Sunday, July 29, 2018

Shashaa Tiupati TEDx Talk




Listening to her sing in person are the moments I cherish all my life.  I was in the charm of her voice. It was a struggle on what to concentrate. Voice or the words. Shashaa delivered her idea, talking about the 4 facets that let us achieve with the mind of a child.

Innocent Curiosity
Vivid Imagination
Fearlessness
Happiness

Click the link and do watch the talk. I enjoyed it to the fullest. 

About Elly- Movie

The narration has it all. This movie is of a drama and more of mystery, I love the way these Iranian movie makers share the stories. At the end of the movie, it's all about the possibilities. I love the way they end the movie leaving the knots loose enough to tie however we want to. Golshifteh Farahani did a commendable acting. Cheers Farahani. Lining up to watch a couple of her movies.



Friday, July 20, 2018

Trapped-Movie

Simple Story.  Netflix & Amazon Prime are bringing out the different stories. Big screens would be too big to show these movies. Well directed.


Cold Showers

It's been almost 2 years since I started taking cold showers.  Cold showers during winter season are energy boosters. During scorching summers, it's a lifesaver. I feel energetic after a cold shower.

For only couple of times, I've bathed with lukewarm water when I was suffering from cold. In two years, the count would be in single digit only. Round the year, I'd say yes to cold showers. 

Priyuralu Pilichindi- Movie

I grew up watching these kinda movies all mychildhood. Teja TV & Gemini TV used to cast these movies.  Before even I knew the term BGM, I used to enjoy the BGMs in all the movies.




This movie evoked an emotion in me before I pay much attention to what's really happening. It's a story of 4 characters and these are the classics to me in every possible way standing unfaded to the wade of time! Needless to talk about A.R.Rahman and his magic in this movie. Shankar Mahadevan made his debut through this movie with the melody "Emi Cheyamanduve"

The Deccan Project Diaries.

Listening to them, I keep writing the drafts of One Heart. It's the chronicles of these emotions that pave me for this project.

These people's music is so uplifting that I call it a day with peace and enjoy my sleep recollecting the time I've listened to them. 


Why is it important?
I think it needs to be shared. Do not think much about the result.

Thursday, July 19, 2018

What stands to the time is the best

Talking about music with a friend, I realized classics are called as 'classics' for a reason.
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Numbers really doesn't matter. In this age of "million views" what really matters to me is to have a bond with that particular sound. It should evoke an emotion no matter when I listen to it. Numbers may help the worthy songs to float up in this whole turd of stuff if not, at times it may be grounded forever. 



Years may pass, there are few tracks which still mean something to me. They're the classics I call but not the million view tracks.

As Jonathan Seagull says, "Numbers doesn't matter. Excellence is what matters."

Thursday, July 12, 2018

Stories on wheels - Breakfast

As my office cab drivers and I always get along. We had breakfast together.  He was happy by the gesture and thanked. He also shared how goodness can make life beautiful and good.


"Once, I was a Uber driver and had a frequent passenger. One day, he came up to me and requested o drive him to bombay since he had to attend an exam.

I helped and took him all the way to Bombay. 

I didn't expect anything and yet at the end of the day, besides paying the diesel bill, tollgate fee, he also wanted to pay me.

I denied as I thought I was helping him. But finally, he came to my room and insisted to take money. 

Sometimes, help without any expectation make life beautiful" said my Driver.

I'm happy for my hunger caused both of us to stop for breakfast and get into the stories.

Sunday, July 8, 2018

Memories- Heritage Walk and a leisure stroll

   I headed to Abids on a cloudy day. 




I rushed to the Heritage walk entering the narrow streets of Abids. Quickly into narrow dilapidated ruins of structures, I was there in the canonball factory of the French army constructed in 1786 in Hyderabad. 



Architect, Walk lead, Madhurima narrated the stories of the French army's presence in Hyderabad. And how it shaped the whole Abids. We headed to then Aliya High school established in the 18th century. 


Aliya High School


Huddle Friend at Heritage Walk

The Black and White Story

Heritage Walk Friends. Always see them in gatherings but nowhere. 
We had an alumni of the school when it was also educating boys. He got a picture clicked near his classroom.






The Old Structure 







After many conversations on history and stories, we moved to the nearby museum watching the precious old pieces of the history that told a lot of stories of the culture and their customs. 



Didn't wanted to leave even after the walk. Priyanka, her friend and I huddled to wander in the streets of Abids. We went to Lepakshi, checked out all the artifacts, walked into an old house to look at the vintage cars. We also ran into a dog which enjoyed its own space and ordered us to be in our own space.










