Fascinating Brazil!

Earlier this year, I spent a week at Brazil. At Sao Paulo and then at Rio De Janerio, was able to visit lots of places and see the sights. Managed to pack a lot during this time and got a sense of the country, the people, the culture, their economy and more.
As a summation of this time, I could think of this work in progress sand castle on Copacabana Beach as a fitting metaphor. A country drenched in old world and contemporary charm, in the new economy and the erstwhile. Statuesque in its beauty and yet sand-castle-like fragile!

We only have what we give!

A quote from Isabel Allende came to my mind, when I read about Mark Zuckerberg announcing his decision to donate 99% of his FB shares to charity.
I put the quote on a tile that I photographed at Escardia Celeron at Rio De Janerio in Brazil earlier this year!

Living on the edge

There's a lot of premium humans put to managing risk.  In nature's ecosystem these seem to be a normal way of life. Here's an insect (this one is like a flying ant) that was hopping from petal to petal on the flower very nonchalantly. This was a return trip it was doing after transporting some food.

I wondered whether it was the wings it had that gave it the extra courage or was it plain adaptability coming instinctively - imagine leaping from a moving petal to petal on a flower that is swinging with the swift breeze and you will get an idea of the degree of difficulty that I'm talking about, that the insect was managing with no apparent effort

It is visuals like this that make you think, that each one of us have a choice  - you can take challenges in your stride or feel overawed and get stressed out.

Yet another case where shooting pictures triggers interesting insights. The striking photo you get at the end of it is the bonus. Or is it the insight?

Ganesha 2014

Till date, we had not painted eyes on the idol. Because it's a skilled task and also because it is critical to the final look. I have always felt that the idol should be a similarity of the lord, but you should leave some details to the viewers imagination. I would love to leave the idol just like this with minimal detail

We decided to take a shot and paint the eyes, make a detailed 'tilak' on the forehead, and here's how it turned out! 

Added attraction this year was the second idol, the 'Peshwa Ganapati' from the eCoexist range. One that Sona liked the moment she first saw it last year. 

We had a third idol too, made by our friends Priya & Sarvesh. Watch this space to see a picture of that too! We had another fun Chaturthi!

ganesha 2014 : first look

here is the first look of our ganesha this year. and this time the son is at home to make it, so the feeling is even better. we've used two colours of clay, red for the human body and the grey for the elephant head.
the final finish and painting is still pending
may gajanana bring us all joyous times this year!

okra production line at humgaon

experienced this fascinating production line of okra (lady finger/ bhindi) at humgaon, where we have a small patch of land.
the plant has grown up to about five feet in two months thanks to the good rainfall.  there were small yellow flowers on every branch and interesting bee/insect on almost all of them. the okra is a self pollinating plant (as different from a cross pollinating one) and has these yellow vibrant flowers. the bees drop in and help the pollination process.
saw this nature's very own busy production line and couldn't help being awestruck!
this is one picture of a bee that's just landed on a flower. alongside you can see a couple of baby okras  growing and a few buds that are also on the way!

run up to ganesh chaturthi 2014...

while we were making our idol last year, sona had taken some video on her iPad. subsequently we added some more from chaturthi day - plus some stills of shikhar making his ganesh idol (last year, college projects kept him away at pune, so I made one idol initially and then he made another once he was back) - here is the compilation put together by shikhar - as we are less than two months away from chaturthi this time

temporary sheds have already come up like a small rash across mumbai. these are the ones that are set up for finishing and selling ganesh idols for ganesh chaturthi, coming up this year on the 29th of august.

we're planning, like the past few years to make our own this year too. the plan is for a few of us to make our idols together one day and then colour them a fortnight later. should be very good fun, and i'm looking forward to it.

click on the ganesh chaturthi tag to see posts of previous years idols..

view from the ventilator

The view from the hills is awesome, regardless of which direction you see in. Here is one such view from a ventilator up in a roadside dhaba, enroute from gangtok to darjeeling, an extremely scenic drive. Easily one of the best that I have seen

Starting a new series: 'Opening Today' buds waiting to bloom

I was going through my catch of the day (we are at Pavna for a holiday and everyday I hook up the memory card into the computer and look at my catch of the day) and sighted this lovely bud, about to bloom.
So here, I'm, starting a new series called 'Opening Today' all about buds waiting to bloom.

