Digital Hoarders

Clutter. There’s a lot that has been said and discussed about how having too many things and  too much stuff can negatively affect your life. It crams up your abode, leaving no scope for ‘white space’. It also gives valuable insights about the person and their way of life. Why do we like collecting stuff,  sometimes even the things that we don’t need or want? Maybe it is that our possessions give us a chance to exist outside of ourselves, or maybe a chance to attach myriad meanings to things that make sense only to us.

Considering that our identities are constantly being shifted from the ‘real’ to the digital realm; observing  a person’s computer, their various external HD’s and other storage devices can give us an idea of their hoarding habits. If I take my own example, I realise that I have tons of movies on my computer that I haven’t seen, books that aren’t read and music that hasn’t been on my player even once. Still, this doesn’t stop me from downloading even more of these digital artefacts, to lovingly store till the day comes when I would be motivated enough to go through them.

Somehow, having them seems more important than experiencing them. I do watch a movie once in a while or click through an e-book at express speed on a few occasions , but the ratio of the time spent in doing that is much less in comparison to the time I spend in looking for even more stuff to download and keep.

What does this say about me and countless others? Has our practice of acquiring things seeped into our digital habits too?

Just a few thoughts that mulled around in my head when I heard a few friends talking about 1 TB hard disks running out of space and my own laptop HD graph lurking in the overfull red region.

If stones could speak, what would they say?

Ahmedabad is a strangely attractive city. I say strange because its attractions (a lot of them) aren’t what one would call beautiful in the conventional sense of the word. So, yes, I visited the darwazas of the old city and the jama masjid today. Architecturally, these sites are a delight. But more than appreciating the motifs and carvings on the walls or pillars, more than marvelling about the structural strength and the workmanship of these sites; I loved the fact that they were a part of a long and colourful history, and the contrasts that were so enthralling to observe.

The roads were teeming with people, bursting at its seams with the variety of shops, goods that ranged from handkerchiefs to antique bells, from Christmas decorations to rat traps. 

Teen darwaza and the surrounding market and its gullis are a delight for any kind of shopper, the compulsive as well as the practical one. The air is filled with smoke and intermittent honking of the horn from a consistent stream of traffic that plies through these lanes. At short, sharp intervals though, one can hear a particularly loud Gujrati lady haggling with a seller or smell soap, or ittar or maybe even fresh biscuits being baked at a corner bakery place.

The darwazas stand like proud royal guards of an era gone by, watching over a city that had slowly and steadily changed its appearance and priorities over the decades. The spirit though, seems something that has undergone very minimal change at all. The people don’t seem to run, they still seem to have time to talk to each other, or maybe even smile at an unknown stranger. The darwazas- Dilli, Prem, Daryapur, Lal and Kalupar; are places of bustling activity. 

If one was to say that a sanctuary of peace and quiet existed right in the middle of Teen darwaza, I wouldn’t really believe them.But jama masjid manages to surprise me immensely. I feel gratitude for the fact that despite being a woman, I am still allowed inside the sacred premises of this wonderful mosque. The huge empty space inside, the countless pillars, the water construct in the center, the flapping of the pigeons’ wings, the atmosphere of reverence and tranquillity, the intricate and beautifully done carvings; all contribute to making jama masjid a place that is not just a building with great architecture, but an experience that needs to be sensed.

Picture: Front facade, Dilli darwaza

Those faces

Nothing much remains anymore,

Except stray snapshots of a blur;

A silhouette of a girl at the door

A fragment of the people who were..

The miniature vessels, an endless game,

Those myriad faces with no name;

Woven into young innocent memories,

Courtyard capers and fingernails with grease.

The countless wrinkles and glassy eyes,

A cloud of dust and a gleaming road

Dissolved into The Sand that flies,

Those hands that built that abode.

A story so common yet untold,

A frame bent around a sari's fold,

It takes me back to a time so tame;

To the varied faces with no name... 

~Inspired by the short story 'The Real Durwan' -Interpreter of Maladies, Jhumpa Lahiri.

Made me think of all those people who worked around the house when I was a kid.I wonder where they are now...

Khaana Peena

The place where I go to feed the good ol' tum when hunger strikes.Though it's a lot more than just food that you can find there...The best conversations are brewed around good grub.I certainly think so:)

Design gyan..C/o DCC

We are approaching the end of a signature course here in NID called Design concepts and concerns.It has been a hectic, chaotic, enlightening and engaging experience that has left most of us thinking.The pressure of understanding a problem, coming up with an apt solution and then conveying it in the best possible manner has left most of us sleep deprived and longing for the weekend.

What follows is a list of the things that have dawned upon me in the process( a few of which need to be taken with a pinch of salt)

* Form and structure go hand in hand in making every design possible.

* Critiques are valuable.Random comments and opinions are not.

* Out of intense confusion comes curiosity, which in turn leads to clarity.

* Group work is hard.Persistence and responsibility are required at all times for the work to be cohesive and successful.

* When the mic malfunctions, it is a sign from above that you should stop talking.

* As an explanation gets verbose and lengthy, attention span decreases radically.

* Humor and interactivity go a long way in making a presentation memorable.

* Doodling in class gets one good ideas at times.

*What you know is as important as how you can communicate the same to your audience

* Taking a stand and doing self analysis is imperative, even if one's understanding of a subject is limited.One should only realize that there is more to learn.

* Sometimes good designs fail.It is possibly because it is close to impossible to impress everyone.

* Resources and experiences when shared lead to a huge database of knowledge that one can refer to

in times of need.

* Design for me , engenders an attitude to 'know more about more'

A few design gyan nuggets that I gathered in the process...wonder what more will I realize in the next 3 days.I'm curious to know...

http://www.design-concepts-and-concerns.blogspot.com/

Updates

So much has transpired in the time since I wrote my last post that I wonder where to begin.

The folks have been transferred to good old Lucknow, so last few trips to Baroda have been taking up my weekends.I took my driving test, which was a laughable farce. I just had to put the car in 1st gear and move like 10 inches and it was done.This, after my application was already signed by the RTO inspector.

Quite an anticlimax actually.I had too much preparation for the test.

College has been crazy. After 3 long weeks of singing,dancing, being yelled at and general mayhem( that we were never allowed to laugh at), we were 'welcomed to the NID family'.Suffice it to say it was a very wet and wild welcome indeed. A freshers party and a lot of friends later, I can safely say that the campus feels like home now.Classes are good and work is just the perfect amount right now.Not so much that I have to crib, or not so less that one feels useless.

I miss my friends though.Feel like going to Bombay every weekend, but something or the other crops up.But I've promised myself that I will go to my favorite city before the monsoons are over.

 Such a dear diary sort of a post. It was due I guess.

:)

Me and my friends

It feels a little empty inside. To leave behind so many people, so many memories and so many places is like letting go of a part of yourself; a part you had grown to love over a period of 4 long years.

I guess that is why so many people want a break after completing college.That lost part of you has to be replaced with something else.

I know that all of us promise to keep in touch and act as if things are going to change only slightly. But to try and console oneself with that thought is being stupid.Things will never be the same again.That is not to say that they will get worse...they'll just be different.

I hope then, today, that I can grow to love the 'difference' as much as I loved what was before.

I miss it a lot right now though.The hostel madness, the college vella-ness, the lanes of viman nagar, andhra, ccd, chicken momos, cribbing about work....and most of all the people.My friends who have become family. 

I love you all.