Social Media Marketing

Dear Friends,

This month marks our 3^rd Anniversary of the Creative Writers blog.

Creative Writing

The journey began with the first publication and the Times of India interview and coverage of the coffee table poetry book “Expressions“, but it was only by end 2008 that we got an idea to get other writers too to add their ideas, experiences and stories and share them in such a large platform.

As the readers and comments kept increasing, with more inputs, critique, suggestions from all of you, we added interactivity, free registrations for comments, Premium memberships and so on to the creative writer blog.

Today, we proudly stand at 183 –Posts, 973 Comments with 11 Authors and scores of Categories under varied subjects of “Technology, Career, Education, Gadgets, Life, Passion, People, Marketing, Online Media, Art, Legends, Freebies, Social Media Marketing……..”

We sincerely THANK all our dear readers and of course our wonderful authors who have contributed their time and skills to us and have been a part of the Creative Writing family.

Hope you have enjoyed a good read. It will only get better!

Feel free to write to us with any suggestions, comments or your views on the same.

You can reach us at:

Techdivine Creative Services

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Twitter – @techdivine

admin@techdivine.com

Below are the stats to the Top 30 Posts from all time:

Top Posts for all days “March 2007 to March 2010”

All Time – March 2007 – March 2010

Title                                                                                                                                        Views

1. Coffee – A case to begin all cases (2123 Views)
2. Why So seriousssah……. (493 Views)
3. SHOLAY in Facebook Style (388 Views)
4. Google wave – Part 2: Adding & tagging Attachments (331 Views)
5. My Trip to Aurangabad- The City Of Gates (112 Views)
6. Of Forbes India’s 100 Richest: Top 10 picks from our readers (197 Views)
7. IIM Indore my blog: The Life at IIM I (187 Views)
8. Online Creative Writing Contest for Students is HERE! (183 Views)
9. Charlie Chaplin (179 Views)
10. Married but to caste and religion (175 Views)
11. Twitter & Facebook: Why SNS? (174 Views)
12. Pulau Tioman, The great journey ( 170 Views)
13. IIM Indore – IRIS Break Free – Klueless Game (169 Views)
14. ET Awards 2009: For Corporate Excellence (158 Views)
15. ‘Kudos’ to an amazing artist “Kseniya Simonova” (157 Views)
16. Standard Chartered 2010 MUMBAI Marathon (155 Views)
17. Touching a million lives, but only ONLINE (154 Views)
18. A Southie’s Life Rocks (or is it on the rocks) (154 Views)
19. Transitions in Life (152 Views)
20. BLINKX: Video Search engine: Don’t “blinkx” anymore (153 Views)
21. 26/11: Mumbai Terror Attack – Saluting the real heroes (152 Views)
22. Warli Art India: UK Art Council: A journey, for Art’s sake! (152 Views)
23. Google Wave is here (150 Views)
24. Le Tour de France 2009 (145 Views)
25. Social Media Marketing for your business: Unleash….. (143 Views)
26. Working Women & Parenting (142 Views)
27. Social Media Marketing (SMM) – From root level, Why it will work? (141 Views)
28. The Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon 2010: My Dream Run (138 Views)
29. Save Indian HOCKEY!!!!! (135 Views)
30. The Adventurous Land and the half blood Man: Having the Elixir (135 Views)

Most Popular Tags with us:

Life

Online Marketing

Marketing Services

Emotions

People

Social Media Marketing

Social Media Quotient

Hope

Career

And yes, our Blog has always been Mobile ready!

Happy reading!

Admin

TECHDIVINE Creative Services

Social Media, Design Services & Creative Writing

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Life Quote, Have a great Day - Techdivine

Life doesn’t cheer the meek, the timid or those content with their fifteen minutes of fame, it applauds the dreamers the adventurers, those who swore to rise above horizons…. For only those bold enough to chase them are the ones who finally catch them! It doesn’t matter who you are today, who you were or what you are going to be. What matters is the legacy you finally leave behind! What matters is: - Did you become all that you are capable of becoming? – Did you achieve your dreams, while all around you thought you were chasing illusions?

Go ahead….

Live it up!

Have a Great Day!

