Shoreline Boulevard Walk (May 5, 2013)

Farah Yasmeen Shalkh
taught Introductory class

Shoreline Boulevard Walk
after attending Farah Shalkh's
Kathak Classical Dance Class

Pacific Ballet Academy, Studio 3
295 Polaris Avenue, Mountain View
Sunday, May 5, 2013, 12:30-2:30 pm

Notes by Peter Y. Chou
WisdomPortal.com

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Preface: After attending Farah Shalkh's Kathak-Classical Dance Class on Sunday, May 5, 11 am-12:30 pm, a friend was going to pick me up at Pacific Ballet Academy, 295 Polaris Avenue, and drive me to Safeway (1750 Miramonte Ave) for grocery shopping. However, she went to Studio 1 and couldn't find me there. She left at 12:10 pm, not knowing that I was still at Studio 3 around the corner. When the Kathak class ended at 12:15 pm, I chatted with the instructor Farah for 10 minutes. I told her that my walk to to Pacific Ballet Academy passing Gemini Ave to Polaris Ave was like Dante's pilgrimage to Paradise. Dante was born under the constellation Gemini, and the Muses guided him to Polaris & Paradise. Farah taught the class Namaskar hand gesture as greeting the Divine spirit within us. So I shared with her my experience with Ravi Shankar after his sitar concert at Cornell (circa 1966). I asked him to autograph along his sitar on the booklet purchased at the concert. When he said the ink is not showing on the glossy cover, I told him to sign on the page of Tagore's quote: "Music fills the infinite between two souls" and that his music did that tonight. Ravi closed his eyes with his hands in prayer for almost a minute, and said "God bless you" before signing boldly on the page. I didn't know at the time he was making the Namaste gesture. (While searching for Ravi Shankar on my web site, I found a poem "Bazaar Dreams" written exactly 5 years ago on 5-5-2008 mentioning Polaris). I walked to the corner of Wright Avenue and Shoreline Boulevard to take photos of a gnarly Pepper Tree.