The NCSU Saree Exhibition

NCSU Gallery of Art and Design is hosting a Saree Exhibition till May. Preethu helped Lynn and Zoe with actually wrapping the sarees on the mannequins. Awesome collection of sarees and other Desi stuff … nice museumish lighting … unfortunately taking pics without a tripod becomes extremely difficult!
Interesting to see other cultures’ take on sarees and their points of views … makes us realize how much we take things for granted … and also of how little we know!
Some pics from sometime ago ...

I look at this saree and say - hmm nice design while Lynn is at a loss of words trying to imagine how they must have manually woven the saree with the designs interspersed in-between!


Now I have seen the Kashmiri/Sindh embroidery a thousand times, but when Lynn mentioned that she still hadn't found out why all the stuff from this region had this symbol somewhere in the embroidery, I didn't know what to say!


One of my favourites -

NFS Most Wanted Black Edition

Have been sneaking cycles to play NFS Most-Wanted Black Edition
And what can I say about the game … SUPERB.
It overcomes the major problem with NFS UG2 and its previous installments and gives the player a clear understanding of his progress in the game … and the story-line is damn good. As usual the graphics in the game are M-I-N-D B-L-O-W-I-N-G … unfrakkinbelievable stuff … the reflection of world details off the car, the raindrops on your windshield, the cars themselves … I could go on and on!
Fortunately for the game I had to upgrade my video card and I settled (cough cough) for an ATI Radeon 9600XT with 256MB on-board – if you’re feeling jealous then you were supposed to – if not, then you're probably an investment banker - go get a life!

Enough showing off – back to the game – as usual you do spend a lot of time pimping your ride and the experience is sublime as ever! I’m currently riding a pimped up GTI which handles 160MPH with ease  Unfortunately I don’t see myself playing the game much for the next 45 days at least … boo-hoo!

Spring In our parking lot

Our parking lot always announces spring in style!
These pics are about three weeks old ... hey!

Midtown Comics

NYC – the greatest city on the planet – is also where I bumped into this innocuous little (not really) store in the vicinity of Times Square - Midtown Comics - A store devoted to comics and everything associated with it – busts, posters, collectibles, out-of-print-issues (really old ones), memorablia and much much more …
Next time I know where I am going to spend my afternoons in NYC :D

NYC - The Greatest City on the planet!

Its hard to place a finger on the energy in NYC - the city rocks ... literally! It takes a lot for me to say this but I think I shall go out on a limb and actually say it – “NYC is the greatest city on the planet! It truly is the big brother of Bombay!”
The subways, the music @subway stations, the energy, the people, midtown comics, the bull, the ferry, the statue, large billboards, building sized movie posters, the lights, the bright colors, the BMW bridges among other things truly make this city great. Sure, unlike Bombay you really can’t walk on the streets at any time of the year – it does get frikkin cold in winter – but the spirit is the same.
I always connect when I’m in the vicinity of NYC – I somehow feel safer and happier … I know that sounds screwed up but hey that’s the way it is!
This time around, D and I actually took the subway during rush hour to actually get a feel of it – honestly for someone who’s traveled in the local trains in Bombay, this is wayyyyyyyy to orderly … even easier than taking the local trains during off peak hours in Bombay.
And the live music and acts on every subway station makes it really interesting. Here’s some of the stuff we saw this time …
These twins playing some superb Spanish stuff … Gipsy Kingish (videos here & here)
This group of three dancers performing (video)
Grand Central (video) – OMG – this place is prettier than many of our airports! How I would love to sit here in the morning and watch the suns rays seep in through the vents.
Times Square and thereabouts
And more …

There’s still so much more to see and do … all in good time.
Some visuals from this time around ...










An quick draw by Rosh at the end of our pictionary session ... more on that later!

Why do we stand at the doorstep and talk?

