Mischievous Me #3

H, P and I used to be the most notorious girls in all four of the 9th standard classes. We would annoy the heck out of our teachers, unintentionally of course. There was this teacher, we will call him HP sir, who was pretty strict. Now being teacher of a few hundred female students, he was a little shy about the physical abuse on us teenage girls, which made him little more lenient than the other teachers of school.

As you know, in India, the teachers can literally hit the students (with anything within their reachable range) if they do anything out of place during the school hours. The evil teachers actually consider this their birth-right so as a student you don’t really have a choice but be extremely smart about going out of line. You just have to be sure you aren’t visible, that’s all. Now that’s how I was most of the time being one of the tallest students in class and sitting on the last bench. Many times I wished I didn’t have to but then the shorties in the class complained so being such a kindhearted person I let them sit in front. I still haven’t understood why they were the shortest possible when they were my classmates. Hmph!

In any case, so this one day, HP sir enters the class and looks around his desk. Some of the girls were having too much fun the previous class so they had thrown a bunch of rolled paper balls all over the place. He starts picking them up around his desk and there’s a silent laughter going on all over the class, mostly in the back. As if you didn’t guess that already. He realized that and stopped right away. Then he started wiping the black-board that was left unclean by the previous teacher. There was writing on all three big boards so he’s started cleaning it up with a duster from his left side and while doing that asked us about homework and what not.

Once the board was clean, he started writing the daily agenda, and while the laughter domino effect is still going on in the back of the class, I start tapping my bicycle key onto those big nail heads on the bench. The noise was amazing! :D I still hadn’t stopped laughing from the way he was picking up those paper balls and neither had H and P. While I am tapping away that key I realize that there is almost a pin drop silence in the class now. And as you know, one of the benefits of sitting on the last bench is that you aren’t visible from about 175 different degrees. HP sir screams (in Gujarati) "paachhaL koN khakhaDaave chhe?" [translation: "who’s making noise in the back?" OR "who's knocking in the rear?"]. At this, the whole class burst into tiny fits of laughter and almost 100% of the class turned their heads towards the noise. Thanks to my reflexes the tapping stopped automatically. Even HP sir couldn’t stop smirking after what he had just said. He shied away and started on with the lecture. Our inside joke was the response to his question. We said "paachhaL fari ne joi lo ne sir" [translation: ["turn around and find out for yourself sir"]. All of that class period and every single class period after that until we got out of that school after 10th standard, we laughed at that line of his and our response. Needless to say, we still do. I’m not in touch with P any more but with H, every once in a while we remember HP sir, the old school days and laugh out loud.

During my India trip two and a half years back, I visited my school and when I met HP sir he got that big smile on his face. He recognized me instantly even though it was after more than some 14 years he saw me. It was nice to see him again and felt great to find out that he remembers me as one of his smartest students but I do know from his smile that I also hold his most mischievous student title as well. :)

Earthquakes - Are you prepared?

After a 5.4 magnitude tremor shook the lands of Southern California yesterday, it's time for another reminder to self and to others around us. How well prepared are we for the next one?

http://www.ready.gov/

Some links from the Ready.gov site:

Get A Kit Checklist (PDF File)

Ready Brochure (PDF File)

Family Emergency Plan (PDF File)

Click here for information on how to get started with preparations for an emergency plan.

After Marriage...

They say people change after they get married.

Why does their behavior change towards the people they knew before marriage?

श्री शिवमहिम्नस्तोत्र

Pushpadant was a gandharvaraj and was named so because he had beautiful teeth like flower buds or pomegranate arils. He knew of a vidya that enabled him to disappear and venture around without being seen.

