parks by now, GTNP will go down as one of my favourites for a number of reasons: the park is compact (much like Arches in Utah), well-organized and has a pleasing layout. In addition, one can always look to the West and get a picture-postcard view of the Tetons…what more could one ask for?

Following the final walk alongside Jackson Lake, we headed up north to Yellowstone, a park that is around five times the size of GTNP meaning that the five days we planned on spending in the park would be jam packed. Driving up from the South Entrance, we stopped at little creeks and cataracts on our way up to Grant Village, seeing some water flows in idyllic settings befitting a Bollywood song and dance sequence. After a pleasant drive, we arrived at the Grant Village Lodge mid-afternoon and rushed our stuff up to the room before setting off for a Ranger guided walk at the geyser basin off Lake Yellowstone’s West Thumb. The Ranger in question was a professor/geologist/part-time ranger who led us along the geo-thermal features of West Thumb while giving us a detailed account of the formation of Yellowstone. The hot springs, paint pots (springs with muddy, colored deposits), fumaroles (steam vents in the ground) and geysers provided the ideal backdrop to the presentation, which while didactic at times, was informative and well done. Of particular interest was the ‘Fishing Hole’, a hot spring cone out in the lake. In earlier times, fishermen would wade out to the cone, fish for All in all, it was a good introduction to Yellowstone and provided us with a sampler of what was to come in the next few days.

Dinner would have been a normal affair, had it not been for the multiple bear warnings that concerned the woods around the restaurants. A female Grizzly and her two cubs had been frequenting the Grant Village area in the past few days and multiple sightings had been reported by visitors. Having killed four elk calves, the mother was also reported to be aggressive around her cubs and there were some concerns about the safety of the area. However, we made it safely to dinner and back; we hit the sack reasonably early in lieu of the long day that we expected to have on Day 7.

Smile.

The Great Adventure contd...GTNP in pictures

2007-06-11T22:13:00.000-06:00

The Great Adventure contd...GTNP

2007-06-11T21:20:00.000-06:00

Unfortunately I couldn't post my daily update last night, resulting in today's extra-long post with two days' worth of GTNP. Incidentally, the picture above was taken from an Episcopalian Church in GTNP, with the window behind the crucifix providing the ideal view of the Tetons.

Day 4: The day began at a relatively late 9 pm (post-breakfast and miscellaneous morning hygiene-related activities) and we headed out for Traggart Lake, a reputedly beautiful alpine, glacier-fed lake close to the base of Grand Teton, the highest mountain in the Tetons. I must mention that it required a major effort on our parts to leave the cozy warmth of our beds (see below) and head out into the comparatively frigid outdoors, although by mid-afternoon the temperature had reached the sweltering seventies. The hike was a fairly relaxed one, proceeding over minor ups and downs, finally arriving at gorgeous Traggart Lake. The lake was different from Bierstadt Lake in RMNP in that it was a lot larger, the mountains were close to the far bank of the lake and the pine trees seemed a little more dispersed than the ones at Bierstadt, which seemed to snuggle the lake into its alpine cocoon. After lazing on the banks of Traggart Lake for a while, it was back into our trusty Trailblazer to explore the rest of GTNP. The sights for the rest of the day included three other glacial lakes (Jenny, String and Leigh), the photographs of which I may have to post separately. String Lake was arguably the most interesting of the lot, connecting the other two lakes. It resembles a mini-cataract of sorts and forms a crescent-shaped arc between the larger Leigh and Jenny lakes. Each of the three lakes has its own glacier up in the Tetons, all of which are visible from the road below. Jenny Lake is the largest of the three aforementioned lakes, although considerably smaller than Jackson Lake (at which Colter Bay Village is located). In addition, Jenny Lake provides plenty of picturesque compositions for the budding photographer, with the pine trees often forming a natural 'frame' for the mountains (see left).
On the way into Wyoming, we had picked up a few bottles of Cider (the non-alcoholic variety) from a tiny home-run store in Colorado. Each of the flavours (Raspberry, Peach, Grape and Muscadine) had its own unique charm and the refreshing drinks rounded off the day perfectly, coupled with some excellent fare at Colter Bay's own Chuckwagon Restaurant. While the summary above doesn't truly do our first day in GTNP justice, it should provide a flavour of what our experience was like. In any case, Day 5 should provide additional information on the park...for those of you who actually bother reading this blog!

