Red rocks amphitheater...

man... nature... history... music exist in absolute harmony...

each in all its might
each respecting the other
each complimenting the other...
each contributing to completing the phenomenon.

each creates an art form:

millions of years ago nature created an art form by the foothills of the rockies... a rock formation rich and dense -in texture - in form and in color...

... man discovered the art form... and paid his tribute to nature.... an architecture that respects nature like I have never seen before... one that gives another art form back to nature... music!

...an amphitheater nestled in this red rock formation- a hall of fame that probably competes to be one of the best ever... an experience I shall surely wait for once again... especially to witness a concert.

on days when you amaze yourself... give yourself a pat on your back!!!

INK

good coffee is spoiling me...

its 2 in the afternoon and I am craving for coffee... not for the one brewed in office... not one that I can walk down to starbucks and get...

but for good coffee from INK... the cute red coffee shop close to my place... that has excellent coffee...

check this link out to learn what I am talking about:

http://www.inkcoffee.com

one for the road...

gossip

http://www.westword.com/blogs/?p=549#more-549

I was a part of the above described party- after reading the article I dont know if thats a good thing or not. But I was a part of it only as one of the designers for the show and not cos cos I wanted to dress up :) and show off... haha.. so much for justification.

Anyway - I put this link up for you all to read the third paragraph which starts with an "unfortunately... " i think its a good take on the latest fashion trend thats beginning to hit the stores.

Everytime I go to a mall these days the first thing that catches my eye are those dresses. they really are cute... but next time I will have to think twice!!!

on top of the world...

its was a foggy morning outside- but each time i see these dense clouds I just remember the image above - how the sun shows in all its strength above the clouds - and then its only a matter of time when it takes over completely

- just like right now outside the window its shining bright!!!

thought for the day

nothing in life is for granted

more lil something

I read something really beautiful by our office accountant's desk this afternoon. I dont remember the exact words but I will try to make this sound right:

Always be extra kind to anyone you meet...
... for each one has his own battle to fight... even as you speak!!!

more archives

this goes back a year!

fyi: tulips are my favorite flowers

Relief

YaY! YaY!

the temprature as of 1.00pm - denver downtown is 57F- and the sun shines too :)

yay ... yay... yay... you would know what this means to me if you followed the terrible cold and snow storms that had hit us here!!!

archives

sometimes you find great memories in your 'my pictures' folder on your office computer on not such an interesting day at work

-these images go back 4 or so years now... a bunch of 'constructive people' as titled by namu

enjoy their weekend in her Kamshet Farmhouse...

I chose to put in images here that are mostly the 'top view' to illustrate the fact that the bunch who you see down there is mostly a bunch or architects...

get the 3d top view now?

Brutal...

... is the weather this February...

just walked into office with a head-ache... and why not when the temp. reads: -1F and with the windchill: -10F

walk on

Our project manager sent us this thought for the day:

The sooner you fall behind, the more time you have to catch up.

me adding to it:

once you know you have fallen behind - dont look back at what could have been or how to correct it or cry...
-learn, start afresh and 'walk on' and you will know ' its never late to catch up'
... you will just be 'one step closer to knowing'

(yes ! I am listening to a lot of U2 these days)

p.s: I am sorry about leaving the 'lost in translation' bit incomplete... I will get to it as soon as I find sometime to breathe.

coming soon...

L o s t

I n

T r a n s l a t i o n

shine on

I could not agree more that Pink Floyd music is the most painful music to listen to- once someone told me ' it is something you love and hate at the same time' - today I know exactly what they meant.

I love them- I surely do... but is there a single song that doesnt revive far gone pain like it was yesterday?

no I cant listen to anything.... time, us and them, high hopes, coming back to life, dark side...

(for the record these are at the top of my favorite nos. sometimes I wonder how they sum life so well)

... all I can listen to right now is ... 'SHINE ON!!! '

p u r s u e

I woke up this morning not feeling good ( but if U know how difficult mornings are for me you would not be surprised)... anyway thats not the point...