The king of Kaashi, Chitrarath, owned beautiful gardens in and around his palace where he had many beautiful flowers growing. To protect the gardens from thieves he had very tight security around. Over the time, the guards and the king discovered that someone was stealing their flowers without their knowledge. When the theft continued without any traces, the king increased the security in gardens and tried very hard to protect more flowers from being stolen. For a long time they couldn’t catch the culprit behind it. Finally the king asked advice of the wise Brahmins in his kingdom. After consulting the Brahmins, the king took a step that no one had imagined. The next morning the guards caught the extremely frustrated thief red-handed in the garden. It was Pushpadant. He was brought into the castle to confront the king. The king was quite upset at the burglary in his gardens and began to punish him. Pushpadant accepted the punishment and requested to the king to tell him more about how he was able to catch him. When asked by the king whether he knew what he was stepping onto in the garden at night while stealing, Pushpadant responded it was some kind of leaves. The king told him those weren’t any ordinary kind of leaves, but they were the bili (bilva patra) leaves. These were the ones that had once been used for pooja of the Shiva-linga in temple. Pushpadant realized that the reason for him forgetting his stotra mantra to become invisible was because he stepped on these bili leaves. He realized the power these leaves had when they had only touched the Shiva-linga. He understood the eternal power of Lord Shiva and instantly became his devotee. He left all his mantra vidya and decided to write this stotra we know as Shri Shivmahimna stotra.

There is no better stuti (prayer) than the Shivmahimna stotra in this world.

shri pushpadanta uvaca

mahimnah param te paramavidusho yadyasadrishi
stutirbrahmadinam api tadavasannastvayi girah
athavacyah sarvah svamatiparinamavadhi grinan
mamapyeshah stotre hara nirapavadah parikarah

atitah panthanam tava ca mahima vanmanasayor
atadvyavrittya yam cakitamabhidhatte shrutirapi
sa kasya stotavyah katividhagunah kasya vishayah
pade tvarvacine patati na manah kasya na vacah

madhusphita vacah paramam amritam nirmitavatas
tava brahman kim vag api suragurorvismayapadam
mama tvetam vanim gunakathanapunyena bhavatah
punamityarthe'smin puramathana buddhirvyavasita

tavaishvaryam yattaj jagadudayarakshapralayakrit
trayivastu vyastam tisrishu gunabhinnasu tanushu
abhavyanamasmin varada ramaniyamaramanim
vihantum vyakroshim vidadhata ihaike jadadhiyah

kimihah kimkayah sa khalu kimupayastribhuvanam
kimadharo dhata srijati kimupadana iti ca
atarkyaishvarye tvay yanavasaraduhstho hatadhiyah
kutarko'yam kamshcin mukharayati mohaya jagatah

ajanmano lokah kimavayavavanto'pi jagatam
adhishthataram kim bhavavidhiranadritya bhavati
anisho va kuryad bhuvanajanane kah parikaro
yato mandastvam praty- amaravara samsherata ime

trayi sankhyam yogah pashupatimatam vaishnavamiti
prabhinne prasthane paramidamadah pathyamiti ca
rucinam vaicitryad rijukutilananapathajusham
nrinameko gamyas- tvamasi payasamarnava iva

mahokshah khatvangam parashurajinam bhasma phaninah
kapalam cetiyat tava varada tantropakaranam
surastam tamriddhim dadhati tu bhavadbhrupranihitam
na hi svatmaramam vishayamrigatrishna bhramayati

druvam kashcit sarvam sakalamaparastvadhruvamidam
paro dhrauvyadhrauvye jagati gadati vyastavishaye
samaste'pyetasmin puramathana tairvismita iva
stuvañjihremi tvam na khalu nanu dhrishta mukharata

tavaishvaryam yatnad yadupari viriñcirhariradhah
paricchettum yatav analamanalaskandhavapushah
tato bhaktishraddha bharagurugrinadbhyam girisha yat
svayam tasthe tabhyam tava kimanuvrittirna phalati

ayatnadapadya tribhuvanamavairavyatikaram
dashasyo yadbahun abhrita ranakanduparavashan
shirahpadmashreni racitacaranambhoruhabaleh
sthirayastvadbhaktes tripurahara visphurjitamidam