Day 5: Despite potential thunderstorms projected for the late afternoon, we approached today bullishly (as is our wont) and decided to cover as much of the Park as physically possible, given that we would be heading out to Yellowstone tomorrow. We began the day by canoing on Jackson Lake for a couple of hours. Although some ominous clouds were moving in from across the Tetons and midway through our canoing 'expedition' we hit some rather turbulent waters, it was an immensely enjoyable experience. It is a unique way of seeing the park, especially when we would pause and stop rowing to just cruise along for a while and enjoy the serenity of the lake, the wind in the trees and the mountains rising beyond the far bank.

Following canoing, we headed back to Jenny Lake, in order to hike up to Hidden Falls, a 200-foot waterfall at the point where the snow from the Tetons empties into Jenny Lake. While one can take a ferry to and from the falls, we decided to hike the two and a half miles there since the trail ran alongside Jenny Lake and offers some splendid panoramas of the park's Eastern boundary, a side of the park not often admired by people with the towering Tetons in the West capturing most of the limelight. We even got up close to some plump marmots (see below) on the return, our closest wildlife encounter until then. While the falls were similar to others we had seen in Yosemite, the hike there was well worth it and our timing turned out to be rather good: the heavens started opening up just as we arrived back at the trail head, with the projected thunderstorms looking ominously near. Given the intermittent showers, we were forced to confine most of our activities for the rest of the day to driving around the park. The most noteworthy of these drives took us to Gros Ventre, a mammoth rockslide just outside the park boundaries in next door Bridger-Teton National Forest. On the way, we passed herds of bison, with some even venturing close to the road and one bold one scurrying (if such a verb can be applied to an animal of that size) right in front of us.

On the return to the lodge, we stopped at Oxbow Bend, an Oxbow Lake off the Snake River. Oxbow Bend is one of the better places in GTNP to spot wildlife and we were lucky enough to sight a cow Moose, albeit at a distance. Bald Eagles as on the conservation comeback trail and reportedly nest along Oxbow Bend as well, although we couldn't spot any. Dusk in GTNP was beautiful this evening, with the cloudy skies forming the perfect halo to Grand Teton (see left), allowing just a little sunlight to filter through. A slight haze over the plains added a mystic air to the whole scene while the calm after the minor evening storm created a glassy effect on most of the water bodies, lending the entire landscape a crystal serenity. It was the perfect end to our sojourn in GTNP (although we plan to do one last hike tomorrow prior to heading out to Yellowstone). Both RMNP and GTNP have been compact, well-organized parks and we found two days in each adequate enough to cover a lot of ground. I expect covering Yellowstone will not be half as easy, given its monster size, although we have set aside five days for it.

As with RMNP, I will be posting some supplementary photographs to GTNP separately. Enjoy!

Smile.

The Great Adventure contd...US-287 and the drive to Grand Teton

2007-06-09T21:21:00.000-06:00

Day 3: Given the 450 miles we had to drive from RMNP to Grand Teton National Park (henceforth referred to as GTNP), we hit the road fairly early; bear in mind that 8 am still qualifies as early on my nocturnal clock. The previous day's gorgeous weather continued and it was a little annoying at first to think that we would spend such a beautiful day on what merely amounted to a commute between two national parks.

Most of the journey to GTNP was spent on the US 287, a highway that turned out to be spectacularly scenic. As a matter of fact, by the time we finally arrived in GTNP (at approximately 6 pm), the drive here had assumed the proportions of a scenic tour by itself, covering an incredibly diverse array of geological terrain. From the winding road alongside a bubbling brook close to RMNP to the desolate plains stretching out for miles and miles in Wyoming, from the Bryce Canyon-like red rocks (see below) to the majestic Tetons rising in the distance, from the leviathan clouds casting shadows across the patchwork tapestry of Wyoming ranch land to the painted rock canyons reminiscent of the Grand Canyon...US 287 was a feast by itself. Simply put, the drive to GTNP was far more than just a drive: it was a celebration of America's natural beauty and varying rock formations, all encompassed along that one strip of Tar Macadam.

The lodge that we will be staying at in GTNP for the next couple of nights is rather quaint and cozy (expect pictures soon) with the lake within walking distance (the picture to the top left was taken a few feet outside our cabin). Tomorrow should be another day of hiking and hopefully canoing. Lets just hope all the dire warnings concerning bears are not half as close to home as they sound!

Smile.

The Great Adventure contd...RMNP In Pictures

2007-06-09T01:16:00.001-06:00