Walks and talks went for so long that I dropped the plans of going home to get ready for another Elsa's engagement. We carried our conversations over the lunch and Hubli Bubli.  

Our last stop was the church, which we planned at first after the dismissal of the heritage walk. My two friends bid bye after helping me with a quick shopping and I was all ready for the event right at the church. 

Stories on Wheels

On a highway tending to a narrow curve, I stood on the other side of the narrow single lane and yet a car stopped signaling to come in the heavy flow of vehicles.

"God bless this person" I whispered.  And I went to get on a ride.

"I know the struggle since I used to travel a lot. I just got reminded of myself and wanted to help you."

I was happy to listen to it. If I had stood there for few more minutes, I'd be drenched in rain. Talking about traveling, we spoke a lot. Discussed on how I travel and how people are just like him, thinking to help.

He travels on work and traveled remote parts of the whole of India. "I've been to Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, all the corner most places and also villages in it."  He does know of places a lot more than sightseeing spots, he knows little of their culture, language and their stories.


Both of us being quite comfortable at talking(He is a marketing guy ;),   we spoke about our works, education and recalled many memories.

Soon after a lot of talking, we realised, Vellore is the one common place we lived at different periods. I was there during my schooling. He was there during his post-graduation. Recalled many memories. Many many happy memories. Next few minutes, we were laughing out loud sharing so many funny incidents that happen quite with a lot of gangs.

After a lot of this conversation, I asked his name, at least to put it here in this blog. With a bright smile, he said, "Karunakar."

Thanks a lot, Karunkar for the ride and the time. Hope we meet sometime at some other place. Thanks for the help.

Be the way you want your children to be.

Be what your children want to be


This morning, Kiran sir shared this image with me and coincidentally, I got a chance to talk to a few parents on this topic at the same time.

Gadget addiction.

Gadgets are bought for children as 'playthings'. They're bought in a notion of keeping the children engaged.

"My 2-year-old child only watches rhymes," says one. "My daughter doesn't eat unless she sees something played on youtube." says another parent.

 "My child doesn't eat unless Ipad is given." complained a father, shrugging shoulders.

"I had a thought of buying IPad for my 2-year-old daughter. But, I stopped after watching a video on why children should not be given gadgets." said another parent.

Listening to all these conversations, I showed this picture with them. And people are least bothered to acknowledge the devil in the details. They didn't want to take the blame.

One acknowledged. "With these temporary solutions, we're ruining them. Just to let the children eat their food, we're giving them a distraction."

Temporary solutions works but, there's a side effect. Living in the manipulated world, parents are manipulating the children, right from their childhood.

Children do not listen to what we say but, imitate us in our actions.

Be the way you want your children to be.




Wednesday, July 4, 2018

The Familiar Smiles

Visiting Ankapur Military hotel after a long time, I witnessed a lot of happy smiles.

Charvie and I discovered this hotel when we were on a stroll at Madhapur. Manpreet was accompanying us. Looking at the word, 'Military', Charvie was curious to know what's so military in it?

Charvie was disappointed to find nothing military in it and didn't got good opinions on it. She loved the food though! As far as I'm concerned,  the food was delicious and the waiters were calm and responsive all the time. We liked the place but were down hearted to find nothing military.

Further, I started visiting the hotel many times. I loved the Clay Pot Pulav, Thali and also chicken sambar rice. Besides food, I loved the ambiance.  Late, I took dad & mom to the hotel. I went with Harimohan and Anjali. Dined with Ved, Kishan anna there, and with many more. Over the time, I became familiar to all the waiters there.

Besides food, I love their service. All the waiters are always calm and responsive. After a very long time, visited the old place. To my surprise, they still remember me. A huge smile shone soon after they saw me. "Bagunnara sir. Chaala rojulaindhi( How are you sir, It's been a really long time)" was the first question.

So happy to see the smiles that shone as soon as they ran into me. All I could do was to return a smile and ask them how they were.

So happy to see those familiar smiles again. 

Tuesday, July 3, 2018

The best theme I’ve ever encountered- TRUST

TEDxKlagenfurt has the theme called, “TRUST”
They did an innovative campaign. The whole campaign works around trust. The team wants the crowd to trust them so, they didn’t reveal any speaker. They wanted their audience to trust them and attend the event and also they want to trust their audience for the payment of tickets after the event.
Check out their page TEDxKlagenfurt to know in detail.
TEDxKlu

Sunday, July 1, 2018

Maniratnam Silent Movie



Maniratnam iconic visuals are intriguing. Moving images made a story from spectacular visuals. 

Art- Empty Spaces-Flow

The abstract of the exhibition is out.  https://www.graduateinstitute.ch/communications/events/empty-spaces-flow-art-exhibition-abhinay-renny