inside outside

inside outside, originally uploaded by K'space.

reflecting water

the sky and water, originally uploaded by K'space.

Full and final Calatrava from my end
- to see all the pictures of the Milwaukee art museum click on the pic and it will take you to my flickr - yes i finally did it!!!!

w o r l d m a p p e r

http://www.worldmapper.org/index.html


an interesting website for all those who love maps!


addendum: Harry thank you for posting the link of http://www.wikimapia.org/

I added my Prabhadevi residence (Utkarsh) to it - figured someone has already added it - so the one I have marked highlights as a star :)

the sweet summer smell

the bright skies
the sea of sun shades
the skimpy clothes
the streets alive
the art spilling out
the smiley faces
the lovely outdoor Sundays!

l o v e

some times the intensity of emotions transcends distance-

Charita left for Australia today - i woke up at 7 am on a Sunday morning cos I just wanted to wish her luck before her flight from Bombay took off- her move from India to Australia to me should just mean a difference in the number of miles we are apart by - but the emotions still don't stop - a huge knot in the stomach and an ache that passes through the heart - a feeling of a loved one going away...

... so what is it that makes this so tough even when we are away already... just the sight of seeing my parents my elder sister at the airport wishing one more daughter good luck as she moves to a far a way land - the tears just roll even now imagining what our parents must be going through each time they stand across that railing trying to get a glimpse of their children at the check in counters just knowing that as they turn back life is again going to be filled with emptiness.

MISS HOME ! ! !

i truly believe that emotions are to be kept away from my blog but sometimes you just have to let it out here cos most of us share the exact same emotion!!!

colors of the earth

Serenity in Pattern

more Calatrava- Milwaukee Arts Museum

happy birthday TIA

the princess diary can mark her first birthday bash today

another work trip tale

a few posts ago I wrote about how excitng it is when you go sight seeing for context - well I have another 'exciting' tale to tell about my trip to the same place - Rapid City, SD

This time I didn't go sight seeing - but I got a roller coaster ride for sure... which I apparently have seemed to register well into my system cos I am writing a post about it at 10 .26 pm after a long long day.

If you follow the weather closely and live anywhere in the mid-west you probably experienced the gusty winds in the range of 50-80 miles/hr today. I experienced them not only as I was trying to hold myself to the ground as I walked on the street in Rapid City but more so when our plane was TRYING (note the caps) to land into Rapid City.

Being a regional fight - on a propeller jet we were already not very excited about flying out on a day like today - but it only got exciting when the plane was wobbling as we were getting closer to the ground - with a steep angular landing we thought we almost landed but apparently not - the plane was just about to hit the ground and the pilot suddenly caught speed( i can still feel that HUGE KNOT in my stomach) and took to the skies once again - circling around a few hundred feet above the grounf and coming back for a second attempt which my colleagues and I agreed that it almost failed or rather we felt like we were just propped onto the ground.

I know nothing - absolutely nothing about airplanes and flying - ( am sure there are readers of my blog who can fill me in with all the technical details on this one) but was surely the first time I experienced this kind of a landing and heavy winds and hard hitting rain!!!

on a side note : on the flight back I was battling to finish a book and managed to read the last line as the plane hit the runway ( yippee)

that got me thinking of about the sweet pleasures of :

1. feeling extremely satisfied on completing a book
2. the after taste of a wonderful meal that you so dont want to lose
3. the satisfaction of completing an art work ( or maybe an activity/sporting event)
4. eating something that hits your taste buds spot on - especially something you remember from old times. (like tibbs frankie came to my mind right now) \

good night ( sorry for a long post - i surely love to avoid them myself)

lifestyles of the rich and famous

Our office Admin Assistant mailed me this link this morning with the title: hows this for a house!!!

I am putting up this post cos I was wondering what image she must have built in her mind of the place in Mumbai

http://www.forbes.com/2007/06/02/india-mumbai-palace-faces-markets-cx_rd_0602ambani.html

and oh yes - its no surprise but do read who is the architect for the project!!!

the orange bee -hive

a close -up looking out- of the skin of the Rem Koolhaas IIT building.

-you can see the road blurry in the backdrop - using the macro mode and positioning the camera such that a perfectly flat surface appears to buldge in the middle. I loved the orange. \Surely one of my better photos if I myself may say so!!!

