the weather for the past couple of days has been the best ever in AA
summer is almost over n school begins next week
u cannot take any relationship for granted
it is difficult when someone u care for suddenly says its not necessary to understand everything thts going on.
its worse when u r made to feel tht a friendship is governed only by ur acts!!!
Restlessness is the biggest enemy of the state of mind
I had a nice bonus weekend in UIUC
the labor day weekend is round the corner n many have elaborate plans... i dont have many!!!
I have missed home like never before... for reasons I dont understand
its been the year of engagements n marraiges...all most all my friends are ready to tie the knot. thts prob what happens when u r 25.
it sucks the most when u know what you want n just cant get it right now.( this seemslike an almost 'all time' case)
enough of non-sense. this post has been my most non-specific n useless one ever.
i promise to do better from now on
Wednesday, August 31, 2005
Monday, August 22, 2005
Monday, August 15, 2005
Happy Independence Day
58 years and it already feels like so long ago...
Has the country gotten over the Colonial raj torture so easily?
or has it simply moved on for good?
Anyway Happy Indepedence Day India
Has the country gotten over the Colonial raj torture so easily?
or has it simply moved on for good?
Anyway Happy Indepedence Day India
Sunday, August 14, 2005
Photos
I suddenly had too many photos from this trip to put on my blog..so i finally decided to get a flickr account and put up a link to all my pictures... find it on the bottom left hand corner of my blog.
As an architect by profession n like some people say most of my pictures are 'peopleless'...of structures n places, I have also put up a few pictures of people.
As an architect by profession n like some people say most of my pictures are 'peopleless'...of structures n places, I have also put up a few pictures of people.
Wednesday, August 10, 2005
1.NYC
So New York is to the USA what Mumbai is to India... minus a few things and plus a many more things.
the last two days have been extremely busy!!! not with work but in NYC!!! the city is huge; fast; dirty; crowded; dazzling; selfish; difficult; addictive;...n so much more!!! It did amaze me... but not quite.
I want to write to so much more but I am exhausted from a really long long day of train n ferry rides,lots n lots of walking...n greattt places visited!!!
I am sure my next few blogs to come will be pictures of NYC...so I shall leave this for later n just go to sleep after a realllyy tiring yet funfilled day!!!
a side note...bombay has almost everything tht new york offers... but bombay as a city does not know how to sell itself.its as selfish as new york is but we just havent gone all the way to shout out TIMES SQUARE
I do like new york. n i feel one cannot compare NYC n Chicago...more on this later too. me dozing off!!!
the last two days have been extremely busy!!! not with work but in NYC!!! the city is huge; fast; dirty; crowded; dazzling; selfish; difficult; addictive;...n so much more!!! It did amaze me... but not quite.
I want to write to so much more but I am exhausted from a really long long day of train n ferry rides,lots n lots of walking...n greattt places visited!!!
I am sure my next few blogs to come will be pictures of NYC...so I shall leave this for later n just go to sleep after a realllyy tiring yet funfilled day!!!
a side note...bombay has almost everything tht new york offers... but bombay as a city does not know how to sell itself.its as selfish as new york is but we just havent gone all the way to shout out TIMES SQUARE
I do like new york. n i feel one cannot compare NYC n Chicago...more on this later too. me dozing off!!!
Tuesday, August 09, 2005
A bonus day in Chicago- dated 8th Aug 05
Us and the skyline reflecting in the bean-designed by Anish Kapoor at the millenium park, Chicago
On magnificent mile...
Friday, August 05, 2005
I feel sad!!!
the hoarding in the background says...'time for buying a new home?'
... as though they anticipated the fate of mumbai in times to come... the picture surely indicates buying new cars for the owners of these submerged vehicles!!!
Monday, August 01, 2005
Sketch-Up
My past couple of blogs have been some of my favorite pictures... n this one surely fits into the list!!!
Its one of those sketch-up images of RIA and I taken at the food mall on the mumbai-pune expressway!!!
Sunday, July 31, 2005
Nostalgia2; Friday night fun; n Viruddha
this is one of my favourite pictures of the four of us... taken last year on my birthday... the date is screwed up for some reason.
comin back to the present...the weekend till now turned out to be quite eventful!!!
Parag's graduation... Dr. Parag now; - was celebrated on Friday evening by going to 'california pizza kitchen' then bowling n then some chattin n lil drinking in 3036- sleeping eventually at 3 am- resulting into an absoultely lazy saturday... only managing to get out of the house at 8.30pm when we all went for
Viruddha...
