Decorating a Ganpati pandal

To beautify something is a honest and pleasing experience. Last year the opportunity of decorating a Ganpati pandal (Let Wiki bring light to the unknown, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandal, ) fell in the hands of a dear friend of mine. I(owing to my ever helpful nature) agreed to assist him on the assignment. After brainstorming for ideas for a day or so, we decided to go for the macro landscape — Our Universe. It took some time to get the adrenaline kick registered, then we were ready for the real deal.

After shopping a day for colors,brushes,tent size canvases,etc we started working. I remember the mandal (the group organizing the Ganpati festival) members gazing at us inquisitively for any signs of assistance, which we may need. From serving water to adjusting the fan(according to our whims), they did everything. Its good to see desperation in the eyes of people, when it comes to serving God(they think it may serve him). The simple,innocent efforts they put in, mostly to stay in God's good books or just to derive pleasure and quench their "spiritual" hunger, which eventually may lead to clean and honest mind.

Religious festivals are meant for uniting with a common reason. B.G. Tilak was a genius and visionary who imbibed this idea into common minds during pre-independence days. It's great to see people from all castes,creeds,religions getting churned together to achieve a spiritually pleasing experience. The remarkable feature here is that all types of people get automatically humble when it comes to God. This amalgamation has resulted into cultural diversity and makes India what it is today!

We went by from coloring the huge canvas, converting plastic balls to planets etc. The process was gruesome and we were sleep deprived for 2 days. But sleep never dived in and we were honestly enjoying the work.

From a large empty canvas to a color occupied one is what makes this beautification process important. The amazement and delight in the eyes of the devotees, is what makes you feel satisfied after the process. It's not only about the level of talent involved or the speciality, but the effort and your thoughts behind it which matter the most. I enjoyed each moment because the idol was to be placed at the very heart of the UNIVERSE we designed. Now we know how GOD would have felt in our UNIVERSE....

(Will upload the pictures later).....

A small trip....

The sound sleep....

The View...

From the Arrow's point of view...

The Doors

Stern simplicity

The Regulator...

Itching to Yawn...

Towards the unknown...

Oldies

Ghanti....

Sleep and let sleep....

Draped in new...

Beauty on the spine....

Bollywood.....

Old times....

Unkempt...

Faiths on display...

Eyes say it all...

Angry purse....

Revolution remembered....

CST station and the surrounding areas have always been a topic of excitement and attraction. I decided to shoot something around these areas. (Thanks to a friend, even she shot some good pics...:P) A small trip in the by lanes of the city offers millions of glimpses. The city is always breathing and you can feel it as you travel. The old buildings, the hustle bustle, the traffic and lots of dreams, is what makes it a living entity. Though it was a heated Sunday afternoon, it felt great to move about. Tried clicking what came in front. From CST station to Colaba causeway, there was a lot to shoot. The rag pickers, the shop owners and the drunkards were memorable subjects. Mumbai is beautiful and hope it stays so.......

On Editing and Editors

Being an editor, I always wondered, is always finding someone's mistakes a dainty habit? The societal- norms following crowd will reply with a bowed head,eyes closed "NO". What if you earn some benjamins from that habit? That crowd is opening its eyes probably,hearing this. Yes. Editors earn their pizzas and salads doing this.eyes popped?

Technically, they do it for the BIGGER good,because what they edit goes throughout the World in a refined way. I say editors are very sharp,intelligent and quirky people. They will joke about an author's writing(they wouldn't have written no books,dawg), they will share a good laugh over punctuation,grammar etc, things which you haven't even bothered about. But yes they are doing the BIGGER good. An Editor(I am confused between a and an before the editor, please don't mind Mr. Editor) doesn't just edit the mistakes after finding them. He/She is responsible for the structuring,flow of data, and most important the final outcome. Editors aren't just complacent kind of beings but are brainy and have thoughts of their own. The word Editor creates many respectful ripples in the minds of the masses.

This is not an easy, laid back,on my own accord "post" at all. Editors brainstorm for ideas, they have to deal with the filthiest kind of writing as well as have the ever hanging axe of Deadlines on their necks(no wonder why the word has dead in it). For a curious,creative individual this is mecca of Satisfaction, madina of joy and paradise on Earth. This is a growing field and will grow as long as people make mistakes. How would you feel if there are infinite errors in a book,no grammar,no editing at all? Even this thought horrifies me. The editors are the synthesizer for authors. They make them sound good(look good,in the literary sense). The beautification process is in the hands of the editors. A good editor will always try to drain away the unnecessary part. Editors don't thrive on mistakes, removing them is what they strive for!!!

