Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Beyond Shotz

Beyond Shotz - An online monthly photo journal from the members of BSB. I have been a passive member of BSB all this while for various reasons. Photography happens to been one of my passions & this post in particular is my effort to spread the word in Blogosphere about 'Beyond Shotz'. So here is an extract from Beyond Shotz blog, on how the journal took its birth....

"Winter in Bangalore is always a special season. It was on such a cold winter morning in Cubbon Park that some of us associated with the contest met and discussed on "what's next?" Ideas floated around and someone popped up the idea of a photo journal. Everyone connected enthusiastically to that idea and "Beyond Shotz" was born."

Well you would definitely be interested in knowing the 'Custodians' of 'Beyond Shotz' as they like to be known as. What amazes me is the fact that each one of them come from diverse professional backgrounds & its their passion for Photography that has bonded them so much and made them come up with this amazing journal . I am very lucky indeed to be among them @ times, I have personally met 5 of 7 Custodians through blogging & blogger meetings that we have once in a while.
  1. Jayanth Sharma
  2. Dr. Kishore Murthy
  3. Nishant N
  4. Satish N
  5. Sudarshan
  6. Suyog Gaidhani
  7. Venkatesh K
I hope to meet Jayanth & Suyog sometime soon. I thank 'Beyond Shotz' team for having given me an opportunity to contribute an article on 'Bangalore' in their second issue of the journal. I feel honored to capture few shots & compile the history about my city 'Bangalore', what more could an Hardcore Bangalorean like me asked for? I wish to involve myself more with 'Beyond Shotz' and take it to the next level.

I have personally seen the time & hard work put by the 'Custodians' despite their personal commitments, they really rock!

For more information please visit the official site: BeyondShotz

Monday, February 20, 2006

Cartoons, Paintings, Freedom-of-Speech and Religion

If I support or speak about my very religion "Hinduism" openly in my own country these days, I could be very easily branded/labeled as "COMMUNAL". I am an Indian first and then practice my religion for my own spiritual growth which is personal. India has been a land where history dates back to centuries where our modern day calendar can't even correctly pre-locate our history and on this very own soil we have seen the sprouting of many religions - Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism. We never nipped any of these religions during their natal stages nor have we opposed other religions - Christianity, Islam, Zoroastrianism and Judaism. My country has always been the home for diverse set of people who happen to come from diverse religions, caste, creed and races.

Now if you are thinking why I am being so emotional, there is a reason for that. Over last week I have been following various things. The Danish cartoon controversy, M F Hussein’s paintings, Freedom-of-Speech and Celebrations @ Art of Living (AOL). That’s the title for my post "Cartoons, Paintings, Freedom-of-Speech and Religion". Let me first state how each of these subjects are associated to me and then would start ranting on them.

  • Cartoons - they are something I enjoy everyday. I believe cartoons are the best way to express your thoughts on any subject in a creative way.
  • Painting - as far painting is concerned I have been painting for years now, even though am not regular, I do indulge in it when-ever I feel like splashing some colors.
  • Freedom-of-speech, do I even need to talk about it. It shows for itself, I am able to freely express my thoughts, feelings & opinions in my own way & my government gives me that liberty and I enjoy that with certain responsibility.
  • Religion - as I have mentioned before I consider it to be something personal which helps me in my inner journey of life and also give me guidance in my dealing with the day to day nuances of life.
Here comes my rant.

Cartoons: Recently the Danish Jyllands-Posten newspaper published few cartoons which depict Prophet Muhammad in many different ways. One of my friends told me that depicting or even perceiving Prophet Muhammad in any form is not encouraged or allowed in Islam [I need to verify this information.] I don’t understand why the newspaper did so, but it wasn’t the right subject for their cartoons. After that episode there has been wide spread violent protests across the Middle-East, Pakistan, India and South-East Asia.




The catoon which was published by Jyllands-Posten

If you haven’t been following this controversy over cartoons off late then you could visit this link.

Paintings: The paintings controversy from our renowned painter “M F Hussein”. I read about MF Hussein's paintings being targeted again by some Hindu Organizations in Times of India. I gradually ignored it thinking some of these (Hindu Organizations) are just attacking him for their own cause. Off late I generally tend to ignore such news because most of religious organizations and political parties use Religion for different reasons & never for their true essence. In the span of 4 days, I came across two posts which are related to Hussein’s paintings. One post titled "Psychoanalysis of a painter - MF Hussein" from my blogger friend Vasu and then today I was just browsing few blogs and hit upon this one "TAGGED!: Of Cartoons and Paintings" from Megha. Now after seeing the paintings for the first time I am more pissed off with this FUCK’IN (Megha’s swear word) IDIOT (Vasu’s swear-word for Hussein). You can see these paintings for yourself & then decide what you would feel when something like that is said to express a person’s art. I feel these so called artists @ times use their artistic rights way too far satisfying their personal pleasures.

Following are the pictures of Hussein's Paintings




Naked Sita on the long tail of Hanuman


Woman in sexual union with an elephant



Stark naked Laxmi on the head of Ganesh

Freedom-of-Speech: After Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten published few cartoons & then removed it, several newspapers across Europe & Americas have re-published the same for showing solidarity in the name of Freedom-of-Speech. Now I don’t understand whether there was any motive behind the Western media to hurt the sentiments of Muslims, but, here we have the Indian Media which never gave much weight to this M F Hussein’ paintings altogether. Then I came across few articles last week, where people in China don’t even have the freedom I enjoy.