amushya tvatseva samadhigatasaram bhujavanam
balatkailase'pi tvadadhivasatau vikramayatah
alabhya patale 'pyalasacalitangushthashirasi
pratishtha tvayyasid dhruvamupacito muhyati khalah

yadriddhim sutramno varada paramoccairapi satim-
adhashcakre banah parijanavidheyatribhuvanah
na taccitram tasmin varivasitari tvaccaranayor
na kasya unnatyai bhavati shirasastvayyavanatih

akandabrahmanda kshayacakitadevasurakripa
vidheyasyasidyas trinayana visham samhritavatah
sa kalmashah kanthe tava na kurute na shriyamaho
vikaro'pi shlaghyo bhuvanabhayabhangavyasaninah

asiddhartha naiva kvacidapi sadevasuranare
nivartante nityam jagati jayino yasya vishikhah
sa pashyannisha tvam itarasurasadharanamabhut
smarah smartavyatma na hi vashishu pathyah paribhavah

mahi padaghatad vrajati sahasa samshayapadam
padam vishnorbhramyad bhujaparigharugnagrahaganam
muhurdyaurdausthyam yat- yanibhritajatataditatata
jagadrakshayai tvam natasi nanu vamaiva vibhuta

viyadvyapi tara ganagunita phenodgamarucih
pravaho varam yah prishatalaghudrishtah shirasi te
jagaddvipakaram jaladhivalayam tena kritami-
tyanenaivonneyam dhritamahima divyam tava vapuh

rathah kshoni yanta shatadhritiragendro dhanuratho
rathange candrarkau rathacaranapanih shara iti
didhakshoste ko'yam tripuratrinamadambaravidhir
vidheyaih kridantyo na khalu paratantrah prabhudhiyah

hariste sahasram kamalabalimadhaya padayor
yadekone tasmin nijamudaharannetrakamalam
gato bhaktyudrekah parinatimasau cakravapusha
trayanam rakshayai tripurahara jagarti jagatam

kratau supte jagrat tvamasi phalayoge kratumatam
kva karma pradhvastam phalati purusharadhanamrite
atastvam samprekshya kratushu phaladanapratibhuvam
shrutau shraddham baddhva dridhaparikarah karmasu janah

kriyadaksho dakshah kratupatiradhishastanubhritam
rishinamartvijyam sharanada sadasyah suraganah
kratubhramshastvattah kratuphalavidhanavyasanino
dhruvam kartuh shraddha vidhuramabhicaraya hi makhah

prajanatham natha prasabhamabhikam svam duhitaram
gatam rohidbhutam riramayishumrishyasya vapusha
dhanushpaneryatam divamapi sapatrakritamamum
trasantam te'dyapi tyajati na mrigavyadharabhasah

svalavanyashamsa dhritadhanushamahnaya trinavat
purah plushtam drishtva puramathana pushpayudhamapi
yadi strainam devi yamanirata dehardhaghatana
davaiti tvamaddha bata varada mugdha yuvatayah

shmashaneshvakrida smarahara pishacah sahacarash
citabhasmalepah sragapi nrikarotiparikarah
amangalyam shilam tava bhavatu namaivamakhilam
tathapi smartrinam varada paramam mangalamasi

manah pratyakcitte savidhamavadhayattamarutah
prahrishyadromanah pramadasalilotsangitadrisah
yadalokyahladam hrada iva nimajjyamritamaye
dadhatyantastattvam kimapi yaminastat kila bhavan

tvamarkastvam somas tvamasi pavanastvam hutavahas
tvamapastvam vyoma tvamu dharaniratma tvamiti ca
paricchinnamevam tvayi parinata bibhratu giram
na vidmastattattvam vayamiha tu yattvam na bhavasi

trayim tisro vrittis tribhuvanamatho trinapi sura
nakaradyairvarnais tribhirabhidadhattirnavikriti
turiyam te dhama dhvanibhiravarundhanamanubhih
samastam vyastam tvam sharanada grinatyomiti padam

