The day when life tells you to slow down

I agree. My life was on the fast track. There has been just one direction and that is forward. Leaving things that do not need much of an attention, I just kept trying to move things faster and faster and that too in the forward direction.

But that was till today. And today was one of those days, when you are hit a hard slap on your face, and told that you need to slow down. What happened today? What was so special about the day?

I witnessed a bomb blast in front of my eyes. The low intensity blast (thankfully) happened barely 10 meters away from me and right in front of my eyes. Boom! Temporary Deafness for a few seconds. The debris from the blast flew to a few meters radius. The policemen guarding the stadium gates which were an entry to the IPL match between RCB and MI, were hit. The condition of one is heard to be critical.

For a while there was mayhem all around. A man in front me was bleeding on his arms. The Sanjeevni ambulances made their way across the rather busy traffic on Infantry Road. 

I was on the phone talking to a friend giving him directions, and before I could realize a small bomb goes off, and there is panic all around, with people fleeing the place.

I guess it is a day I will never forget. No matter how small the intensity of the blast is, if you see it in front of your eyes, and a gory sight to follow it, it shocks you to the core. It leaves you amazed and often thoughtless, without an inkling of what has happened.

Personally, it is a sign to slow down and not stress myself on the zillion things.

Where does the time fly?

I am just zapped at the way the time is flying. I am surprised at the busyness that I have got myself into. Did I ask for it? Yes. Did I foresee it? Absolutely no. Have I been in this situation before? guiltily yes. 

I keep asking myself that question everyday? To some extent, I do know that it is not good. But this has gone to a really bad limit. Mornings start at seven and the sleep comes around 2 in the night. And in between all that there is work, travel to client locations, meetings, phone calls and what not.

Social Media Marketing,  offline marketing, conducting workshops, writing design blogs and Search Engine Optimizations are the few things that are on my mind these days most, and looking to apply that in the context of Deskala. 

What the above has done is put a work-life balance for a toss. And that is not good. The sadder part is that I know it and I accept it. I got a realization to it in a strong way, when I forgot a friend's birthday. Not that he would have minded it, but still. Connecting with people online is on a low. It's become more of a case when people ping me and then I connect with them. Earlier it used to be mostly the other way around.

In the end I am hoping that it is all a part of the larger agenda, and the hope that things will fall into place. The hope that one day after a few months, I will have that time to actually sit and enjoy the sunsets without a thought about work in my head. Without the tension that I need to do this and that tomorrow. With the hope that I can go to sleep early without having to fall over my laptop keyboard.

Anyway I am trying my best to redo the things to keep the work and play life balanced.

Wish me luck.

Six months....

...of living a dream.
...of living on the edge.
...of uncertainty.
...of passion and compassion.
...of pride.
...of agony.

...of Deskala.

What an AMAZING journey so far!

Fulfilling small dreams

Gives you some happiness that is sufficient to ensure that you dream further and go after it.

One of the dreams of watching Sachin bat the way he does in a stadium, was fulfilled today. Thanks to a friend who got the tickets for me.

Life is good.

In search of the Pathans...

I was recently invited to the MSU University at Baroda, to conduct one of my photography workshops. The workshops were well received and went off smoothly. When I first thought of visiting Baroda, there were certain things that I had wanted to do. Meeting the Pathan brothers (Irfan and Yusuf), having a taste of sweetened dals, overdose of dhoklas and theplas, and exploring the city in its architectural beauty,  being a few of them. With these in mind,  I set out to explore Baroda, which happens to be a very old city as was evident from the buildings that one got to see in the city. 

The one thing that did adore the skies were the smoke from the various industrial plants. You get a feeling that the industrial growth stories that you hear, that puts Gujarat so high in terms of development is indeed true. However I was not interested in exploring them, as I would not get to experience the actual Gujarati Culture. And in my opinion, the true culture of a city (place) can only be explored on the streets.

So, tagging Netra along with me, I set out to explore the area behind my hotel (which by the way was frequently also visited by a zillion mosquitoes), which also happened to be the near the railway station. The sheer thought of exploring the areas around the railway stations in India brings a smile to my face. There is always a deluge of activities that is going on and hence, I am always thrilled at the photographic opportunities that the time is going to provide me with. Baroda was not any disappointment either.

It also surprised me (or rather helped I got to know)  that the Baroda Railway Station is celebrating 150 years of its existence.On hindsight, when you come to think of it, this station must have been one of the oldest stations in India, and needless to say is a very important junction in the ever expanding network of Indian Railways. This itself gives you an idea on the oldness of the city. The building architecture of the station is not as you would expect, as its not as grandeur as the Bombay or Chennai Stations, but it still had a huge hoarding that explained its existence for such a long time. 

Often the case with shooting on the streets is that there is no destination as such. It is often the journey that is the more enjoyable experience. The photo-ops are huge, and stopping at a road side stall for chai is just a part of the wholesome experience.

I spot an old clinic, which perhaps has been lying dilapilated for a few years now, or it could be just the dust cover that made it look old. The rusted scooter parked outside does not add any newness to it, except that there was someone here recently.The presence of the painted and unpainted bricks creates an interesting pattern.

