Vedhoo at Lalbagh

Picnic time at Lalbagh for Vedho and me. Am still impressed with the place - organised, accessible and very well maintained.

Cebiche Monday!

Monday was a totally fruitful day - my bro managed to cook up some awesome cebiche at his place.

Allow me to convince myself

some part of me likes to lay down
and smell the grass
find peace with everything around
everybody and anything
absent-mindedly putting a smile on my face
feeling trippy and content
only getting a little edgy
when I get this urge
to spread the warmth
a tooth ache would give up
with the optimism and joy

the other part says that this
was laziness
and that I should get to know
the devil in me
the devil that I am

The most awesome acoustic guitar in a long time!!

Give me a little bit of your heart

At seventeen I found myself in another place. Strangers around me. What a wonderful place. Rich in culture, natural resources and complacent, happy people. I read that it is known as the heart of South America, Paraguay, land of the fearless and the absent Guarani. They went to war once, the terrible Triple Alliance War. Fought like the mad men they were, driven by a despot, against Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay put together. From the two hundred thousand odd, only around twenty thousand men survived, that too because they were too old or young to go to war. What was once a magnificient land was left to the vultures.
What I saw was something incredible to believe at that time. This country could live of itself without a hassle. Why would German missionaries and Mormons buy land in the interiors and get lost there? They figured it was the perfect place to do just that, get lost. No trouble makers to stalk them, no advanced civilization and modern amneties to entice or lure them away from their lives.
I met many interesting people there. There was Silvio, the frustrated mechanical genius who could finally explain the difference between a 2-stroke and 4-stroke engine. There was Ruben, the young kid from a small village trying to make it big in the city. There was Gustavo, the gentleman from Uruguay who felt it compelling and necessary to be kind and gentle in a madhouse. There were the Castillo brothers, Ramon and Luis, local boys who had to live up to their madness - lewdity and honesty running through their blood like the beer available. There was Noelia, totally gorgeous, atleast to me, with that lisp that drove every guy crazy. There was me. Trying hard to learn the ropes from the very bottom. There were the crazy sisters from next door - Luisa, Elsa, and Mirtha. Wonder how many times I got daggers stuck into my back as I happily went over, invited by their brother, Raul, where the local boys always wanted to be.
I don't know if the weather made the people there crazy. Summer was hot. Incredibly hot - atleast 44 d.c. Then the rains that never stopped. Then the winter. I remember how my bones ached when the wind from the south came in. I was told that this is how it is in the pampas. Yes, I forgot, Asuncion, was part of the great pampas that stretched across 4 nations.
The soil was red and very rich. Silvio used to joke about how a tree would spring out from his shit if he ever made the mistake of doing it outdoors.
Raul lived in with Liliana downstairs. Liliana is this heavy person with beautiful features and Raul, was pretty tiny compared but had a heart of gold. Guess that's how they pulled through. Raul worked at the national power company, so we'd go out to the club every once in a while to play tennis under lights and get a glimpse of the city. Life was kinda settling in till I met Roberto and the gang from Villa Bonita.

the boy who paints portraits

I sit down to paint your portrait
and I cannot,
after studying you slowly
end up thinking
that missing
in my paints
are those intense colours that reflect a rare creature

I can not
capture your smile
recreate your look
but little by little

I think about you

You still return every time
and continue standing there, posing
with a lot of patience
because, and even though my canvas
remains blank

the hours
pass by flying
and very little progress
has gone into your portrait

I suspect
you're in no hurry
and its ok
to see things through little by little

I think about you

Entry. Andrea Ramsey’s Dreambook (Undated)

“There are no futures.
There are only streams of endless possibilities that collapse into one present as we rush head long into them. But even the present is an illusion, slipping from our grasp as we reach for it, becoming the past.
It is only the past that truly exists.
The past that scars our minds with memory.
With reverberations that dictate our lives.
With traces that haunt our eyes till death”.

The interesting things you find in odd places

With all the clutter that has collected between my ears over the past few years, I managed to remember that someone had said that I need to write to clear my head up.
So, will try and clear out the muck and grime by conveniently dumping it here on my blog.

You can use it.
You can ignore it.
You can laugh at it.
You can ignore it.

