Dry day at the beach....

After longing for more than a year, this was the day we planned for a trip to the beach. My first beach in UK, SouthEnd Beach- close to London. With all the excitement we planned for the trip and relied on weather channels online (which most of us do). With hope that weather would remain pleasant and enjoyable we set out in the morning for the National Rail.

The country side was amazing and scenic.. really beautiful. Green pastures, cows, horse ranches, huge mansions, golfing lawns and what not ! But, I also noticed that the weather people had predicted it wrong.. I could see some grey clouds rovering over ! As we reached our final stop and step out of the station.. we witnessed drizzle. The weather had cooled down and it was raining...

With all the excitement and enthusiasm we marched towards the beach... and since it was freezing cold (6 degree celcius) we were tempted to jump onto the roller coaster rides rather than plunging in the sea waves... The Beach was quiet ... waves were low... Hence, we spent hours on those fun roller-coasters and got the adrenaline kick! And I being the brave gal (which my friends know.. how much) kept the excitement going !!!

Next we took the train ride on the "World's Longest Pier" which is 1.33 miles long and has survived natural calamities, world wars since 18 century. The Irish fishermen on the pier were eager to teach us fishing and we got so much engrossed with them...

It was evening and we had loads of fun so we decided to return to the coast. On the way back on the train ride we realized that the sea water had receeded almost half a mile... people were walking towards the anchored ship in muddy land... (I was scared coz I was remembering my Tsunami 2005 experience @ pondicherry). But, We happily & safely reached the beach and enjoyed hot coffee in the cold weather. And since water had gone back the sea looked dry at the beach, so we eagerly marched back to the station to get back to London...

And while on the Rail, it struck me hard......... I din't even TOUCH the sea-water... forget about playing in the waves and a splash ! Ooh !!! This was a unique Beach trip where the sea went DRY !!!

Undefined....

UNDEFINED :: something which is missing in dictionary and the thesaurus... But, this UNDEFINED feeling does exist somewhere in your heart... You are the only one who can feel it.. Your mind knows that it EXISTS... but then how do you convey it/ prove it ?

You miss all the signs and the world appears like a Matrix.... Matrix running in front of your eyes.... You walk as if you are invisible to everyone around you.. you just don't exist.. but yes your UNDEFINED feeling inside your DEFINED body exists... Its somewhere deep inside all of us.. this thought ... this feeling is always there; to avoid falling prey to it.. we say "Thats Life, Move On" !!!

And, One day this feeling become prominent...blankness takes over you...your senses now experience this intense "Undefined" feeling - tears drop like pearls.... You miss those hands which could catch these falling pearls and make a lovely necklace as a proof of this "Undefined" feeling you have had !!

At this moment you would hear your soul whispering softly in your ear- "Welcome to the world of UNDEFINED feelings!"

Guerrila Girls - reinventing the "F" word: feminism!

A long tradition of masked avengers like Robin Hood, Batman, The Lone Ranger, and Wonder Woman was taken up by Guerrila Girls - "Girls fighting DISCRIMINATION with Facts, Humour and Fake Fur"

How it all began ????
In 1985, The Museum of Modern Art in New York opened an exhibition titled An International Survey of Painting and Sculpture. It was supposed to be an up-to-the minute summary of the most significant contemporary art in the world. Out of 169 artists, only 13 were women. All the artists were white, either from Europe or the US. That was bad enough, but the curator, Kynaston McShine, said any artist who wasn't in the show should rethink “his” career. And that really annoyed a lot of artists because obviously the guy was completely prejudiced. Women demonstrated in front of the museum with the usual placards and picket line. Some of these so called - "Guerrila Girls" who attended were irritated as they didn't make any impression on passersby.

On spending 5 minutes on research, it was found that: the most influential galleries and museums exhibited almost no women artists. Some said it was an issue of quality, not prejudice. Others admitted there was discrimination, but considered the situation hopeless. Everyone in positions of power curators, critics, collectors, the artists themselves passed the buck. The artists blamed the dealers, the dealers blamed the collectors, the collectors blamed the critics, and so on. That moment these girls decided to embarrass each group by showing their records in public. Those were the first posters Guerrilla Girls put up in the streets of SoHo in New York .
On asking Georgia O'Keeffe why did they come up with the word "Guerrila Girls"? She replies- "We wanted to play with the fear of guerrilla warfare, to make people afraid of who we might be and where we would strike next. Besides, 'guerrilla' sounds so good with 'girl'." Further, Frida Kahlo adds - "Calling a grown woman a girl can imply she's not complete, mature, or grown-up. But we decided to reclaim the word “girl”, so it couldn't be used against us."

These girls wear GORRILA Masks with short skirts, high heels and fishnet stockings. The mask helps in disguising themselves in front of the Press and get the publicity. They say - "We were Guerrillas before we were Gorillas. No one remembers, for sure, how we got our fur, but one story is that at an early meeting, an original girl, a bad speller, wrote 'Gorilla' instead of 'Guerrilla.' It was an enlightened mistake. It gave us our 'mask-ulinity'."

Another humourous Poster by Guerrilla Girls :: In US, Bus companies are more enlightened...

And the most famous poster and one of my favourites by Guerrila Girls...:

Today, there are millions of Guerrila Girls and supporters for this movement. I am glad to learn about this group at the "Tate Modern" Museum at London. Guerrila Girls Rock !!!!