Bakthi

Yakshagana has influenced me greatly during my childhood. My cousins and I have spent entire night watching different stories from Indian mythology enacted in this folk art form. While the story and the performance enthralled us, I was particularly interested in the costume. How each character had their own identity and how the costume helped define that. So to paint a Yakshagana character was always in my mind.

I started looking at different pictures to choose a character from Indian mythology and Hanuman was the most appealing with a green face, golden crown decorated with pearl. So picking the subject was not difficult at all.

On the first day, I was surprised how quickly I completed the face.  

But then a second day that attempted the crown failed miserably. I simply did not want to continue. My Guru always told me that no matter what I paint, I must always add something creative and unique from my end. And with this painting, I had no other choice than making Hanuman of a yakshagana look like how he does. Cornering myself to a dead end, the painting stood still for almost 3 months with nowhere to go.

My first thought was to add a story. Include Sita in Ashoka Vatika in one side and Rama on the other side. But space was a constraint. So with no motivation to proceed, the painting waited there on my easel for the moment to arrive.

And the moment arrived with my friends, Aditya and Parag. At my place, when we were discussing the painting, Parag mistook the yellow patch made for crown to be feathers. While recollecting a joke, he made a very funny comment. After they left, as I watched the painting, Parag's subtle humour hit me and I decided to replace the crown with  feathers. 

Not only because it was different from the costume, but for the fact that it would better define the character. Feathers made him appear more part of the forest; made him look more vibrant and lively and allowed me to present him more as a human than an ape.

And the expression conveys his most distinctive characteristic - Bakthi, meaning devotion; Devotion towards Lord Rama.

April-Avril!

Exams and more exams filled up this month as we ended another level of French studies. I must admit that this had been one of the best levels in terms of structuring our language skills. Thanks to our brilliant professor who took special interest and went out of the way to teach and correct us. Several written tests and a viva with a french national boosted our interest and confidence in the course.

On one of the Fridays, some of us from the class met at a restaurant called Opus for a music concert by a french group called "Issac Delusion". It had free entry for students. We had a great time chatting and listening to music.

Something very unique about our team in office is that we are a bunch of guys who have been together since almost 8 years, most of us are of same age group and with similar hobbies. Believe me, its a rare communion to find. So, then years passed and we got busy with our personal lives, went out of city to a new office location that had limited options for a hangout. So after a long time, we all decided to finally have a get-together outside of office. We went to hotel UB near our old office at the city. It was great discussing everything under the roof over a drink. This has triggered interest in having similar get togethers out of work, like the good old days. Something I find nice about friendships that have lasted long, is that you just don't need to be conscious of yourself. We know each other so well that it really does not matter what we say or do.

I also enjoy the company of new friends, like the one's i made in french class and with those whom i collaborate for art work. A new generation that understands impulsiveness, accepts unpredictability, who enjoy lazy sunday afternoons with beer and friends to talk n'importe quoi! An evening could simply pass by hanging out at a Friend's place, speaking about art, movies and world in general and make impulsive decision to explore the food street; basically flow with the stream of consciousness.

Towards the end of the month, I traveled to Surathkal to attend my cousins wedding. The weather there is bad, very humid and hot. I could not overstay! But its always nice to catch up with cousins whom you have not met for a long time.

Sometimes, days can be simply beautiful with a ride somewhere far without a destination in mind or trying something new for the first time. It's only that many choose to burden themselves with thoughts of future that they can only imagine. Planning a future does not mean one would have it, isn't it? So do the undone, explore the unknown. Like the quote in the movie "The beach" can better explain - 

"For mine is a generation that circles the globe and searches for something we haven't tried before. So never refuse an invitation, never resist the unfamiliar, never fail to be polite and never outstay the welcome. Just keep your mind open and suck in the experience. And if it hurts, you know what? It's probably worth it."

MM Hills

During my previous trip to Chamarajanagar I had missed out on going to MM Hills. Hence when there was a day off for Easter (March 31^st) Preethi and I left Bangalore at around 6:30AM. After a small squabble with some boy cutting my way at a petrol bunk, we drove directly to MM Hills. As always I enjoyed the drive on Kanakapura road. We stopped for some tea and bun for breakfast as we did not find any good restaurant. But as the day turned noon, the temperature augmented and it was impossible to drive without AC. April is the worst time to drive around Bangalore not only because of the weather but the view as well which was mostly dry as if burnt. Everything looked sad and ruined with trees without leaves; the one’s remaining had turned brown, ready to crumble. 

But even in this hot summer, there are some trees that blossom, specially my favorite tree of all – The golden shower tree (Cassia fistula). The yellow flowers showered down from every branch. It looked lovely. Last year I planted 4 of these trees in the front yard of my Surathkal house. I can’t wait for them to blossom.

After a nice ride around the hill and few hair pin bends we reached the temple at around 11:00 AM. I bet the drive would be much more beautiful during or after rain. The temple was crowded. We followed a descent queue and had Darshan.  

We had lunch at a small restaurant nearby. The food was pathetic but we had no options. Nagamale was next on my agenda but the villagers told me that I could not drive up there and it was a trek that had to be started in the morning and would be difficult under hot sun. So, tired that I already was, we decided to return. 

On the way we stopped at Sangama. Two rivers meet here but during this time, there were pockets of water collected between 3 rocks and in those pockets where several Bangaloreans bathing. It was not a pleasant sight so we returned immediately.  

This was one of the tips I did not enjoy much at all. I think it had to do mostly with the weather. It was extremely hot, trees were dry and everything looked burnt.  

A Very Creative Month!

The month of March and April was filled with events at French class. It was the month of Francophone festival. 

