Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Home Sweet Iowa
Back in Iowa City and back to Square 3. The seasonal transition from Summer to Fall has begun. The occasional rain, the sudden sunshine and the awkward gloom - all make Iowa unique and beautiful. And needless to say numerous photo ops for me. Have been freaking out a few people with my occasional scurry at odd hours with lens in hand. The pictures you see above are a combination of two things I try to portray. The first one being my new living surroundings (which is awesome by the way) and the season change. Can't wait for the next few weeks to pass - Fall will come around in all its grandeur and my lens will be ready.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Another KC Evening
Just another day, decided to ramble on the streets of Kansas City looking for something interesting to shoot. The fountains underneath Swope Prkwy always seem to lure me into their magnificence. I still feel - after two attempts, that I'm missing something from those fountains.Something so infinitesimally unique seems to escape from my viewfinder. Hope to find it before I leave KC. Some of these pictures came out pretty satisfactorily, especially the one with the white bell flower overlooking the building - and some of those macro shots. I'm pretty excited to go back to Iowa City - as I'm sure she's got a sea of opportunities to offer.
Ozarks, Arkansas
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Finally my humble beginnings
What you see above are the first toddler steps and stumbles - into the world of digital photography. I convinced myself at last, that I'm half-worthy of an SLR camera - a Nikon D40. Not quite sure if that's right but I'm working on it for sure. I hope the camera strap doesn't alienate itself, from my neck - and the eyes of my audience, from my photograph.
Monday, July 09, 2007
guys,
Jus began posting here. Its one of my short stories that is becoming too long to be "short". So I am posting it as a series. Happy Reading. Comments Welcome.
Jus began posting here. Its one of my short stories that is becoming too long to be "short". So I am posting it as a series. Happy Reading. Comments Welcome.
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
18 School Road Extract
The following was written 2 years ago.
On an impulse Akash climbed onto jenny’s cycle , it wasn’t locked, she must’ve been in a hurry getting into the class. He rode the cycle onto the street and started peddling hard , as hard as a girl’s cycle would let him go , as fast as his panting, sobbing heart would let him go, towards jenny’s house. Sheets of rain hit his face , but he kept riding, as he crossed streets , cut intersections and made turns ,all he saw was jenny’s tear ridden face.
The tires screeched and skidded as he stopped in front of her house. There were cars all over the place , footwear scattered everywhere , people were standing outside and talking in small groups, perched under umbrellas. There had been loss here , someone had lost their life, and many had lost a part of their family, jenny had lost a mother, and Akash had lost his heart… to a strong hearted, bold, caring ,motherless girl.
He moved towards a window and looked inside , there were people everywhere, some moving in a hurry, some settled down for a long day’s mourning… the untold rules of a house in sorrow. On the far side he found what he was looking for, siting in corner next to her dad was jenny, crying uncontrollably, her dad too was crying , and sitting next to jenny and consolling jenny were sunitha and deepshika, he felt relieved that she had friends to help her through this, just then she looked toward the window , on instinct he moved away and went out into the crowd.
When he reached home he was drenched from top to bottom, he saw his mother and burst into tears "what happened?" she asked
"my classmates mother died, shes such a nice girl" he said
"its ok "
" I don’t want you to die" he said hugging her, the actual loss that had come upon jenny hit him like a bolt of lightning as he hugged his own mother , he felt secure in her embrace, jenny was never going to feel this, ever again, it pained him.
* * * * *
Shahab was sitting on the steps of the library just outside school , waiting for ankita to come out. While he waited he tried to think of what to tell her once he came up beside her, what lines would capture her ? what should be the expression on his face?, how would she react? Would she get angry? Would she be understanding? No way to tell, just then the poet in him kicked in and words became a line, and lines became a story
" Gudiya , the essence of my soul,
Never shall I play thee foul.
You, the tenderest pebble on my beach,
Never shall I stay out of reach."
He could have formed more lines, but just then ankita had come out of the school , pushing her cycle. She was obviously very distressed at having a flat tire, he felt a pang of guilt for having removed the air, how could he expect her to walk, after seeing her toil in the tennis court? How insensitive! Well what the hell , whos gonna tell her? Slowly pushing the cycle she headed towards the cycle repair shop. She almost fainted when she found that the shop was closed.
‘I would never be able to look her in the eye ever again’, thought shahab, as she resigned to her fate and started to walk towards her home, her began to make his move from across the road. He was just beginning to get the idea that she had spotted him and was looking in his direction when a car pulled in between them.
