Words behind my art and photography

I never saw an ugly thing in my life:
for let the form of the object be what it may,
-light, shade and perspective will always make it beautiful.
-John Constable

~!@#$%^&*()_+

(click image for larger view)

Date : 27th September 2005
Tools: 0.7mm "clutch pencil", eraser
Time: ~ 60 mins
Size: A4 (Edges cropped)
Inspiration: Dream Girl

HINDsight - 10

Mountbatten was chosen to hand over the baton... err... I mean India back to the Indians. Nehru was chosen as the first Indian PM. He delivered the famous midnight speech on the eve of Independence, his most famous words being, "When the whole world sleeps, India will wake to life and freedom"... Half a century later, these words became the BPO mantra...

The Indian constitution took around three years to complete... The constitution guaranteed some fundamental rights to all citizes... for instance, the right to live is a fundamental right which allows a person to live as long as he is alive... freedom of speech empowers you to say whatever you like... yours words however are more or less guaranteed to fall on deaf ears...

Nehru was succeeded by Lal Bahadur Shastri... He directed the 1966 Indo-Pak war operations... He signed the Indo-Pak 'peace' agreement in Russia and died 'peacefully'... fortunately for him, he didnt have to die warfully... Indira Gandhi was next to take control... In 1971, she fought a war against Pakistan, and founded Bangladesh... In India, she declared Emergency and ruled with complete authority, sending all opposition to jail... Her unpopularity soared and was voted massively against in the next general elections...

Morarji Desai, from Junta Party was next, and more famous for reasons other than politics... and the reasons ???... well, let's say he recycled his own water... He had trouble handling his cabinet, so he resigned. After his resignation, Charan Singh was sworn in as the next Prime Minister... He was asked to face the parliament, and he responded by recommending general elections... Anybody thinking chicken ??? So, his term ended even before he could face the parliament... Meanwhile, the price of onions sky rocketed and Indira Gandhi blamed the JP rule... She promised to reduce the prices... Onions being the most important part of daily Indian food, people voted for Onions, and so Congress(I) won...

This time around, terrorism had spread in Punjab and many of the terrorists had taken refuge in the Golden Temple... The army tried to flush the terrorists on Indira Gandhi's command but the temple was damaged in the process... The Sikhs were outraged, vowed to avenge the sacrilege... One of Indira Gandhi's Sikh bodyguards killed her... His job was to guard her body and he said he would do so... he was however apprehended... so, he couldn't do his duty... Rajiv Gandhi rode a huge sympathy wave and was given a thumping majority in Parliament...

I will stop here for 3 reasons...

1. Most readers of this blog are familiar with the more recent 'backward history'...
2. This series has ceased to interest or inspire...
3. TEN is a good number to stop at...

END OF HINDsight... Look ahead now...

Quote for the day

You see things;
and you say,
Why ?

But I dream things that never were;
and I say,
Why not ?

-George Bernard Shaw

SSDD

I'm tearing my hair,
and trashing a day's work,
to add to my despair,
what i tried, doesn't work...

I've tried to my wit's end,
I'm sure you can tell,
but since u'r not willing to bend,
I'm not wasting another brain cell...

i'm not yet in a fit,
but this is what i have to say..
you might be the same $h!t,
but tomorrow'll be a different day...

My First Anniversary

I just realised it's been one long year since Lilly happened to me... Well... i wasn't exactly keeping in touch w/ her but you know that night i spent with her... it was so special... i still think about it every now and then... on and off... I miss her... I want to share her story and so i dug out an 1 year old email of mine...

Slept w/ Lilly last night ! - 22nd Sept 2004

well well well... did i grab ur attention... ??? i know u r all interested... now c'mon dont deny it... okey okey fine... here are a few tit bits or what i call space-time snap shots of the great time i had with her..

hmm... so lets see where did all start eh ?? hmm... vamsi, mithun (roomies) and i were walking back home from my dept ... we were crossing an underpass when we saw a kallu fellow.. properly drunk .. he was with lilly or lilly was w/ him... or so we thought... first things i noticed were her beautiful thin legs and her big expressive eyes...Lilly first walked up to us as if to say something but kept quiet.. n then the kallu fellow offered us some beer... ... well normally i wud've grabbed this offer... but then i'm tryin to be a gud boy u see... so i said no to "ALCOHOL" n they walked off...