I’ve always noticed this. Its never – get-up from the couch, say-your-goodbye’s,grab your coat and stuff, walk to the door, open it, walk out and hear the sound of the door closing behind you!
There’s always the assemble at the door – the huddle – where the last bits of most interesting conversation are had … nevermind that it’s the end of the day and you’re standing while its cold outside or that the stuff you’re holding is heavy or that you're standing in an awkward position holding the door! (or even that mom is asking you to step in and be comfortable!)
Can’t understand it – can’t stop it – don’t think I want to either!

More Food Please

At the risk of being called a foodie by a dear friend (who christened me so because of my craving for vada-pav!!), I shall nevertheless venture on this topic ;)

For a long time, each time someone would ask me about good restaurants in Raleigh, I would promptly reply – “The Irregardless café” – Sure enough this is a great place to dine and even dance on weekends. (altho dear one did not find time to visit it this time as well!)

But in the recent past we have discovered some excellent dining in the area …
A quick survey by Soumya and Preethu revealed this excellent restaurant in Raleigh - ShabaShabu. Do NOT miss this if you’re in the vicinity – Thai/Lounge/Sushi. Already been there twice and have recommended to juntax.

Thanks to De-Silva for introducing us to this awesome Greek place – Xios – great food, great ambience – loved it.

Thanks again to De-Silva for introducing us to Pao-Lim This awesome Chinese place which can be called Indo-Chinese – awesome food and psssst … they serve hidden “gobi Manchurian” – the dish is not on their menu but with a wink and the secret password you shall be treated :D

Shucks I’m hungry now!

Right under my nose! Kollektiv

For being such a big Karsh Kale fan and wanting "desperately" to watch the master play live - I've always been looking at the wrong place for gigs! All the while the answer has been riiiight under my nose - Kollektiv - the brainchild of Karsh (if you didn't figure out the heavy K flavor already ;) )and a meeting place for all these geeks (and psst they're about to release an album too)
And they have this page on myspace which has some cool musik AND more importantly - all their gig schedules! And both these pages have excellent streaming music which I suspect is going to be the meat of the forthcoming Kollektiv album!
If you think I'm kicking myself - you bet I am! Have been within hours of NYC and DC and have missed all the good stuff in the last couple years! aaaaaaaaaarrrrrrghhhhhhhhhh!
time to get back to Broken English!


Update
The Kollectiv home page has some seriously good streaming music!

Tilda

D and I were browsing thru the movie listing when we glanced upon the name “Tilda Swinton” (for Narnia) and we couldn’t help loffing at the name Tilda … needless to say, the next few minutes were spent imagining funny names right out of the keyboard!
The secret kid (the one that you don’t want others to know about) would be named “sysRq” … go figure!
My favorite - geeks would name their twins as “page up” and “page down”!

Brokeback Mountain

Somebody please help me understand what’s all the fuss about this movie – me thinks that brokemyback mountainofpain is a bloody waste of 2 hours and 14 minutes!
I desperately need a rerun of the Hulk to regain respect for Ang Lee!

Broken English Review

Today - May 19 – a Sunday – after 8 hours of back to back project meetings in school … :P – driving back home – tired and thinking of the tasks to complete and e-mails to send before going to bed – D suggests that we check our mailbox – oh yes! We forgot to check it yesterday and USPS does work on Saturdays! Sure enough there was this small package in the mailbox – Now I have heard of miracles and have also seen some – and am at a loss of words (which doesn't happen much) on how a CD that is slated to release on March 21st is sitting on my desk on May 19th – I know I per-ordered it and stuff … but this is unfrackinbelievable!
Be still my beating heart and also those green and burning hearts outside – as I write I am on my fifth run of Broken English! Need I say more?
As promised this album is extremely unlike GOD’s previous works (read previous two albums) – there’s vocals … on almost every track … and with complete lyrics too  - almost a Sawhney twist to album – but way better – awesome++ for lack of a better word!
As usual the first track is not one of my favorites … a good track with haunting vocals by Vaid (of course!). But the fun just begins from 'Manifest' and keeps building up before leaving you on a high with the aptly titled 'Rise Up'!… I won’t spoil it for those still wanting a virgin experience – but GOD has done a lot more (and more) in this album.
Unfortunately my plans of locking myself in the car and listening to the album got shot when some pricks broke into my car and stole my radio few days ago :( - I hope their engine seizes ... and their hood rots and falls off when its raining - among other things! ... sigh ... but then all that's in the past
So am with my trustworty headphones and computer ... Right now – I’m really loving Broken English … and every beat of it!

