filling the gap

Last one year was some what slow, quite and lazy.

Luckily I have some pics to cover up the holes and keep me reminded of the events and changes in my life.

Unfortunately, could not find all the pics.....will post, when I lay my hands on them.

Guess, the continuing adventure and companionship in my life started with my engagement.

Nostalgia....

Its very beautiful here, where I live.

So many trees and plants.....what can I say.. Its like a mini forest here, with deer and rabbits being a common sight. I miss my camera. Sandy misses it too. We missed the snow...just in time for the spring- The cherry blossoms make such a beautiful picture..... and now the summer.

I wonder how hot it might be in chennai this year. I miss India...everything about it. The busy streets, the smell of the dust, soiled dresses and boots from rains, the overcrowded trains and busses, pan spots on white walls, The cacaphony of fighting crows...crows...crows...its strange...I don't find much of crows here. Its been weeks...may be months since I have spotted one.

stealing time........

Just some shots from some stolen time....

a Beautiful march sky from powai... It derizzled that day.

The Birds have flown away!

We had been waiting for the day. Its been how many months...I don't know. The anxiety of the current global recession was getting to us. But finally the call came. My sister has to join "The" company soon. Its Infosys. We were happy, jubliant. The preperations were on. New set of clothes, bags, shoes...and several other items. This was to go on till the last day. She used to complain. And she was right. May be I was not there mostly around. But we used to have our good times together. We used to fight, sing, dance, do action song, do mimicry. But towards the end I was kind of busy. I tried to spend some time with her. After all how long will she be there for. The end days were really fast. But she stopped complaining. It was the last day.

Father and Daughter

I had always a special interest in cartoons and animation videos.
Almost all of them made me laugh. But this was one of those few videos which brought tears to my eyes.



A Beautiful and Emotional Video. Luckily I found this one in You Tube.

Voyage

It feels so good to be back...A lot of things have to be updated...but I wanted this one to be the first.
I wanted to make an ocean scene for a long time... When I had completed this in Photoshop, I showed it to my folks for a review......but i discovered that their imagination is just out of this world... Either they are really getting old....or are making fun of me. Either ways I was disappointed. I guess it has not come out very well. I did not get many reviews. But I just loved my work.

The most satisfying comment I got from a dear friend who said that it looked like an illustration from a story book.
It was a "think about it." kind of idea. I guess I will dedicate the next few projects to this idea. There are few good, inspirational short stories posted at sites like pravsworld.com. May be i wll make some depicting the stories.

a daughter's heart

A time when most of the people of my age enjoy the independence of staying alone, I am glad that I am still close to my home. I too used to wish I could stay alone (so does my sis). At times when my parents were away, they would install somebody in their place. So we always have had some one to handle us and the house. I wished so dearly for experience of staying alone, managing work and home, the food, the laundry and all. I know I could do it, but, never actually got the chance to prove it to myself. But life has been fair and I got my chance.

Ma and Pa were going to Dwaraka for a week and this time they could not arrange for some one to look after us. So we were on our own for a week. Both, myself and my sis, were happy about it. Of course, almost everyday our maternal and paternal uncles would call at night to check on us. But that could not dampen the thrill of staying alone for a week.

Happy Independence Day!!!

Its almost midnight.

Here's wishing you all a Very Happy Independence Day!

Wanted to make something in Photoshop. I had some idea in my mind. A scene. A path with people from all generations walking the direction of India and looking up to it. A magnifying glass on a part of the crowd reveal the presence of the famous personalities to whom we owe our freedom. The idea was to portray that their ideologies are still respected and they still reside in our hearts. It may not seem but still a huge part of our young generation feels strongly about our country and are patriotic at heart.

I browsed through the net for some good pictures of the legends like Gandhi ji, Sarojini Naidu. Got some but was not able to successfully implement it. I decided to go for something simpler. Ofcourse, the map of India stays. I added some joyous children with flags in their hands. Also added our national song "Vande Matram". Made two variations. And here they are.

First one. A simple card on blue background. Liked this one more over the second one.

And this is the second one.

Hope that they have come out well.

While browsing for the pics on the internet I came across a good link(http://www.jamd.com/search?text=Mahatma%20Gandhi) which had some good pictures related to Gandhi Ji. I did not explore the site fully but I feel it has more exciting things to offer.

Witnessing the first miracle

I never believed in any of the modern spiritual leader. I do admire their service to the society, but, being portrayed as god may be made me run away from them.

My sister and her in-laws are a big believer of Satya Sri Sai Baba. I had been to their place for the first time this vacation. There was a bhajan held. I too participated in it. I had watched my sister through the bhajan chanting a thousand baba names. I just wondered, what made her believe in baba. Was it just being influenced by her in-laws. I decided to ask her. That night, we sat chatting and not to sound so obvious, I casually asked her about her devotion. She said about her experiences and positive effects of baba on her. Its her choice whom to believe after all. I didn't want to argue with her on wether baba was indeed god or not. But not being easily convinced about the issue, i tried to take out topics on the the magics that these baba in general did. Like taking stuffs like "bhasma", "flowers" or "fruits" out of thin air. If they were so capable, I wondered why they did not feed the hungry, shelter the orphans?