But then after a while we realised that lilly was following us ... n then she followed us all the way home ... she seemed so lost and in trouble... her eyes were moist and she looked at us as if we were the only ones in the world who could help her out.... I took pity and convinced my room mates to let her in... They were shit scared and wanted to call 911... i convinced them not to do it... c'mon she seemed so helpless... what cud she have done... she didnt even have proper clothes !!!!

phir kya !!! ... we ate... she had some bread n chicken with great delight i would say... n then we all played some games .. roommates thak ke so gaye... but i and lilly continued... and then one thing lead to another and we ended up sleeping together....

subah subah my room mates called 911 and the guys took her away... my dil tut tut ke weeping becoz of the judaai scene... but then her master called some time back and thanked us for taking good care of Lilly...

now even if it wasnt Lilly... itna tho farz banta hain na... cud've done that for any other Lilly for that matter... c'mon yaaar she was a beautiful beautiful boxer-pit bull cross...but the sad part is that she left me alone !!! ... BITCH....

PS: The story was sensationalized (just a bit though) to make for interesting reading... I'm sure none of you are complaining... !!!

HINDsight - 9

The Britishers were afraid of the dark... It's been said that the Sun never set on the British empire, for this very reason i suppose... As said earlier, the Indians were pampered under British rule... They now wanted their own rulers and did not want to share their rulers with other nations... The Britishers were not able to find an emperor and/or empress for India and were very disheartened... The Indians were stubborn rascals and they did not relent... When the Britishers realised that they were defending India from Indians, they decided it was time to go back home...

Actually, some reports say that India was already getting to be a populous nation, and the hill stations were getting crowded... The Britishers couldn't bear the heat amidst the plains and deserts and found India 'too hot to handle'... They were now cats on hot Indian tin roofs... Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, supposedly brought some South African fuel home to add to the Indian fire... Many Indians thought it was a diwali like celebration and joined Gandhi... The Britishers arrested all of them and accused them of forming a mob... While in jail, smart people like Nehru made good use of time to discover India... the rest were inspired... but couldn't do much about it....

The second world war broke out in 1939... The Indians fought for the British... In the middle of the War, Gandhi thought it was time to 'chance pe dance'... and so he issued an order to the British to "Quit India"... The British begged for time until after the war and requested Gandhi to honour the 90 year lease... The British kept their word and left in 1947... Meanwhile, Hindus and Muslims who had been living together like brothers, now started quarelling like real brothers... The result ofcourse was the partition of India... Please do take note of British generosity... They had conquered one country, and they returned two...

Bad Scribble

I remember the moment I first saw you...
my heart skipped a beat,
but I was still hangin around...

the first time we locked eyes,
my friends caught my smile,
they thought I was goofin around....

and then one fine day you waved...
I was so surprised...
I could hardly hold my ground...

well then I got to know you....
got to give it to you,
my pleasure knew no bound...

out of the blue, you found true love...
I was glad for you...
but I couldn't say a word, couldn't make a sound...

it's all right not to love me...
there ain't no dearth of beauty..
for me to run around....

you know i'm cute...
I'm teddy, The prince, ;-)
waiting to be crowned...

I'll wait on my turn...
I know it's gotta happen...
every beautiful soul is love bound...

Until then, I'll live by my music...
frenzied metal clang...
big n sweet surround....

Oh... when I feel like a hug...
I got soft pillows...
cost a couple of pounds...

and then I do get licked on my face...
thanks to the bitch...
my faithful hound...

I was fish out of water...
you fool, you can't ever kill me
by getting me drowned...

I'm back to where I was...
watchful eyes and hands on my head,
I'm safe n sound...

HINDsight - 8

Invaders of southern India came by sea... Unlike the multicolored northern invaders, they were all white... First the Portugese, then the Dutch, and then followed by the English and the French... The Mughals were very accomodating and began to withdraw till their jurisdiction was limited from Red Fort to Palam...

The British came to India looking for sunshine and to buy spices to make their bland food taste better... They however liked it so much that they started trading co's from Surat, Masulipatnam, Mumbai and Chennapatnam... Gradually, they took over the rule and made Calcutta the new capital of India...

In those days, it was fashionable to add the title of 'Bahadur' after the names of kings and nobles... The British wanted to remain in vogue and hence named their company, The Company Bahadur... So, from 1757 to 1857, Company Bahadur ruled over India...

