if you've never failed, you've never lived!

After having emptied, recycled and restored 2 years of life in bloomy...my replenished heart is soaked with memories and eyes moist with nostalgia...

you stop worrying about life when you realize you are a living miracle ! ;-)

sheer brilliance~!

Happy Independence day, USA!

20 must have UX books by 'UX by Design'

UX by Design posted its list of 'must have' Experience Design books:

here's the list:
What are your top 5 User Experience books?

1. Subject To Change: Creating Great Products & Services for an Uncertain World
by Peter Merholz
2. Communicating Design: Developing Web Site Documentation for Design and Planning
by Dan Brown
3. Contextual Design: A Customer-Centered Approach to Systems Designs (Interactive Technologies)
by Hugh Beyer
4. Designing Web Navigation: Optimizing the User Experience
by James Kalbach and Aaron Gustafson
5. Designing for Interaction: Creating Smart Applications and Clever Devices (Voices That Matter)
by Dan Saffer
6. Designing for the Social Web (Voices That Matter)
by Joshua Porter
7. Designing Interfaces
by Jenifer Tidwell
8. Designing the Obvious: A Common Sense Approach to Web Application Design
by Robert Hoekman Jr.
9. Designing Web Interfaces
By Bill Scott
10. The Elements of User Experience: User-Centered Design for the Web (Voices That Matter)
by Jesse James Garrett
11. Information Architecture for the World Wide Web: Designing Large-Scale Web Sites
by Louis Rosenfeld and Peter Morville
12. A Project Guide to UX Design: For user experience designers in the field or in the making
by Russ Unger and Carolyn Chandler
13. Don’t Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability, 2nd Edition
by Steve Krug
14. Measuring the User Experience: Collecting, Analyzing, and Presenting Usability Metrics (Interactive Technologies)
by Thomas Tullis
15. Sketching User Experiences: Getting the Design Right and the Right Design
by Bill Buxton
16. Mental Models: Aligning Design Strategy with Human Behavior
by Indi Young
17. Landing Page Optimization: The Definitive Guide to Testing and Tuning for Conversions
by Tim Ash
18. Web Form Design: Filling in the Blanks
by Luke Wroblewski
19. The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures
by Dan Roam
20. Observing the User Experience: A Practitioner’s Guide to User Research
By Mike Kuniavsky

I would strongly recommend 2, 3, 4, 8, 10, 11, 15, and 20.

The rest will land on my reading list...now.. :-)

Gmail labels' resurrected!

i had abandoned gmail labels for their concealed presence for quite some time now... their colorful appearance didn't help really either...my gmail labels were totally unmanaged and close to worthless and defunct especially after gmail search power packed with email address searching was introduced.

the 'much needed-long awaited' tranformation of labels into folder 'mimicking' in terms of its functionality is a nice and extremely useful touch to my gmail :)

thanks Gmail team !

bandra worli sea link inaugurated! ...finally... :-)

the bandra worli sea link was inaugurated today with much aplomb despite some resentment by the opposition at being named after Rajiv Gandhi. Whether this five yr late project enhances or at the least even sustains the ever exploding traffic of Mumbai or crumbles under its mercilessness is something only time can tell... For now I would rather rejoice at the successful completion of this project and secretly hope it could potentially be a harbinger of even more competent and world class infrastructure and urban planning projects in India in the years to come.

measuring love and commitment...

love doesn't cost a thing. but long term commitments require a lot of investment in terms of time, energy, a sensitivity to understand each other and adjustment on both sides. there is no room for ego in love, love demands self respect, love scorns ego.

what does it take to love someone and what does it take to stay committed?

The Portland Experience...

Not everything can be captured through the lens!

Our Portland trip on the pretext of UPA Conference 09 was one such experience ;-)

Highlights:
- the entire conference was a great learning experience in terms of usability
- the student design competition
- meeting some interesting and idiosyncratic individuals at the conference and the train
- the food (all locally grown), the desserts and the wine at the conference!
- meeting Suki bhabhi and Arunbhai and the lovely home cooked dosa dinner garnished with charming conversations
- the amtrak train journey back to Indianapolis all the way across northwestern USA
- the Saturday Market in Portland Downtown
- indulging in the weird part of portland ;)
- voodoo donuts
- laughing planet
- swagath restaurant...one of the bestest restaurants serving indian food in the US
- Meeting hrishi and his friends and the nature trail with them
- taking the Light Rail the street car and the buses in portland
- just walking in portland downtown was sooo much fun!
- the hilton experience
- volunteering at upa was extremely smooth sailing and friendly experience! thanks to Rich and Tammy
- our 'beyond-our-expectations' motel room with tv, microwave, spic n' span attached bathroom, two double beds, and fully functioning A/C for just $19 per day!
- oh...almost forgot!... the roses all over portland...
- the international rose test garden
- the japanese garden
- sushi
- the vegetarian house in portland china town
- gazing into nothingness across the wilhamette river
- the fountains of portland
- the sutainability-focussed transportation in portland
- Powell's : the City of Books
- the local live band at the awards night at UPA 09

The whole trip would be half as fun if not for Jenny and Feixing. Just hanging out with them was sooo much cooler than attending a conference all by yourself! it was funny that sometimes we had to remind ourselves we are here to present at the conference and not simply tourists ;)

cheers to such lovely times !


here' s a snapshot of the portland experience :-)

Photo credits: Bohemian


Photo credits: Feixing

IU's NEWS release featuring our 'Sustainable Interaction Design Research Group'.

Read more here.

looking forward to making 'real' conversations with Google Wave... :-)

charged up n' excited...

about flex workshop starting tomorrow... :-)

chicago spring break 09

Photography credits: Vk and Anki

Photography credits: Bohemian and Sak

Ganesha: The Lord of Beginnings

I painted Lord Ganesha to mark the beginning of a new phase in life...
dedicated to my professor Marty, the most influential, caring and inspiring professor I've had...

some food for thought for all graduating buddies...

interactive storytelling...

Our prof in the 'interactive storytelling and game design' class showed this exemplary scene to elucidate on dialogue writing in one of the illuminating lectures :D

just had to watch the movie!

have fun watching this freaking spectacular scene, if you haven't already... ;-)

on a happy note..

Being creative is like romancing with your own life...!

paani puri after ages!

Rickshaw experience design!

I got a forward email today from my cousin that I just had to blog about! It displays some photographs of an autorickshaw in Mumbai, India who has creatively designed the interior of his humble autorickshaw to enhance the customer experience of his vehicle!

Some notable things in his rickshaw:

- a first aid box
- a newspaper box
- a color tv!!!
- 25% discount for handicaps message
- a mini calendar
- pay n smile message

Photo Credits: to whoever took the photos (please own up)

Disclaimer: the pictures displayed in this post were received through a forward email chain

chi madness ;-)

its cram time...capstone thesis final presentation and game design class final prototype demo due in the following 2 weeks!

posting a quick visual overview of the crazy chi'09 trip at boston....

Credits: Kshitiz Anand for collage 2 photography, Bohemian for collage 1 photography

mehndi ki raat...

Mehndi artists: Indu and I
Featured hands: Indu's and mine
Occasion: welcoming the spring ;-)

dealing with designer's block...

Thought I should make my own list of how I am likely to deal with my designer's block. Could be useful to you.... would like to know how you guys deal with it as well!

1. I walk out in the open, look around and absorb everything I set my eyes upon... enjoy the birds chirping, cars moving fast, people walking past me, cloud formation in the sky, snow deposits on the ground, withered trees...

2. pull out a random book from my library collection and read a chapter out loud

3. play trance and house

4. have tea

5. doodle

6. visit the local community garden

7. visit the local public library and observe around without being too obnoxious

8. cook

9. sleep on the grass in a nearby park and gaze into the nothingness of the skies

10. watch a movie or funny videos

Nokia 3110 Evolve is 80% recylable

Interesting to see endeavors from leading companies to emphasize on building sustainable products and packaging...Nokia's Evolve team claims that this mobile phone is 80% recyclable... and its packaging material is 60% recyclable...

hope to see more such stuff springing up...

Visit site for more information.

"if I can't picture it, I can't understand it!"

-Albert Einstein

My grad life...

bumped into stripgenerator.com today...
created this strip to try it out...

Happy Holi dost log...! ekdum colorphool!

gosh, remember the good ol times of 'A wing kanjoos...C wing paaani dalo' ....

miss home :-( especially at such times... when i end up dewy eyed with nostalgia :-)

mom's promised to send over puranpoli snaps... tupaachi tahaan taakani ;-)

..if you get it perfectly right at the first instance, its NOT design!

TED talks

For those who haven't had a chance to see TED talks I would highly recommend them...

Just for starters I am posting some of my favorite ones:

this one's by Jill Bolte Taylor on her brains stroke experience!



and this one's by Ken Robinson on schools kill creativity!



Helen Fisher on the science of luuuuuv...

the day it snowed enough for the campus to close down.. ;-)

Our cuddly massive snow man... :D :D :D

"I have a dream..."

'Tonight' feels inspired...watched 'King' a history channel documentary on Dr. Martin Luther King....followed by Obama's 2005 biography....i would consider it a privilege to be able to witness the spirit and enthusiasm, the focus and the passion, the mental strength and the faith of these two truly inspiring men...it's overwhelming and in a lot of ways reinforces my beliefs about life and the magnanimity and promise it holds...

thank you!

today i was fiddling with my blog settings...wanted to change my post display settings to show more posts than just the ones of the past week...i always refrain myself from spending more than 15 minutes on my blog...deep within i always knew that treading onto the terrain of my older posts would lead me into a tremendous surge of emotional upheaval...totally uncalled for..and certainly unnecessary!...

...but then i did it anyway...i took the plunge...i consciously made time out of my always-busy-self-imposed-crazy-as-ever-disciplined schedule today...i thought it would be OK...something of this sort was long overdue...so, if today's the time and place, so be it!

i smiled, laughed, cried, felt delighted, felt humble, felt sad, felt alive as i forayed into the world i had inadvertently left behind over the past two years... that part of my forgotten world where i once proudly reigned as the 'Bohemian' in my humble blog-land called the 'Psychic Diaspora'... i revisited that fervently outspoken, carefree soul that transformed into a demure and naive lover...who's insouciance was uncontainable,who's love was guileless and the hurt that followed was unconvincingly irreversible...

its been four years since i first started this blog which will always remain special to me as i grow older, supposedly stronger and smarter ;-) today i am a different person from what i was four years ago (and it ought to be that way, so i m glad..) but some part of me is still the same. Circumstances have changed, i have moved on, learned more, lived some more, met interesting individuals along the way, but as i look back i miss the wonderful friends i made through this blog...i do not know why our paths cross with the paths of total strangers and then there are times when you move on from those relationships in which you invest so much time, energy, emotions and warmth...maybe its because each one of us has a different way of coping with change...

