A DOHA ( TWO LINE POEM ) WRITTEN FOR ALFONSO MANGO

                                                                      

FRUITS IN THE MANDI ……

 

 

For this Alfonso mango in the market, I have written two lines …

 

 

“ Jhulas Jyesht  ki, Baarish , Patjhad  , tufaanon sung khelein hain

Phal ko kya maaloom  peid ne kya kya mausam jhelein hain….:"

 

 

( The blaze of May / June , rains , autumn and the fight with stormy winds ,

The fruit doesn’t know what worst climates the tree has gone through )

 

 

( Avtar Mota )

CHINAR SHADE by Autarmota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License.
Based on a work at http:\\autarmota.blogspot.com\.

BELMAR BEACH,NEW JERSEY,USA

                                       

                                        

 

BELMAR BEACH,  NEW  JERSEY

 

Belmar happens to be one amongst some finest and well maintained beaches in New Jersey ( also known as Garden State ) ,State .Belmar is about 60 km by road from Manhattan or Jersey city. One can travel to Belmar by car, train or other modes of  public transport. On 19th June ,2022, we travelled to the beach by car .

 Belmar is a small borough ( administrative unit ) situated on the Atlantic shore. It falls in  the Monmouth County ( district ) of New Jersey ,State. The beach is open in summer season from April to September. Belmar beach town has a population of about 6000. A good number of houses face the beach  and are located on what is known as oceanfront.

 

 The beach is a fun and relaxing place for children and adults of any age. One can swim, surf, fish and sail in the sparkling Atlantic Ocean or sit back and relax with a good book. One can also shop at various stores selling attractive items for tourists of all tastes. One can go for continental food and drinks at numerous eateries and taverns. The beach has neat and clean restrooms or toilets  which are maintained by the  beach management officials . An entry fee of 10 dollars collected from every visitor is used for making improvements to the  facilities at the beach apart from beautifying the 1.4 mile beautiful Boardwalk ( more than 15 feet wide wooden walkway ) on the beach. The Boardwalk has been completely rebuilt with a composite material made of wood and plastic fibers that eliminates the possibility of getting a splinter. It’s a wonderful place to walk, jog or just relax and enjoy the ocean views. Every visitor is given a beach tag which is to be tied to the wrist to enter the beach through various avenues .One can also buy Belmar beach tags costing  $70.00 for the  full season ( April to September ) .

 The coast of Atlantic Ocean in New Jersey ,State is home to dolphins ( bottlenose variety ) . These dolphins can be more seen along Atlantic shore than the continental shelf . Accordingly, during daytime one can see dolphins in  groups moving along the Belmar beach .One can book a whale watching tour in Belmar, New Jersey to see whales and other marine animals in the blue waters of  the Atlantic Ocean. In this three hour tour, one can also get a stunning view of the New York city Skyline in the background.

 

Pets ,bicycles alcohol and glass containers are not allowed on the beach and the Boardwalk .Grilling and bonfires are not permitted on the beach. Actor Tom McGowan (born 1956), and artist Jay Alders ( b1973 ) are notable residents of Belmar.

 On our return from Belmar beach , we visited Red Bank town and had our evening dinner over there. The Lenape tribe of the indigenous people lived here for thousands of years before the British arrived in  the early 17^th  century and colonised it. Located on the Navesink river and just five miles from the Atlantic Ocean, the town is a busy stop for visitors to some beautiful beaches of New Jersey, State . Located midway between Belmar and Jersey city, this beautiful town is about 45 miles from Jersey city and approachable by train, Atlantic ferry and other modes of public transport. The town has more than 100 restaurants serving variety in food. Always crowded with tourists,  its permanent resident population is about 12000. Like Pahalgham in Kashmir , the business activity in this beautiful town comes to halt in winter season due to heavy snowfall and freezing winds from nearby Atlantic Ocean. 

