Monday 31 December 2018

Reflections on still water


At no point of time in the last twelve odd years did I think that I would be happy to take a year off work, without any specific plans, just have a bit of a long break. That just wasn't my style! Not my way of thinking. I liked breaks, enjoyed travelling, meeting people, seeing places, doing things and all that. But at the back of my mind there was always the thought that such a thing couldn't really go on forever. Or even for a limited but unknown period of time.


Having spent the best part of this past year doing just that, though, I've found myself enjoying the experience immensely!! Who would have thought, right, eleven months of relaxing and travelling and visiting family and learning a language and reading and re-discovering my love for PC gaming could be so much fun? :-)


I jest of course, though only in part. Having no clue about what's about to happen in life can be a disconcerting experience. And even believing in God, as I do, trusting Him to know what he's doing and just enjoying each day as it comes can be difficult. As human beings, I feel, we aren't best pleased when feeling completely put of control of our future. But managing to get my eyes away from focusing too much on the future has rather helped me get more involved with the present!

--

It has indeed been a fantastic year! Weddings, successfully attended and otherwise, and a funeral. Trips to places known and unknown. Finding a sense of home that only time can build. Getting to know Norway a little better through the language. It has all been a slow accumulation, along with the occasional clusters of real high point! :-)


I even got a little closer to writing more. I know, I never really finished that series of posts I'd planned about our road trip around Vestlandet, but who knows, that might yet happen :-). But I feel, after a gap of some years, I am back to expressing my thoughts more clearly through written words rather than resorting to just a succession of recountings.


All this takes time. And over time different things competing over those never-changing twenty-four hours leads to some being muscled out by others. Some obviously and/or noticeably, others less so. There's also the issue of too much happening, that stirs up the general state of life. Reflecting is best done over calm waters, as is evidenced by many hundreds of photos I have taken at sea. The same can be said of the mind I think. A bit of time can go a long way :-). The trick of course is finding a way to it regularly enough.


The end of this year has been somewhat representative of the rest. Periods of time spent busily, others leisurely. Time spent with family. Time spent travelling and experiencing new things. The last couple of weeks in England with family for Christmas has been simultaneously eventful and yet relaxing. A sort of a holiday to end the holiday :-).


With one major exception. I knew in December that January means a return to the 5-day work week. What that means is of course yet to be seen, but I'm extremely optimistic:-). And that is a feeling I hope is one that dominates the coming year!

Tuesday 11 December 2018

Forgotten flavours

Swirls rising, driven by forces unseen, yet seemingly of their own accord. What are these puppeteers' strings that pull this way and that? Where do they come from, where do they go? Whether the swirls be of dust, snow or thoughts, these are questions without answers. Or so it seems.


One might believe that close observation or introspection would provide answers. But is that merely egotism? Then again, do we really gain much from answers to such queries? :) Let's follow one of these swirls then, and ignore for the moment where it has come from, or why.


Visiting old places, by which I mean places I used to be familiar with at one time but am no longer, has over the last few years given me the strongest feelings of melancholy. Memories from the past overshadowing the happenings of the present and thus making the latter feel poorer by comparison.


Last week, however, I had something of an epiphany. Today's happenings are tomorrow's memories. Knowing this, why would I tinge my future memories with sadness when the alternative exists?! Now the harder question. Is realisation of a choice enough to be able to exercise it? I guess at least it's a step in the right direction. :)


It's been a good trip this! Despite the realisation that I've now become more used to the climate in Asker than Kolkata. Granted, the heightened levels of particulates and smoke in the city this winter, thanks to less than usual monsoon rains, had something to do with that. Still. Acceptance demands humility. But acceptance in turn provides peace.


Case in point, I can no longer drive through Kolkata traffic as quickly as I used to. On the other hand, I enjoy driving here a great deal more... Fair trade. :)


It is, however, now time to head back. Speaking of which, it appears snow has made it's way to Asker already, and this time seems to be sticking around. Hopefully long enough to give the cross country skis a bit of an outing in the week that we're in Norway!


In a year that has been liberally punctuated with travel, the end seems to be happily chuntering along to an appropriate finale. :)

Friday 30 November 2018

Echoes of eternity

Winter in Kolkata. It's a rather odd, albeit fully expected, time travel back half a year into the Norwegian summer :). With one very important difference: ceiling fans :D. It's probably actually a bit warmer here in the middle of the day than the warmest days last summer back in Asker, but doesn't feel nearly as hot with the good old fan blades making happy localised breezes.


