Fall by Sandeep Silas
Fall by Sandeep Silas in Borough in the Mist (2007)
Tag: St. John’s College Agra
An enchanting village by #Sandeep #Silas, published in #The #Hindu
#Yvoire One of the most beautiful villages in France, Yvoire is full of flowers and cheerful local population, writes Sandeep Silas
A VISUAL TREAT A charming village house, with lace curtains, flowers and enveloped in greenery form a real romantic setting
G ive me a choice to choose a place to live the rest of my life. An idyll by the lake, amidst flowers livening up my window; stone houses those seem to have travelled back in time; thin pedestrian lanes without any machine monster emitting black smoke; spires surprising you at the end of a street; a village market that comes up informally in the square; laced window panes; lazy boats in the lake; and great food. Yes, I am talking of Yvoire, a village in France, a member of the most beautiful villages of France.
Barely 45 minutes from Geneva, creeper roses welcomed me at the entrance. Flowers seem to be the passion of every inhabitant. Each window was like a beautiful vase distinctive in colour and presentation. Ranked in France as one of the “Four Flowers”, Yvoire is full of flowers – lilies, gourdon, iris, roses, daffodils, gerberas, poinsettia, wisteria vines and the rosemary bush.
Yvoire is located in the Rhone-Alps region of France under the department of Haute-Savoie. This small village, just 3.2 sq km. with a population of 810 only, has access to two faces of Lake Geneva, as it separates the “petit lac” from the “grand lac”. The village just celebrated its 700 years of existence in 2006. Set in the 14th Century, as usually done then with fortifications, a castle, ramparts, mansions, and stone houses, the village continues to look the same. The St. Pancras Church that dominates the village heights dates to the 11th Century but has been rebuilt and attended many times. Its slender green-onion like dome is representative of Savoyard and Piemontese religious architecture of later centuries.
Homes were not homes, they were more! Some had portions running as boutiques selling designer garments, locally made souvenirs, cheese and cakes, and a lot doubled up as restaurants. Survival had placed the village between the horns of “character” and “commerce”. It obviously gets a lot of tourists who come to dip their souls into the sponge of delight for a day.
From the square, under the church steeple, you can buy things you may not need, but would like to take back. Though each window here was very beautifully done, one particularly caught my attention from the square. A vivacious green Boston Ivy creeper half encircled it, with purple, pink, and red gerberas raising their sprightly heads from the pot placed on the window-sill. Each leaf of the creeper had three tongue-like lobes, one each to taste the sweet, sour and salty breeze, I thought. Behind the glass window-panes was a beautiful lace curtain. Only a face, like that of Helen of Troy was missing. A perfect window for a Romeo and Juliet conversation!
The turrets of Savoy Castle still hold intrigue within their bosoms. Tiny windows, more for watch and ward and breeze rather than views characterise the castle. Jardin des Cinq sans is now a leisure garden with the five-senses theme – fruit and vegetables for taste, flowers for sight, herbs for smell, and aviary for hearing.
A village surviving since 1306 AD in the same time warp is an amazing spectacle to visit and see. In its earlier years it was on the trade map through the Alps and along the Lake Geneva. In the 16 {+t} {+h} Century fishing became a primary occupation for the residents.
Now, in the 21s {+t} Century it is heritage that makes the place important. Actually, I felt that the place has been blessed because its importance over the centuries never diminished despite changing times and trade preferences.
Invigorating
Past paper boats hanging in the air I moved to the lakeside. Walking down a stone paved path beside yellow lilies was invigorating. Once beside the water I sat down to look at the mountains. Across the Lake Geneva (Lake Léman) are visible the Jura Mountains. A pair of ducks frolicking in the water accentuated my loneliness. Couples sat, walked and boated enjoying every moment of togetherness. I resumed my walk and halted at a letter-box made in cast iron, fixed on the outside wall of a home. It had a rider on his horse, embossed on the front face. Its letters – “ LETTRE”, and its stylisation immediately transported me back to the medieval ages when horses served as car, train and plane. Another wooden door to a godown carried a pasted poster appeal carrying instructions, with this slogan at the end of the page – “Vive La France! Vive L’ Empereur!” This was how official orders/notifications were communicated to the public in those days. Lunch was freshly caught fish from Lake Léman, what else!