Post Cards

Mt. Rushmore - from the archives - on days when work means visiting places for context :)

the back room

not just Jazz by the Bay :) in Chicago- where they play the blues!!! and I put one more memorable experience to my list :)

S A N C T I T Y

.. is not limited to the house of worship - D I V I N E is the space in here


the interior walkway in the Milwaukee Art Musuem - by Calatrava ( This project has some great aspects to it- more pictures will come up -I dont feel like cluttering the images with text either)

S E R E N E in the C I T Y

Misc

1. long weekends are long in themselves- that makes them good. but another good thing about them - the week that follows is shorter.

2. experiencing places has often got to do with who you experience them with - we 'the people ' can make an experience richer or otherwise for the other.

3. its time to catch all the 'thirds' - Shrek 3; POC 3 and Oceans 13.

4.its time for some pictures : and not crappy ones from my phone camera but new ones from my NEW camera!

who is competing to be the tallest - surely I never can - hehe

http://www.aia.org/aiarchitect/thisweek07/0525/0525n_tall.cfm

Afternoon thought..when works slows down a bit!!!

MB: have a good weekend
me: oh! you not coming in tomorrow
MB: no - my youngest son graduates tomorrow morning - high school
me: great
MB: Yes, we are getting ready to get into the EMPTY NESTERS category again.
me: laughs and thinks in my mind what he means is 'pakhre udand jhaali'

then,

me thinks after he walks by:
most of our parents are empty nesters now - but in the Indian household it is still not as ritualistic as 16 = high school graduation = out of home
will it even be anytime soon till this pattern sets into a typical Indian family?
I dont think so - even today leaving home typically happens only if one choses to go out of the home-city to work, study some place else or if you are the girl child who opts(in some cases is expected)to live with the husbands family once married- and yes all of the above have a thousand emotional ups and downs attached to them

then after 5 minutes me goes back to a my previous thought:
being in the construction business I have heard the term ' empty nesters' as a market category of home buyers many times but today when I heard him say it I realised its similarity to the marathi phrase(or is it a name of play?) 'pakhre udand jhali'.

This is no gyan ofcourse but just a little something that points out a certain similarity in the way ones thinks of things and phrases terms that go beyond language, beyond location, beyond time and beyond circumstance

Coffee Rules

1.there are only few things more refreshing and alluring than the smell of hot fresh brewed coffee...

2.there are only few things that turn off more than the smell and look of stale coffee living in a cup or by the coffee machine...

whats the word bird?

'starchitect'


Just came across an article with this title:

The Next Dakota
French STARCHITECT Jean Nouvel’s 40 Mercer reimagines the quintessential New York apartment house downtown, with riverviews

anyway this is not about the article... first we called them 'star architects' now 'starchitects' - interesting!!!

FYI: I really like Jean Nouvel's work - and think he surely is a STArCHITECT. Just remembered I had to give a presentation on his work for my theory class sometime in grad school- was not about his buildings but the philopsophy manifested in them - was not an easy task to my memory :)

Here is the article if you are interested:

http://nymag.com/homedesign/spring2007/31800/

monday morning blues

do you wonder every monday morning - why are there mondays?


I DO

- but then every FRiday - dont you thankgod its friday?

I DO

darkness

in the mountains

pret - a - porter

-means 'ready to wear




an event where interior design/architecture firms from the city participate - design clothes with materials/fabrics used in interior design and have their models walk the ramp with their ' creative' designs... our office participated too - i was not a part of the team ( as most know I have no interest in interior design) but none the less our entry did stand out among the rest - though the judges didn't think so - they picked some awful dresses(and models too)

anyway here is one more from my phone series when me and my friends from work were hanging out in our own group in the upper gallery when all the loud people were grabbing the ramp to have some fun during the after party - i would rather see the fun from up there :)

blurring fast

from the denver airport train

chocolates to the rescue

how many times have u not felt too well and looked to chocolates or something sweet to be the saviour?

I have done that a number of times - yes bad for me but works... under the pretext(to myself only) of wanting some fresh air, I walked down straight to Rocky mountain chocolate factory - ( i could have just walked too right to get fresh air)- and treated myself to a coco cabana truffle ( white chocolate and coconut) and a orange jello bar (orange jello dipped in chocolate that is)...

