यह एहसास और महसूस में क्या difference होता है?

This view is from Huangshan (Yellow Mountains) - what an experience it may be from the center of the this small bridge.. what would you feel?

My friend, Prem, who writes on Drishtikone - would often reprimand me about the quality of the posts written on the blog.

Have you seen TIger Woods' commercial by Nike? Well, it shows a sad Tiger - probably asked to think of a world without the "kittens" - and his dead Dad's voice in the background speaking to him.

Last night, I went to watch "My Name is Khan".  A lot has been said about the movie by many parties, and it is best to see things for yourself to make a sound judgment than to trash it or eu

Porn and sexuality has been an integral part of human existence. Its the Victorian age and the Islamic influence which has made sex a taboo and a subject shrouded in moral veils.

Peach.

Ayn Rand has enjoyed almost cult following ever since she burst on the scene. Her fans are aplenty. I still remember that her books were the staple of many in my college times.

It is again time for Miss Universe - the Miss Universe 2009. It is being held at the Atlantis Paradise Island, in Nassau, Bahamas on August 23, 2009.

Am in California and during the visit, we went to Cotati - a small town in California - near Petaluma. It had a vegetarian Festival going on. The atmosphere was great in the park..

Michael Jackson has died but he really affected so many people. But you could not have predicted such a profound affect on some one like this gentleman.

Today was Michael Jackson's "Memorial Service" where many celebrities came and shared their thoughts. The small sharing by his daughter was specifically heart breaking.

Here is a beautiful rendering of the Punjabi folk song, Challa - one of my personal favorite. I love it in the voices of Gurdas Mann and Shaukat Ali (Pakistani singer).. and never could believe that anyone could do a different or a better job... but Rabbi Shergill has done it. He has his own unique style which shows through!

I know my generation was really impacted by Michael Jackson and his breakdance. How did the "King of Pop" affect you?

This is a beautiful song written by Faiz Ahmed Faiz and sung by Azfar Ali and Umar Amanullah. I found it on youtube and loved the music and the lyrics. It has a yearning written all over it.. a restrained one though and the passion of a generation. Listen to it and savor the brilliance of the poet, the music makers and the singers.. While you do see the translation in the video... here it is for reading below the video..

Thinking differently and in a crazy direction is very rare from people, although many claim to do so.. specially in the ad world. But these guys are truly different. They do not have a "real" website. So what did they do? They created it ON YouTube.com! Yes, their stuff on Youtube.com IS THEIR WEBSITE! And is that website cool?? They rattle off the accomplishments of their leadership staff... but honestly, after this kind of work, you don't need to mention all that....

These are tough and extraordinary times. And extraordinary times require extraordinary measures. That's what Lawson Clarke is doing. The 37 year copywriter lost his after 15 years in this business with clients such as Jack Daniel's, Carnival cruise lines and Ocean Spray.

He has come up with a rather imaginative and in-your-face domain name www.malecopywriter.com - and has a PlayboyPlaygirl-inspired centrespread of himself on the Home page with a TV covering his vital areas. But his site is worth visiting for the mere chutzpah and striking creativity.

That is probably the kind of boldness and creativity - and out of the box thinking required right now.

Well, this year's Britain's got talent is becoming quite a gold mine, even before it has really started. On Sunday, Piers said to Susan Boyle who sang a Titanic number on Larry King Live, that someone has to be pretty darn incredible to beat her. Well here is the challenger to her. And with a very unlikely name - Shaheen Jafargholi.

He started with a song, which Simon stopped mid way saying he had gotten it really wrong... and for some reason Simon asked if he wanted to sing another song. And then the kid chose "Who's Loving You" by Michael Jackson. The rest as they is history. Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher, the new Twitter celebs have also backed him up. Demi Moore said of him "Wow this kid is something else!"

Welcome to another star.

There are a few people who come out from small places and enter your hearts for ever. And even though you are not related to them, you feel good about their success. We have all seen Susan Boyle, the lady who shocked the world. There was one such contestant in one of the Indian Music Reality show - Raja Hassan. His simplicity and good nature and passion really affected me. Although, I truly felt that Aneek Dhar was the best of the three in 2007 finals, but I also knew that for all the technical brilliance of Aneek, the passion of Raja could not be matched.