From where the water came

I remember, while traveling in a train sometime back, some commuters were hanging by the door. It was a beautiful(earlier night the rain gods fucked everyone in Mumbai) morning. The guys were in a jolly mood,fiddling,cracking(ass) jokes and suddenly a liter of water slapped their faces. Shit! Where did it come from? I remember I laughed my ass off on that incident. But whenever the guys looked in my direction, I had to make that "I am already bored face".
The point is our elders(in age) said "don't laugh on someone". Little did they know there would be such stupidly insane incidents which cause involuntary outburst of teary laughter. That's my point, are there any etiquettes to be followed in laughter?

Laughing at someone may be(mind you, may be) wrong, but we laugh at the overall scene, the drowsy, sucked up faces and the absurdity of the situation. I may be just explaining something as simple as abusing in a technical way but still i want to laugh!! Remember some one slipping off on banana skin? I haven't laughed at those people at all(i swear). I laugh seeing their faces when they are trying to gather their wits after the dayfall(:P). Deriving pleasure out of someone's problems is wrong, it's more monstrous in the literal sense. But laughing just because you feel like isn't wrong. You aren't laughing at the pain and suffering(hyperbole), but at the scenario which smooches your eyes.

Laughing is good for health, they say. But laughing at someone else's expense is damn wrong (it is). So laugh freely. That's it, to sum up it all i would say a few things. Don't laugh at funerals(no you don't, even at Jim carrey's or Charlie sheen's), don't laugh at old people(fuckers they have done what you haven't even heard of), don't laugh at someone's physicality and don't laugh at innocent poor people. Laugh at yourself and God I am still not getting from where the water came. 

LAMBO ON GLASS......

 

Being a big fan of Lamborghinis....I was always intrigued by the design and beauty which engulfs these cars. But more than that, what intrigued me,  is the logo (yeah with the bull) of the the Car making giants. My friend who is a bigger( in size too!!) fan asked to Recreate the logo on a glass piece. I was a bit apprehensive in the initial stages (not due to his size!!), whether this turns out good or not. This is my first glass painting. In the end it turned out like this. Hope he is happy!!!....... Tell me what you feel about it...

   

SLIPKNOT......Awesome Metal....

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The Band I admire from a long time..... SLIPKNOT
According to them their hidden identities(not anymore) stand for the audience they entertain. Its not your face or your appearance which makes the difference. They believe in the inner person you are....

'After five minutes of seeing the band I don't think anyone pays attention to it. They pay attention to the music. And that's why we're here"

The REAL Tour........DHARAVI (some pics i clickd)

The Beginning point of the Dharavi Tour....

My tour group....... All are my colleagues...(the girls in yellow,red and white and d guy wid the bag..) This is an random click...........

One of the shady houses shot on the roof.. What an splendid view ......... it was!

The awesome pots at Kumbharwada..... I just loved the view wid the violet kinda cloth hanging......

This is the roof view of the recycling factory, with huge barrels lying around.......

Diwali is just around the corner, diyas pour life into the festival. Here the artisans kept them to dry.......

The 2 guys we met at the start of the tour.... They asked for some water and we waited till they gulped it to their hearts content.......

 This tour and this day especially was an eye-opener for me... It introduced us to a plethora of knowledge regarding the people in DHARAVI.Also called the Biggest SLUM in ASIA. It was an reality check for our minds as well as it dusted the age-old beliefs we had regarding this place. It was great to know about all the industries working here, the lives of the people, history of the place and the beauty which engulfs it. The cultural amalgamation bought about by the people is such an beautiful scenario to watch for. Our guide SURAJ was an simple and sincere guy, who tried his best to introduce us to this place and cleared all of our doubts. The community centers run by them as well as various activities occurring here are the real need of the day. The ideas I had about this place were not completely true and the people enjoying small events in life even though constantly under plight is a thing to learn...The artists are awesome and the kids are really heart-touching.......I really wanted to click more pics, but the no-camera policy made me helpless. Still tried to do a bit of it.
This was a REAL tour for me... thank you RAMA..........