The faces I recall from this trip were unusually charming – a woman with two spaniels under a signboard, the boy at the cake shop, the woman who entered the boutique hurriedly, the man making a straw hat, and the girl who served us food in the restaurant. The names, those people gave to describe their homes and themselves – Les Murailles, La Maison Fleurie, La Maison d’ Historie, La Gangière, La Bentellière and Coup d’ Coeur, continue to stay in my memory. Especially Coup d’ Coeur, as between the suspended flower baskets from the balcony, at the entrance, were hung many red coloured hearts made of round pieces of wood glued together. I left my heart amidst the wooden ones in France, beating for someone.
(Published in The Hindu, December 27, 2010)
Link:
http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-metroplus/an-enchanting-village/article981735.ece
#Memories from the #September of 2003! #First-ever #Commemorative and #Currency #Coin on ‘#Railways in India, made by Sandeep Silas!
#Memories from the #September of 2003! #Finance #Minister, #India, Shri Jaswant Singh and #Minister of #Railways, India, Shri Nitish Kumar had released the #First-ever #Commemorative and #Currency #Coin on ‘#Railways in India’ in its entire 163 years history so far!
Idea, design and making by Sandeep Silas!
September 1st, 2003!
Some pictures to bring those moments alive!
Sandeep Silas speaking at the Commemorative & Currency Coin Release Ceremony!
Hon’ble Minister of Railways Shri Nitish Kumar delivering his Address! Proud to have served under you Sir! Truly, you are a visionary, great, fair & impartial administrator with a sound grip on the system! A statesmanlike person who respects his talented officers and works as an exemplary team leader! You taught me many important lessons of life, Sir!
Hon’ble Finance Minister of India, Shri Jaswant Singh addressing the audience!
The Release of the Commemorative & Currency Coin!
First-ever on ‘Railways in India’ in its entire history so far!
Do Kadam दो कदम
Do Kadam (Two Steps)
Two steps I desired to walk in companionship
Someone to be with, on the sweet road of love
I searched for a youthful beauty like you everyday
I believed I was on way to become a statue of stone
Some conversations, some meetings is the desire now
I have found the reason of my incomparable existence
Let the word be spread, let there be celebration
I am alive, let this be known to all with respect
Half of my life I have lost in the years of darkness
Let me dedicate the rest to your name, my precious
Happy is ‘deep’ that you have come of your own
I don’t know, I feel, but my companion has come
Do Kadam by Sandeep Silas ‘deep’ in Ranai-e-Khayal 2012
http://www.garlandofpeace.com/aboutus.php#
![BEAUTIFUL THOUGHTS by [Silas, Sandeep]](https://images-eu.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51T%2BzYeK4uL.jpg)
Translated Book in English available on Amazon Kindle:
https://www.amazon.in/BEAUTIFUL-THOUGHTS-Sandeep-Silas-ebook/dp/B0080RNI7C
Wandering in wonderland, published in The Hindu
At Vallorbe, Sandeep Silas digs deep into his imagination to make sense of the city of caves
NATURE’S ART WORK The limestone caves constitute a grotto complex where stones take amazing shapes. Here are two examples: The left one looks like the mount of wisdom and the right one comes close to a symbol of pilgrimage.Photos: Sandeep Silas
Sometimes, Nature leaves you in complete wonderment. We as humans have been blessed by creative intelligence, and we like giving shape and form to thoughts and ideas. Face to face with the creations of Nature, we find only one answer to the questions that arise in the mind about the identity of their creator. It is the Creator, Himself, whose identity is known from His awesome works seen all over.
