The Wheels of Life?

Wheels. Thats all I saw when I started clicking on the busy streets of Ranchi.

Wheels is what you see in Mumbai and elsewhere too. But wheels powered by tired legs? Well, not many places on this earth can one experience such desperate means to survive life.

Martin Luther King once said - "Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can't ride you unless your back is bent."

A colleague told me that once he decided not to board a rickshaw puller's hand cart since he looked very old. The man shot back to him: Agar sab log mujhe budhha samajhe ke nahi baithenge , to main khaunga kya? (If everybody decides not to board my rickshaw because I am old, how will I survive?)

What a shame guys...!!!

Some more of Calligraphy Art

My college mate Milind Soni wrote to me that I should keep continuing with this hobby. He was one of those who was as keen as I was in calligraphy then (1989-93). I am sure he too has lost touch.

Anyway, here's more of my work and also some pics of the material I have used to do it. Dropper, Cotton as also ear buds!!

My new hobby

I got interested in devnagri calligaphy in 1987-88 when I saw Achyut Palav (www.achyutpalav.com) at a workshop. I was awe-struck by his skill.

Soon I was immersed in learning the craft on my own. I bought calligrahpy pens and within a few months became expert at it.

All my college mates (especially girls) were impressed with my talent and in return I used to make greeting cards for them for every possible occasion!! However, post my graduation in 1990, I lost touch with this art.

When I shifted my residence, I saw an old paint brush and m sketch pad lying in the unpacked luggage. I sat there and painted a few drawings to frame them on my new walls. That was in 2003.

Now a few months back, I was re-connected to this art by some strange coincidence.

However, this time I decided to use new tools for creating a different form of calligraphic art. So I started with an ink dropper and made a few drawings - like the first one.

Later I experimented with cotton dipped in poster color and used to paint letters as can be seen above.

When I do calligraphy or figure drawing, I get into a 'zone' - its magical....the hands, the fingers, the colors...everything works in perfect balance and coordination.

Mahatma Gandhi - A Father Who Failed His Son

I saw Gandhi, My Father today.

Its a moving film about a busy father, a neglected son, and a mother who is torn in between. Harilal Gandhi, son of the great Mahatma, dies like a beggar in a Government hospital, 5 months after the death of his father. The movie takes the viewer through the trials and tribulations of a son who longs for his father's love and patronage.

Harilal is different from his father. He is sensitive and weak, but honest and passionate. He has an imbalanced personality - like millions of us in this world. Unfortunately, he is born to a father who is a perfectionist - and in a hurry to achieve his goals. While he understands his son's longing for his father's love, affection and ownership (partiality, to be precise), Mahatma Gandhi chooses to deliberately ignore it for his principles.

The possessive son, being weak and sensitive, is so hurt and outraged by his father's neglect, that he decides to get back to him in whatsoever way possible. In his own way, Harilal wants to teach his father a lesson - by being a disobedient son and a blot on his fathers, otherwise spotless personal and professional life.

The image above is one of the best moments in the film. A ragged Harilal comes to the railway station to see his mother. He gives a fresh orange to her and requests it to eat it herself, without sharing with her husband. As usual, Gandhi, very politely, requests Harilal to join him in his freedom movement. Harilal rudely refuses to do so and tells his dad that he is what he is because of his mother - Kasturba Gandhi.

As Harilal says this, the train starts moving and the assembled crowds start shouting Mahatma Gandhi Ki Jai. An annoyed Harilal roots for this mother and keeps shouting - Kasturba Gandhi ki Jai!! His voice, however, and as it has been, is lost in the crowd.

Akshaye Khanna and Shefali Chaya are outstanding. Akshaye's performance is one of the best I have seen in Hindi Cinema. Darshan Zariwala as Mahatma, is unable to withstand Akshaye's acting prowess.

Go watch it.

In Dino...Dil Mera...

Soham Chakraborty's haunting voice in the movie Life in a Metro is outstanding.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3D2CQsfcFo

In Dino... is one of the most beautiful compositions emerging out of bollywood after a long long time...

The song takes me back to those days when I used to feel a tingling sensation in my heart watching Madhuri Dixit (Tumse Milke...) in Parinda or Juhi Chawla (Aye Mere Humsafar...) in QSQT.

He He He....

Kolkata!

Sitting in an A/C car on a rainy day in Kolkata makes you feel ashamed.

People say Kolkata is surrounded by poverty, but I sensed something else. I sensed that Kolkata is about Kolkata's gritty survival - despite the poverty.

On a rain soaked day, across flooded streets, I saw poor people nonchalantly going ahead with their routine work.

No compaints, no cribbing, no nothing.

Kolkata left a powerful impact on me.

BTW, the pics are blurred and watery. I have taken them from my car, sitting nice and pretty. I realise now that the pics, in a way, also speak of the typical urban indifference to poverty.

Kids Frolic

Kids represent the beauty that is rains, in an otherwise chaotic Mumbai.

The Unknown Messiahs of Mumbai

He was the only guy who represented the BMC's efforts to clear the water logging in Bandra Reclamation.

He was managing 4 drain outlets alone, removing all garbage that may stop the flow of water.

He had no specialised equipment, no protective gear, even the raincoat was his own.

He was hungry and sarcastically said, "Madarchod (Mother Fckrs)!, nobody has even enquired if I need food."

I offered him the milk that I was carrying, he politely refused.

He is one of those unknown faces of Mumbai that keeps Mumbai going.

A Clogged Mumbai!

What a shame!! This is the scene next to my apartment as rains lashed Mumbai today - A High Tide Day.

Its chaos.

High Fliers

I saw these ' gujju casanovas' at Ahmedabad airport. They really stood out in their hats.

I wonder what made them wear those funny hats inside the airport.

A Neglected Masterpiece

I was in a poorly maintained Sachivalaya office in Gandhinagar where I saw this brilliant figure drawing. I was simply blown by the finesse of this art.

On further enquiry, I found out that it was a 56 year old self-taught artist called Ghiya.

I spoke to him and promised to meet during my next visit to Gandhinagar.

Bombay High

I dont know why I like this picture.

May be because it captures the larger than life image of bollywood.

A Busy Morning

At 7 am, when the rich sleep, the poor are already at work.

Dharti K Lal!!

K.Lal is all over the place in Ahmedabad. His glowing smile is spectacular.

Can you find the lost childhood?

I saw this scavenger at 7.30 am in Ahmedabad.

Hope you can spot him in the picture.