Click on each image to view a high-res version. Scaling takes away the beauty in detail.

During his undergrad (if you can call it that), Iqbal read at Trinity College, Cambridge. By current definition of the phrase, he was a ‘mature student’. He stayed at 17 Portugal Place.At that time, the house might have been college-owned, but I can’t confirm that.

It’s a smallish house with a narrow street on one side and a wider one on the other. The wider street opens up in Jesus Green, a large ground. The house is a 5 minute  walk away from the river Cam. 

I wish I could go and live there for some time, just to check if creativity is influenced by proximity to greatness, even if it’s time-shifted. Without going into any more details, here are some pictures.

Puedo escribir los versos más tristes esta noche.
Tonight I can write the saddest lines.

Escribir, por ejemplo: “La noche está estrellada,
y tiritan, azules, los astros, a lo lejos”.
Write, for example: “The night is shattered,
and the blue stars shiver in the distance.”

El viento de la noche gira en el cielo y canta.
The night wind revolves in the sky and sings.

~ Pablo Neruda

(P.S. Quoting Neruda doesn’t mean you are in love… Being in love doesn’t mean you should quote Neruda)

(P.P.S. The images go with the lines. I just took the pictures)