To be fair I'm also quickly getting used to the temperature, the first day feeling the warmest, the transition from -5 to +25 a bit of a shock that's worn off since. I wonder what it'll feel like the other way though... I seem to have in general gotten quite used to living in relatively stable weather for longer periods of time. Not that Norway is anyone's idea of stable weather :). What I mean is that gone are the days of regularly experiencing 20 or more degrees Centigrade differences in temperature in a day as I travelled around the world every few weeks. Can't say I miss it :D.


On other fronts, the UK visa arrived, and we made prompt use of it to go travelling :). I forget how Oslo isn't really a big city. I mean, London, now that is a big city. I was almost overwhelmed by the number of people on the streets! I must really be getting used to life in Norway :). So it's a good thing then that all signs point to us staying put for the foreseeable future.


Seems like the nice long holiday is going to be over before too long. There still another month before that though, so figured we'd make the most of the free time. I've gotten quite used to being able to just plan holidays :). No asking for holidays, checking if there's enough days left and all that. On the other hand, a day job is kinda handy :).


I suppose a downside of a full time job would be the amount of time one has to read books :D. I managed to race through the Sin City series pretty quickly, all seven books! I think in the end the first one, The Hard Goodbye, remained my favourite. Then there was Stephen Fry's Mythos. The reason I got on to that was because someone at book club thought it would be a nice follow up to Neil Gaiman's Norse Mythology that we'd read earlier in the year. I have to say the experience was interesting, but very different.


I've watched Fry host QI quite a bit over the years and I couldn't help but read most of the book with his voice playing in my head :). I've never read anything else by him before, so I can't say if it's a usual thing in all his books, but I had a distinct feeling that reading the book was pretty much like having a conversation with him. A rather one-sided one, but still :).


I am definitely a fan of myths, Indian, Green, Viking, Middle Earth, Westeros, you name it :). But if I were to compare Gaiman's Norse tales with Fry's Greek ones, the latter has the author much more front and centre in the narrative. There are also a lot more asides and thoughts and questions that interject between the stories themselves. I'm still not quite certain how I feel about that. 


On the one hand, it's quite nice to have a bit of a think about things. But in general I like to do that at my own pace rather than be prompted (too) often. I think maybe that's the thing that put me off just a little bit. Each story teller has his or her own style and it's wrong to say any one is better than another. I suppose I can only say that I'd rather be left to stop and think about things as and when I'd like to :). Regardless, I think I'll definitely try and find a copy of Heroes some time soon.


In the mean time, there's Deadhouse Gates. The more I read the Malazan books the more hooked I get! Having started reading a day or so before travelling here, I'm already more that half way through the 800 plus pages! And as I read, a new mythology is slowly taking shape. One of vast expanses of time and sharp, sometimes gracious, sometimes bitter tastes of mortality. Luckily, I did bring along the next book in the series, just in case :D.


It's been a nice quite couple of days here so far :). Good food, lots of sleep, reading and chatting. Adda as the Bengalis would call it. It's good to be back. But in a case of strangely reversed logic, happy and comfortable as I feel being here, home feels like in the cold white winter of Norway :). Reminds me of something from Garden State. Such is life I suppose, echoes of memories that whisper through thoughts and feelings, and in doing so make new memories. Thus it continues...

Wednesday 31 October 2018

A short autumn interlude


And just like that, it's winter. Well, yesterday felt like it anyway! The world all covered in a fine layer of white! I don't remember snow actually staying on the ground this early in the season in recent years. It was all however somewhat short lived. Things have warmed up marginally, and with that, all is back as it was before the snow :(. Still, definitely has my hopes up for skiing :).


In the mean time, autumn's been spent lazily. Studying for the norskprĂžves that are now done. Reading a smattering of books. Hoping to get the passport back with a new UK visa... So bits and pieces.


I was mildly surprised as to how easily the language tests went actually :). And despite not knowing the actual results, the underlying purpose seems to have been served. I've come out the other end of the studying feeling like I can actually manage conversations in Norwegian passably comfortably :D.


