sometimes, you get your pride hurt... by yourself

sometimes, you get your pride hurt... by yourself
Originally uploaded by DraconianRain

happens...
I was chatting with my best friend, who was very bored. And this is exactly what we said...

That was it...

That was it…

Her forehead was dripping with sweat. Shirt was already wet with it. As she looked up the other side to see him wiping his face with his sleeve similarly sweat drenched, she picked up the shuttlecock that lay near her feet. Slowly… judging… his speed, strength and remaining stamina. She shifted to the right court and blew on the right palm, holding the racquet, then on the shuttle… right leg slightly bent at the knee and behind the left one. Swung her racqueted right arm while simultaneously releasing the shuttle from her left hand fingers, the racquet making contact with the shuttle with a clean sound, but misjudged.

Even as she was coming to terms with misjudged flight, He was ready for anything. As he leapt high his knees bent, body straightened and then arched backwards with his outstretched arm reaching out for the shuttle. Wrist finishing off the near perfect smash… She cringed at the sight of the shuttle shooting straight at her, but managed to get her left foot to move forward. Not wanting to lose her vantage position, she let her right leg stretched as far as possible behind her, with her head down yet looking at the shuttle… The racquet head in the outstretched right hand managed to make contact with the shuttle before it smashed to the ground. One touch was enough to get the shuttle very close to the net on the right. As she recovered, she saw him through the corner of her eye… deftly … lest she lost sight of the shuttle. Anticipation brought him closer to the service line and with a free movement of the wrist; he flicked the shuttle towards the baseline. Never letting his sight away from the shuttle, he stood his ground, legs apart, slightly bent, waiting for a weak return…

Her early recovery held her at a small advantage. She deftly took two long steps back… her back arched as she took a glance at his ready form… on the left court. She... from her left court and strong grip on the racquet made a firm contact with the shuttle and flicked… enough for the momentum to stop till it dropped just beyond the net before the service line… And she thought she had him in a spot… forgetting he held an advantage of being closer to the service line. His eyes gleamed as he stretched out to hit a flat swift return. But he misjudged her reflexes. She was off in a flash towards the right court with a full stretch and hit straight and flat towards his right court.

His eyes almost popped out as he smashed the shuttle back…

She felt the sweat on her neck, forehead, back and stomach and had a flashing glimpse of his face gleaming with triumph. But she had to go for it. As she took a great stride and bent her left leg forward, right leg stretched straight behind her, her body stretched forward, almost doubling up, stomach touching the thigh, arm stretched and head down. Her racquet managed to reach the shuttle. The power of the previous shot rebounding the shuttle back.

But she watched in despair as it hit the hem of the net... and fell back in her court... she held her sweat drenched hair and forehead...
He smiled... hopped towards the shuttle and picked it up and said... 'chal... Love all'

That was it...

she had just lost the toss...

Ode to a sunny day

Savannah morning
Originally uploaded by DraconianRain

The best thing I have heard in many many months.
From his solo project - BackStratBlues, Warren Mendonsa has some super new compositions.
I went into a state of transcendent listening to 'An ode to a sunny day'. 10 minutes of sheer bliss.
http://www.myspace.com/blackstratblues

Hey, I put some new shoes on and suddenly everything's right

Hey, I put some new shoes on and suddenly everything's right
Originally uploaded by DraconianRain

These fresh sparkling white shoes arrived today!
a month and half ago, we had to renew our subscription for 'India Today'. at this point I have to explain that I love reading... from books to magazines to interesting web articles to comics... anything...
So, I selected the best offer - a 5 year subscription, with a free pair of shoes! All i had to do was rush to the nearest adidas dealer, check my shoe size, fill up and send the form... and wait 8-10 weeks...
And viola! I have new shoes!!
I'll inaugurate these at badminton tomorrow... my old ones have almost worn themselves out! ;)

Vague conversations - one fine September evening with friends in Pune...