She did not answer me. She said there are reasons.

A pain to remember

Was sitting at the parlour, nervous as ever. I was waiting for the beautician. Had threading to be done. Had grabbed an old Readers Digest copy (October 2005 Readers digest).



The cover was occupied by Bethany Hamilton. Never heard of the name. I decided to read it till my turn came up. It was a real life story of an American Surfer . She is known for surviving a shark attack in which she lost her left arm, and for overcoming the serious and debilitating injury to return to surfing. It was just three weeks after the incident, and she was already surfing again. It was so inspiring.

Being "The Extra" in Other's Life...

I feel its me there, standing alone, calling her out while she enjoys under the sun and shares her happiness with others. But I know she will call me out when she's blue, its autumn in her life. But there's love here too.

I never imagined that i would ever experience it. I have been fortunate enough to have a lot of friends at every stage of my life, and each friend so different from the other. There are the Hi-Bye ones, then the "Have a nice time" friends, the "Through the thick and thin" friends, the counselors, the flirtatious ones, the "Long distance" best buddies, the fake ones (the rarest and endangered species in my life. But they are there.) and the "There-not there" friends (again rare).

Our Caretaker

I generally commute to my office by my cycle. On my way there's a big tree. The one which protects us in all seasons. Shades us from the scorching sun, protects us from the downpour.

Is this not what we believe god does. But, for atheists, the tree to me resembles our conscience. The one that shades us. A shade under whose light we can clearly see the right from the wrong, distinguish just from unjust.

As James H. Aughey has quoted,

" Conscience is the voice of God in the soul. "

Rainbow

Two Faced World.

From the time i started on this one i got comments that the message was not coming through...and true enough i had to explain the message 8 times that day....for a moment i even thought this work was a disaster....If you are still wondering what this means.....here's what was in my mind when i did this....

The world is full of two faced people...it includes all. You, me and every body. Two faced not necessarily indicate those people who pretend to be nice to you and are mean inside....

A Silent World of Chaos????

......coming up soon....................

Death.......does it affect us anymore???

Death.....its not that easy on the family of the dead.I remember the day my grand mom died. I loved her a lot and I know she loved me a lot too. She was gem of a person, a great cricket fan, an ideal grand parent. She used to tell stories, sing songs, make braids, and comment over the models on ftv. Everyday she, in a typical malayali attire with her socks and sports shoes, hit the walking track. Out of curiosity and fascination people from the complex used to come and enquire about her. She's the reason behind so many complex friends.

Human Heart

Do we respect our lives???

When we are born, we are ignorant of the world and its maya. We are introduced to our wonderful life by our parents- our guardian angels. They have been through with us during our age of ignorance and innocence. i am sure as kids each of us have embarrassed our parents in public through our tantrums! Of course we were young then and were not aware what its like to be in their position. In spite of this they love us from the bottom of their hearts. And all through the years our parents support us...our life. They feed us, nurture us, take care of our needs, guide us to have a wise outlook towards life, never asking us any questions or expecting a reward in return for love and respect. Having done it all and seen it all we can expect a lot from our youth but they are failing in their duties.

Few years ago I had a chance of visiting an old age home.

on this Independence Day...............

This independence day taught me a lot...... I don't know if i had ever felt like this..

Being a member of the school band i had always participated during republic day and independence day parades....but once out of school i don't remember attending these functions.... For the first time after school i attended this year's independence day function in our society. I always felt that u don't need to always show the world what you feel....like..one can hardly find me praying at home . I usually visit the temple only on special occasions like birthdays or if its a festival. It does not mean that i have less belief in god...In fact i am a strong believer....its just that i don't like to show it...for me to pray i don't need to go to temple but i pray in my heart..and i do that often...this made some think that i am an atheist and i don't find a reason to change their view about me...it dint matter to me....But now it does..... and this 60th year taught me.

My father is a usual participant in these events...but this year he could not so he asked me to attend it

pass a smile............

This perticular poem about smile is making rounds on internet. It came to me thrice!!!
I jus loved this one and thought of adding it.

Smiling is infectious,
you catch it like the flu.
When someone smiled at me today
I started smiling too.

I passed around the corner,
and someone saw my grin.
When he smiled I realized,
I'd passed it on to him.

I thought about that smile,
then I realized its worth.
A single smile just like mine,
could travel round the earth.

So, if you feel a smile begin,
don't leave it undetected.
Let's start an epidemic quick,
and get the world infected!

out of experience...i have jus one thing to say about it......its powerful and its effective.

One more.............

Taken this smile image from flickr.com........a really nice picture with a nice message...

It cost nothing, but creates much.
It enriches those who receive, without impoverishing those who give.
It happens in a flash and the memory of it lasts forever.
None are so rich they can get along without it and none so poor but are richer for its benefits.
It creates happiness in the home, fosters good will in a business, and is the countersign of friends.
It is rest to the weary, daylight to the discouraged, sunshine to the sad, and nature's best antidote for trouble.
Yet it cannot be bought, begged, borrowed, or stolen, for it is something that is no earthly good to anybody till it is given away!
If someone is to tired to give you a smile, leave one of yours.
For, nobody needs a smile so much as those who have none to give.