Favourite Songs

I believe that first heard Leonard Cohen on the beach at Cap d'Ail when I was about 17. A dark curly-haired chap was singing to a guitar and trying to impress Lena, a Swedish girl who I was interested in as well.... I asked him if he had written them himself and he said he had. I distinctly remember him singing 'Marianne'. We were on the beach together for a few days but I never got to know him well.

I have always loved his songs, though more for the poetry than his voice, and was happy that he had started touring again - though I seem to have missed him in all the venues he's been to so far!

Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in

Leonard Cohen - The Future

Ramesh Balsekar

Darshan at Ramesh Balsekar's house in Bombay. Ramesh, a realised soul, has held darshan at his house in Gamadia Road every morning for many years following his retirement as President of the Bank of India.  His guru was Nisagadatta Maharaj, on whose teachings he wrote the classic 'Pointers from Nisagadatta Maharaj'. Leonard Cohen visited Ramesh for six months in 2000 and gained a deep understanding of his teachings which suffused the rest of his life