i have never read any of gabriel garcia marquez's books.
so i can't count myself as a fan.
but i am always strangely attracted to his books.
many times, i held one of his books and headed to the cash register.
but i always stopped myself knowing that this was one of those times when i would be trying to purchase an experience. it was a feeling of wanting to be part of the group of literary aficionados who appreciate work of much critical acclaim.
i always stopped short, knowing that it's going to have the feel of an anita desai or an arundathi roy - excellent but overly vivid (beautiful but not sure i want to 'feel'/'experience' again) depiction of the sweltering life that is india.

but i think more than anything, it is that amalgam of names that attracts me.
it could be the profusion of 'a's in the sequence, or the association with that most visible of the angels, or the latin sleekness that is andy garcia. whatever it is, i can safely say that gabriel, garcia and marquez are all cool names but not more so than in that combination.

realising this while cheering barca on as they showed ch--s-- what football was all about was all the more satisfying as i like to think that in the best moments of football, it becomes such a symphony of action and thought, it becomes a thing of beauty - and that in the presence of such synchronicity and of expressions of such creativity - i do my best thinking. this time, i only found resonance - more lateral than deep - but make this link, i did.

so this goes on record.

i ramble.