I Frame

From a Confessed Nokia Loyalist

2011-01-05T00:15:00.004+05:30

Back in 2008, this phone had just released in the market. Prone that I was in those days to constantly change my phones, almost every so many months, I had my sights on it too. But on that long ago trip to Chicago, the first choice was an iPhone, which did not come unlocked. (The fascination with it is long gone). On the very smart Michigan Avenue, partly to escape the bitter cold, I walked into a Nokia store and finally picked this sleek E71. It was the very fast-talking, cheery Dannielle who sold me the phone.

Here she is...

I continue to use the same phone, two years on. That is a very long time, by my standards, to stick to the same instrument. But then, it has everything I don't need and I could no longer be bothered to see what's new in the market. Needless to say, I love this almost extension of my hand. I have abused it, thrown it to the floor and stuffed it with the rest of paraphernalia in my huge bags. The back panel is a little loose, there are a million scratches, but everything else works. Plus I am a little senti about it. So why bother changing?

For the record, the screen is most definitely not pink. For some reason, that is the colour that came out in my camera. I have a pleasant red under a sepia tone picture of 'Minuguthare', which, by the way, I am dreadfully missing.

Joie de vivre!

2010-12-02T22:17:00.002+05:30

On my birthday last Sunday, my parents, uncle and I went to Elagiri Hills in Tamil Nadu, an extension of the Cardamom Hills. There isn't much to see or do, except a huge artificial lake and a park. I am told there is a short trek to a small peak there, though no one was willing to walk with me, and neither were they ready to let me go. A nice place, the hills, none of the IT-weekend crowd there, thankfully.

We were walking by a park when at a distance, we saw this old woman on the swing. I have rarely seen such pure joy as the kind I saw on her face as she went higher and higher on the swing. Age is surely just a number.

2010-10-08T23:20:00.002+05:30

From www.postsecret.com

Could not ring truer this minute. I am exhausted. And exasperated. And all the other synonyms.

When a Camera Sees Time and Then Meets Me!

2010-09-06T19:45:00.003+05:30

When I get a great camera and some time in hand, this is what happens. I treated myself to a nice little Canon digital camera recently because my old one was coughing to its death slowly. This new one has a great many functions that I don't even know how to use, like in an SLR. But the results are fantastic, so well....

The pink something that JN gave....

I absolutely love this picture of a picture from Costa Coffee...

The many dangling things brought and given as souvenirs and gifts that hangs from a mirror in my room.

Another from Costa.

One for the Road

2010-07-30T01:27:00.002+05:30

The picture of the road pretty much sums up the last few months of my life. There has been constant travel and new people and new experiences. Not all have been good. Not every day does the sun shine. But in some of the travels that I have made, the journeys have made me, or unmade me.

But...there will always be those dots that need to be connected. It's ok. Life is ok and so am I.

The Santa is Gone

2010-02-07T17:04:00.002+05:30

Ok, bad bad picture.

Sometime in December 2008, in one of those plum cakes that we in office get every Christmas, I found this cute little plastic Santa that I began to keep below my computer in office. The only intention was to see how long it would be left there. We in office have this joke about how if you sit in your place for long enough, even you will get stolen! That is the level of theft, nothing, not even a broken pencil is left. I have lost pictures, books, papers, countless pens, even a cute little pink lamp (also in the picture), a clock, plastic knick-knacks, its a long list. Somehow, the Santa remained, sometimes thrown around, but always there. There were even days when I thought I had lost it, when it would resurface after a bit.

And now, after over a year when I assumed that no one would steal it, I lost that little Santa. I cannot find it anywhere now. I am irritated. Plain irritated at why the cleaning staff cannot let even a plastic toy remain in its place. Just irritated.

The Other Living Space

2010-01-17T19:47:00.002+05:30

Haven't been posting here for long...
Now this mug that I picked up in some mall has become a favourite in office. It is a bad pic, the mug has three goofy pictures of a dog with the words Dog Dog Dog all around. Thats my green tea mug, for all the times that I am feeling bored/blotted/stressed/whatever. Green tea is the new poison.

And this is the work station where I probably spend more time than I do awake at home. I love the place, I love my little place. On the soft wall are various things that I clip on, some half greeting cards, a few pictures, a page with numbers of my colleagues, then a little cute page with a drawing that Rishi sir's little daughter had made for me a long time ago. There is also a little sheet with the lyrics of my favourite Kannada song printed on it and some quotes. Many sheets of paper, half of them useless, three drawers full of more notes and more paper and visiting cards and pens with no ink and paper clips and greeting cards and notes and files and more paper and tea bags. A water bottle that everyone fights over, given that all the bottles we keep take on legs and disappear every few days. Calendars and friends around and many jokes and over the cubicle conversations and boredom and work and the drone of the TV from behind. Yes, sometimes, where I sit, it does feel a bit like home.

Latest Addiction

2009-10-14T00:51:00.000+05:30

My latest addiction, herbal tea (of course I strain it before drinking). Ayla, that girl in The Earth's Children series that I am reading, makes tea after every two pages and mixes the most amazing array of ingrediants. So duly inspired, I finally tried green tea and I am hooked, after successfully de-addicting myself off coffee!

