Why this blog is called "Gallimaufry".

gal-uh-MAW-free\, noun.

Originally meaning "a hash of various kinds of meats," "gallimaufry" comes from French galimafrée; in Old French, from the word galer, "to rejoice, to make merry"; in old English: gala + mafrer: "to eat much," and from Medieval Dutch maffelen: "to open one's mouth wide."

It's also a dish made by hashing up odds and ends of food; a heterogeneous mixture; a hodge-podge; a ragout; a confused jumble; a ridiculous medley; a promiscuous (!) assemblage of persons.

Those of you who know me, will, I’m sure, understand how well some of these phrases (barring the "promiscuous" bit!) fit me.

More importantly, this blog is an ode to my love for Shimla. I hope to show you this little town through my eyes. If you don't see too many people in it, forgive me, because I'm a little chary of turning this into a human zoo.

Stop by for a spell, look at my pictures, ask me questions about Shimla, if you wish. I shall try and answer them as best as I can. Let's be friends for a while....

7 February 2010

Rain is grace; rain is the sky condescending to the earth

I write this post not to lament rain, but to mourn its absence. Just see how dry-as-a-bone Annadale looks!









The fitful alternations of the rain,
When the chill wind, languid as with pain
Of its own heavy moisture, here and there
Drives through the gray and beamless atmosphere
~ Shelley ~

5 comments:

Ann said...

I wish I could send you some of our torrential rain. I know we need it badly but very much over it.

lis said...

hi! i found your blog from lonely planet. don't know where you are from, but i love your collage of pictures and poems. india pops out with these things ... well more accurately, Life pops out like this if you just stop and Look.
anyways, i like your blog. and i hope Shimla is enjoying the rain now. i am in Mcleodganj and its pouring. I'll be in Shimla for just a day next week. looking forward to it and you are making me want to spend more time there ... we'll see what happens.

Geetali said...

Thank you, Ann. Shimla finally saw some rains. Not enough, but something's better than nothing at all!

Hi Lis! Thank you for your kind words. Do stop by at Shimla. It's very unlike McLeodganj, but pretty in its own muddled way.

Dr Jonathan Miles-Watson said...

I remember it getting so dry last year that our water ran out. I think I wrote a post about it on my own blog last June that might interest you, nothing so poetic as your entry though. On a rather different tack: do you not think that Annadale should be more open to the public for sports and recreation? In the old days it was a place where everyone could go for open air theatre, picnics and sports tournaments, such as the first football tournament in India. Today it is far more exclusive and as a former football coach in Shimla I know how hard it is to find suitable grass training grounds near to the city.

Geetali said...

Dear Dr. Miles-Watson, I'll go read your blog post. The dry-as-bone weather was really exasperating! And we've had no snow either...
Yes, Annadale is today accessible to a chosen few, which, in a way, helps to protect its pristine look (Indians can be such animals in public spaces!). But yes, youngsters need space for sports too.

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