TECHDIVINE

www.techdivine.com

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Image Source:ANVCLICKS

There were bubbles floating all around. My eyes awakened to very beautiful glimmering rays of the sun. Strangely it was still blurry contrast to the sun one will always get to look at.

I could see clearly the huge ball of fire way above but it looked though as if, it was covered in a filament of thin highlights. As I kept noticing the bubble around me, my feet brushed off against something that felt like plants, reef & coral.

That’s when I realized the clear highlight was the stunning crystal clear ocean water. Yes, I was under this amazingly stunning looking colorfully lit sea.

I do not know how I got there. But I was comfortable. I swam around to reach to the top but oddly the more closer I was trying to get to the top of the ocean the deeper I seemed to be getting & closer to the ocean bed.

I swam around and I saw things that took my breath away.

I saw an amazingly gorgeous coral reef, filled with colours of gold, orange, pink, green and lots of blue.

The tiny leaves springing from it looked more beautiful as a lovely golden brown sea horse danced out from it. It was followed by this gorgeous little plant or flower or fish, I just cant figure out, right behind the sea horse, it came close to me and I could sense it almost breathing. It had transparent petals, it had violet spots on the edges of its base which looked like the base of a lotus as even underwater the ‘thing’ seemed untouched by water. As it swam across my face it made me turn and I just moved myself really fast as this humungous sea turtle floated its worries away.

I was staring at these beauties when suddenly of the darkness of this abyss a sudden gleam hit my face & I was reminded of my life back home. It was the sun, telling me to move up and come back to the light.

I moved up once more just avoiding the snap of a jelly fish which looked totally annoyed with the purple – yellow colored tiny starfish floating around it constantly avoiding touching it.

My smile got more silent as I saw this huge bream of varied fishes of amazing size and colours and unbelievable shapes swimming across. I just gasped and I looked up to see the twinkling eyes of the sea otter staring at me from the rays of the sun which was now shining brightly again. I saw and I pushed and was coming out of the water & just then, my alarm rang.

It was 5:30am. I had to get ready for my exams today. Yeah, that’s right.

I guess I was so overweighed with the thought of exams, I felt deeply pushed underwater again.

But I guess, it told me something beautiful and lovely.

It told me, that even if I was under the ocean, in a place where I did not belong, I would adapt, I would push and I would survive back with lots of experiences and lots of learning and with great beauty even if so, from even the abyss of the ocean bed.