bhavah sharvo rudrah pashupatirathograh sahamahan-
statha bhimeshanav iti yadabhidhanashtakamidam
amushminpratyekam pravicarati deva shrutirapi
priyayasmai dhamne pravihitanamasyo'smi bhavate

namo nedishthaya priyadava davishthaya ca namo
namah kshodishthaya smarahara mahishthaya ca namah
namo varshishthaya trinayana yavishthaya ca namo
namah sarvasmai te tadidamitisarvaya ca namah

bahalarajase vishvotpattau bhavaya namo namah
prabalatamase tatsamhare haraya namo namah
janasukhakrite sattvodriktau mridaya namo namah
pramahasi pade nistraigunye shivaya namo namah

krishaparinati cetah kleshavashyam kva cedam
kva ca tava gunasimol langhini shashvadriddhih
iti cakitamamandi kritya mam bhaktiradhad
varada caranayoste vakyapushpopaharam

asitagirisamam syat kajjalam sindhupatre
surataruvarashakha lekhani patramurvi
likhati yadi grihitva sharada sarvakalam
tadapi tava gunanam isha param na yati

asurasuramunindrair arcitasyendumauler
grathitagunamahimno nirgunasyeshvarasya
sakalaganavarishthah pushpadantabhidhano
ruciramalaghuvrittaih stotrametaccakara

aharaharanavadyam dhurjateh stotrametat
pathati paramabhaktya shuddhacittah pumanyah
sa bhavati shivaloke rudratulyastatha'tra
pracurataradhanayuh putravankirtimanshca

maheshannaparo devo mahimno napara stutih
aghorannaparo mantro nasti tattvam guroh param

diksha danam tapastirtham yogayagadikah kriyah
mahimnah stavapathasya kalam narhanti shodashim

kusumadashananama sarvagandharvarajah
shishushashadharamauler devadavasya dasah
sa khalu nijamahimno bhrashta evasya roshat
stavanamidamakarshid divyadivyam mahimnah

suravaramunipujyam sarvagamokshaikahetum
pathati yadi manushyah prañjalirnanyacetah
vrajati shivasamipam kinnaraih stuyamanah
stavanamidamamogham pushpadantapranitam

asamaptamidam stotram punyam gandharvabhashitam
anaupamyam manohari shivamishvaravarnanam

ityesha vanmayi puja shrimacchankarapadayoh
arpita tena deveshah priyatam me sadashivah

tava tattwamna janami kidrishosi maheshwara
yadrishosi mahadeva tadrishaya namo namah

kakalam dvikalamva trikalam yah pathennarah
sarvapapa vinirmuktah shiva loke mahiyate

shripushpadantamukhapankajanirgatena
stotrena kilbishaharena harapriyena
kanthasthitena pathitena samahitena
suprinito bhavati bhutapatirmaheshah

Source: http://www.shivabeads.co.uk/SHIVA%20MAHIMNAH%20STOTRAM.htm

Translation of the stotra
Stotra in Sanskrit
Stotra in Gujarati

Elephanta Caves, Mumbai

During my last India trip, I got a chance to visit the Elephanta caves. Elephanta caves are located on Elephanta island off the coast of Mumbai.

We started out from home around 9:30 and got to Gateway of India around 10:15. The drive down towards Colaba was quite nice and with practically no traffic. I got to see so many interesting buildings, many skyscrapers, business offices, the Haji Ali sandwich place (this place makes some fantastic sandwiches) and of course the dargah itself.



The thing I really enjoy about India is the statues we have in several places in our cities throughout the country. I don't get to see those here in the US. The first one I got to see was Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri statue with the famous 'Jai Jawan Jai Kisan' slogan.



We got a nice parking spot right away, and everyone took their belongings and hats/glasses for the rest of the sunny day. There's a little walk from the parking area to the Gateway of India where the ferryboats depart from. On the way, got to see this restaurant owned by none other than Sachin Tendulkar.