Such was the feeling that gripped my mind at Vallorbe, a city of caves with unusual rock formations, columns and edges. Call them simply – they are stalactites and stalagmites, but look closely, they are humans in stone.
Vallorbe has existed for thousands of years. It nestles along the banks of the Rive Orbe. The region is called the Lake Geneva Region. In the heart of the Swiss Jura near the cliffs of Mont d’Or and Dent de Vaulion mountains, exists this wonderful world of waterfalls, valleys, coloured stones and an underground river. The Limestone Caves constitute a grotto complex that is fascinating and has created a colourful exhibition of 250 minerals, popularly called “The Fairie’s Treasure Trove”. It is said that ten million years ago Switzerland was an ocean. Lime got deposited at Vallorbe. The River Orbe found for itself a subterranean bed in these limestone deposits.
A mixture of intrigue and Nature’s heritage was discovered in 1961 and opened to the public in 1974. Vallorbe is located on the Swiss French border and just one hour’s drive from Geneva. Vallorbe is not a destination like we are used to – with roads, markets, museums, forts and places and confectionary marts. It is a museum of Nature instead.
Rest in peace
Hidden inside a deep forest, a stream misleads you to believe that there can be nothing more to life than the peace of a jungle. A huge mountain with a tunnel opening also doesn’t let you expect much. Till you reach inside and run like ‘Alice in Wonderland’. It is cold inside and a jacket seemed comfortable. On entrance is a pool of water, far down amidst the rocks, which appeared like a pan of shining mercury. A long tunnel leads to a room from where begins this journey into mystic imagination. The best part about this visit is to see and find shapes in stones and give them an identity from your own cultural bank in the mind. Every person looks at them differently and understands uniquely. For the Christian, some formations may appear like a Cross or the Disciples at Supper; for the Hindu, the Pandavas at one place and hundreds of Shivlingams all over.
The Kailash Mansarovar here and Vishnu Kund over there. For the poet, it is the ‘Wasteland’ here and ‘the chimes’ yonder. For the painter, it is a battle formation here, the placid lakeside beyond the rock, and the ‘Triad’ in the distance. Everyone is at ease. Each one is at peace at Les Grottes de Vallorbe.
I climbed up to find and discover interesting cold shapes exuding warmth from the character they had assumed. I was conscious that what I saw was here only this moment, not the next. Some snow would melt altering the shape, some vapour would condense giving birth to another form and so this natural cycle goes on and on. Timelessness, I thought.
The caves and walls are lit by sensor operated lights, so that it is not dark all the time. You stand before a cave and the lights are turned on, enough for an image to get imprinted upon the minds’ eye. One sharp edged ice shape looked like the Sword of Damocles to me. Another, a wave of the wind, yet another the swift glide of a serpent. Then one was definitely a beehive. It had hundreds of perfect bee dwellings at the bottom surface and then it rose up like a temple bell, securely fastened to the roof.
The walls were moist and drips of water had left small pools on the ground. It was 10 degree Celsius inside the cave world. This was a perfect peaceful miniature world of mountains, valleys, lakes and peopled by snowmen and snowwomen. No blood can be spilt in this world as all movement has been frozen by time – the snow people those live here, grow and fade away by temperature variations, with much life gone by at the same fixed location.
I climb down a few steps into another area. There the cave is like a bedroom cave, a cosy and safe sleeping room. Some stalagmites are curiously shaped like the male organ and are a boast of life. Now, another looks like the ‘bell of heaven’ with thousands of thread like strings. Moving out of this maze of shapes and forms was not a pleasant thought, but all life drama has to come to an end on a note of climax. This was reserved for the end. I hear the gushing sound of water. Deep down from an opening, a stream emerges at great speed, creating foam balls in its movement. The elongated pear shaped pool it merges with, never ceases to amaze. This is actually the underground River Orbe.