Have a great day!

~~~There’s always hope,
even with chaos around
there’s always beauty
even with guilt that’s found
there’s always a lesson
in the abyss so dark & red
And you will always survive
even in the ocean bed
So,
whenever you feel lost
look up, look up to the shining sun
‘coz then even the blurry hues
are made to fade away and run……

All in a dream…………. Stay with hope!

Image Source: WIKI

Few Blog Posts from the past: Back on Our Dear Readers Demand:

Year:2008

Tomorrow onwards I start working in an open office. During renovation, the old traditional layout is being changed from a cabin (large rooms equal to or bigger than a living room) to medium sized cubicles and work stations. It looks impressive since the office is renovated. But it is only partially complete and the full looks with atrium and all other things would get ready in the next few months. So the full impact would be felt when the office is fully renovated. It would be a transformation worthy of notice-perhaps equivalent to an expensive cosmetic corporate surgery.

The first feature that I observe is that the Personal Computer occupies the pride of position, It is kept smack in the middle of the working area and the chair faces it. It seems as though the main function of most employees is staring hard at the computer almost the entire day. It is perhaps equivalent to keeping a note counting machine on every banker’s table as every banker ultimately deals with money. My belief is that computer is one of the tools we use in the course of our work. It could be a vital tool or an accessory (like a belt or a tie) depending on the individual and his position in the hierarchy. But that seems to be the accepted concept today. I am reminded of the cattle shed in some parts of Mumbai (Tabela in local language) where the cattle is tied and faces a trough containing the feed. Unlike human beings they are not let out as there is no space for grazing in Mumbai.

The second striking aspect is the positioning. The consultant informed us that the concept is that there should not be eye contact from one work station to another. This reinforces the concept that though other human beings are close by, they are mainly distraction to be avoided. So though they are visible and audible, ignore them and ensure that they are able to ignore you. So no loud conversation to spouse on buying evening’s requirement (she would come late, so pick up children, and keep dhal ready etc.), mouthing childish and sweet words or threatening words to growing and troublesome kids (do Maths home work beta, is the Hindi homework over, didn’t I tell you to…), romance within or outside office.

The third striking aspect is the mobile phone with varying ring tones. I recall a senior executive well past retirement age having the ring tone of Dhoom going off when he was making a serious point at an important meeting. They can be quite annoying. When someone else has a ringtone identical to yours, then you could get irritated thinking how could he have the same ring tone. So what would result after few days of annoyance is more subdued ring tone and many executives walking up and down the corridor murmuring into the telephone looking serious and sometimes focused clearly on domestic issues ( mama, I told you it is not possible this week….., did the plumber come? has the maid come and cleaned baba’s school dress?)

The fourth would be learning new techniques on seeming busy on important assignments while doing nothing. But that perhaps would not be difficult to any Indian working person.

Now, I wonder who invented work station. The word “work station” seems to give an impression of a temporary halting place – like railway station- and not a place where we spent a large portion of our waking time. It sounds like a station for working and nothing more. Perhaps it is an American usage where most things are impersonal – even family relationships. Every child is expected to have a separate room. A parent cannot go into his grown up children’s room without permission. So places without privacy are perhaps temporary habitats by their standards.

So off tomorrow to the new working station. Let me see how all of us working there fare. My hunch is that some of my colleagues could complain and look back to the glorious past and identify the fault lines loudly.

Open Office – Part2

It is nearly a year since I wrote the last blog. During that time, I visited Bhutan. It is an out of the way place for Indian tourists. I enjoyed it. My wife told me recently that she now appreciated the stillness of some of the places we visited in Bhutan. If anyone is interested to know more, do write to me. I have kept a diary of this visit and good photos also. If you enjoy chill climate in summer, seeing deep valleys, winding roads, waterfalls etc. then this is the place. It is not that expensive also.

My grandson put in 11 more eventful months to his 9 months of existence. The growth in the first three years of existence is said to be more that what happens in thirty years of existence in the later part of human life. So he started walking, communicating, speaking few words and being utterly mischievous. He has a lovely smile, which I am sure will break the hearts of many maidens who are yet to be born. He gave us a new perspective to life and living.

The open office grew on me. I became comfortable listening to the daily menu communicated by my office neighbor to the cook. I came to know the calling tunes of most colleagues. The older the person, the more dashing is the caller tune. Older persons do not change caller tune. The younger generation love change and that includes caller tunes also.

