Friday, December 31, 2021

Movies- Movies in 2021

 This year, I haven't blogged much about all the movies I watched. I'm surprised by the way I perceive  these days, watching, reading as a big effort.  

  1. Atrangi Re
  2. The Empire(webseries)
  3. Spencer
  4. Jai Bhim
  5. Pinky Memsaab
  6. Ninnila Ninnila
  7. The Courier
  8. Mimi
  9. Malik
  10. Aanum Pennum
  11. Haseen Dilruba
  12. Sherni
  13. Section 375
  14. Maqbool
  15. 99 Songs
  16. So B it
  17. Karnan
  18. The Great Indian Kitchen
  19. Children of the Republic
  20. Jathi Ratnalu
  21. Drishyam-2
  22. Sex Education (webseries)
  23. Sarapatta Parambarai
  24. Pushpa: The Rise



  

Movie- Pushpa:The Rise

On a new year eve, Preetham suggested the movie, Pushpa: The Rise. Pushpa, a bastard gets into smuggling of red sandal wood. With his skill and scheme, he rises to the top in his game. He manages to bring down all his rivals. Cutting all the slow motion scenes and the songs, the movie duration would've been way better. Since there's a sequel to this story, may be all the characters would be reveal to their fullest in the second movie. I'd not prefer to watch it again. 

Thursday, December 30, 2021

Books- Books in 2021

 This year, I read less than ten books. I started a lot of books, read till half and couldn't finish them. Even when I could finish them, I consciously left those books at home. Next year, targeting to read more than 30.

  1. ART MATTERS by Neil Gaiman
  2. A journey through my roots by Arakkal
  3. The BHAIS of Bengaluru by Jyoti Shelar
  4. Shiksha, My Experiments as an Education Minister
  5.  Forty Rules of Love by Elif Shafa
  6. Where Does the Wind Live
  7. The Librarian of Basra
  8. Do and Don't
  9. Bumboo, the donkey who would not budge
  10. Dongri to Dubai: Six Decades of Mumbai Mafia
  11. Sapiens: A Graphic History Volume-1
  12. Emotional Intelligence
  13. Why we Sleep: Unlocking the power of Sleep
  14. The Boy, the Mole, the fox and the Horse


Monday, December 27, 2021

In dialogue with Illoy Kohli

Attending Shreya's wedding, I got a chance to meet Kashyap after a long time. Kashyap introduced me to Illoy, the masseur who ended up as professional mountain climber.  

How did this sport began? I asked. 

To start his sports story, he had to share his stint with drugs. "At small age, I started consuming drugs. In 9th class, I had an overdose. I dropped out of the school and did nothing. I tried my hand at farming for certain time. Later, I went back and finished the school. I have my aunt who works in railway station. She got me a ticket to Hyderabad. I came here and did nothing. One of my friend asked, Why don't you learn what I do(masseuring). He was working in a wellness centre as a masseur."

"I started learning Thai massage. At the same time, learnt Thai chi. A master from Chennai came and taught me. I started investing more time in fitness. By spending time to learn this art, I feel, I have nothing but I feel rich." 

Illoy also shared how Kashyap's family was supportive in all his ventures. The reason he could achieve alot things is because of them, he shares the gratitude. 

"Here, everyone are so welcoming and helpful. My sister saw and got surprised that I'm treated as family member." 

Glad to spend time with you and catch up Illoy. Kashyap family is full of sweet hearts. 



Thoughts- I think, therefore I'm

An old man walked into an art gallery. Ambika and I visited an art gallery to watch Amit's works. I got to know that the old man is Ramesh Thanve, famous educationist walked into the gallery. Amit introduced me as a person from Azim Premji Foundation. Ambika introduced Ramesh Thanve as an educator who worked a lot for early literacy in 1960s. Talking about 1960s and age, he revealed that he's 76. Stumped and surprised by his age, I wondered how he's very active and got energy to walk into art gallery and catch up with his friend. He mentioned a French Philosopher, Rene Descarte. 'I think therefore I am.' 