I love such chocolate shops that don't hv the usual junk from the vending machine but truffles - chocolate dipped strawberries and the likes - and oh yes those chocolate dipped apples which just make me LAUGH... i cant imagine eating one ever but just the sight of someone eating it is Hilarious

r c u s s b

supermanallintheheadfreshfeelinggoodtimegoodlifenewslang
beautifulworldholdonhopefightingformylovehoochhallelujahendcredit
scoreoverkill


this is how they kept playing on my i-tunes today 'back to back'.

if you havent heard them make sure u do today. each said a thousand things to me.

and just for fun and cos i am bored I jumbled up the title... or maybe to make it even harder for you to read through :)

spiderman 3

Watch Spiderman if you wanna see:

-some 'haha' and some 'what crap'and a few 'impressive' special effects
-if you want to see how Peter Parker takes inspiration from our very own super hero Hritik Roshan in Krish(even the dancing and romancing part of inspiration included here) and flops badly
-if you want to learn about darker sides that we all have somewhere
-if you want to get some not so intelligent advice about marraige
-if you want to learn how we always have' a choice' in life and its imperative to make the right one (assuming you know which one is the right one)
-if you want to see two 'good guy' super heroes fight two ' bad guys' together...DOSTI ke KHATIR ofcourse!!!

and in the end if you are thinking like I did 'have to see a sequel if its made' go ahead and have fun!!!

c l i c k e d

After procrastinating on it for months I finally transferred all the images that I have been taking on my humble phone on to my computer - so I thought of putting some of those pictures up over the next few posts or sometimes in between other posts...

... these pictures are low res not so good images - and surely wont be in any league of good photography but they are meant to capture the world as one sees it at that moment - to capture a moment, a space, a place just as it is - bare - and more so framing the moment, the space, the place as I see it!!!

some of them go back to almost a year ago...here is to some crappy photography and the world as I see it with my true companion - my PHONE :)


W A T E R T O W E R, Chicago - clicked sometime last year
standing amidst the towering sky scrapers on magnificent mile - a shimmer that you surely notice...not in the skyline but at the level of your eye...

Tia's buckets series :)

green fact

“If you want to save a little CO2, use the airport lavatory, not the one on the plane. The fuel used for every mile-high flush could run a car for 6 miles.”



- well this could work for domestic flights but not if you are flying international :) - nonetheless useful to know right?

10

my lil(or not so lil anymore) niece RIA turns 10 yrs old today... its hard to imagine - it really is... it feels like yesterday when i think of
...the first time I held here when she was jsut a few minutes old and felt like the softest thing I had ever touched in my life... or the times when she used to come to JJ with my parents to see me- just a toddler barely able to walk - those blue-grey eyes and rosy lips and pink cheeks are so clear in my memory
... or the time when I first saw her in school at the age of 3 performing to the same nursery rhyme(piggy on the railway) that I performed to when I was the same age
... or the time when she was the super naughty 7 year when I left home to come to study here more interested in her ice cream at the airport than the fact that I was going away
... time flies and all that remains is memories of the 'wonder years' i wish her all the luck and MISS HER LOADS TODAY as she celebrates her 10th birthday thousands of miles away.

love u RIA

more scrubs

Have you seen the episode where Eliot has lost her job in Sacred Heart and is working for some small clinic - Turk, J.D and Karla try to help her get her job back but she refuses to accept the help - she points out that Karla is as proud to not even accept Turk's name- Dr.Kelso after a mean act of not helping a poor dying patient struts around proudly in the office... its been an extremely tough day at the hospital for Dr. cox and J.D

...as the episode concludes, J.D is sitting by the steps and thinking to himself - after such a horrible day how can anyone walk out happy from this place... and right then he again see Dr. Kelso whistling away to glory and going home saying -'what a wonderful day'

So looking back at the days' events- at Dr. Kelso's, Eliots attitudes,J.D concludes.... "our pride defines who we are"

my two cents: there is a thin line between pride and self respect... its always better to strive to be closer to the latter... not let pride come inbetween your life but make sure you dont lose your self respect with your actions.

We may live without her(architecture), and worship without her but we cannot remember without her

- John Ruskin. the seven lamps of architecture, 1849.

Going through some research on historic downtowns at work came across this strong statement. U may want to deny it but it TRUE

me smiles (the devil smile)

question

what is the difference between finding reasons to justify an act and reasoning out your actions?

o n e

and one by one they find a place in our calender, in our hearts, in our minds... making new ones - scratching off the old...

...and everytime the day is here we say ... this day that year!!!