Now Raja has come out with his first Debut album Yaar Mila De. It is a tribute to his father. Raja has also sung "Khabar Nahin" in Dostana along with Vishal Dadlani, Shreya Goshal, Amanat Ali & Raja Hasan.

Sometime between Sunday evening, August 20, 1911 and Tuesday, August 22, 1911; Mona Lisa - the most well known painting in the world painted by Leonarda da Vinci was stolen from France's Louvre museum. The prime suspects in that theft were two of the greatest "artists" of France. Pablo Picasso, whose fame would rival Vinci's in modern world, and poet Appollinaire.

Picasso was known for dealing with contraband art items and was at the forefront of a movement to "break loose" of the old art.

Buried in the back of a cupboard at Picasso’s Boulevard de Clichy apartment were two figures — a small, powerfully built stone man and woman carved by the ancient Spaniards during the Bronze Age. The bottom of each bore the stamp “Property of the Louvre Museum”. Picasso was the baron’s painter friend.

In fact, interestingly, Picasso and Appollinaire were the only two who were arrested for the theft of Mona Lisa. An account of the arrest and the happenings in court etc, show Picasso in a rather bad light.

During our school time, Idgah was one of my favorite stories. It was written by Premchand, the famous Hindi writer and is very sensitively written. It brings out a lot of emotions and captures the mind of a boy very well.. his challenges...his fight and his hopes. The story is about a little boy Hamid, who lives with his old grandmother and it is Eid and he goes to the Idgah on the festival day. He has very little money to buy clothes or toys with. The story is about the challenge he faces as his friends buy a lot of stuff and he cannot.

रमजान के पूरे तीस रोजों के बाद ईद आयी है। कितना मनोहर, कितना सुहावना प्रभाव है। वृक्षों पर अजीब हरियाली है, खेतों में कुछ अजीब रौनक है, आसमान पर कुछ अजीब लालिमा है। आज का सूर्य देखो, कितना प्यारा, कितना शीतल है, यानी संसार को ईद की बधाई दे रहा है। गॉंव में कितनी हलचल है। ईदगाह जाने की तैयारियॉँ हो रही हैं। किसी के कुरते में बटन नहीं है, पड़ोस के घर में सुई-धागा लेने दौड़ा जा रहा है। किसी के जूते कड़े हो गए हैं, उनमें तेल डालने के लिए तेली के घर पर भागा जाता है। जल्दी-जल्दी बैलों को सानी-पानी दे दें। ईदगाह से लौटते-लौटते दोपहर हो जाएगी। तीन कोस का पेदल रास्ता, फिर सैकड़ों आदमियों से मिलना-भेंटना, दोपहर के पहले लोटना असम्भव है। लड़के सबसे ज्यादा प्रसन्न हैं। किसी ने एक रोजा रखा है, वह भी दोपहर तक, किसी ने वह भी नहीं, लेकिन ईदगाह जाने की खुशी उनके हिस्से की चीज है। रोजे बड़े-बूढ़ो के लिए होंगे। इनके लिए तो ईद है।

I am not sure how many people follow the Indian reality shows on TV but I have been following two dance shows: Dance India Dance on Zee TV and Jhalak Dikhla Ja on Sony. While JDJ is on the lines of "Dancing with the Stars" - where celebrities dance with some renowned choreographer; DID is a refreshing competition where young kids compete while they are trained by some top choreographers.

The judges (and in case of DID - judges double up as mentors and trainers) are very different. JDJ has two famous choreographers - Saroj Khan and Vaibhavi Merchant along with Juhi Chawla, the famous actress. DID has three top choreographers - Remo D'Souza (choreographed for films like Rangeela, 36 China Town, Dhoom etc), Geeta Kapoor (choreographed for films like Saathiya, Heyy Baby, Om Shanti Om, Dostana etc) and Terence Lewis (the internationally trained choreographer specializes in Indian folk and contemporary dance forms, and he has been part of films like Lagaan, Jhankaar Beats). The Grand Master is Mithun Chakraborty. The difference between the two sets of judges is so apparent!