SXSW

I'm eating my heart out ... Austin - why do you have to be so far! The master a.k.a. Karsh Kale is performing this Friday (03/17) @Austin for SXSW - aaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrggggggggggggggggghhhh!
lucky bastards those who will be able too see him play live ... and more.
But hey - thanks to SXSW, I'm actually able to hear the first track from Broken English - some trade-off ... but nice nevertheless!
Aayaand I'm keeping my fingers and toes crossed that they actually capture the event on video like they did in 2005 - that would be soohooperb!

As for my hiatus - well spring break rolled by and we spent 6 days with dear friends in the vicinity of the greatest city on the planet - NYC! Lots More on that later - right now am stuck in the deluge of work - bleh!

Update (03/19)
Since Cho2 protested so vehemently about me calling it "Austin City" as opposed to Austin (the talks about renaming Bombay to 'Bombay Bubblegum City' convinced me!) - I have updated the post accordingly. Cho2 does have the rights to claim Austin to be her city! :)

Google Doodles

Well ... I have been diligently saving all the Google Doodles in my "GooglePics" folder for the past ummmm ... 3 years or so. I've felt bad for the times that I've been too late to save one of them ... Just recently I was sad that I did not save one of the Winter-Olympics doodles when D showed me where all the doodles that have "Ever" been up are kept ... right under my mouse ... on the Google web-site! dang. dang. dang.

And its interesting to read about the dude who makes all these doodles for us :)

Me Want

Minority Report type touch screens!
Thank you Brij for pointing this one out ... can't wait for it to happen :) - the multi touch screen

And very very interesting comments on the post too.

Ajit - My first Google Video

This is in reference to my earlier post on Calcutta
Late December 2005 - Walking in the vicinity of Park Street – on some innocuous street in Calcutta – I see this dude sitting on the pavement with a bunch of painted greeting cards by him – reminiscent of the “painting-on-a-leaf” greeting cards that are sold on the streets of VT (wish I had one of them right now!) – anyways ... Curious as ever I asked him if he painted those cards. He replied with a sense of pride that he not only painted those cards by hand but he actually used his “hands” for painting them – no brushes used here! I asked him how long it took him to paint one and he replied without a pause – “three minutes”!
Next - we crowded around him to watch him in action and sure enough, our jaws were on the pavement a couple of minutes later. Heck – he was almost half done by the time I pulled out my camera and started recording! And I don’t take too much time to do that! Take a lookie here – my first google video upload – superb stuff!
Asked him to sign on the card – Ajit – amazing Ajit!
Sure enough we bought most of his cards on display – at an unbelievable price of Rs.10 each!!!
Hmmm … art is soooooooooooooooooo cheap in India! I can not even imagine how much Ajit could make if he commercialized his works … food for the MBA thought!









and pls ignore the glitchy scans.
The Man - Ajit -

And thank you Brij for these 2 pics ...

A Cruise with a View

After listening to the details and reading Arvind's posts and viewing most of his pictures on his (?) Mac - made mental note that we need to be on a cruise sometime. And wham appears Tony O' Driscoll describing his cruise - sweet timing!
Why not go on a cruise with some live music on it as well ... even Dave Matthews Band live would do! Yes - this is definitely on the radar now :)

Funny would be putting it very seriously!