He couldn’t see anything clearly from his side but could make out a guy at the wheel , smart and handsome , and now he saw ankita talking to him. They spoke like they knew each other, he would have dismissed them as relatives ,except the expression on ankita’s face, something about it made him green inside and red on the face, there she was with the expression that he had all the time wanted her to have when he told her about his love, except she was not talking to him , but some guy in fancy car!
God! she was blushing like that guy was the one who had written her all the poems, did it not matter to her at all? Did she like this guy in the car? Was he just a cute fan ? anger swelled in him , as she got into the car and the car moved away. He started walking behind the car, soon the car was out of reach , it was raining hard now.
* * * * *
Ankita felt like a queen , there she was sitting beside the, to be crowned king, Rohit ,he had appeared out of nowhere to rescue her from that long walk back home, and now they were speeding away in his car. After about a minute of driving the car came to an abrupt stop. She looked up into his eyes, as sweet as ever
" so , did you think about what I said yesterday?" he asked
" yeah I was just thinking about it" she said lamely
" well, do you love me?" he asked placing a hand on top of her hand , a million volts of electricity passed though her veins, she had never known what flying felt like , now she knew , she felt her skin grow hot and mind go out of control.
" well?" he was asking something , but she had long since become incapable of thought
" yes !!" she said without knowing what was happening , his hand slipped from over her hand and landed on her thigh , she was feeling something new, she was feeling the touch of the inner part of her soul , that she never knew existed, shame came in endless waves , and she shut her eyes. Her face was arched upwards in an angle only her female instinct could have directed her to position in. As the hand moved to her knee, she knew her skirt was no longer a hindrance, she could feel him on her skin , burning like a raging fire. Then she felt that unmistakable jolt hit her as his lips brushed her’s, she gulped , and caught his lips in her mouth . All the novels and all those explanations seemed lame , slowly she willed herself to taste his lips , and let him taste her’s , there was room for both, and then he slipped his tongue into her mouth and she tasted salt, never before had salt tasted so good. Now she felt a wall of heat smash into her as his hands made their way over to her small , firm breasts , his tongue was now exploring every contour of her mouth , and she slowly opened her eyes, to find rohit all over her , she was holding thight to his hair , slowly he pulled his lips away from her mouth and started kissing her neck , it was then that she looked beyond him, through the window, all the time in daze , shahab had just pulled his cycle over near the car , oh! No! it was her cycle , suddenly she realized what was going on , and she pushed rohit away
"what the fuck?" he snapped
" I have to go" she said
" but you said you loved me" he said
" no I did not , but I have to go" why was she saying this?
" I don’t understand"
" you don’t have to , just go and don’t come back!!" why was she so angry, why did shahab have this effect on her? She came out of the car and slammed the door
she walked over to shahab ,and he handed back her cycle , tires all filled with air.
" thank you" she said
why was she feeling ashamed of speaking to him?
She got on her cycle and rode away
The car backed up and sped away in the opposite direction.
Shahab stood there on the wet road all by himself, the rain had stopped,
As he saw her ride away he knew it was over, and new lines came to his mind
"Gudiya , please come back,
turn not your back
leave me not in lurch
for I love you so much"
but in his heart he knew the truth
" in 18 school road it blossomed ,
and there it lay buried"
On an impulse Akash climbed onto jenny’s cycle , it wasn’t locked, she must’ve been in a hurry getting into the class. He rode the cycle onto the street and started peddling hard , as hard as a girl’s cycle would let him go , as fast as his panting, sobbing heart would let him go, towards jenny’s house. Sheets of rain hit his face , but he kept riding, as he crossed streets , cut intersections and made turns ,all he saw was jenny’s tear ridden face.
The tires screeched and skidded as he stopped in front of her house. There were cars all over the place , footwear scattered everywhere , people were standing outside and talking in small groups, perched under umbrellas. There had been loss here , someone had lost their life, and many had lost a part of their family, jenny had lost a mother, and Akash had lost his heart… to a strong hearted, bold, caring ,motherless girl.
He moved towards a window and looked inside , there were people everywhere, some moving in a hurry, some settled down for a long day’s mourning… the untold rules of a house in sorrow. On the far side he found what he was looking for, siting in corner next to her dad was jenny, crying uncontrollably, her dad too was crying , and sitting next to jenny and consolling jenny were sunitha and deepshika, he felt relieved that she had friends to help her through this, just then she looked toward the window , on instinct he moved away and went out into the crowd.