The British taught us English, started the post and telegraph system, started the railways, abolished child marriage and widow burning... The quality of life was begining to look better but some people got nostalgic and wanted a human ruler and monarchy to be restored... They therefore rose in rebellion in 1857 and persuaded the Mughal emperor to join the uprising... The rebellion was crushed but the British abolished company rule and Queen Victoria became the empress of India...

HINDsight - 7

Shivaji, son of a noble from Bijapur, was Aurangazeb's 'PITA'... He killed one of Aurangazeb's generals with a bear hug... talk about killing with love ... :-) ... another one of those things that originated in India... So.., Aurangazeb held Shivaji under house arrest... Shivaji used to send baskets of fruit and sweets everyday to a temple... one fine day, he hid himself and escaped... Centuries later, Bollywood was inspired by Shivaji's escape route and copied it in movies to show the likes of Amitabh Bachchan and Pran escape from prisons using the aid of garbage carriers or prison transportation systems... It shouldn't be forgotten though that Shivaji after escaping founded the Maratha Kingdom... Shivaji was an animal lover and a prospective PETA activist... He loved his horse and none of his statues are erected without the horse... The bad part though is that he lived only for 53 years...

The people in general were fed up with destruction, bloodshed and started questioning their existence... They turned to religion for answers to questions such as, Where shall i go after death ? , Is there any God ? , etc.. Religions try to answer some of these questions, but the result as more often than not, is more confusion... Anyway, this was the start of the Bhakti Movement... and also the origin to the 'Tamil Veda' and the 'Bhagvata Purana'...

Kabir, lived in the same time zone... He was a Hindu brought up by a Muslim family... When he died, there was dispute whether his body should be cremated or buried... When they took the sheets of his body, they found a handful of flowers... which were divided among the two communities and each of 'em disposed them off according to customs.... Nobody however sensed or suspected that some smart arse pulled off a smooth trick...

I was quite surprised by this piece of trivia... It is said that one of Kabir's disciples was Nanak, who became the first of the ten Gurus of Sikhs... So, a half Hindu and half Muslim scholar, inspires Sikhism eh ???

To end it all with a quote, Colton, an English clergyman and writer, said, "men will wrangle for religion; write for it; fight for it; anything but live for it".

Cheer up

Do what you need,

for the time is yours, waiting to please !

:-)

HINDsight - 6

Babur came to India, unaware that the throne of Delhi was waiting for him... He ofcourse had to face some formal opposition... His opponents fought bravely, and like all those people in history who fought bravely, they were defeated... Babur wanted to do something different, and so he died on his own... Actually, his son Humayun was seriously ill, but Babur for the fear of "losing his thunder" decided to die....

Humayun kept the tradition going... He died on his own... He took a tumble down the stairs before his heart refused to beat again... He however made his contribution to history... He produced Akbar... "Akbar the Great"....

Akbar established a new capital at Fatehpur Sikri, not too far from Delhi though... He held a formal cabinet nine ministers strong, 'navratan'... Birbal ofcourse was the minister for humour... Akbar married a Rajput princess called Jodhabai and tried to end all feuds betwen the followers of Islam and Hinduism... but that did not work...

Salim, handsome and slim, was Akbar's son... When he grew up, he rebelled against his father and thus started a new tradition which his successors followed... Salim fell in love with Anarkali, one of his beautiful but careless maids, and Akbar had her burried alive in a wall... thus sparking a rebellion... Salim, later changed his name to Jahangir... just for the heck of it... Jahangir fell in love again... He married Noor Jahan... She ruled on Jahangir's behalf...

Shah Jahan kept the tradition started by his father of trying to stage a rebellion... When Shah Jahan eventually took over, his passion for architecture showed... He built the Red Fort at Delhi, The Taj for his beloved queen Mumtaz Mahal and also designed the peacock throne... The same peacock later became India's national bird...

Studies on Mumtaz Mahal have indicated that the fourteenth chid is very dangerous for the mother's health... Shah Jahan's third son Aurangazeb however proved fatal for him... He killed his brothers and nephews, and imprisoned his father... Aurangazeb ruled for 50 long years... He died in Aurangabad... Since none of his sons were gallant enough to challenge him, he had to die by himself...

A peek inside the cranium

It's about time i took you on tour through the different chambers of my head, for you to see for yourself how convoluted my grey matter generator is, and in so doing, i reveal to the world the apparent reason for my neurosis... You are free to clear any clots and undo any knots if you please... The docs think they are a problem and so, you might just be doing me a favor...