Lots and lots of things happening in the past few days - have been unable to post something sensible amidst all the activity and all the questions (read buying decisions) ... more on that later before I digress.
Thank You Brij (again) for pointing this one out.
This post has to definitely be the funniest post I have ever read - had me laughing off my chair - almost a Calvin effect! And his latest post is funny as hell - couldn't control my laughter (loud) reading him describe Venkatesh Prasad! ROTFL!
Way to go Sidin ... you're as funny (or more) as Douglas Adams ... nice.
and the dude has quit his job to pursue a writing career - now that is something - will watch out for his book.

Paritrana

(from the official web-site)

PARITRANA
the Political party for the Bharat of the 21st century.

The meaning of PARITRANA:
(Trana) means the act of relieving a conscious entity from the state of distress or pain. However, this relief may not be of permanent nature. (Paritrana) is the complete relief implying the end of the very cause of distress.

Thank You Pu for pointing this out. In the recent wake of discussions on Rang De Basanti and awakenings - this has provided a whole new sense of pride ... with a turbo-boost!
Paritrana - as Pu puts it are the Yuva in real life - hats off to them.
Having people with such prolific academic backgrounds from prestigious IIT's and the likes, risking their "assured high-flying careers" to take up the challenge facing us all is worth more than a mention and a few thoughts.
Intersting article here
Paritrana's official website.

I'm a mixed bag of overwhelming feelings right now ... more on this later!

Wild-Life

Casual chat with a dear friend – wandered off into the days when she used to work for wildlife preservation and she snapped back saying that she was actually working for us! How very true! How easily we forget that by saving our ecosystem we are essentially saving our sorry butts!

Which got me thinking – we’ve got it all wrong! “We” are the wild-life on this planet – Mankind (women included!) is the wildest species on the planet … destroying or gobbling up everything in sight! And the audacity – to call the civic (for lack of a better word) and balanced creatures as “wild-life” – huh!

Arrogant, pompous, conceited bastards – that’s what we are – wild-life!

Karsh Kale - Broken English

Karsh Kale is releasing his 3rd album titled Broken English on March 21 2006.
Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay.
the countdown has begun - I can feel the excitement in the air ...
as the master gets ready to deliver his third installment after Realize and Liberation.
And Thank God (and everyone else) that I am in the US - no mind-numbing 60-day agonizing waits for it to hit the local Planet M's!
And there's that reviewing community which gets the sneak previews of all this wonderful stuff - dang! someday ...
but for now -
Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay.
Now where's that pre-order button ...

Yukon Ho!

A calviN and HobbEs database exists! The ultimate transmogrifier - suuuuuuperb stuff!
Thank You Sibin (again) for the rays of light!

Roobaroo Translation

In reference to my earlier post here, I finally moved my butt and took a shot at translating this wonderful song. Warning - this is a "prose" translation, not a poetry translation (D's working on that) - a lot of nuances of the song/poetry are lost in translation - but hey ...

aye saala
Dude ...

abhi abhi huaa yaqeen ki aag hai mujh mein kahi
hui subaah main jal gaya
suraj ko main nigal gaya
ruu-ba-ruu roshni heyy - 2
I just realized that I have a fire inside me somewhere
Its a new morning and I am aflame
I overpowered the sun
I'm face to face with light


jo gumshuda-sa khwaab tha voh mil gaya voh khil gaya
who loha thaa pighal gaya kichhaa kichhaa machal gaya
sitaar mein badal gaya
ruu-ba-ruu roshni heyy
I have found my lost dream and it had started to blossom
It was a block of iron before but now it has melted, stretched
And has transformed into the melodious strings of the sitar
I'm face to face with light