On the whole I would say its a nice movie. but a little unreasonably bollywood at times. Amitabh's performance and some good scenes surely deserve a mention.(But he doesnt look maharashtrian one bit!) Anushka Dandekar was a pleasant surprise. John Abraham- wasted. Sharmila Tagore was not bad too. The movie has the potential to come out as a bold film with a strong plot n narration; but it just seems to have lost focus on quite a few nodes leavin it unconvincing at quite a few places.
Friday, July 29, 2005
Nostalgia
I found this pic on my comp today... just remembering the fun times on all the weekend pune trips...
This one was the july 04 before I left for Ann Arbor last year.
Hope we all get back together soon!!!
Thursday, July 28, 2005
a random me!!!
The names shall remain undisclosed but the concerned individual(S)
shall realise what this is about
How would you feel if your best friend suddenly has a 'new' friend .. who is exposing him to all 'stupid cute things' that friends apparently do for friends... n my dear friend doesnt seem to be uncomfortable with the extra dose of mush?
Anyway the point being out of experience I truly believe that the most deceptive n short lived relationships are the ones where one gets too close too fast!!!
I hope thou shall remember that!!!
shall realise what this is about
How would you feel if your best friend suddenly has a 'new' friend .. who is exposing him to all 'stupid cute things' that friends apparently do for friends... n my dear friend doesnt seem to be uncomfortable with the extra dose of mush?
Anyway the point being out of experience I truly believe that the most deceptive n short lived relationships are the ones where one gets too close too fast!!!
I hope thou shall remember that!!!
Tuesday, July 26, 2005
its raining back home
In the past few years I dont remember such a heavy downpour having disrupted daily life in bombay so much that people are forced to just be in the place where they are... I just got a call from home only to learn that the rains have just taken over the city completely... my dad my sis n whole of his office including little ria who happened to just visit the office this afternoon are stuck at the workplace for the night thanks to knee deep water outside the office... and no trains for the staff to go home.
no electricity at home!!!! aaaaah!!!!
But sitting away right now I do miss the madness that the rains in Mumbai always bring along...
no electricity at home!!!! aaaaah!!!!
But sitting away right now I do miss the madness that the rains in Mumbai always bring along...
Sunday, July 24, 2005
Ann Arbor Art Fair
The Ann Arbor Art fair is held every year in the month of July.. its a huge street festival which extends almost all of downtown Ann Arbor.
A plethora of artists' works from all over the country and some from abroad too display their art work... both for appreciation and sale (which one cant surely think of right now atleast)
I liked some of the exhibits... especially in the category of sculpture, photography and glass!!!
I love street fairs n festivals.. i love the energy that is present in these public spaces... it just shows how much people mean to a place!!! On my first visit to the art fair I was sad that all these wonderful pieces of art were exhibited only in plain white tents... just making the fair a monotonous walk not exciting enough for the common man... but when I went there the second time on a Friday evening... the people, their movement, their acitivty, their energy, random performances, food and ofcourse the commercial aspect of art..where they sold popular items (clothes, jewellery, books etc) for cheaper than usual did surely give me the feel of Bazaar street... but ofcourse nothing like the life which is born out of our streets in Mumbai ... Mohammed Ali road, Colaba Causeway, D.N.Road, Linking Road,Hill road, .. they are cultures in them selves!!!! and all year round mind you!!!! ( yes yes I cannot get bombay out of my head)
N thats why I feel sad when I see people craving for such culture, character .. n trying to 'create' them in their public space... I told one of my professors the other day that this art fair was too organised and just not chaotic enough for my liking!!!
But nevertheless it is surely a treat to see the whole place transformed the way it did for four days and get back to normal as I walked on the same streets today as though nothing ever happened. I really had a lot of fun!!!! And extremely remarkable to see how well co-ordinated the whole event was!!!
A plethora of artists' works from all over the country and some from abroad too display their art work... both for appreciation and sale (which one cant surely think of right now atleast)
I liked some of the exhibits... especially in the category of sculpture, photography and glass!!!
