the Guggenheim- NYC

so when things go round and round you spin with them and cant find how to get your self out of them...

GREEN DAY

Another turning point;
a fork stuck in the road.
Time grabs you by the wrist;
directs you where to go.
So make the best of this test and don't ask why.

It's not a question but a lesson learned in time.
It's something unpredictablebut in the end it's right.

I hope you had the time of your life.

whats happening and whats not...

http://denver.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2006/10/30/story9.html?page=1&b=1162184400^1366948

same thoughts different expression again...

Nagesh Kukonnor’s latest film Dor brought back to me thoughts from Mitch Albom’s book ‘five people you meet in heaven’

- strangers are just family you have to yet come to know
- no life is a waste – the only time we waste is the time we spend thinking we are alone
- sacrifice is a part of life; it is supposed to be; it is not something to regret; it is something to aspire to : sometime when you sacrifice something precious, you are not really losing it; you are just passing it on to someone else
- Holding anger is a poison. It eats you from inside. We think that hating is a weapon that attacks the person who harmed us. But hatred is a curved blade. And the harm we do, we do to ourselves.
- Lost love is still love. It takes a different form- that’s all. When those senses weaken, another heightens; Memory.
Memory becomes your partner. You nurture it, you hold it. You dance with it.
- Love like rain can fall from above. Drenching couples with a soaking joy. But sometimes under the angry heat of life, love dries on the surface and must nourish from below, tending to its roots, keeping itself alive
- Each path in life is with a reason –a consequence- subconsciously or not you shall respond to your deeds.

they mean the same... Across the globe

“And you run, and you run to catch up with the sun, but it's sinking Racing around to come up behind you again The sun is the same in a relative way, but you're older Shorter of breath and one day closer to death”


"Waqt ki qaid mein zindagi hai magar-
Chand ghadiyan yehi hain jo aazad hainInko khokar mere jaan-e-jaan
Umr bhar na taraste raho "

never say 'never'...

...have you ever been in a state where you make 3 sets of four copies when u r simply supposed to make 4 sets of 3 different drawings. I did. and then your boss looks at you as though you have gone crazy cos he just ended up stapling four same drawings to a set that was to be submitted to the client. Thankfully its not very bad if the boss is not a bad guy!!! ( ok i know am confusing you but dont EXPECT me to say things simply anymore)

... you land up in office on the day of a breakfast club(friday) and ask "hey has anyone brought anything today?" and the person stares back at u in disbelief... only to say" IT WAS UR TURN"
OUCH!!!

one more SIMPLE task messed up.

and then you wish... only wish to go back to the days of KG. but that also seems impossible... how i wish I could do that.

you cant light the fire again once its all burnt down...

you cant dig a grave to find a newborn....

you cant hope for a flower to bloom again...

you cant deny the freshness of a young one...

you cant deny old is stale...

let there be light...

i had clicked this picture exactly a year ago in OCTOBER- 2005.

i dont knw why it was lyin in 'my documents' titled as 'emptiness' till now...

its seems like black is the color ...

setting up the RGB setting for a drawing in photoshop-
i wanted White- in my sleep I can tell you its 254,254,254

and here I am in the middle of the day typing 0,0,0 -

to see nothin but black on the screen: and wondering wht happened!!!

...the brighter side of black?

somethings look really nice, pure and CLEAR in black:
i am referring to some pics i had put up- the geometry and the fire crackers stand out beautifully...

blinding

its so blurry that I could not even see what was right in my face....

for all Wolverines...

http://www.arcspace.com/architects/allied_works/umma/umma.html

thought this might interest people related to Ann Arbor... for those who are in AA- there is also a physical model at the museum- the building is coming up next to angel hall.

reactions anyone?

...seasons greetings....

on a snowy 'fall'evening....





on a sunny 'summer'day

its that time of the year!!!

happy diwali!

pic 1: 4th july fireworks- coors field, denver - july 06

pic 2: fireworks at the cindrella castle- magic kingdom, disney world , FL -may 06

runway crap

Did you watch project runway?

I followed the entire 3rd season... haha!!!

and surely all throughout there was tons of drama et all. My favorite all along was Michael. But his last collection was surely disappointing.

Ooli(I don't care if I spelt it wrong) was really impressive- I loved her collection- it was cohesive, intense, distinctly styled and something anyone can think of wearing.

