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Quote for the Week on “Inspiration”

INSPIRE

Life doesn’t cheer the weak the timid or those content with their fifteen minutes of fame.
It applauds the dreamers, the adventurers and those who swore to rise above horizons.

For only those bold enough to chase dreams are the ones who finally catch them.
It doesn’t matter who you are today, what or who you were and what you will be.

All that matters is the legacy you finally leave behind.

Did you become all that you are capable of becoming?
Did you give more than you could take?
Did you achieve your dreams, while all around you thought you were chasing illusions?

Think, plan, implement and contribute – GROW more than just ‘numbers’

Have a great weekend!

Ananth V

Love ....

Love makes life livable, said someone!

Somewhere here I am trying to decipher and decode the exact meaning of the phrase and yes before people reach to any conclusion on what kind of love that I am talking about, let me clear the air.

The Love that will be described and poured out in the coming lines, is the one that makes two people go “I Do” at the altar.

I would like to touch upon aspects in this post, about whys would two people who have nothing in common, become what they become, until they meet each other and discover a whole new world – together.

The very reason for undertaking this exercise is my own experience at this peculiar feeling which is known as LOVE the world over.

I am 25 and by the time this article is published, I will be a year older. I have had many crushes in the formative years of my childhood and have been seriously interested only once……….. ok…….. I am exaggerating, may be twice.

The feelings just fizzled out because I am the type of guy who lets things like love take their own way rather than forcing myself on it. This is what led me to ponder as to what makes people tick?

This article may have a subcontinental flavour to it due to the fact that I am quoting examples from the, up and coming land called India of which I am a proud citizen. It’s then that I have tried to get into the “What of Love” and to say that I got satisfactory answers in my quest.

I will be best based on the analysis of the cases presented here and the readers own judgement. (Do not Judge me! )

I believe that Love is an important part of any relationship and is one of the pillars other than trust and loyalty on which the tree of mankind stands. In this regard, I have had certain observations to make and will tell you real life incidents of which I have been witness to or been a silent spectator of.

Case I – A young man whom we all knew of as a studious and very intelligient person who normally kept to self and incapable of doing no wrong along-with being protective of a blind father and an illiterate mother shocks everyone by proclaiming marriage to a young lady whom he met at his workplace

Case II – A young man who is given all freedom in the house and is an intelligient fellow does well in his education, completes his Masters in Business Adminisration where he falls in love, joins a high profile company complete with a good salary and perks. Then he confides about his desire to marry his lady love.

Case III – A young lady born and brought up in a liberal family has had many affairs by the time she reaches woman hood and goes on and marries a person whom she met at the workplace.

Case IV – A young man who has both parents who go off to work leaving him and his younger brother alone meets his lady love in college and they tie the knot. The lady in question in this case was junior to him in college and lived in the same complex as him

These are the samples that I have delved upon and arrived at certain conclusions after making careful observations. These are real life stories with the proverbial “& they lived happily ever after” theme ringing true.

The following observations were found to be true in each one of the cases mentioned above.

Ability to take decisions: In all of the cases mentioned above, the individuals involved have had to take/make decisions at a very early point in life. Be it the guy in case I where he was thrust the responsibility of being the head of the household or in cases II,III or IV where the individuals were required to take decisions due to the fact that there was very little parental assistance involved. It may be noted that people love persons who make their own decisions without getting influenced by other factors especially those which are emotional in nature.

I hope me making points and taking you back to ‘cases’ does not make this sound like a court ruling, it’s just that I would like to share different such scenarios, based on which  began to quote this post on the most beautiful thing in the world, Love!

Read on……

Self-Confidence: All the characters mentioned herein have amazing confidence about themselves. It may have been the result of their minds not being clogged by parents constantly advising about what is good and what is bad, When should one call the stops, What should one do and the likes. As a result of these, an individual goes into a mental state of being wherein he prepares a checklist before making any decision and ensures that the checklist is strictly adhered to. This process ensures that such a person arrives at a decision, which may be right or wrong, much later than those who go by the gut instinct. Also many a times such decisions may seem to be erring on the side of caution so as to ensure that one is always on the right side of the universe whereas confident people may go ahead with a decision that may seem to bewilder many but get positive results. For these people there is the inner belief that they can do no wrong because they do not distinguish between right and wrong and also believe that they can always survive any bad effects that their decision may entail. This leads to the making of a very self confident individual who also appears to be confident with an ever warm smile that pleases most people and charms the toughest of ladies.

