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30th September 2007 :: My phone

My mind is not very clear right now. I am a little occiped by the thoughts of joining a new job tommorow. I hope things will go fine

29th September 2007 :: Through tinted glasses

Manu is fond of wearing the paper caps and glasses they hand out at parties. Whenevr he would return from a birthday, he would keep wearing the cap or the glasses even at home. Here e is wearing the glasses he got at the birthday of Ritam. He even wears the paper crown of McDonalald's at home. He is photographed through a plastic tumbler which I guess was the return gift at one of the birthday party.

28th September 2007 :: Time to move on...

After almost 4 years, I have quit my job at Tata Interactive a few hours ago today and will be moving to RK Swamy BBDO from Monday. I was very happy the day I got the offer from BBDO I am quite sad today to leave TIS. It has been quite an experience and I am overwhelmed a little right now. In a few days, when I am able to compose my thoughts, I will post a detailed account.

27th September 2007 :: What's on the Menu?

I went to an asian restaurant in Melbourne and saw an aquarium which had a lot of crabs. I found it a little odd that someone would have an aquarium with so many crabs and no fish. I was even more surprised when one of the waiter went to the aquarium and took out one of the crab with a net and showed it to one of the customer. What was this supposed to be—a petting zoo? I found out what was happening when one of my friend from Hong Kong the waiter shows the crab to the customer before it is cooked. Imagine a waiter bringing out a pig or a cow to your table and asking if it is ok before it is slaughtered and cooked for you. How appetizing that would be?

26th September 2007 :: Tree worship

As a society we are getting more and more violent everyday. We are not willing to tolerate even the smallest of mistakes made by other and that is evident by the news of one or more people killed by a mob somewhere in the country or someone pointing a gun at someone for obstructing traffic. We don't value humans on one hand and on the other hand we worship trees like this pipal (sacred fig).

25th September 2007 :: So long... and thanks for all the modaks

Today is the last day of the Ganpati festival and the road in front of my house if full of these processions-big and small. All these people are going to immerse the idols of Ganpati in a pond in Meghwadi. This particular Ganpati belongs to Matoshree on JV Link Road.

24th September 2007 :: After Ganpati, it will be durga

Tommorow will be the final visarjana of the ganpati and that will conclude te ganpati festival. In a few weeks, a similar festival will start in Bengal. The goddess to be submerged at that time will be Durga.

23rd September 2007 :: Dor

This is a miniature "charkhi" a spool with thread used for flying kites. It came with miniature kites that I bought from Dilli haat. We bought these to put on a wall but never ended up doing and. These were leying around and we discovered them while moving to the new house. I guess I will put this up now.

21st September 2007 :: Life will find a way

I heard this in the movie Jurassic Park. Seems quite true for this plant growing on concrete.

20th September 2007 :: Ganpati on bench?

The time when a techie on a work visa in US is without a project is called a “bench period”. The number of techies available with a consultant is called his “bench strength”. Whenever I hear the term “He is on bench” the very literal translation of that comes to my mind. This image kind of shows the same thing. All these idols are currently on “bench” waiting for someone to take them.

19th September 2007 :: Big Ganpati, Small Ganpati

Manu was quite fascinated by the idea of such a big "jai jai" right in ou building. He said that he also wants to bring the "bari si jai jai" home.

18th September 2007 :: Keedon ki baarat

The bug I met yesterday told me about the talent hunt going on for the new movie and the word spread like wildfire and before long, there was a whole batallion of insects hopeful of making it to the movie.

17th September 2007 :: An aspiring model

“Hey! Are you Navin?”
“Yes...”
“The same guy who keeps taking picture of the pigeons cats and other animals”
“Well...sometimes”
“Perfect. Can you do my portfolio for me?”
“Portfolio?”
“Yes. Have you not heard that the next "bugs" movies is set in India and they are hunting for local talent. I desperately want a role in it. ”

16th September 2007 :: Missing a friend

I'll take a break from Ganpati pictures and will return to them next week. In the meantime, here is Manu thinking about the past. During their evening walks with their moms, Manu and his friend Ritam used to play in this elevators area of a building in our housing society. Ritam has gone to Singapore and is missed very much and all the neighbours asking Manu "Where is your friend?" are not helping the situation either.