Laura - was boring! and old!!! ( expected from a 42 yr old architect? I hope not!)

Jeff- was obviously going to win - especially after the whole drama they created about almost throwing him out- if you followed the show all the way you would know how there existed this whole 'hate him' thing - and makin him cry the ultimate episode was part of the game to help us build some sympathy towards him. but no doubt his collection was great - I liked his designs all along just because they were 'creative' in the sense that you would least expect. He always tried something that was not the norm and least expected.

well I will miss watchin project runway every wednesday at 8pm - but I am goin to try and follow :top chef (with our very own Indian host infact - 'padmalakshmi' - u might have spotted her on page 3 - mumbai times sometime with mr. rashdie!!!) hope i learn some interesting recipes :)

now for my confession: if you have grown up anywhere near mumbai you must have surely gone through the phase of what to do after class 12th- well it was obvious that I would take up a career in architecture but somewhere deep down I wanted to pursue fashion- I even looked up courses at NIFT:) . however today thanks to a stupid tv show I know that I wouldn't have been good at it. reason: I am not questioning my design abilities or taste at all : the fact of the matter is I am a horrible craftsperson- no patience or meticulousness what so ever - wonder how I would make those clothes ever (that is probably why I almost avoided making physical models in undergrad - but thanks to technology in grad school that wasn't an issue)

-if you consider architecture as an art form at all- it would probably be one of those art forms where the artist need not be the one who executes the art

-is there a concept of male models in this country at all?- the runway is almost considered to be a 'for the woman' thing here- thank god it wasn't that way in India- we would not have a milind soman then( and I would never bump into him in the Xavier's lane)

- finally this post is goin to be one of those which I will never go back and read - and also try to forget easily :) but I am still putting it up.

distance

you plant your favorite seed with the hope of seeing it come alive..
water is - nurture it each day...
you are thrilled to see it grow...
to see it flourish... with your love and care...

the plant grows beautifully...
you nurture it more...
its most precious to you...
you cant believe its growth and beauty...

its keeps growing...
watering it is now a ritual..
you dont see a significant change...
you think you are giving it all the nurturing it needs...
you want to believe its flourishing...

and then one day a closer look... a gentle breeze in enough to make you realize...
the leaves have withered and falling... not withstood what you thought was just a breeze...
its looks the same from a distance... jsut as beautiful as it was....
but had you looked at it closely...
you thought it had matured?
or was it loss of its freshness?
or is it just plain old?

what went wrong?

probably time... and tht closer look which you should have made long ago.



(nothing other than a book i just finished readin has inspired this thought)

geometry

... of light, shade and texture.











pic:a 'spatial' sculpture at The Walker, Minneapolis again.



just a small addition: as i write this its snowing behind me : snow so early :(

LEGO

i am sure we all enjoyed it...

pic: disney store, disney downtown, FL.
may 2006

...

Dil naa ummiid to nahiin,
Naakaam hi to hai,
Lambii hai gam kii shaam,
Magar shaam hii to hai...

nahiin rahanevaalii ye mushkilenye...
hain agale mod pe manzilen...
merii baat kaa tuu yakiin kar...

kabhii dhund legaa ye kaaravaan vo naii zamiin nayaa aasamaan jise dhuundhatii hai terii najar...

...

stop living for today: it gets over even before you realize, to just be a distant memory!

c.a.g.e.d

On a lighter note to take a break from a text heavy blog, I decided to put up some images that come out of the set I have been clicking over the past couple of years.

This one is a zoomed in view of the exterior metal cladding at the Minneapolis Walker Art center (designed by Herzog de Meuron).

if i feel like I shall put more shots that I took here.

pic: Minneapolis trip - Oct 05

fame and taint - hand in hand

my posts are going more and more the 'architectural' and 'denver' way- but with all the hype about the city floating around in the context of architecture and being only in the company of architects please bear with me for one more post in that direction. i promise this shall change!!!

this is about one city and its relationship with two star architects - both making nationwide news but for distinct reasons:

so as mentioned earlier Libeskind's art museum has opened to the public and like any other hyped and much awaited building has managed to grab most of the attention of the media and the archi. circles- both applauding a radical feat. its cultural significance and contribution to the city and at the same time critiquing his work as crazy, pointless,sterotypical and a symbolic failure!!!