                                                     ( Red Bank Town market )

                 ( Red Bank Town market )

                                                    ( Red Bank Town market )

                                                      ( Red Bank Town market )

                                                               ( Red Bank Town market )

                                                      ( Red Bank Town market )

                                                           ( Red Bank Town market )

                                                       ( Red Bank Town market )

 

                                                              ( Red Bank Town market )

                                                         ( Red Bank Town market )

                                                          ( Red Bank Town market )

                                                       ( Red Bank Town market )

Music and arts are hallmarks of this small town. You can see the ‘Count Basie Theater’ presenting live music and the ‘Two River Theater Company’ performing plays . There are some aesthetically inspiring art installations in the town . The town has book shops ,delicious ice cream shops ,trendy stores, coffee shops and a small brewery. The shops close at 8.30 pm as people over here start their dinner by 7 pm . I was told that many residents move to warm regions during winter season.

                                         

At Red Bank town ,looking at  many happy faces, I was reminded of some lines of Ali Sardar Jafri's Urdu  poem 'Me aur meri tanhaayi'.I quote:-

 

"Ye phool se chehre hain hanste huve guldaste

Koyi bhi nahin apnaa begaane hain sab raste 

Raahen hain tamaashaayi rahi bhi tamaashaayi   

Mein   aur meri tanhaayi..." 

.

( Avtar Mota) 

CHINAR SHADE by Autarmota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License.
Based on a work at http:\\autarmota.blogspot.com\.

RUBIN MUSEUM OF ART(HIMALAYAN) , MANHATTAN, NEW YORK..

                                          

RUBIN MUSEUM OF ART(HIMALAYAN) , MANHATTAN, NEW YORK..

Dedicated to the art and culture of the Himalayan region, the Rubin Museum was founded by the philanthropists and art collectors Donald Rubin and his wife Shelley Rubin . The couple donated all their collections of Himalayan art, and in 2004 opened the museum in a former Barney's department store downtown Manhattan. The couple also provided the museum with a $75m sustaining fund.The Rubins had started collecting art in the early 1980s and amassed a large and significant collection of Himalayan Art.

The Rubin Museum of Art is located on the 17th Street between 6th and 5th Avenue in Manhattan, New York. Visited the museum on 10th June 2022. We went by Path train across the Hudson river and got down at 14th Street. It is two minutes walk therefrom.The Museum has some of the finest collections of Buddhist art ; 

paintings, metal and clay sculptures and a meditation prayer room . The Museum is spread on six floors. The fourth floor has the dimly lit Tibetan Buddhist prayer room where paintings and murals are kept and Buddhists chant music is played to create a special aura.The healing practices space is located on the top floor . There is a Mandala Lab on 3rd floor .The fifth floor and 2nd floor are full of Himalayan art that covers Buddhist paintings ,sculptures and Bodhisattvas from Nepal, Kashmir , Tibet and Mangolia.I also saw a sculpture of Goddess Kashmira and Goddess Tara from Kashmir. The Kashmiri art practices have not only travelled to Tibet, Western Himalayas and Ladakh but more prominently to central Asia .Kashmiri sages, savants and artists carried these practices and Dharma and gave this world the Bodhi script. This gets fully confirmed after you visit The Rubin Museum. I saw Buddhist art of Mangolia alongwith some manuscript on display. Came to know deep Buddhist links of Kashmir and Mangolia.

In the healing room on top floor ,every visitor is free to write his opinion about how healing begins in the body ,mind and ultimately soul. Separate paper slips and pencils are kept for this purpose and the opinion so written is hung on a wall so that others can also read it. I noticed some wonderful opinions written by visitors.A visitor had written this:-

' Healing begins if you accept a person as he is '.

 

The museum allows photography without flash .

The restrooms of the museum have wheelchair accessibility. Apart from this, the museum  provides access to internet through its free WiFi.The CAFE SERAi  ,a restaurant on the  first floor serves coffee. tea, snacks and limited wine to visitors at reasonable rates. Self guided audio tours are also available on The Rubin , the museum 's app. The museum is closed for three days from Monday to Wednesday but remains open on all other days including Sunday. The museum timings are from 11 am to 5 pm except Friday,a day when it remains open till 10 pm.

( Avtar Mota) 

CHINAR SHADE by Autarmota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License.
Based on a work at http:\\autarmota.blogspot.com\.