Sunil Shetty changed his spelling to Suniel; Ritesh Deshmukh has also changed the spelling of his name to Riteish. I have also decided to change the spelling of my name and no I am not superstitious to let a numerologist tell me what should be the spelling of my name. I have actually consulted a phonetologist who has suggested that the new spelling should be GNAVAISGN. GN for N as in Gnat and AIS for I as in AISLE. This is bound to bring me good luck and if you see the name GNAVAISGN HARISH in the next list of Forbes billionaires, don't be surprised.

People keep telling us whom Manu looks like. He looks like me, he looks like Mira. Some even commented that he looks like my dad or my mom. In this pic though he looks me nephew Bharat when he was this young. I have removed the snap preview from my site from the pages that will be uploaded from now on. One of the visitor commented that it was irritating and I realised it was not really doing anything for me so out it goes.

Some people have been asking why Manu's teacher has asked us to get a different bottle and tiffin. Two things, referral systems in India is very strong, schools ask students to buy stuff from particular shops and get a commission from shop owner, just like doctors get commission from pathology labs for sending patients. Second and most important thing is uniformity. I am sure Manu's teacher is not getting any commission from any shop. The reason was a combined tiffin and water bottle would eliminate the need of a school bag. Manu goes to play school and doesn't carry anything with him like books or stationery.

Sometime ago I expressed my fear of the education system suppressing the natural talents and abilities of Manu and barely a month in School, I can see it happening...at least symbolically. With a lot of love, I bought this bottle and a tiffin box for Manu but yesterday the teacher told Mira that we should buy a combined bottle and tiffin box, just like everyone else in the school. Right now he is not taught to think like everyone else but I guess it is only a matter of time.

Visual medium I think is the most potent medium. Our ability to catch minute details in visual form is a lot stronger than our other senses. This picture shows two pictures of Mickey Mouse done quite differently but at one glance we can tell it is a Mickey Mouse. Even if it is not a complete picture but just the silhouette of a small part of the head, we can still recall it as Mickey Mouse. Inspite of this when we try to communicate anything visually we are somehow compelled to provide as many cues, not trusting the ability of the other person to understand it.

Well, when we went to Delhi we reached there in 2 hours flat. We have been sitting here for more than two hours already and the way the scenery is moving past, I don't see us getting back to Bombay anytime soon. No wonder they have given us such big seats and blankets and pillows. I guess they should give us a TV too what am I supposed to do till we get there? Look out of the window?

As I mentioned, this is the second shot of the same place taken a little later than the first one. One disadvantage of living in Bombay is that open spaces like this are ver rare. In Delhi there is very big park near my home and Manu really enjoys going there. Sometimes I wish I was living in a place that was not as cramped as Bombay.

I had seen this place many times but never really went in because all I could see from the gate was a long passage. Once we went in there we found it was quite a nice garden and later my neighbour told me that it is the Hiranandani Garden. It was late in the evening when we went in there and it was getting dark and the changes in the colour of sky were amazing. Tommorow I am going to post a similar shot. Similar because it was shot at the sampe place but after or before a small interval of time with very different colours.

I mentioned my opinion about wearing brands and being walking billboards a few days ago. Another level of advertising we do is at a little more subtle level and has to be since it is supposed to project us with people of refined taste. I am talking about wearing a Rolex or some other expensive watch or other accessories. It is not simply to see the time (sometimes I wonder if it is to see the time at all); it is about making a statement. A statement that says that I have cash and I have fine taste. While reading the paper I realised that there is one more level to it. A level where you are not wearing a label at all. The article talked about fine things like clothes and watches and jewelry which are sold by invitation only and don't generally sport a label. I guess the person wearing them would be socializing with people who would be able to figure just because the watch doesn't have a label doesn't mean he has bought it outside the railway station, it could actually be priceless or at least expensive enough to buy a whole coach of a train.

This is our gulmohur tree. It is not growing in my garden or our building complex. It is in the Aarey Colony in front of our home. Mira and I have been watching it since we moved to Bombay four years ago and we have got a great deal of affection for it. It turns red just before the monsoon arrives every year. We keep monitoring its change of colour every year. When it turns completely red from a leaf less tree to the time it sheds all the red flowers and turns green once again.