Soliloquy- 2020 & 2021

 With the Pandemic, I had a hard time recollecting what I was upto in 2021. Talking with Swathi, I tried recollecting what I was doing in 2020. Here are some events I could recollect. 

Jan: Lavu’s Wedding. School Sports Fest. 

Feb: Jishan & Jyothi’s Wedding. Career conversation with Dad

March: Holi. COVID. Lockdown. First draft submission. 

April: Sketching. Painting. Read Da Vinci

May: The lockdown continued. Continued reading.  COVID awareness work.

June: Office space got opened. 

July: COVID awareness. Engaging teachers

Aug: Started a Psychology course

Sep: Reading. Writing. 

Oct: Visited Home

Nov: Stayed at home

Dec: Returned to Sirohi. Got a new offer. 


Saturday, December 25, 2021

The Empire- Webseries

 Rajiv appreciated the series. "Accha hai Empire, he suggested, "Dekhlo." to check it out. Recommended by the history person, I couldn't think much about it. I watched the first episode right away. This series was created based on Alex Rutherford's novel, The Raiders of the North. The graphics was not to the appreciable standards but, the screenplay and the characters are well written.

The history is very different from how they portrayed but, it's nice to see the series of events through characters' point of view. There's betrayal, friendship, love and greed for power. Enjoyed it. 


Wednesday, December 22, 2021

Thoughts- Needs

What do I need the most?

Book
           Pen 
                  & 
                    Thoughts






2021 & Life

 I began 2021 with a high. Because of change in the role, I was looking forward to work in that role. Thinking of months of 2021, these got flashed. 

January: Travelled to Gujarat, Kutch. 

February: Visited Karnataka

March: Visited Barmer

April: Lockdown. Dyu left. 

May: Dad got COVID. Later whole family got affected. 

June: Last month at Sirohi

July: Relocated to Jaipur 

August: Visited Uttarakhand. Andy Passed away

September: Visited Dhamtari

October: Celebrated Anjali's birthday.

November: Attended PoE. Made a lot of new friends. 

December: Visited Uttarkashi, met Vikas, Visited Udupi

Monday, December 20, 2021

Books- The Wordless conversation and people behind it

My poetry collection, "The Wordless Conversation," is a compilation of poems that I wrote at different instances. Here's the list of the poems and the time/people/inspiration behind it. 

Ineffable beautiful soul - Poem for Amrutha

Her-- Inspired by a dream where I saw a girl whom I never saw in real. 

Star!- Inspired by a person who is always out of reach yet inspires me to make things in life. 

May be. May be not--- Abstract poem I wrote randomly. 

Shalom-- It's an acrostic written on one of my friend. (Acrostic is a poem where all the first letters would make a meaning or name)

The wordless conversation - Abstract poem I wrote during late night randomly.

The kohl eyed Connoisseur - Abstract poem again ( No particular inspiration from people for these poems)

Her Presence   - Written on one of my senior, Whom I admire a lot. 

Beware of Silence - Written during a late night, enjoying the silence

Joy  - Acrostic( Guess for whom I wrote :p) 

Oh Dear Wave- Inspired by Sea

Four Things - No Particular inspiration

Empty Canvas- Written randomly

Love you Stupid! My Dame. - Acrostic. Written on person who inspired me to write the poem, In between the bridge which turned out to be my first novel title. 

There’s no end- Written during a new year night. Couldn't understand the shallow celebrations and penned down this poem. 

Deprived of the Sea- Abstract poem inspired by sea and nature.

Strayed Stay  -- Cathartic Poem( Just scribbled to put out my feeling at that point of time 

In between the bridge….-- Written after having a conversation with my friend. ( Will share the full poem later)

No clue. Out of blue-- Cathartic Poem during my job days. 

Hear me O Night!- Cathartic Poem one of those silent nights. 

Nighttide-- Cathartic Poem during one of those silent nights. 

Chains of Freedom-- Cathartic Poem when I 

Needs. Wants. Desires.-- Cathartic Poem when I hated the materialistic cravings around me.

St.Valentine-- Written on Valentine's day hating how people redefine love and the day nicely with their own interpretations. 

