I love participating in Tanka Tuesday challenges because each week, you don’t just write syllabic poetry but also learn something new. This week, Willow is the host of Tanka Tuesday and she asks us to write a taiga on a photograph taken by us, using Canva. This was my first attempt at writing poetry on a picture (I never tried because I had no idea how to do it). Colleen provided the instructions on how to do it and voila! I succeeded. It’s a huge achievement for someone like me who’s scared of giving any new form of technology a try. If you’d like to try it out, check this link.

Well, here’s mine for the week. I took this picture outside Ca De Vin restaurant in Melbourne. I loved the warm glow the candles cast on the ledge. While I took the photograph in colour, I converted it to B &W for this challenge.

I hadn’t noticed that the candleholders had been chained until I began writing the taiga. It’s so true that writing makes you observant or you have to be observant to be able to write.

Now coming to the Thursday Doors challenge which is not being held this week. I am participating nevertheless as the post will be included by Dan, the host, next week.
This week, I’m sharing doors of Saint Paul’s Cathedral in Melbourne. This beautiful sandstone church stands across Flinders Station, where I was supposed to meet a school friend. Our meeting was meant to be historic as we were going to be seeing each other after 35 years! We had planned to meet at the station. Why in the world we would choose such a busy place to meet is beyond me.

Both of us were there at the agreed place at the agreed time but we didn’t meet. Not that day. After waiting for an hour and a half, we returned home disappointed. One would wonder how such a thing could happen in today’s world. Well, she forgot her phone at home and decided to trust her eyes (as we had agreed on the meeting place). I, on the other hand, had complete faith in the phone and when I did not see her, I called, messaged, messaged again, and photographed my surroundings during the long wait. No, I wasn’t bored. That’s when I saw the church (which is impossible to miss) and decided to enter it.

After lighting a candle and sitting at the pew and praying, I left the church and waited some more, wondering why in the world she hadn’t messaged but not too worried as she’s lived in Australia for the last 30 or more years. When she did get in touch with me on returning home, and I asked her where she was waiting and what she was wearing. She said, ‘Red’. I looked through my photographs to see if my camera had caught what my eyes had missed.

Although, she had her plate full (being a university professor, psychologist and doing a lot of pro bono work for victims of domestic abuse), she decided to meet me, the next day. She said, ‘Let’s erase yesterday.”

So, that’s what we did. This time near the statue at State Library, another iconic building on Swanston Street.

Established in 1854, the State Library is the oldest library in Victoria and one of the first free libraries in the world.

The library is simply grand. The first time I entered it, I felt like I entered heaven- big well-lit halls with white walls, high ceilings, shelves full of books and individual desks and chairs to work on, galleries with exhibitions running and museum displays. While there is a soft hum on the ground floor with people entering and exiting, the top floor is completely quiet and is perfect for working.

The architect of this structure, Joseph Reed, is also the person who designed the Town Hall and Grand Exhibition Hall. The similarity in all these buildings is unmistakable.

A market of local artisans was in progress at the exhibition hall when I visited the Grand exhibition hall. I was excited to see the place as I had heard all about it from my daughter. They have their exams in the hall. 3000 students stomp towards it, in the wee hours of the morning even on cold, winter days. While they feel a sense of pride sitting in those halls writing their papers, walking in the cold, waiting for the doors to open, reminded me of a Dickensian novel.

Last but not the least, here’s a painting of a door, I did, before travelling to Australia. I didn’t share it here earlier. So, here it is. Another of my sketchpad, watercolor paintings.

That’s all from my side (which I understand is quite a bit but I couldn’t help myself). I hope you enjoyed the poetry, architecture, art and the little story of meeting an old friend.

I end this post with these words by Elif Shafaq, ‘Do not go with the flow. Be the flow.’

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