(dhuaan chhataa khula gagan mera
nayi dagar naya safar mera
jo ban sake tu hamsafar mera
nazar mila zara) - 2
The fog clears and I can now see my open blue skies
I can see new paths and journeys ahead of me
If you could be my traveling companion
Match your stride with mine …

aandhiyon se jaghad rahi hai lau meri
ab mashaalon si bhad rahi hai lau meri
naamo nishaan rahe na rahe
ye kaaravaan rahe na rahe
ujaale mein pee gaya
roshan huaa jee gaya
kyon sehte rahe
ruu-ba-ruu roshni heyy – 2
My ardent desires fight with hurricanes
My ardent desires burn bright like torches
I don't care if I disappear without a trace
I care not if these caravans no longer exist
I soak in the sunlight
I am radiant and alive
Why keep suffering?
I'm face to face with light.

dhuaan chhataa khula gagan mera
nayi dagar naya safar mera
jo ban sake tu hamsafar mera
nazar mila zara
ruu-ba-ruu roshni heyy – 2
The fog clears and I can now see my open blue skies
I can see new paths and journeys ahead of me
If you could be my traveling companion
Match your stride with mine…
I'm face to face with light.



Roobaroo Chords
The Chords for this song are extremely simple - A Repeating pattern of A,D throughout the song, except for A,E in the "dhuaan chata ..." part. The strumming is a lil tricky though - am working on that!

Update (2/17/2006)
Thank You Brij for pointing out the mistake in the lyrics. Have corrected it and also adding the "official" lyrics from the CD sleeve. Also including Khoon Chala which deserves a separate post for itself. Pssst - I'm headed to the cinema for my second helping tonight.

Malgudi Days

The Malgudi Days website for the fans :)
Thank You Sibin for pointing this out - and all the Malgudi Days links on your post.
I guess its time to e-mail those folks @padamrag asking for the Malgudi Days DVD set!

pondering on Rang De Basanti ...

Still unable to take the movie out of my mind – D and I keep discussing on how we as individuals can really help the cause in India which is nothing short of a freedom struggle. An excellent post by RonitaDutta on Rang De Basanti resonated with our thoughts. Like Ron says, the generation Y effort should not become another Naxal Bari movement which more or less failed due to the inability of translating ideals to practical goals.
I myself do not know too much about the Naxal Bari movement but the point resonates … and very loudly – we need to convert ideals to practical goals – tangible goals which can be achieved and/or measured.
With that perspective, D and I seem to be on opposite corners of essentially the same bench, admittedly a confused one! There doesn’t seem to be much clarity on the issue – do you become radical and put *everything* at stake or do you play tactically – do your bit in your community, in your organization and your immediate circle of influence?
Tough answer – very very tough. Which side do you take? You do love your family – your job, your wants, your desires – face it – we *are* human! The classic dilemma of "I want to help but I don’t want to be a Bhagat Singh or a DJ and I don’t know what to do!"
My two cents say that we need all the help we can find – but only difference is that this can not be a uncoordinated effort – it has to be a multi-pronged attack and there has to be a tangible solution – solutions could be as simple as – the police station in my locality will be responsible enough to provide the proverbial “bang-for-the-buck”!, or that the school in my backyard will treat all students equally – race or creed! ... ... ...
This is a situation where everythingness is one – small pieces will have to be tied on to form larger pieces!
Yes there would have to be a radical wing – the Bhagat Singh’s and DJ’s which will provide the wake-up call when needed – but running shoulder to shoulder with them would be the tactical wing – the young entrepreneurs, the money-makers who shall strive to gain access within the trenches of political powers – the power-makers who would strive to provide stability to the youth by means of education (education and not literacy!), jobs and direction – the thinkers who would try and mould the minds of future on what lies ahead and what needs to be done – on the benefits of being honest! Maybe Karan and Aslam could have stayed away from the radio-station … to stay alive and harness the rage of the population into a revolution – maybe using Karan’s dad’s wealth as a useful tool – who knows … like I said there is no single solution …

And the one powerful tool that we yield today is the power of information – and we have to leverage this as much as possible - we have be like an army of ants with the difference that each of us ants will be able to communicate to any other ant instantaneously – with the power of broadcast of course! If there is one thing that will shape the future of the world, it will be the ease of sharing and broadcasting information – revolutions are going to get smaller and more ferocious! Of course that also means that there has be a sense of urgency and a lot of co-ordination … nobody said that this is going to be easier!