15th September 2007 :: Count your blessings

The Plaster of Paris pollutes the water. The idols of Ganpati made of this material take about two weeks to dissolve. There are eco-friendly ganpatis and although they dissolve much faster in the water, they still are dangerous and are harmful to water and fish specially if they immersed in ponds or lakes like the Powai Lake.

14th September 2007 :: Ganpati waiting for the makeup man

Once molded, the idols of Ganpati are painted using spray guns and brushes. These idols are taken by various mandals and individuals who worship these idols from one day to about 10 days before they are submerged in water. A lot of these end up in the Arabian sea at Juhu and Girgaon beaches. The sea throws them back and I have seen some very disturbing images of broken idols lying on the beach, cleaned using bulldozers. I don't think any of the people who have carried the idols of Ganpati on their heads with drums and people dancing around them would like to know that the idol will end up in a garbage dump the next day… or maybe they know but just don't want to acknowledge it.

11th September 2007 :: A nose job?

Working on a computer has an advantage of ctrl+Z to undo something if you don't like it. While painting a statue of ganpati like this, you don't really have the option to undo somehting, you have to live wih your mistakes and those mistakes can be quite visible specially if the mistake is made during a nose job like this.

10th September 2007 :: Returning the favor

God created man and now man tries to return the favor by creating these idols of Lord Ganesha. In Jogeshwari where the Western Express Highway meets the JV Link Road, there is a workshop where people work night and day to complete these idols of Ganpati that go as far as Chennai and Allahabad for the Ganesh Chaturthi. These idols are made of Plaster of Paris and a base paint is applied to them before the artists, who come from all over India including West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh, paint the finer details on the idols. There is mould that is used to make these idols and as a result they are identical unless they are of different size.

When I asked one of the artists what they do for the rest of the year, he told me that work for these start in March. They start making the smaller idols in March as they are easier to store and in June they start with the bigger ones and move the workshop to an open and bigger location like the one they have in Jogeshwari.

7th September 2007 :: Satyamev Jayte

Whenever you are doing anything with money, the government wants its share in it. This is a image of the franking of stamp duty on the leave and license agreement between me and my landlord. Renting a house in Bombay is an expensive affair and it is made even worse by other expenses like this stamp duty for the agreement and the money the property agents charge you. If you rent a house through a property agent, he will charge anything from 1 month to 2 months' rent as brokerage and not just once but every time you renew the lease. I guess this is what recurring income means.

6th September 2007 :: One more Chupa Chups

Things have changed. When I was a kid things like chocolates, candies, lollies, ice creams were not really a part of our daily life. It was more of a treat to have one that used to happen not too frequently. Today the scene is completely different where Manu must have consumed as much chocloates as I have done in my life so far (this is when his consumption of chocolates is quite lower than an average kid of his age.) This is helped by clever marketing as well. When we were kids noone thought about making a small chocolate bar that could be sold for 2 bucks.

5th September 2007 :: What do you thought it was?

While in Melbourne, we were sharing office space with another company. During one of the coffee/cigarette break, we were discussing the cars one of the guy from the other company owned. He had a Chevy Corvette and was trying to modify it to go even faster. “I took the whole think apart and now when I look at all the parts in my garage, I think it is going to be a very difficult job to put it back together.” Hearing this Wally—one of my colleague said, “What did you thought it was—a kinder surprise?”

4th September 2007 :: Chupa Chups

Lollipops are not as common now as they used to be and Manu had never seen these kind of lollipops before. While closed he thought it was a toy that looks like a lollipop. When I opened the plastic cover he was so happy to see an actual lolly along with a plastic toy.

3rd September 2007 :: One hour to reach there...

...and 30 minutes to play. On Sunday evening we went to Juhu beach and on our way we got stuck in about half a dozen traffic jams at various spots. It took us well above an hour to cover a distance of about 10kms. It was almost dark by the time we got there and Manu didn't enjoy him as much as he did last time. He was happy and wanted me to leave his hand so he could go further ahead in the water.


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