Natural Habitat

I took a brief respite from city life within the Malenadu region. I felt like a tiger released from her cage and sent back into the jungle. The undercurrent of claustrophobia that is part of me vanished completely. I wallowed in fresh air, open space and orchestras by birds. Instead of mechanically trudging around a miniscule city park, I trekked along vast fields and waterfalls. I ate fresh food brought and cooked straight from its source and served to me with love. I slept to pitch darkness and woke up fresh at dawn along with a rising sun...

Here are just some glimpses of that magical world-

There is more in the older posts >>

A Heritage Home

My host's ancestors used to live in this beautiful house which is over a hundred years old.

His relatives still live here. These people have an amazing inherent sense of colour scheming which can floor the best interior designer in the city I think.


More in the older post >>

Wildflowers of Coorg

They were omnipresent and this is just a small sample of colour, uniqueness and abundance along the roadsides, fields and pathways.

Gwen the Hen

A friend of mine has a hen named Gwendoline. This is my charcoal drawing showing my new found affinity towards these birds.

I came across this piece of wisdom at the beautiful le projet d'amour:

nobody tells this to people who are beginners, i wish someone told me. all of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. but there is this gap. for the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. it’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. but your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. and your taste is why your work disappoints you. a lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. most people i know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. we know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. we all go through this. and if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. it is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. and i took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone i’ve ever met. it’s gonna take awhile. it’s normal to take awhile. you’ve just gotta fight your way through.
-ira glass.

A Sacred Flowering

The things that we love tell us what we are.

~ St. Thomas Aquinas

This is called a 'Nun flower'. If you look carefully at the fourth picture, you can see why.

Read more about this flower here>

Proust Questionnaire

The weather is gloomy. It is raining ceaselessly. I haven't updated my blog in a while. I have to clear my desk. Best thing to do right now I guess, is to do a Proust Questionnaire from Vanity Fair and use it as a blog post.

1) what is your greatest fear?
That my parents will rise from the dead

2) What is your idea of perfect happiness?
A plate of French Fries

3) what is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
My inability to be ruthlessly manipulative

4) what is the trait you most deplore in others?
their readiness to offer advice when I don’t need it.

5) what was your most embarrassing moment?
At the cookie shop at Garuda mall, this man came towards me with a smile and a tray of cookies. I thought he was offering free samples so I enthusiastically helped myself to one. He looked really shocked and said they were for his family who were standing behind me.

6) Who were you friends with this time last year and are not friends with now?
Something with a butterfly tattooed on its tit?

7) who is the love of your life?
Always been the bearded guy

8) have you ever said ‘i love you’ and not meant it?
All the time. On the subject of love I can speak only in clichés

9) What talent would you like to have?
The ability to instantly come up with witty rejoinders.

10) who do you admire?
Arundathi Roy. She gets us to notice the accumulated dirt shoved under the carpet.

11) Aside from property, what is the most expensive thing you've bought?
A pair of titanium spectacle frames 

12) what has been your biggest disappointment?
My country

13) if you could go back in time, where would you go?
Back to the sixties. The whole peace, love and flared pants thing really appeals to me.

14) how do you relax?
Mindlessly surfing the net

15) any one night stands recently
Like I am going to admit it on a public forum

16) what makes you depressed?
The gullibility of people

17) what is the closest you’ve come to death?
After eating an entire sweet chariot chocolate truffle cake

18) what would improve the quality of your life?
The elimination of smart asses who bombard me with advice about how I should improve the quality of my life.

19) what do you consider your greatest achievement?
My ability to drive through Bangalore’s traffic

20) what is the most important lesson life has taught you?
Horoscopes aren't true