Here is an extract from Chicago Tribune’s Tear Down China’s ‘Great Firewall, “China makes a mockery of the Internet's promise of free-flowing information by employing an estimated 30,000 government censors to monitor more than 100 million registered Internet users among its 1.3 billion population”.

Religion: Hinduism is not a religion, but way of living itself. It is one of the oldest religions which has survived many attacks from various beliefs systems and still continues to be the cradle for vast humanity. We Hindus respect & show equality for every other religions and this could be observed from concluded 25th year celebrations of Art of Living, held @ Jakkur Airfield, Bangalore. Where people from various walks of life, sects and religions came together & celebrated the essence of Life! But then there is someone like Perspective who questions it, read her post 'Nodel ideas?' .

Let me summarize all of these, I feel artists have lot many subjects to choose from where they could use their creative juices than just linger on one subject *Religion*. Freedom-of-speech is very much enjoyed when it is natural & free flowing without any form of control. So always enjoy & express your freedom with some responsibility. For Hindus “M F Hussein’s Painting’s” hasn’t been the first such incident where our sentiments have been hurt. All I can say is we Hindus are more tolerant lot when compared to the other brethren, but it shouldn’t be taken for granted.

This reminds me of one quote from Mahatma Gandhi, “The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.”

Image Source: Wiki | Megha's Blog.

Friday, February 17, 2006

Finally I lay my hands on Panasonic FZ30


How does anyone feel when you get something you have been waiting for a long time?
Well, it tough to put such emotions in words, but all I can say is I am very excited & happy to own one of the best Point & Shoot Cameras currently available in the market. Finally, yesterday I got the camera Panasonic FZ30 from my friend Nilesh; Hey Nili, thanks a lot for getting the camera, if you wouldn't have brought it this time, then I guess I would have to wait for some more time.

From today I would be spending more time exploring & experimenting on my FZ30. Keep a watch @ my Photo blog for more pictures coming soon:)

Panasonic FZ30 Image Source: Shutterphoto.com

Friday, February 10, 2006

Thought for the day













The real art of a conversation ; is not only to say the right thing at the right moment but also to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment...........

Saturday, February 04, 2006

James Blunt: Back to Bedlam

Two great songs written & sung by James Blunt, that I listen to almost everyday.
Support the artist by buying the album.

P.S: The two songs where found using Google Search and I am not sure till when the downloads will be available. If you want to download them, then Right Click & Choose Save Link As.

Friday, February 03, 2006

Believe it or Not:'Hair is the Hat'

jamica
DARAIN HOUSEN HAS not taken off his hat for the last 20 years. He bathes, he sleeps and does everything possible in it. It is a perfect fit. But unlike other hats, his is not made of cloth but from the very hair on his head...

Source: Jamica-Star

Wednesday, February 01, 2006

Bangalore Lions 2006 PHL Champions

Bangalore Lions beat Chandigarh Dynamos by 2-1 to win this seasons PHL Championship. I really enjoyed this season's PHL, followed it very closely and quite obivously routed for the 'Lions from Bangalore'. Even though I saw only the final moments of this match, it was the last 3 mins which decided the Championship. Hari Prasad from Bangalore Lions who scored both the goals and help win the match for Lions, won the 'Lion of the day' award.

The 'Lions from Bangalore' are surely roaring in Chandigarh. It has been a great support from IHF, ESPN, Adidas, ING-Vysya, Western Union and the other sponsors who are keeping Hockey alive in this cricket crazy nation. Atleast after India's defeat in the 3rd and the final Test against Pakistan, which helped Pakistan win the Test series, I just hope people encourage & support different sports.

II Semester MBA Xams are finally done

Looks like I have started enjoying taking up exams, everytime I complete a semester it makes me feel good. This semester had some pretty interesting subjects Operations Management(OM), Human Resource Management(HRM), Financial Management(FM), Visual Basic(VB), C++ and Oracle.

Enjoyed all the management subjects OM, HRM and FM; as far as technical subjects are concerned they are boring to study & give exams [I would have prefered to have some projects instead of giving exams on the technical subjects]. FM is really challenging subject for anyone, you need to know lot of concepts, priniciples and work on historical data to give an analysis on future of a companies financial status. Last semester had Financial Accounts, had a tough time computing different things like Loss & Profits, Account Recieveables, Sales, Credits and doing the Balance Sheets. In a way I am very relieved that I won't have to prepare for any more subjects on Finance in the coming year. Operations is really interesting subject, where I got to know the concepts What exactly is OM?, Corporate Stratergy, Positional Stratergy, Challenges of an Ops Manager in the Services Industry & Manufacturing Industry, Automation of Operations, Just In Time, Learning Curves and the Various Decisions Theories. HRM was another interesting subject to learn, it covered various functions, roles & scope played by the Human Resourecs Dept. in an Organization. It was while preparing for VB, I realised that sometimes you need to *UNLEARN* few old concepts to *LEARN* new ones. I say that because VB was totally new to me and quite different from Java [the language which I currently work on] or C++ [the language which I used while I was in College]. For Oracle I had to learn/refresh few things. The preparations for this Semester wasn't that different from the last one, started off roughly 3 weeks before the exams.

All the exams went well, hope to clear all the papers;)