I graduated this day last year... I am sure this 'one' will fade off but it surely got me looking back at the first year out of school for me... they say life changes - they are not wrong at all!!!

gyan

“We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”

- Albert Einstein

green fact

DID YOU KNOW?

“Almost 100 million trees and 28 billion gallons of water each year are used to produce junk mail.”

can you break this bond?

have you ever wondered how there is an undying and STRONG relationship between procrastination and deadlines...

Procrastination can be brought to an end only with deadlines... and deadlines would not have been deadlines if there was no procrastination...

there is never a starting early and finishing well ahead of time, is there?

the reason I brought this up today - cos today is the US tax deadline and I saw many around procrastinating on it till the last minute :)


p.s : no offense meant to all those 'pro-active' people who never have to cringe!!!

i think i am going to start the HATE STARBUCKS CLUB....

anyone interested?

i am no super man

SCRUBS- my favorite tv show - makes evenings at home and even work outs fun!!!

and always has some wonderful lil somethings to learn from...

here is a nice one from last evening:

eliot to Dr. Cox - " You never do what is right, but what makes you look right"

ps: i love the soundtrack, anyone wants to gift me anything, u can gift me one!!!

brutal glow

BREAK

i feel like taking a lil break from the blogging world-i don't know how long or short this could be - maybe even last a day, if i get excited about something and feel like blogging. but yes - right now i don't feel like writing anything here. I am sure it wont last more than a few weeks.

however - this absence doesn't mean an inactive k'space - i shall keep posting photographs and other visuals that appeal to me.

so keep visiting...

free FOUR

memories of a man in his old age
are the deeds of a man in his prime

:)

300

Most reviews didn't quite rave about the movie and wrote it off saying except for a few worth a mention 'visual graphics' the movie doesn't have all it takes to be called a 'great epic movie' Maybe I agree...

but here is where I think the movie stands out... 'clarity and simplicity of representation' - in terms of color, graphics, story telling, character sketches, photography...

the complain I used to have with predecessors of this genre was always the 'too much' of everything... a thousand colors, complex graphics, too many simultaneous stories, incomplete character sketches... 300 does that at times with the monstrous figures and faces( i hated them) -but the bloodshed, slaughter , the war all of it is more pretty and graphically pleasant than gruesome.

the color of the movie : crimson, beige and grey!

BRIE....

wht was for lunch yesterday?

grilled cheese sandwich - contents: brie, strawberries and pepper jelly!!!

photo courtesy: foodnetwork website

I walked out of the office wanting something healthy - walked to 'Greens' - a very interesting salad place - but only to see a 50 people line... so decided to walk to another favorite- the market cafe- also a very interesting European cafe/deli... but on my way as I was walking by one more favorite store- the gourmet cheese shop ( famous for gourmet cheese and exotic spices) - there i discovered that they have lunch specials... grilled cheese sandwiches with all the different types and combinations.

and I can NEVER TURN DOWN A 'BRIE' - especially a melted one :)

an appetizer u cant turn down: melted brie, walnut and fresh fruit

so all the eating healthy down the drain for yesterday :)

some facts: http://homecooking.about.com/cs/cheese/a/brie.htm

tell me which one is your favorite?

slam- the- ishq

-There are a bunch of actors who don't have jobs… and I feel like being merciful to them and give them a role
But I also want to be safe – so I shall take a few actors who are doing well but are available cheaply
I want my hero to be a taxi driver - a middle aged businessman and absolutely everything t hat lies in between
I want my female lead to be everything from an item no. girl to do bachho ki maa and yes... everything that lies in between
I want to cast a 'firang' in my film
My story is made of a thousand no sense making scenes but wait... it shall ALL FALL IN PLACE IN THE END

The last half hour is the key to my film- where one half of the zillion actors struggling with their own lives and love will give gyan to the other zillion actors struggling with their lives and love and realise everything that they did wrong and also how to correct it!!!

and yes the song-dance, rona-dhona, crappy comedy, foreign locations ALL have to be there

and then in one big larger than life 'shaadi venue' the end will happen with everyone having found their TRUE LOVE and just dying to jump into a song and dance sequence... and then my movie is complete.. one of its kind and I call it SALAAM-E-ISHQ


why did 'K' see it? no clue.... cos she heard its not that bad... and that too in three sittings over three evenings cos she couldn't get herself to be tortured all at one go. the only worth while bit was the last half hour if any!