Unfettered Lifestyle: Due to the minimal parental objection in their lives, these people live life to the fullest. They work hard, make loads of money, party harder and are always enthusiastic and positive about life. These are people who want to live lives that are worth meaning to them rather than sulking around, thinking about others or about decisions that may have far reaching consequences. That’s the reason why, when one comes across such persons, one feels quite positive and they are like a whiff of fresh air that has invaded your senses carrying you along with it.

Here I would like to rest my case wherein I have always been smitten by some one or the other. However when the time comes to make a choice, it’s always about making them a part of my life rather than colonizing them. So my mind starts throwing up questions like Would she fit the bill, Will my parents approve of her, How would the elders react about the match, What mother tongue will the children adopt and so on till the mind is left totally confused. What finally emerges is a chaotic situation. If not that then by the time I make up my mind, the lady is already been taken!

So friends I think I have unraveled the human mindset about love to a great extent and its physiological aspects. And for those who try desperately to fall in love but don’t, may be now we know why…

Enjoy

Do share your views with me.

Thanks.

Mani (A.k.a Ananth S)

Thinking of my sweet memories with the rising sun

As i woke up today with the shining rays of the sun, I got a phone call. It was good news, great news, actually surpirisngly good news.

What I had just heard took me back the memory lane.

Just like our childhood, the Middle years too hold a very important place in our lives. These are the years when a man needs to grapple with his inner demons and make decisions that have a very profound impact on his future. These may be decisions both personal and professional and may be ridiculously easy or exponentially difficult.

This period in life which begins at 20 and ends somewhere in the mid 30’s is marked by various stages like higher education, employment, marriage, children, aged parents etc.

Against this backdrop, I would like to introduce to you one of my best friends who has a lot in common with me and I would like to take his case as an ideal one to see what it takes to make the most toughest decision of all time that many men shudder to even think of, many cower and others relish – MARRIAGE!!!!!

This friend of mine from, how do I put this, well, from pre-historic times, has got characteristics similar to mine.

He hails from an orthodox TamBram family, a very pious man who goes to temple daily and also on weekends, very particular about reaching a place in time and also a stickler to rules and regulations as well as one who thinks thousand times to cross that unquoted line that parents draw for their kids.

This friend of mine, Lets Call him Mr.A, was enchanted in our high school days by a girl who was far more superior in the academic field (crazy, how those things mattered then) & he was afraid to go and talk to her about his crush on her. The result being the girl getting married to one of his own classmates who would ideally not be seen as the perfect combination at that time.

Then another major crush happened when he was working in a premier financial institution wherein he fell in love with a young lady who was known to be a fierce individual and also was one step above him in the corporate ladder. Our man tried to open up to her many times but never could make it face to face resulting in yet another heart break. Last heard the girl is happily married for nearly a year and wonder of wonders has moved to a locality near our own hero’s house!!!!

I being a friend was always aware of his various crushes and out of curiosity asked him about the reasons for this since I knew for a fact that there would not arise any inter-caste repercussions if he were to go ahead and marry any one of them since both ladies in question were simple TamBram women. He was blatant enough to tell me the truth that these two girls whom he liked a lot had many things in common that he wanted in a girl –fiercely independent, go-getters and people on whom you can depend if ever you were in a life threatening situation that they would take care of your family and not bat an eyelid about their personal loss (at least that’s what he thought). He would tell me in is own humorous way Arrey yaar, ‘Imagine I propose to her and she accepts my proposal, then I will have to marry her. But afterwards, there arises a situation wherein I have to play the judge and juror in the house after a hard day in office that would lead to an unpleasant situation. Especially if it’s a case of mother pitted against the wife. Coz no matter what decision the man gives, he stands to lose either way, be it the husband or the son. So I always wait for them to come to me!’ Also his parents being real orthodox, there are quite a few rules in the house which may or may not be liked by all.

Then I put forth another question – How is it that you cope up so well with your so called loss since he has an ever smiling face except when he is angry or in one of his moods.

I even went to the extent of telling him that a man not mourning about his lost love ever thought about loving at all.

That’s when he repeated one of the oft mentioned cliches in Hindi films about Bus,train aur ladki – Ek jaati hai tho doosri aati hai!!!!. I was appalled at this emotionless (Though he is never an emotional being at least to the outside world) and seemingly childish answer to my question. The next moment he surprises me with – Tho kya karoon Suicide kar loon gham main doobke? I cannot even do that coz I am a coward. I asked him in what sense do you term yourself a coward.