“Hey buddy! Wanna shave?”
“Sure. How much is it going to cost me?”
“20 bucks.”
“20 bucks? Get real man, for that much I can go to a saloon. How about 10 bucks?”
“18?”
“No. 15.”
“Ok, but you will have to hold the mirror yourself.”
“Deal.”

“Why are you standing on one foot?”
“You know how hard it is to find a sweet, caring, single pigeon with a good sense of humor?”
“Tell me about it. But what is the connection?”
“My aunt recommended that if I fast for 16 Mondays and stand on one foot here facing east, I would find a good pigeon.”
“Do you really believe in all this nonsense?”
“Do you know how my cousin got hitched with that handsome hunk that just migrated here last week?”
“Don't tell me she was fasting too... Can I have the phone number of your aunt? Please.”

“All the time, I am the one who gets fed, I think I should try to feed other too and see how much fun it is. Here I have got this small round red thingy with a long tail. The good thing is that it is not sticky or messy and won't mess up my hands or clothes in my attempt to feed this to someone...now let's find a hungry volunteer...ah! there is my dad” Manu thought this and came to me “Dad please eat..” and thinks again "Now wait a minute, what is this thing called...it is round... ok, I got it. “Dad please eat this ball.”

If it is up to Manu, he would finish a kilo of these cherries in minutes by stuffing our mouths with it.

This is the last of cherries shot I am posting here. Howeer I had more shots that I liked so I uploaded them on Flickr. Do check the out as well. Cherry#1, Cherry#2, Cherry#3.

I remember the small scale ice cream vendors using diced and coloured pumpkin and calling it cherry. Even now if you buy ice cream from vendors like this, they will put diced pumpkin and call it cherry. Another irritating thing is the “synthetic” leather. Ask a shop keeper what a bag is made of and he will say synthetic leather. Some are audacious enough to try telling you that it is not 100% leather but something mixed with it. I have never heard of a synthetic cow or a buffalo from where synthetic leather could come and I have never heard anything like leather mixed with something. Maybe the next time a shopkeepr tells me it is leather mixed with something I should ask him if he will accept a currency note that is not 100% currency note but a currency note mixed with something.

Sometime ago I posted pictures of strawberries I mentioned how some fruits that used to be very uncommon in India are not so any more. Cherries are one of them. As a kid I don't remember cherries being sold. They are now more common than before but still “exotic” enough to be sold in boxes instead of being piled up like other fruit. One problem with this that a lot of time you end up buying a box of strawberries or cherries that has paper stuffed in the bottom to give the illusion of a greater quantity. It happens specially if you buy them from traffic signals.

Usually I don't post so many pictures that are more or less alike but I had to post this picture because I wanted to post one without the crop, they way I photographed it. This is the last picture of the white flower that you have seen here and soon I will be posting some others pictures. For quite some time I didn't really have time to sort out my pictures. Now that I have finished my folio site, I guess I will find more time for the photo blog.

This is the same flower that was featured here yesterday. I took these pictures in Aarey colony during a morning walk. That place is a very nice place to go and take pictures. I am thinking of spending more time there to take some more pictures in the near future.

I have moved the blog to the same URL as my folio site but there are some links that need to be updated to make it work properly. Hopefully I will find some time to fix it on the weekend.

I mentioned that I have been working on something that was not leaving me with too much time for other things. I was actually working on my folio site and yesterday it was uploaded. You may check it out at navinharish.org. I am in the process of testing it and there might be some places where it may not work the way it is supposed to. If you do spot an error, please let me know.

This picture was taken during my morning walk in Aarey Colony. I liked the way this dry leaf was still hanging on to the tree. Before you start thinking, I am not as careful about my health as I should be and the morning walk is not something that happens every morning.

Thanks for all the comments on the recent post. I am not as regular in visiting blogs as I would like to be but I guess once I finish what I am working on, I will be having more time for it.

This is some clever packaging. What you are seeing is the cellophane used to pack a Four Square cigarettes. They wanted to have something special printed n the pack for a small period of time and instead of printing on the pack itself, they printed it on the cellophane which I think is quite clever. It also shows how we respond quickly to anything visual. On the right you can see "Limited edition". The only difference was this graphic and nothing at all in the original cigarettes but yet I am sure this must have positively helped in the sale of cigarettes.