Saroj Khan and Vaibhavi Merchant are so rank bad compared to the trio from DID that I sometimes get embarrassed. But the incident which clearly showed the difference was when Deepak and Parul - two contestants - showed a composition where Deepak danced the Yakshagana form of dance. Immediately after the performance Vaibhavi went after Deepak saying his mudras (or actions) were wrong... "You were doing Kathakali, right?". He coolly replied "No Ma'am, it is called Yakshagana, and my Guruji is here as well". (NOTE: while Kathakali is from Kerala, Yakshagana is from Karnataka) These two ladies, Khan and Merchant, were still not satisfied - they were viewing an ancient dance form from the lens of their Bollywood style dancing - and went on to argue with the Guruji himself until they could "prove" that Deepak had done a shoddy work!

I am sorry but Saroj Khan in my eyes was not a great choreographer. If it hadn't been for the talent of Sridevi and Madhuri Dixit, this female would have been nowhere! Success of her compositions ONLY worked because of the charm and style of Sridevi and Madhuri and the way they carried off some of the even most mediocre dances to great heights. But the swagger that she and that other choreographer - Vaibhavi - have is just so irritating!

On the other hand, the choreographers on DID are very refreshing. Remo, for example, has been showcasing some dying dance forms on the stage and thankfully he has people like Salman to do them.

Like recently Salman did Chhau while covered in fire (under some real heavy clothing). That style is very rare and is from West Bengal.

I had seen wordle before, but today I saw it reviewed again on Chilligavva.... so I finally tried it myself. Here are the results of the wordle of my blog.

I took this picture on another walk around the lake. I thought the sky looked exquisite.. and the water and the trees really made it great! (Click on the picture for the larger view.)

Here is the choreographer - Longinus Fernandes - of the song "Jai Ho" showing the moves!! He is the guy who made it possible.. and Danny Boyle "knew" about it just 3 days before the Oscar.. and this guy didn't even get the credits!!

Was walking along the lake one evening and shot this picture. What do you think?

Wanna buy this t-shirt? Click here.

Sometimes its exciting to remember old days and see what used to make us happy back then... and bring the entire family and often the entire naighborhood together! Here is a nice collection of the serials that we all have enjoyed on Doordarshan and TV in general. What do you think of these? Which one was your favorite?

Mine all time favorite was Chanakya. I think it was the first thing that made me think. The other good one was Tamas and then Buniyaad. Rest were ok, but not as good in quality as these were. However, when I watch a serial today - with all the traps of songs and new technology. The "action in triplicate" with the swoosh sounds - you know what I mean don't you? - have made a mockery of any creativity that was still left by. Oh, how I long for that old quality where people would do things out of their interest and love.. and even when they made money it was from a service which was useful and pleasing to one's eyes and ears!

What do you think of today's serials? And which one has been your favorite?

Meloncholia or sorrow and the pain as well as self destruction that it wroughts is often very tightly linked to Art. Artists of all hues and all ages and all cultures have destroyed. In fact, in a Harvard study Conducted by Modupe Akinola and Wendy Berry Mendes (Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, December 1, 2008), this link between depression/sorrow and art/creativity was firmly established. In this study various types of subjects including those who have high vulnerability to depression (participants’ high baseline levels of an adrenal steroid, which has been previously linked to depression) were asked to create works of art. Some of the participants were asked to do the work after they had experienced rejection prior to the doing the art.

When the professional artists evaluated the works, the art pieces of those who had suffered rejection and depression before the work, were consistently rated higher. The group that had a special vulnerability to depression was consistently ranked the highest.

These days businesses are trying new ways to stand out. In this day and age of Google search - a search engine which is a complete marketing tool in itself (what with $500/hr SEO experts trying to tell you how to break the "Google Code").. it is important that the marketers use more and more innovative techniques. Here is one. This is a business card which shows the Google search and the company's address and where it will show up when searched for a particular key word!