I love street fairs n festivals.. i love the energy that is present in these public spaces... it just shows how much people mean to a place!!! On my first visit to the art fair I was sad that all these wonderful pieces of art were exhibited only in plain white tents... just making the fair a monotonous walk not exciting enough for the common man... but when I went there the second time on a Friday evening... the people, their movement, their acitivty, their energy, random performances, food and ofcourse the commercial aspect of art..where they sold popular items (clothes, jewellery, books etc) for cheaper than usual did surely give me the feel of Bazaar street... but ofcourse nothing like the life which is born out of our streets in Mumbai ... Mohammed Ali road, Colaba Causeway, D.N.Road, Linking Road,Hill road, .. they are cultures in them selves!!!! and all year round mind you!!!! ( yes yes I cannot get bombay out of my head)
N thats why I feel sad when I see people craving for such culture, character .. n trying to 'create' them in their public space... I told one of my professors the other day that this art fair was too organised and just not chaotic enough for my liking!!!
But nevertheless it is surely a treat to see the whole place transformed the way it did for four days and get back to normal as I walked on the same streets today as though nothing ever happened. I really had a lot of fun!!!! And extremely remarkable to see how well co-ordinated the whole event was!!!
Friday, July 22, 2005
Manchester Chicken Broil
On Thursday evening we headed out to a village called Manchester, half an hour from Ann Arbor... on the third thursday of July every year they host the
Manchester Chicken Broil... so each of us had
1/2 chicken grilled
raddish
coleslaw
bread
n chips
the picture gives u the detailed info.
Apparently every year the number of people visiting this village this evening is seven times the number of people living in the village.
Manchester Chicken Broil... so each of us had
1/2 chicken grilled
raddish
coleslaw
bread
n chips
the picture gives u the detailed info.
Apparently every year the number of people visiting this village this evening is seven times the number of people living in the village.
Tuesday, July 19, 2005
A question
This relationship of the old to the new is inevitable… it has to exist in order to make a successful architecture… in order to have cities rich in character!!! I don’t like Singapore. What makes Euope interesting? An amalgamation of its rich cultural past and its present showing the promise of a great future…
It is a shame how in India we either completely disregard our past and aim to ape the west under the pretext of globalization giving into faceless glass blocks in our failed attempt to not let go off the past reproduce or rather ‘try’ to reproduce the glory of the past.
We don’t want a Shanghai or a Singapore. Neither do we want just a Taj Mahal to be iconic of our built environment for several years. Can we have a Bilbao?
Do we have an answer?
To begin with can u think of one contemporary building in India iconic of our times?
(this one was written a ew days ago.. just put it up now.. doesnt make any sense to me right now thou. i ll put it up anyway)
It is a shame how in India we either completely disregard our past and aim to ape the west under the pretext of globalization giving into faceless glass blocks in our failed attempt to not let go off the past reproduce or rather ‘try’ to reproduce the glory of the past.
We don’t want a Shanghai or a Singapore. Neither do we want just a Taj Mahal to be iconic of our built environment for several years. Can we have a Bilbao?
Do we have an answer?
To begin with can u think of one contemporary building in India iconic of our times?
(this one was written a ew days ago.. just put it up now.. doesnt make any sense to me right now thou. i ll put it up anyway)
The Law Library and Angel hall are two buildings chosen together primarily for the reason that one of them already has an existing extension to it and a proposal for the extension of the other .
What interests me is how these extensions though are absolutely manifestations of the contemporary sit well within the existing setting... complementing but not overpowering nor overshadowed by the existing buildings.
This brought me to an interesting thought. Isn’t it more challenging to design around the existing and also adaptive reuse ? A complete ‘tabula-rasa’ has nothing exciting about it all right?
I love the way how both these new extensions stand out for themselves, do not have direct symbolic reference of their parent buildings.
Law Library
reflecting in the new!
distorting the old?
an interior view
Angel Hall
The existing!!!
Extension to art museum by Angel Hall... the acrylic case of the model spoilt the image.
What interests me is how these extensions though are absolutely manifestations of the contemporary sit well within the existing setting... complementing but not overpowering nor overshadowed by the existing buildings.
This brought me to an interesting thought. Isn’t it more challenging to design around the existing and also adaptive reuse ? A complete ‘tabula-rasa’ has nothing exciting about it all right?
I love the way how both these new extensions stand out for themselves, do not have direct symbolic reference of their parent buildings.
Law Library
reflecting in the new!
distorting the old?
an interior view
Angel Hall
The existing!!!
Extension to art museum by Angel Hall... the acrylic case of the model spoilt the image.
Tuesday, July 12, 2005
Art n Architecture Building
Summer is probably the only time when one can peacefully walk around in ann arbor not worrying about getting into an enclosed space to get away from the cold…
So I thought I could do something worthwhile n post pictures of Ann Arbor over my next few posts
To begin with it shall be a partial picture of the TCAUP-the Art and Architecture Building
The next in line would be the Angel Hall and Law Quad...