...as i look back and beyond, i notice there are so many interesting bits i have learned about myself, about human nature and life in general through the relationships and bonds i, as an earnest dedicated blogger, have been fortunate to establish with other seekers...

now before i get carried away, let me do what i originally set out to do in this post....say a BIGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG THANK YOU!

i am not sure if its too late, too early, or inconsequential, but i would rather do it NOW! i simply wanted to say a hugggeeeeee thanks to all the beautiful souls that visited my blog, who provided me genuine moral support during tough times, cheered me up when i needed the most, complimented me on my writings, encouraged me to keep the faith alive, shared some good laughs, mulled over the inscrutability of Life's oddballs and pleasantries...

a biggggggg THANK YOU to all of you...
(in no consequential order)

d.e.a.t.h.
dhruv
phi
victim of desire
duppy
nero
ash
radhika
blue athena
dan
razzmatazz
hardeep
amrit
manish
robin
humbl devil
inkblot
shinu
chinmay
rachna
ajay
sophie
suri
ashu

a life so simple, a life so special...

my notes while reading the book 'Inner Simplicity' by Elaine St. James

1. get more sun
2. get rid of the clutter
3. enjoy the occasional silence
4. don't rush the food; savor it with gratitude and its beneficial effects on your well being
5. synchronize yourself with the messages and opportunities the universe offers
6. don't make hurrying a 'habit'
7. have lunch in the park at times
   
8. accept compliments gracefully and revel in their genuineness instead of uncomfortably shrugging them off
9. be realistic...and honest with yourself
   
10. get into the 'habit' of enjoying each moment
11. just grab the book and read it each time you feel like reading without contemplating if it would be a waste of time
    
12. meditate, if possible, before going to bed
13. relish sleep
    
14. call for help from the universe
15. learn to move on
16. simply smile and ignore the skeptics
17. smile a lot
18. practice detaching
    
19. ignore an insult and laugh it up (later)
20. don't make worrying a 'habit'
21. stop judging others
22. take responsibility for your own life
23. learn to be forgiving...of yourself and of others
24. arguing with someone over the rightness of your path can only lower your energy and set you back
25. dance often
    
26. laugh often
27. let go
28. its ok to cry sometimes
29. its ok to ask for help
30. just be
31. talk to yourself
32. enjoy nature's bounty
    
33. take care of your body
34. love a lot

Picked this book at MCPL while looking for some other book.. more than the title of the book, what tempted me to pick it up was its cute lil' appearance and 1-2 page length chapters. Perfect for reading at the bus stop, on the bus, at the treadmill...Reading this book felt a lot like revisiting 'Tuesdays with Morrie' by Mitch Albom....most of these notes are things we already know to hold meaning and value but are oftentimes forgotten, ignored, and/or underestimated by us in the banal turn of events in our life... each one of you may have a different experience while munching on this book based on your past experiences... so do read the book if you get a chance; until then, feel free to mull over my notes ;-)

Reduce your carbon footprint...

Liveclimate mentions the following to reduce your carbon footprint:
"

The U.S. EPA provides a list of simple tips and resources for you to reduce your carbon footprint. Click on the links below to get started:


Home

* Change incandescent light bulbs to compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs).
* Switch your appliances to ENERGY STAR qualified products.
* Heat and cool smartly by cleaning air filters and replacing old equipment.
* Seal and insulate your home – the less air that escapes your home, the less energy it takes to heat and cool your home.
* Use green power that you can buy yourself or purchase from your local utility.
* Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle – reducing waste in landfills reduces landfill gas emissions.
* Be green in your yard by composting food scraps and reducing yard waste.
* Conserve water in your home.


On the Road

* Check out EPA's Green Vehicle Guide and the jointly-run EPA/DOE Fuel Economy Guide and buy a more fuel efficient car.
* Drive smart – avoid hard acclerations, hard braking, and idling.
* Tune your ride- A well-maintained car is more fuel-efficient, produces fewer greenhouse gas emissions, is more reliable, and is safer!
* Check your tires- under-inflation increases tire wear, reduces your fuel economy by up to 3 percent and leads to higher greenhouse gas emissions.
* Give your car a break – use public transportation, carpool, or walk/bike whenever possible.

Air Travel

Short airplane flights (less than 500 miles) are equal in emissions to traveling in a car that gets between 10 and 20 mpg. For short flights, use a high mileage car instead, and rideshare! Or even better, take the train or a bus, both of which get the equivalent of between 50 and 80 miles per gallon!
"

cleaning the web....

In a bid to avoid multiple indexing of the same page through multiple URLs, Google (in collaboration with Yahoo! and Microsoft) has come up with the canonical attribute format.

By adding < link rel="canonical" href="http://www.your-preferred-url.com" > inside the head section of the duplicate content URLs of your website, you can allow search engines to crawl up to your preferred url.

Why I love my Sansa Clip mp3 player?

-easy to charge
-long lasting battery power
-a great companion during my work outs
-extremely lightweight yet robust
-its pink ;-)
-I can operate it even if you blindfold me
-fabulous UI
-UI woven beautifully around all possible user actions
-resourceful use of the humble screen area
-very 'clippable'
-careful selection of features
-thoughtful balance between simplicity and functionality
-inconspicuous presence
-FM
-acts as my portable flash drive when required
-cheap, cheap cheap!!!

:-)

Time for some hot n'crispy bread rolls...

Love's in the air...

Star gazing under the moonlit skies...

dig in...what are you waiting for? ;-)

Credits:-
Chefs: my roomies and I, and some enthusiastic participation from a good buddy/neighbor...

Last week's potluck special! Chefs: I and my roomies

Stuffed capsicum!

Tofu capsicum delight!

Breathing earth!

Pretty neat site! Do check out...especially sustainability buffs...

Breathing Earth

The Vertical Farm Project

The Vertical Farm Project
Do visit the project site for in depth details...

domestic technology design

Ever fretted over burnt, over-toasted bread slices in the mundane toasters ? Here are two different toaster designs that attempt to solve that problem... although both of them are more or less transparent toasters, they differ in their form and function. The first one is stylish, uber cool and chic but unfortunately would toast just one slice. I was wondering how easy would it be to take the toast out of the slot. Cleaning this seemingly expensive stylish appliance is another worry! The other one is bulky, shows off the heating coil inside but can toast two slices at a time. Popping out the toasted slices seems much more easier in this toaster and so does the cleaning. It also very closely maps the mental model the potential users may have of how a toaster should be used. The addressee in the first toaster example would be some person who would like to make a fashion statement through his/her gadgets whereas in the second example, the addressee is a homemaker who wants something advanced as well as equally functionally efficient.

I believe as designers its essential to strike a balance between form and function of a design based on the phenomenological understanding of the potential users of that design product and its underlying resultant design constraints.

semiotic analysis of Cooliris (PicLens)

Cooliris (formerly known as PicLens) is an online application/ browser add on that transforms a mundane image/video search into a magnificent visual experience for the user!

Some prominent Signifiers and signified concepts:

The Wall:
The wall metaphor used in Cooliris presents to the viewer a graphical visual treat that transcends the experience of searching images into a interactive experiential one. The free flowing image thumbnails on the Wall refer to the plethora of thousands of images obtained from a search made by the user. Thus the image thumbnails are contextual to the image search the user performs in the search bar.

Search bar:
The search bar represents a paradigm of various image search engines namely youtube, google, flickr, picasa, smugmug, photobucket and so on. The microscopic lens icon used in the search bar is an interesting metaphor for the activity of looking up something in a sea of large number of items.

Discover tab:
The discover tab is a paradigm that categorises different arenas like ‘travel, music, sports, news, lifestyle, etc. The icon used in the discover tab is also quite apt. It is several nodes connected to each other which alludes to the act of finding different items that are interlinked.

Shopping tab:
The shopping tab is a paradigm that clubs together different online shopping vendors like amazon, ebay, iTunes, Macy’s, etc. The shopping tab is allocated a shopping basket that is a fairly common example of synecdoche. The shopping cart is used synecdochically for the concept of shopping.

The scroll bar:
The scroll bar is particularly interesting. The ’scroll bar marker’ is represented by a highlighting of blue dots over the scroll bar which is full of grey dots. The highlighted blue dots in the marker signify the several image thumbnails currently focussed on in the wall.

The discover tab, shopping tab and search button are all different paradigms of the cooliris application. The placement of the login tab at the left top most corner below which discover and shopping tabs are placed imply that they follow a syntagmatic pattern. The Login tab has to go first no matter what.


referential (content)
A browser add-on that makes video/image search interactive for users.

metalingual (code)
The sticky comments when the application loads serve the metalingual function of telling the first time user which tab performs which function and how they should be used.

formal (form)
The form is a browser application made by using AJAX and flash. It consists of visual elements like image thumbnails, and tabs for different paradigms.

expressive (addresser)
The addresser is the Cooliris company that is providing this free application to users that may conduct image/video search.


phatic (contact)
There is a launch cooliris button on the browser that installs the application in the browser.

conative (addressee)
The primary addressees are people who use this application to do image/video search, do online shopping, or simply surf the net through visual images. The companies ebay, amazon, macy’s, etc. and the search engines google, flickr, smugmug, photobucket, etc. can be considered as subordinate addressees that can be leveraged through this application.


contextual (situation)
The usage of this app occurs in the context of a searching or shopping activity that primarily occurs online through an internet browser.

All it takes is one person with a dream...

@ Yahoo! Video

My Master's capstone project is one of those projects truly dear to my heart as a human and truly challenging and enticing as a designer. To give you a working title for my capstone, I call it empowering the rural small scale farmer in India. I am working with rural farmers in Maharashtra in cooperation with my wonderful accomplice Shubha Nagarkar, to whom I am truly grateful to conduct some part of the research when I am not around. I often refrain talking about this project mostly because its more tempting to work on it rather than talk about it at this stage in the design process.

I am particularly looking forward to my trip to India next month so that I can leverage my user research skills to give a concrete direction to my design concepts.
Let me also admit that getting an opportunity to reach out and interact with those who are the ones who literally feed the country would be an elite one as well as absolutely enriching and I am anticipating, even a life changing one! Having spent my vacations since childhood in my native village with my relatives and cousins in the Konkan region of Maharashtra, conversing with local farmers and prancing about in the lush green fields has been second nature to me. With the advent of higher studies, these fun vacations dwindled unfortunately. But having an opportunity to exercise full control over a project, to devote yourself to something you earnestly believe in, something that makes you push the envelope, is a satiating feeling..

As a part of my secondary research and literature review, I have come across several exemplars that have dealt with issues concerning the rural agricultural community in India and other developing nations. Quite often I come across several podcasts, webcasts and videos that inspire me to keep going even though sometimes the going gets tough... The featured podcast is one of those inspiring ones....

enjoy and get inspired....

The demoralizing price of the so-called technological era..

Watch CBS Videos Online

“It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.”
- Albert Einstein

These words of Einstein cannot be more farther away from the stark blatant truth! The problem with mankind today is that it seldom asks questions! In a technological world where every other day you see a new technology product springing up that promises to be better, faster, smoother and nowadays even with 'refined human experience', we are throwing ourselves into a dark age that might be difficult to get out of if not tackled N-O-W! Are we even thinking at what cost are we buying this detrimental marketing strategies that purely bank on obsolescence?

The next time you switch to a new mobile handset, laptop, mp3 player, a television set, or any swanky piece of digital artifact, do take time to demand some explanations from your inner SELF...

Why do I need/want this new product? Do I truly need this? Is this really going to make me happy? At what and whose cost? Do I already own a similar artifact? Is it in working condition? Have I thought of recycling it? Should I donate it to someone who can heartily use it? Do I really think its worth discarding an artifact in good working condition?

Who is manufacturing this new artifact I want to buy? Where is this product manufactured? What is the warranty/guarantee time-line of this artifact?

What memories are attached with this artifact? How is this artifact special to me? What does this artifact remind me of?

Where would the recycling of this artifact take place? Which country? Who is involved? Are they following ethical standards? Who is paying the price of this recycling process? Is it worth their lives? Is it worth polluting our environment?

Is there a difference between an informed choice to be happy and a mindless decision taken in a spur of an inconsiderate moment just to be 'ahead of the lot'? Is there a difference between wanting and needing? What is that difference? Am I prepared to be on either side of the difference?