Know! --Cathartic Poem when I realized the value of learning and the act of having learning mindset towards life.

Terrorism & Faith-- Wrote when I was disturbed by terrorism and violence.

Perfume of the Light-- Wrote on hope, war, and violence. 

O Sea! - Inspired by Sea

Aruvi- Inspired by movie, "Aruvi"

Ella pugazhum iraivanukke-- Written for A.R.Rahman

A note of Silence-- Written while I was listening to "Jaage Hain" from Guru

To be on the road-- Cathartic poem during hitchhiking

Angry human’s Tale- Written how being negative turns our life into those four words. If one has negativity in life, their life is just those 4 words.

#Besides_the_ride-  Written about hitchhiking reality.

Stories-- Summarised my life in these words.


Sunday, December 19, 2021

Friends- Ass in town

Vikas left India in 2017 and returned to India in December 2021. Vikas is one person whom I shared a lot of memories with and very dear friend. I was never expressive of his presence but, his absence made me pen a few words. 

I missed him. I tried to stay in connection knowing what's happening at his end. I failed to be there whenever he needed but, he was always there for a conversation.

Frustrated I was, a lot of times and he was always there listening to me. I always wanted to catch up with him. There's nothing much to talk to him but, love to spend time with him, walk with him, ride a bike with him. These are the experiences I cherish. 

Vikas is visiting India after 4 long years. He is staying for more than 2 months. He's trying to spend time with his family as well with us, friends. The ass, I know has changed and evolved in many ways. I was elated to see him and he took his own time to feel home at India. 

At first, we met at Bala's place. Next day, he shifted to a hotel, finding it difficult to fit in. The next day, Shyam, Bala, Vikas, Naveen, Shanmukh and other friend attended Sunny's brother's reception. 

Together we attended Chinmay anna's engagement as well as Vineel's wedding. 

A few days, he left to Australia. I remember the conversations we have sitting together. 

I was talking about destinations, he was talking about journey. From being the careless teens, we've grown all along, trying to listen to each other and being there, failing at times and continuing the conversations. Grateful for the friendship. 


Friday, December 17, 2021

Anjali & I - Birthday Gifts for me

Anjali recalled my birthday recently and wished me. I'm happy she wished me as soon as she remembered it. If I recall my friends' birthday a few days later after their birthday, I do not bother to wish them as I couldn't wish them on time. I realize that sending out the wishes is more important than wishing them only on their special day. 

On Dec 14th When I visited Anjali's place. I waited till she return from school. In the course of waiting, I dozed off. Anjali woke me up soon after she got settled at home. She walked me into her room taking out a blue bag handing me over my gifts. "Try this new medium," she suggested and handed me water colors. Two brushes and a cute green Christmas tree key chain. Along with these, she wrote an acrostic for me. Pausing in between and laughing at times, she read me out what she has written. Thanks Anjali for the gift. It means a lot.  I was curious of what she'd write with Y. Damn creative! 

I shared everything about my birthday. Soon after a series of storytelling, we walked out to play badminton. In the deserted lanes, we played badminton discussing patriarchy, school, learning and imagining the car drives to Pune. After a quick work on Harry's videos, Anjali and I again got together to play table tennis on the dining table with the writer's digest books acting as net. I was busy slicing the ball while Anjali was playing with a rhythm and grace. Sharing some puns, we played 5 games, out of which Anjali won them all. 

Books- Book Haul at Akshara Books

 After nearly 3 years, I visited Akshara books again. Harry had some meeting. He dropped me mid way and I reached the book shop. Away from the hustle bustle of vehicles and honks, this place is situated inside the Journalist colony road. One can easily spot the glass walled Akshara Books. They've rearranged the shelves and it's easy to explore a lot of  books. Looking through the shelves, I found a lot of Telugu poetry books and some of the titles which I'd like to try. Sasi Deshpande's novel and other books. 

