Sounds

The world is a place of noise and chaos. People talking over each other. Horns blaring in a twisted line of traffic. Construction works drowning out the sound of your own thoughts. How do we even survive this bedlam? How can we hear ourselves speak if the words are instantly snatched from our lips? The…

I. Anatomy: Skull Drawing

Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio, a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy. He hath borne me on his back a thousand times, and now, how abhorred in my imagination it is! My gorge rises at it. Here hung those lips that I have kissed I know not how oft.  Hamlet; Act-V,…

Thoughts on: The Idiot

“It wasn’t the New World that mattered…Columbus died almost without seeing it; and not really knowing what he had discovered. It’s life that matters, nothing but life — the process of discovering, the everlasting and perpetual process, not the discovery itself, at all.” The Idiot is one of Dostoyevsky’s most tragic novels I’ve read so…

Witch-King of Angmar, Lord of the Nazgûl

“Begone, foul dwimmerlaik, lord of carrion! Leave the dead in peace!" A cold voice answered: 'Come not between the Nazgûl and his prey! Or he will not slay thee in thy turn. He will bear thee away to the houses of lamentation, beyond all darkness, where thy flesh shall be devoured, and thy shrivelled mind…

2020- A Year in Books

I guess it goes without saying that it’s been a terrible terrible year. Amidst all this turmoil however, books shone through the darkness like a beacon of hope. For many including myself, they offered me comfort, respite and some form of distraction, at least for a little while. Many people quarantined in their homes for…

Literature: A Journey

I have been losing myself in stories since the moment that I learnt to read. Words have embraced me through all my years of growing up and my second home has always been in-between the pages of a book. Through all these years reading has been a constant reminder that I am not alone and…

The Master and Margarita – Mikhail Bulgakov

The Master and Margarita takes place in the same setting where it was written- the USSR at the height of the Stalinist period. During that time, artists had to work under strict censorship and were often subject to imprisonment, exile and sometimes even death. Thus, for Bulgakov, there was never any question of publishing the…

Paintings & Books parallels

What is art if not another form of storytelling? Every frame surrounding a painting is like the cover of a book, forever holding a story in its embrace. It is not surprising then when we are met with this palpable reverential silence in art museums, as people turn in on themselves and allow their minds…

Classics Recommendations

Les Misérables by Victor Hugo "A garden to walk in and immensity to dream in--what more could he ask? A few flowers at his feet and above him the stars.” I'm going to start with the longest book on the list. Les Misérables is one of my all-time favourite books and I don’t have enough words…

IV. London – Parks and Museums

The last few days in London were spent in the company of trees, squirrels, deer and the beauty of nature and art. On Sunday we visited Richmond Park, an enormous green space that is perfect for long walks, horse riding, bird watching or simply lazing around and enjoying the vibrant colours of nature. It was…