Tribal Girl
This is my second attempt and still not happy. A few lines go haywire and it alters the portrait completely.
So I’ll keep trying till I get this right…
Back to roots
My dad is a gifted artist. Me, I’d like to think I’ve inherited 5% of his talent. Of course he’s reached that place by eons of practice. I on the other hand have 0 practice. So here’s course correction. Getting back to my roots after over a decade, my shot at portraits.
Experimenting with color pencils. Portraits have always been a weak point for me, hence the challenge. I, myself found a 100 things wrong with the sketch and have a long way to go, but I’m happy. I’m on my way there…
15 things that drive web designers crazy
This is not a counterattack. And nothing personal with the talented coders just the obnoxious, haughty ones. This is just me standing up for all designers. All taken in right jest if you will.
So all you coders, get out of the box, get a life!
1. For all the creatively challenged coders, stop with the whining and lame excuses every time you see something that is evenly remotely new. A little bit of a challenge too much to handle?
2. Ok so we’ve established that you are design blind, but are you color blind too? Pick the right colors buddy.
3. Everything cannot be as boring as black and white. People actually care about design.
4. High time you learn to pay attention to detail. Its all in the details.
5. Rounded corners, gradients, shadows, we love it all. It looks good! End of discussion
6. Of course we tell you about fancy functionalities. If its out there, it IS possible, duh!
7. And yes we experiment with new stuff, its called staying up-to-date. So start reading.
8. And by the by, we are doing you a favor. Its not like you work hard at coding anyway. Most of so called “code” is either Googled or is an open source anyway.
9. Ever heard of optimising codes. Newsflash pages of code does not equal smart coding.
10. Carousels are in. Keep up will ya?
11. Stop whining about copy placement, if given, it will be used, until then we can all live with Lorem Ipsum.
12. Oh and for the record Arial and Lucida Sans are two different font styles.
13. Left aligned text goes LEFT, right aligned text goes to the RIGHT. Seriously you get it right.
14. Hitting the enter key usually triggers submission. Do you really need it spelled out.
15. And when you are done with snoozing around, please do not browse around see whats happening coz no one really cares about aesthetics and user experience and besides the less you know about it, the more important we seem.
End of the day admit it, we come up with really cool stuff and you get a kick out of getting them implemented.
This article has not been published anywhere, but sure is getting wired around.
A brief history of prizes won by men from the Bachchan family
A good friend of mine came up with this really cool idea for a comic strip and thought it would be fun if I did the caricatures.
So this is basically Rohan’s brainchild and I think it came out pretty well. But working on this was just too much fun.
Get more of his whacked out ‘gyan’ right here.
It’s a brand new day !
Wondering why the blog suddenly looks different or why you see doodles, caricatures and cartoons by me?
Well I just wanted a change. About the doodle thing, a good buddy of mine suggested that I can create such doodles for his blog. I liked the idea and thought why not create some for my own posts. Its a lot of fun and good way of letting my creativity out. Hope you like ’em.
Vidya Balan best choice for Kill Bill remake?
Wow now isn’t that a first.
As much as the fashion police keep trashing her, I am fond of this woman. Ok so she is not your typical fashionista, so what? She has a fresh pleasant face, an uncanny voice and gives us great performances.
What is she upto next?
Playing the scorned woman in a Quentin Tarantino remake by Sujoy. As much as I’m worried of how the desi version is gonna come out, envisaging Vidya playing the lead, ahem ahem ! Well it also depends on how much they desify the script. But she is talented and usually does a decent job, so you never know. Coming out of her sari clad, bindi comfort zone will do her good.
I’m looking forward to this one !
IMAGINE THIS !
Hail Mr. Gaekwad !
What comes to your mind when you hear the word ‘Kollywood’. For the Non South Indians it’s a joke. You think weird colorful outfits, voluptuous item song dancers and poorly directed, humongously exaggerated action sequences. But for a South Indian, it’s a world of its own,.