here is a photograph in one of the press articles which i found extremely funny: it almost mocks (you can read ridicules if u wish) the 'man' himself as an art piece in his building:

http://www.denverpost.com/artmuseum/ci_4435696

so on one hand as the city is basking in the glory of the attention from this museum, the rest of the news is dedicated to another star architect- but for his infamous exit from the justice center in denver. the justice center hosted a HUGE competition inviting popular architects from all over the world for this project- won by Steven holl and another local firm in denver the project was well into the design stage when news comes out that Holl is walking out of the project and the local firm is goin to take the project further.
Popular now as a big 'fiasco' in the architecture cirles, the fear is that the whole " lets go international" image that denver was trying to build is goin to be tainted for a really long time? Each one will think once before attempting to participate-

amidst all this i really feel bad for the other architects who participated in the competition only to learn now that a local firm is takin up the project.

here is proof of tht news:

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_4442883

so here is how fame and taint walk hand in hand for the city.

sawpping roles: the irony being denver is home to Daniel libeskind's first american building and at the same time Steven holl comes from the city of New York which has much criticzed Libeskind for his 'not standing by' the master plan at ground zero

- funny aint it: two individuals with no connections other than the same profession they belong to are glorified and not so glorified for the same reasons are now linked : swapping the city and balancing the equation!

IDEO

IDEO has always been an extremely interesting company when it comes to their strategies for innovation, structure and especially method.

After making its name in the industrial/product design company a section of IDEO looks at spaces and environmental design in the early 90s.

My post is about this group titled as 'smart space' and their diverse approaches to design;

here are a couple of articles which make an interesting read:

http://ideo.com/pdf/NYT_031206.pdf

http://www.metropolismag.com/cda/story.php?artid=2332

http://ideo.com/

This is not about advocating or following an approach but just about making a note for myself on my blog about an interesting company.

DAM

this weekend we - along with the whole of denver witnessed the much talked about opening of the 'much talked about' denver art museum(DAM) by Daniel Libeskind.

I was planning to put up a few pics but the first link has a great set of pics that tell the whole story!

http://www.arcspace.com/architects/Libeskind/denver2/denver2.html

http://www.archnewsnow.com/

we are all the mercy of TIME and LUCK

flash back - to vada paav

its stil early fall and the hot-dog, breakfast burrito stalls have not moved out from their everyday spots... today as I had the cheapest($1.25) and the quickest burrito meal ever the image flashing in front of my eyes wasn't that of the person who was selling me the burrito- it was a deja-vu - it almost felt like handing those 5 coins to the wada-paav vendor(gaadi) outside Kirti college.

but then guess what jolted me back to reality? the taste of the burrito was NOT EVEN half as good as that of the oily wada paav with chutney.

so now ...cravings for the same!!!

(fyi before I get yelled at: tht place is one of the few exceptions where I ate roadside food)

I stole this from 'someone's' blog

Love is neither physical, nor romantic.
LOVE IS AN ACCEPTANCE OF ALL THAT IS, HAS BEEN, WILL BE, AND WILL NOT BE!

where do you belong?

He has principles and stands by them.
He believes in certain things in life.
People identify and respect him for what he has always been.
He is firm and stands by his rigidity.
He thinks his way of doings things is the only way.
He thinks he doesnt err ever.
He is self satisfied and doesnt see a reason to change…

But You know you are in good company when the one sitting across you…

…stands by his principles but is more than willing to hear you out to adopt the new
…believes strongly in certain things in life but wants to add one to his list each day
…has identity, is respected but not a ‘stagnated image’
…is firm but not rigid – one that listens and then projects
…one who believes in his potential to do things the right way but longs to evolve
all the time
…who knows its human to err and is not god about it
…who is never self –satisfied and all he wants from life is to learn and believes that change is the only constant

a correction

so someone found my last post extremely funny... to the extent tht he claims to hv rolled on the floor....

here is the mail I recieved as a 'comment' from him

advait wrote: "aaiiii ga... jhandu nahi ga rani, jhendu JH-E-NDU!!! jhandu is the
balm... hahaha
lovely picture!"

laugh on!!!

a lil pause from the blue... some 'o r a n g e'

...happy dassera...

...its hard to miss the orange and yellow 'jhandu' flowers adorning every nook and corner...

(pic: "motion and radial blur" filter in photoshop applied to a pic of a 'thali of flowers' clicked by ta!{charita}