Do I feel responsible to myself, my future generations, my ancestors, Mother Nature and other natural ecologies each time I make uninformed choices about wanting more, accumulating more, consuming more?

I think it is incumbent on EACH ONE OF US to ask more questions to ourselves and each other in an endeavor to make this place a 'livable' place to live in! At the basest level, we are at least answerable to our own SELF to start with...

Tim Brown on playfulness as a vital element of the Design process

In this video, Tim Brown speaks of how some IDEO employees act out scenarios while designing for complex design problems which we all know as 'Role Playing'. I clearly perceive 'role playing' as a great phenomenological approach towards design exploration. A design method capable of milking the creativity of designers working on 'wicked problems'. We used 'Role playing' for 'Designing a museum experience' project in Jeff's class last sem and I am sure most of us not only learned from it but had tonnes of fun as well! It's exhilarating to know that everything we are learning at our design program has popular manifestations in the design industry!

Design exploration, role playing and prototyping are priceless activities every designer should indulge in and learn from! Get playful, get naive, get creative!

RIA Javascript frameworks: a sneak peek

It's a whole new world waiting to be harnessed!

The more you explore them, the more you delve deeper...

Boy! I'm hooked is all I can say !

Some of my favorites...

Ext Js : Using this one at Work! Great examples, fairly good documentation, budding forum...very interaction designerly :-)

ZK Again, true to interaction design spirit! lovely demos! Supports mobile UI..even those ones without browser support..neat! supports thirdparty components like Extjs as well

jQuery UI Neat! Simple! Fun!

YUI Library fairly comprehensive interaction design tool-kit, GUI quite web1.0 style

MooTools came across several times and just had to check this one...pretty impressive first impressions...

Flex : attended a marathon workshop recently at IU and Flex has definitely intrigued me with its growing acceptance in the web2.0 bloom. If server side components is a must for your app, it's worth the price. Good news! Flex builder 3 is free, free, free for students :-) How thoughtful ain't it ? ;-)

Sustainable printing

I was reading 'Shades of Green' from the Adobe magazine and came across really interesting sustainable practices designers and design agencies can keep in mind while serving their clients' business needs and wants.

Particularly notable in the article is the mention of the project Fake Forest opting for paper for print that is produced entirely using wind power by Mohawk. Fake Forest, interestingly also convinced one of their early and major clients Anthropologie to allow them to use old newspapers for packaging and distribution as opposed to flashy paper and another layer of plastic bags.

Some of the questions that sustainable thinkers from Aveda ask themselves before initiating a project:
- Can it be smaller, lighter, or made from fewer materials?
-Is it available in a less toxic form? Can it be made with less toxic materials?
-Can we live without it?
-Do we need it?
-Is it made locally?
-Is reuse practical and encouraged?
-Is it made with post-consumer recycled or reclaimed materials and how much?
-Is the project designed to minimize waste?
-Are the product and/or packaging refillable, recyclable, or repairable?
-Is it available from a socially and environmentally responsible company?
-Is it designed to be durable or multi-functional?
-Can we borrow it, rent it, or get it used?

With no intent of being an eco-police in this post, I wanted to take this opportunity to share some useful links with you with a hope that they might come in handy to you sometime in the future...

movies past week...

Finally watched Idiocracy this week…the ‘exaggerated-dumbing down of the world in 2505-cheesy-funny-at-intervals’ movie and as expected was disappointed. the sarcasm did manage to tickle my funny bone in scant bouts.

watched TRAINSPOTTING this weekend. liked the objective stance taken by the movie on addiction..the dark humor got to me at times; movie had a fair amount of shock factor that was more gross than shocking actually.. i did LOL at puny toilet scene though! convincingly well made movie! McGregor added life to his character.. spud ’s demeanor cracked me up..luved the groovy techno playing in the background…i wud rate this movie 9/10 much more well made and gripping than Pulp Fiction.

BIG FISH: another mcgregor starring movie of the week. A charming fantasy..ideal for viewing with bunch of act smarty adolescent cousins who suddenly start believing fantasies (not those raunchy ones ofcourse) is uncool…reminded me a lot of feel good types movies Amelie and Finding Neverland. liked the vibrant colors of the movie 8.5/10

THE RIGHT STUFF: considerably long movie but worth watching once…funny at times and adored some of the protagonists in the movie… esp if astronauts/fighter planes is your type of thing… go for it!
illustrious sound effects and flying scenes.. i wud give it 10/10

Saw SALAAM BOMBAY last night since i wasnt getting any sleep…movie was depressing for most part, and being aware of the harsh reality of mumbai slums already,movie was quite predictable, what floored me was the brilliant acting in the movie by the child actors/most of them actual dwellers of the slums off-camera..movie reminded me a lot of ‘city of god’… 9/10

ICONIC AMERICA !

So, this weekend, I relished a wonderful book 'ICONIC AMERICA' from a captivating start to a satiating finish (honestly, just couldn't keep the book down except for bio-breaks and food intake) ....an attempt to deliver a visual treat of the American pop culture ranging from more than 400 icon and images from diverse dimensions of art, entertainment, sports, history, technology, places, people and things as designer Hilfiger puts it. Each page has an absorbing story to tell (ofcourse, with more vivid pictures and thankfully few words).

The book intrigues, entertains, informs and makes a style statement! That's what I call design with a designer-ly attitude! What's interesting to note is the thoughtful juxtaposition and mishmash of different symbols next to each other in the book (see video for few examples described by co-author graphic designer George Lois). I won't elucidate more and rave about the book in this post and kill the excitement of actually experiencing the book yourself!

Truly a melting pot of American Culture...I would strongly recommend it !

Heidegger's notion of breakdown ...

A school friend of mine shared this video link with me recently. The video showcases a dialogue between a tourist and a self-employed ‘peacock hand-fan’ seller on the streets of Mumbai (specifically Hanging Gardens - a tourist spot in Mumbai). What struck me after watching this video is how language could be picked up or taught without formal education through human interactions outside of a typical classroom. The boy in this video, I believe, has consciously learned his ’selling act - dialogue’ in different languages. He uses those languages as a tool to connect to his potential diverse tourist customer base. While learning these languages, he must have definitely made a conscious effort to master them through learning the suitable spoken accent, phrases and tone and expressions. A possible ‘breakdown’ (as proposed by Heiddeger) and an incentive as well as motivation for the seller to learn all these different languages, would be that he might be losing out on a lot of foreign tourists as potential buyers of his selling artifact. That may have caused him to learn new languages that would enable him to connect to his non-Hindi speaking foreign audience. However, once he mastered that lingo act, he uses it effortlessly without thinking twice about the corrective usage of those language constructs; all he does is engage in the act of selling the peacock handfans with the hope of earning a few extra bucks.

the designer and the Self...

Some great lines I hold in high regard as a designer...

"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."

- Theodore Roosevelt

“The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today.”

“There is nothing to fear but fear itself.”

- Franklin Roosevelt

"What lies behind us, and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson


“For of those to whom much is given, much is required”

Bible (Luke 12:48)

“Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.”

“Art is the great democrat, calling forth creative genius from every sector of society, disregarding race or religion or wealth or color”

- John F. Kennedy


“I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy.”

“Love is the only reality and it is not a mere sentiment. It is the ultimate truth that lies at the heart of creation.”


- Rabindranath Tagore


“Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.”

“If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough”

“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.”

“It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.”


- Albert Einstein


“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”


- Mark Twain (Samuel L. Clemens)


“Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.”


- Wolfgang von Goethe


“An idea that is developed and put into action is more important than an idea that exists only as an idea.”

“Your work is to discover your work and then with all your heart to give yourself to it.”

- Gautam Buddha


“Pleasure and action make the hours seem short.”

-W. Shakespeare

-------

Some quotes of my own: ;-)

life is too short to blame yourself, life is never too short to improve

self-reliance makes you push yourself to unraveled dimensions of your SELF

I believe that Life is the most exciting, enriching, exhilarating fun game we play, where we begin with insufficient rules, yet have infinite moves to make and a personal choice to win or lose!

I believe that life is a journey, a continual process of evolving into a finer version of ourselves; we continually change, adapt and explore our inner Self for a refined life experience.

For me, happiness is all about getting in touch with your true Self, exploring yourself, widening your capabilities in all possible horizons and concurrently existing with a perpetual peace of mind (though the last one can be considered an utopian state of being). I believe that life is worth it, if we, through our ideas, thoughts or actions, result in positive life-changing events for others.

:-)

R O C K O N , A L L Y A C R E A T I V E F O L K S !!!

Krustyland: an experience!

I am not a regular avid Simpsons series watcher…but I have thoroughly enjoyed Simpsons whenever I have got a chance to. What intrigues me about cartoon comedies is the fact that how the animators and the writers who conceptualize the cartoon characters breathe life into the characters by blending into them a melange of amusing, queer, carefree yet banal emotions that most viewers can identify with at some point or the other..

…and even when they show acts of exaggerated life situations in these comic shows, they have this immense creative craft to make us sit back, relax and have a good laugh without thinking twice if the storylines are exaggerated and unreal. I have admired Simpsons, Southpark, family guy(to some extent) and others in the league for their amazing ability to club no-brainers jokes as well as profound sarcasm and wit all together into one episode of pure laughter, madness and joy!

----

This summer I was fortunate to visit Universal Studios at LA. and there’s this new ride called Simpson’s ‘Krustyland’ ride introduced in that theme park. It was incredibly astounding to say the least! Riding in it was truly AN EXPERIENCE! The experience was so magical and exuberant, I just had to ride it twice!

Do ride the krustyland if you ever get a chance!

The death of Weronika ~ intense ~heartfelt pain ~ art

a more comprehensive post follows...

sometimes I can amuse myself and keep smiling like an idiot at the occurrence of something as N O R M A L and mundane as me n my roommates (of whom I see very less during weekdays) meeting by chance in the bus on our way home frm work/gradskoool....
I did that today...again

oh btw, yest when i was chilling at the local public library, I met this lean petite kid who was tugging along his momy's bag; he just kept staring at me as he was walking by. no clue why. I was noticing him from the corner of my eye and when I glanced at him, his face suddenly brightened up with a broad naaaaaaive smile...one of those unabashed smiles your loved one would you given when you have ur first kiss (pardon me for the weird analogy)

The sugarysweetest part was the way he stuck out his tiny hand on top of his even tinier head to wave at me :-) the look and the hand stayed for a good 7-8 seconds...

most kids do smile at me (i would like you to believe so :P ), but there was something about this kid unusually insouciant and 'happy'...


I was gladdened for the rest of the evening :D

occasions like these bring unprecedented joy and vigor into a banal busy day....

interaction design wordle

just made this to try out wordle....

Creativity, design and emotions

Ever wanted to gift your loved ones with something that’s your trademark style and personally designed artifact or memento? Ever wondered if all those creative doodles you made on paper could be transformed into something meaningful and tangible? Ever craved to see your own-stylized pen-paper based designs brought to material reality having a more cherished lifelong memoir value?

Here’s how you can accomplish it.. using Photomake! Ponoko is a start up by a talented bunch of designers and Enterpreneurs from New Zealand and Photomake is one of their featured application.

I like the fact that the artifacts that would be created using Photomake will carry visual cues that carry an essence of the person’s emotions, sentiments and creativity expressed through the handmade counterpart of the artifact. A fun and impressive attempt to blend individual creativity, design and human emotions!

Do check out…looks promising from the first impressions

Can't help falling in love...

..with the interaction culture class! The more the class is advancing forth, the more I am falling in love with the class, the readings and my associated surfing for it! I laud myself to have made a sane choice by opting for this class..