I was told that Melbourne has the highest number of Harley's per capita, I am not sure if it is true or not but I know of an incident that is as true as it is amusing. A man walked in to a Harley showroom (Harley heaven I think) in Melbourne and took a motorcycle for a test ride. 10 mins, 15 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hour, 10 hours...the man didn't come back. The showroom reported this to the cops an finally the man was arrested with the bike in New South Wales. They even converted this to an ad where a happy man was riding a bike with the VO saying "This is Mr so and so, he took a Harley for a test ride a few days ago and if you have seen him, please let us know. His family is waiting for him"

Kevin Roberts the CEO of Saatchi calls these lovemarks. Yesterday I said that if I have to wear a T-Shirt with a big logo of manufacturer on it, I better get paid for it. After saying that I thought about it and realized that I too am doing it. I bought this belt with a Harley buckle. Not only this, I bought a Harley buckle from Melbourne as well. In past I have painted and worn T-Shirts with pictures of Royal Enfield and if I have the time, would like to do it again. This reminds me of a Harley Ad “It is one thing people buying your products but it is an entirely different thing them tattooing your name on their bodies.”

Advertising. Some of it is very creative and is done free of cost. Think about the T-Shirts you wear of big brands like Nike, Reebok, and Adidas. They have big logos of their company plastered on them and anyone wearing them is a walking billboard for that company and yet we don't see it this way. Not only we are willing to do this, we are willing to pay the companies in the form of price of that T-Shirt. If I have to wear a shirt that has nothing on it but a huge logo of the manufacturer, I better get paid for it. I guess I am an economic terrorist.

I think crows are either too stupid or they are unnecessarily brave. I have seen that they make their nest in the most difficult of places. This nest is at the top of a tree it is very difficult to sit there in strong winds and rains. I saw three eggs there a few days ago. Now the nest is gone and I don't think even a single of those eggs hatched. I have seen nests in other impractical places as well in the last 4 years. I am wondering if the crows were a little more careful about selecting a place for their nest, their population would have been a menace.

Here is a break from the leaves. So far things for Manu have been quite gradual and seamless. Now everything is pre-mundan and post-mundan. Looking at his hair, it can easily be seen if these pictures were taken before his head was shaved or after. Here he is standing in the balcony of our home in Delhi. The balcony was one of his favourite place and he enjoyed whatever he did there starting from watching animals and people to helping Mira drying laundry.

My brother may have a terrace garden but I don't know anything about plants. I think this is some kind of cactus but I call it a plastic plants because the leaves look like plastic toys. They are so think that they can easily be on steroids. Sometime ago I posted a lot of flower images and I guess this seems to be heading in the same direction. I will post something other than leaves tomorrow.

If a four-leaved clover is supposed to bring in good luck, how much good luck would a ten leave one will bring? It may not be a clover but is essentially the same thing—leaves growing out of a same place. This was shot in brother's terrace garden in Delhi when I was getting an itchy finger with nothing to shoot.

I mentioned a couple of days ago that I have lost my two domains. I initially thought of moving the two sites to this domain but I guess it will not be such a good idea so I have registered a new domain navinharish.org and I will be hosting my folio and the blog site there. Will let you know once it is done.

My parents were visiting us last week. The came here for the mundan ceremony of Manu. Saturday was their last day in Bombay so we planned that we would go to a temple in Goregaon. The rains had some pther plans. It started raining on Friday night and raind all day Satuday too. With 350 mm of rains in 36 hours, going anywhere was out of question.

I have lost both my domains with my name so my folio site and Mental Floss are down. I have not decided what will I do but I am not sure I am not going to pay the 5000 bucks to "redeem" the two domains. I guess the folio as well as the Mental Floss will have to move to this domain, arleast temporarily.

Indra—the god of rains seems to be spending a lot of time in the company of software professionals and this is evident in his work as well. Instead of working towards a more comfortable schedule, he seems to be finishing all the work in a very short deadline. On 26th July two years ago he dumped of enough water to take care of half of his target for the whole year, this year too he completed about 15% of has target yesterday only. What you are seeing in this shot is a small waterfall created in Aarey colony due to the rains. This is not a river, this is not a drain. Actually there is no water body there at all it is just rain water accumulating there.