The exit opening pushed me back into the world of definite shapes. Back inside Vallorbe it was imagination at its best. Here it is imagination coloured by learning, a definite perspective, more ruled by what is commonly understood.
Curiosity, once quenched, gives over to memory, to let the seen and felt, be retained in vaults and summoned to image at the drop of a thought! Vallorbe is a wonderland and you will find it more amusing when you visit as by then some more vapour would have taken a form!
Vallorbe is located on the Swiss-French border and just one hour’s drive from Geneva
(Published on December 26, 2011)
Link:
http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-metroplus/wandering-in-wonderland/article2748081.ece
In the heart of the mountains by Sandeep Silas, published in The Hindu
In the heart of the mountains by Sandeep Silas
Man has been building in statuesque, grandiose and ornate architectural styles since the time stone was quarried and bricks fired. Imagination, force of will, ornamentation and sheer celebration is visible in what he has built the world over! And, that is what I saw in the Blue Mountains, 110 km. from Sydney.
As I sped towards the Blue Mountains, the whole atmosphere changed and Nature started speaking in hushed tones. The road wound its way up through dreamy villages wrapped in slumber. At Glenbrook came the gateway, and Wentworth Falls was pretty. Charles Darwin, who laboured to unravel the mystery of the origin of species, once stayed here, and a walk commemorates this association.
The village of Leura romanticises candles and clothing. In October, Cherry blossoms line the streets of Leura, and gardens are filled with butterflies sipping nectar. We halted at bohemian Katoomba, and I particularly remember the sloping drive through the village. Homes are old fashioned and the boutiques bright. The post office, the bank and the church remind you of temporal and spiritual connections.
ABORGINAL LEGEND
Gavin, my chauffeur, mentioned the Three Sisters. I presumed he was recounting a fable, bringing back to life the days of the Aborigines. Till, I I realised the Three Sisters is a prominent feature of the Blue Mountains World Heritage area, which celebrates Nature.
There is an Aborginal legend associated with the three sisters The beautiful sisters, Meenhi, Weemala and Gunnedoo, daughters of the Katoomba tribe’s witch doctor, fell madly in love with three brothers of the Nepean tribe. Ancestral law forbade marriage outside the tribe. The brave warrior-brothers engaged in battle for the maidens. The witch doctor turned his daughters to stone using his magic stick, intending to restore them to life after the fight. But, he was killed in battle and his magic stick could not be found. They say the Lyrebird instinctively scratches the earth even today, searching for the magic stick.
The Blue Mountains, belonging to the Narrabeen Group of layers, have evolved over hundreds of millions of years. The Three Sisters were once seven sisters. Four have been lost to the Valley, the weather and Time!
I saw a wooden signboard; ‘The Three Sisters’, and took the path. At a view point, I was amazed at the vastness of the range and the Leura Forest in the valley. The forest reverberated with birdcall. Inching further, I was face-to-face with a mountaintop, the edges of which were jagged — victims of wind erosion.
A bench in a cavity of the cliff invited me to solitude. Touching the cliff, I wondered where the ‘Three Sisters’ were located. All lookouts were blocked by the heavy mist. Disappointed, I rose and took to what they call ‘The Giant Staircase’, which takes you deep down to the forest.
I trudged back to the starting point, I followed some visitors to Echo Point to share a glimpse of what they saw — the three lovelorn sisters, captives of fate, stood a little to my left in storybook silence. For a brief moment, the majestic sun illuminated their dormant sensuousness.
And, to think that all this while, I had actually sat and brooded on the waist curve of one of the three!