Near the Gateway of India, got to see two more statues. One of Swami Vivekanand and the other one of Chhatrapati Shivaji.





After getting the tickets for the ferry boat ride at the stall near Gateway of India, we boarded the boat right away around 10:30ish. It wasn't as much crowded for a Sunday morning.



The ferry boat ride from dock to dock is about 45 mins. The weather was quite wonderful and breezy on that warm day with clear skies so I had fun taking some great photos.



On the way, got to see some naval stations or something similar in the bay and countless boats and a few cargo ships.



We arrived on the Elephanta island around 11:30. There's a nice little walkway from the docks to the park entrance.



They also have a cute little train that brings people up to the park entrance, in case the visitors don't want to walk. We decided to walk as there was so much to see around and stop and take photos, of course!



We got to see some beautiful birds, trees growing in the sea water, quite a few fruit stalls, a lot of boats and many other things along with excited visitors.







From the park entrance, there's wide stone stairs that lead up to the caves. The climb isn't very bad but it's easier if you don't have too many things to carry. The stall owners have the stairs covered with plastic canopy so it's cooler during hot weather. As you climb up, you see lots of souvenir stalls and food/drink stalls along with monkeys and other life that go around the island for survival.







Once we finish climbing the stairs, we come to an open area where they have a small museum with quite a lot of good information about the history of the caves and some sculptures.



A little further from the museum, there's a nice gazebo like place where people sit and relax or have a picnic at.



From here on, the extra-wide stone/concrete walkway begins that leads to the caves. It is beautiful as on one side of the walkway there are the caves and on the other side, there's either hills covered with green trees/plants or just an open view of the island down below or the sea.





The first couple of caves are large and the others are little smaller in size.





All of them are carved from rocks/stone and have stone-carved sculptures and Shiv-linga in them.





The concrete walkway ends when the caves end; from there on it is a dirt trail that leads up to the tallest hill called the Cannon Hill.



At some point this used to be home to a real cannon (which is still there) and the other remains of the buildings that probably were used by military back in the days. There's a nice shaded food stall on the way to the top that also sells cold drinks and fruits and other food. It was quite crowded.



The climbing down was quite easy and fast. At around 4:45 PM we decided to head back to the little train station that takes us to docks. The first train we saw was too crowded so we ended up taking the next one and boarded the 5:30 PM boat back to Mumbai.



Got to see beautiful setting sun while riding back to the mainland.



This is a must visit place if you already haven't been there before. I'd love to go back there again.

For more photos in the series, click here.

Some photos of Mumbai at night.

Urv's Elephanta photos are here.

Good tourist info on this site: http://wikitravel.org/en/Elephanta_Caves

Full Moon

Shot these last week with the full moon of Guru Poornima around the corner.

Didn't have the tripod with me so quite a few have turned out blurry but here are the better ones.

This was taken a couple of days before the full moon.



Moonrise over the lake



Bright moon rises on the full moon night.



More photos of full moon

Life is too precious

He was 21 years old. He was young and full of enthusiasm for everything in life. He was very handsome looking. When I met him for the first time as a grown up, after almost two decades, he asked me about how America was. It seemed like he would have loved to come to America some day. We talked for about two hours that night after bhajans, just me and him. He was curious and he had a smile that would make anyone smile and had energy of a toddler. I saw him cry a few tears too when we lost our uncle.

Today, he's gone. He committed suicide yesterday because he was tired of living. He kept saying he wanted to die since a few days. He was in love with someone that he thought his parents would not approve of.

I just sit here and wonder... why? Why him? Why didn't anyone stop him when he kept saying such things? Such a disappointment. Such a sad incident. Then I realize, it is people around who are responsible for not stopping him, for not making him feel comfortable enough for him to share his emotions before he felt so much pressure he couldn't handle it himself. Why do such things happen? Can't we try just a little more to make kids around us realize that in life, there's nothing so bad that you have to do something so horrible to yourself. Suicide is NOT the answer.

