Artsy

"We live in a world that fosters the technical rather than the artistic, the mechanical rather than the organic and a financial rather than a mechanistic approach. Art goes against all of that. While it can have a technical aspect, such as digital photography has, art is eventually about expressing yourself, about what inspires you, about sharing your view of the world with others. What medium you use, as well as all the technical intricacies of this medium, eventually fade away when compared with the message expressed in your work. Who knows the size of the chisels used by Michael Angelo and whether they were made of hardened steel, Damascus steel, or some other metal." 

~ Alain Briot, Being an Artist

Borrowing from Alains words- the freedom to create is a precursor to being creative, being an artist. A wonderful thought at the end of a busy day. Thank you Mike Chowla, for sharing the original article with me.

Serendipity

तुला मला ही जाणीव नसता

अशी अचानक गाठ पडावी

अन दडलेली रात्र मनातिल

चांदण्यात निखळता बुडावी

जपला तरीही उडून जावा

पाऱ्याचा क्षण क्षणभर खळबळ

आणी लवावी शांत पापणी

हलके स्पर्शित काळे वर्तुळ

तुला मला ही जाणीव नसता

उडून मनातिल रानकबूतर 

प्रश्नांच्या डोहात शिरावे

शोधाया दडलेले उत्तर

तुला मला ही जाणीव नसता

अशी अचानक गाठ पडावी …

- कवी 'बी'

I heard the first two lines of this beautiful poem from Kunal when he was reminiscing about one of their performances almost 12 years ago at Kalyani, the intercollegiate musical competition in Pune. I was so taken by the lines, that I wanted to know the entire poem and luckily for me, Kunal remembered it. He and I don't know if he remembers it accurately - I wrote it down as he recited it, and must have read it multiple times since then. It reminds me of this quote:

"In your life, you meet people. Some you never think about again. Some, you wonder what happened to them. There are some that you wonder if they ever think about you. And then there are some you wish you never had to think about again. But you do." 

~ C. S. Lewis

Addiction Awareness

H: I wonder if there is a program called Impulsive Anonymous, you know?

M: Yeah sure there is. It is called growing up. 

H: But what if I have the Peter Pan syndrome?

M: You don't. You just wish you did, for then you would be able to justify all that craziness that I have to curb.

Most dictionaries consider "uninhibited" a synonym of "impulsive". And yet, one is more positive than the other- maybe because the former is what it seems like in the present, and the latter is what it seems like in hindsight.

Unbidden

I don't think I have encountered a bigger oxymoron in terms of conflicting emotions than the one expressed in this snippet. Love, when platonic, is sans lust. And yet these words irreversibly mix the two. Although the final representation is worthy of literary respect, it leaves a strong after taste, almost like shooting a really dark scotch- you do feel high, but without really experiencing the flavor. But would you even want to experience a flavor you don't really like? 

Oxymoron or irony? 

Terminally Prompt

You are to me, what /dev/null would be to a verbose program. You keep the output free of unnecessary information. No wonder I am still kept running, no one knowing how much they do not see. 

Oh wait, that went to /dev/null too ..