Best Place to Hang Out in Itanagar

My little sister had her first entrance exam in Itanagar and the whole family came up to see her off to her examination center in Green Mount School in Itanagar. After she went inside the hall, the family were left with 3 hours and decided to visit the Buddhist temple known as Buddha Vihar consecrated by the Dalai Lama in Itanagar.

The white stupa

Interiors of the Gompa

It was such a delight driving up the road to the temple surrounded by pine trees and colorful prayer flags racing over our car. When we reached, there were quaint shops selling Buddhist souvenirs and colorful balloon lamps and golden Buddha statues. There were tables around the souvenir shop where we sat down for a light round of momos (dumplings). Damn, it was very tasty! I actually asked for another plate.

Papa, Mommy and Rozi having a Mango juice break

Mommy, Papa and Rozi went up the stairs of the gompa and I made it a point to capture all those moments for them. I was the photographer for the day. We made rounds around the Gompa and these photographs happened.

Happy Rozi

Papa and Rozi

Entering the Gompa Gate

We become what we behold!

Mommy and Rozi touching the prayer wheels

Mommy and Papa coming across each other

Papa, doing his own observations

After we had seen all of it, we went to a space behind the Buddha statue and took our own spaces.

The Buddha statue

Papa and Lord Buddha

                       
Dad sat in a corner, mom sat in another and Rozi and I sat in another.

No words. Just quiet moments.

Some books for companionship

This one, Rozi clicked!

                                                         
The whole of Itanagar town visible from the point where we sat. Green mountains across a summery blue sky with a light breeze.

                                   


Every time I come here, I realize how much I love open airy spaces and colors. Red, blue, white, green, yellow prayer flags fluttering with the breeze! And those prayer messages on the papers by visitors tied to the Jasmine bushes.

Some quiet reflections on my journal

A prayer message tied to a Jasmine bush

Our three hours just passed that way in a peaceful reflective personal moments.

When we got down the steps back to our car, Rozi and I spotted an Ice-cream seller and rushed for it. Two old and weary travellers climbed up the stairs and halted to have their ice-creams. They said they came from Switzerland to see Arunachal Pradesh and how they have spent weeks exploring different parts of the state. We wished them Good Luck and they wished us the same before the family got inside our car to get back to our little sister.

Me and Rozi with the swiss travellers. One of the name was Arnold!

Finally, we ended the day with a big family feast at a Manipuri restaurant named Mathel near BB Plaza.

The family and friends at Mathel 

And while driving back home towards the city outskirts, I realize summer has already arrived in Itanagar!

Lastly, that's me! Doing a selfie :)

Much Love,

Subi Taba

Reader's Most Favorited Poem?

Readers of my book "Dear Bohemian Man" sent in a lot of messages regarding how they loved the book and the poems. I, as the writer, was curious which poem did they liked most?
There were a lot of appreciation for the poems Seven Years of Him, The Crying Girl, The Sick Need to Win and This Hour. But the most liked one was, poem number 6, Lost Souls from the Part I Days. The poem was loved equally by both genders.
So, I am sharing the poem my readers loved most.

Lost Souls

And the worst part of our romance?
           we never broke up
           we never started
           we jumped right into the mid.

We never said I love you
           we never said I hate you
           we were so besotted with each other
           we forgot to make our promises.

So the continents parted our ways
          and we just watched ourselves disappear
          thin into the air of changing worlds
          till we could no longer define what we once had.

One of my favorite poet, Luka Lesson said these about the poem, "It is straight to the point, not cliche or over dramatic...really powerful."                
And my favorite one?
Well, I love all my poems (being modest) but if I had to pick one, that would be the title poem "Dear Bohemian Man" because it contains some kaleidoscopic truths in few chunks of words and trails and there are lot of secrets hidden between the lines.
If you have read the book, let me know which one made it to your favorite list?

Some messages by readers and their favorite poems.

Lines from "Dear Bohemian Man" in Fren's watsapp status

Much Love,

Subi

My Simple Sunday

So this morning I jumped out of bed, brushed my teeth, had three poories(am doubtful about the spelling) and aaloo sabji from hostel mess.
Put on my jeans, tee and a baseball cap, because in Assam even the morning sun burns your skin.
Called my friend. Took our bicycles and rode outside the university campus. We went to buy pork from a junction in the main roadside. (A kg of pork costs Rs. 200.) We looked for some veggies, but didn't found exactly what we were looking for.
So we rode back to our campus. Oh, I love bicycling. It gives me the best feeling and lets your body sweat as well, which is good.
So we reached campus and there is this spot in the campus with a lake and a small white bridge that I love. So we stopped and took few pictures in our cellphones.

The favorite spot! 

By afternoon our pork dish was such a success! And I forgot to take a picture of the dish because it was so tasty!
So that was my simple sunday!

Love,
Subi

Haha, so sick of victory pose but it still creeps up naturally! :)

Writing my first book 'Dear Bohemian Man'

I always wanted to be a writer since my childhood. I imagine a host of titles and story-lines for my first book, originally I wanted the first one to be a novel. Actually still I have the story-line inside my mind but due to travelling, changing of places and pursuing my academic obligations, coming up with a full blown novel is a big thing. Meanwhile, I have been scribbling down these few verses and lines in my phone and notepads while I was travelling and in between fractions of my moments, which almost grew to the size of a book! But they just lay there in hiding inside those pages as words. During my masters, I came across these some really amazing poets doing poetry slams in Australia and America and watching these group of people standing up and speaking to their words, speaking up their hearts and baring their vulnerability, kind of kicked my passion back to poetry. I started writing my experience again. But this time it was different. I just starting writing without feeling apologetic and wrote my heart out. And trust me, it was better and free from cliches that had in many of my older writings. And the result? I had a string of poems to be compiled into a book.