Apart from the fact that I am blatantly promoting my new fancy, green tea is supposed to be very good for health too.

My recipe: I use ready made green Tulsi (basil) tea leaves powder. Set water to boil along with a few bits of cinnamon, dash in a few sprinkles of parsley and add rosemary generously. Measure in some tea leaves and infuse a bit. I add honey, smelling faintly of coffee fruits, from back home, instead of sugar. Supposed to clear the skin, be good for all vital organs and controls weight too. If that for those, the tea tastes great too.

My next lookout is for herbs to mix and match now....

Latest

2009-10-04T16:14:00.001+05:30

My latest acquisition. The best friend brought it, a coral and green onyx ear studs and pendent set, from that mecca for pearls, Hyderabad.

I love the fact that everyone indulges my jewellry fetish! :) A girl cannot have too much jewellry, or shoes, or bags, or clothes. :-D

Pensive Between Choices

2009-07-02T00:31:00.001+05:30

Perhaps the most torturous of all conclusions is having to choose between what you want and what you know is right for you. The choice between passion and desires. The choice between the heart and the head. Now and later. Rights and dreams. A yes, a no, neither too simple.
Thankfully, the heart seems to win.

Fashion

2009-06-16T10:38:00.001+05:30

Ok, a bad bad photo taken hurridely at Majestic bus stand today. Some fashion rag I was time-passing recently with said green and fushia pink ( I think thats what they call it) were the latest 'in' colours. Thanks to where my office is located, I have seen several wierd sets prancing up and about the road.
This man, from some village I suppose, was asking another man where he had left their 'women', in chaste, rustic Kannada.
With a barely there 'kachche panche' (sarong/lungi taken to the front from between the legs and tied up) and fushia pink/green, he was all too 'in' as well!

I regret the quality of the photo though.

Colours n Curtains

2009-06-03T12:00:00.000+05:30

Latest buy: this low stool, embroidered with mirror work to go with my set of wierd shaped rosewood chairs and table. Oh, I loved those, shiny wood, with inlay work depicting elephants and floral designs.
Well, there is this new fab store on Commercial Street, I forget its name; towards the entrance to the street on the right side where there used to be a Levis store.
Expensive, not over the top though. The curtains and upholstery is super good, silk and embriodered. I love the stool, I loved the curtains. I loved the store.

There really isn't a point to this blog post, except that I took the above pic inside the store and wanted to put it up! :-)

All Girly

2009-05-20T21:33:00.000+05:30

If you ask me, a girl can never have enough shoes. There are pairs for work, for a wedding, for dinner, for shopping, when you are feeling grumpy, for those very girly days, for dancing, for that one perfect dress only....the possibilities!

If you ask me, nothing works as good sometimes as retail therapy. More so shoes.

I would never be able to balance on such high heels....

Green and White

2009-05-12T20:34:00.003+05:30

Green the colour of life and fertility. And white, that of purity.

To me, the colours of peace. That day, in that place.

Sometimes, when you are in pursuit, you do end up getting what you wish for.

Maybe the universe does conspire to give you what you want, if you really really wish for it. So said Coelho.

For Posterity

2009-04-22T18:30:00.003+05:30

Pic courtesy, the internet, actually an email forward.

I simply loved this picture, for various reasons. Its everywhere now, my office PC wallpaper, mobile wallpaper, Gmail status picture. For some not too obvious reasons, I identify with it. Also, its a B&W picture, I have always loved those.

And I put it here for no other reason but to save it for posterity.

My Ginger Strongest!

2009-04-06T20:00:00.002+05:30

And he walks again. My darling Ginger, that arrogant little thing, the apple of my parents' eye (I was long ousted from that place when he came along), that pampered member of our family who came in when I was at the brink of teenage, the one who saw me through those awkward, identity crisis years, I one I would hug every time I wanted to cry, walks again.

A few weeks ago, he suddenly lost the use of his hind legs. The vet suggested he could be put to sleep, but he was eating fine, that innocent/arrogant look was still there in him. We all said no. Since he couldn't walk, dad made him a belt kind of thing to take him around.

Two days ago, he began to walk again! That darling has, yet again, defied anything that would get him down. He has, in the last one decade, been terribly sick innumerable number of times, jumped from the terrace twice, been in some terrible fights with dogs thrice his size and survived. He was, apparently, not fed by his mother and came to us with bow legs and a severe calcium deficiency. Honestly, we had given up on him several times, and he has always come back.

If there is ever a survivor, it is him, it is him, it is him.

2009-04-03T17:41:00.001+05:30

Why do proverbs have a tendency to be right I wonder. What was that...? All that glitters is really not gold now. Everyone who seems nice, is, well, not always so.

There is a contradiction in light, like the picture. A brilliant light makes a pretty picture but there is too, a lot many shadows it throws. And a lot of secrets that niceties hid.

Let This Remain Untitled

2009-03-31T21:26:00.002+05:30

Perhaps the worst thing in life is to be that old and still struggle to earn a few rupees a day. I cannot decide, maybe to each, his own battle is the worst. Another battle. For this old woman, wizened with trying to make ends meet, selling cow dung cakes. I don't know. When I took this picture at Melukote, I had actually framed some cute monkeys that sat on the roof tops. The next frame was this. Now when I look at it again, it is sad, very.

