Category: Hobbies

A medley of things that interest me.

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When You Want Something

Achieve It

Achieve It

When I began sketching out the letters of this quote, my sister-in-law asked me. ‘You really believe that…? You need to work your bum off to achieve things. The universe won’t hand it to you on a platter.’

This is a quote I strongly believe in. And so I defended it thus, ‘No. Who said anything about things being given on a platter. You have to work. And the universe will make you work towards achieving it.’

Sure, it may seem like things are going the wrong way, and you may even feel that the universe, and that mysterious concept of fate/destiny is against you. But in the grander scheme of things, they are actually guiding you towards the path that is best for you, and ultimately, towards your goal.

* * *

I tried arranging the letters in an image editing program. But I just couldn’t get around it. I wanted to get into the screen, and tweak the letters with my hand, to my liking. And it was then that I decided I would sketch it out. After three hours of drawing, I finally got what I felt was a good arrangement, and then the letters came alive. I could see a personality to the letters and tweaked them. This is perhaps how master typographers view their letters – alive, and like little children, waiting to be picked up, guided, and moulded into something better.

Now I don’t claim that I can make good letter forms. Quite far from it, as is evident from the picture, but even with the flaws I really liked the outcome because I had fun painting. I’m happy I didn’t sketch it out as I had initially planned. It has helped me appreciate the typographer’s skills, as well as helped in overcoming my fear of painting.

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An Attempt At Portrait

Portrait

Portrait

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Hobbies

Focus on the Tag

Paper

This week I cut the tag off a pair of jeans. The look and feel, the quality, the whiteness, even the metal rim around the hole – made me fall in love with the tag! And I had an idea. I wanted to use it – for something. This evening, I thought I’d take a picture of it before I actually did something with it. And then I just took pictures of it – trying to focus on the quality of the paper.

Paper

Focus on the Challenge!!

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Portrait of a Bouquet

Top View

She was a gem. And to capture her beauty was not something that was easy for me. She could hardly stand still. She kept running and tripping over herself just to avoid me. And in the end I gave up trying to take her picture. And instead just admired her.

One Bouquet – Three Views (Two were simply not enough!)

Close View
Top View
Portrait of a Bouquet

Weekly Photo Challenge – One Shot, Two Ways

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Hobbies

Ear Rings

Ear Rings

Ear Rings
Ear Rings
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Hobbies Stories

The Sultan’s Cave

Pigeons
Pigeons in flight

Delhi is often described as a graveyard, due to the vast number of Tombs that are spread across the city. Most of them look alike, but some stand out.

A small sign along the main road indicated the path towards our destination. It was a narrow dust road, with trees on either side. We walked a short distance before hitting a fork in the road. Short shrubs, open fields, and grazing goats in front of us, city buildings and afternoon traffic behind. But there was no hint of a historical monument in sight.

We asked the man standing next to the goats, where we could find Sultan Ghari. He paused for a while, and then asked us if we wanted to visit the Dargah. We nodded, and he pointed towards the road on the right.

The tomb is a revered place for devotees of both Hindu and Muslim religious communities of the nearby villages of Mahipalpur and Rangpur since they consider the tomb as the dargah of a saintly ‘peer’; a visit to the tomb is more or less mandatory for newlyweds from these two villages. – Wikipedia

These words made me curious…

It wasn’t very far, but hidden behind the trees, the building seemed to magically appear out of nowhere. And the moment we first saw it, we were surprised. It did not look like a tomb at all. In fact, had we not known it was a tomb, we would have assumed it to be a fortress.

Sultan Ghari was built by Iltutmish, for his eldest son Nasiru’d-Din Mahmud – Raziya Sultan’s brother. It was the first Islamic mausoleum built in India.

Considering how old it was, it was beautifully preserved, and looked like it was built just yesterday. We bought our tickets – five rupees each – and climbed up. We were asked to take off our footwear before entering the stone courtyard.

In the centre of the courtyard was a huge octagonal platform, on top of which dozens of pigeons were feasting on seeds. The walls of the fortress had huge ‘windows’. One of the walls had a narrow, steep, open staircase. Standing atop the wall, we caught a bird’s-eye view of the city, as well as ruins from another time.

The actual grave of the prince was beneath the fortress. On one side of the central platform, a small opening lead downstairs to a small chamber. Lit only by oil lamps, it was extremely dark. We felt our way around and stepped down the stairs cautiously. The air was heavy with incense.

A green chadar was spread on the ground, and bataashas were kept next to it – symbols of both Islamic and Hindu faiths.

There was complete silence inside the chamber. So silent, the two of us spoke to each other in hushed tones. While the world boils and burns, fueled by religious animosity, it is places like these that provide hope that peace will one day prevail.

Back outside, we climbed up the stairs along the wall, to get a birds-eye view of the whole complex, as well as the surrounding ruins.

Here are some photographs of Sultan Ghari.

With the main purpose of our visit achieved, we had decided to have a little fun with the pigeons. I must say the pigeons were extremely cooperative, and willingly flew away the moment one of us went near them!

Sultan Ghari
Religious symbols
Ghari – The Cave
Benches
Pigeons in flight
Entrance to the cave
Platter
Pillars in Perspective
Ruins
Mihrab
Ruins
Atop The Wall
Inside Walls

PS. Apologies for the poor quality of images…

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Hobbies

Beyond The Sea…

waves
Waves Crashing onto the Sand

waves
Waves Crashing onto the Sand

I’ve always been fond of the sea – perhaps because I live in the mainland. Visiting a beach is a luxury. I love the way the waves playfully tickle my toes. At the same time they warn me – I’m aware that the sea is trying to pull me close…
It is the Bay of Bengal. The sea here is rough, and can be very dangerous if one goes too far.
But beyond the shoreline, the deep sea is calm, and the fisherman guides his little boat, in search of someone’s meal.

*    *    *

The Daily Post Asks Us To Think Beyond

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Happy Harvesting!

pongal
Pongal - o - pongal!

pongal
Pongal – o – pongal!
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Hobbies

Reflection

Kalan Masjid
Kalan Masjid, Chandni Chowk

Kalan Masjid
Kalan Masjid, Chandni Chowk

The Kalan Masjid lies close to Raziya Sultan’s Tomb. A rather quiet place, somewhere inside a very crowded Bazaar. Built in 1387 by Feroz Shah Tughlaq, it is one of the oldest Mosques in Delhi.

* * *

This post is part of, what appears to be, a series of short, sometimes confusing, posts.

Writing Challenge : Just Do It
Photo Challenge : Reflections
The Unsung Hero

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Hobbies

Peacock

peacock sketch
Charcoal Pencil Sketch

Pencil on Sketchbook
Charcoal Pencil Sketch

This coming week, India celebrates Karthik Poornima. The peacock is Lord Karthikeya’s vaahana (vehicle).

According to Wikipedia:
Karthik Poornima (Karthik purnima) is a Hindu holy day celebrated on the full moon day of the lunar month Karthik (November–December). It is also known as Tripuri poornima and Tripurari Poornima. It is sometimes called Deva-Diwali or Deva-Deepawali – the festival of lights of the gods. The Karthik Purnima festival also coincides with the Sikh festival of Guru Nanak Jayanti.

Karthik poornima is also the birthday of Matsya, god Vishnu’s fish-incarnation (Avatar). It is also the birthday of Vrinda, the personification of the Tulsi plant and of Kartikeya, the god of war and son of Lord Shiva. This day also is considered dear to Radha, the lover of Krishna – Vishnu’s incarnation. It is believed that Krishna and Radha danced rasa and Krishna worshipped Radha on this day.