Thursday, November 11, 2010
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Videos on the move :P
In a city which expects you to travel for hours everday, a journey is commonly perceived as the least pleasant part of it. Well, I have been travelling in Mumbai for close to seven years now.
Some places are so special that they are an integral part of your memories. Just take a small stroll along side your old school or college and you would know why. The places around you remind you of some of the best moments of your life. The stationery shop, the book store, the snack corner and for that matter even the traffic signal will speak to you.
I have always had a special connection with railway stations. Well, for me some of the finest videos start playing in my mind. The memories may be archived long back, but these places bring them into my cache in what seems like a nanosecond. Amazing isn't it! These places have seen us grow up, have listened to our conversations, laughed, cried and fought along with us. And today when we see them, they talk to us !
Well, though it may get nostalgic at times these places allow you to relive few of your best moments in life.
Just a small peek.. coming up next !
Some places are so special that they are an integral part of your memories. Just take a small stroll along side your old school or college and you would know why. The places around you remind you of some of the best moments of your life. The stationery shop, the book store, the snack corner and for that matter even the traffic signal will speak to you.
I have always had a special connection with railway stations. Well, for me some of the finest videos start playing in my mind. The memories may be archived long back, but these places bring them into my cache in what seems like a nanosecond. Amazing isn't it! These places have seen us grow up, have listened to our conversations, laughed, cried and fought along with us. And today when we see them, they talk to us !
Well, though it may get nostalgic at times these places allow you to relive few of your best moments in life.
Just a small peek.. coming up next !
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Whats in your Bag !
Lol.. What happens when you open up the bag of secrets?? It is definitely something full of surprises, OMGs and very very candid..! So is a lady's bag.. You open it up and you would get everything that is necessary for survival.. :P Nevertheless.. every bag kuch kehta hai...!! From make up to food to waste paper to "important" documents.. you can find it all.. Taking a minimum one hundred seconds to retrieve what you want is good enough..
It won't be wrong to say that these contents are an extension of oneself. It is not what you keep using all the time but what you would not leave your house without. Your bag gives you a sense of support, safety, confidence or simply, a solution to most of your needs.
And for all the men who consider this as another women's habit of messing up simple things, I have something interesting! This is nothing but a goldmine for market researchers. Giving you the closest reflection of a person, it can tell you what she needs, her pain points and also the latent needs.. Before i end up sounding like some boring presentation, all it takes is just a snap-of-her-bag !!
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Home...??
Well, since the past 22 yrs.. oops!.. 23 yrs and exactly 1 month, this is the longest period that I've been away from something I used to call home !! Many times since this period I have asked myself what I think was called "Home".. Is it the place, the people, the rooms, the clothes lying everywhere, study table covered with tons of things except books ;) !, intermittent phone calls..or what?? It took a few amazing experiences for me to start answering this question. Probably my answer will keep changing over time.. I don't know.. but at least I can make a beginning..
The first few days were remarkably smooth and easy.. Getting used to a new environment, a new climate, new languages and new people and most important.. (for me..) new food..!! The television barely spoke in a language I could decode.. and the restaurants never sold anything I could call out.. A treat for the non-veggie in me with the big fish and ample meat.. the canteen smelt weird though and the fish, I realized.. were safe from salt !!.. no honking horns and no paani puri ! No Thane locals and crowd no where.. a bus with more seats empty than those occupied.. Ample of rain..but no potholes..! Variety of cultures.. Malay, Chinese and Indian too.. People struggle with english and the 'dumb charade' expert in you gets a philip..
Slowly we start talking in their slang.. the rice.. bread and eggs get on my nerves.. I am stuck at home after work..wish for a walk besides my very own lake.. My thoughts turn back home.. to the beautiful lake-side walk.. a small stroll with friends.. a chat at CCD and a chaat at Mamtaa's.. my college..where I forced myself to go even on sundays.. the night outs and the khau gallis..watching serious non-sense on tv.. or being with everyone at the same time.. the overcrowded trains which.. took you "HoMe..".. haa..
So what was it exactly..was it the place? or the things associated with it or your habits.. I was still not clear...
This weekend, a very kind Indian lady invited us over for dinner.. It was only after smelling the puri bhaaji, butter paneer, aaloo gobhi and finally some chapaatis and of course after devouring them, did I realise what that feeling should be called.. Feels Like Heaven.. rather.. Feels like Home..!!.. Its not really missing your house or your room or your college for that matter.. Feeling homesick is missing the feeling itself.. Coz.. hearing a hindi song after couple of weeks of Malay and English..A chat with your close ones from over a hundred miles.. watching your neice smile over your laptop screen.. Eating butter paneer in a foreign country, making Kelyache shikran at home and even watching a movie like Saajan on Malay tv.., could trigger a feeling and tell you.. you are at home..!!
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Friday, April 2, 2010
What Next..??
It is an art.. To fnd something worthwhile in things you simply hate.. Not that I hate Design Studio, but am unable to connect the dots ;) !! Well what I liked about it is that it gave me an opportunity to think about my most favourite activity.. Reading.. Literature..
