Home Sweet Home

It's been just about 3 weeks since I was home.
I am missing home... already...

One Tough Nut

The molten tar had tsunamied onto their tiny world taking away a few creatures to the nether world. But this little plant was one tough nut...

On the Way to the Office Today...

Mula river...



Tranquility....

Visit to Kailash Temple

The Kailash temple is larger than the Parthenon, and better preserved. It was cut out of a single rock starting from top to bottom (that was clever).

Standing within these stone walls takes you into another world. It is amazing what faith can inspire people to do...

The stone was covered with plaster which was painted in different colours, so the temple was a lot more colorful in its days of glory. Some of the plaster still remains in certain places, giving a glimpse of the grandeur that was...

The temple even has a balcony... :-)

The plaster still surviving has a hint of intricate, colourful designs... the parakeets seem to admire the sculptures up close!

The Invitation

We had just finished lunch. S and I were taking a walk within the company campus. The weather was warm but not too sunny and it was just right for a walk.

There was construction work going on ahead of us. We saw that one of the workers was just unpacking his lunch. As we got closer, he said something to us (in Marathi) with a happy smile. I did not know enough Marathi to understand him. I found his warm smile unusual for he had not met us before. Marathi-knowing S replied to him. I asked S what it was about. S told me that he was inviting us to share his lunch. (S had replied that we had already had our lunch and thanked him for the invitation.)

S said that this is a custom followed when anyone comes by when you are having lunch.

I had heard of this custom but had never witnessed it before. That too between total strangers. It's nice to know such things still exist! :-)

And the Painter Tames the Monster...

The Return of the Concrete Monsters

These were still in the making:

Concrete Monsters

A celebration of bad design, compromise and demented creativity. The designer must've thought that people are capable of anaerobic respiration or I should actually check if these were luxury apartments exclusively built for dementors!

Safety Begins at Home

Saw this on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway. Our vehicle was travelling at close to the speed limit when I saw this unexploded tanker. That gave me just enough time to get this badly taken snap. It had crashed into solid rock ironically with the words 'Safety Begins at Home' painted on its rear, right next to the speed-limit sign. They should have added the words 'and Ends on the Road'.

The Return of the Concrete Monsters

These were still in the making:

A celebration of bad design and compromise. The designer must've thought that people are capable of anaerobic respiration.

Critique Ugly

Sarkar: As soon as I saw how the story was unfolding, I kept expecting the events in The Godfather to happen. Some did, some did not. So that really kept me guessing!

The cinematography was very innovative. It was dark and stark, devoid of frills, moody and sinister at times. Perfect!

One thing about the movie that really put me off is the music directors... er music. It seems that the music directors Bapi-Tutul were very insecure that people will forget their presence so they kept banging away the percussion come what may! Abhishek thinking about something and you hear the them banging away all the drums! They seemed to not know that silence can be used to heighten the effect. The music was way too loud!! I still liked the 'govinda govinda' chant although this is not the first time this was used in an RGV movie (Those of u who are wondering which one, it is the telugu movie 'Govinda Govinda' starring Nagarjuna and Sridevi)! :-)

Madagaskar: Nice fun movie! Very much paisa vasool if you have kids!

Whenever I hear David Schwimmer (lends his voice to the giraffe) I couldn't help but picture Ross Geller of F.R.I.E.N.D.S! Got so used to that voice as Ross!!

The story was not so interesting. There wasn't much of a climax either. In that way the movie was not half as much fun as Shrek. Looks like they were in a hurry to release the movie before some deadline or something!

The Promise

The clouds had kept the sun hidden for so long. I do not remember when this had happened before. There was bad news everywhere, as if all the doomsday prophecies were coming true. Life is so fragile. And we take it for granted until we are reminded.

This morning all of a sudden, the sun emerged victoriously, with its warm silver rays. The Pashan skyline was suddenly bathed in a bright glow, highlighted against the dark clouds on the other side of the sky.

A rainbow appeared, arching high above the buildings. It looked better than any housing project ad. The rainbow seemed to frame the skyline, holding it in place. It held a promise of sunshine.