I was particularly not feeling good at all... as I pushed myself to the daily' get ready for work' routine that starts with switching on the Weather channel for a minute or two -get the hang of what the day is going to be like and then keep the TV on Fox News while I am doing my stuff and then walk out of the house... (boring morning huh!- sounds like when I spell it out)

Ok again, coming back to the point...

this morning I accidentally had switched on 'Frasier' instead of the news channel and still kept doing my stuff ( i hate that show- i don't even know why they have it there especially in the morning) and well I didn't even realise what I had going on there till I heard one line which actually caught my attention and brightened my morning ...

I heard someone say

' only successful is that life which is lived in the pursuit of passion'

so i thought... to each is his own...
said to myself... live and let live...

and was so ready to look forward to another day in 'pursuit of passion'

...

I know you would rather see my blog with my own writings than lyrics of songs... but sometimes you just have to put it up for your self - especially this song - i am puttin it up the second time -

cos in the simplicity of its lyrics lies immense truth.

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 unpredictable, but in the end it's right.
I hope you had the time of your life.

So take the photographs, and still frames in your mindHang it on a shelf in good health and good time
Tattoos of memories and dead skin on trial

For what it's worth it was worth all the while

It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right. I hope you had the time of your life.
It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right. I hope you had the time of your life.
It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right. I hope you had the time of your life.

more learnings

sometimes when you are 26 you know what a 16 year old feels when he leaves home to begin a new world... to wake up on the dorm bed and a small room and new landscape... away from comfort that he is used to.

he feels a loss of stability - vulnerable - exposed -at times he evens probably feels like running back to where he came from... but then he stops...


... cos all that is overtaken by the want to prove himself -cos its his own choice-with him now is his own strength- the desire make a place for himself- to find who he is - ON HIS OWN... to make mistakes but to know what he will learn will be his for life to keep!!! to nurture himself!!!the want to carve his individuality above the shelter he has always been used to!!!

its a tough road he says but he shall learn and only learn on this path!!!

ICE

guess what justifies my white?

the weather:

here is the weather warning for today:

storm watch: "crippling ice storm expected. "

just when you feel nothing can get worse than 10 feet of snow you get warnigns of an ICE storm.

- what on earth does that feel like? never experienced one -

as of now it really is cripping pain -I went out for like a few minutes to grab lunch and felt the cold hurting me so much that it almost left me breathless and a few minutes more in that wind would mean something close to dying only. my body still hurts!


http://www.weather.com/newscenter/stormwatch/

w h i t e

its fresh ...
its pure ...
its honest ...
its a clean slate ...
its unadulterated ...
its child like ...
its beautfiul...
it does not have a Dark Side!!!
it shall BE...

butterflies

when it comes to relationships...

some people are ready to settle down for anything
some people are ready to settle down

and some people are ready to settle down with nothin else but BUTTER FLIES.... :)



says not me .... but sarah jessica parker.... but ME AGREES !!!!

learnings

sometimes there is light at the time you least expect...

i attended one of the usual monthly office lunch presentations. with a large turn out it did promise to be a good one... but one thing that differentiated this lunch presentation from all the other that I have seen in the past seven months... it was not duty that was being performed on either side... nor on the side of the speakers nor the audience... it was not a typical marketing attempt performed by someone representing a company and the audience didn't attend it for any 'aia credits'.

this is not about the content of the presentation... but about what the 'light' for me was..

the key to this successful presentation was the presence of absolute 'passion'.

something I have learnt over time...

passion is the key to success...
passion is commitment
passion is truth in its entirety
passion is where the drive is
passion is enrichment
passion is what makes communication the best


somehow all this came to me out of the blue as I attended the presentation - the topic of which was 'integrated modelling' - maybe not my cup of tea at all... there is so much good out there... you just have to chose whats best for u!!! what is passion for you.

some of my best work has been the one I am most passionate about... to work on -to relate to - to communicate

Also something else the presenter said that I really liked; his concluding line about a new architectural software catching up rapidly an people still being a little hesitant to try it:

It is always hard to leave something you know really well!!! but you just don't know how easy the new one is!!!

so the two men walked out of the room giving a techinical presentation on their subject and I walked out of the room thinking of something I realised at the ned of their talk!!! such is the nature of learning and life... its always a new find!!!

random me!!!