They were opening the new stock and I had a look, I was tempted to buy a lot of books. Maya Angelou's Why caged bird sings, other biographies and memoirs. But, I stopped myself. I couldn't stop myself buying Brene Brown's new book Atlast of Heart.  Once I billed the books, the shop owner offered me books which may be helpful to our foundation. I agreed to take 15 copies of quiz books. Later, they offered me a whole set of Penguin classics for me. "Please select and take the books you like," she offered. 

At the end, they offered me 2 boxes of books, while I was busy buying some more poetry books. I'm grateful to receive this many books from Akshara. "We'd feel happy, if these books can find readers," she shared her thoughts, "we feel bad to sell these books to scrap.

It's sad to see that books do not have readers. Hardly people read books and also, many buy through Amazon. I'm glad we've Akshara in the city, an individual book shop which has beautiful collections of books. I suggest everyone to pay a visit if they're in the city. 

Friends- Lunch at Jaya’s Home

Only Bala has the skill of sleeping despite having a blaring alarm aside. Planning of a good sleep, I got all his phones beside me to stop the alarm at first ring itself. Thanks to silent option, he couldn’t answer any of his calls till 11 am in the morning. Jaya invited for a lunch at his home. Vikas is leaving to Bangalore to return after a week. Still, we gathered for the lunch. Over a lot of chicken, Keema and Biryani, Jaya, Sunny, Vikas, Bala and I shared our conversations. Talking of the time we spent in college, we could acknowledge how tough is it to gather like the old times. We talked of all the pals, wondering who’s going to get married first and who all can make to the weddings. Woah, we’re already talking about weddings and partners. Signs of adulting!

Sunday, December 12, 2021

This Day That Year Stories

In the year of 2018, on December 8th, Shreya picked me up from my home at 4am in the morning. We drove to Bowenpally for a photo shoot of The Deccan Project. I picked a book from that cafe, Stephen Rose, Band of Brothers. On the same day, I visited Harry's place, chatted with Anjali and by night, we were at  Retro Drive-in for the Bonfire nights. It was hectic & lovely night.  

In the year of 2019, On December 7th, I took an early bus from Sirohi town to Ahmedabad to catch a early morning flight. On December 8th, I flew to Hyderabad and directly took a bus to Nirmal, Navya's wedding venue. By late morning, I was in Nirmal along with JBR, Chinmay anna, Pooja & Narra. In a few minutes, we were all ready to walk into the wedding venue. Pre-COVID era, we took our seats watching Navya getting hitched through the big LEDs set up at the venue. We were there but, we weren't there. In the wedding crowd, we were in a corner, enjoying in our conversations. By afternoon, we were done with the wedding. My seniors had another engagement to catch up. I had another wedding to attend. I hitchiked as the bus was tool late to start at Nirmal. With the help of various bikes, cars and a truck, finally, I landed at another wedding venue. Just met the couple before they leave for some wedding ritual. Enjoyed meeting all the juniors, Meghana, Vijay, Vineeth, Ved and all others.  

In the year of 2020, even though, it's winter December, it was freaking hot in the villages of Sirohi.  On December 8th, I went to a remote school visit along with Mukesh Parashar. 20 km away from the district headquarters lies a school with a single teacher. Every time, we go, we get lost. On sandy roads, asking anyone who comes across, we went along hoping to be on the right route. 

Due to COVID situation, no students are attending the school. Community classes are being conducted. As there's only single teacher in the school, she can't close the school and teach children in community class.  "Why are we doing this work for the sake of doing this work?" I strongly felt in my mind. I shared with Mukesh as well. We meet teachers, we try to be formal in our conversations, not persuading them to do what we want to do. They try to be formal nodding for everything we say. 

We say, we've engaged teachers, teachers feel they've engaged themselves in learning conversations.


In dialogue with Abhishek- Proximity

Abhishek is a theatre practitioner and I got a chance to catch up with him and talk about theatre and his thoughts on how does theatre evoke emotions and move spectator. 

Watching theatre plays, I was surprised on how it evokes a response. Closely watching the characters in near distance, the experience was different from different mediums. On asking, how does this work, Abhishek mentioned, “It’s with the proximity. You’ve two lively beings at same place interacting. You are observer and slowly you take over the place the actor and think accordingly.

