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Vienna 1971—A Student Journal
A year of music, study, travel, sightseeing & friends.

Day 98 — John & Anjali (Romeo & Juliet)
08-November-1971 (Mon.)


TRANSCRIPT

Busy and full day. Horn lesson, piano lesson. Practiced horn, piano, guitar. Went to German class, studied German. Relaxed at night.

Felt good to get a lot done. Even though still not satisfied with the horn playing.


REFLECTIONS

1971. Quite a full day. No wonder I’m tired. I’m glad that I feel like there is progress being made.

2007–Romeo & Juliet. “What must be shall be.”—William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet. It’s taken me 36 years to figure it out, but I finally have. In 1971, Anjali and I were Romeo & Juliet. It wasn’t quite the Montagues vs. the Capulets, but there were similarities—basically the boy and girl thing. I'll play Romeo (see left) and my Juliet is below right. Ok, ok. If Anjali were reading this today, she was say that I'm taking this relationship a bit into fantasy land. But, hey. She isn't reading it, so let me have some fun.


Anjali's cassette. How did I figure this Romeo and Juliet thing out? Well, yesterday, I listened to the cassette letter that Anjali sent me. (See digging up my past, Day 097—the cassette was actually from 1974.) It was so great hearing her voice again—she had a very cute British accent. It’s probably been 25 years since I last listened to that tape. It immediately brought a smile to my face.

On the tape, Anjali talks a little bit (she is shy) and then sings and plays some folk songs on guitar. Mostly Simon and Garfunkel. Remember that pop-folk songs in the 60s and 70s were popular and on the radio. Dylan, Simon and Garfunkel, Carly Simon, James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, and others were huge stars and had many hits. It was good music with a message.

A message? So what are the opening lines of the first song she sings? “I cannot follow you my love, and you cannot follow me.” Was it a message to me? A hint? Yes. Just like Romeo and Juliet, we were separated by our families, cultures, and countries. How tragic. Well, happily, we both survived, unlike R & J.

On the tape, Anjali briefly gets her sisters to say hello. Cute. Then at the end of the tape her mother comes in the room as the tape is recording.

Of course, you know that I am slightly exaggerating our relationship. I am sure that Anjali had her feet on the ground, where I may have been flying in the clouds a bit. Though we did write each other for several years after Vienna. At the end of the journal, I’ll tell you more about Anjali after 1971.

See you tomorrow.

John

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Tags: Anjali, memories, Simon & Garfunkel, 2007, Romeo & Juliet