A photo during the editing process of Dear Bohemian Man

So, during my winter vacation this year in January, I was having this conversation with my dad and suddenly I proclaimed, "I am going to write a book this year. Yes, I am going to write a book this year." So I held onto that plan and committed myself to that. So, once I had made that decision, things starting falling to place. I got the manuscript ready, I got a really good advice from one of my favorite poet on my poems, got an editor and a publisher too.

And it happened. After sleepless nights of few months and back-aching typing sessions in the laptop, finally I got the manuscript ready for publishing. Boom!

Final book cover after a lot of cover selection and rejection

 Then the book launch happened in my hometown Itanagar in presence of family and friends. It was a lovely experience, reading my own poems for the first time in front of bunch of people who were mostly academicians. Since my dad himself is professor, so he had invited bunch of his colleagues to the event. The book got launched by the vice chancellor of the University. An article was published in the local daily about the book. http://www.echoofarunachal.in/newsdetails.php?nid=ECHO20150726142042#.VcnLI3ZQYvs.facebook


Some reviews  also poured in the following week:
"Contemporary, Entertaining and Inspiring!!" Echo of Arunachal

Read the article here: http://www.echoofarunachal.in/newsdetails.php?nid=ECHO20150809235846

If you are in facebook, please visit the page for my book herehttps://www.facebook.com/pages/Dear-Bohemian-Man/1631329400415315?ref=aymt_homepage_panel

The book is available in all the online shopping sites like Amazon, Flipkart, BookAdda, Infibeam.
 http://www.amazon.in/Dear-Bohemian-Man-Subi-Taba/dp/9352060520/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1433055287&sr=8-1&keywords=9789352060528

Also available in local bookstores across Arunachal Pradesh.

Dear Bohemian Man in Times Square, Newyork City

     Some of my favorite lines from my book.

The Prologue 

A stanza from the poem 'Finding You'

   It is a lovely experience to have your own book because the fact that the book is a part of my brain and a part of me and to be sharing it to people all around the world is amazing experience. And especially when people appreciate what you have felt and written and can relate themselves with my poems. It's like being on a emotional transcendence. Because, on the very true note, we humans are more or less same in many aspects.

Some pictures the readers sent in.

Last word.

The inspiration of my book has been LOVE.
And as the famous poet Khalil Gibran puts it, "Work is love made visible." I dare say, "My book is my love made visible."

Much Love,

Subi

 

Sailboats

I dreamt of boats sailing on a silent sea,
You wore a white robe with white flowers in your hands
We stood staring at our whiteness in the dark sea
Could it be our souls? Had we become ghosts?
That swayed with the moon that glimmered on the dark waters.

Our whiteness dissolved, disappeared into white clouds
And there were many souls that rose and fell around us!
But it was only your touch that could simmer the music,
So I rushed back defying darkness to find my muse again
And held you in my arms till I felt complete,

And held you in my arms till I felt complete again.

Seven Years Of You (A Song for Someone )

The first year I saw him
He was a cute boy with curly hair
A bunch of curls falling over his eyes
He sat on a chair next to me looking elsewhere
He didn't said 'Hello' nor did I
We were two different people in different worlds
I was thinking of someone else; I am sure he was too
I never saw him again
Nor did I once thought of him
He was just a cute boy with curly hair.

The second year I saw him

He was a happy boy laughing with his friends
Running with colors on his hands
Dancing to music, moon-walking, grasping time in between cigarette bits
Girls laughed with his humour, boys patted on his friendliness
I tried to smile when he asked me for a photograph
Trying to blend in a roomful of strangers
Trying to disguise happiness and friendliness
Because I was a sad girl with a sad heart
Sometimes the hardest thing is to make friends.

The third year I saw him
He walked up to me and told me I was pretty
He smiled when I said, "I know I am pretty."
Playfully we took a moment away from the crowded mall
Window shopped the clothes we liked
He said he wanted his best girl to wear pink
I said I wanted my best boy to wear blue
But before we could start another conversation
It was time to leave, but he asked me: can I see you again?
That evening he was wearing blue.

The fourth year I saw him
I saw dolphins jump when his eyes smiled
I noticed his manliness and earnestness
Every time he looked into my eyes
I quickly averted my eyes
Because I thought I might faint in his enthralling presence
I wanted to see him but when I saw him
I could not look because I was afraid of myself
Then he sang a song for me and smiled at me
And I heard dolphins clapping inside my heart.


The fifth year I saw him

He called me to a bright moonlit night
He had a new haircut but still his curls fell over his eyes
We had our first dance together
Laughed like kids at our similar dance steps
We got little tipsy and jumped, jumped and jumped all night
And when all were gone and the music stopped
He sat near me telling a story
I could not get his story so I held his hands
And fell asleep in his arms.

The sixth year I saw him
He was no more just a cute boy with curly hair
He had become someone to me
I could look into his eyes and stay that way
I locked my fingers with his in all ways possible
When he curled his arms around me, I embraced him back
He drew his face near me, kissed me and I kissed him back
Happy ending? No. Then life happens. Choices occur. Situations arise.
"This is our destiny." He said at our last moment together.
Our roads diverged but he had become someone to me.

This is the seventh year and I haven't seen him
I remember him asking, "Write a song for me."
So these words run wild inside me with this speeding night bus to somewhere
And these thoughts pass through me: If we never meet again
All these seven years will take us back again to the first year
When we were two different people in different worlds,
,But if we meet again, I know I would smile at him
He would smile at me and the dolphins would appear again
And these seven years will just disappear like a dream
Because if we were together we will be the same happy people again.