I’m no different! Born and brought up in the North and in spite of being a tamilian by origin, I have mocked the lungi clad men, the bedizened, flower adorned women and not to mention the movies. Never in my wildest dreams had I imagined I’ll land up in the place I detested, and hell watch God forsaken tamil movies. Well living in Chennai for 7 years now, things’ve changed.
Its sad how I’d come to alienate my own origins.
Anyways coming to the movies, I hated everything about them, the songs, the plots, the actors, the whole ensemble. Can you blame me? They are ridiculously hilarious. Have you noticed how every actor has a prefix that is now a part of their name, superstar, megastar, littlestar, phuleeease. And how the introduction scenes for the main protagonist have to be exaggerated, comedians who have nothing to do with the plot are used as reel fillers and the sans logic plots. But the thing that got me the most was the fan following. How crazy can people possibly get? It’s almost as good as worship.
It usually got crazier around one man who goes by the name Shivaji Rao Gaekwad alias Superstar Rajnikanth. (the ‘Superstar’ is important, mind it) I mean people who are absolutely in no way related to him would be willing to kill for him. I am not exaggerating this. Walk into any theater in the south running a Rajni film (irrespective of whether its a new release or an old one) and you’ll know what I mean.
I still don’t know what the fans see in him, however he’s grown on me the last few years. One thing I’ve learnt is that he is not touted as the most popular Indian film actor of his time for nothing.
Over a 170 films old, there is absolutely nothing that deters this 60 year old. I don’t know him personally, but when you see him at events, interviews or functions, he comes across as a really humble man. You can’t miss it. Now this man is extremely famous for his patent dialogues, trademark mannerisms or style; people just can’t get enough of it. Frankly I find it really funny. He is probably the only male actor who wears more makeup than any of his leading actresses. He often jokes about it himself.
But then it got me thinking… This man is not obsessed with his looks; his fans are. Pull him out of the frame and the facade is off. He looks shocking, but otherwise a typical 60 year old grandfather and is least bothered. The makeup is for the fans. They need to see him 20 years younger. They need to hear as the locals call it punch dialogues. They need to see the trademark cigarette trick in every movie and the larger than life characterizations. He needs to maintain the onscreen image for them and the best part is that he lets it remain as an on onscreen image. He is aware of how unreal it really is. He is aware that he is not drop dead gorgeous, he knows he is too old to be romancing Aishwarya and how ridiculous the action sequences are. That’s probably why I’ve a new found respect for the object of my mockery. He KNOWS and is humble enough to admit it in front of the media. Now that is not a common sight.
All said and done, he is what he is today for what he does best and that is Entertaining. He is one man who redefined the term ENTERTAINMENT. Critics probably don’t even find him or his films worthy of mention, but he is one man who can still hold his own any day and that is the mark of a true legend.
He created a style and it clicked. People liked it, they still do and want more. So why blame him for choosing to continue entertaining his fans? Isn’t that why we watch movies in the first place. We have life teaching us enough lessons otherwise.
I have watched only 3 of his films. But might watch more just to let him surprise me again.
Watch this. It is funny 🙂
See what I mean 🙂
Of Whims and Fantasies
THE LIST
At some point in life everybody makes or at least thinks about “THE LIST”. The list is basically things that you want to do in life but have taken a rain check coz of other ‘Priorities’ in life. Now most people have an age limit as in by the time they reach a particular age they want to do x and x and so on. Now my list I have no age limit coz that just gets depressing if you don’t make it. So I’m spreading the time line across my life span :). Will do it someday, why add pressure. The list also has stuff I will not be able to do but it’s still a part of it. A few things might seem juvenile too. Well I didn’t just make these up and can trace a few of them back to my wonder years. Also its not like I want to land on moon or anything just small things in life. Am I hitting mid life crisis. Naah not just yet !!
So here goes nothing….. in random order
1. Getting a permanent tattoo
This piece of art now adorns my arm
Well I managed to get this done so can gladly cross this off my list 🙂 This is one of those spontaneous, in the spur of the moment kind of things that you do. Well I like it and I don’t have hepatitis B or C , so no regrets.
