Ink, Imagination and Animation

After watching "Avengers" in 3D today, I started to think about where it all began. The seeds of it all were sown by one man's imagination. It took him a pen and then an illustration to bring his idea to a piece of paper. Those pieces of paper got bought and then animated. The animation probably was 2D and now 3D.

Now I am all about evolution and the effects that it brings along with it. It spreads to the masses and we sit in cinema halls applauding mostly the technology that went behind it (at least I did). Somewhere deep down, we do admire the imagination don't we (I tried to but I was so awed by the technology!)? I do think about the man who imagined it all and did he imagine these characters to be the actors that were put on the screen out there?

I wonder. In this world of Kindles, notes, 3D and even 4D, how does the average thinker,writer and illustrator feel? Don't mind my pre-historic thinking but I still love holding those books. I like their smell and their feel. I also love the 2D animations by Walt Disney. I'm so hung up on animations like "Beauty and the Beast", "Snow white and the seven dwarfs", "Little mermaid", "Lion King" and the others. I'd hate to have them wiped off from the generations to come.

In the world of abstracts and short-forms, I'd still want writing and art to hold a place like it does in my heart. May be a part of my paranoia also comes from the fact that earlier I use to write on paper (I still do, some habits die hard) and now I sit here typing.Will I evolve in to a generation which forgets what it is to write??(May be even lose a thumb in the process!!) I still paint with crayons, chalk, pencils and whatever I could get my hands-on. I hope that never goes away. (My paranoia getting the best of me at this point!!)

Almost everything that we see today is somewhat of a re-creation except technology. So are the writers, painters and illustrators in for a rude snub? (Including the little budding me :-( !) I sure hope not!

Let us let them live. Let us buy the comics and see the 2Ds. I want them to be immortal.I want thinking to grow not just in terms of evolution and inspiration but also in terms of absolute innovation.

Well then let the charity begin at home ;) ! Time to watch some 2D, read a book and see an old cartoon.

Cheers!!

Of Worldly pleasures and barriers

After a nice long day of worldly pleasures, there is nothing more relaxing than sitting in bed with my laptop and listening to the sounds of the night. I have always thought of myself to be more of a night person than a day person but what I find most interesting these days is that the time that I enjoy the most is the early mornings or the late nights. The most honest of times. As the world sleeps around me during my early morning walks or my nightly writing sessions, I find it rather comfortable to hear the nothingness around me.

It also draws my thoughts to positive feelings of love, goals, home and life. A nice, very long walk to a beer garden, an almost burnt arm due to a somewhat heat-stroke and then a little snooze under the sheets makes me love life even more. I don't know what it is that people look for so hard in their life when all it requires is good company, laughter and a little above average conversation. I guess the latter is hard to find.

I sat in a very loud club last night and did a usual night-out filled with booze and dancing but the only interesting part that stands out in my memory is talking about enriching yourself and accepting people the way they are. Me and my friends discussed how we want to take up some instrument, learn a new sport, discover new routes in our city and go out on more excursions. We also spoke about different languages, their sounds and how each language could be related to one another. And inspite of the human-ness of it all, there is a question that disturbs me..if all of us are just looking to enrich ourselves then why does one have political, language, cultural and other miserable barriers?

I guess I'd have to grow up to find that out (:P)! All I know is that..home is where the heart is..love is where life exists..and life exists in music, art, good conversations and in really living it to the fullest..and living is what I do...and what makes me happy!

Ok so cheers to a "Simply happy" life :)

The Indian-ness of it all...

My darling of a friend posed this question for me today, what is it that defines the soul of India? What is it, that pulls us NRIs so strongly towards it and yet repulses us to reside outside it all? Do we love the little chaiwala managing his stall and is so willing to serve us, is it the uncle-jis and aunty-jis who are almost always willing to get us married off or are willing to fill us up with food, all out of affection? Is it the "jugad" for everything or the "milte-hai" attitude of people? What is it that makes that country so lovable?Why do all my short and warm affairs with this country keep me alive for the rest of my time away from this place? And still deep down inside, I'm not willing to move back yet...why?

I find it hard to ignore the "equality in inequality" in this place called home. I find it troublesome, how a place like Delhi with the rich, mighty and the intelligent falls prey to numbness. Every time, I move a few paces away from the New Delhi railway station to go to Panchkula, I'm overwhelmed with the filth and poverty. At one side, we have the beautiful fly-overs of Delhi, the swanky pubs, the unbeatable service of air-conditioned malls, where even a driving ticket is held out to you by hand and then on the other hand, there is your little chaiwala all of 10 years, handing you out chai at the road-side. Am I comfortable with this gaping reality?

When I read and hear about fancy terms like "Gobalization", "Service-sector economy","Equality","Outsourcing", "Development"....all that comes to my mind is Hygiene hygiene hygiene...Hygiene in our environment, hygiene in our political system, in our infrastructure...in everything around us....Why are we talking these big terms???? When all we need today is for us to pick up the broom and clean up places, when all we need is awareness and education and when all we need today is to share what we have in abundance....

The countries I've traveled in the past 2 years have no past to talk about when compared to India. We have an invaluable heritage that we've just taken for granted. It's kind of like the spoiled rich brats, who waste their wealth on everything and anything that makes them to stop thinking. We've overlooked what we have by the over-dose of consumerism. Yeah, its like dope for the youth. Dope them, numb them out..so they cannot see or feel anymore....Let them shop till they drop, keep them away from visiting the monuments, fill trash in all our heritage and keep them blind from the real treasures and wonders of life.

We are a forgiving nation and we forgive ourselves and others any moment that we are shown the bling...and that I feel is the biggest infidelity that we show to our nation...We seem to forgive our politicians each time they dwindle the prices of oil and gas, we seem to forgive the corrupt, each time we are shown the greens, hell..we forgive ourselves for bribing and overlooking serious crime scenes. We forgive and we forget. If that's not all...we gloat in the glory of it all :)

I hope that someday, some time soon, when I've traveled enough, gathered my thoughts enough...I can justify and overcome my own cowardice towards my nation and be able to show my own love and respect towards it...till that time...I will continue to write about it and think about it...help me..help me sort out my feelings for a nation I love and yet distance myself from...

No cheers to that....