Restore Recover : Recycle!!

 

Except for the orange beads, the yellow neckpiece i made

entirely out of paper from old magazines

 

I made these(above and below) stringing together

pieces from a potpourri of other broken or

dilapidated neckpieces of mine, that i redid with paint 

and wire, and cowrie shells.

The International Day for the Eradication of Poverty // Bloggers Unite

The International Day for the Eradication of Poverty // Bloggers Unite

WHATS THE FREAKING HURRY?!!!

Some days, I feel like the world around me is a dark scary jungle. Like its some grand finale of a circus and we animals have very little time to show our act . We have to reign supreme to survive . Even if it is at the cost of preying on each other. But to use such a metaphor would be demeaning to animals considering how harmoniously they co exist in organized synchrony , within themselves and with nature.
Every day I inadvertently witness these little incidents, situations, whatever one may call it, that subtly(sometimes not so subtly) jostle my conscience. Road rage for example. There is not a single driver on the road who isn't in a hurry to get ahead. Only one in fifteen people will stop to let some cross the road. There is always a throng of people huddled up around a collision or crash site staring brazenly. But most of them are there to be a part of all the action .Ask for help and the number of these voyeuristic spectators starts dwindling rapidly. And god help you if you happen to ,even if its by an unavoidable mistake, irk someone by cutting them or overtaking them or something of the sort!! The looks and hoots you get are intense enough to drive you to the brink of depression. I try my best to do whatever little I can to help appease this madness but that does nothing to placate me when I go through one of my "What's the world coming to?" spells . But I keep on doing so even if it is only for the selfish satisfaction I get out of it.

What i thought of "Paltadacho Munis"

Yesterday i watched my first konkani movie ever and fortunately for me it was the most appropriate introductory platform i could have asked for. It was about a forest ranger who lives alone and leads a plain life dutifully watching over the vast forest for trespassers trying to steal wood. Each day is identical to the next and the pattern to his life is consistent for the most part.Sometimes, when home, his solitude is allayed by mementos and memories of a time in the past when his wife was alive.He has a little box with a few old and tattered belongings of his wife which he values like a treasure trove. In the course of his rigmarole life this mentally challenged vagabond woman strays into his turf and becomes quite territorial  about it. He tries a lot to kick her out but his attempts are thwarted by her relentless free spirit that refuses to be curbed. He finally resignedly accepts her presence and they co exist peacefully for a while. But this lasts only till the characteristic human need for affection surfaces and they reach out for each other. Over time he manages to tame her wild spirit  and develops a peculiar equation with her. Here again , carnal human instincts come to play and their equation intensifies into intimacy and she bears him a child..  This forest ranger, Vinayak, lives across the bridge which is what the name of the movie "paltadacho munis" means. While all this is happening on one side of the bridge the villagers on the other side are incensed when word reaches them. Their puritanical ideologies and orthodox thinking, unmitigated by the lack of education, compels them to think of the forest rangers actions as taboo and thereupon take action against it. This situation is a quintessential example of how social atrocities can penetrate the most far removed places. In the end, the only way in which Vinayak can keep his family safe from the villagers is by isolating them and severing all ties with society.He does this by breaking off his side of the wooden bridge  that joins his world to the village. If its not implicitly obvious as yet, i thought it was a brilliant film and loved it.

My bottles with wire and sequence work

alldatjazz: So stereotypical!!!

alldatjazz: So stereotypical!!!: "0 comments:"

So stereotypical!!!

