jeudi 2 octobre 2014

Eu tenho saudades de tudo

Eu tenho saudades de tudo

Today I had an extraordinarily pleasant flight from London to Miami, it was as if, I was all alone and then given attention when necessary, sprinkled with care and respect. It is the best way to travel. I did not look around, I did not know who were traveling with me..Just in my little space, books, thoughts and saudade..

The flight from London to Miami was 9 hours. the American Airlines aircraft was a fairly new Boeing 777-3W.
Their audiovisual programs  usually have a small selection of Japanese movies, there is no antidote to saudade than watching a Japanese movie. An iranian movie like The Seperation would be good too, but Iranian movies raise the the level of discomfort, knowing fully well the double meaning of what they are portraying. But Japanese movies are raw emotions, and on a flight going from country to country, separated by chasms of affection, I prefer a Japanese movie, soothing with its well timed silent moments and expressions conveying the heavy burdens in their heart.
Today I watched two Japanese movies, the one I liked was the The Chart of Love. Young and old japanese doctors torn between work and devotion to their profession and the love for their families. If you know the work ethic of the Japanese and the value they place on it, the additional melodrama of Medicine and Hospital and sickness adds a heavy weight to the suffering of every day life. In japanese movies you would not see, forced laughter or people who seem to be in the throes of joy and laughter as we would see in movies from other countries. Japanese movies portray life as it is, and today I wanted to know life and what it meant.

The Chart of Love

2014, 117 mins
Dr Ichito Kurihara falls out with his old friend and new colleague Tatsuya Shindo when he notices a change in his attitude towards his work and patients. But they put their differences to one side when Ichito's mentor, Nukita, collapses.
Director: Yoshihiro Fukagawa
Cast: Sho Sakurai, Aoi Miyazaki


The airline staff were very pleasant, D who was serving my section is married to a United Airlines Pilot and soon celebrating her 21st wedding anniversary. Another, chattier than normal, loves Miami and London and I gave her a short list of the recent best restaurants in London... one of these days I too would get a chance to taste their food and enjoy the ambience of the new resto scene in London!
Arriving in Miami and going through Immigration and Customs were painless, because everything is automated and within a few minutes I was finished with these formalities.
I arrived at the house of my sister. Just a couple of days ago, I had said good bye to them at Gare du Lyon in Paris , as they were continuing their vacation in Europe.
The house looked moody and the welcome of my sister being absent, I slipped deeper into Saudade.
On the way over the pubic radio, WDNA was playing the Jazz at the Rockefeller centre and todays artist was none other than Willie Nelson.



We were young doctors at the University of Melbourne then, untouched by the pessimism which affects other recent graduates in other countries, full of enthusiasm to live life to the fullest. I was the bartender for the Bar for the Doctors and in charge of organizing the roster.. you can imagine the pleasant nights on call when I was in charge!
All of Me, we used to chant, as Willie Nelson crooned, duck a la orange had been ordered from the nearest restaurant. The efficient nurses at the wards seldom bothered us and we dreamt of poems and landscapes, such a life without worries.

I wanted to listen to my favorite singers or singers that would either constructively light this fire of nostalgia
Diego El Cigala singing a song about Alfonsina y Mar
It was a time of Buenos Aires, Tango and Alfonsina Storni, new friends and the scintillating accent of the Portenos!
Astor Piazzola had recently passed away, Teatro Colon with a star studded concert and lazy days in Colonia, Uruguay..
Mercedes Sosa, the big mama of an Indian from the Northwest of Argentines?  Gracias a la Vida!

For me everything comes back to Pablo, I have visited each of his three houses: in Santiago de Chile, Isla Negra and Sebastiana in Valparaiso.. 
such a part of my life..





On the way over to the house, stopped at a cuban restaurant to have a Cortadito. A pleasant older lady, I always try to make a conversation. She was from Caracas but her parents were from Puerto Bolivar in the East, a town I had visited a couple of times. Nice to think about Orinoco and the adventures!

I enjoy these moments of saudade, these liminal periods when I am neither here nor there, a moment of absolute freedom when you are tied to nothing in space. But you thank those special people who brought you to this oblivion of saudade.. thank them, because they are not with me, but their feelings are!

All the videos can be seen in the You Tube
Willie Nelson  You are always on my mind with Spanish subtitles
Diegl el Cigala  Tango concert at Gran Teatro Rex in Buenos Aires, here with maestro Nestor Marconi
Mercedes Sosa reciting Poema 15 Me gustas ..
the same poem read in English
Lastly the Poema 20
Tonight I can write the saddest lines
Write for example, the night is starry and the stars shine in the distance..
I loved her.. may be she love me too...

ha! eu tenho saudades por tudo..


featured posts

CUBA IS THE FUTURE FOR LATIN AMERICA AND PERHAPS THE WORLD

CUBA IS THE FUTURE FOR LATIN AMERICA AND PERHAPS THE WORLD On my way out of Cuba, from La Habana, on COPA airlines flight to Panama, I w...