He says – “Ask any man to jump from the top of a 10 storeyed building or to consume a bottle of rat poison or rather to shoot/knife himself and he will look at you like you are a crazy man. That is because every man however much obstacles he may face, loves his life. So men who are courageous enough to make that decision should be appreciated. I cannot bring myself to do it since the moment such a thought enters my mind, the sullen faces of my parents occupy center position and all such thoughts get blown away. However much I try to be emotionally un-attached, I cannot bring myself to do it.”

I do not know whether anyone else is satisfied with this explanation, But I sure was and these words coming from a man who I have known to be an emotionless creature. Now for the twist – Life sure has its ways of proving things wrong just when they seem to be right.

Last heard our man has married a Northerner, a Kashyap girl and is presently honeymooning in the backwaters of Kerala.

He married so suddenly that even friends like us came to know after 2 days.

P.S. – Mate, if you are reading this, Please don’t think of this as my way of getting back at you. Am waiting with open arms for your return to our world.

Tell me what you think. I had a great start for my day.

Mani S

Twirling Dreams & Blurring Reality

Money, passion, exhaustion and fame…. Drawing to a weekend where serenity was the magic to the tempo of realism called Life!

 Met up with an old buddy, yes, the same friend who shared his dream with me and wanted the same to be shared with all of us through this platform: Choked by a crab

 He said, I want to share another one this time.

 I asked him, “You spend too much time sleeping, don’t you?”

 Thank God, he took it lightly, just the way I had meant it.

 But he meant business as he straight away quoted “I saw a baby monkey running around me with whom I was playing and then feeding a watermelon”

 We knew we were no Birbal, so we got Sherlock.  No, not the web search app from Apple  (That’s still Google for us).

 We got searching and finding all probable combinations. Why? ‘coz my chum seemed quite uneasy and anxious since a couple of days with this and he said, lets put this again on board. 

The combination of a baby monkey being fed watermelon, hmmmmm….

The Web help sources said, That could mean putting jointly emotions of innocence which was trying to be grabbed from the past.,Unsettled triggers of unfinished business from childhood recollections that could have sparked very recently. That with a monkey that was being fed, probably expressing a betrayal of expectation from someone who should have been there more to support you who meant close to you and finally with a fruit that is either about ease or about fiery passion. These were amazing combinations which meant well, nothing to me as now I turned at my buddy.

 Slowly we put the running ball together; I noticed a sneer and a sense of realization on his face. He said, I got my answers, now you quote down your lines.

 His face was composed or a lot calmer now and now that I got that he got it, I was sure I need not try to know what it was.

 But I felt uncomfortable when I quoted his dreams the first time on the blog after he said, go for it. Flash it across. Now a repeated second one made me say to him, ‘it’s not right to talk about your life on a Writers blog.’

 He said a simple line after which I started to key in the new post here.

 He quoted, “It helps me relax to read it across the blog and it helps me know, it’s just out there, happening and makes me feel in control from within. It’s good to flush it out of my system than to burn wakeful from inside in the barrenness.”

 That’s when I realized the influence of Soaps on TV. With Ekta Kapoor and her Dramarama swarming the nation like a wild blaze, people find themselves sharing a part of it, some or any part of it at times and that’s what keeps them at ease and linked day in and day out.

It’s not the actors, it’s not the lines, its Reel reality with a dash of overflowing emotions bundled with of course repetitive unnecessary camera shots. (ya, ya I have seen an episode too.. big deal)

 Well, I don’t know about me, but Ekta definitely built her dreams with it….

 And to my pal, Happy dreaming buddy! Have a good nights sleep!

Chao!

Image Source: Click

Mumbai -TREE Grace -Strength!

 

Why {‘Me’mbai} … will never be my question!

The first breath of air that I ever took till the current letters that I am keying in…. Every minuscule moment screams of the word MUMBAI.

I grew up proudly in this beauty of a land which we term, as the city of dreams. The energy and drive that Mumbai can bring for anyone is, in human terms, unreal and eccentric. Growing up here, all I ever worried about was nothing other than ‘just the fear of growing too slow’.

For I knew, that my quick paced city was safe and would keep me safe.

Life was driven by the ambition of achievement and passion, nothing more.

Life was socially or otherwise, always strictly business for every Mumbaikar. 

Mumbai never had Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs or any other community. Mumbai in its most awful state of affairs always seemed to come to a consensus on the basis of an understanding but has stood strong and has returned hitting harder.

We are a cash rich city by means of real estate, human resource and the dream builders of the world. At the end of the day, everyone knows… There is only one Hope on the face of this planet… that can withstand any trial, wherein so many cultures and dreams have been built from and with nothingness, Our Mumbai.

