When you got to go..you got to go

I’ve heard the jokes about cemeteries & Lavatories.

How when you’ve got to go , you got to go.

And how people are dying to get in .

But…..Can cemeteries be closed?

A story about two "John"s

A story about two John`s, I read
(In a book, a wise man written)

two men
oceans apart
But their paths crossed many a times
Sometimes by circumstance
Sometimes by choice
Sometimes by fate

With time
Friends ,they became

The first John,
left the shores of his motherland.
On a sailing ship
He travelled many seas
In a far away island
In an alien land
he felt at home
He found his peace
He talked, ate
and at times thought
like these strange people
of Sinhalay

Then there was the other
From the village of Ihagama
A buddhist priest
Who walked in and out of the
saffron robes
Many times
As destiny demanded
A priest turned
Freedom fighter
Fought a war
knowing that he was
on the loosing side
A revolution of spirit and need
But no hope

Current Ihagama Temple. The old one has been about 300yards away.

These two legacies
(Much similar yet worlds apart)
Like all legacies before them
And all since,
eventually
had to end

The priest
Caught by the soldiers
with brass buttoned uniforms
Tried and convicted
by the white men and their dark justice
Banished to a far away land
Forced to take the name
" John"
Leaving footprints
on another man`s sand
mind ignoring the great sea in between
taking a stroll in familiar shores .
In saffron robes
He died
(in mauratius)

As for the other John
(Known later by his father`s name-D`oyle )

Sinhalay.... he never left

John d'oyle's tomb in Garison Cemetry /Kandy

For somebody else's prayers

For someone else to keep at the Lord's feet

For somebody else to pray..

So familiar, yet....

First thing is first.

This a small note of tribute, to a man I met in Kandy, Sri Lanka.

This is .....(I am very bad with names). I think it was Peter

Tourist guide cum historian cum Museum curator

And (almost forgot his day job) ..Cemetry keeper..

Met him at Garrison cemetry Kandy .. (More of it later)

It was a pleasure listening to him narrate history with his own pinch of interpretation.

So visit him, if you can .

As for you sir, thank you ...

Araliya...

The "temple flower"...Araliya...

Sunset from 6500 ft

I've been away . Went home . These are pictures while coming back.

PS: Expect some more from Sri Lanka ...

Friends I've got...

Friends I’ve got
who never spoke
The silent lot
just a glance across
just a smile
through a sip of espresso

Friends I’ve got
who get hysterical
at the bar counter
at my corny humor
never notice the tear
in my eye’s corner

Friends I’ve got
those philosophical ones
for hours
interpret the graffiti on the subway walls
how I feel, they’ll never know

Friends I’ve got
given half a chance,
I’ll cheat & I’ll rob
to their face, I’ll lie
with no remorse

Friends I’ve got
I’ll flirt with
no shame
get on my knees and propose, almost
say adieu
and never call

Friends I’ve got
my comrades
who fought the same wars
who had my back
while I handed the note
“yours money or your life” , (I quote)

But for a friendship I long
to sit with me from sunset to dawn
talk about everything
about nothing at all
but for reasons, I fathom not
it seems
I am alone

So tell me
Friends, I’ve got ?

The Schedule

Merry-go-round

This is from everybody's childhood. The world of bright lights . The preety horses. The brief anxiety & fear ending up as a few happy moments. Few minutes' worth of a whirl, to forget every problem you have ..The merry-go-round...............

[Taken @ Oceanpark , HK]

Once upon a time...

Once upon a time, before the red Toyota Crown's.
Before MTR & city buses.
These would have been the last line of hope for the weary traveller

The faithful "red"...

Hong kong on Bus

Queens road crossing & Antonio Bandarus on a Hong Kong double deck bus.