(Published in The Hindu May 2, 2010)
Link:
http://www.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/in-the-heart-of-the-mountains/article419085.ece
Keywords: Blue Mountains, Three Sisters
Civil servant, travel writer and poet Sandeep Silas strings a garland of peace, write-up in THE HINDU Oct 21, 2009
Civil servant, travel writer and poet Sandeep Silas strings a garland of peace
The Hindu covered the Launch ceremony of “Garland Of Peace” idea and initiative on October 21, 2009
Link:
http://www.thehindu.com/features/friday-review/art/peace-strings/article36681.ece
http://www.thehindu.com/multimedia/dynamic/00008/22dmc_sandeep02_jpg_J_8895g.jpg
The recently concluded photo exhibition by Sandeep Silas at the India Habitat Centre propagates war ravaged sites of the world to be united in a “Garland of Peace.”
Each country of the world has hidden its war wounds for reasons of disgust, shame and hurt national pride.
He feels that so classified war ruins and sites can create a powerful movement for peace amongst all nations.
Images of Hiroshima and Pearl Harbor on the same platform along with sites like Lion Hill, Waterloo, Belgium; Menin Gate in the town of Ypres, Belgium; the Auschwitz concentration camps; Anzac Cove, Turkey; Fort Siloso in Singapore; Bridge on the River Kwai, Thailand; St. Paul’s Church, Ambala, India; the Berlin Wall, Germany, and the Bamiyan Buddhas, Afghanistan, were on display as reminders of past wars. Quotes and thoughts of Gandhi and Nehru on peace and war were thought provoking.
Let there be peace
Silas belongs to the rare group of crusaders whose formidable asset is the cerebral world of ideas. Such is his ability that the ideas grow faster than grass and thought in layers, as enumerated in the Yaksh Prashna put to Yudhishthir in the Mahabharat.
The idea is to declare war-ravaged world sites and buildings as peace heritage sites.
The concept “Garland of Peace” is to string these ruins and sites into a garland of peace building, peace education, peace tourism and peace activism having a lasting influence on present and future generations — the leaders of tomorrow.
To delve further, Silas suggests formation of a peace heritage committee by the United Nations with the objectives of identifying the ruins, preserving them, and putting into place a mechanism to develop these sites as the property of the world community, as the indifference and neglect of the nations gives rise to feelings of revenge and hate towards the aggressor.
The esoteric idea may emerge in a form that seems formidable, but already the impossible has been made possible. The Wailing Wall at Jerusalem is worshiped by the Jews and the Muslims. Similarly in India, Kurukshetra, the battleground of the epic Mahabharata, is a place of pilgrimage to understand the futility of war and learn the essence of the Gita.
Silas, while following the doctrine of the Gita, i.e., do your duty without expecting the reward, has tasted the fruits of his ideas.
As a civil servant, travel writer, poet, he has successfully implemented the concept of a mobile science exhibition on rails in 2003.
“Discover India by Rail” (Sterling publication), “Morrows Face” and “Borrows in the Mist” are significant contributions to the world of poetry. Recently the Sri Lankan government has accepted his suggestion of a Sita-Ram heritage tourism trail in Sri Lanka for the promotion of tourism.
Life is beautiful
Now busy with his novel concept, “Garland of Peace”, he feels that life is beautiful and unique, and let there be no “apocalyptic third war”. Torture, atrocities and humiliation are natural consequences of war, and by wearing the “Garland of Peace” he resolves to prevent war.
With his thought-provoking concept, he has already been well received by stalwarts such as Karan Singh, Kapila Vatsayan, Martand Singh (INTACH) and his alma-mater, the Maxwell School, New York.
Jazba
Jazba (Passion)
Like nectar rises my passion to the flower
Whosoever tasted said, ‘sweet like honey’
Like deep lines etched on snowy mountains
I lie silent on the rocky bed below the snow
Give me some sun, let me melt and reach you
My core is water, give me favour of your mercy
I halted thinking that the road was my destination
In a magic like grip I was, my life was in a bind
Touch me and wake me, let eyes not get dimmed
Hold me, pick me up, silent is all congregation
Give me some laughter, give me some smartness
Wish me a prayer to rise and blossom next season
Jazba by Sandeep Silas ‘deep’ in Saada Khayal (2009)
