Design thoughts

I had often wondered about the difference between 'art ' and 'design' before coming to a design school.Now i know.Basically , from what i gather, art is for ones personal creative satisfaction and design is largely client/industry based.So does a designer sacrifice their ingenuity for the sake of being more commercialy viable?I am often haunted by this question.
I think when design proffesionals have to make a difficult choice between their own innovativeness and the clients demand, they shuld choose a kind of middle path.That is , not compromising on ones own original idea, instead being persuasive enough to talk the client into believing what we think will be best for them.This surely does not mean that we close ourselves to their suggestions and accept the fact that we might go wrong at times.
It is a complex situation that we might face in the future.We , as design students, might as well be ready for it.I do not understand the nuances of building up a successful design career., but i sure as hell will try to learn all i can about it over the four years i am here in this design institute.And i realise that solely my assigments will not help me achieve this. It has to be a lot more.......

Everything Indian...

My birthday falls on the 15th of august.Yes ,yes ...independence day.People joke about me being a great patriotic soul...not so. I don't blindly appreciate everything 'Indian'
But yes, i do believe that there are a lot of aspects of my country that i should be proud of.
I also notice that there is a growing disrespect or apathy towards everything Indian in today's youth.It is too painful to get out of bed to attend the flag hoisting ceremonies once a year on independance day, that person on the road is soooo 'not cool' coz he refuses to talk in english and sticks to Hindi ,the people who watch indian cinema and listen to Hindi music are essentially losers and who wants to work here once they graduate anyway??The west is sooo much nicer....
To be honest, these thoughts occassionally cross my mind too, and this is the most disappointing aspect of all.We, as the youth of a developing country have responsibilities on our sholuders.If nothing else we can start by being proud of who we are and respecting our 'Indianness' more.

About://. Sharing poetry//.

For all of us who write poetry, sharing them can be a tricky business.I can safely say that I would feel slightly uncomfortable putting my deepest, darkest thoughts out in the open for everyone to read and judge....Anyhow, what I am going to post now was written by me almost 6 years back.This is my first step.A more recent one shall soon follow.
Here goes:

Walking through those unknown lands,
With reminiscences inside and destiny in hands,
Going down the secret , untrod paths
No wormlike woes , just hidden laughs.

A dream of exploring nd of travel,
Hunderds of riddles and mysteries to unravel
This is what life should really be,
Music to hear and places to see.

To feel the cool breeze ruffle my hair,
To have no thoughts or things to care
To see the sun rising everyday
Brightening the roads along my way.

No one to listen to, no one to obey
Alone in the wilderness and a glorious day,
A stroll down the sandy beach, a climb up the hill
A quiet night beneath the stars ,when everything is still

And I go on down those untrod paths,
In a lonely journey that forever lasts
Delighted with the freedom that I possess,
And joy that promises never to be any less.

The "unlearning" curve....

It is surprising how much time we spend in our lives trying to unlearn what we know.....truth be said, learning takes up only a fraction of the time unlearning does.
But i've come realize that both are equally important.upto a certain point in our existence, we do things in a particular manner which we have learned ;consciously or subconciously.When,suddenly, we come across a better way to do the same thing , we are compelled to choose between the two. If most of you are like me, then you would choose to unlearn what you knew before and go in for the " bigger, better " stuff....
Easier said than done. Part of why unlearning is so hard is that it requires the person to accept that they were going wrong somewhere.Thats where the little demon called ego creeps in. Killing it requires courage and conviction, but once it is done ;the process of unlearning begins.
And only when we unlearn the old, can we learn the new....right?

Up,Up and away!!

It is said that Mauritius is the blueprint of heaven.....and when I had the experience of parasailing here, i could easily understand why.
Truth be said, i did have my doubts about the whole parasailing thing initially.I mean , being suspended in mid air some 60-100 feet above the water(yes , not even the ground) is a wee bit scary at first.There is nothing between you and an unpleasant rendezvous with the creatures of the deep sea , except a suspiciously thin rope.
As I gained height, slowly but surely my misgivings vanished into thin air(literally).
Being in the air for a good 10 minutes , I had enough time to marvel over the beauty of this place.It is difficult not to be overawed in the presence of such splendor.It was a feast for my senses....the smell of the clean air, the sound of the waves and the sight of the beaches, mountains, seas...everything put together in just the right proportion to make it the most memeorable experience of my life.
(and yes...it IS me in the pic!!!!)

Brownies!!

Yaay!! I made chocolate brownies today…all by myself(mum hovered around in the background just to make sure that I did not make a mess of her beloved kitchen).I checked the oven at least 5 times, waiting impatiently for it to get baked properly. I was amply rewarded after half an hour. The soft, moist, melt in the mouth chocolaty taste was pure bliss...mmmm… think I shall go for another bite!!(I can’t help it- I am an insatiable chocoholic….!)

Day at the Races

Crowds were milling around,there was an air of expectation and the atmosphere was akin to that of a carnival....As I sat in the governor's pavillion at the mauritius turf , I felt like I had been transported inside an old english novel...complete with exotic foodstuffs,wine, champagne and the hills serving as a backdrop to the racecourse.
I cheered a hell lot for the horses, won some races, lost most of them....but all in all enjoyed the experience very much.
(btw,a single race generates approx 10 million mauritian rupees and there are 8-10 races on a single race day.imagine all the money being used in something productive......??)

Mauritius,from what i havegathered in the 20 or so days that I have been here, is a country very much like india.....with enough indian faces to make one feel at home; but at the same time the differences (language,roads-which are amazing,weather,cleanliness,etc) do make one realise that they are not in india....and i can understand why most people here want to go back 'home' after living for a few months in this country.

a very vegetable story

I came to Mauritius on the 1st of may, a few days after my summer break commenced.Between doing other things(sleeping,eating, reading and going to the beach), I also accompanied my mom to the local vegetable and fruit market...the first thing that struck me was that the vendors marketed their goods in a different language(creole-and I did not get a word of what they were saying).The organised tables, the fully covered market with lanes for different veggies is a far cry from the vegetable markets we are used to back home in India.....it was a totally fresh experience....

and ya, one of the veggies i found amazing to look at was called 'squash' ( in English, I couldn't get the creole name...).From what I found out, it is pretty similar to the Indian pumpkin in taste....



pics of the market and the 'squash'.....

So be it. The Fates and my Hands(which seem to have a will of theri own when it comes to writing stuff..) have conspired together to make me finally sit down and write a blog...
an exercise which required me to move from the comfy couch and leave the book i was reading unfinished...a Herculean task , rest assured.

so here it is...my first post.a lot more shall follow......