Animals are beautiful people

We had been seeing a lot of his land cousin for years now and so when we saw this little guy sticking to our room door in Kamshet, we knew instantly that this was a tree frog, only seen on Discovery and Animal Planet so far. His long fingers and slender body helps climb trees. Though we have seen a few tree snakes and now we know why the snakes make it to the trees. He stuck to this pose until we had a heartul of pics.

Two cups of tea with me

Confusing the title would be, but this was what I did yesterday. Was it boredom, loneliness, saddism or narcissism I don't know. But I just felt like making two cups of tea. I placed them on the table facing each other and set my scrabble board. I played for both sides though I drank one cup at a time. Heightened maddness my alter ego screamed. But maybe I made truce with being alone.


I have been watching MTV Roadies lately and there is a question that frequently comes up in every personal interviews- "what is your biggest fear" ? Mostly people talk about heights, rejections, lies and many other stuff.For me its loneliness. And on this semester break of mine that is exactly what I am suffering rather trying to avoid.

When you are in a race it does not matter if you fall, win or lose as long as you run . But when you are unable to run and step aside and watch others , your inability at first pricks you, then mocks you and later remains like a bandaged wound. A break is the same. No more excuses to tell people for being busy. Suddenly you are reminded that you are jobless and free to relax. Though a part of me says " Why should I bother about others" ?

How would a fish feel if it sat ashore watching other fishes swim? It would die eventually, I feel the same despite immersing into all my hobbies. By the end of the day he creeps under my blanket and laughs at all my ploys that day to avoid him. He reminds me that I cant camouflage him by acting busy and he is my friend- Loneliness.

He tells me making ladoos and playing scrabble or pretending to have a cup of tea with my guardian angel wont help - he would still be with me.

When you drive with your loved ones at a high speed in life ,stop at a speed breaker and others continue oblivious to the fact you are left behind it is disheartening. But when someone tells you, you had the luxury to brake at the speed breaker while they still had to go ahead in the race it hits you hard. And it takes a lot of cognitive processing to explain to yourself that you are not supposed to get hurt at the allegations of your loved ones.For once I wish I could somehow uncomplicate my life by being apathetic or atleast be retarded to shield myself from being hurt.

I chose the speed breaker to the hairpin turns- perhaps a luxury some would say.But then would I be here with this scrabble board and two cups of tea?

Michaelangelo's David

Italy taught me to appreciate three things - sculptures, fountains and gealato and in the same order. I was in love with sculptures at every piazza from Padova to Rome throughout my stay. I would love to write about them in these series but I wanted to start with Michaelangelo's David - my favourite. This post evolved out of a recent experience. We bought and LCD TV and some guys came home for installation. While installing the TV they were looking at the artefacts displayed on the shelf above and I saw a guy freeze seeing the miniature statue of David. Obviously he thought one of us was a maverick or exhibitionist.

'Who' and I have had big arguments over displaying David at home. He seemed disappointed that I insisted to display it ( I tell him he is jealous of David) and he had no option but agree. He gets irritated when I start expressing my love for this perfect piece of art and says its just a mannequin chipped out of a piece of marble.

What many people might not know is that David is actually King David from the old testament of bible. And this sculpture depicts his preparation for a fight when he was a boy with the giant Goliath whom noone could defeat. Bible describes David to have defeated Goliath with his sling shot hence on his left shoulder you see the sling. Michaleangelo sculpted this figure between 1501-1504. The statue was installed at Palazzo Vecchio next to Donatello's statue of Judith another heroic character from the old testament. Michaleangello was just 26 years when he sculpted this master piece.

When I visited Galleria Dell Academia at Florence I was turned off by the long queue for this small gallery which was famous for this statue alone. My friends were uninterested is standing in such a long queue and said they would rather prefer seeing the replica of David at Palazzo Veccchio. The original one which was installed in 1500's was transferred to this gallery and a replica was made for public. Hence photography of the original is prohibited though I managed to have pics of both.

What fascinates me and many others would agree is the collosal size of the sculpture. David's face has a tense look , his eyes stern and confident. Some argue this pose is after the combat and a pose of victory while some others argue its his pose before the fight and hence the tense look.
When I first learned about David and Goliath as a kid from my mom who often read to us from the picture bible I had a picture of a young boy who was slim and weak. But the muscular structure of David chiseled by Michaleangelo depicts an adolescent.

Though nude a fact which many would argue is vulgar I find David a very appealing sculpture. His eyes attract me more than elsewhere. Nude statues are very common all over the world from Khajuraho to Renaissance works in Europe. But David does not strike me vulgar.

Its a depiction of elation, of pride and victory and to watch him is an experience. Maybe I am crazy and so would you be if you were there with me.

P.S - This is our 200th post and we would love to thank all our readers for their suggestions and support.

Animals are beautiful people

A white black buck spotted at IIT Madras. Black buck is an endangered species and there are around 20 of them in IIT. Mostly brown in colour with leaf like imprinted ears and curved antlers galloping gracefully evading passerbys and photographers, Black bucks are the pride of IIT's wild life. I have been trying to capture this rare one for the past 2 years. This one must be a product of some catastrpohic mutation like the white crow .WHO managed to get a few good shots recently for me. So here is the white black buck. How metaphoric!!!!