Flowers, spiders and surprises

Early morning at Pavna, its a treat to see flowers catch the first rays of the sun. And the breakfast routine of the whole eco system. Birds are out looking for insects, bees are out looking for honey, spiders are out setting up webs for the day. 

Here are two spiders that I managed to surprise. You can see them clearly when I enlarge the picture. 

shraddha = faith, shraaddh = anything done with sincerity and faith, a ritual for the living.

The popular belief is, that shraaddh is a ritual that is done to pay homage to the departed souls of ones forefathers. It comes from the sanskrit word, shraddha, meaning faith and it's literal meaning is, any act that is done with complete sincerity and faith.

Seen in this light (as against - it can be done only by the male child, you need to have a male child because only then can you hope for your shraaddh to be done etc etc) the ritual has relevance even today. We come together, remember the departed, offer a meal to crows and then have a meal together as a prasaad.

Yesterday, I preformed this ritual for my mother, my father performed it for his father and my wife, for her father.

My personal belief is that all rituals are for the living. Including this one. It is to help the living to come to terms with the loss, a way to finish unfinished business, say sorry, thank you and achieve closure. What is your view?

the second ganesha, work in progress...

Here's the second Ganesha, that I was mentioning in the previous post. Pending some finishing. The colours, brushes et al are ready (but the craftsman is busy completing his college project) and will get completed some other day. Will post that too when it's done.

Here's how we celebrate Ganesh Chaturthi before Ganesh Chaturthi!

This is the third year of making the Ganesha idol at home and the learning curve is working here too. Details in this one are an improvement over the previous years.
We enjoy the whole process of making the idol.
Starting from looking for where to get the clay from (till last year, we were reusing the clay of the previous year and we started the year after we got a clay idol from the market, so haven't had to buy clay till now) to referencing for images to decide how the form should be. An online tutorial was of great help this year!
Adding details to enhance (added the pagdi this year since it helped getting the proportion right) and painting the idol.
The last two years, the idol was not painted - reason? Unaware of technicalities like drying time, our idol never really had time to dry completely, which is a pre-requisite to painting.
So, this year when painting seemed to be possible it was an adventure by itself. In order to make it as natural, we've used haldi, kumkum and abir. Each have been mixed with water and gum to make them workable and hold better. Finally the shawl, was another way to add a dimension and correct a flaw.
There is another idol too this year, but you will have to wait for a bit for the pictures!
Like Sona said, the Ganesh Chaturthi days for us are just a culmination. We've already celebrated our festival in the run up to it!
Happy Ganesh Chaturthi!

you can now start understanding how a bee feels...

around mid- morning, mid-day. a bright sun and consequently a fully bloomed flower. a mesmerising sight. even for me. when you are present in this moment, you can then start to understand how a bee feels...

Ganesha 2012

Here's our Ganesha this year. Made at home like last time. Having started earlier, we should've had a more finished idol - but that is logical, right? Doesn't necessarily work that way.

If you compare this one to the last years idol, that one has simpler flowing lines and is more minimal. Goes to show that when you have limited time, you have to be selective and focus on the important stuff. So having lesser time to accomplish something might actually be a good thing.

 May Lord Ganesha the Creator of Happiness (Suhkakarta), Remover of Obstacles (Vignaharta) & Remover of Pain (Dukhaharta) be your guiding light!

our ganesha this year

We made our Ganesha at home this year. Using the clay we saved after the visarjan of last years clay Ganesha. Our first time, so we did not know drying time, and other such details, so the idol is still wet.

Performance

Saw this wire organiser on Sona's desk that she is using to hold some writing instruments. A few snall adjustments in the form and looked like an artist was deeply engrossed in the performance.

ganesh chaturthi 2010

our first chaturthi in the new house.

first attempt

here's my first attempt at playing with clay. done at the pottery workshop one sunday afternoon. the idea -currently farfetched, is to some day make an idol for the ganesh chaturthi pooja myself.

ganesh chaturthi at home

on an impulse we decided to get an idol and celebrate ganesh chaturthi at home this year. it was great fun since there was a very short time to put everthing together.

heere's how our idol looked