Breaking News

In other incidents of no consequence, my uncle was complaining to my 22 year old cousin about constantly receiving porn links as offline messages from him (my cousin) on msn messenger. All attempts at convincing him were futile. He was simply unable to comprehend that they are chain viruses / spam that get automatically forwarded, leave aside the fact that he would be the last beneficiary in the whole wide world of such messages on my cousin's behalf. What's more, apparently, dear uncle has been receiving such messages from my hotmail id as well. Should I really be bothered, or should I simply enjoy a laugh?

any of you on my msn contacts list?

When I Was

Urvashi, my 9-year old niece who stays in Canada won some poetry contest... here is how it goes

'When I was'

When I was one, I ate a drum,
When I was two, I ate a shoe,
When I was three, I ate a bee,
When I was four, I ate a boar,
When I was five, I ate a fish alive,
When I was six, I ate some sticks,
When I was seven, I ate the number eleven,
When I was eight, I ate a gate,
When I was nine, I ate a dime,
When I was ten, I did it all over again!!

Yesterday, a colleague told me that I am one of the few uncomplicated people she's known. I can't say she doesn't know me. In the recent two years Ive grown older, with the newfound independence I have come to realize some harsh truths of life. I can't say Ive learnt enough, I never will. But the learning has certainly numbed me. I look back at my designs from Architecture school, I look back at some of the designs I created in B-school, many of the posts Ive written here and elsewhere now seem so alien that I wonder if i can ever do anything similar today. It's a realization that has taken its time to seep in, that I'm just another drop in the Ocean and that chiildhood dream of being someone was just that, wishful thinking. Yes, I have half of my life ahead of me (perhaps!), but I don't imagine it to be much different that the past. Just another brick in the wall, as was written.

Such is Life

There is actually a tailor's shop in Baroda (if I remember correctly) called 'C'Lai'...

Man mein laddoo phoot rahe hai

After years of being ridiculed as a member of the Bajrang Dal, a dear dear friend is now un-officially off the singles list. :)

Just in time, I'd say, buddy, just in time!!

What If?

You and I will never know the answer to the question... and that won't make any difference now.

it's a weird feeling to bump into an old school friend and find him working as a salesman at a departmental store which you used to frequent together years ago...

Gulaal, Anurag Kashyap

a.vant-garde

n.
A group active in the invention and application of new techniques in a given field, especially in the arts.
adj.
Of, relating to, or being part of an innovative group

the Udaipur Palace

I took these on a recent work trip to Udaipur and this time I didn't forget the camera. :) The palace offers an audio tour, which I highly recommend, and is similar to the one offered at the Mehrangarh Fort in Jodhpur. The last pic is of the Uday Vilas Hotel, (voted the best hotel in Asia by Conde Nast Traveler) as seen across Lake Pichola from one of the courtyards of the Palace.

At times like today, I feel like Ive not been strong enough. There have been decisions to make, always. And the proverbial way, there is the easy way out with immediate rewards and the difficult way out with lasting rewards. I have done different things at different times, choosing one of the either way without so much of a guide book to help. And when I look back at those times and wonder what it would be like if I'd done differently, there is no clear answer. However, almost every time I have reconciled with it and made my peace with the decision and the outcome. It has of course, involved varying amounts of time for that to happen. But right now, I feel that there are some things that will never find peace in the natural course of history. Some levels of entropy will remain, till the time some things change, some barriers broken or some event occurs which turns you around to face a similar decision again. And this time, I wonder if there is a possibility of change. I wonder if there is time and opportunity yet to make that peace, and if it will in any which way undo or make up for whatever was the past. I wonder, today, if I should make peace with a few things in life...or wait for it...

My Twisted Philosophy

I call this photograph 'Life'.

Fort Tiracol, Goa

As has been the case often lately, I forgot my camera, so a cell phone* was all I could take pictures with...















*somehow Ive taken a liking to cell phone pics, in small sizes they appear like pretty stamps...

Shoebite

Making a shoe is a very fine art*. Not everyone can makes shoes. Or chappals. When I was studying to give the entrance exam to Architecture, I studied under this eccentric old man who used to teach at Architecture School. He mustve been over 80 years old, had lost half his teeth, was a fan of Walter Groupius and all Bauhaus. In hindsight, he was a bit of an old lech, used to kiss his pupils (more girls than guys) on the cheek when he saw some good work. So this friend made a 'ladies chappal' out of cardboard, to which I didn't pay much attention. (Who though making a chappal was art then!!!). The only reason he probably didn't get a kiss was cos he was 6 foot 4 and kept moustaches. I was quite intimidated by the old man, though. He used to ridicule every generation after his, and half of his well. But I did make it to the School.

*Why I remember this? I bought a new pair of shoes that 'are' biting my ankles because the height of the shoe's side measured from the inside (sole to ankle) is more than what it should be. I shoudve known better than to buy shoes marketed by a company more known for its travel gear.

Kalaghoda Arts Festival

Kalaghoda Art Festival+Rhythm House+Mondegar+Bade Miyan = an evening well spent

The Facebook Random Tag

Rules: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.

(To do this, go to "notes" under tabs on your profile page (you might need to click on the + sign), paste these instructions in the body of the note, type your 25 random things, tag 25 people (in the right hand corner of the app) then click publish.