When he reached home he was drenched from top to bottom, he saw his mother and burst into tears "what happened?" she asked
"my classmates mother died, shes such a nice girl" he said
"its ok "
" I don’t want you to die" he said hugging her, the actual loss that had come upon jenny hit him like a bolt of lightning as he hugged his own mother , he felt secure in her embrace, jenny was never going to feel this, ever again, it pained him.
* * * * *
Shahab was sitting on the steps of the library just outside school , waiting for ankita to come out. While he waited he tried to think of what to tell her once he came up beside her, what lines would capture her ? what should be the expression on his face?, how would she react? Would she get angry? Would she be understanding? No way to tell, just then the poet in him kicked in and words became a line, and lines became a story
" Gudiya , the essence of my soul,
Never shall I play thee foul.
You, the tenderest pebble on my beach,
Never shall I stay out of reach."
He could have formed more lines, but just then ankita had come out of the school , pushing her cycle. She was obviously very distressed at having a flat tire, he felt a pang of guilt for having removed the air, how could he expect her to walk, after seeing her toil in the tennis court? How insensitive! Well what the hell , whos gonna tell her? Slowly pushing the cycle she headed towards the cycle repair shop. She almost fainted when she found that the shop was closed.
‘I would never be able to look her in the eye ever again’, thought shahab, as she resigned to her fate and started to walk towards her home, her began to make his move from across the road. He was just beginning to get the idea that she had spotted him and was looking in his direction when a car pulled in between them.
He couldn’t see anything clearly from his side but could make out a guy at the wheel , smart and handsome , and now he saw ankita talking to him. They spoke like they knew each other, he would have dismissed them as relatives ,except the expression on ankita’s face, something about it made him green inside and red on the face, there she was with the expression that he had all the time wanted her to have when he told her about his love, except she was not talking to him , but some guy in fancy car!
God! she was blushing like that guy was the one who had written her all the poems, did it not matter to her at all? Did she like this guy in the car? Was he just a cute fan ? anger swelled in him , as she got into the car and the car moved away. He started walking behind the car, soon the car was out of reach , it was raining hard now.
* * * * *
Ankita felt like a queen , there she was sitting beside the, to be crowned king, Rohit ,he had appeared out of nowhere to rescue her from that long walk back home, and now they were speeding away in his car. After about a minute of driving the car came to an abrupt stop. She looked up into his eyes, as sweet as ever
" so , did you think about what I said yesterday?" he asked
" yeah I was just thinking about it" she said lamely
" well, do you love me?" he asked placing a hand on top of her hand , a million volts of electricity passed though her veins, she had never known what flying felt like , now she knew , she felt her skin grow hot and mind go out of control.
" well?" he was asking something , but she had long since become incapable of thought
" yes !!" she said without knowing what was happening , his hand slipped from over her hand and landed on her thigh , she was feeling something new, she was feeling the touch of the inner part of her soul , that she never knew existed, shame came in endless waves , and she shut her eyes. Her face was arched upwards in an angle only her female instinct could have directed her to position in. As the hand moved to her knee, she knew her skirt was no longer a hindrance, she could feel him on her skin , burning like a raging fire. Then she felt that unmistakable jolt hit her as his lips brushed her’s, she gulped , and caught his lips in her mouth . All the novels and all those explanations seemed lame , slowly she willed herself to taste his lips , and let him taste her’s , there was room for both, and then he slipped his tongue into her mouth and she tasted salt, never before had salt tasted so good. Now she felt a wall of heat smash into her as his hands made their way over to her small , firm breasts , his tongue was now exploring every contour of her mouth , and she slowly opened her eyes, to find rohit all over her , she was holding thight to his hair , slowly he pulled his lips away from her mouth and started kissing her neck , it was then that she looked beyond him, through the window, all the time in daze , shahab had just pulled his cycle over near the car , oh! No! it was her cycle , suddenly she realized what was going on , and she pushed rohit away
"what the fuck?" he snapped
" I have to go" she said
" but you said you loved me" he said
" no I did not , but I have to go" why was she saying this?
" I don’t understand"
" you don’t have to , just go and don’t come back!!" why was she so angry, why did shahab have this effect on her? She came out of the car and slammed the door
she walked over to shahab ,and he handed back her cycle , tires all filled with air.
" thank you" she said
why was she feeling ashamed of speaking to him?
She got on her cycle and rode away
The car backed up and sped away in the opposite direction.