What’s with this proximity? There are a lot of virtual mediums creating proximity, however virtual, I thought. When we talk about proximity, we’ll never find this through virtual mediums, I realized. 

When we know that proximity brings humans together, why are we running away from each other and still craving for proximity. 


In a utilitarian society, Market, politics, culture, society drives the changes the aspects.

For instance, in the urban landscape there’s less proximity in our lives. We wake up and spend half our life in traveling to workplace and at workplace. Limiting ourselves at the workplace, we've less proximity in the modern ways we work in. Proximity sabotaged by workplace effects our family landscape. Eventually, we’re running away from the warmth. As a society, it has a last longing effect.

 

Travel Tales- Geography of thought

"The Geography of thought," always interested me. How does geography influences in our thinking. How does the landscape affects the culture and thinking process. Interacting with people on hills, I guessed that they are handworkers and they closely experience the uncertainty of nature. Landslides, heavy rainfall, snowy winters, the hilly people try to accommodate themselves in these harsh conditions as well. "There's zero crime rate in this area," shared a locale who invited me for a coffee the moment he met me. People are hospitable, I felt looking at the way I was received by all these people. 

Geographic Thinking seemed to  be another interesting thinking process. Interacting with Naveen and others from social science background, I could jot down few points on geographical thinking. 

1, Spatial Significance: The importance of place  or region

2. Patterns and trends : The concept of recognizing the characteristics that are similar and repeat themselves in natural or human environment. 
 
3. Interrelationships: The relation between environment and humans. 

4. Geographic Perspective: The concept considers environmenal, econiomic, political and/or social implications of issues, developments, phenomena that we're focusing on. 


I really enjoyed this line on Geographic Thinking

What is where, why is it there, and why should we care?


Travel Tales- Hills and Hilarious moments

 I traveled to Mussoorie and Landour was the extent I went on. For the first time, I moved beyond Mussoorie and Landodur. Along with J & Miss M, I traveled to Uttarkashi, a small valley in the hills of Uttarkhand. 

At night, we took a train to Dehardun from Uddam Singh Nagar and arrived at 4 am in the morning. Uttarkhand in winters can be torturous as well as cozy. I was wearing three layers and yet, I was shivering to Dehradun winters. 

I’ve been to a few places in Uttarakhand but did not go beyond Landour. This is the first time, I’m traveling beyond Mussoorie. I was advised to carry warm clothing.  As we travelled from Rudrapur at 10 PM, we reached Dehradun by 4 am. Despite being deprived of sleep, we freshened up and indeed played a TT game at our workplace before we began to Uttarkashi. Deprived of deep sleep, I was trying to sleep in the car whenever I get a chance. At beginning, I was heartened to see the Sahastradhara road and the familiar road to Mussoorie. J had begun sharing his memories, Woodstock buildings, the old roads, the playgrounds, I kept watching everywhere he pointed out. We discussed all the funny incidents that happened on these roads. The time when he was assisting a foreigner for research work, they went out on a bike. On a slope, the foreigner was taking a wrong turn, J jumped out of bike, looking at the young J jump out of bike, he held his feet on the ground and let the bike slip out of his hands and let it go. The bike was on free ride on a slope. Thankfully no one got hurt, that was the sight J remembers and laughs even now.

The stories were plenty and we were keen to listen to the experiences. 

By the time, we were at height, we were able to soak in the sun. We stopped at a place with a nice view of Himalayas. There, we stood and enjoyed the view looking around. We found a funny point as well. Tingling Point. 

Observing the trees and jungle fowls, we reached the district of Uttarkashi. 

Wednesday, December 8, 2021

Italo Calvino- The Black Sheep

https://blog.aladin.co.kr/common/popup/printPopup/print_Paper.aspx?PaperId=742005


Interesting story. Once lived a country full of thieves. Everyone robbed everyone's house.

Sunday, December 5, 2021

Friends- Sruthi's Wedding

Sruthi is getting married! 