I am secretly grateful to Jeff(our interaction culture class Professor) for not delving into the readings and rather letting us indulge in a useful class activity to better understand structuralism. Last week was occupied with volunteering for PDC08, so could barely do justice to last week’s class readings. Had we discussed readings in the last lecture, I would have definitely missed out on a rich discussion. Anyway, read them religiously this weekend, and gladly so! I thoroughly enjoyed reading them..especially Stephen Prince’s True Lies and Smith’s chapter 4. A lot of what Garfinkel, Schutz and Goffman state in their theoretical claims made sense to me.

I especially liked Goffman’s dramaturgical metaphor which claims social life is like a staged drama and how individuals control the impressions they wish to imprint onto others of themselves. I slightly differ in opinion with his impression management views where he argues that ‘people have to make an acceptable show of whatever they are supposed to be doing’. This statement sort of appears to me as if one has to conform to the norms set by the society about social behavior and act accordingly. However, it is most likely for me to hunt for his books ‘the presentation of Self in everyday life’ and ‘Frame analysis’ pretty soon just for the intriguing set of ideas Goffman has to present although they might be quite dated. Goffman seemed to have taking a structuralist approach in his claims(please do correct me if I am wrong!). I am amazed at the belief of ‘reciprocity of perspectives’ of humans as termed by Schutz, without which social life would be riddled with uncertainty and chaos. The innovative concepts wrt ethnomethodology presented by Garfinkel, namely: accountability, etc. clause, documentary method, indexicality, and ad hocing particularly held my interest specifically because I see their parallels in HCI when it comes to design ethics, contextual inquiry, ethnography and finding patterns from gathered data. Sacks example of ‘baby crying-mother picking it up’ was really insightful to get a sense of the MCD concept.

Looking forward to the next class discussion...

How I spend my evenings of late....

Have a lot of things going on this semester, so every evening after getting home I make it a point to relax and unwind. What better way to unwind than exploring the world of movies, something I was forbidden from for the past 18 years due to humble resources. SO, I saw 'Lola Rennt' (Run Lola Run) tonight, without the subtitles (YAY!!!) :-) since I had fortunately learned some decent amount of Deutsche sprache back in early college years.

A gripping episode of how a girl goes out of her way to drag her beloved from a mucky life threatening situation. What I loved most about the movie is that the story unravels at a bullet-speed pace totally living up to its title. It’s got a groovy background track playing throughout the movie in chunks especially when Lola does the Running act. The lyrics of the background track add up to the intensity, aspirations, urgency, panic, frustration, hope and wishful thinking of the protagonist. For all those who haven’t seen the movie, don’t worry, I won’t write a spoiler post!

The movie is full of connotations. REALLY! Connotations about karma, uncertainty, destiny, blind love, and how an unusual pattern binds the lives of strangers. The movie implied to me how the 1interconnection between different individuals’ lives is a coordinated chaos. It all fits somehow! The montage used while Lola brushes past strangers alludes to a lot of rhetoric questions pertaining to the inexplicable and unpredictable nature of life. This movie slightly reminded me of Amores Perros (another babe movie) which had a similar pulse.
The get-up of Lola, the protagonist of the movie is aptly instanced through her athletic body, vibrant flashy red hair color and shoddy punk clothing. It brings out the craziness and the rebel in her! Although she is raised in an affluent family, her contempt for her parents comes across in her aggression and indifference in her interactions with them. The complexity and depth of her character is not just delivered through meaty dialogues but also cleverly executed scenes and snippets like her brief interactions with the people she bumps into, during her marathon, her body language, her thought process and her varying array of expressions.

As the movie paces forth, in spite of her outrageous personality, the movie generates in us an ever-growing hope and excitement rather than sympathy and pity for her. The well crafted elements like Lola making mental notes to herself, praying on the go, thinking on-her-toes, the strength and self beliefs she exudes makes that fine distinction possible. There’s something about her portrayal that made me hopeful for her triumph during her struggle.

The razor sharp cinematography, camera angles and editing lived up to my expectations. The locales used for filming the movie adds a flavor of German Kultur to the movie. The twists and literal turns in the movie bring a lot of chutzpah to it and keep you guessing and hooked onto your seat till the very end of 81 minutes :-)

The Bacardi and bats connection...

Ever wondered whAt structuralist or phenomenological approach the designer must have taken to adorn the Bacardi logo by choosing a bat over all of the gregarious animals/birds/mammals existing in this world?

Here's why... This resource claims that the distillery in Santiago de Cuba where Bacardi rum was first prepared, had a roof inhabited by bats. Also, fruit bats are considered as good luck in Cuba!

Hence the logo goes like this...


I guess the visual designer used the symbol of ‘bat’ (the signifier) to allude to the lasting memory of bats in the distillery (signified) and the bat symbol also signifies the connotation of good luck in Cuba!
thoughts?

On really romantic evenings of self, I go salsa dancing with my confusion…

This is one of my favorite dialogues of the movie ‘Waking life’. I saw this movie last Fall. It’s a thoughtfully made movie that’s thought provoking and entertaining at the same time!

The movie is basically about the back and forth transitioning of a man from dreams to reality. Throughout the movie, the dreamer struggles to make a clear distinction between reality and dreams. Different elements of the movie come together to make it a wholesome entertainer. The art direction is cutting edge, the movie dabbles in different moods like humor, dark, metaphysical thoughts, drama and the abstract. The background score of the movie compliments and highlights the nuances of its various scenes according to complexity of the scene, the dialogue delivery and the pace of the movie.

wHAT i LOVE about this movie is that it portrays fear, abstract, metaphysics, humor, dark, and thoughts through the elements of art, animation, storytelling, and music. (i might have missed out on more since i have limited knowledge of film making and critiquing).

A must see for those who haven’t !!!



credits: Monroe County Public library for its resourcefulness and free membership

Visual culture in metro logo design...

I came across this collection of metro logos that spans across various countries/towns/cities. I am particularly amazed how many different ways the letter M has been represented based on the design intelligence of the creator which differs from one designer to another. I would like to think that this variety in the usage of the letter M for logo design is just a resultant of the influence of the cultures, the designers come from. It is also interesting how culture varies within a nation too...from city to city, town to city. In some sense I am glad that visual culture(especially in this case) goes beyond superficial boundaries of race, religion and tonwship, nationality and what we see is refreshingly creative and meaningful too. What I am also wondering is, if these logos are simply a consequence of cultural impact or are also impacted by the design intellect of the designers which is a blend of their unique interpretation of the patterns they see in the real world and the intersubjectivity in perceiving metro and the letter M?

Birthday blues....

It was my birthday a couple of days back. It was a routine day, with an early morning 3 hr class, followed by a hushed up lunch, then rushing to the work place...after four hours of work, left for a project meeting which wrapped up by 7.00 pm. Had fifteen minutes of brainstorming on my capstone (for those who don't know, capstone's the final year individual design project in my grad design program). Then chit chatted with my roomie/classmate 'S' and played around with her iPhone a little bit to kill some time until my other roomie 'M' called and we finally headed towards a Thai restaurant 'Esan Thai' to fill ourselves and give a 'sumptuous'fanfare to a routine birthday. The food was great, we were thrilled as soon as we got to dig into the food after a painful wait of 35 minutes after we got into the restaurant after waiting for 10 minutes to be seated first! Despairs apart, the birthday thing turned out to be a fairly decent affair...

Okay, coming back to the picture featured in this post!
That's my pet stuffy Mumu wearing a tee which was a birthday gift from a really really sweet friend (the 'really really sweet' part isn't cuz the person sent over a birthday gift being so far far apart from where I am currently) who I am missing a lot as I write this...

What's special about this gift is the fact that it has been transformed from a 'thing' to an embodiment of the person I am...someone who likes to paint the empty canvas of her life with myriad vibrant colors of love, ambition, balance, vigor and above all some meaningful design that holds a promise to make some difference-big or tiny-miny, to someone's life...

Thank you bud, will miss ya :-(

its okay...

i think sometimes its important to gather your own thoughts...
to make time for it...
sometimes its better to draw inspiration from within...
sometimes, its best to avoid talking to anyone except yourself,
you need to feel your own feelings trapped inside of you..
suppressed, unsaid, the ones that have been choking you...

you need to let your own self know what's going on in your mind, heart, and soul...
even though they conflict with each other, its okay to talk about it...
you need to talk to yourself, scold yourself, or simply cry to yourself...
it feels good, just to let it out...to yourself..all those things bitter sweet and sour...

life sometimes doesn't lend you a shoulder to cry on...
does that mean that you smother yourself with all that heavy dose of emotional effervescence?
sometimes its okay to look at yourself crying, shedding tears for all the hurting past, apprehensiveness of the future and uncertainty of the present..
its okay to celebrate your survival, your transitioning, your strength...
to have taken the leap from being lost to striving to find yourself...
and its really okay, to have nothing to say at all to just about anyone but yourself...

its okay to pamper yourself too...
sometimes its okay to Be There for Yourself...
life may not always lend you a close someone in front of whom you can let it all out...
the pain, the anger, the frustration, the nervousness, the joy, the craziness...that is a part of YOU..!

they might mistake your craziness for stupidity,
might mistake your silence for boredom,
might mistake your cryptic tears for being extra sensitive
might mistake your sternness for apathy...

its okay to choose that philosophical book you've always wanted to read over an equally valuable book that concerns your curriculum,
its okay to hang up the phone with your loved ones, when you have nothing worthwhile except silence to share,
its okay not to laugh at their jokes when they don't seem funny anymore...
its okay to express your anger when you really feel angry at someone that matters,
its okay to let someone know that you have been hurt by him/her, when you really are,
its okay to dare to apologize, even if it's hard to forgive yourself,
its okay to do The Right Thing, even if you can't convince anyone at all but yourself about it.

its really okay to be YOURSELF, at least once in a while....

Computer mediated communication...

Web 2.0 in a nutshell

Impressive and truly insightful TED talks on going 'green'

John Doerr sees salvation and profit in green tech

Robin Chase on zipcar and GoLoCo

While I do my class readings...I promise myself to...

- make a note of important points in my own words
- note questions and queries for the instructor
- make my own comments on particular things
- reflect a lot as a designer how I FELT about the article/paper
- revise my notes on the day of class
- most importantly, refer different resources outside of class and share with peers

:-)

awrite, back to work...

Google chrome... my first impressions of the chic browser

given that Google is a nerd company, its a given fact that more s/w engineers showed up in the comic (great job! by Scott McCloud)than any UX designers at all :-) also it would be quite odd for a company to elucidate on how experiential their product/service is just before/during its launching phase, they would rather let their product speak for itself…

Anyhow, from my interaction design standpoint, there are several features interactively built into chrome that I would surely appreciate for starters: the browser has a mac’ish clean n’ neat look; the dynamics tabs at the top are more visually and cognitively appealing than moz tabs..drag n dropping of tabs...(safari, does that too BTW;...same engine WebKit; and so does FF), creating web application short cuts to be able to place them on your desktop, task bar; and the incognito browsing mode…

also, its interesting to note what they have done with the mundane ‘history’ menu..unlike FF where one would have to look up the browsing history through the history menu, chrome displays your most recently visited sites along with a link to all browsing history right below it.everytime u open the browser/new tab...and to keep up with the search tradition, chrome helps me search through my history as well :-) and yea, it also allowed me to pre-set multiple pages(my set of standard daily URLs) to open in diff tabs when the browser launches… I wrote them an email though requesting them to change the radio buttons of the setting: options->on start up UI elements to check boxes, just so that it can restore my session as well as my fav standard everyday URLs simultaneously...

of course, chrome's issues revolving around privacy concerns and tab crashes (tackled by killing the process of the tab)are doing the rounds; but over all i wud give my thumbs up to chrome beta :-)

p.s. I am currently alternating between chrome n good ol' firefox :-)
only time will tell if Google will be able to revolutionize the browsing experience in the long run or FF will step up and raise its standards even higher...