Most telephone conversations are conducted in loud tones. Except when confidential calls come, then everyone is capable of whispering on phone. The difficulty arises in concentrating on reading lengthy documents when the atmosphere around resembles a railway station. Then I remember Hindu philosophy which expects us to concentrate irrespective what the outside world resembles.

Share market crashed in an unbelievable manner. Many of us saw lot of paper wealth being extinguished on a daily basis. There is a muted recovery now. None of us are confident this would sustain or reach the old heights. Still some rise in Sensex is comforting.

What are most disturbing are job losses. For the first time in my 33 years of working life, I am seeing middle and junior level officers and executives losing jobs due to economic down turn. Management graduates are not getting placements even when they belong to good or great Institutions. This has never happened in the past. The situation in non metros is said to be equally bad. Small and medium enterprises are having great difficulties in surviving. I am not sure what is the level of job losses or erosion, but it is bound to be significant.

I had a lingering suspicion about IT related jobs as I could not fathom how far an average IT engineer would travel in his career. As a person coming from administrative side of business, I felt they would plateau out fast. Today’s scenario seems to confirm my belief that an IT person needs to contribute significantly to business to progress beyond the Rs. 25/30 lacs hurdle. Am I right? I would love some feedback on this rather instinctive rather than informed view.

USA has lost its charm for many Indians. The risk of being unemployed in a foreign country is frightening. India at least offers some kind of security within the bosom of the family or its extended version. Any way we are used to misery, somehow we will pull on. Would a father consider giving a qualified girl based in India to an IT bridegroom based in USA today without some qualms? Hard to say.

Why did I absent myself from blogs? Well, the creative urge dried up. I could not dream of something to write. I started and then left it midway. Today I decided I will scrawl something. I will be encouraged if I get 3 comments or criticisms or feedback. Does a person write for own satisfaction or for someone else to read, appreciate/criticise? I think both.

So, what do you say?

Let me know your views on the same

Anjeneyan

Image Source:

Cubicle

Personal Trip Clicks

Do we notice the imperceptible changes taking place around us?  Mostly not; unless compelled to do so.

The most common culprit of almost imperceptible change is age. “Why do you wheeze when you climb stairs for just two floor?” My daughter asked me last week. I passed it off as a toll taken by age; though the reality is that this weakness is an old one and remained unnoticed.

Most resist the external symptoms of time and related wear & tear. A thumb rule is that the older a person is, the more time taken for formal dressing. So there is a calculated effort to impress- bright colors, branded shirts/pants, hair waved back carefully. Sometimes I wonder, whether the person is comfortable in the role being enacted (for the sake of family). Why not let go and be what you actually are? But then, do many of us know ourselves well to decide to be as and what we are?

God, with His sense of irony, has made human beings attach undue importance to parts of body which have limited utility. Hairs on the head is a classic example of a decorative object. It does not serve any great purpose (unlike hands or legs). But the impact a great hair style has on the subject and his/her viewer cannot be measured. So we find youngsters staring hard at mirror for long periods, patting their hair, men keeping tufts (meant originally only for certain purposes) like women, old men and women dyeing their imperfectly to evade the toll of time and all sorts of odd behavior if examined in the light of reason.

When I was a young boy (several decades back) only school boys and  domestic men servants (who washed clothes, vessels, cars etc.) wore half pants in Mumbai.  Now of course, it is a fashion statement to wear half pants and odd sized pants on all occasions (except job interview) and thereby attempt to belong to another age group. So, when I wear a shorts (called half pant in the past) to the gym, I have an uneasy feeling that someone would  call me to wash their car.

The real changes take place in our sub-conscious and then trickle down to external visibility.  This is noticed only if we meet the person after a reasonable gap. Mentally we slow down- that is reduce the pace at which we want to live hereafter. We see this around us but do not observe. We want less surprises- less changes – expected or unexpected. Life has to be same from yesterday to today. But God and the world around us have a gleeful pleasure in altering our well laid down plans.  So we find sedentary grandparents rushing off to USA/Gulf countries for a new career in babysitting (most probably no one sits, the baby runs around and we run after it continuously till our legs pain).

Did our parents sit back and ponder over their errors of omissions and commission? Did they even admit it to themselves? My son reminded me recently in non-judgmental manner of the instances when I beat him during his childhood. Did I beat him? Yes, I did. For what reasons?  I do not remember. Do I regret it now? Yes. But when I look at my daughter trying to tame my grandson (unsuccessfully at times) by oral requests and then resorting some small corporal punishments, I realize that these are inevitable and cannot be examined by hindsight.