After 2019, Sruthi and I couldn't meet for many reasons. We've taken our ways, staying silent, believing, we'll get back to our conversations. In December 2021, Sruthi called and I was intuitive of the happy news. 

"Where are you in December?" Sruthi asked. 

"Uttarkhand," I replied. 

"Abhinay, I'm in Hyderabad." she mentioned and I knew that there's something happy and important news. Sruthi is getting married!

Knowing Sruthi from 2009, we managed to stay together for all these years. As Sruthi left for U.S, we still managed to meet when she returned to India. Growing together and communicating now and then about our lives is of different fun. Excited to attend Sruthi's wedding.

Thursday, December 2, 2021

Soliloquy- Introduce yourself

 For  some meet up, the organizers asked me, "write a few lines introducing about yourself." How will I introduce myself, I thought. Immediately I wrote these lines. I'm sure I didn't use this write up but, I love this one as I love to introduce myself in these words. 

Being on the move all over my life marred many of my views. To learn is to live and to live is to learn. More than everything I identified with sound and word. Eventually, I became ‘word’ person. I’m more of a poet and a dreamer. Idealistic are my thoughts, realistic is how I try to make my life.


Movie- Spencer

 2021. My first movie in Jaipur theatres.

I always wanted to know about Diana but procrastinated watching the Netflix series. Thanks to friends' insistence, I watched it. I wish to see Kristen in some happy light movies rather than intense dramas. 


Saturday, November 20, 2021

Hey it's my Birthday

On my birthday eve, Archana suggested for a walk and we ended up at a café hogging a lot of food. While I was busy eating, she got out the gift from her bag and handed it to me. She gifted me Conversation with Friends, a book she bought in Delhi. 
She read me three of her favourite poems, wrote two letters as a birthday gift. Grateful for having people around me to celebrate my birthday, I called it a day and dozed off. Nikita woke me up with her signature wishes. "Happy birthday. Have a great time. Do something awesome!." Thanks Nikita, you always push me to be at my best. 

Harry called up early to wish me and spend few minutes talking. Thoughtful. I loved it. He suggested me to spend some time reflecting on 'birthday' and '27th birthday.'




Azhar dressed up well on my birthday, celebrating it and wished me. 

Feeling special about the day but, also in the humdrum of courses, I walked into the meeting room. I was glad for a while that people do not know about my birthday. Usha walked in and greeted me loud making others know about my birthday. Wished by everyone, I became the birthday boy in the class. 

Ayushi was at her best, telling "Today it's his birthday," to all whom she met. 

Shreya, Evangeline aunt, Smoothies, Swathi, Swati, Pooja, Sruthi, Amu, Venkatesh, G, PSVB, Sunny, Vickas, Faddy, Sachin, Shaik, Satwik, Azhar, Shankar, Dyu, Sneha, Karan shared their wishes. 

Ayushi hosted a party inviting me, Archana, Ashok, Prateek & Tirang at her place. We ate lots of food. Danced till we were sweating. We went out for a walk to drop Tirang at his place. Listening to music, walking on the deserted streets, we were enjoying the night. We called it a day on 12.30. Technically the next day. 

Akhila gifted me "I'm not  here to  Give Speech and some face masks. Harry gifted me 'Comfort Crisis' book, Elsa gifted me, 'The Reluctant Mother' Grateful for all the blessings, love and wishes.

 

Monday, November 8, 2021

Birthday Experiment- Remind the loved ones about the birthday

Till the time I was in Hyderabad, I celebrated my birthday in different ways. In 2018, I hitchhiked to Bidar the whole day and spent the evening at Gurudwara. 

In 2019, I moved to Rajasthan and stayed inactive on social media through out wondering if anyone cared to know my whereabouts. A lot of people indeed cared. A lot of loved ones made an effort to call on my birthday even though we didn't stay in touch for an year. And also, in the same year, I got a chance to celebrate my birthday with the children who showered their love with warmth greetings. 

In 2020, after a long time, I stayed at home for my birthday. For once, I celebrated it in sober manner. 