- ok this is it. the third snow storm in three weeks- like one a week?...the poor disaster stuck colorado is just drowning in it. I am SICK of snow for a long time now. and I dont think I can take any more snow for like 5 years

- lean cuisines make good lunches-- in the beginning you might feel that they dont fill your stomach - but eventually you get used to the portions and eating more than that just feels too much. they are good for people like me who like to eat every few hours rather than two main meals of the day :)

- workin on a ski resort RIGHT NOW is making me alll the more SICK of this snow. I want to work on something else.

- i want to be by the coast. i want to be by the coast. i want to be by the coast.

2 0 0 7

lets welcome the new year with a few questions:

we all have beliefs!!!

-how many times do you find yourself practicing what you believe in?

-how many times do you find yourself living in denial about a few facts?

-even if you accept the facts do you have the courage to say them loud and act upon them?

guess who sits on my desktop these days?

have you ever seen someone as adorable as this lil baby here? presenting once again







- slightly older and much SMARTER - tia the princess....









- and making news even :) miss her so much . cant believe I have not seen her yet

of kissing scenes and foolish stars

http://content.msn.co.in/Entertainment/Bollywood/Bollywood_indiafm_271206_1158.htm

this is the most ridiculous article I have read so far... i didn't even get beyond the first couple of paragraphs but just something I had to say that got reinforced after reading a little bit:

1. the Indian 'so-called' super stars(you may read hritik if you dislike him as much as I do) are nothing but DUMB
2. the Indian audience is light years aways from being described as a sensible audience. ( how on earth can Dhoom 2 be a superhit?)
3. its unbelievable that kissing scenes are talked and published and hyped about in the Indian context.

Now, here is my little piece as to how I even realised there was a kissing scene in the movie:

I was talking to my mom on the phone this morning and she happened to describe to me how she was completely taken aback by the words of my soon to be 13 year old, American born Desi nephew.

So this kid comes home after having watched the movie with his cousins: here goes:

my mom: so what did you like about the movie?
my nephew: well, the movie was ok but I really liked the kissing scene betn ash and hritik
my mom: speechless - no means to reciprocate to that one.
my nephew: u see I am soon going to be 13 - need to know all these things right!!!

to me that was hilarious -
my mom's astonishment just puts her in the right place in her generation.
my nephew is justified in his -

but to top it all - the person in a fix - his mom - who probably is the one fighting hard to handle the situation as it should be.

o r a n g e - g l o w

now truly after the storm

the sun shines over the sun-shine city!!! a blanket of white now glows - a lovely reunion of the mighty sun and the strong yet soft snow

the city still struggling to overcome nature's wrath.

the dayafter the storm? or day 2 of the storm?

today all the images clicked are from my apartment window- cos its impossible to get out of the house - the snow is still comin down - the sun is fittin hard to make its presense felt - leavin a beautiful glow on the white surface - JUST PRETTY. enjoy the white - while it lasts - and cheers to one more day where man fails and nature wins !!!

first hand - part 2

the lost downtown









trying to see









nothing is stopping them from the jaccuzi ( can u see the people? )









the street drowning








emptiness

the city SHUT till further notice - first hand

driving back











from the building lobby








whats behind?








sitting by itself








coming down heavy

the B L i Z Z a r D in Denver and all of Colorado

The storm has hit and the state is in a mess - the Governor has announced a state of emergency, public transport is almost shut, the freeways are all shut, the internal roads are nothing but covered in snow, the airport has had like more than 800 flights cancelld, all emergency personnel are out there.... you can obviously catch all this on the news.

here is my bit of the story:

Our office shut this afternoon - obviously the picture looked very pretty from the window and the first reaction was of happiness of a half day and a possible no working day tomorrow. I left the office, my car wading through the snow... me enjoying the blizzard, even taking pics as I drove, just cos the drive is not too long and my apartment is close to home - but it was not a complete joy ride - even in that 5 min, less than a mile drive, my car got stuck in the foot of snow that had collected just a few minutes from home. trying hard to get it out but in vain -thankfully a gentleman got out of his car and helped me out through it - me on the wheel accelerating as much as I could and he pushing the car back and forth from the outside - all this lasted only a few minutes but surely made me realise how the picture was not happy at all out there - and then my thoughts completely shifted from the joys of an early off to all the people who have to travel so much and are stuck out there.

some thoughts that crossed my mind - the rescue agencies are all prepared and equipped and still struggling here in Colorado - but doing a good job - my heart just cries out to all the calamities that happen back home and how we JUST LACK a rescue plan what so ever.