Do we lose our ambitions, zest and enthusiasm with age? I would say they become more tempered. The  goal posts change. Survival up to the goal post  becomes more important than running past it. Some unexpected past time or interest catches serious attention.  So it could a social or a religious organization in which there is some lurking desire to play a more prominent role. I have seen several large institutions run  by persons most of whom had retired from gainful occupations long  back justifying to this logic.

But what is most important in all this is identifying what our heart really seeks- what is it that would give us great happiness. This is the most difficult part of life at any juncture. Long but aimless life serves little or no purpose. At each juncture of life, knowing what we want to achieve in our career, what we enjoy doing in our spare time, what relationships to invest in to make our life more beautiful is vital. This is more easily said than done.

I envy today’s youth some of whom are clear eyed to give up easy choices and seek for what they really want. India has given choices which did not exist some decades back.  But whether they are able to achieve a balance between their material success and mental happiness is a moot point. This perhaps applies to youth and younger generation in any point of time- yesterday , today or tomorrow.

So next time I visit the nearby shopping mall, I will take the plunge and buy the black shirt with stripes displayed at Zodiac shop. My family’s puritanical views on wearing such garments can take a back seat.

I will look handsome in that shirt- rather as handsome as I looked some decades back.

Anjeneyan.

The Tour de France is the most well known and prestigious of cycling’s three “Grand Tours”.

The race lasts three weeks and attracts cyclists from around the world. The race is broken into day-long segments, called stages and this year’s 2009 was upstaged by the 24 year  Mark Cavendish.

• Age: 24
• Team: Columbia
• Born: Isle of Man
• GB Team: Olympic Podium Programme

Mark Cavendish

The leaders of a team and his team mates racing on the Tour de France try to excel, individually or by the support they provide to their team. This amazing sporting team spirit of courage, determination and perseverance which is the Tour de France is an annual bicycle race that covers around 3,500 kilometers (2,200 mi) throughout France and bordering countries.

The Tour de France 2009

Individual times to finish each stage are added up to determine the overall winner at the end of the race. The rider with the lowest aggregate time at the end of each day wears a yellow jersey.

The course changes every year but it has always finished in Paris and since 1975 along the Champs-Élysées.

It typically has 21 days, or stages, of racing and covers not more than 3,500 kilometres (2,200 mi).[2] The shortest Tour was in 1904 at 2,420 kilometres (1,500 mi), the longest in 1926 at 5,745 kilometres (3,570 mi).

The number of teams usually varies between 20 to 22, with nine riders in each. Entry is by invitation to teams chosen by the race organiser, the Amaury Sport Organisation. Team members help each other and are followed by managers and mechanics in cars first Tour de France was staged in 1903.

Riders aim to win overall but there are three further competitions: points, mountains and for the best young rider. The leader of each wears a distinctive jersey.

The maillot jaune (yellow jersey) is worn by the general classification leader. The winner of the first Tour wore not a yellow jersey but a green armband.

The maillot vert (green jersey) is awarded for sprint points. At the end of each stage, points are earned by the riders who finish first, second, etc

The Points and more:

Flat stages: 35, 30, 26, 24, 22, 20, 19, 18, 17, 16, 15, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 points are awarded to the first 25 riders across the

finish.

 Medium-mountain stages : 25, 22, 20, 18, 16, 15, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 points are awarded to the first 20 riders across the finish.

 High-mountain stages : 20, 17, 15, 13, 12, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 points are awarded to the first 15 riders across the finish.

 Time-trials: 15, 12, 10, 8, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 points are awarded to the top 10 finishers of the stage

OVERALL STANDING ON TIME

Results link after stage 21

Total distance covered: 3459.5 km

http://www.letour.fr/2009/TDF/LIVE/us/2100/classement/index.html

Winner: Mark Cavendish

http://www.markcavendish.com

Legends Trivia:

A legend of the same:

Lance Armstrong in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2005

Lance Armstrong

Image Source:

Cycling

Sports

http://en.wikipedia.org

Roadcycling

Letour

TECHDIVINE is a registered trademark catering to Designing solutions for Print, Web, Animation, VFX and Publication, Marketing and Account Management solutions for a 360^. Brand and Strategic Management for varied mixed media.

The Brand TECHDIVINE has been associated over the last two years with high profile brands catering to services like Account Management, Client Servicing, Branding, Publication, Training, Designing, Visual effects and Animation.

TECDIVINE STUDIOS blogs – TD Studios and Techdivine at wordpress have been maintained by our Brand & Product Consultant Mr.Ananthanarayanan V

