17. New business card - urbanwindows

Finally done with the logo n card for urban windows. . . . for now its only the end product that I'm uploading but there's lot more than just the final output to show off. . . . will add more stuff sometime later. . . .this is all for now.

 

16. Words . . . . as powerful as these, WOW ! ! !

The reason for uploading this post is very simple, you'll understand once you read it completely. The write-up is a sequence from the movie V for VENDETTA , a movie about rebellion, vengeance and above all hope, things that can be accomplished by just words is simply astounding and amazing, I guess that's why they say a PEN is more powerful than a SWORD. . . . . . . kudos to the writers Andy and Larry Wachowski . . . .

Voila – there you are, hey presto

Vaudevillian - theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s

Veteran - experienced person

Vicariously – sensationally

Victim – sufferer

Villain - nasty piece of work

Vicissitudes – a change or variation occurring in the course of something.

Visage – facade

Veneer - thin covering

Vanity – egotism

Vestige – evidence

Vox - Populi - Popular opinion or sentiment

Vacant – unoccupied

Vanished – nowhere to be found

Valorous – courageous

Visitation – The act of visiting

Vexation – displeasure

Vivified – To give or bring life to

Vowed – be determined

Vanquish – conquer

Venal – willing to sell one's influence

Virulent – dangerous

Vermin - parasites

Van – advance guard

Vice – subordinate

Vouchsafing - give your word

Violently – brutally

Vicious – ferocious

Voracious – hungry

Violation – breach

Volition – decision

Verdict – judgment

Vengeance – retaliation

Vendetta – grudge

Votive – symbolizing a wish

Vain – unsuccessful

Value – price

Veracity – honour

Vindicate - prove right

Vigilant - on your guard

Virtuous – righteous

Verily – In truth

Vichyssoise – A thick creamy potato soup flavoured with leeks and onions

Verbiage – overabundance of words

Veers – swerve

Verbose - talkative

15. Fear of money . . . .

This one's very personal and I need to work on the characters before I write this. . . . then comes the disclaimer that says this write-up is a work of fiction and all the characters, places and everything else other than the facts are fictional . . . . Any resemblance to any person living or dead is PURE COINCIDENCE. . . . :)

But when I say I need to work on the characters does that mean I need to give name to the characters, if I have to do that, then it makes my life more miserable, rather I'll leave it to the readers' discretion for naming the characters, I'll only etch them out for them . . . . These characters could be anyone around you, the ones you know and why not IT could be you too, or ME for that matter. . . . that's all for now, wait until I find time to talk about MONEY, as they say TIME IS MONEY. . . .

14. somethIngs on My mind, itS ToO heavy and I'm feeliNg light, guEss what the heck in the worlD is that.......

will elaborate on this ASAP. . . .

13. It all starts within . . . .

Of all the blogs I've essayed till date, I find writing this particular blog quite difficult for me, as I am not talking about myself here, I am, for the first time blogging about something that's concerned about a lot more people than just myself. When I say a lot more people, I am talking about a whole lot of people, :) This has nothing to do any particular section or strata of people. I know its a boring one that I am writing and I don't even know how I can make this interesting or humorous or curious piece of writing but its a very sensitive one for sure. I'm unable to find ways to put things on my mind into a palette and paint the perfect picture. I only have a faint Idea of what I want to tell but to start, I'm looking for the right time, or maybe I should just say, as I'm writing, wherever it takes off that's the right time. 

If at any moment there is ambiguity in the direction, where the blog is heading, its purely because of the reason that I am addressing a much larger audience, and the you'll get an idea of the size of the audience as you read along. If you do understand even a li'l bit of what 's on my mind, then I would like to share the credits for being able to convey the message, with Ullas, for helping me filter my thoughts and share, only what's important. Before I put these things on the paper and as I am typing the lines, I am still in a state of contemplation as to how to put forward the actual intent. . . . I think its right for me start things from Myself at first and then take it to You and others , as I am more comfortable with talking about myself. When I see some of the things that happen around us [me], it makes me wonder, how and when, Me and You become US and WE. Later the very same We come across Them and again I see the formation of WE. . . . But there comes a point when WE confront a situation and WE dissipate into smaller WEs . . . 