I started this morning wondering why i never got to be a Chef... which btw was my second career choice... Then i decided i don't enjoy cooking, as much as i enjoy eating... but then, i'm not sure i enjoy what i am doing right now as well..., so why not be a Chef ??? and if i did exactly what i enjoyed doing the most, then i'd probably be a DRIVER... coz i love driving... I then took solace from the fact that i made a decent career choice and have BIG PLANS for the future... and my future still could be bright...

My first choice though was to be a pilot... I still want to be one... Spent an hour this morning looking for flying clubs... and GOD they are expensive... but in the name of passion... lets burn some green dope...

Oh btw... its been a recurring dream that i am playing the guitar 20000 ft above the ground, sitting in the cockpit, and steering the joystick with my feet... God bless all passengers but i'll do it some fine day... oh wait... i'll help make their flight comfortable... they get to hear me play the guitar... FOR FREE !!!

and then i took a look at my messenger and found atleast half a dozen people online, once very close friends, and now i try to hide from them all the time... I wonder why relations with friends change when they commit or get married... ??? I wasn't even remotely interested in them... Wonder why it is so difficult to re-define any relation ??? The longest lasting relations are the relations which don't change... they grow... but don't change... eh ??? lemme scratch my head a lil more ...

I miss a friend from my undergrad days... She was such a darling... my pseudo girl friend... I still have the note which says I am a donkey... signed but not dated by you... anyway... heard you might be getting married... WISHING YOU THE BEST OF WHAT LIFE HAS ON OFFER... I wish someday we can takeoff from where we left... or atleast let me know how and where i went wrong....

I miss my friend who i lost to cancer... I don't have the heart to take your id off my messenger list... and everytime i see your id, i talk to you... i hope you hear me...

and then i needed something to cheer me up... so i watched a fat white man dancing for charity... He tore his pants trying to do a split... It was hillarious... The crowd was going nuts and some were rolling on the floor laughing...

I took a look at myself in the mirror and for a very brief moment, thought about a shave... and then for my own convenience, decided to believe the the stubbled look is IN. I also predict that in a couple of days, the bearded look will be IN. I then thought of 'the devil' and 'the scarecrow' and their sweet lovestory... seen it grow, made it happen... and finally, i thought it was 'bout time i got my work going...

HINDsight - 5

Mehmood, a Turkish slave who later became the ruler of Ghazni was a persistent nuisance. He made seventeen attempts to capture India between 1000 and 1026 AD. Some historians believe that on his last trip, the Indians launched a biological warfare, Mehmood (Ghaznavi) died of malaria.

Muhammad Ghouri succeeded Ghaznavi, and then handed over the slave dynasty to one of his slaves by name Qutubuddin Aibak. Aibak wanted to promote tourism and was farsighted enough to erect one of Delhi's most visited tourist locations, The Qutub Minar. Quli Qutub Shah, the Sultan of Hyderabad, was so impressed by the tower that under the compulsion of a similar name, he wanted to do something similar, only better. So, he erected not one but four towers, called the Char Minar. It should be noted that the collective height of the four minarets together is greater than that of the Qutub Minar.

Razia, was the first empress of India. Feminists celebrated... Razia knew no Latin, and hence did not understand the meaning of 'noblesse oblige'. She favored a slave called Yaqut, the other (MCP) nobles did not like it, conspired against her, and got her killed by professional assassins... Feminists cried foul as usual...

Allauddin Khilji was the most popular of Khiljis, he killed his father-in-law to take over the throne... He expanded his empire and conquered a big chunk of India... He was known as 'Alexander The Second'... He though was very unpopular for having imposed prohibition. Tughlaq was next in line, he wanted to rule from the centre of the empire and so moved the capital from Delhi to Daulatabad (Devagiri). Eventually, he found out that it didn't work out and so he moved back to Delhi. That was the story of his rule in short...

Stray pieces

Earth itself, suffers from two types of motion - rotation and revolution. No wonder the inhabitants of earth are mostly in a daze. Some people who get used to it and become immune to its effects take to alcohol to experience a greater daze.

- Narendra Luther

Ends justify means = Ends justify being mean
-?

'O, God, if there is one, save my soul, if there is one.'
-Voltaire

Matters of opinion is a respectable term for prejudice.
-?

Your life is like a mirror, if u face it smiling, it smiles right back at you.
-?