Owing to the amazing response that the wordpress blogs have generated of various articles, write ups from different authors and the publication success of the Coffee table poetry book EXPRESSIONS launched under the brand, TECHDVINE Studios is proud to announce the introduction of the new section in the blog: The YOUNG TALENTS write up section

The new Section – Young Talents write-ups:

A hot cup of coffee and a good book to read……….. that with the young talents ideas makes a great start for one’s day!

This new section under the head YOUNG TALENTS is dedicated to all the young writers and talents who love making up stories, who enjoy exploring the world of words and experimenting with it.

This heading “YOUNG TALENTS” in the blog would feature interesting and fascinating write-ups of young writers (Age group upto 15 years) who want to express their ideas, concepts, thoughts and share their wonderful experiences with all of us…..

So keep writing, keep reading, keep commenting

TECHDIVINE STUDIOS

Team Management Win’s it all!

Being a true Mumbaite, there are only two things that I greedily crave for. One is Vada Pav and the other is the pulse racing game of Cricket.

About 7 weeks ago, I became a great fan of Mr. Lalit Modi who gifted all of us a fantastic product (though said to be ripped off from the Football leagues – Who cares?), the IPL – Indian Premiere League.

A product wherein you get the best from every nation.

It’s like having a Macintosh design (Beautifully packed) on a IBM machine (Brand sells) with windows OS (Love it or hate it… but you can’t ignore it – Everyone owns it)

The IPL brought in adrenaline rushing pulsating anticipation and anxiety to the young and senior players of Cricket as much as it did for the “dumb / struck” audience watching one of the best marketing practices sold right at their face.

And the best part is… the majority bought it and why wouldn’t we? It was a fantastic product with amazingly surprising ingredients, fresh recipe with a dash of rules being cooked in a cauldron of magical glamour.

It had it all and today at the DY Patil stadium at Navi Mumbai where the Underdogs finally did it and Rajasthan Royals bathed in pure glory.

They did it on the grandest stage of them all and with panache and flair. Raw overdue talent like Yusuf Pathan and Tanvir, fabulous findings like Asnodkar and pure all round skill like Shane Watson with the legend like backing and faith of Shane Warne, the match ended gloriously.

As the Chennai Super Kings skipper and his team gave a fabulous fight till the last ball was bowled, the Rajasthan Royals devoured the final ball for the ultimate prize of Glory and of course around 4.8 Crores Rupees.

But everyone loved it and the way the Royals had played it throughout, even the Chennai skipper wouldn’t have ‘minded it’ this time.

It was a great blow to all those who did not believe and kept saying with utmost faith that the underdogs will remain underdogs as they finally watched the most economical team biting the biggest chunk of them all, the biggest prize of them all the worlds most expensive Trophy – The IPL trophy.

More important than the combination of all sorts of skill levels was the beauty to see Muralidharan happy on Jayasurya’s wicket, Sachin rejoicing at Dhoni’s dismissal, Sourav hugging Shoaib and the Aussie Watson as glad with hitting Symond’s ball like never seen before, was that it brought in a lot of team spirit and a never give up attitude amongst all who played and to many who even just watched.

It was a great lesson from Shane Warne’s team that, it is not as important to have the best in the team as it is to give your best to the team.

I would like to end it with just a simple kudos for the legendary performance by the retired Skipper Shane Warne for his team management and to the whole Rajasthan Royals for the consistent performance by adding so much zest and energy to the spirit of the game.

Three cheers to the fact and power behind ‘Team Management’ and a Huge Hurray to Mr.Modi, Mr. Warne and the Rajasthan Royals.

IPL rocked!!!

Be well

Ananth V

Image Source: http://wikimedia.org

Offical Website: http://www.iplt20.com/index.html

As I pondered at the starry sky for the moments that were spent I could plainly see the spills on the carpet and the stains on the mattress. I kept thinking I needed to improvise, a change would be good said my sanely perplexed brain.

Again, the dove flew off like the starry night before. Today, it reminded me of a work of art from one of the famous Italian painters and my mind wandered into one such artists words. He had said that an object that has been assimilated or formed and now needs no addition, no editing and no change is pure beauty…

Thank god for those famous quotes by artists.

That’s what I felt today, at the end of the day… it was beautiful… it was stunning… it was pure and perfect ….. simply because it was “SIMPLE”

My brain came to the present and looked at the wonderful things that were gifted to me till date.

It did not make me overlook the demands and the twinge, but gave me enough nerve to keep fighting, never go down on hope and have a conviction, a stronger faith in myself.

I had a horrible yesterday but had an awesome day today.

Had an amazing and astounding 10 hour sleep (keeping in mind my usual sleep of not more than 4-5 hours), woke up fresh, had a glass of my favorite mixed fruit Tropicana, did some workout and had a stupendous brunch fit for a king with a great friend of mine who also is an important part of my routine, someone from whom I take a lot of advice.