I think I finally came to the point I am trying to make here. As long as there's no Criss-crossing of Me n You under any circumstances and I am happy being Me and You are happy being You, till then we are FINE as WE. . . . The moment the two [i.e. Me n You] clash with each other, I can see there's a catastrophic impact in the balance of the Society in which we are part of . . . 

As I am writing the blog, i am beginning to realize, how easy it is to confine and express one's self. But as Human, we are all projected to be social animals. When I look into these two words that We as humans are referred to as - one being SOCIAL and the other being ANIMAL. 

Social constitutes - communal, community, common, societal, public, shared, collective, group. Animal represents - creature, mammal, living-thing, being, monster, beast, brute, swine. 

I've read about the animal instincts that make them feel like they are the kings and queens in their own territories. The moment any intruders trespasses their space They FIGHT them out and guard their territory. . . . When the psyche of an animal does not allow someone else take shelter or make a living in their space, Is it possible for a social animal like Man to fight against the elements of the society that HE has created for himself on the basis of Community, Lingo, Economic Strata - that separates the rich n the poor, Regions, Cultures, Colour of the skin, Gender so on and so forth. . . . I feel that the territorial dominance of Me as a person starts with myself at MY home, where I am prepared to share the things that belong to Me with the one's I care for, only for a time when I am not in need of them. When the Situation demands me to take it back, I do take it back. At a smaller instance - I stand up for what is MINE, on a larger platform I stand for what is OURS. 

kannadigas hate tamilians, marathis don't want biharis, south Indians don't jell with the North Indians. . . . But when it comes to the point where INDIA as a whole is in a spot of bother from the outsider, then everyone of US stand together to fight for the cause of a nation, so is the case when an outsider comes and takes away - what was yours, your home, your food, your seat in the college, your job at the office n forces you to the lead the life of a nobody in your own den, you revolt, you rebel, you fight . . . . YOU fight for what was yours . . . . I empathize for my fellow countrymen living in another country, for all that they have to go through. Not really sure IF what's shown on TV is what is meted out at them in an alien land, where my countrymen went in search of finding a better job, better education, better standard of living, whatever they were looking for..... One of the reasons for me to write this blog was that every day I go home at night and see that an Indian is targeted in the same country for quite some time now.... When WE fight within OUR country against OUR own countrymen for taking away the jobs , food, water, in the name of regions we come from, the community we belong to, the language we speak, states we belong to etc... I am not sure if the atrocious behavior of the people of that country against my countrymen is justifiable or not, and I am not here to make a judgment or form an opinion of my own either . . . . 

India is a large country and Indians are at large in every corner of the globe, excelling in most of the things WE do, if not all. . . . But the point I'm trying to make is that no matter who I am and where I am, as long as I am not taking away something that belongs to you, I am safe and You are safe and we stay as US. . . . I only wanted to touch upon this subject, I am not sure if any of you would be reading this line, but if your still reading, I appreciate your patience. . . . Let US be US, WE be WE . . . :)

12. Madness . . . .

Sometimes when I feel things are not going the way I want them to, the option that comes to my mind is to go away from all the things around Me at that point in time. I understand that it would be nice to keep things short for holding the attention of the reader, but I guarantee you that this is not going to be a short and sweet affair. Its that part of my life where for once, there were a lot of things happening around me and none of those things were fascinating enough to keep me going on accepting WHAT they threw at me. It was a time when I had to turn my back at the situation, the situation that took me nowhere. . . .

I shall elaborate a lot more on the situation and the frame of mind at that point in time, as I write along . . . . This is not a story that I am about to share with you, its an experience of How i traversed time from frustration to liberation. . . . Liberation of the mind form being bogged down by the pressures of having to do things the way they meant to be done. . . . Meant to be done the way someone had managed to do and a few others thought it was "THE WAY" the things have to be done. . . . I wanted this write-up to be my first one for the new year - 2010, but unfortunately to share what a free mind went through in those two days of TIME TRAVEL, I needed to be free, free from the realities, the very same realities that forced me to liberate myself. I wanted my mind to be in absolute solitude while I write this - about the journey of liberation of a incarcerated mind. . . . Yep, today as I am writing this, sitting at my office in the same company as Who I will be talking about in the course of this write-up, I am in a state of momentary solitude.