When it comes to books, I did manage to finish the GRRM pretty quickly. And this time was pleasantly surprised by how peaceful, almost, the storytelling was! No general bloodbath at every other corner. Intrigue, but with a generally lighter undertone. It almost has me wondering if the years have added to my general sense of dread of the Song of Ice and Fire books. Regardless, it was a quick and enjoyable read.


I followed that up with Gardens of the Moon, and this time the experience was even better if anything! I am totally convinced that given the choice, a book-book is way better than any other form of book :). 


And then, rather out of the blue, I came across the entire Sin City series in the local library! We'd just dropped in to have a look at the re-organised library and found a whole separate section on music and films, when I noticed this rather large stack of books just strapped into a moving crate. Upon further investigation it looked as though they hadn't quite managed to find a space for these books yet, so just left them looking rather unloved. And it wasn't just any old books, it was all the sci-fi, fantasy and graphic novels! Effectively all my favourites. And idly browsing through these is how I ran into Frank Miller.


So at the moment, all other reading is on hold as I race through the weird and wonderful world of Basin City :). I was quite impressed how closely they'd managed to keep the Sin City film to the story-lines! What did catch me by surprise was how the series seems to be classified as 'young adult'. I'm not sure whoever made that decision has actually read any of the books :|.

Saturday 29 September 2018

Memories of twilight

Hmm, so it would seem that after a brief deviation from recent habit, I'm back to the end of the month before thinking about blogging :). Although, in this particular case, it hasn't been that much of a happening month. I know, I know, there's still the unfinished tales of Vestlandet.


(As an aside, I've been drawn back into the world of A Song of Ice and Fire once again! After first being introduced to the books back in university, and then having read the first two and a half books just in time for GRRM's announcement that A Dance with Dragons was far from the end of the series, I'd been mostly keeping a wary eye out for the last two [for now anyway] books to drop. And also carefully avoiding all contact with the TV series, especially spoilers! But then this caught my eye! And having finished half of it since yesterday, I've started semi-seriously thinking about ways to get my copies of books one through five from Kolkata to Asker.

So now for the reason for random aside: "Unfinished tale of Vestlandet... Hmmm. I wonder how long it'll actually take me to put it all down... Ha! Bet nothing nearly as long as it's taking GRRM to finish off SoI&F... Ooh! The Tales of Dunk and Egg!" You see! Obvious really :D.)


Anyhows. There was in fact one more trip before the end of the summer travels. A very quick weekend trip to the Netherlands. The circumstances were sombre, a funeral of a distant relative I'd gotten to know a bit in recent years and become rather fond of as she reminded me in some ways of my own late grandma. In the process though, I managed to meet nearly three dozen or so family members I'd hitherto only heard of and never met. A lovely day, under the circumstances!


Then there was the long wait at the police station which ended with some rather spirited singing of Happy Birthday to me. Also in the police station. Yet another first :). Although in this case I was merely waiting in a very nice reception area while members of the family laboriously tried to recall for the police everything that had been stolen out of our cars while we were having dinner after the funeral. 


It says something of the overall sense of love for the deceased and the strength of emotion yet peacefulness that had marked the rest of the day, that the drama of the theft was rendered only a footnote. There was some difficulty regarding lost passports and subsequent international travel, but all affected managed to do just fine, so it all ended well really. And in the middle of it all, I managed to try no less than fifteen different flavours of fabulous Italian ice-cream for what passed for lunch on my birthday! Got to love in-laws :D.


Since then it's been a bit more of getting back into some sort of a routine. While I'm not yet particularly keen to get back to working full time, the idea of having a job at some point in the near future is beginning to seem somewhat appealing :).


In the mean time though, we've started going swimming once or twice a week. In the mornings on weekdays, when the local pool is about as empty as it gets. 'Cos we can :D. There's also the Norwegian exams coming up within the month! A much higher level compared to three years ago, so some amount of studying is needing to happen. But on balance, it's only to figure out exactly how good (or not) my Norwegian actually is these days, nothing beyond a vague sense of pride on the line :).


The other thing that has occupied me a bit was my first experience of the phenomenon that is John le CarrĂ©! The Night Manager had been the book clubs' book of choice for September, and having recently finished it, I have to say, I've rarely read intrigue done better! The style caught me a little bit off guard to start with, I must say, but once I got used to the somewhat back and forth nature of the narrative, I really started enjoying the storytelling. There were also the odd hooks here and there: "...as she would later note..." or "...as he would always admit later...". And they gave the story an extra something I felt :).