     Viva Goa!! I feel really lucky to have been born here. I love it and no other  place could ever be home. I love that its laid back which is one of its distinctive characteristic.Most outsiders, on their first trip here, are enamored of its beauty;culture and joie de vivre way of life and end up returning to goa time and again.And can you blame them? I, personally am smitten by this little state of mine.Having said all this and established the passion i feel for my state id like to confess theres one thing about goa i implacably dislike and you may be surprised to find that this happens to be the subject of this post contrary to how i started. Its the stereotypical ideologies of most of the people here. I say "most' because it would be really wrong to generalize and say "all" as i know of so many people who dont think like that. Heres a little incident that happened this morning and as inconsequential  as it is it got me writing this.
     I went to JMP Dias(the most well known electrical store in panjim...actually, the only one known to me) this morning. This elderly (75+) english man stopped by to ask where he could get plastic sheets with adhesive on the back. The store guy was clueless so i told him his best bet would be J D Fernandes and he thanked me and walked out. Heres the funny thing-thats exactly where i was going and could have easily offered to drop him there. And it wasnt as if the thought didnt strike me. It did but for some strange  reason i held back from offering him a drop in the electricity store. When i was driving to the stationery store i kept an eye out  and did luckily spot him.He looked rather disoriented, what with people jog trotting to and fro in some inane race against....time or themselves or each other...When i pulled over and offered him a drop there were these taxi drivers parked on the other side of the road who stopped whatever it was they were doing to stare brazenly at us. Thats the thing im talking about. I felt like i was doing something wrong.Only, i wasnt. And then i realized, as ashamed as i am to say it, that the reason why i hadnt offered to drop the the man inside the store was that at some subconscious level i didnt want to be seen offering him a ride lest people judge and talk about me.  Ive had discussions with friends along the same lines and concluded that almost everyone, perhaps in varying degrees, conforms and adapts their sensibilities according to what is socially acceptable and not acceptable irrespective of right or wrong.But  thats the deduction and not the solution. So what can be done to change this? And will it ever completely change? Cause i find myself in a place where i keep crashing head on into this social barrier of what is and isnt and i make no headway.

Love,Sex and Dhoka-a good hindi movie at last....

A good hindi movie at last!! I watched LSD the other day with a friend and thought it was a  really good film.I dont say  i enjoyed it cause its not the kind of movie ones enjoys.Definitely not a feel good movie. Quite contrary to that actually. Some of the scenes are inflammatory and stay with you even after the movie.Its  the kind of movie that gets you thinking but what makes it unique and sets it apart from the other movies in this category is the realism in its three stories. Some of the scenes are so intense that  they slam you hard in the face before you even have time to register them. I for one couldnt get over some scenes for a while after it was over. The actors have done a great job and are convincing to the extent that you feel the dread,fear and  happiness of the characters almost first hand. Its well translated and the director hits the nail on the head.So in my opinion its a great watch and for people who arent a bundle of nerves and dont have a weak heart, a must watch.

Its Kalyug then....

       I cant really pinpoint what singular thing, occurrence, dialogue or conversation spurred this thought on but over  a day or two i have been subconsciously pondering over how modernization, which evidently is a by product of evolution, has an inversely proportionate relationship with the sanctity of life and its various branches and sub branches.And the more i consider and delve into it the more right it seems.
   We have advanced so much that small things in life dont matter any more.Nothing is like it used to be.Progression is de rigueur for the growth and development of any social strata but we ve reached a level where along with advancement our constants in life like virtues, principles and values have transformed. Marriage is an archetype of this kind of transformation.Relationships is another. Marriage is an institution and considered the final deciding ritual to unite two people. But the frivolous practices and patterns seen these day of marriage followed immediately by divorce seems sacrilegious.And this decay goes  beyond traditions and rituals and penetrates the little things like values and principles that constitute the foundation of a way of life. There were times, although its hard to believe, when a persons given word was substantial enough to manifest an iron bond of trust between two people. Contrary to this, nowadays oaths are taken and the very next moment mercilessly broken and all for either money or some other unconscionable reason. Swears, vows and promises seem like antiquated ideas and will soon be reduced to fading memories. Happiness has become dependent on achieving and attaining physical , material things and making more money.Yet, it doesnt end there as moneys never enough.So the chase just goes in circles- man makes money to quash his craving for happiness and then he makes more money cause he hasnt found what hes looking for and so on and so forth. Even then hes unhappy and happiness seems like a chimera.
         So this must really be kalyug.The dark times.But going by that theory it also means life comes full circle and as a circle doesnt exactly end anywhere theres a chance that at some point we will start over from the beginning.  Innocence will be returned and love and happiness will come to life again from being hollow shells of words. I just hope all this wishful yearning for a better world bears fruit sooner then later.                            

Why is it that the basic tendency of human beings as a race is always more inclined towards the negative? Whether it is an assumption, presumption or reaction, in a neutral and unbiased plane the first thought that comes to our minds is always negative. A friend who has done us a lot of good and very little bad will always be remembered by the one bad and the good is conveniently overshadowed. Its like negativity stems from within us and to quash it we need to think positive.