Healthy competition always breeds acceleration towards perfection I guess... ;)

Jack of all trades?

It's interesting to note how technologists/designers bend the rules (of course if there are any particular design rules at all) to make devices multitask between the real function they are intended to perform and the supplementary (yet no less fancy) functions that are also infused into these devices...In today's world where sustainability is picking up pace in the design industry, I find it ground breaking in terms of design, how technology can be clubbed together into a device and transform it into more or less *jack of all trades*. However I am sure the consumer group for such special devices is small, and hence its also essential that the production of such devices needs to be done responsibly.

The reason I mention this is the context of this post I read during one of my daily net-surfing sessions...it boasts of a cell phone *multi-designed* especially for individuals who cannot "see". It is injected with a software that enables its camera to 'read out aloud' to the user what 'it' sees. The software is developed by some company called Gashel. This project is a joint venture hatched between the Kurzweil Technologies and the National Federation of the Blind.

information overload or information greed overload?

there are so many things going on in my mind right now
yes i know this isnt anythin new that i m telling you today...
its always been that way, a clutter that never ceases to exist..
i do not understand why i m doing this?
rather i havent yet taken the time out to analyse it...
this information overload that i m treating my brain to?
its crazy u know
there's so much out there to explore to learn to understand to assimilate to analyse..
where's the time to sit back and relax?
why i m doing this? do i really need this? how important is it to my over all big picture? when is the right time to draw the line? when is the best time to stop looking at the monitor?

tuff one. but i guess i will pass it on for a later intellectual moment cuz tea time beckons...

practice makes a designer perfect!

Interesting talk from Ira Glass of the famous show 'the american life'...

Must see video for people with passion to create

Potential good news for interaction designers...

I am attending the Coldfusion and Flex workshops at Indiana University Bloomington today n tomorrow..

Today’s afternoon keynote session got me really excited!!

They mentioned Adobe Thermo which is a lab product of Adobe that would make it easy for designers to impressive UI for RIAs…not just that, it will let the designers create more impressive prototypes without having to know way too much about the development side of things…

Explore more at http://labs.adobe.com/wiki/index.php/Thermo

Excerpts from their website:

“Thermo” is an upcoming Adobe product that makes it easy for designers to create rich Internet application UIs. Thermo allows designers to build on familiar workflows to visually create working applications that easily flow into production and development.

Features

* Use drawing tools to create original graphics, wireframe an application design, or manipulate artwork imported from Adobe Creative Suite tools.
* Turn artwork from Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, or Fireworks directly into functional components that use the original artwork as a “skin”.
* Define and wire up interactive behavior, such as what to do when a user clicks on something, without having to write code.
* Easily design UIs that work with dynamic data, such as a list of contacts or product information, without having access to the actual data source. Design-time sample data can be used as a realistic placeholder when laying out an application, testing interactivity, and choreographing motion.

Applications created in Thermo are Flex applications that can be loaded directly into Flex Builder, providing a great roundtrip workflow for designers collaborating with developers. The designer’s work can be incorporated directly into the production application with no loss of fidelity, and designers can continue to refine the design throughout the iterative development process.

~ inertia ~

it was dull and grey early this morning,
the sky was being stifled by relentless clouds,
but not as much as my mind is right now,
uncomfortably shrouded with cumbersome thoughts...

the sky attempts to clear its clutter,
but my mind has yet not..
it has trepidations of unknown vices
like a stained white cloth
with blunt ink-blots.
would there ever be respite
from this numbness that engulfs me?

a dulling inertia gradually consumes.
it feeds on the unraveled profound richness
of my questioning exploring intellect,
like a parasite that has gone without food for decades..

is this decadence a stark sign
that, an inevitable and forsaken adulthood awaits
or is it just another phase of my banal life
that, takes turns to soar and subside?
what is it that contains my seeking mind
why is it that I am afraid to confide?

Have you ever.....?

Have you ever found yourself enjoying any random music playing on your iPod?

Have you ever felt absolutely exhilarated and insouciant so as not to be bothered by the rough realities of your otherwise banal life?

Have you ever felt totally liberated as if you were just let out of a constricted place forever?

Have you ever felt good about being yourself, just the way you are, in fact, amazingly glad the way you have turned out after all these years since you were born?

Have you ever felt like you don't fear anymore of what might come your way?

Have you ever smiled at the fact that just being a part of this mystery called Life makes you so special?

Have you ever felt 'this moment is THE moment', yet cared less about it being just an illusion that would probably not last until you say 'wow!'?

Well, that's more or less how I feel right now, though I have absolutely no reasons in particular to feel this way!

Cheers to such lovely times :)

...of life n' happiness and things beyond....

All, we sentient and desirous humans, are caught up in this long-winding phantasmagoria which we term as 'LIFE'...the highly unpredictable nature of life(with a lil' bit of magical co-incidences thrown in) has never failed to amaze me!...
...and on days like these, when my mind deviates from the erratic worldly pursuits and wanders elsewhere...this is 'sort-of' what it comes up with...read on...

Most of the times i am left wondering if there is any convincing rhyme or reason for our existence on this earth...or are we a miniscule part of some larger picture, and if so, how does it all fit in? Whether there is any divine purpose to our lives, still remains a matter of mystery to me; however, how and what we make of our transient life,that determines its quality, and this is what distinguishes the mediocre from the genuine...and once we undergo the inevitable transition from life to death, with or without choice, as we dissolve into nothingness...all that is left of us are memories, sour and sweet, in the minds of our loved ones...

Then again, another thing that bothers me is why do all of us crave to be happy?...happiness too is a relative term out here...for some it may mean amassing wealth, for some it may mean fulfilling filial duties after marriage, for some it may mean satiating their deep dark desires, for some it may mean achieving their high-flying 'goals', for some it may mean expressing oneself creatively, for some it may mean gathering knowledge, for some it may mean working for the betterment of others' lives, and the list continues...
...for me, happiness is all about getting in touch with your true self, exploring yourself, widening your capabilities in all possible horizons and concurrently existing with a perpetual peace of mind (though the last one can be considered an utopian state of being)..for me, this in itself is a way of life...

...btw, have you guys, at odd times, ever questioned your own idea of happiness and the purpose of your being?...would be interesting to know...

life has no particular answers.
we just have to live it.
there are no reasons for certain things whatsoever.
some things are just meant to be.
do not question life, but only your own conscience.
believe in yourself.
there's so much about you to explore, so much more you know not.
love is just one aspect of life.
love is NOT life.
there are many elements life is bound with,
love being just a miniscule part of it.
there are things more beautiful, more painful, more humbling than love itself.
but love is a great teacher.
it teaches you to live life thoroughly, daringly,
infuses a sense of responsibility in your being.
it teaches you to smile insouciant and guileless.
it makes you learn things you never could imagine yourself doing.
it changes your life for the good...seldom for the worse.
well,its all up to how you interpret it.
you are what you choose to be.
you are not answerable to anyone but yourself.
live without fear, without fear of pain, without fear of losing someone close, without fear of death, live without fear of YOURSELF.
break free from the shackles of your own illusions and be yourself,
and adapt when need be.
but remember, its always better to leave some questions unanswered...
coz' LIFE HAS NO PARTICULAR ANSWERS...

~the garden of her thoughts~

she draws herself
in the dulcet hush of her mind,
distancing herself
from the chaotic,erratic world outside...
the world of pretenses
of bubble-gum romances
of acute melancholy
of acts shilly-shally
of obnoxious facades
of poses & masquerades
of feeble men,some naked,some guarded,some jaded.

she wants to resurrect herself
'cause she's clogged by the inanities
of the boot-licking,cynical world outside.

she draws herself
subtle and slow
into a simple world of her own,
vivid vivacious vibrant.
she plays amidst the garden of her thoughts
untraversed by the wild weeds
of a pernicious world outside.

unrestrained, as she enters
the golden gates of that garden,unlocked
she runs amok in the garden of her thoughts
winsome and coy,
ready to take on to 'the world'
with an exuberance unalloyed.

homelessness from an international student's perspective!

When the CHI project was announced and I first went through its problem statement, my mind inadvertently flashed touching images of the poor in my homeland, India. In India, one will not only find cultural, social and religious diversity, but also an appalling diversity in the economic status of the population in India. There are individuals/families having lavish lifestyles; then there's the working class that includes higher middle class to lower middle class, to working class that strives hard to make both ends meet with great pains and effort. But most heart-rending is the plight of the impoverished, who in all likelihood can be termed interchangeably as the 'poor homeless'. This population does not have an access to even the basic human needs of food, clothing and shelter. Most of this 'homeless' lot perishes in extreme poverty and suffers from health and sanitation issues. They are oblivious to education and its importance, susceptible to sexual abuse, some of them resort to illegal drugs, some are forced to begging, stealing, etc. If one sits to enumerate the grave problems related to homeless in India, the list would be endless. Very few of these individuals attempt to break the cycle of poverty and homelessness. Most of them comfortably adapt themselves to their tragic condition and find amusing ways of survival which are indeed harrowing and pitiful to say the least!

Due to my limited/almost zilch knowledge of the homeless in the US, this is the only picture I had in my mind of being homeless. After conversing with my American friends here; after being a part of the panel discussion with the four community centers for homeless in Prof.Siegel's Class, and the focus group conducted as a part of the research, I came to realize that the face of homelessness in developed countries is way different from what I had perceived before. I never knew homelessness could also be a result of wrong choices one makes in life, rather than a consequence of unforeseen, unfortunate circumstances. It was a major and interesting insight I got after interacting with my team mates/class mates here in the US and amidst conducting research on homeless in a developed country.

Me, being an international student in our team, (which is an interesting blend of hardworking, professional, disciplined and enthusiastic individuals), we've have the opportunity to look at various faces of homelessness: homelessness by birth, homelessness due to wrong choices made in life, and homelessness caused by unexpected series of events. The most difficult thing however, is to zero in on one particular target group! Another valuable insight I gather from the research, is that even though we may have various categories of homelessness, many of them have overlapping concerns which can be a guiding factor in our preliminary design sketches.

a worthwhile experience!

Since I am working on a team project that encompasses a wide range of emotions like anger, hatred, compassion, empathy, sympathy, apathy and many more, I would like to share a touching experience I had in my schooling years back in 1997.

Being a part of the social club in our high school, our school used to organize various visit to places that needed attention or voluntary social service.

We were once taken to ‘Sneh Sadan’ (which means ‘ loving home/place’ in Hindi language) in our seventh grade. Sneh Sadan is a local NGO located in Mumbai, India that homes street children temporarily until a suitable permanent home can be found for them.

So through this visit, we were expected to spread some smiles across the residents of Sneh Sadan, who were innocent guileless children, who’s only fault was being born to irresponsible parents who had either abandoned, deserted or sold away their children in desparation or greed.

We had taken some basic stationary items, some clothes and food items for the children there and ourselves being just seventh grade students, we were really excited to meet our new ‘friends’ . On reaching Sneh Sadan, we were truly overwhelmed by the response of the zealous children who welcomed us with vigor and limitless enthusiasm. That visit will always remain fresh in my mind. Those extremely simple and talented bunch of zealots had actually prepared for a set of song and dance sequences in order to welcome us to their ‘home’. They performed sincerely and dauntlessly in front of us with bursting eagerness. We then spoke to each one of them and shared lunch together. On handing over the ’stuff’ we had got in store for them, they thanked us with endearing gratitude. Their faces were lit with exciting smiles and genuineness that’s hard to come across often.