As I type this, I remembered two other incidents where young boys who were in love committed suicide for the same reason - stubborn parents I wish parents taught their children the value of life; that suicide is for cowards. I know these are difficult topics to discuss with younger generation but at the same time, they need to realize that no matter what they do (be it falling in love with any random girl) there is no one who can stop them from loving that person. I realize that people act weird when in love, but at the same time why is it that they feel so helpless that they have to retort to such things?

People need to realize that there is help out there. If you can not talk to your parents, there are others who can help you. You can find a helper in your friends, your neighbors, at your school, at your college. In the US, there are organizations that specialize in such things; at the universities there are free counseling services that help you in anything and everything you’re having a hard time about. Seek help there, if not at home. But for heaven’s sake don’t ever think of killing yourself. You’re not worth it. If you’re getting such thoughts, go talk to someone, let it all out. There is a solution to every problem that you face in life. Suicide is not one of them. God, please help those who are in need.

May his soul rest in peace.

Om Shanti.

Sorry? Eacjactly!

Sometimes some movies we watch have a long lasting effect on us. Like some scenes or dialog just stay with us, become part of our lives. Salaam Namaste was one of them that did it to V so all of the 4th of July weekend, we were doing this dialog-baazi with each other every time we got a chance.

Would you like to watch the clip of that dialog? You're to say:

Sawrrie?

Eagjactly!


Javed Jaffery aka Crocodile Dundee

Another funny one-liner from the same movie is "ghosts of kicks don't listen to talks" meaning "laaton ke bhoot baaton se nahin maante". We tried searching for more clips on youtube to listen to Crocodile Dundee's crazy translated English but couldn't find them. I can't wait to watch the movie again now.

Why do we fast?

That's the question I had asked Papu a long ago. I had gotten quite a satisfactory answer for myself and that's why I believed in it. After I found out that "jaya parvati vrat" is going on right now and today is Guru Purnima, I asked him again to remind myself of the answer. He said that fasting is done with the desire for a sacrifice or letting go of something. Something that we think we need on daily basis, but here we will make a compromise with ourselves and hopefully that will eventually lead us to achieve higher self-control.

Over the years I have realized that the fasting that results in more craving for our favorite kind of foods is not worth it. You'd rather not fast at all. It is when we are able to decide by choice that even though I can eat this, I choose not to eat it, it's truly worth it. That too shouldn't lead to any regrets or unhappiness of any kind. Sometimes I feel that us Gujaratis fast only to eat. There are so many items that one can eat while fasting it seems that people who fast actually end up eating more than when they aren't fasting. I am totally against that idea. Fasting is to reduce the intake of food, so that there is no distraction of having a full stomach and sleepiness, which eventually leads to clearer thinking and better concentration on things that matter to us - our reasons for fasting.

Taking a little detour from the topic of post here.

He also told me that it is not good to have conditions with God. e.g. manyta or manta, badha, (in Gujarati) etc. that people keep for themselves or others. If something they wish will happen, then they will do this for their God. That is not unconditional devotion. Of course, then like Kashmira asked, the question would be, why people do it? Human mind is a very strong thing. It can make things happen the way we wish and when we concentrate on something so hard and wish for it, doing something conditional for it only helps our minds feel more confident about achieving that goal. That's how these things work. Many a times, it happens so that our wish doesn't get fulfilled, in that case too our faith/belief just gets stronger that eventually we will be able to reach our goals, only that next time we need to try harder. At the end of the day, it is about faith, how much do we believe in it. And people believe in things for many personal reasons. Faith makes people do weird things too. I remember talking to KB about it a couple of days back. She said in India there are ladies who'd actually roam around wearing a white saari because somebody they liked a lot died in a serial(soap opera) that they watch daily. But is it worth it? I don't know that, but what I do know and believe is that it's not worth playing that kind of a game with God. In life, we get what we deserve and if we got something forcefully then it's possible we might not be able to live with that fact or even worse, we won't have that thing for too long. Our deeds (karma) are like a big pot of grains with that has a faucet-like opening at the bottom. What you put in on top over the time (including past births) eventually comes out at the bottom. That's why we sometimes see a good person who's never done anything bad to anyone also going through hardships and bad people having so much good in life. At least this is the belief I live by. What goes around, comes around.