2. Learning Salsa
My all time favorite of all dance forms. Now this Cuban dance cannot get any more beautiful, graceful, soulful not to mention sexy. And yes I aim to learn this someday.
3. Working with the underprivileged or disabled
Not to sound pompous in any way, but deep down I really want to do this and of late this feeling’s getting a lot stronger. So I’m thinking this will happen very soon in the near future.
4. Learning a musical instrument
Oh wow how often I would’ve dreamt of this. I need to learn some musical instrument, any musical instrument for that matter. In order of my fav 1) The guitar 2) The drums 3) The piano
5. Riding an Orca
This obsession started with the release of Free Willy and soon phased out after Free Willy 2. I used to dream of having my very own Keiko. As of today this is a definate NO after reading about the trainer killed at Sea World 😦
6. Swimming with Dolphins
Now this is something I really want to do and someday will surely do whether its in Hawaii, Mexico or the Caribbean.
7. Rearing pet lions
This till date is still one of my dreams. To have pet lion cubs and play around with the biggies as they grow. And not to mention show off a teeny weeny bit ;). Yeah right I know what you’re thinking and that’s exactly why I envy Kevin Richardson.
8. Globe Trotting
This is on my A List. There are a bunch of places I just have to go visit. Will put a detailed post about it later. This can be planned well too I think. Now if only I get loads of cash to make this happen.
9. Singing on stage with Bryan Adams
This I can confidently say that all those who heard me sing karaoke wish that it never comes true. Some dreams and meant to be dreams.
10. Adventure Sports
Always have had a fancy for these, be it para gliding, para sailing, river rafting, reverse bungee, water skiing, motor boat riding…. well this can go on. I did manage to go para sailing and motor boat riding in Goa so at least that’s two down.
This was just exhilarating !
11. Horse riding
Successfully managed to do this as well 🙂 I’m grinning coz I didn’t want to just sit on the horse where he just trots around. I wanted him running or at least galloping. And it was so much fun, leaves quite a few body parts extremely sore but WOW ! These beauties are magnificent !
Oh btw meet Sunny !
Well I’m sure there’ll be a lot more to add to this list. But this should do for now
Motherhood
With ‘We are Family’ promos running across pretty much on everything you lay your eyes on… it got me thinking. I watched ‘Step Mom’ couple of years back, and had liked it. It does have an interesting message to take away.
I was talking to one of my friends the other day who is well in the family way. And she went on and on about how she will Not do what her friends or family are doing as new moms. For eg: how she will Not follow the feeding habits like her friend, how she will Not dress her kid like her sister dresses her kid or the disciplining styles and methods her own mom followed. And how with her “progressive” reading she will do it right. As she rambled on I asked her, so what will you Do with your kid’ and she was clueless. A ha! A ha! So much for judging others while she could have just tried some basic introspection herself.
Why are today’s mothers obsessed with perfection anyways? Why do you have to prove to the world that you are a perfect mother? Do you really believe that you are doing it perfectly for your child or are you more worried about others judging you?
Well motherhood is the single most beautiful, gratifying, emotional phase in a woman’s life, but lets face it, you are not born an expert. You will not know everything, you will make mistakes and you will learn. The way I see it motherhood is a bit of instinct, that nature is kind enough to bestow on you with and mostly experience. You get better as you keep doing it.
Not that I claim to be an expert on motherhood, but someday would like to do a decent job at it, at the least.
The common mistake most dotting mothers make today is that they try to be so superciliously perfect that they land up screwing up the most. They just don’t want to admit that they don’t know how to handle something.
The ground rule is simple : Accept – Learn – Act. Now how hard is that. Be open to learning and soon you will be good. After all its your child and you know what is best for him or her.
Easier way have 2 kids, so even if you goof up with the first you can do it right the next time around. 🙂 ok that was not funny so I take it back, but still on some lateral plane it makes sense.
The Z Factor 