By the end of the visit we realized, that although we had come to them with the intention of ‘giving’ something to a set of unfortunate and underprivileged strangers, we ended up receiving so much more in terms of our new found friendship which is inexplicable and priceless as compared to materialistic things!

It’s no surprise that some of these kids go places in the long run with commendable support from such wonderful NGOs and their own determination and grit as well!

It’s no hidden truth, that homeless need ‘love and compassion’ rather than only merely bringing to them materialistic resources.

~ perceptions ~

...when i walk back home after a weary day
jaded and lonesome...
it reminds me of those times
when you used to always drop me back home.
..and before I used to make my way to the door,
u used to grab me close and kiss me deeply
leaving me in a heavenly haze for hours...

...when i preen my delicate hands
it reminds me of those moments
when time used to freeze
as u used to hold my warm hand into yours
and trace imaginary love notes to me
with your rousing fingers...

...when I wipe the tears off my eyes
as I miss you,
it reminds me of those light kisses
you used to plant on my anticipating eyelids
or my overburdened forehead
in my times of distress...

...when I hear an unattended cell phone ringing
it reminds me of those endless engaging conversations
we used to have for hours
which always seemed inadequate,wanting...

...when I shiver uncomfortably
as an inconsiderate wind lashes my frail body
it reminds me of your warm embrace
which used to so easily melt me inside of you...

...when I resolve my stubborn strands
it reminds me of the way you used to
run your fingers through my wavy curls
and pull my face close to yours
enticing me to a prolonged sinfully sweet kiss...

...when I watch small kids playing down the street
it reminds me of your childlike innocence
your transparent way of looking at things
your guileless smile
your naive enthusiasm...

...i won't say 'I miss you, baby!'
'cuz u are refreshingly present in the complicated confines
of my languished mind
every picture frame of my life
is incomplete without you, my love
you are one of those things that are hard to leave behind!

I’m so glad to be a part of the Indiana University,Bloomington Human Computer Interaction Design Masters’ Program - a program that doesn’t require learning anything by rote, and one that thrusts us into a world of mind-boggling brainstorming sessions; at the same time, sets our creative juices flowing…what more could we ask for!!!
The sheer positivity and interactivity that flows throughout the various courses is overwhelming and encouraging…I was a tad bit apprehensive about how I would cope and gel with a bunch of strangers from plethora of diverse cultures and backgrounds, but going by the ’starting point’ of this course, it seems like we’re all going to have an experience of a lifetime

Way to go!!!

whim-sick-all?

I have always been finicky. Yes finicky's the word...be it shopping fir that perfect black dress or completing some silly assignment or reading a book...the seamless joy I derive from learning some thing new up to perfection is inexplicable; the heart revels in the fact of transgressing into an area which has never been explored before by me...Immense euphoria it is, when a previously unmastered art finds a liking into my nous and I unflinchingly pursue it until I reach a realm of complete satisfaction at myself, at a job well done, a task well mastered....But as exciting and enthusing the uphill of learning some thing fancy that catched my attention before, that deliriously-contagious feeling of immersing myself day n night into a fancied task; much the same, no less self-contemptuous, is the downhill of emotional baggage I carry when I sense that that much sought after fancy that once held my rapt attention barely manages to persist in my memory...

The things I have been enjoying all this while, slowly tend to wane from my disdainful memory, making me feel more guilty than what a heavy diabetic would feel while consuming a bar of sinfully-sweet chocolate...I wonder why the complexities of our sometimes disconcerting mind, try to fend off that once truly cherished desire of learning, pursuing, continuing things we once found exciting enough...It happens a lot of times in my case, where my mind plays foul much to my utter amusement and surprise. The aura, the magic fades away, of things once cherished, sooner or later...and then begins the quest of newer untraversed tasks, and the vicious desire-cycle continues...

But then I appease myself with the fact that this feeling of ‘desire turning into contempt’ holds true only fir materialistic things and tasks... when it comes to real people and their lives, I cant help but being a part of people’s lives, the ones I truly care for of course; thank Heavens, for the fact that our liking of people does not change over time :-) The hurt, the pain and irreconcilable damage that would be caused to people in case of changing emotional and carnal desires and tastes is unthinkable of, atleast to my conscience...

Its not that we don’t see that happening around us, indeed we see it happening all the time - the cruel merciless mutilation of moral principles and human values, and most times, most of us watch it in senseless wonder or shameless apathy :-( ...I really consider myself fortunate to have been born and brought up in a homely setting where the spirit of humaneness and respectfulness is foisted as the ultimate rejoice of the soul.


Anyways, humane rationales apart, I jus want to be a lil’ more careful these days about my waning choices, it can be scary u know, liking things, learning them, following them for quite a while and then one fine day, quitting it all, at mind's annoying whims...not nice at all!!!

~ tasveer ~

Dil ke har kone mein aapki tasveer lagai humne,
dil ke har kamre mein aapki khairiyat ka diya jalaya,

kabhie jhaak kar dekha hota aapne iss garib khaane mein,
toh bass har taraf apni chavi ko payaa hota!

~ vishwaas ~

Kisi ko itna dard na dena,
ki uske dil mein pyaar ke liye koi jagah na bache...

Bhale hi vishwaas karne se katrao tum,
lekin mere pyaar ki pavitrataa ko thhess na pahooche

~ bewajah ~

Kaise koi pasand aata hai itna,
ki khud hi ko bhool jaate hai hum?

Kya kisi ko paane ka hi naam pyaar hai,
ya apne aap ko kho dene ka?

Ajeeb paheli ye mohobbat hai,
jo khud hi ek dard hai,
aur khud hi dardon ki davaa bhi!

Sachmuch hamaari yeh zindagi toh bass bewajah reh jaati,
jo unhe humse yuhi bewajah mohobbat na hoti!

.......on a musical note!

i have always been open to variety of music including rock, trance, crazy bollywood hits,rap crap, b n'w oldies, romantic stuff, spiritual music....just about anything that suits 'the mood'...however as always is in most cases,my parents dun quite take a decent liking for the kinda stuff i listen to :(

the more i adore, pamper n' put on my favs on my desirous ears, the more my parents flare up by their mere sight, and heartlessly threaten to covertly throw away the phones into a dirty distant gutter...the mere thought of a slimy yucky creature finding its way into my abandoned headphones and making them its abode itself brings shivers to my body...

not any less than a climax or a mental orgasm, is the rush of adrenaline i get when the 'best odd bits' of my fav tracks enthrall my eardrums, and it is at such times i least expect to compromise for anythin having the slightest scent of interruption...and bang! comes somebody from nowhere and says or does things that breaks my musical 'trip'...Schade! i wonder how many similar hapless chaps like me find this relative...

the much trusted and humble sony headphones have always come to my rescue at odd tough times by just being there for me,or rejoice n' share wid me my moments of utter bliss on a peaceful day...its been a long association with those handsome blackies who never refuse to play to me all those song lists i demand ferociously one after the other...be it the mellifluous romantic number on a mushy day,or those rebellious rock metal belled out in a rage of fury n' focus or those engrossing trance numbers which help me gain my concentration, infuse that much wanted sense of ambition, insurmountable enthusiasm and vigour on a dullish day or even otherwise!

u cant really identify the kinda relationship i share with my sony headsets until i tell u this; all hell hath broken loose, when once vicious red ants had invaded the soft spongy interior of my beloved head sets, wen i had been on a tiny vacation and cudnt take them along due to parental pressure of forcing me to pretend to mix with boring distant relatives whom i have barely met once in a lifetime, that too when i was a naive naive baby! i was a wreck widout music that entire painful week until i got the set treated at the elctronic store...

..so for all its madness and crazy crazy world i delve into in their esteemed company, i take this opportunity to dedicate this seemingly inconsequential post to my beloved and inseparable buddies who never fret or complain, jus hang on wid me dedicatedly thru' all the joy n 'pain...

Cheers!

What should You Major in???

Your Scholastic Strength Is Innovating

You are the master of new ideas, techniques, and ways of looking at things. You are talented at structuring thoughts, decision making, clarifying, and making deadlines. You should major in: Marketing Psychology Design Cognitive Science Economics Photography

What Should You Major In?

~ revelations ~

...every night as i recline onto bed
i think of times of our togetherness...
every moment with u, my love,
is a moment of magical revelation!
...and that's when i realise,jaanu
that u not only know what it means to love
but responsibly live up to it, too.

The best emotion i have experienced in love
is to b touched by you,
to be squeezed by you tight,
after destiny distances us
for seemingly endless interludes.
But all the pain of waiting for you
seems worthwhile
when i notice dat tinge of smile on ur face,
mysterious and demanding,
the chalice of my life overflows,
when that smile breaks into a joyous laugh
especially when i tease u, mollycoddle u...

When u rest ur burdened head on my lap,
lost in deep thought,
or when u lose yourself
in the confines of my entrancing arms,
u make me feel like a princess
protecting the naive inner child
residing inside of u.

..its amazin how u make me feel, jaanu...
u've indeed made me come back to life
u have taught me not just to survive
but how to enjoy thoroughly
the journey of my otherwise banal life!

~ amends ~

his words woven with sheer magic,
its astounding how
with an unmistakable ease,
he manages to make amends with my furious heart,
even when i make dopey promises to myself
not to react or respond
to his antiques,
not to laugh
at his silly jokes,
nor to listen him out
and his lame excuses...

he just manages somehow,
i dunno how~!

~ utopia ~

the way you sense the slightest variations in my mood
and make me laugh at the drop of a hat,

the way you run your fingers through my silken strands
and pull my face closer to yours,

the way you savour me like an icecream
and bite me like chewing on a chocolate-bar,

the way you cuddle up like a teddy bear
and pamper me like a baby,

the way you greet me with a tight hug
and treat me with the same when we part,

the way you tease me at my bloopers
and spank me lightly, naughtily,

the way you gaze at me admiringly
and speak volumes to me through your eyes,

the way you make cute amusing noises
and kiss me incessantly over the phone,

the way you care for every lil' thing of mine
and make me forget all my trivial worries,

the way you listen to me patiently when i scold you
and keep your cool at tough times,

the way you trip over music and your work
and inspire me to do better...

jus everythin about you, my love...
it makes me want you all the more,
the warmth, the comfort, the coziness of your arms,
ohh boy! just the perfect place to be!

~chaos~

too little love can destroy you...
too much love can spoil you!

~ revival ~

he badgers her unabashed,
playing hide n'seek with her,
just as naughty and brash,
as the mighty monsoon furor...

she closes her demure eyes,
& delves into her gala mind's archives,
reliving those crazy moments
of crazier love...
they rollick amidst the lashes
of the rousing rains,
the urgency of their frisson
mounts insane...

the air wheezes past whistling,
the alluding raindrops trickle down their being,
the rumbling greens cheer,
but naively oblivious to all of it,
they cater to the caprice
of each others' coy flesh...
like bantering kids,
they tease and torment each other!
beguiling the rain is,
beguiling is their resurrected desire...

the rains are finally here!
I.N.D.U.L.G.E. !!!

~jilted~

she lay jilted,
from the bruises he gave her
emanating from his anguish,
the wounds frothy-fresh.
a stranger he was
who rose in disguise,
he inflicted the quinine spurts
of his maddening fury all over her,
she relished it all
like munching tardily on a rusk
hard n'crisp, sinfully sweet!

strange are the ways of
make-belief and raw love...