Friday, July 08, 2005
Just a thought!!!
out of the blue...
Are you an outright pessimist?
Or an absolute optimist?
I SO am a pessimist... I would go ahead n proclaim that IT IS the thing that drives me the most... I cannot appreciate optimism for more than a minute...
but Now I shall tell you why that worked for me... cos my boy friend is an ABSOLUTE OPTIMIST... I know I can think speak n almost live negative cos my betterhalf will surely surely point out the brighter side to me ...even if its just to make me feel nice!!!
Ah yes.. n the optimism works for him probably too cos I am always sittin on his head to curb it the next moment!!!
Are you an outright pessimist?
Or an absolute optimist?
I SO am a pessimist... I would go ahead n proclaim that IT IS the thing that drives me the most... I cannot appreciate optimism for more than a minute...
but Now I shall tell you why that worked for me... cos my boy friend is an ABSOLUTE OPTIMIST... I know I can think speak n almost live negative cos my betterhalf will surely surely point out the brighter side to me ...even if its just to make me feel nice!!!
Ah yes.. n the optimism works for him probably too cos I am always sittin on his head to curb it the next moment!!!
Tuesday, July 05, 2005
lazyhead
I am back from Mumbai... N i dont feel like blogging...
trying hard to think of something to write about.
I got to ann arbor after a unexpectedly long journey characterised by delayed flights n long long waits.
coming back to the US meant a completely different note this time...
an amazing feelin to meet gaurav here in ann arbor and show him around my school and the lovely cozy town.
the weekend was loads of fun at mackinaw island with himani sameer and gaurav... the mackinaw bridge is beautiful... the city quaint... and the island very european... the lake a lovely blue and extremely cold!!!
other highlights of the weekend...watchin charita's weddin cd with 'family' here..:) and cookin with gav for the first time ever!!!
now back to ann arbor n feelin extremely lazy to do anything at all!!!
trying hard to think of something to write about.
I got to ann arbor after a unexpectedly long journey characterised by delayed flights n long long waits.
coming back to the US meant a completely different note this time...
an amazing feelin to meet gaurav here in ann arbor and show him around my school and the lovely cozy town.
the weekend was loads of fun at mackinaw island with himani sameer and gaurav... the mackinaw bridge is beautiful... the city quaint... and the island very european... the lake a lovely blue and extremely cold!!!
other highlights of the weekend...watchin charita's weddin cd with 'family' here..:) and cookin with gav for the first time ever!!!
now back to ann arbor n feelin extremely lazy to do anything at all!!!
Sunday, June 26, 2005
Apple
NO, this one's not about an i-pod!
Its about a restaurant called apple in Bandra... we went there for dinner today
archit pd, sonu abhay, mehul n i!!!
Inspite of being one of those 'ambient lighting, fancy furniture, poor concept,' pseudo interiors... desparetly trying to create an identity, the food was good- continental; n a good bar and for some reason an unlimited supply of bread rolls with flavored dips!!!
They have a cake shop too called 'apple cake'; kartik claims that it is as good as oven fresh..but i dont agree one bit!!! i strongly believe 'ovenfresh' has the best pastries and desserts in mumbai!
Though u know the funny part about this restaurant 'apple' was- they had an apple kept on every table (reminded me of that funny short story from darna mana hain); n for some reason they put apple in our drinks- sangrias!!!
sangria is actually cold drink made out of wine with brandy, fruit juice and soda right? for some reason this one had wine- tequlla-vodka water n apple pieces!!!
(or so he said-cos the alcohol seemed to be almost missing)
Its about a restaurant called apple in Bandra... we went there for dinner today
archit pd, sonu abhay, mehul n i!!!
Inspite of being one of those 'ambient lighting, fancy furniture, poor concept,' pseudo interiors... desparetly trying to create an identity, the food was good- continental; n a good bar and for some reason an unlimited supply of bread rolls with flavored dips!!!
They have a cake shop too called 'apple cake'; kartik claims that it is as good as oven fresh..but i dont agree one bit!!! i strongly believe 'ovenfresh' has the best pastries and desserts in mumbai!
Though u know the funny part about this restaurant 'apple' was- they had an apple kept on every table (reminded me of that funny short story from darna mana hain); n for some reason they put apple in our drinks- sangrias!!!
sangria is actually cold drink made out of wine with brandy, fruit juice and soda right? for some reason this one had wine- tequlla-vodka water n apple pieces!!!
(or so he said-cos the alcohol seemed to be almost missing)
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