Literature is a form of art and expression. It reflects the contemporary society and yet remains alive for decades. Going back in history, we find writings on walls, caves, temples, carvings etc. In ancient times, men used to write on papyrus, tree barks, leaves, parchments and vellum, which then replaced papyrus. Then came paper, and then the computers. Who knows, the iPad may completely replace the need for paper!
Literature is of various types - epics, satires, mysteries, fiction, non-fiction, biography, auto-biographies, cook books, books on culture, architecture, and daily diaries and also our daily newspapers.
One trend which can be spotted is of keeping the essence of the novel same, and porting the story into a new environment or culture or time zone. This includes how different stories are adapted. Like Indian movies like Omkara, which is based on Othello.
Just as autobiographies form a part of literature, today we have blogs which is an adaptation of autobiographies, where people can share their thoughts and feeling, achievements online with millions of other users.
"What's on your mind? - in 140 characters" - is the shortest and the latest version of the chapters of an autobiography.
Today, if we look at the sci-fi literature which was written say 20-30 years back, we could never call it "fiction" today!! Most of what was fiction yesterday is reality today. Our children may not want to read Harry Potter because, probably just saying some word, say, “Lumos “ could switch on the lights, what's so amusing ??!!
Literature, today, is widely adapted into movies, plays, games and television serials. E-books and audio books is what technology has done to literature. It has broken the barriers of language and literature has now also reached to the blind man..!
Well, bringing in here the concept of muda or waste.. The thousands of copies lying in the book store.. waiting to find a buyer.. Aren't they a waste of resource.. Every year, millions of copies are returned to the publisher and are shredded simply because they din't get sold. Pure wastage of paper, printing effort, money spent in distribution and storage of books and also the retail space occupied by these copies.
Printing of books can be done in smaller lots and according to the demand of the customer! More so, printing can also be done 'just in time' or on-the-spot !! The book store can stock up sample pieces of books for customers to browse through. When an order is placed have the book printed in the store itself. The technology required for this does not seem very distant to me.. With the advent of e-books, in
stead of a hard copy, customers may request a direct transfer of the e-copy from the publisher, read it on his computer, Kindle or just may deciede to print a few pages. Isn't this better than carrying a 500 page book while on a local travel?
Well the possibilities are countless. And if my B(D) - School has opened my mind to even a few of them, I'm happy !!
P.S.: For all those who are thinking that I have lost my mind, well, Lean Thinking lives on my desk these days !
Literature is a form of art and expression. It reflects the contemporary society and yet remains alive for decades. Going back in history, we find writings on walls, caves, temples, carvings etc. In ancient times, men used to write on papyrus, tree barks, leaves, parchments and vellum, which then replaced papyrus. Then came paper, and then the computers. Who knows, the iPad may completely replace the need for paper!
Literature is of various types - epics, satires, mysteries, fiction, non-fiction, biography, auto-biographies, cook books, books on culture, architecture, and daily diaries and also our daily newspapers.
One trend which can be spotted is of keeping the essence of the novel same, and porting the story into a new environment or culture or time zone. This includes how different stories are adapted. Like Indian movies like Omkara, which is based on Othello.
Just as autobiographies form a part of literature, today we have blogs which is an adaptation of autobiographies, where people can share their thoughts and feeling, achievements online with millions of other users.
"What's on your mind? - in 140 characters" - is the shortest and the latest version of the chapters of an autobiography.
Today, if we look at the sci-fi literature which was written say 20-30 years back, we could never call it "fiction" today!! Most of what was fiction yesterday is reality today. Our children may not want to read Harry Potter because, probably just saying some word, say, “Lumos “ could switch on the lights, what's so amusing ??!!
Literature, today, is widely adapted into movies, plays, games and television serials. E-books and audio books is what technology has done to literature. It has broken the barriers of language and literature has now also reached to the blind man..!
Well, bringing in here the concept of muda or waste.. The thousands of copies lying in the book store.. waiting to find a buyer.. Aren't they a waste of resource.. Every year, millions of copies are returned to the publisher and are shredded simply because they din't get sold. Pure wastage of paper, printing effort, money spent in distribution and storage of books and also the retail space occupied by these copies.
Printing of books can be done in smaller lots and according to the demand of the customer! More so, printing can also be done 'just in time' or on-the-spot !! The book store can stock up sample pieces of books for customers to browse through. When an order is placed have the book printed in the store itself. The technology required for this does not seem very distant to me.. With the advent of e-books, in
stead of a hard copy, customers may request a direct transfer of the e-copy from the publisher, read it on his computer, Kindle or just may deciede to print a few pages. Isn't this better than carrying a 500 page book while on a local travel?
Well the possibilities are countless. And if my B(D) - School has opened my mind to even a few of them, I'm happy !!
P.S.: For all those who are thinking that I have lost my mind, well, Lean Thinking lives on my desk these days !
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