I will put up pics right now

h a l f

Amidst a thousand events and happenings, life goes on and there is something that waits for none!!!

T I M E :

yet another journey officially reached its 6 month mark - Denver and RNL!!!


... cheers to solitude!!!

life's like that too...

there are too many chocolates and goodies all around the place this holiday season.

if you try to grab them all it will only leave you sick and nauseatic... looking fat , ugly and greedy!!!

pick your best one and leave the rest for the deserving ones.

reaching out

wrinkles...

... a testimony of age ... not wisdom!!!

different expressions of the same feeling!!!

so DHOOM 2 is a really bad movie...

and we all know that now...

but the fun part is to see how everyone is ripping it apart in their own way -
the reviews may say one thing - but here are three interesting takes on the movie from fellow bloggers -
who all only share one thing in common from their post - sheer disappointment and disgust with the movie -
but I could sense one thing (maybe i am wrong) - all these posts come from people who love their Indian cinema - and feel bad when whats offered is something as bad as DHOOM2!!!

ditto from my side guys!!!

http://maithilikabre.blogspot.com/2006/11/all-thats-slick-doesnt-make-for-good.html

http://anarchytect.blogspot.com/2006/11/dhoom-2.html

http://pinkfloyd7.blogspot.com/2006/11/time-to-take-back-seat-mr-bond-because.html

skyline

i stole this image from www.denver.org...

but isnt it just a beautiful image of the city?

back home? or something like that!!!

yes it was break time : thanksgivin time : time to visit family : and i did just that.

well break's over now - back to denver - tht is surprisingly colder than ever- and interestingly it was wayyyy warmer in michigan.

i dont have much to say yet -

had a restful break and gettin into the work groove is a little tough right now.

so as I try really hard to get into the routine here is one more interesting one liner:

"What is time? It is a secret - lacking in substance and yet almighty."

-Thomas Mann, The Magic Mountain. "

a lil something

this was the 'punch' line for an upcoming movie - i cant remember the name of the movie... but this lil one liner did stick in my head:

'sometimes the largest distance to be covered is that between two people'

now my two cents to this:

'sometimes the largest distance is also too small to come inbetween two people.'

...

yes its been a long time considering my latest 'blogging' pace... but I have nothin to say -
especially today -
if you dont mind listening to me crib, here goes -

its a horrible monday - was a hectic weekend- a horrible horibble throat- leavin me with everything that ranges from a cold to headache to a fever and to top it all- the reason for me blogging in the middle of the day - a horribly intense day at work for a monday:( and unrealistic deadlines - unreasonable clients.

the brighter side: its a 3 day week remember? :)

I JUST SAW ANDRE AGASSI...

.. on a normal wednesday aftertoon - with my lunch bought from paradize bakery in my hand I was waitin for the elevator in the office building lobby - I suddenly saw andre agassi walk past me in the lobby with someone else. I wondered whether it was really him or just some one dressed in all balck leather who I thought looked like him.

running up to my desk to google 'andre agassi- denver' - so here is what I found:

http://www.denverpost.com/tourism/ci_4394610

the story goes: post -tennis, agassi is gettin into real esate. He and steffi graff ,have joined hands with Exclusive Resorts to develop new luxury resort communities.

and Exclusive resorts in denver bases and has their office in the same building as ours: tht is how I REALLY ran into him.

i think that was a real PLEASANT SURPRISE on a normal work day -
and to also learn that in the middle of a cold sunny afternoon I WASNT DREAMIN after all.

memories...

have u noticed this connector in the Wrigley building while walkin on Michigan ave, Chicago ?

prob not - cos at this moment u r gettin ready for the soon to come breath takin view of the city along the river...

moma

... light that changes path.

...space... that is complete only with the void.