The one thing I really did feel was a bit of a let down was the very end. I mean, come on! After all of that detail in the build up?!! Just a super vague quasi-happy ending?!! I was honestly hoping for something a bit meatier. What it has done though, is make me seriously consider watching the BBC series. I still cannot quite see Hugh Laurie as the 'Adonis' Roper. On the other hand, I have no such difficulty with Tom Hiddleston as Jonathan :).


So why no mention at all of the Malazan, do I find you wondering? Well you see, the better half thrilled me no end by presenting me with half the series in actual paperback on my birthday! So now I've decided to begin again, hopefully as soon as I've managed to finish with Ser Dunc!

Thursday 30 August 2018

Memories of splendour, real and otherwise

Sometimes things just happen. The truth of the saying man proposes but God disposes becomes evident more clearly that one might want. In this case, for reasons that shall remain unspecified (if merely to avoid recalling frustrations and a sense of futility), our trip to Bangladesh lasted all of seven hours at Dhaka airport, at which point we flew back home again.


Not often have I felt such relief at landing at Oslo airport :). Nice sunny afternoon with blue skies and sunshine. Makes you feel like everything's alright with the world again. In the week since though, a feeling has been slowing growing on me. Summer is over. It's been raining off an on and the temperatures rarely venture north of the teens.


But what a summer it has been! So as promised, some memories from the France trip then :). No account of a trip to France (aka Cisternes, a very pretty bit of France, tucked away between rivers, hills and correspondingly winding, rolling roads) can be contemplated without an account of the car! So typically we fly in and out of Paris and drive the 500 odd kilometres from there. 


The last time we did this trip, we had a Panda. Not the most fun to drive, entertaining for all the wrong reasons. So this time we thought, if they're going to give us a car with a tiny engine, might as well get the tiniest possible car to go over it, at least the power-to-weight ratio will be better! And so it proved to be!! Our minuscule little Fiat 500 was totally up for the job that the Panda had totally failed at: managing to stay close to the motorway speed limits :D.


Unlike last time though, this time we'd decided to stop overnight about halfway and spend a bit of time exploring. Google seemed to think Chateau de Chambord was a pretty good spot, so we ended up staying overnight at a fascinating BnB at Mer and spend most of the next morning exploring the chateau and its grounds. Grand would be a word that comes to mind :).



While we were there the weather calmed down a bit with the occasional shower. It had been almost into the 40s the week before we got there! But the weather was still perfect for going swimming at the lakes!


One of the things definitely worth mentioning would be the trip to Bort les Orgues! Situated at the base of a set of cliffs vaguely reminiscent of church organs, it was quite a nice little town! But I think if one is visiting the area, a trip to the top of 'les Orgues' is absolutely a must. We also went and visited the Chateau de Val on the edge of a lake below which lurks a village flooded by the damming of the Dordogne.



I was particularly fascinated by stories of a previous visit when the lake had been drained for some reason, and the village seemed pretty much preserved, houses, streets and everything! I kept looking into the water to see if I could make out any shadows...


Another awesome experience was a fireworks display held in a nearby town. There was a proper carnival going on! Although I can't now recall the exact occasion :P.


In between little trips and swimming and visiting farmers' markets and such, there was quite a bit of time to just relax and enjoy a somewhat slower pace of life. One might say that being jobless and repeatedly going on holiday would seem to be a relaxed enough pace of life, but I've somehow managed to fill up the days with this or that or the other it would seem, so it was good to get away and not have any plans whatsoever!


I did manage to get properly into the first proper high fantasy book I've read in a long time during that trip too! I've had copies of the Malazan Book of the Fallen on my Kindle for nearly a decade I think, without ever having made a start. As we were packing for the France trip though, I felt a bit at a loss as to what book I wanted to take with me. So I figured, let's just grab the Kindle, hedge my bets :). But Gardens of the Moon went by in a flash!


I particularly love the way the complex story lines manage not to get all the characters killed halfway through the book. (I'm looking at you GRRM! :D) With the individual books taking slightly different arcs of the story line though, I think it would be fun to alternate the Malazan books with something else. We shall see.


So the season of much travels has come to a close. I guess I'm intrigued by what the next couple of months might bring :). In the mean time, there's more sunshine to enjoy, books to read...