Disclaimer: Although I admit that this conversation is not entirely fictional, it is highly exaggerated. The characters mentioned in the conversation are all real, and in fact I know them well… In fact, I am one of them. And most importantly, the events and conversation described in the following are not to be taken seriously… until proved otherwise…

Happy reading…

Cast of Characters:

Ankur (protagonist)

Aditya (protagonist)

Vikarant (friend)

Sameer (super enthusiastic friend)

Sourabh (well… friend…)

Meghana (the customary dumb girl)

Location:

Kollage café, off law college road

Situation:

Café moderately crowded. Slowly the group gathers, general pleasantries in the form of abuses doing the rounds as usual…

Sameer (almost barking at Ankur) : where’s your partner?

Ankur simply nods.

Aditya arrives last, straight faced… sits next to Ankur. He is congratulated as he passed some of his CA exam

As usual, what Vikrant wants is not available that day, so he settles for French toast, Meghana orders toast and omelette and Ankur asks for egg curry and roti… Sourabh ate elsewhere some awesome Lebanese food, and doesn’t want anything. Sameer asks for coffee

Food arrives.

Start eating… Ankur and Aditya sharing the food … talking continues…

Topics shift from Sourabh’s site to Vikrant’s Solapur visit. We wonder if Gangu is going to join us, but none us seem sure.

For a brief second, everyone is silent… everyone is looking at the food… suddenly:

Sameer (Lifting his head and looking at Aditya): Did you tell at home?

Aditya (Looking bleak…): Yes… Dad told me to do whatever I want to do…

Sameer (with a gleam in his eye): really?

Aditya (extremely animated): Over the dinner table… everything was peaceful… suddenly my dad asked me about it… and I Looked at my mom who knew (Looking towards an imaginary mom with eyes wide open, towards where Sourabh was sitting…) and she said that she told dad about it… And I said that it was true. So he told me to do whatever I wanted to do, and go to hell if I wanted to… so he’s not at all happy… but at least he knows…

Sameer (turning towards Ankur): And what about you…? Did you tell at your place?

Ankur (with a little sly smile) : they have an idea… My brother accidentally discovered it while I was conversing with him… Later during dinner… my dad asked if it was true… and I told him it wasn’t and he told me that I am not admitting now and must remember that…

Sameer (with a semi shocked expression): so now what are you going to tell your family? And when?

Ankur (Nodding slightly): dad’s birthday is approaching… plus I plan hand over the finished office to him that day, so he might be pleased enough to listen to me…

Vikarant and Meghana continue eating and listening adeptly to the conversation…

Sameer (inquisitively, almost at the edge of his seat): the date? Have you decided?

Ankur: mid October probably…

Sameer (jerking his head): that’s great!

Vikrant: (Looking at Aditya almost as if waking up from slumber): Doesn’t Aabha support you at it?

Aditya (desperately): she does… a lot… but it’s not like her support matters… since she went away…

Sourabh (weird expression, looking at no body in particular): Ankur, you should introduce Aditya to your family on your dad’s birthday…

Meghana (bad timing as usual): Congrats you two…

Ankur: well at least it’s more or less out now… We should start our preparations…

Aditya (looking at Ankur): When should we go to Pali…?

Ankur (sly smile, nodding…): Lesee…

At this point, the café is no longer crowded… its almost time to go home. The last few cups of coffee and lemon juice arrive and the bill is paid… The conversation shifts from topic to topic… about Sourabh’s current site, to his experiments with recycling plastic bags to Vikarant’s fiancé who is as much a vegetarian as he is a Non vegetarian… and to cycles and which cycle to take for long trips: geared or un-geared, road bike, mountain bike or a hybrid…

At this point, let me explain that Ankur and Aditya are cycling comrades who are planning a bike trip from Pune to Kanyakumari, and their respective families are very much against it… I realised that for any one not knowing this, this conversation might sound poles apart from what we understand it as. Ankur and Aditya are NOT homosexuals and even though they both are struggling to find love from members of the opposite sex, they are gaily planning out the long cycling trip in the hopes of finding their true selves and true loves…

May they succeed in all their endeavours…

Opening my eyes to open source...