But this week, Mumbai met with an attempt which has made things very personal.

In the name of community and insane inhumanness innocent lives were driven into havoc. We were attacked by those who had nothing in their minds, but a canvas of painting the city red. Of giving a message to all: Stay away from this city …..

As of date, we have earned over decades the bloody audacity to shout at the top of our voice that we are going to welcome the world more than ever and by God, will the world too take this city with more respect than ever before.

We will and have already bounced back to grow, party and capitalize harder than anyone could ever dream of.

No one is scared…… bloody not even close…. Now the city is going to have more guests, more visitors and tourists than ever before. All will have the hot and crispy groundnuts outside the Taj Mahal Hotel once again and hang out. Drive around the Marine Drive and catch a movie at Metro this week.

Why, because, WHY MUMBAI, will never be my question. You wanted to hit the best… Thanks for reminding the billions all over, that the city of dreams is actually a city that never sleeps. It is actually built with people that love this land and she gets her energy from the blood running through each of our veins. The city has never slept and will never sleep. We will grow beyond what anyone can fathom and will welcome billions more to this land to grow along with us everyday.

We are dreams… We are hope… We are strength…… The commandos, the NSG and every brave staff at the hotels, the amazing heart of every civilian, The Trident, Nariman House, Taj, Colaba, CST and all over … gave us more hope than ever before. A heartflet sincere Thanks to each of the heroes. We will always bounce back and hit harder than one can ever EVER in their bloody sense of the term even think of.

I will never ask why M{e}mbai.. I know… ‘coz people always go after what’s the best….. It’s sad… for the rest… ‘coz they will never get even an ounce of it…. It’s not for cowards, it’s not for Losers…. It’s for the mighty strong who face Life… not from behind a bush…but Face to face!

M{e}mbai!

Look at us – We are ready to rock the world again!

—

Image Source: http://ananthvclickswordpress.com

Failure has never scared or pulled me back as some power greater than all beings has been generous enough to grant me the ability to bounce back every time till date. I have been told not to think too much as all we need is to keep doing our part of the routine and not worry about what’s in store.

The probability of failure has never impeded me as an area of concern but what I did and all that I could have done makes me feel the pulse of the kicking prey on the crafty spider’s web at all times.

My idea of travel is not just to make a livelihood. In the process, I learn so much from all that is superior and great and observe and comprehend the don’ts from around, that travel has a larger count to my daily learning.

I was at RIE Mysore this whole week.

The sheer simplicity of the place humbled me to the core in the sense that right from the passionate research and innovation of culture, learning and customs that happens over there by the masters shrinks down the egotism of the self.

This place had just the most basic needs to stay and the most necessary things to Live. It has knowledge and information to the core, depending on how and how much you can take and share.

My daily count of learning has helped me enhance my knowledge of life, people and processes so much that the thirst to act on it has only increased manifold over the years. Hence the fiery desire to perform and contribute seems to be doubling everyday within me. Life has taught me over the years that the maturity to deal with things is more important than the ability to resolve.

TIME has taught me from Life and observation that there is none powerful than TIME itself. All we possess are the skills and passion to grow and let grow and if that seems to be missing, I guess its time to let go.

I seem to now understand why real education and actual learning are of prime importance today as they embed values more than anything else and empower us with the ability to fight, shield, defend and emerge from our daily actions.

But when it all ends…. Will we be known for what we did or would we be remembered for the change we brought ….. I guess… Only TIME will tell….

Till then… keep learning and keep growing…

Be Well

 Ananth V

Image Source: http://ananthvclicks.wordpress.com

 click for my Nokia 3500 clicks at: http://ananthvclicks.wordpress.com

KALA GHODA ARTS FESTIVAL

http://ananthvclicks.wordpress.com

http://ananthvclicks.wordpress.com/2008/03/19/kala-ghoda-arts-festival/

click above 

KALA GHODA ARTS FESTIVAL

Giggles, thunderous laughs, tables filled with food and variety of beverages… Three laptops lying in different corners occupied by 2 people each and the whole ambience filled with excitement tells you about just another day of work by artists at Techdivine Studios.

As the VP Resource Management Mrs.Neela Shinde enters in with her gorgeous pet cat on one hand and a cell phone on the other, the currently working 6 artists wave a big smile of “hi” to her…. as she gets settled with one of the teams.   

