Categories
Stories

Puppets


One of the exhibits at Bagore ki haveli, is a hall filled with puppets—of colourful Rajasthani men, women and animals. I’ll let the puppets introduce themselves:

The Durbar
Recreating the Durbar

We are only puppets, our strings are being pulled by unknown forces.
― Georg Büchner

The Dancer
The dancer
The Queen
The Queen

“Sometimes when I’m writing, I wonder if the words have a mind of their own, and if they’re really just using me as a puppet to manifest themselves.”
― Travis J. Dahnke


Photos taken with a Moto G3, edited with Befunky. Click/tap to enter my Flickr Photostream


This is post #21 in this year’s NaBloPoMo, or as Ra calls it Nano Poblano

NaBloPoMo = National Blog Posting Month = Thirty straight days of blogging

Categories
Stories

Art for all


The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls.

–Pablo Picasso

Which is why, perhaps, it must spill out of the halls of exhibitions and galleries, and enter the public space.

Tray of stones
Three course meal

Perhaps it was the influence of Mario, or the general laid back ‘hippie’ culture that is now synonymous with Goa, that encouraged art to spill on to its streets — from graffiti on the rocks, to sculptures at street crossings.

Graffiti at Palolem
Graffiti on the rocks. Palolem beach, Goa
Close up of sculptures
Sculptures at a crossing in Calangute, Goa

Check out more street art from around India: Chennai, Darjeeling, Puducherry

Oh my! What sharp teeth you have!
Oh my, what sharp teeth you have! Graffiti at Palolem beach, Goa

This is post #17 in this year’s NaBloPoMo, or as Ra calls it Nano Poblano

NaBloPoMo = National Blog Posting Month = Thirty straight days of blogging

Categories
Stories

Resilience


It is not the beauty of a building you should look at; its the construction of the foundation that will stand the test of time.

–David Allan Coe

The Gwalior Fort, constructed atop a hill, is a mammoth structure. Legends say its construction began in the 3rd Century, while historical accounts put it anywhere between the 8th and 14th Century. This Fort has seen numerous rulers and severe onslaughts across the centuries and withstood all that has been thrown at it.

As with many of the places we have visited, it is extremely difficult to paint a true picture of the scale of the structure. I could write about the long trek to the top, and the sweeping views of the city, but the closest that I can get to explaining it, is to point to the size of the people in this (incomplete) picture below.

A long way to the top
The entrance of Gwalior Fort

Photo taken with a Moto G3, edited with Image Composite Editor and Befunky. Click/tap to enter my Flickr Photostream


This is post #12 in this year’s NaBloPoMo, or as Ra calls it Nano Poblano

NaBloPoMo = National Blog Posting Month = Thirty straight days of blogging

Categories
Hobbies

Come, fly with me…


A few years ago, I asked a couple of my friends to give me their favourite quotes. I had planned to make something out of the quotes and gift them. I wasn’t very happy with the results and decided not to give them.

I eventually gave one to my friend after she saw the post I wrote about it way back in October 2012, shortly after I had created it.

I pulled out the other quote by Victoria Moran today and realised that my friend does not even know I made this for her.
Quote by Victoria Moran

At the time I made this, it took me a long time to comprehend its meaning. I wasn’t sure why she liked it either. Now I can understand it. Because it resonates with me today, as it probably did with her, at that time.


nanopoblano2015lightThis is post #12 in this year’s NaBloPoMo, or as Ra calls it Nano Poblano

NaBloPoMo = National Blog Posting Month = Thirty straight days of blogging

Categories
Hobbies

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!


Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
Categories
Hobbies

When You Want Something


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.

Categories
Miscellaneous

How To Destroy A Great Idea


Weekly Writing Challenge – And Now For Something Completely Different. DIY gone wrong.

Step #1: Draw

Drawing
The pencil drawing

Step #2: Colour

Fill
Started with water-colour pencils

Step #3: Brush

Water-colour pencil fill
Brushed on a little water

Step #4: Repaint

Acrylic fill
Painted the areas with acrylic

Step #5: Complete the destruction

Details
Tada! And the destruction is complete!

Congratulations! What next?

  • Claim to be an awesome artist and charge an extremely large amount of money for your work of art, enough for you to live the rest of life without having to work;

OR

  • Frame it and gift it to a friend, as you had originally planned, and then pray you still have a friend

Note for existing readers (if you’re still reading):
Taking inspiration from a fellow wordpress-er, I thought I would try my hand at creating a DIY post. I promise you won’t have to withstand this torture beyond one post.

Note for new readers (if any):
This is not how things are on this blog! Wait! Please don’t run away!

Weekly writing Challenge : And Now For Something Completely Different