Now, I look outside to see. It has kept its promise.

K A R I Z M A

The lines zig-zagged and projected out of the frame, encroaching into the space around it. The indicator formed the apex of the projection, like the shoulder-pad of an evil robot. The metallic body excuded a wicked energy, threatening to unleash it at a moment's notice. Every angle of its planes suggested speed. The metal logo placed angularly lay glinting in the morning sunlight...
It spelt the letters K A R I Z M A

Concrete Monsters

The buildings rose from the filth with damp-black walls, colourful clothes waving in the wind like bright flags, each proclaiming a victory. A victory of life against the odds?

Multistoreyed buildings so close to each other that one could hop from one roof to another. Spiderman would have saved a lot of web...

The heavy sea air was laden with the smell of sewage and refuse. Plastic burning?...

The Sumo raced up a flyover, weaving through the traffic. As we rose, we saw more of these buildings jostling for a breath of fresh air, for a piece of the sky...

The sky was silver, bright and blinding but the light was no match against the darkness these concrete monsters held within them...

I was there... intimidated... mesmerised... dwarfed... awed... disgusted... overwhelmed...

Purple Flames...

Took this snap on saturday:

Purple Flames

Nescafe Moment

I see you sitting at the coffee table. The morning sun streams in and dissolves into the strands of your brown-black hair flowing down the sides of your face, making it glisten like silk, highlighting you against the shadowy background. The hot cup of coffee releases steady fumes into the cool winter air. Your skin glows with morning freshness as you prepare to take your first sip. The morning newspaper reflects the headlines in your glasses delicately balanced on your nose. Now, it is time to take a sip. You remove the glasses, and as you raise the glass to your tender lips, you look at me with your brownish eyes and suddenly a smile materialises...

I immediately check the focus, aperture and... Kli-Chck!

A perfect picture. A Nescafe moment.

A Favour...

My friend asked me an unusual favour the other day... He wanted to pose the way Brad Pitt did for the posters of Mr. Smith. It sounded funny, especially coz he did not have any Angelina Jolie in his life. But it proved to be an interesting challenge so I said 'YES'!

That saturday, 26 snaps later we got a snap which looked satisfactory. The white walls really helped and we hid the flooring under white papers stuck together to form a 'blanket'. I uploaded the image and edited it in GIMP to add the text and place it behind him.

This is what I finally got: Mr. Sunkara

Wicked Gossip!

H: You know, S has a girl-friend!
Saw them hanging out at all the hotspots and of course
their body language says it all.

I: So, is S's gf cute?

H: No... she's wishy-washy!

I: Wishy-washy? how does a person LOOK wishy-washy?? i thought it is a behavioural trait! :-)

H: LOL!!! U know - she is that delicate looking pale creature with thin straight hair...... that kind of a girl...

I: like she was caught in a washing machine and twirled
around in Surf Excel all morning?

H: Wishy-washy!!!!

Wanted Warm Hug: Tenders Invited :-))

I came to know from Desmond Morris' 'Intimate Behaviour' the true nature of the hug. Having read it years ago I am kind of vague but I remember that he says that ever since we come out of the womb we miss the warm 'hug' that the womb gave us. We do not remember the time we spent in the womb but it is etched deep within our subconcious. So, whenever we get a hug we feel good as it gives the same feeling of security and warmth that we felt when we were in our mothers' womb... Human's like any other animal seeks affection and warmth but social restrictions usually leave us extremely 'affection starved'...

When was the last time you got a big, warm hug?

A flea and a fly...

A flea and a fly in a flue were imprisoned,
so what could they do?
Said the flea, "Let us fly!"
Said the fly, "Let us flee!"
So they flew through a flaw in the flue.

-- Edward Lear (1812-1888)

It's a beautiful day!

The monsoon clouds are charging in from the southwest. The patches of sky between them are deep blue. As the clouds move on, the sun peeps through the spaces occasionally flooding the land with a pure white light and then hides again! The air is crystal clear and you can see very far. The trees are fresh green... A cool breeze keeps you company.

But you know you are missing someone...