In 2021, I'm thinking of reminding all my friends about my birthday, not to be self-centered but it's good to break the silence we've been maintaining for a long time. 

As I hid my birthday on social media, half of my friends didn't bother to remember and wish. I'm grateful for everyone who remember and who do not remember as well. 

Recently one of my friend called up, just to make sure she remembers my birthday right as she remembers the birth month but not sure of date.

Seeing other friend sharing gratitude on her birthday, I realized my birthday has been skipped from a lot of my friends' memory. (One more way to tell myself that people love me but, their memory keeps failing.)

Talking to other friend, he shared how he decided to call up his friends on his birthday, just to remind them about the 'important day'. It's good to have good time na. No matter who reminds them about the special day. 

So lads, November is my birth month. Don't bother if you do not remember the date. Will share it soon.  

Who doesn't love gifts! A decade ago, I shared a wish list with my bestie. Best friends are best friends for a reason. She gifted me all the books I asked for. 

This time, I'm putting efforts to share it with everyone because, I believe in asking. 

Here's the wish list for my birthday:

https://www.amazon.in/hz/wishlist/dl/invite/7LTxRLG?ref_=wl_share

And here's the postal address:

Abhinay Renny 

c/o Azim Premji Foundation

Airport Terminal, 2nd Street

Siddarth Nagar

Jaipur 

Rajasthan 302017


Note: I love hand written letters and post cards :)

Sunday, November 7, 2021

Soliloquies- Writing, a lonely journey

 For months, I feared to touch my draft hearing to a voice that I may not be good at working now. Indeeed I was terrible at beginning. I just stared at the screen. Putting up with the silence, I began to correct the words that had spelling mistakes removing the red underlines in the word. Continuing to pace, I told myself to spend time. Just spend time with it. As I spend time, I got frustrated. Knowing that my frustration emotion is about struggling to move forward in the story, I remained silent. I knew where my emotions were coming from. I didn't try to narrate myself another story on my frustrating emotions. I was there, staring at the screen and flowing words. I continued editing  a bit by bit, word by word. Working on three chapters, I feel good about coming so far. I realised it's about being patient. Patient with the progress. 

Happy writing. 


Saturday, November 6, 2021

Movie- Jai BHIM

This kind of stories need to come out. Through Harry's blog I got interested to watch this movie. Jai BHIM is a story of tribal woman fighting the system to get the justice. This movie is based out a real story and it has the elements that take us to reflect our past and the brutalities we're committing to fellow humans in the name of caste. I wonder if Telugu cinema can come up with stories that revolve around oppression and caste discrimination. 


Jaipur Journals- Handi & Hustle

 Sneha, Dyu are in town. Three of us went out in search of good food. Three of us are big time Biryani fans. As our standards in appreciating the non-veg is very high, we were critical in choosing the food joints. Handi was the final selected one, as it boasted about it's Handi on Google. 

Retrospecting our life at Sirohi, we relished on Bajra Roti and Laal Maans. Ended the meal with not-so-bad lassi. 

Leaving them at the station, I walked down the roads of Jaipur. Jaipur is a scenic city. I'm happy that  I live here which doesn't have much buzz but has it's own aura. 

Spent some time watching Elizabeth's statue and hopping onto the E-Rickshaws I reached home munching too much of Banaras Paan available at Gandhinagar Jaipur. 





Tuesday, November 2, 2021

Graphic Musings- Different Tools

 Without anyone saying anything, I caught myself a lot of times before I sketched on the painted canvas. The canvas is already painted, how do I write, I told myself. Finally I pushed myself to sketch and sketched on the big canvas. 




Stories on Wheels-- Stories, Cinema & Social Media

On a cold november night, I was walking from Jawahar Kala Kendr to home. 10KM away, I decided not to rely on cab. I wished to take an auto, public transport but, looks like the world has listened to my wish and made all the autos and public transport go in every lane but, not in my road. Why don't I take the help, I thought and began to raise the thumb and ask for the help. Hitchhike to home! 

Hitchhiking in Rajasthan? is it as easy as I get in my place, I thought.  I realized I’m being judgmental about the places and the whole point is to just wait, rather than expecting something out of it.  