~ intrusions ~

a pusillanimous princess, i am...
i take shallow refuge
behind these vacuous palatial walls,
try not encroaching them,
invade not,
these robust bulwarks
that i built around myself.
...that time, i was strong enough,
today i just might fall apart
lest u choose to transgress...

~ silent conversations ~

its not always nice of you to be silent, my love,
and expect me to comprehend your plight.
and in all of this bad phase that we're going through,
its uncanny when i say that i understand
but somehow i seem never to!

and its not that i dun empathise with you,
its just that i miss u beyond debate
a lil' beyond my mawkish words can explain
and your stern heart can contemplate.

as i clout you with all the cribbing n'complaining
even as i drain out upon you,
my vexed heart's rambling,
the fumbling silence within us,that follows,
is defeaning,torturing,palpitating...

a rude mince of words can be harsh, i know
but tonight i have learnt,and i solely rue...
sometimes our silent conversations
can be overly painful too...

~ lose control! ~

he catches a glimpse
of her beautiful reflection,
at the mirror,as she beams,
that wide-eyed woman...

the melody of his words
rings in her delicate ears,
as he cocoons her
with his powerful fondling arms,
she floats under his seductive charms
and whispers...
as he draws her closer...

"sweetheart,you look beautiful tonight,
...gorgeous as ever,
but tonight,the shimmer
of your sultry skin
entices me beyond bounds,
dun blame me, dun stop me,tonight my love
let me lose control and tread further..."

the demure woman blushes
and he smiles back as much,
mischief on his mind
that warmth in his touch...

she playfully nudges
at his advancing shoulder
and he silently trudges,
the naked night grows bolder...

P.A.N.D.E.M.O.N.I.U.M. : (

they are ripping Her apart...
...my Motherland,
Her laments are defeaning,
tears of blood flowing unrestrained...
how can She endure the death of Her innocent sons and daughters?
how much more bloodshed...

She's wondering...
...if borders and religion are more substantial than humanity...
if there's an end at all
to this lunacy,this foolhardiness,this extremity...
Her woes every minute,are growing manifold,
plunging Her into a dismal darkness.

...the noise of this fanatic pandemonium is numbing Her senses,
She's crippled,helpless and broke,
and all we do is, continue to stand and stare...

HIGH TIME WE WAKE UP...BEFORE ITS TOO LATE :(

beware!!!....i'm a hunter ; )

...yet another engg semester wraps up...no sooner did we heave a sigh of relief with the completion of crappy semester submissions, than the dreaded vivas are now prancing around da corner...mocking n' tantalizing...
Group studies are goin' on in full spirits thou'...(trust me, this is the best possible way to brush up your concepts instead of locking yourself alone in an isolated room with the reference book giving you scary stares and u staring at it point blank (totally intimidated by its size and content))...with the group studies concept, studying has neva been so much challenging, interesting, and FUN!!!
...so all this group studying and brain-storming sessions et al, doesn't really let me do justice to my dear blog..so all i post today is this insightful ;) blogthing(courtesy ash's n sophia's blogs), after some blog-hopping in my leisure time...

so here's revealing some of my attributes...

you are a Hunter Soul!

you are driven and ambitious - totally self motivated to succeed Actively working to achieve what you want, you are skillful in many areas. you are a natural predator with strong instincts...and more than a little demanding. you are creative, energetic, and an extremely powerful force....(hmmmm quite agreeable :)) An outdoors person, you like animals and relate to them better than people.(yeah..i luuv dogs!..they r da nxt best things to loyal men ;)...) you tend to have an explosive personality, but also a good sense of humor. People sometimes see you as arrogant or a know it all...you tend to be a bit of a loner, though you hate to be alone.(no, i do njoi being by myself sometimes, dun hate it at all) Souls you are most compatible with: Seeker Soul and Peacemaker Soul

What Kind of Soul Are You?

~nostalgia~

its a strange void,
when you aren't around...
...to hold me
at my worst,
...to pacify me
when i go berserk,
...to correct me
when i act silly,
...to understand me
when i'm my callow self,
to humour me
when i'm not in the best of moods,
...to spoil me
when i feel indulgent,
...to hug me
when i need it the most,
...to fill the gaps within my committed fingers
even as you arrest me with your pining gaze.
isn't it an eternity since
the last time you grasped me in your desirous hands?

its tough to obliterate
this nostalgia of our connexions.
...so better still, i'm gonna lock it safe
in the cherished confines of my fond memories
even as i evanesce from your nous into oblivion...

~up on cloud number nine~

reverberations run deep through their charged bodies,
their young blood...

Like those sudden showers pouring in march,
a union out of the blue...
painful drab memories efface
by the forgiving tears that well up in her glistening eyes...

Squelching through long withheld effusions,
he explores, she melts..
the rhythm of their entwined bodies matched,
yearning eyes seduce
fondling fingers quench thirsty skins...

a hug so warm, kisses profound
playful hearts smile insouciant,
yes..its a pleasure fathomless...
oh so surreal!...to be together after long...
making up for lost moments, lost times.

Souls triumph...
...love thrives.
sated, he rests in the cocoon of her blithe body,
a place, he can now truly claim his very own...

~sweet poison~

the endless excuses...
those silly white lies...
everytime she drinks that familiar poison,
it consumes her slow...
she now savours it like good ol' wine.
ohh! it hurts so much to let go...
Entangled in the yarn of his built fallacies,
she's that lost,hapless boat,caught in a storm,unrowed...

~desire~

the urgency of desires soaring,
passion they drink,
through seidels of schmaltz...
guzzling sounds they make,
silly giggles flow,
coquetting, they spend amorous nights,
pressing against each other,
under the comforting blanket of raw love...

a bedlam called love...

mawkish words become superficial,
callous emotions heed no crying heart
agony rides high
in the land of otiose ambitions

abient heart,
claustrophobia struck...
stifles in the locked interiors of broken dreams,
struggling,choked with morbid fear...

crazy love infected
her heart wails when hurt...
& the more it gets used to the bourgeois pain,
it trudges along the trails of foolish fallacy of lost love
once more...

torn between her loving heart and furious mind
she feigns staying aloof,
the game of love too hard to lose
silly players, they follow no rules!

her fumbling heart
it obscures its hurt...
hopes to survive the madness,
the bedlam called love...

sufferers in silence...

pawns of fate,
puppets of time,
sufferers in silence,
each night they recline
besotted with the opium of love...

...redolent of snuggling,cozy memories of ripened love,
the distances separating them,being their aphrodisiac,
they await those moments
that would draw them closer
to unravel the alluring arcana of shared intimacy,
to bask in the frisson
of each other's caressing bodies...

~mermaid in love~

she's swimming across cruel rivulets of melancholy,
her quivering lips sing tales of her agony.
the furiously freezing riverwater gushes past her,
the baleful wind sends shivers down her frail body,
but she savours the pain taciturnly,
as the chirpy songbird hums the eternal song of hope...

silent tears rain heavy,
she winces in pain,
seeing her love being strangulated
by brutal waves of distress.

she resolves to move ahead
desparately wishing to shield him safe,
from the uncanny idiosyncrasy of life
and kiss away all his walloping worries...
...if only he sheds off his canopy of callousness
and reckons the puerile her, as his very own!

~love u momz, you mean the world to me~

when my world goes topsy-turvy,
& my vexed mind is shrouded with silly worry,
and sometimes when the pain is downright unbearable,
or even otherwise,
there's no place so comforting,
so solacing, so endearing, so nurturing...
as the bosom of my very own mother...

~gaze~

heady with indignation,
livid with seamless pain,
i look daggers at him...
"its one last time,
the pointless encounter,you've asked for."
I fume.

no futile begging words,
no otiose excuses from his side,
just a firm gaze of his,contrite,
is enough for the seething me to subside.
"jaan, dun look at me like that,
i'll fall in love with you all over again!"
I whisper.

he strips me down,
his riveting gaze ensconced on me,i'm mired.
inebriated with an exotic chalice of desire.
the befuddled me, the cynosure of his eye,
i willingly comply.

...and in the brazen nakedness of the wet night,
the mystery of love unsolved,
we are spent entirely in each other's gazes,
carnal touches, uninvolved...

~maudlin musings~

no sound it makes,
when a loving heart breaks.
tears gone dry,
too shocked to cry.
bewildered,dazed,fumbled,
ignored & crumbled,
doused in dismay,
it has lost its way.
clutching on to sapless reeds of hope,
bent yet not broke.
"silly heart!..." I say,
"...move on ,revive"
it conceals a tear,
braves a smile,(seems to say)
"dun worry,i'll survive..."

~enamored!!!!~

there's something about him,
he turns me on...

there's something about his impish smile,
winsome and insouciant...

there's something about his dandy demeanour,
virile and boyish...

there's something about his gait,
gallant and groovy...

there's something about his wit,
astute and crisp...

there's something about his touch,
genteel and chivalrous...

there's something about his pining gaze,
tempting and inviting...

boy!there's something about him,
he sure drives me crazy...

'ARE YOU FOR REAL???'

~APATHY~

some words
prick painful than a pointed nail
digging into a fresh gory wound.

some silences
deafen ears more piercing
than the shrill shrieks of an ululating widow.

some stern glances
cut through cool-headed dispositions,
sharper than a butcher's savage knife
ripping the tender skin of a timorous creature.

but nothing so excruciating, a pain, so tormenting
than a lover's apathy to his partner's sublime presence...

~INDULGENCE~

Least expected, he pulls her closer,
she shies away, sheepish that she's.
As he locks her in his strong arms,
they go on a splendid spree.

She languishes in his endearing embrace,
he kisses her profusely,wet all over her face.
...exploring her mouth
with his unflagging tongue,
in this frenzy,in this madness
together they plunge...

She gasps for breath, she forces him away,
surfeit with love, importuning for more,
her heart leaps,
she gazes at him abstruse and deep...

As she relinquishes in this sacrosanct stupor,
he leans over her, fastens his rein,
the zealot, the lover, is at it again!

ANOTHER NIGHT....

another dreary night,
a lonesome tear surges.
as I long for that awaited reunion,
evanescent yet consuming...

as I ache to hug him tight,
canoodle him all night...
wanna melt in his smouldering presence,
dissolve in his aura,his mystic essence.

...wanna be that decadent dark chocolate bite,
that tardily squishes in his devouring mouth
in utter sinful delight!

its hard to hold back
that hopeful tear,
as i delve into another wistful night...

PURGE YOUR SOULS!

have you met the Lucifer of hatred & fury?
a hootch that intoxicates,
that scalds our minds,
ruthlessly derides,obliterates our fate...
I have.

it has left me shocked, bruised
and sometimes apathetic and low.
I want it to end
'coz its destructive, for all I know!

as I writhe in pain,
i beseech you my friend,
to stay clear of that clamour,
silence the cacophony of rage,
so blaring, so resurgent.
pacify it once & for all,
that seething foam,
lest it leaves you & the people around you,
scathing and anguished.

come out, bask in the alfresco,
breathe in to a new life.
purge your soul
render it peaceful and pristine,
& believe, most of all, in the power of love!

wat kinda postmodernist are you!!!???!!!