As for what I will be writing in here now, I may not be able to assure you the complete picture not because I am in momentary solitude not in an absolute one. . . but you'll sure get a glimpse of what you can expect as a Sequel, if I may call it, whenever I feel like adding to what I have already shared. What I am sharing with you is a small insight, that i have prepared, while sitting alone at a corner table looking at all the people, Who I think need the same BREAK as I had just come back from, at the Kalmane Koffees. . . . Kalmane Koffees is one of those rare places in Bangalore where I can find solitude, Solitude not just while sitting alone at the coffee shop, but also in the wake of being surrounded by the stares of strangers looking at me as though i am being an ALIEN in my own town, just because I am sitting alone. I remember telling a friend of mine, that I can find solitude in the busiest street in Bangalore,I also remember saying that Being alone is not solitude. . . As I've already mentioned before, another place in town, where I am One with MYSELF is my OFFICE, the office of Urban Windows. We practice architecture, at least We think so, at the moment.

Finally coming to the point in discussion, I would like to break the journey of Self liberation of two Minds trying to break free from the jinx of realities that the SO called Civilised society throws at you into the following parts, If I may call them as chapters. . . .

chapter one - 3 Idiots
chapter two - time of contemplation
chapter three - the decision
chapter four - madness - the journey did begin finally
chapter 5 - the ride and the events
tea at 5 am on mysore road
nice ride on the NICE road
breakfast at ossoor coffee estates - WOW
a nap on the shiradi ghat - national highway
final stretch and the destination
chapter 6 - preparation for the ascent
torch
knife
cucumber
cigarettes
and most importantly what ....we forgot
chapter 7 - people on the trek
chapter eight - high on the high mountains
chapter nine - bhattara mane[Bhat's House]
chapter ten - food, rain, headache, sleep, shelter, lost CONTACT
chapter 11 - wake up to the song by Alaka
chapter 12 - GOOD morning KP
chapter 13 - lost path
chapter 14 - finally met them - they started last night before our madness even began
chapter 15 - RUN, RUN, RUN - pushing the limit
chapter 16 - philosophy at the top - thoughts of a free mind
chapter 17 - running back into the woods
chapter 18 - meet the freinds and the strangers
chapter 19 - time for contemplation
chapter 20 - yet another decision
chapter 21 - return to the madness, new exploration on a different route
chapter 22 - butterflies, no vehicles, moving mountains, two mad minds in search liberation
chapter 23 - new found places and the ELATION of the mind on finding them
chapter 24 - back to where we belong - REALITY STRIKES and STRIKES HARD . . . .

11. twenty10

A collection of some of my favorite pics of people clicked over a period of 4 years, across different places. Each of these faces depict a state of being of the person with one's self and adaptation of the self to the context of being. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the owners of the cameras - Akbar n Kavya Vishwanath, who have been kind enough to let me use their priced possession. . . . looking forward to your extended support until I have my own camera. . .

10. Golden quadrilateral . . . .

What I found in the recent trek with a friend of mine, is that to enjoy the ride - all you need is a good company. Ullas - Ullu as I call him was one hell of a company. That does not mean, I did not enjoy my earlier bike rides. This blog is not about the trek that we actually did. Its about the one that WE MUST do.

Today I read in the newspaper about a couple of friends who were planning to ride the golden quadrilateral in less than 100 hrs. I want this blog to be a reminder for me, to make our own ride on the golden Quadrilateral but a ride unlike the one these guys are planning - a one the is not TIME BOUND.

In fact, Ullu actually had this plan of hitting the GQ someday, I decided to be part of this venture while returning from the ride to Kumaraparvatha hills - a good ride of about 650 Kms. But Why Ullu of all the people I know, It was quite simple - all the others Who I think can be part of this journey are Married or planning to get married . . . . There it ends.

Now....Waiting for the day when I pack my bags in the middle of yet another night, hit the road on my Bike on a journey to discover more of myself . . . . . or should I say Ourselves. Now that the plan is ready, there's a small glitch - TIME.

As i am publishing this post - what I did not realize is that Its My first Blog of this Year - my best wishes to all, Hope every thing works out well for every one - starting from me Obviously. I was very eager to write about my Bike trip to KP hills before the new year but again ,as always the problem was the same - TIME. May be before the memories of the trip fades in time, I shall make time to write the experience of one my best bike trips till date.