This theory of mine rooted from this simple question asked by one of my professors the answer to which superimposes this very theory. He asked us  "if A was standing facing east and B facing west what would their position to each other be?". And just about everybody in the room said back to back while the answer quite simply was face to face.

My Bottles- Uncorked(morepix)

 

  

  

 

My Bottles- Uncorked

                                         

                                                                        

                                                                         

If there ever was a person named most appropriately it has to be my friend Lavina. Ever since school Lavina has been an embodiment of love. I remember expressing that to her in some puerile manner or mawkish gesture back in school. She has a colossal heart and a bottomless well of love. But all this is an established fact known to all of us from that particular batch and hardly the reason for writing this post. These words came cascading to my mind immediately after i was visually inspired by this mail she sent me. What was in this mail? The pictures below....








 


Lavina  goes to an orphanage every sunday to spend time with the kids there and hone their creative skills.She teaches them to paint. The paintings above are done by those kids. When i saw these i was inspired and i knew i had to do something so other people could acknowledge and appreciate these vibrant hues and steady strokes. And also, in a tad selfish way, for my own introspection.Many a sundays i have told Lavi that i would join her at the orphanage and spend time with the kids and not once have i kept my word. I make assorted excuses to Lavi and myself but then some hoarse intimidating voice inside my head keeps nagging me. This just goes to show that if i or anyone else for that matter did just a small percentage of what people like Lavi do we could be content and happy from inside and not just superficially....

"A house divided against itself cannnot stand". This quote i once read somewhere is best suited to describe the present state of affairs of our India considering the circumstances. This time the shiv sena has targetted Sharukh Khan for making a sentence expressing his opinion in pakistan saying pakistan should be allowed to participate in the IPL and threatened to stop the release of his forthcoming film, "My name is Khan", if he doesnt apologize for his statement. This clash of ideologies which is evidently a non issue has been turned into an issue of treachery by the shivsena. The infamous party with its puritanical views has been known to disrupt the peace of the state of Maharashtra over similar negligible subjects on many occasions in the past. As a result of this, potential issues of eminence that need immediate action to be taken, like the delhi rape case where a girl was raped in broad daylight in a building opposite some of Indias major news paper buildings, are being sidetracked.

S0 is this tacit divide on the basis of religion, SRK being a muslim, intentional or is the shiv sena earnestly affronted by the statement itself irrespective of who made it? SRK however has stuck to his steadfast resolve and refused to oblige. After watching his interview with Barkha Dutt on NDTV where he dismissed the shiv senas allegations with aplomb and dignity as old fashioned and trivial and stated that he is a good india, my respect for him has multiplied if anything. According to the shiv sena after the 26/11 travesty pakisthan should not be allowed to play in the IPL indirectly implying all ties with the country should be severed. But the party overlooks the obvious fact that the pakisthani players werent the perpetrators involved in the attack nor does every denizen of pakisthan hold a personal grudge against india.
An allusion meant as an effort to bridge the ever widening gap between the countries has been turned into a squalid brawl over religion by the shivsena. So the question still remains whether SRK was targeted cause of his religion? Does being a muslim make him any less indian than the hindus? And is it relevant to fuss over the eons old divide when issues of real importance are staring us in the face? With parties like the shiv sena playing the villian with their outdated stereotypical outlooks and puerile mentality, aspirations of growth and development of our country is an unattainable dream. Every progressive step foward india takes will be negated if these continue to act upon anything and everything that contradicts their constricted vision.

Friday, January 1, 2010

Its 2010. A very happy new year to all.....Every year we make plans for new years night.Grand plans! Like we are beginning not only a new year but also a new life. Resolutions are made .....they say to be broken.And after all the hype and preparation we celebrate new year.Just like we had the last year and the year before. Not making a god damn difference to the world or our life for that matter. So another day gone by, another year gone by, a lot of money spent and the sum total of it is a difference in a digit on our calenders.Not a single needy stomach fed , no life made easier nor tears wiped out. Think its time for a drastic change.I don't know how, what, who and when but i know it starts in me. Will write more when i have more answers....till then