the stronger media

as it is rightly said... the pen is mightier than the sword...

but in our 'real' world ( maybe on a 'cheeky' mood day this would have read as the 'bourgeoisie' - of course the popular version of the term though) ...

the 'visual media' is mightier than the pen...

this is no great realisation or making a point here - but a simple fact - not meant to preach but for myself to remember what I thought on a particular day in April 2007 :)

why did I think of this? The associated hype that comes with the movie 'The Namesake' - (the story, the emotions, the associations felt, the thousand write-ups),- 'everything' was not even remotely close to the time when the same story - and in a much stronger way was presented in the book (2003)- or even when the book was named as 'best book of the year-' by the NY times.

and just as the rest of its kind ( Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, DaVinci Code, our desi Black Friday and many many many more) The Namesake also belongs to the category which could reach a much larger - more diverse audience as a movie.

I am not complaining about this power of the visual media... if anything it is great that it reaches an audience that would never even know the book existed... for instance I would surely not imagine having a talk about the story with my parents- had it not been for the movie, they would have never read the book!!!

(and am sure they say the same thing for the classic epics, Marathi/Sanskrit novels that we have been exposed to only because of seeing them on television or as movies -an example: remember how the 'ramayan' and 'mahabharata' to all of us is nothing but what Ramanand Sagar and B.R Chopra portrayed in their Sunday episodes year after year- Infact to me for a long time Rama looked like Arun Govil and Krishna like Nitish Bharadvaj)

but having said all this -these writings and books are a treasure - have been and always will be - if it wasnt for them we would not even witness half of the 'visual extravaganza' that we see today... this one's just about a stronger media!!!

s e a r c h ... and you shall find!!!

and sometimes you don't even know that happiness exists just in the backyard...

...it was a bright Sunday afternoon... and I decided to take a walk by the river that flows just behind my building - only to check if its still frozen...

... walking into the park as usual - enjoying the sun - the green park and the flowing river - only to discover an even nicer world on this other side -I never crossed the other bridge thinking its dull there... but instead found a neighborhood brighter than ever with cafes and restaurants like the kinds I love, a river that was host to children and kayaks... a bridge and a waterfront that had a place for everyone :) - a place so close I didn't even know existed....

.... cheers to a city which just amazes me each time!!! ... cheers to a city which taught me how to belong to a place on your own... cheers to a city which already has places that we would love to give to the world in the name of 'urban design'!!!

s t r o n g

the namesake - one of my favorite books by one of my favorite authors - I was really looking forward to watching this movie- extremely curious to see how Mira Nair brings to reel life a story as simple yet intense and a narration as brilliant as namesake.

but I was more than pleased to see the movie - I am always afraid to watch movies that are adapted from films - cos it is extremely easy to lose the essence - not only does Mira Nair's movie take away anything from the book but adds a distinct character that stands on its own.

ashima and ashok's relationship, gogol's struggle with his identity and his regrets, ashima's character, ashok's love for her, ashok's love for his family and more so how he is thankful to life... all are portrayed in scenes that are subtle, strong, real, touching to say the least!!!

and of course... the casting is brilliant!!!

...so yes I am glad I saw the movie... cos it stands on its own!!! I can peacefully added it my list of favorite movies alongside Jhumpa Lahiri's 'The Namesake' as one of my favorite books!!!

storm.. snow... tornado!!!

'wake up sunshine' says my alarm clock in the morning... as everyday I did wake up to that... but to my surprise spring had been interrupted again...

yes... a nice thick blanket of snow has covered all of Denver all over again...

this time its snow... its a storm ... and its a tornado...

will these storms ever get over?

so while we were all asleep - over 65 tornadoes hit 6 states - Colorado being one of them.

or does the turbulent weather follow me everywhere i go?

m o o d s ... of my princess

to each his own....

relationships... family... obligations... guilt... caring... duties... society... past... future...responsibilities... actions... words... efforts.

a thousand things that all make up life...

