Sunday, February 28, 2010

Windows IR

When will Indian Railways have windows which will actually close and remain closed for the intended period, mostly during night when its cold outside and you don't want to keep smelling all the villages, towns, cities churning out some or the other chemicals?
And the ones which will not keep falling when you want them open?
According to this webpage, there's no privacy in sleeper class, and it's noisy, crowded and dirty. But trust me, you get an option (or rather variety) of listening to families discussing personal matter for all compartment to listen, or adult friends who keep you guessing if they are fighting or joking, or the loud mothers of innocent (and loud) kids playing.... throughout the night.

P.S. I hope, that (wherever possible) round bank employee was actually interested in listening to my late night interactive lecture about 'what Industrial Design is and how design makes 'THE DIFFERENCE' in human life etc etc etc.' Anyway we designers have to spread design awareness among common people, good for designers atleast!

Thursday, February 25, 2010

death of a dream

Some dreams cannot be replaced or forgotten or re-newed. Hummer was one such big dream, almost as big as hummer itself! I don't remember when I first saw it, must be long long ago, sometime back in my childhood, when I knew about very few automobiles. Like many childlike auto-enthusiasts I had been collecting its pics in the form of notebook covers to posters to desktop wallpapers, like true dreams this one has chased me till now. Probably because this is the only four wheeler I felt connected to, in any of its various forms!
I remember to have talked about hummers with many of my friends. Mosh had promised me that she will gift me Hummer (real one) on my 40th or 50th birthday. Both of us knew we may not afford it even then, but dream is a dream.
Today I read GM is shutting down Hummer production. I know they will still exist, but.... I still felt my almost impossible dream came to an unexpected end.
sad but true.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

फालतुगीरी

(click to enlarge)
(I am sure there are numerous grammatical mistakes, but I don't remember all that now! :( sad but true)

Thursday, February 18, 2010

नितळ (Nital)

Directors' Note: 'Nital means transparent.....Crystal clear....
Nital, which literally means transparent, so clear…that one can see the base. It is a portrait of inner beauty, the inner self, which is hidden beneath the obviously visible outer coat-skin.
It touches the crux of the issue of self image and acceptance, thus the need to redefine our arena of ‘vision’, where different senses of body emboss different perceptions of beauty.
The story reflects undercurrents of contradictions and confusions of so called sophisticated, civilised and elite people, who are directed by social stereotypes, while those who are closer to nature have much more acceptance for people as ‘humans’.'
This is story of Dr. Neeraja, a young and intelligent opthalmologist, who has vitiligo (white patches on her skin, face especially). Though medically vitiligo is just the lack of a skin pigment, it affects the entire identity of a person. The story unwinds itself, portraying societal insensitivity and cowardice. On the other hand, it illustrates rationality emerging in younger generation about vitiligo.
An interesting thing about this movie is that, there are lot many characters as joint family members coming from diverse professional, social, 'cultural' backgrounds and age. Inspite of this everyone of them has very clear, precise and appropriate thought process which is put together very well in movie. Most of the actors are from theatre, so acting is obviously very good. Music is also very good. Actually simplicity is the base of this movie, it can be seen in music, production design, cinematography, dialogues, costumes and still everything looks so apt and beautiful!
I feel the time I spent watching this movie and compiling this review is quite worth! :)
Most of the information and pictures here are from the official website of Nital, and the movie is also available with subtitles.
Movie: Nital (नितळ) (marathi movie)
Genre: Social
Release Year: 2007
Director: Sumitra Bhave, Suneel Sukathankar
Lyrics: Suneel Sukathankar
Music: Shreerang Umarani
Singers: Amruta Subhash, Dr. Shekhar Kulkarni, Parth Umarani, Dr. Supriya Gadekar, Sujeet Soman, Jyoti Subhash
Cast: Devika Daftaradar, Dr.Shekhar Kulkarni, Vijay Tendulkar, Deepa Shreeram, Uttara Bavkar, Vikram Gokhale, Jyoti Subhash, Reema, Neena Kulkarni, Ravindra Mankani, Kishor Kadam, Amruta Subhash, Aabha Oati, Sarang Sathye, Sujeet Soman

Monday, February 15, 2010

young India, the spilt water

For those who didn't visit Maithili's blog, this is a very nicely articulated post.
The letter to Uddhav Thackeray from Rajdeep Sardesai.
I have been thinking about writing on an aspect for a long time, which he has covered very well in the last paragraph.

the good mornings!


ego,
loneliness,
superiority complex,
inferiority complex,
headache,
heartache,
memories,
hatred,
love.

Riding heals.... almost everything!