Ms.Shafaque Patel and Mr.Yasir, the Planning & Budgeting heads at TD studios wrap up with their schedule for the day and load up 3d compositing software on their screen. Just then, we hear, “Ho gaya” as in sounding like ‘Eureka’ by the 3d Modeling head Mr.Nadeem, who catches everyone’s attention and all rush in to see the fabulous looking 3d camera designed by him.

That’s right everyone at TD studios, right from the VP to the Production in charge is a hardcore passionate artist from heart. 

As they constantly put in efforts to render there creative skills out in a still format for ‘check & quality control’ the storyboard head Mr.Vaibhav too walks in to give his views on the current frame.

About 4 hours later they split up their respective works which has been mostly done except for final finishing touches. The stills and raw format of the files are mailed across to few other junior artists and designers who will finish it online by the end of the day and send the final output for QC check to the respective heads through email.

A total of 18 artists thus work into a particular project at a given point of time with services ranging from 3D architectural walkthrough, Print media services and web based services, compositing and visual effects with titling, clay animation, creative writing, and digital art at Techdivine studios.

TD studios is a newly established quickly growing Online designing studio wherein majority of the work is done Off-site and online by highly skilled artists, with skills on a plethora of levels and varied medium, who meet up twice a week for a review and check on the work done.

The best part about them is that they all behave like art students thus always ready to learn and grow from each other and at the same time produce photorealistic CG works with high level of professionalism. 

On Jan 2008, TD studios celebrated its first anniversary which started like a dream with just 1 artist and has grown more through work and as a brand than just numbers and artists as the Concept and Idea head who is also TD’s brand and product consultant Mr.Ananthanarayan V, picks up the best and adds in his multiple skills of both design and management and the fabulous projects and varied technical growth goes on shooting up each and every day with fun and learning.

I Anandhapadmanabhan, providing the financial advice here, might just be an observer to the whole new platform today, but someday would like to see this group of talented artists, manager and skilled dreamers at the top of their game. 

My best wishes to all of you and hearty congratulations for completing a successful and fun filled year at TD studios.

 A Padmanabhan

http://anandhas.wordpress.com

Being an art student, as I would like to always proudly refer myself as, over the last two weeks many have asked me to put forth my art works and some styles that I have been using to get and create my digital art works…. And those using traditional media…..

Many of these artworks have also been sold as Digital Paintings and received excellent acclaim for eg. City Traffic, Actors Life, Tribute, 26 years and many others have brought about fabulous reviews from all over…..

The digital artworks are available for sale in varied sizes of 11″ X 11″, 22″ X 16″, 8″ X 8″ etc….. and are available for purchase…

For enquiries contact the author at: ananthv9@gmail.com

So here are few of them with their details….

Some of these works have earned me good accolades over the last three years…. With media, International Computer Graphic societies, India’s contemporary upcoming and famous artist directories, work and projects wise….

My works include “Photography, 3d still Works, Animation, Walk through, 2d graphic art works, Sketches, Charcoal (colour & B&W), Clay, Sculpture and relief works …

For digital media, the skill sets that I have used are as follows: Maya 7, 3DSMAX8, Photoshop, Corel Draw, Illustrator, Paint Shop pro, Combustion….

Few of my works:

1. Reflections of the Soul: Skills used : Photoshop, Illustrator, Paint Shop ProThis Cover art is for the Coffee table Poetry book:

“EXPRESSIONS” titled Reflections of the soul

This cover art speaks of LIFE being inside a bubble where you have different memories and emotions…. that hold you close and sometimes take you to the edge of your life…. the colours mean different expressions of a soul such that: Brown colour depicts the sad memories, green depicts hope and pink the good of health and happy memories…. and everything we do gets reflected all around us…..

REFLECTIONS OF THE SOUL

Related Links:

http://www.lulu.com/content/709570

2. My Workstation: Completely done in 3dsmax and textures created and painted in Photoshop and Illustrator…. displayed in International CG society…..

3. The Alley: Done in 3DSMax and textures painted and composited in Photoshop

4. Few other Sketches, relief works, crayon, ink and paint sketches, graphic pen works…..

26 Years AnanthV

Actors Life at Directors Cut

One of my earliest works on ” Famous Illustrations reproduced – quick digital sketch competition

City Traffic & Jammed Signals

Ashta Vinayaka Ganesha with numbers

The Journey to Freedom

Joyride

Ocean Colours – Splash for HOLI

Relationships

ALL split up

Target of Attention

Tribute

and loads more to be updated……… keep watching the space……

Thanks

ANANTHANARAYANAN V