On March 23rd, we had the "Le defile"….We had to dress up as famous French people, characters or products. Our class choose to do "The universe of Tintin". It was amazing how we all co-ordinated on Skype and prepared for this event. Divya and Sangeetha arranged the moustache and beard for the characters. I was Tintin, so I had to go buy a blue sweater and some gel to get the spikes. The thought of dying my hair also crossed my mind. :-)

The show was a hit. We rocked and it was fun to stand up in front of such a crowd and speak. I had never done this earlier with so much confidence. So I am finally overcoming my stage fear too.  People in AFB now know me as Tintin. 

After the Defile, we had the harlem shake. It was fun to dance crazily. 

The next day we played "Le ralley". Its a loose take on "Amazing race". where you are provided clues for 8 different places and you have to identify them, ride around the city to get there and collect necessary informations and return. We enjoyed this a lot. Karthik, Manooshi, Sangeetha and me formed a group and we very well managed to complete all the places which involved a cathedral, airfrance office, a bakery, a french restaurant, UB city, The french embassy and Renault showroom. We came third. It was great fun!

And then there was this video contest. I had not thought of participating but when my friend, Sush showed me a video shot in Jerusalem with a guy walking backwards from the camera, dismantling stuff and causing destruction which was then reversed, so it appeared as though he was walking towards the camera and creating stuff instead of dismantling them, i knew what i wanted to shoot. I liked the concept. I quickly wrote the story and requested my friends to act. They are a gem. They were so excited about it that it made more than half of my work easy. They were so enthusiastic about the whole thing that they rehearsed as many times as I requested and tried to improvise every time. Our professor too agreed to act and she was so very natural and gave her best shot in just one take after a rehearsal. She is brilliant in the film. Three cheers to all the actors in the film!

I love how we practiced several times, how during a supposed to be final take, how Manooshi and Divya were given a wrong cup which they could not drop with a light accidental touch, how sangeetha, after her shot came to observe the later part but was caught on camera frame; how many times Karthik washed his face, how we convinced the cafe boys to act and finally they were replaced by Anupam who was so enthusiastic about the film and how people watched us and laughed thinking we were crazy; and how many times Rohan fell from the chair during rehearsals. Finally it all turned out to be a beautiful piece of work, which would not have been possible without a very talented ensemble.

I won first prize for my film. :-)

Here it is! My first film!

Le Cachet (A Message) from Ajeya Rao on Vimeo.

So mostly during the weekends, I am leaving in Alliance francaise de bangalore. :-)  

One evening, Preethi and I enjoyed a musical concert there by a group from Reunion islands. They were simply awesome and played several interesting instruments that I had never seen before. 

The rest of April was filled with exams, sometimes it was exhausting but it was always fun to study together and more importantly be part of something interesting together.

Jusqu'à maintenant (Until now)

The month of February was loaded. Several things kept me busy. My garden bloomed with some interesting flowers, I did a off-season repotting.  And the best was this beautiful red carnation.

On Feb13th I traveled to Mangalore for my cousin's wedding. I enjoyed clicking pictures at the wedding and I think i did a good job :-) I love how with camera, one can observe the moments that just last for less than a second and allows you to notice the beauty in the trivial.

While in Mangalore, me and my sister Akki got to meet after a long time, after almost an year. We had a galla time during the two days that we were there. And oh ya, i got my UID done there which was a easy job in a smaller town with contacts than in a crowded city full of strangers.

And the peacocks come to my house looking for greenery. 

Back in class, I started my B1P2 classes. Lot of studies as french gets beyond simple grammar lessons and baby talks to framing sensible sentences. :-)

Through Couchsurfing website, I met few foreigners. My first ever couch surfing friend whom I have not known earlier is Omar. He is an artitst from Berlin. He was traveling in India for a few weeks with his friend Michael. I met them one evening for about an hour at MG Road. I had a good time discussing various topics - Omar and my art, Why Michael loves India, Michael serving army in israel, Bangalore life, Apple products (as Michael is in tech support for apple products) and so on. It was a good exchange of opinions and knowledge.

My next couch surfing friend is Romain from France. Even though i don't speak excellent french, I insisted that we speak only in french. I think i did good.  :-) After lunch we went to Alliance where we met my classmates and we all had good time speaking in french to Romain. 

Another french connection was our volunteers meet. During the year end fest at Alliance, me and some of my friends had volunteered for the arrangement. Thanking us, the directors of alliance treated us for dinner @ chez jacques....it was a nice time talking about france, india, bangalore and alliance. 

Two artists from France visited Bangalore to display this beautiful work of art, music and creativity. Using a backdrop of a cathedral, designing the work specially for this architecture, they mesmerised the audience with visual graphics and music. (@ st, francis xavier cathedral)

Photowalk - Lalbagh

After a long time, another photo walk. This time to Lalbagh with two other friends from office - Shank and Prince at early hour of dawn. 

The remains from the recent republic day flower show made a beautiful subject.

And then came out the sun, with its rays glowing the leaves.

And then from a small hill, the city appeared to reach the sky.

The statues looked bored.

But always the best is a surprise. After a good breakfast at MTR hotel, we walked back to Lalbagh west gate, where we opted a alley and look what we found! A wall being painted. The background became a good background for several portraits as well.

Some days are simply not ordinary!

Devanahalli Fort & Nandi Hills

When my parents visited us in Jan, we tried different hotels like MTR, Ramana’s and Food Street. We watched a nice Kannada play called- Opera House. On a Sunday afternoon we drove to Devanahalli fort. The fort is surrounding the village.

Venugopalswamy temple is situated in middle of the fort.

We then drove to Boganandishwara temple. The temple architecture is beautiful.

The grapes in Devanahalli had matured and villagers sat by the road selling grapes. 

Nandi hills were filled with Bangaloreans. We walked around the hill, went to temple and then watched the sunset. As the sky turned grey and people dispersed, we drove back Bangalore.