There is a story of King Dhritarashtra. After the Mahabharat War was over, he once asked Shri Krishna: "You can see beyond this life, then tell me what is it that I did in the past that I am born blind in this birth and even though I had a hundred sons, they all have died?" He got to see his past births with the help of "divya-chakshu" and some 50 births back, he saw that he was a hunter and once he threw a burning net over some pigeons in a forest. A hundred of them died in that fire and this was the reason he had to suffer the pain of losing his hundred sons. He threw the burning net, so that act resulted in him being blind. His next question was, why did it take so long for him to actually experience the result of such a horrible act? The answer he got was because first of all, in order to experience the pain of losing a hundred sons, he’d have to earn the good karma to deserve a hundred sons. He did more good than he actually needed so he also ended up becoming a king along with having that many children.

Papu says this often: (he read it somewhere, but I can’t recall where) sut vitt deh daaraa yash apyash vidhi haath.

sut = son/children
vitt = money
deh = body
daaraa = wife/spouse
yash = fame
apyash = defame
vidhi = fate
haath = hands

It means how your children will turn out, the amount of money you will get, the kind of body you will have, the kind of wife/spouse you will have, and any fame or defame you will get in this birth are all decided by your fate for you.

Defenestration Building

If you're driving around in San Francisco you might come across this odd looking abandoned building with furniture hanging out of its open windows and walls. It is located at the intersection of Howard St and Sixth St. It's called the defenestration building. It was created in 1997 by Brain Goggin and a team of artists (read below for more info).




Eastern side of the building



Northern side of the building



Here I quote the passage from http://www.defenestration.org/press.html

DEFENESTRATION
1997-present

(Site-specific installation on the corner of 6th and Howard St. in San Francisco)

This multi-disciplinary sculptural mural involves seemingly animated furniture; tables, chairs, lamps, grandfather clocks, a refrigerator, and couches, their bodies bent like centipedes, fastened to the walls and window-sills, their insect-like legs seeming to grasp the surfaces. Against society's expectations, these everyday objects flood out of windows like escapees, out onto available ledges, up and down the walls, onto the fire escapes and off the roof. "DEFENESTRATION" was created with the help of over 100 volunteers.

The concept of "DEFENESTRATION", a word literally meaning "to throw out of a window," is embodied by the both the site and staging of this installation. Located at the corner of Sixth and Howard Streets in San Francisco in an abandoned four-story tenement building, the site is part of a neighborhood that historically has faced economic challenge and has often endured the stigma of skid row status. Reflecting the harsh experience of many members of the community, the furniture is also of the streets, cast-off and unappreciated. The simple, unpretentious beauty and humanity of these downtrodden objects is reawakened through the action of the piece. The act of "throwing out" becomes an uplifting gesture of release, inviting reflection on the spirit of the people we live with, the objects we encounter, and the places in which we live.

More defenestration photos

Flickr defenestration photos

Location of the building:

View Larger Map

One Year, Eleven Months, Two Weeks and Counting...

Today, I read the story about how Kashmira became friends with blogger in the first place and Shub celebrating her four year anniversary with hers. It was quite interesting to read her story. Over the past few months, I have come to know that people who are passionate about life and everything it has to offer seek for a way to release that energy some how and blogging allows just that and much much more... also there are the seekers of information, knowledge, truth, answers, questions and the like and they are out there with their magnifying-glass-like energies. Then the rest of them who are completely indifferent towards blogging or just don't have enough time for it, which is fine too. And then the ones, who don't even know what blogging is.