Hazaaron Khwahishein Aisi

A movie I've been wanting to write about for a long long really long time now, but I need not now - coz Sarat does justice (and more) in his latest blog entry - here - thank you dude!

Official site of the movie.
IMDB Review

I really don't like these posters, except for the Red&Black backgrounds in each of them - I fail to comprehend why the posters are so so so unlike the movie!

Sarat moves over

before hell froze over :)
Yep - Sarat is blogging now - http://saratm.blogspot.com/
His old stuff has not moved to his blog - but its still there.

I guess marriage does bring about a new(er) perspective to things!

SuperBowl 40

My first superbowl!
Yaaay! Not really! My first superbowl was not quite what I expected – maybe it was all the hype or maybe it was the sagging Rolling Stones on stage at half-time – dunno! Never did like that band … even when they were young – which must have been a hundred and sixty twelve years ago! But I digress …
Seattle Seahawks vs. the Pittsburg Steelers – not a big American Football fan, I was naturally inclined towards the Seattle Seahawks – besides, Seattle I could identify with, Pittsburgh … naaah! The game was quite interesting although the feeling in my gut told me that it was rigged! OMG – I said it! That’s right – sue me!
All the referee calls for the SeaHawks were wrong and the Steelers had a “hand of god” kind of touchdown which never really was a touchdown! But then I’m a novice in American Football – so who am I to comment!
But the whole event was not-at-all-impressive – it seemed very plastic and commercial and fake. I had more fun watching the superbowl commercials on google video today than I had watching the event! Maybe it’s the skeptic in me … or that I’m biased … or maybe I’m just bloody right!
And for the uninitiated - SuperBowl is the biggest American Football "world" championship (played only in the US!), and not a giant Bowling Competition ... altho it might very well be!

The Da Vinci Code

25 January 2006 - Not the movie - the day I completed reading the book! Yes ... a book! Its been years (almost 10) since I picked up a book (without pictures) and read it end to end. It feels great to be reading again - and it does bring back the sweet and painful patience game, while you wait for the next page/chapter!
As much as I enjoyed reading, I think I shall postpone picking up another book (a big one i.e.) for a few months - till at least I am out of school! The Reading Bug is around me - I can feel it - its just a matter of time ... I'm excited :)
Oh, the book - awesome - Can not wait to go to Paris now :) I know some of the purists out there (that includes you Sarat :P) may say that the book is crap and lacks depth, but hey - its good fun! No wonder its being made into a movie ...
For now I guess its going to be my Nat Geo's and my ever faithful Comics :)

What's the Good Word

24 Jan 2006 - Its 7pm - I’m sitting in class – listening to the answer I just blurted out and how the professor rehashed the same answer in his words or rather in *a* word
Its one thing to be succinct and another to be able to summarize it in one word! And I personally believe that Americans are quite adept at that – naturally. They are able to come out with superb solid words for even mediocre things!
A classic example is the kind of names they give their abysmal cars – you don’t see a Honda, Toyota or even a BMW come up with names like Firebird, Trailblazer, Thunderbird, Mustang and the likes – now those are super solid names for fast cars … unlike City, Camry, Z3 – they seem more like flowers or science experiments! Leaving aside the Ferrari and Lamborghini, thanks to their animated logos, I struggle to think of a single superb name for a fast car from outside of the US! Eclipse, Celica … probably not!

This guy is seriously funny!

No I'm not talking about President Bush or his State of the Union!
I'm talking about Jeremy Clarkson. His comments on parkering (which incidentally is a car review) had me almost falling out of my seat in class ... laughing!
Brij calls him the king of sarcasm, but I think he is beyond that - he's quite articulate with his words ... and funny as hell! Seriously!