.. a picture that is actually incomplete...

can u guess why?

nike run

- just felt like puttin up something really stupid- so here is a pic of my new Nike run shoes.... they r not stupid at all :)

on a tired day... i long for the sea!

after a long stressful work day you often long to go and relax by nature - for me it is the SEA - the water I really really long for. I was never a mountain person but living in colorado is quite an experience- comin across people who love their mountains- experiencing the pleasure of proximity to the mountains- and now with my new project even workin in the context of the mountains. As every other experience, no doubt I am enjoying all this too. but in the heart of all this lies a person who really really loves the sea - who wants to go after a tired working day and find solace in the sound of the waves- feel the sea-breeze and feel the salt on the skin.
- even to the extent of workin in the context of the sea
- to drive, walk along the sea

having grown up in bombay I took it for granted- but there are times now when I feel land locked -

I want to live where you can say the land ends or begins :)

addendum: the reason for this post: I feel like I dont understand the mountains _ I dont belong to them- I dont know them- I cant design for them- I feel disconnected from the context - I look for references and seem to understand the ones by the sea way better. Guess cos of my struggle with not being able to work with the mountain context comfortably I will never be able to find solace in them again - they intimidated me just cos of their intensity- now they do cos I cant even look through them and understand them. I feel horrible : context matters to me and I have to try hard to understand this one :(

transcending cultures...

this weekend I saw the new Umrao jaan- anticipatin it to be a borin movie with nothin but abhishek bachan to look at I was not expectin much. The movie was ordinary- but the story of umrao (a tawaif), half an hour into the movie reminded me of 'memoirs of a geisha'.
and all along (amidst the thousand mediocre song- dance sequences) there were glimpses of a geisha in the story.

I didnt know the story of Umrao Jaan at all - it was surely interesting to learn about this exact same parallel almost on the other side of the world.

are you fat? probably cos you live in the suburbs

http://www.canada.com/topics/bodyandhealth/story.html?id=e3932c7a-0a97-4b94-8fcd-1516ea86cfe1&k=17723&p=1

so if you are obese dont blame it on anything else - but the place u live- the architects/planners who throw the cities/lifestyles at u :)

whats up?

... craft on the ceiling...















... Herzog de meuron at work at the Walker arts center!

and ofcourse, one important thing: HAPPY BIRTHDAY DIDI... MISS U!

zaha

http://heritage.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=1396&id=1587412006

in my daily archnews -newsletter I came aross a very interesting article about 'THE WOMAN' hereself- zaha hadid.

though the people think both she and her work is crazy and overhyped there are many things about her which fascinate me - maybe its the whole bias about 'women in architectre'....

A couple of reasons I found this article interesting: describes not her work but her amusing ways of working and living and also some instances about being famous

- how people(read women and critics) react to her fame, work and lifestyle.

and most interestingly it is written by another woman- of indian origin for the 'architecture section' of 'scotland on sunday' -

... so this one to all women who love their professions more than anything else!!!

presenting...

...the smile of the year...











(dont miss the lil name on the dress)

when the thought is pure it can be expressed in all simplicity: just like this simple song:

Aa chal ke tujhe, main le ke chaluun
ik aise gagan ke tale
jahan gam bhii na ho, aansoo bhi na ho
bas pyaar hii pyaar pale

Suraj ki pahali kiran se, aashaa kaa savera jaage
chandaa kii kiraN se dhul kar, ghanaghor andhera bhaage kabhi dhuup khile kabhi chhaav mile
lambii sii Dagar na khale
jahan gam bhi na ho, aansoo bhi na ho
bas pyaar hi pyaar pale
ik aise gagan ke tale

Jahan door nazar daud aae, aazaad gagan laharaae laharaee
jahan rang birange panchhi, aashaa kaa sandesaa laayen
sapano me pali hansati ho kali
jahan shaam suhaani dhale
jahan gam bhi na ho, aansoo bhi na ho
bas pyaar hi pyaar pale
ik aise gagan ke tale

Sapano Ke aise jahan mein jahan pyaar hi pyaar khila ho
hum jaa ke vahan kho jaaye shikuva na koyi ghila ho
kahin bhair na ho koyi ghair na ho
sab milke chalte chale
jahan gam bhi na ho aansoo bhi na ho
bas pyaar hi pyaar pale

f l a v o r s

Flavors- the abcd movie- was a good movie - but more than that I really like the sound track- been with me for a while now.

found something funny in it: there is a song which goes like " take life like it is"...

it has a line : 'dont go desi on me dude... if you could you would... take life like it is. '

what does tht mean? tht we desis dont take life like it is?

why? is it true?