Avnoo and her BIG eyes!
Originally uploaded by DraconianRain

I have been talking to my friends about open source information sharing for the last 2 years. Not in as many words, but that’s what we meant, by sharing all our research as information for anyone and everyone who needs/wants it. Till a certain extent we have been able to do so.
All our research in construction, all forms of design, writings, experiences and ideas need to be shared upon, added, mixed, churned and interchanged and not merely exchanged. There is tremendous potential to develop or evolve an idea to comprehensive realisation if shared.
Sharing information over the internet is extremely easy and disseminative. The question is – by what means?
Do I justify sharing my research by using pirated software and operating systems which are otherwise incredibly expensive, especially for someone like me, just starting off an independent setup? There are many like me, who want to research and work on alternate architectural techniques and low cost, low tech energy conscious architecture. The question of affordability aside, how does one, in such a situation justify using expensive software and operating systems? In that case – why software at all? Weren’t there architects before computers and auto CAD?
But then I ask - why not software?
If I can disseminate and learn more and faster using technology, then I should make full use of it.
I’m illiterate when it comes to programming, but reading more about open source, I found that I might not be eliminating all costs, but surely, reducing those drastically. I trust someone who knows about architecture and programming would keep developing stuff further and I wouldn’t mind contributing in cash, knowledge, kind or kindness…
I will have to invest a lot of time and patience to get used to it, and for a small setup like mine, it expect it to work. It will be difficult to switch over to a new system, but this is my time and chance to experiment.
These alternative systems and software are apparently very popular with architects in Japan and Taiwan. I’m sure it has been tried in India. It would be helpful to learn from others experiences too. Spreading the open source word can be a shot in the arm for many architects in India who might face a similar dilemma. It can give them the freedom to so much more that just cut costs.
Open source might just be the helping hand I need … or it could make my life much more difficult.
In either case, I might just learn a thing or two.

Let me show you a trick... I'll make everyone disappear

OOOOOH! BUNNY BUNNY!

Originally uploaded by Aline Jasper

This is a cute bunny indeed!
by Aline Jasper via Flickr!

Ay vocal pe dhellay daal… dhellay

“[Ladies and gentlemen… Khadki junction blues… ]”

[clap clap]

“Aye Gokul CLAP NA!“

“Haa…” [clap clap] “Woof!”

“Ay vocal pe dhellay daal… dhellay”

“EeEe… uuuhHhho… [Falsetto] Eenaaff eenaff eenaff” …

“Can you uh… raise my bass please on the monitor I can [murmur]”…

“shall we go…?”

“Chalo… I’m ready”

“Ok… I think we’re ready to go…”

“So lets play now”… “lets play”

[sachin tendulkar voice] “go get it… “

Funky Guitar riff…

An awesome start to a Khadki junction blues song aptly names as Headrush Pink Rojez soundcheck!

PS: I’m a fan!

One of the many gems from Pune, this Funk rock and fusion band... check out their album - Bopodi Love affair... and songs like Contemplate, Gentle rain, Sausy finger chips (jain) and Journey to funkeshwar!

completely trippy!

The spoils of the wall

More than a year ago, I ambitiously printed a 40"x30" photo of Menavali ghat, Wai, that I had clicked a few months before that.
Last month, got it mounted.
Yesterday, I fixed up the hooks to it.
Today, I was supposed to go out of town... so I left it for later.
Then... the phone rang...
my bus got canceled, so they put us in another bus which meant I was home for another 3 hours. So I marked the correct distance on the wall, drilled holes in it (with a manual driller, mind you.) Plugged it with screws and VOILA...
Now, its on the wall!
Today was the day where i was to finish the ill fated task that I had set out to do last year...
Now to finish packing...