For me, it started in Aug 2006 with Yahoo! 360. I stayed on there for about a year before moving on to blogger. That was also similar journey: I kept reading around at quite a lot of places before creating my first few posts, which were, surprisingly enough, all poetry. I had wanted to make it just a poetry blog; just the thought of it makes me go *chuckle* now. I had just taken up poetry writing after JD convinced me that I too can write. For the longest time, I kept on thinking... what? me? and poetry? and I still do. Typing this today feels so silly because my so-called-poetry-writings are far from poetry; they're more of an attempt to pen down my suffering thoughts into rhyming words, or sometimes just put them all down like I used to brain-storm in my technical writing class, an outlet to my feelings like many of my other posts.

Now blogging continues for the same reasons and many more to keep the journey of this life more engaging, and may be make it better by seeking within and out there, or just get a different opinion on things that matter. Hopefully, one of the destinations will be to discover self among all the others. Like Geet of JWM would say: lagta hai funda zara zyada ho gaya. :P

Btw, the title of this blog was born in summer of year 2000, when I got inspired by a similar sign posted outside a coworker's office.

Now over to you...

Free bug finding for Google

Just something that caught my attention: Google's Orkut allows you to choose whether you want to display your gender on your profile or not, but the new feature of tagging photos just compromised this feature as the new link to person tagged photos gets displayed as "photos of him" or "photos of her". How interesting! ;-)

Palace of Fine Arts

Palace of Fine Arts - a must visit place if you're visiting San Francisco. It was built more than some 90 years.

The aura of the place is very attractive. It's fun to just sit and relax on one of those benches on the side of the lagoon. It's serene.


While walking around the lagoon you almost always can encounter some birds around. The ducks, sea-gulls and pigeons are quite common ones.


These swans have almost made a permanent home at this place.


When I visited the place last year, I actually took time to see the artwork in more details as the company I was with had quite a lot of insight to share with me. That made it a fabulous visit. For example, these ones I found out were actually women and not men like I had first understood them to be. :P ok ok fine, I just thought that no shirt meant they were men, but sadly enough, when it comes to understanding art, the general principles don't always work. It turns out they are women and this you can tell from the way their bodies are sculpted in that stone.


More artwork on these extra large pillars around the main dome.

Tiny sloped hills covered with lawn surround the walk way around the lake.


The lagoon and surrounding pillars.


I think this would be one of the first places I'd shoot when I buy my first wide angle camera lens for better quality photos than this.


The palace at night. The lighting makes it look just out of the world. You gotta look at it in person to feel it.


And by the way, it is one of those special places in San Francisco where newly weds go to get their professional photos taken with beautiful studio-like backgrounds such as this one.


Click here for more photos of Palace of Fine Arts.

Simplicity of Men vs Complexity of Women

Forwarded by Blossom aunty this morning:


HER DIARY

.

.

.

.

.

Day night, I thought he was acting weird.. We had made plans to meet at a cafe to have some coffee. I was shopping with my friends all day long, solely thought he was upset at the fact that I was a bit late, but he made no comment. Conversation wasn't flowing so I suggested that we go somewhere quiet so we could talk, he agreed but >he kept quiet and absent. I asked him what was wrong - he said,

"Nothing."I asked him if it was my fault that he was upset. He said it had nothing to do with me and not to worry.

On the way home I told him that I loved him, he simply smiled and kept driving. I can't explain his behavior; I don't know why he didn't say, "I love u, too."

When we got home I felt as if I had lost him, as if he wanted nothing to do with me anymore. He just sat there and watched TV.; he seemed distant and absent. Finally I decided to go to bed. About 10 minutes later he came to bed. I decided that I could not take it anymore, so I decided to confront him with the situation but he had fallen asleep.

I started crying and cried until I too fell asleep. I don't know what to do.. I'm almost sure that his thoughts are with someone else.

My life is gonna be a disaster.





HIS DIARY

.

.

.

.

.


Today India lost the cricket match against Bangladesh.

DAMN IT!!!

.

.

.

.



Is that why women get lesser heart-attacks? :P