1. I am bored enough to do this.

2. I am in office, which means I don't have much work and therefore could be in the firing line soon.

3. Right now, I wouldnt care less.

4. I can type really fast without looking at the keyboard.

5. That surprises a lot of people who haven't learnt a subject called 'typing' in school.

6. I think that course was designed so as to provide a fallback option for anyone to work as a 'steno cum typist'.

7. I know a few people who are as aspirational as that.

8. I wish I had pursued an alternative career in sports.

9. I believe I take naturally to all sporting activity, though Pavan would disagree on my skill level.

10. I disagree with Smriti who says 'cooking reminds her of chemistry', to love cooking one needs to love eating.

11. Ive aspired to write a book, but looking at activity levels on my blog I probably wont have patience enough to write beyond a few pages.

12. Almost all of my good photography is chance.

13. I wouldve made a lot of money had I pursued a career in architecture post my grad degree.

14. I wouldnt have been a good architect though.

15. If I get to design my own house, I'll be a happy architect.

16. I am more particular of the way I look in photographs than the way I look outside them.

17. I am a stickler for the past, love my memories, good and bad.

18. To test my memory I resolved to remember a particular place where I pee'ed in the open, when I was a kid.

19. In school, when a lot of girls tied raakhis to my hand, I was convinced I would grow up to be famous.

20. Having a bday on the 1st of Oct (1 day before the Mahatma's bday) firmly supported that conclusion.

21. A few guys made fun of me for having so many 'sisters'.

22. A few people say I have intense eyes, I think they are clouded by cynicism.

23. I know I will make a damn good father.

24. I am not so sure about being a husband.

25. I am pretty surprised at having reached no. 25 so soon, I couldve gone on...

the Mumbai Skyline

Took this from a cell phone camera, I guess more a question of being at the right time at the right place. This city's magic over me seems to be wearing off little by little. Maybe, its the after effect of the traffic jam which took me two hours to get back home from this place, today.

The image somehow ties in with the blog header image, don't you think? I was very tempted to replace it with a crop of this one here.

More of the same series here.

I cooked last night. It is a good activity to do in these recessionary times* (read no late nights in office). I can now proudly say that after having mastered the art of cooking bhindi and fried eggplant, I can also make some really good aloo subzi. Next on the agenda is keema and then chicken curry.

p.s. One should also contain the enthusiasm for one's cooking. Between dinner and lunch today, I ate approx. 500 gms of potatoes. Burp!

*Apart from saving costs otherwise incurred by partying, socializing, delivery menus, it lowers guilt quotient of not going to the gym regularly and yet managing a 'healthy' lifestyle (little less of junk food)

Sunset at Miramar

Sunsets never fail to amaze me, what with their innumerable variables that contribute to making one, it is almost certain that dusk will never be the same as another. I took this on a recent trip to Goa. For most parts of the trip, the camera was left behind in the hotel room. The only time I couldn't resist bringing it along was when I was sure of a sunset I could behold. Took this at Miramar and no, there is no photoshopping here (though the urge was strong). The hues and saturated colors are as a result of fiddling with the various options on the camera, and is one of the many I was able to take before the batteries died out on me. I felt the snap turned out quite poignant, more in retrospect, since whenever I have a camera in hand, I am as greedy as a pig to get as many shots as possible with the result that I sometimes miss the 'natural' beauty I could experience.

p.s. Since, the frequency of posts on both this and the photoblog is as irregular as has been the past year, I am now planning to only continue posting on this blog, pictures, words, et all...Also, I have gone back to black, as before, hoping that the change in someway inspires me to be regular.

p.p.s. I was very tempted to title this 'Apocalypse Now'

2nd post in a day!!!

I have missed this blog. I have missed using it as a board to vent out words I never thought could be heard. I miss checking it as a daily routine, waiting to read the comments and respond to them. I miss my own words.

____________________

After all the surroors, tandoori nights and khuda-bidas of emraan hashmi (no offence), Hindi film music* does seem to have turned a corner. Listen to Dev D and Dilli che.

*discounting Slumdog Crorepati for obvious reasons

For a very long time now I feel the words getting stuck in my heart, rarely any of them feeling the pleasure of being run along the full length of my tongue. It threatens to burst forth some day. And then it will be gibberish.

Zee Studio is doing re-runs of this show. It is like a song, you hear it once in a blue moon, and you remember a lot more of time you thought you had forgotten.

Look what I got for my desk...

While My Guitar Gently Weeps

I look at you all see the love there that's sleeping
While my guitar gently weeps
I look at the floor and I see it needs sweeping
Still my guitar gently weeps

I don't know why nobody told you
how to unfold your love
I don't know how someone controlled you
they bought and sold you

I look at the world and I notice it's turning
While my guitar gently weeps
With every mistake we must surely be learning
Still my guitar gently weeps

I don't know how you were diverted
you were perverted too
I don't know how you were inverted
no one alerted you

I look at you all see the love there that's sleeping
While my guitar gently weeps
I look at you all
Still my guitar gently weeps...

- The Beatles

Sometimes there are so many questions, that there remains no point in asking...

Arbit

How much is enough? How much is the past? And what, of the future? The many people we meet, zigzag roads across paths of time, intertwined, weaving a web of complexities. Sometimes they burn through, sometimes they simply collide and deflect. They leave a scar, a dent, sometimes. Sometimes they just kiss each other by. Like fingertips touching, while we drive through, while the wind courses through hair.