Home and Garden

What is it about old buildings that I find so fascinating? I visit Calcutta every year and what never ceases to amaze me is how old, derelict , almost crumbling buildings still manage to stand upright and even be inhabited by people who do not seem to mind having their lives at risk day in and day out. The precariousness of the structure that they live in hangs literally like the Sword of Damoceles on their heads and yet they continue to live there. However, some if not most of these deteriorating structures are of-course abandoned and look like empty More >

Most people never even are aware that sages exist. This poem describes why the sage stays hidden.

This House a computer drawing by Harry Kottler

Why The Sage Stays Hidden

by Harry Kottler

Heaven and earth go on and on.

How come these places last so long?

Their own lives, they don’t create.

That is the reason for their long parades.

This is why the sage stays hidden.

For foreground roles he makes no biddings.

Still this sends him to the fore.

He’s seen outside, though he’s in his core.

Is it not just because he has no ends

That all his personal needs are met?

Is it not just because he has no desires

that More >

Living in USA, my heart is ever in India, my homeland. Whenever I’m homesick, I take solace in these two world famous songs:

“Home. Sweet Home!” is a song that has remained well-known for over 150 years. Adapted from the 1823 opera Clari, Maid of Milan, the song’s melody was composed by Englishman Sir Henry Bishop with lyrics by American actor and dramatist John Howard Payne.  This song has, for over 150 years, embodied in words and melody what “home” means. Although no longer published separately, it is still found in community songbooks and is sung around campfires.”Home, Sweet Home,” a More >