Sunday musings

This weekend was an unexpected bonus in washington... so i decided to make the most of my time here.... and my mind immediately went to something that I do in Mumbai...Cycling! so I was up and ready to bike at 9 a.m only to discover that it was raining in good ole DC... it ultimately cleared up at around noon... and I rushed out immediately to take benefit of the sparse sunshine.....

and cycle I did!! It was truly invigorating to cycle down Penn Avenue towards the capitol... and it was even more suprising to see that you are allowed to cycle so close to the Capitol... what an imposing building...truly a remarkable edifice of American democracy.... and then I cycled to the Eastern Market.. one of the most charming markets I have ever been too... there are musicians playing, people selling interesting stuff on the street, flea markets and paintings... I walked around hoping to find some interesting curio that I could take back from DC.... and ended up a Georgian painters tent... his paintings were striking... it had a hynotic feel to it... so I started a conversation with him asking him where he was from.. He was from Georgia...and I used my limited knowledge about Georgia to continue the conversation... I asked him about Shevernandze Government thinking in my mind that he was one of those sterling examples of post Russia leaders.... only to hear a barage of criticism from this Georgian painter... he blamed Sheverdnaze for all the ills in the country... he plundered... his family got all the wealth... he was pro west and hence got the support of the Americans... he ruined the economy... he killed a whole generation of people the painter informed.... I was absolutely stunned to hear that... in my mind this guy was the guy who was able to lead Georgia away from Russia into a democratic set up... and to hear this showed that what we hear in India is really something that is concocted.... and then he asked me whether I am studying politics here in DC.... and I said, I am doing something worse - I am a lawyer... he laughed... "Lawyers very smart, eh?" he responded... and I said "yes. some of them can be over smart too".... after a delightful conversation during which I glanced through his paintings (including some of them from his hometown in Georgia) I finally bought one of his paintings.... a nice thing to remember him by I thought...

and then it was back to the Mall where all the monuments are.... and after nearly 6 years I went to the Vietnam memorial.... it was quite touching to see people place flowers still in rememberance.... I sat in silence observing people reacting to the names on the wall .... one of them even sat down and wrote a note... I could only imagine that it was to their father or an uncle that they were writing to ....

and then after 3 hours of cycling it was time to come back home.... energised by the tour, talks and travels.... Ahh nice...