Shahab stood there on the wet road all by himself, the rain had stopped,
As he saw her ride away he knew it was over, and new lines came to his mind
"Gudiya , please come back,
turn not your back
leave me not in lurch
for I love you so much"
but in his heart he knew the truth
" in 18 school road it blossomed ,
and there it lay buried"
Movies i reccomend - Not the awesomest ever, but yes, they were well made and of good taste. You may have already come accross a few.
1) Bad Education
2) Candy
3) Kinsey
4) American History X
5) Hazaaron Kwahishien Aisi
Books that I have found interesting
1) my Name is RED
2) the Google Story
3) iCon
4) the innocent man
5) cold mountain
1) Bad Education
2) Candy
3) Kinsey
4) American History X
5) Hazaaron Kwahishien Aisi
Books that I have found interesting
1) my Name is RED
2) the Google Story
3) iCon
4) the innocent man
5) cold mountain
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Blues....
Amidst mundane code and non-monoxide smoke there's a shine to the evenings around here - its the blues. There's no better way to express melancholy than picking up the guitar and strumming a little 12 Bar. Although my endeavor is still in its inceptive stages there's a sense of realization I arrived at; blues has the quality to gently trickle through one's soul like the first drops of summer rain on a galvanized metal railing. Blues wails, blues stings, blues soars, blues takes you away to the unknown streets of unknown places where everything seems all so known - as if it was made that way. Wouldn't want to taint its pristinity and innocence, with my incoherent metaphors and inadequate language. Better left to a better writer to say.
I'm going through the sore fingertip phase presently - but code really doesn't need immaculate fingertips, whereas my blues guitar does. I rather preserve my tips for the better part of the day - the evenings, the shine. adios amigos.
Picture Courtesy: http://www.polarmusicprize.com/newSite/gfx/thumb/bbking001.jpg
Monday, May 14, 2007
Follow-up
Ain't jobless enough to monologue - but a brief snapshot of the movies i've been watching lately
Ordered chronologically
Hannibal Rising: Greater Insight into hannibal lecter's roots. Starts off well - but loses track in between and then turns boring. Lame finish - lamer climax. Watch it if you are a lecter fan.
The Core: Don't ask me why I chose to see this. Sad. Total saving the world cliche - riot. Sample dialogue between Scientist (S), CIA chief (C), Geologist (G)
C: How long would it take to build the machine (the one to save the world apparently)?
S: I dunno....about 3 years...and 15 million bucks....
C: Good! I want it in 3 weeks and do you take cash?
G(To C): Use your card - atleast you'll get miles (air-miles)....
Aargh...is the word. Don't unless you are a close enough nut case as me.
Malcom X: Haven't wikied much about the real deal. But the movie was elaborate. Took its time to show the shift in Malcom X's perspective towards contemporary america. A must watch despite its inadequacies. Denzel shines. Watch!
Interstate 60: Into the wacky imaginative thoughts of the director. Pretty light movie - ofcourse with its own ridiculous moments. But the sheer lightness of the screenplay and story makes you overlook the stupidities. Close to worth spending 2 hours.
Will Continue....
Image Courtesy: Random Sources from images.google.com
Ordered chronologically
Hannibal Rising: Greater Insight into hannibal lecter's roots. Starts off well - but loses track in between and then turns boring. Lame finish - lamer climax. Watch it if you are a lecter fan.The Core: Don't ask me why I chose to see this. Sad. Total saving the world cliche - riot. Sample dialogue between Scientist (S), CIA chief (C), Geologist (G)
C: How long would it take to build the machine (the one to save the world apparently)?
S: I dunno....about 3 years...and 15 million bucks....
C: Good! I want it in 3 weeks and do you take cash?
G(To C): Use your card - atleast you'll get miles (air-miles)....
Aargh...is the word. Don't unless you are a close enough nut case as me.
Malcom X: Haven't wikied much about the real deal. But the movie was elaborate. Took its time to show the shift in Malcom X's perspective towards contemporary america. A must watch despite its inadequacies. Denzel shines. Watch!Interstate 60: Into the wacky imaginative thoughts of the director. Pretty light movie - ofcourse with its own ridiculous moments. But the sheer lightness of the screenplay and story makes you overlook the stupidities. Close to worth spending 2 hours.
Will Continue....
Image Courtesy: Random Sources from images.google.com
Thursday, March 08, 2007
for the love of the game...
People... check out this site!!!
Some friends and I maintain this. Its our tribute to the greatest game of them all..'FOOTBALL'
Here's a snapshot for the lazy ones :)
Some friends and I maintain this. Its our tribute to the greatest game of them all..'FOOTBALL'
Here's a snapshot for the lazy ones :)
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