All these thoughts didn’t change any probability of what I get. But I walked and walked and there was this one Scorpio. Path decide. And there was this long fair sharp featured handsome man in a dark green shirt, blue jeans. Trying to get into the car.  

So I met Omar adham Khan. I didn’t expect to hitchhike. I was waiting, and I waited, and waited, and waited and I thought we liked it. 

Can you give me lift? I asked.  "Left?" he repeated. 


I repeated LIFT. "Aajao," he waved his hand. I got onto his car, a dark green spacious Scorpio. 


As I just got into the car, a bike rider stopped by asking for directions. "You tell,"  he looked at me. "I don't know the place." I asserted.  


"Are you not from this place?" he enquired. "No, I'm from Hyderabad. I'm new to this place." I answered him. 

 

Looking at him. I thought he’s a traveler and yes, he is. He traveled from Delhi to goa. Delhi to Arunachal Pradesh. Basically every part of India in his car with all his camera gear.   Discussing works, I shared mine, he shared his.  "I'm a  cinematographer man behind the camera."  I do commissioned work, most of the time. 


Discussing the way he approaches his work and the role of social media. He shared his insight on how putting our creative work can be helpful. "There can be people who can relate. It's always to put it out there rather than not sharing it." 


And on that note, we thought we’ll stay connected through Instagram. Thanks Omar for the ride and the conversation. 

Soliloquies- Fog in the mind

Not clear of what's happening with me, I dialed a friend to share my random thoughts. 

My friend mentioned, "You need to know where the emotions are coming from? The emotions created fog in my mind where I couldn't see anything clearly. I had no clarity, couldn't prioritize things. The moment I could realise where the emotions are coming from, I was one step ahead, clearing out the fog."

I could relate easily. Time to clear out the fog that's blurring my clarity. 


Artist Date- Amer Fort

 I decided to walk out and spend a day in the city of Jaipur. I woke up early, had my breakfast but, I was not willing myself to go out and explore the city. "Renny, you need to do this." I pushed myself and got out carrying the basics, along with the laptop. (What if I feel like working on my draft?)

As I came out, I looked for food joints. I ordered Aloo paratha and chole. Along with it, I was offered Raita as well. I started my tour with sumptuous and heavy brunch. I took out an auto. These days, I'm being comfortable to travel in public transport rather than cabs. During the long ride, I dozed off for few minutes. As I got dropped at Amer, I could hardly see the crowd on the streets. I was wishing that I don't get to see any crowd at the fort as well. Unlucky me, there was a lot of crowd everywhere as I trekked towards the fort. Located amidst the mountain surrounded by valley and water. The huge fort spreads across a lot of distance. I got the ticket and walked into the fort. 



I never took a guide in any of my explorations. I like to explore by myself. However, this huge fort seemed complex as I wandered alone. There were a lot of mahals and palaces.




inside the fort.  

Strolled across Sheesh Mahal and other palaces. I could spot a lot of Hamams, bath places as well. It was written that there were a lot of bath and latrines stored with a lot of hot and cold water. Royal utilities. 

I spent a lot of time walking around. Before exiting, I got into this book shop which had a good collection of books on Step Wells and some hard bound classics.  Didn't feel like coming out but, I came out and had a lot of lemonades. 

                                     

                                                

Awaiting for an hour in front of the palace, I could catch a public bus. Central Park, I requested. Off to the green park. 

No sooner I walked into the park then, I slept on the grass watching the sky. Spent a lovely evening at the park watching out the trees. As it turned dark, I crossed the road and entered nearby cafe, 



Tapri Central. A cozy place to spend the evenings. Ordered Cheese Vadapav, Imandaar Kichdi and enjoyed it talking to friends through phone. Loved the rooftop. Would love to visit the place again. 

                      

                                                                                                                          



I realized that I could spend more qualitative time with myself next time. This time, I was distracting myself with phone. I was anxious for no reason. Time to ease out and be comfortable with my company. 

Art- Empty Spaces-Flow

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