A very common site you spot in India is people urinating on the streets, and it infuriates me to the core. And moreover when the subject, or the wall actually possesses an interesting grafiti, you know that it is a photographic moment worth capturing. Take this guys for example. Pain is temporary, Pride is  Forever. Now I leave it to the viewers to decide which one of these is actually felt and which should the person opt for. It is all the more ridiculous when inspite of instructions and signs, people still do it.

I notice that there was this motif of hearts that were visible on almost all the autos that plied in the city.
Wonder if it had any hidden meaning behind it, or whether it was a conscious decision to choose the hearts. Most of the autos in other parts of the country have religious motifs, and the presence of hearts here was a welcoming sight.

I savour myself with local vadas and some extra sweet Jalebis that are being freshly prepared. One interesting thing to notice was that a lot of people were stopping by and having their breakfast here and the fresh dal-vadas did taste lovely.  

I come across a shop that has a daily routine of feeding pigeons throughout the day. The owner said that on an average he feeds food weighing at least two kilograms everyday.

Overall a wonderful city to explore, but too sad that I did not have much time to roam the city. I am sure there are a lot of things remaining, like the gardens, and the palaces, which people say are "the" things to see in Baroda. I missed it. In the hope that I will come back to the city to explore it in more details some other time and hopefully find the Pathans too.

Oh Captain! Oh Captain!

An interesting thing I read today. Death is certain. One day or the other, every one has to die. The day you are born, there is one thing that gets certain. And that thing is that no matter how much you try, you cannot avoid death. It's like that path wherein you know the final destination. And this path is the biggest path of all that one takes during their lifetime. One should not worry about the certain things in life.

So why am I mentioning a thing as death, which is often feared and not spoken about. Well it so happens that there have been a few instances where I think was real close to it, and escaped. Whether, it is falling from the cliff while doing rappelling, almost setting foot on a venomous cobra, sky diving from the plane without knowing what's going to happen, white water rafting inspite of fearing water and not knowing how to swim etc etc. Needless to say, I am thankful for it, every time I look back at it.

But more than that, I have always had this queer thought in mind. The thought is that when I do come to the end of the life, and am on the verge of this dreaded thing, I should be smiling. Smiling at the things I have done, and a life well lived so far. Of having done things that I am passionate about, and living each day with immense happiness.

The latest of these near end moments was when a bird hit our plane on my way back from Ahmedabad to Bangalore. And smiling I was, when others in the flight were panicking and asking the flight crew to take the plan back to Ahmedabad and make an emergency landing.

The foul smell in the cabin was noticed by many and people immediately started to feel that something was wrong. A few started to take precautionary measures by holding their seats firmly. By the time the smell went off, we learnt that the air conditioning unit in one of the engines was switched off. A few mistook that for the engines being shut off, and hence started to panic more. The guy in front of me, started communicating with the cabin crew in sign language, signaling her to request the captain for an emergency landing. Numerous episodes of National Geographic series came rushing into my mind. Nevertheless, I thought the whole scenario unfolding in front of me was... well .... interesting. And that's when I smiled more :)

Another guy kept pointing to the flashing red light in the cabin, indicating to others that something was terribly wrong and that we compel the captain to fly back. One asked the air hostess if she had experienced such a situation before, to which she replies, oh yes. And bird hits are a common thing. Really? 

I was smiling as the air hostess was calm and was smilingly assuring us that nothing was wrong. Even if she mentioned that to keep us away from worrying, and the truth was something else, I still believed her. I thank her for taking care of the situation calmly and explaining with a beautiful smile to every passenger who asked her what happened. To one she replied, "Poor bird.. It got roasted!" I literally burst out laughing on hearing her! :D

Finally the flight did land without any hitches, and on my way out, I smiled again at the air hostess and said her "Thank you for that eventful flight :) "

She smiled back.

Of travels across India

One of the many things that inspired me to move back from the US to India is been my love for travel. [The other of course being my love for road side chai :) ]

So the days that I have been here, I have tried to do that and am super glad
It started with me landing in Delhi in May and since then I have been on a non stop mode.

From there in June I was in Vrindavan (UP), followed  Bihar (home), Pune (Maharashtra),  and then to Bangalore (to start my company here). July was spent in Bangalore. August mid I was back in Patna and home for a while., August end to September first week, I was in Guwahati (my beloved North east) for a series of workshops. October went to the west coast of India. Explored Udupi, Surathkal, Manipal (Karnataka). December was in Bhopal, Indore (Madhya Pradesh, for a pre-study of a documentary) and then via Mumbai back to Bangalore.  December I went to Kerela (friend's wedding in Cochin) spent almost a week in Chennai thriving on authentic Tamil food (sans the curd rice :P ) after the wedding. Spent the new years in Chennai. January was Bangalore. February was in Goa for another series of talks and workshops.

Scheduled to travel to Gujarat (workshops), Bihar (non profit project and the trip home), Delhi (Meetings), Kolkata (Workshop) and Bombay (seminar) before I settle back here in Bangalore!

I am loving it!