... in the heart of all this... lies a true emotion... who we are and what we want to be... in life there will be people you love... people u care for... people who mean a lot to u... people who you hate... people who love you...people who cant live without you... people who will say their life depends on you...people you cant live without... people you have always wanted to oblige...

but what is true honesty - to yourself... to ones around you - doing what YOU want - doing what makes you happy and not to give someone else happiness... what good and true is that happiness which doesn't make u happy in return... cos at the end of the day 'to each his own' - you are not responsible for someones life more than yours... if you cant smile on your own no one can make you smile... nor can u make one smile unless your smile is true.

if one says - be happy... he/she should have the capacity to let u chose your happiness- not bind it by what their happiness is... happiness is not conditional... it lies within...

what is the right thing to do? not what your heart says.. or not what your mind says... but an act that makes you believe completely that the heart and mind are in sync. -an act that gives u a satisfied 'today' and promises a calm effortless tomorrow however tough the path might seem,
right is the act that makes you a better person... and no one can do that for you better than yourself.


luring seems the path that is easy and direct... but mundane and ordinary nonetheless...

in all of this .. the true king is time!!! it can work miracles but dont let time take its toll - gather your act and be the one to ride the horse and let time take a back seat.

c l a r i t y

the blur clears off and only when u see it all clear do u realise how horrible the muddiness really was.... how wonderful clarity feels... how effortless it is to not make ur eyes small and try to read into what is written.

where did this come from?
the monitor at home was very blurry ( and by home i really mean home' sweet' home in bombay where i am visiting for a couple of weeks) and now got fixed to crystal clarity :)

so now back to my lil corner in my room at home for a few days my posts shall come from here :)

familiarity

we are all used to watching bollywood movies and seeing parts of India/mostly Bombay that we are so familiar with - makes us feel closer to those movies when there is a scene filmed in a place where you have been several times and know so well.

tonight after a long time I watched 'my best friends wedding' - the first time I watched it, many years ago - the places it is shot in meant nothing to me - just a city in the US.

today when I saw it again after many years - it made me feel much closer..... reason being the movie is shot in Chicago - to know where almost every part of the movie was shot in - Michigan ave, the Hilton, the river, the surrounding buildings, the stadium, the museums, the train stations -almost every street... everything seemed so familiar and so visited...so much closer!!!

the festival of colors is here

happy holi... its all about the color

- isn't it?

i don't believe just adding color makes anything beautiful unless the essence is rich and colorful

any guesses what this splash of color is ?

its the colors from the car -wash on the wind shield of my car taken from inside. just like the picture - you can find color any where if you look closely.

nurture

a good night's sleep - a great day- a satisfying meal - good work -

... it all exists - only and only when you feel good about YourSelf...

... so take good care of yourself first...

... cos before anyone else you have to live with YourSelf....

shakespeare says...

sometimes you want to put up a post and wonder what about...

I was just going through some Shakespeare quotes over lunch and thought will put this one up

"Now go we in content To liberty, and not to banishment."
--From As You Like It (I, iii, 139-14)

the best position to be in - where one is irreplaceable...

does one think thats too much to strive for? maybe not - but rare to be in!

do not mess with me - says T

i m a g i n e

a space rich in character always has an artistic quality to it -carved within it lies a piece of art - a painting - a sculpture - and what can be better than a photograph to capture that artistic richness of it...

the above pictures are essentially of the same space - from different angles and view points.

1. in the first picture what caught me was the light that seeped in on to the stark white walls which formed the perfect backdrop and framework for the colorful hallways to stand out - almost representing a sculpture carved out with the white walls as the starting point.

2. in the second picture the idea was to capture the absolute 2 dimensional graphic composition of the space - a balance that is essential to complete any 2 dimensional form of art - like a painting which doesn't need anything more.

(sometimes it is very difficult to put into words what you feel - i think that's exactly what has happened to me in this post - i hope my pictures and the text combined convey the idea)

starry night

... light it up just right and it will enhance any space in the world!!!

the one on the top right : priceless.

Quoting the card that came with it: made of hand crafted KISII stone found only in the Tabaka hills of western Kenya. Artisans transform large chunks of rock into captivating, styised shapes and figures through ap rocess of cutting, chiseling, filing and polishing- all with a set of simple hand tools

I found this beautiful piece at one of the outlets of 'ten thousand villages' - a non-profit, fair trade retail organisation involved with helping villages in more than 30 countries around the world (www.tenthousandvillages.com)

h u m o r

guess who is appreciating mr.libeskind's latest lofts in denver 24/7

the city has various reactions to the new denver art museum(DAM) and the latest lofts seen in the background but these two surely are not missing it for the world...

(the two cows are part of the art pieces scattered around the DAM)

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?