Fave music quotes
Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness.
— Maya Angelou
You are the music while the music lasts.
— T.S. Eliot
Fave food quotes
I eat merely to put food
out of my mind.
— N.F. Simpson
And I find chopsticks frankly distressing. Am I alone in thinking it odd that a people ingenious enough to invent paper, gunpowder, kites and any number of other useful objects, and who have a noble history extending back 3,000 years haven't yet worked out that a pair of knitting needles is no way to capture food?
— Bill Bryson
I will not eat oysters. I want my food dead — not sick, not
wounded — dead.
— Woody Allen
Fave poetry quotes
A true poet does not bother to be poetical. Nor does a nursery gardener scent his roses.
— Jean Cocteau
To see the summer sky is poetry, though never in a book it lie - true poems flee.
— Emily Dickinson
I, Me, Myself...
Writing about others is easy to do
One person to observe, one piece to sew
one set of questions to ask
One set of words to spew
Writing about oneself is harder to do
Words suddenly become few
All I can do is give you a clue
or two; happy go not-so-lucky,
Math! Ah. that's too tricky
Sweeter is Music - sitar, sufi and blue
Tea is my favourite brew
Queen of good times that's moi
Give me food, wine and sigh!
A pinch of tragedy fringed with romance
Solitary dancing and nostalgia
The list's ending, don't look so askance
Poetry; Dickenson, Wilde and Alice;
"Still she haunts me phantomwise
Moving under the waking eyes."
With due apologies to Philip Larkin (though I suspect he would never recognize his 'Counting' anywhere in this) and of course to Carroll as well. He would recognize it anywhere.
...and my favourite bookmarks
www.aadeez.com — Atif Aslam's official website. Strictly for fans.
www.eternalrafi.com — Lots of funda, Rafi songs, lyrics and downloadable stuff.
www.nigelslater.com — Website of warm and cuddly british chef whose cooking is perhaps good but writing's definitely great.
www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth — I like this food blog because I love reading about foods I can't place.
www.poemhunter.com — Decent collection of poetry. I have checked out Vikram Seth's. Some 13-odd gems and all of Philip Larkin and Emily Dickenson's poems.
www.philiplarkin.com — Official website of Philip Larkin Society