Till the first dump...

23rd December 2004

She might perplex you,
for a moment,
amaze you the next,
turn you around to face something disgusting,
push you around,
blow smoke in your face,
offer ladoos,
she is around you,
dancing the Thandava at a frenetic pace,
blood pulsing, heart-beat racing,
lazing on a charpoy,
in the bundles at the Thasildar's,
BPOs at midnight, break-neck speeds,
traffic jams, information freeways between paddy fields,
droughts laced with floods, beedis with speed,
brown, tan, white, black,
red, pink, green, saffron, blue,
allah, shiva, buddha, guru, infant jesus
camels, dogs, bullock carts,
her sinewy muscle drawing a plough across a fertile land of more than a billion
the land of contrasts,
the land that is ours,
this is my India,
My mother.
My mother's mother.

[Inspired by "Don't ever loose faith in India..." Sri Ram Goburdhun]

Cubic Tragedy

a 3D comical tragedy with a lady 'trying too hard'

BKF Dhwani 2006

Day 1 pictures:

Kyoorius Designyatra 2006

+ Andy Altman, why not associates. + Nick Bell, Nick Bell Design. + Peter Bi'lak, typotheque. + Neville Brody, Fontfont and Research Studios. + Vince Frost, frostdesign. + Paul Hughes, lava. + Sujata Keshavan, Ray+Keshavan. + Elsie Nanji, Ambience Publicis. + Rajiv Sethi, Asian Heritage Foundation. + Sudhir Sharma, Elephant design.

Paloliem Beach, Goa

Mornings being thirty

Es un peligro levantarse
cierto, cuando ya cumpliste los 30
son los recuerdos que te mandan a la mierda,
Un traguito no mas,
justo para olvidar, para dejar de recordar,
por unos momentos.
No los puede borrar,
son un parte definido de uno.
Por eso debes escuchar tu musica favorita.
Me quedo con mi pata Illayaraja o Miguel Bose.
Y tu? Con quien te levantas?

Synaps - Check This Side Up is out!!

Awesome stuff!. Check them out here. My favorites: 2. My Side Up 4. West Side Difference 6. Freedom 9. The Last Chapter

Morning on a train

Morning welcomes me with fresh smells,
of a million defaecating souls on the fresh dew,
innocently awaiting the cleanser from afar,
struck by a reminder of endless horizons already cluttered,
living off a land that is reluctant to give.
Home has no sweeter meaning right now,
as I smile at the petty thoughts of artistic inclinations,
rotting even before they ripen in my head.
The blue mountains wait, expectant,
wondering if another foster son,
might feel the pangs of a better home.
A heavy door slams my thoughts and those millions shut,
leaving nothing behind,
except for my nostrils filled with fumes and brake dust.

Kyoorius Designyatra 2006

Kyoorius Designyatra 2006 could well be the higlight for this year in Indian graphic design. Its got all the bells and whistles for a belter of an event. With the kind of speakers lined up, think its worth getting the whole 3HEAD design team out there.
The venue is NOT in Goa, but on the edge rather, sorta across the border from Karwar. But from the pictures we've seen, think it looks fancy. The happening Goa looks like a loooong drive from the resort. Well, the team and me will be packing up and getting away from Bangalore hustle-bustle for some madness and debauchery in Goa... sorry, this resort on the course.

Hospet and Hampi in 2 days

George and me visit Hospet & Hampi...

Dancing by the projector

Watched the quarter finals onwards on large screen at home. Yay!
Then used the half-time break to have fun with Vedha and boy did she enjoy it. Its amazing to see what kids can do when given a chance to let go. And they are really good at it.

Who is my neighbour today

I always wanted to click on that link at the top, right corner of my blog.

Got around to it today.
My neighbour (I visualized that we'd somehow be parked next to each other on Blogger.com's server) is this person: www.kabobfest.blogspot.com





But to my surprise (yeah! big surprise), this person wasn't there the next time I hit the button. Maybe he got evicted. Sensitive issues et al. But no, he's still out there on Blogger.com and still posting healthyly. So why are these people moving in next to me and then out the next click? Or am I being moved around. Bloody hell! No time to catch up with the neighbourhood even in the virtual world.