You are a Tortured Conceptual Artist. Your fellow postmodernists call you an anachronism, but you've never cared much about the opinions of others. After all, most of them are far too simple-minded to appreciate the nuances of your work. They talk, while you are part of a lived tradition.

da weird inferences these equally weird quizzes come up wid, fail to bemuse me nevertheless...to know abt ur postmodernism inclinations,here's da link...

its study time, folks!

i m jus dun wid that phase of the engg. semester when all the college masti and frivolous meandering starts to die down and begins a gruelling period of torturous term tests,mindless submissions & soft-soaping the profs for better attendance n termwork marks!
the harrowing profs never tire from pursuing us, troubled souls & continue to grind our already overburdened brains,chastising us wid unnecessary irksome engg.assignments (which serve nothing but the purpose of wasting fresh-smelling A-4 size sheets...most of u all, who are engineers, must be familiar wid the unflinching act of cut-copy-paste which has been explicitly mastered by most of my fellowmates, leaving aside a handful bunch of sincere students).
the hollow submission process and journal work fails me!
yet this semester was another milestone reached in terms of the tech n non-tech activities held dat i got to be a part of, getting elected as the jt.operational secretary of C.E.S.S.,organising events,projects,presentations,seminars,GDs,mock-interviews n apti as a part of presentation n communication techniques,CSI chaptership inauguration in our coll,befriending n interacting wid seniors,da very memorable bangalore-mysore industrial visit..and above all, dodging the occasional temper tantrums of our profs was indeed an effort!
...as i bid adieu to da fifth semester,i now have much more serious stuff to ponder abt...ofcourse the dreaded sem-exams!...which demands of us, unrelenting hardwork n last month slogging...yeah,da timetable's out-28th nov to 12th dec.The date is speedily approaching..only hope the pace of my studies speeds up in sync too!
time to work my ass off...

time to celebrate love n' life...

The recent natural disasters and cruel blasts that took lives of scores of innocent Indians were a message that war against terrorism is far from over.India could definitely cope better wid such fiasco by improvised surveillance and policing system.Despite the trauma of these debacles,the complacency that has set in amid indian citizenry is appalling.Nevertheless,the serial blasts in the capital failed to dampen the festive Diwali n Eid mood of mumbaikars. Unfazed by the attacks, Indians celebrated Diwali wid a lotta zest n gusto.The word DIWALI itself conjures up a feeling of insouciance and ecstasy in our minds.DIWALI-the festival of lights,intricate colorful rangolis,well-lit diyas,lanterns,embellishments,noisy crackers(the only aspect i despise),mithai,get-togethers,cardgames,gifts...the festival of exuberance and most of all,love!
what i admire most of this festival,is the fact dat it is celebrated in our country regardless of religion,and its secular hue is wat makes diwali so special!...i get into the diwali mood a week before,helping out mom wid the preparations of diwali-special savouries,and seemingly endless process of cleaning the house,making my own signature greeting cards...diwali-day, for me, is waking up early morning,having those oil-chandan-uttan baths,drawing elaborate rangolis at the doorstep,lighting diyas,warm wishing to all loved ones,seeking blessings of elders,visiting close relatives,and savouring mouth-watering mithais,sweets(and chocolates ofcourse!)
...indeed a time to celebrate life!..the only glitch out here is dat diwali comes during my engg exam-study leave which also requires of me to study along simultaneously during da festive time.

NATURE'S WRATH....

Most of da times,we are so engrossed in our day to day lives,our minds are clogged wid such silly fits n'frays,that we hardly ever value one another,find time for one another.
it takes one severe blow of nature's wrath to jolt us back to the harsh reality of da unpredictable nature of life.
...the saturday's killer earthquake,that rocked 3 nations,did just dat!
the extent of disaster has moved one n all.
In these trying moments of humongous tragedy,let us
pray for the lost,unfortunate souls to rest in peace and hope that the bereaved victims muster the strength to overcome this trauma n move on...

BANGALORE ROX!!!

yes,i know,this has been long due for quite sum time now!...an account of our bangalore-mysore industrial-visit.

So,widout much more delay,here we go...

day 1...20th sept
--------------------
7.00 am assemble at mumbai cst
7.55 am departure by Udyan Express
full day en-route
contrary to da usual perception dat train n bus travelling is utterly boring n tedious, it was quite da opposite in our cases...we had loads of fun in da train...came across sum talented bunch of mimickry amongst us dat made us break into peels of unstoppable laughter,gala of talented singers(indian idols in da making!)n lots more...
then again,we had these occasional bouts of hysteria( in da form of singing non-stop songs in a tone as thou we were dead drunk,trying da patience of all da fellow passengers),playing dumb charades, antakshari,rapid fires,playing silly pranks on one another,but most of all,i truly enjoyed playin 'guess da killer' wherein one gets to 'ankh marofy' da cuties n hotties participating in da game...it got us in a totally flirtatious mood;-)

day 2...21st sept
--------------------
quite surprisingly inspite of goin thru' almost 24 hrs of train travel, we weren't really exhausted.
in fact,literally within half an hr of our chk in at Hotel Nalapada Residency, we were all brimming wid enthusiasm to visit IIM-B.da IIM-B was a nice xperience,gettin to talk to the students of da institution was pretty inspiring.
after tea-time, we visited an architectural masterpiece st.phelomena's church and Lalbaugh botanical garden.late in the evening we visited a kewl place ALIBI where we got a lil' naughty;-)most of us ended in high spirits!
one thing dat goes widout mention is da rockin nite life of bangalore....

day 3...22nd sept
--------------------
after da patent yet utterly delicious idli-dosa-crispy meduvada breakfast, we started for IBM n SIEMENS where we were given seminars (in their plush conference rooms) giving an overview of how these IT-giants basically work.Here too,we had a healthy interaction wid da IBM n SIEMENS employees n freshers who gave us an insight into their selection process,apti...
after a sumptuous lunch,we visited tipu sultan's summer palace.in da evening again we freaked out,n'joing da nite life of da IT-city...we visited a smashing kewl nite club by da name AMOEBA(M.G.ROAD) wich boasts of a pleasant ambience, good food n drinks,a bowling court,a lounge bar(all-in-one)and D.J.sessions dat glued us on to da dance floor for long.
n since we were permitted to stay outdoors till 12am,we truly had a ball!

day 4...23rd sept
--------------------
early morning, we left for mysore.chk in at Hotel DasPrakash Paradise.
visited da renowned mysore palace...we very astounded by its sheer exquisite n humongous architecture.evening, we visited da famed brindavan garden..da musical fountainshow left us spell-bound.

day 5...24th sept
--------------------
a hurried visit to chamunda temple n da nandi bull temple.after lunch, left for bangalore station...return journey begins...sob..sob..

day 6...25th sept
---------------------
full day en-route
reached mumbai(dadar)at arnd 8 pm.
home by 9 pm.
tired,exhausted,hungry...yet our minds full of vivid memories of our fun-trip...oops...industrial visit, that is!

in this manner our IV was a huge success...bangalore truly rox, i must say!
kudos to da clean,spic n' span city n its pleasant climate!

wish we have more of such I.V.s in da coming semesters:-)...we had fun no doubt,but most of all, this trip has indeed gotten us closer to one another n da camaraderie we have shared till date has strengthened even further.

Artificial Intelligence fun game...chk out its awesome fun!

i came across this kewl link in a mail...
http://y.20q.net/anon
its an A.I. program which tries to guess what's on your mind by asking some 20 simple questions.In case it fails to guess( wich seldom happens,provided u answer the questions to close perfection) it declares u as the winner!
the crazy part is...it even manages to guess rightly (but doesn't reveal openly),
if u got sumthin perverted on ur mind ;-)
have fun!!!

EINSTEIN'S THEORY OF RELATIVITY TURNS 100 THIS YR!

The famous german scientist ALBERT EINSTEIN's theory of relativity, which has influenced not just the world but the whole universe, has turned 100 this year.
...wanna know more???
Here's a link for all u EINSTEIN fans
http://german.about.com/od/culture/a/einsteinjahr.htm?nl=1

MAKE WAY FOR BLOGGING...

...gone are those days, when people used to maintain personal handwritten diaries in the hope that they would be read or published at some point of time in their lifespan...
But saddled with technological know-how and ascension in the number of tech-cum-net-savvy individuals, one can accomplish the same by means of BLOGS.

This miscegenation of technology and plethora of revolutionary ideas has led to the emergence of blogs. Blogs which is a short form used for web logs are online journals or personal diaries that can be maintained by just about anyone of us!

Blogs contain postings at varying intervals according to the convenience of the blog-writer (also known as blogger). Blogs can be made aesthetically pleasing to the readers' eyes by using intricate text, razor-sharp images and other features like archives and comments section for better illustrations. A blog is arranged in reverse chronological order and is accessible via a Web browser.

It can prove to be a dumping ground for one's stress,an outlet for his frustrations,innovations, general proceedings or events happening in one's day to day life or commentaries, personal views and opinions on specialized topics ranging from current affairs, controversial issues,social causes or technology.

A blog can also be effectively used as an unofficial advertising tool or a channel to exercise influence over a group of individuals who happen to be the blog readers. It can be an excellent channel to voice our criticism against certain issues, organisations and govt. policies. Blogs give a vent to one's personality, his thoughts and serve as a sumptuous refinery of ideas.

Blogs can be of various types- private,personal or public.
One can also utilise a blog to brand oneself efficaciously and by projecting oneself in a particular desired manner. Potpourri of ideas,feelings and fervid emotions can be poured onto a blog.
It can b a fun way to connect to our personal network of friends and to hone our writing skills too.

Some may argue that blogging leads to unnecessary wastage of webspace where one may not be able to differenciate between authentic information source and otiose details of someone's personal life. Yet, the influencing power of blogs cannot be underestimated.

To get started, one can use any of the free blogging platforms available via Google (Blogger.com), Rediff, Sify or IndiaTimes. On a more professional platter, one could resort to more advanced blogging platforms like TypePad or Wordpress.

If one knows how to get other bloggers to link to them and if he appeals to the passions
and prejudices of his blog readers, then he can reach out to a huge audience.
The best part of blogging is its hassle-free and user-friendly updation process. A blog can be published by an individual on the web anytime anyday; the outcome of it being the emergence of millions of personal pages making the rounds over the worldwide web.

With the advent of free speech and revolutionary ideas coming up coupled with astounding technological leaps (so also taking into consideration the probable commercial aspects that can be appended to it), for the 'BLOGship industry' , this is indeed just the beginning....
..........so for all u bloggers out ther...HAPPY BLOGGING!!!

many of my not-so-net-savvy friends keep wondering wats 'blogging' all abt!?!...so this post is dedicated to those clueless souls ;)

O childhood my innocent childhood...

O childhood, my innocent childhood...
i long for thee, thy sweet memory,
of crystal-clear love & deeds so good,
of sheer ecstasy & unsoiled glee.

O childhood, my naive childhood...
when my mind so naively moulded,
devoid of lust and elude,
i knew not words like 'afraid'.

O childhood, my carefree childhood...
when the vast skies were our space,
so zealous...so safe...
uncomplicated & blissful solace.

Those were the days of untrespassed innocence,
of caring, of sharing,
lingered with friendship's mystic fragrance...

Can i ever forget...
those thrills of eating a sumptuous icecream cone,
assaying to savour it all up before it melted
yet leaving me in a sticky mess!

Can i ever forget...
the moulding of sand-castles
with my tiny lil' hands.
the camel rides,its ups & downs
that churned my stomach!
those alluring trips to the juhu beach
my heart will forever enrich...

But with the arrival of adolescence,
the magic began fading.
with a bat of an eyelid,
loads of burdens ushered in!

Now the joys of yesteryears
are a bundle of memories sugarysweet...
unwiped...unfaded...
that no one can ever breach.

O childhood my innocent childhood..
i earnestly long for thee
and will forever!

this piece of amateur poetry was attempted by me when i turned thirteen...
it may be somewhat crappy here n there...
but i'll always cherish the sentiments behind it

My Bloginality is INTP!!!