I am not thinking Utopian, but there should really be no poverty in the world. Every person should at least have something to eat.

I almost don't like this picture now.

Tread softly

2009-03-26T16:25:00.000+05:30

"I have spread my dreams under your feet; tread softly because you tread on my dreams."

W B Yeats

The Colours of My Mood

2009-03-23T19:57:00.002+05:30

At Navy Pier in distant Chicago, this beautiful art made of glass. That land has colour too.

Isn't it incredibly...I don't know...amazing how we go through a range of emotions every single day? There is in me, very often, pain and smiles and the usual highs and lows at every turn of the day. The usual roller coaster. There is, in everyone, a battle that they silently fight.
What is most beautiful is the perseverance of the human spirit, the urge to survive, the will to be happy, the determination to live.

Snow

2009-03-19T12:44:00.001+05:30

Wow is all I can say. From last evening when I bought Snow by Orhan Pamuk, highly recommended by The Bookworm guys, I have been hooked. I can imagine snow and Kars right now. Political Islamists and beautiful Ipek and Ka and the stark roads and the politics. Brilliant. Read people.

There is a Sun there

2009-03-11T21:59:00.002+05:30

This really is a picture of a setting sun in Hampi last November.

I know that the image is in silhouette right now, everything about it. But somewhere in the back of my mind, and this image, I know that there is a sun that shall rise. And brighten the whole picture.

Mountains and Meadows

2009-03-07T19:36:00.002+05:30

From the time I was into meditation, I remember reading that imagining rolling green meadows or mountains could calm your mind. For lack of any other picture to describe my present state of mind, I post here a picture of where I would most prefer to be right now, mountains and the meadows and the sounds of silence to re-discover that thing called peace. And me.

Those Pink Ones

2009-02-26T17:52:00.000+05:30

The first pair of feminine Pink slippers I have ever bought! My darling niece Anika would love me for these, she is one very pink all-girl. As for these, I hate all things pink, as an old rule, but I love these. Rules need to be broken. They were cheap, very comfy and were Lee Cooper, my fave brand. Plus Anika will love her Deepa Chikki now!!!

Of Love

2009-02-13T23:05:00.000+05:30

Despite the Mutallik fiasco and the pink chaddi campaigns and the commercialisation of such a beautiful emotion and all the press about it, its Valentine's again.

I simply am crazy about lovely red roses.

Happy Valentine's Day all.

Dude of the Day

2009-02-12T22:05:00.000+05:30

There are better pics in the better camera, but couldn't resist putting this up.
The Sukhoi, Su 30 MK I. The one I know will always top my list of favourite metal birds. I am at Aero India 2009, not keeping too well, torturing myself the entire day, and loving every minute of it.
A detailed account will follow. For now, I leave with the Sukhoi MK I, which stole the show with fantastic moves only it is capable of. My dude for all five days.

The Other Side

2009-02-09T10:39:00.000+05:30

For some wierd reason, I took to this picture because I see in it another Bangalore. Without the glass buildings, the air conditioning, and the rest. The areas of Chikpete, Balepete and others is a walk into a parallel world. You can get the cheapest clothes, the finest silver, the best a lot of things there. Very narrow lanes, buildings you have to strain your neck to see the top of, dingy, loud, dusty. Reminds me of stories in magazines I read, of writers who discover the other side of a city. Bangalore has one too, and one day I must go, my nose would wrinkle up, but the eyes and the ears will be open.

For Old Times Sake

2009-02-08T17:18:00.000+05:30

Some side door of a now nameless theatre on M G Road. The tickets were the once princely Rs 1.25. Must have been nice, when the movie theatre was a culture in itself.

One of the oldest theatres in the country, Elgin Talkies, still functions in a small dirty lane in Shivajinagar. The walls are blue, the old projector still runs, there are several old books and paraphernalia gathering dust. The clientiele is the labouring class, those who want to sing and dance with their fav rustic hero on screen. I had written about it, spoke to the owner, a long time ago. I forget the details now.

The old times were nice. Its interesting how the times that passed always seem to have been nice, never when you are actually living them.

2009-02-05T00:30:00.000+05:30

There is no greater joy on this earth than coffee and conversations, yet another CC (Journos in Bangalore would know what i mean). Everything under the sun and above, gossip, music, poetry, laughter, philosophy, and what have you. There is nothing like CC!

Happy Days

2009-01-28T18:26:00.001+05:30

Ok, so I love McDonald's Happy Meals, just for the toys though. A long time ago, it started with three friends n Pinocchio. Many of them later, a Siberian Husky today, blue eyes and a blue shoe.
I enjoy a peek into my childhood. So?

Mamma Dearest

2009-01-27T19:33:00.001+05:30

Ma turned 46 today, wish I was home. Happy birthday ma! Everything I am today, I owe it to her, for loving me enough to let me go.
A shot here, taken by her other 'adopted' daughter, Raksha. Me, with the newly acquired camera, on this new blog.