The day ended perfectly with a call from my side to a very kind and sweet relative wishing him on his birthday today which is a huge deal because of the fact that I barely remember even my own birth day.  

At the end of the day, I had good food, great friend, amazing family and an awesome book to read not to mention my grand day with loads of real keeping fit routine and some virtual game plays on my computer.

So, I had grown up a bit today but with zest and loads of energy.

I was responsible for something that was not part of my job, I was with and around those who cared and vice-versa, I put enough energy into my physical and mental training today and after a long time could write a simple post for a blog, not too long and just like my day, could keep it simple.

So I guess, it’s not just the remarkable mind blowing things that make impact on us. It’s also these simple aspects from our everyday that make us cheerful, gives us hope and courage to face life with belief, dedication and optimism.

So….

When things go wrong

And life gets crude

Hang on to the soulful hope

That never keeps you aloof

Kiss her hand and breathe in her heart

Sing a song to the blues

and play your part!

— Ananth V

god bless and be well

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

Ananth V

March 11^th, 2008

 Destination: Bapugoan, Dahanu Village, Maharashtra, India

Purpose: Being part of the Documentation shoot about the Warli art and one of its immense talent: Mr.Ramesh Hengadi.

About the Artist: Mr.Ramesh, will soon be reaching out to the world showcasing his skills and bringing India closer in the art front on the international map. He is from Dahanu, India and is a master craftsmen and artist.

His benign behavior and simplicity will take you off your feet when you see his artworks. He has done his MA and has been into Warli art since a very early age.

The Journey:

I left from home at 5:30 am heading towards Churchgate station where I was to meet Mr. Barney Hare Duke and Mr. Jeremy Theophilus and leave for Dahanu.

I touched the meeting place exactly at 6:50 am and the vehicle arrived with the curious and skilled duo Mr.Barney and Mr. Jeremy.  They both are partners of “A FINE LINE” and are project managers at HAT.

This program was being also funded majorly by the Art council UK.

As I learnt more about their work and about their travel around the world, I found something very interesting. They both actually loved art to the core….And instantaneously I knew that the journey would not be long and would be very informative and a great learning experience.

As Mr. Jeremy explained to me about their study on varied cultures, different art forms, distinctly varied media, about the totally unique cultures that each country offered them and the new discoveries about customs, traditions, people that they acquired, made the journey very much interesting for me. Mr. Barney told me about their research plans, documentary shoot about the artists and the art form at Dahanu village.

I then also came to know that I was going to meet the artist Mr.Ramesh in about half an hour, as he had travelled more than half the way so as to direct us to his home.  

As my cellular phone rang and Mr.Ramesh enquired about where we had reached, we finalized on one point of meet and then…. I met the talented to the core artist.

As he got into the vehicle and the questions about his village and art work kept barging, his soft spoken ways and smile eased the pace of questions from our side. We were closer to reaching the destination and as we looked around, we saw my country, India with its beautiful crude beauty. The sceneries around were breathtaking and very picturesque.

In a total of 2 ½ hours, we touched his home and were greeted by his mother with ‘Aarti & red Tilak’.

The whole place looked very neat, clean and was stunningly beautiful. The people there were living a very simple life with limited resources and means, but were living happily.

Why wouldn’t they be, one of their artist was being recognized for his work and was being interviewed and documented on, before he left for UK to showcase his talent.

We went inside his home, met his big and hospitable family and within half an hour or so we were out, for exploring his village, their culture, traditions, their way of life etc. We saw his school, as his brothers, friends and other villagers took us around the whole village. We saw how they grinded wheat, rice etc, and the way the kids were taught to greet the elders and anyone who was new to their homeland.

They explained to us of their faith in the god, “Vagobha” meaning ‘The Tiger’ whom they worshiped in idol and symbolic form. They took us to that temple that was built and has been maintained since generations.

We obviously found dust and mud all around us, but yet, the air was amazingly fresh and there was absolutely no pollution. So, in other words, I was having difficulty breathing the fresh air…. Hmmm…. Only pure oxygen to breathe. Being from the polluted side of the world, I had no idea how to take that in… but I managed and survived.

The village was amazingly clean which reminded me of the media coverage and other hoardings begging our city dwellers to keep the city clean. There were dustbins in the village and the garbage was properly disposed.

It reminded me of the ‘ruffles lays’ packet that was thrown out in the middle of the road by one of the Honda city owners kid while we were leaving in the vehicle for Dahanu today morning. So much for a civilized city, Huh!

As I came out of the horrible flashback, back to the clean and fresh village of Dahanu, Ramesh’s brothers and friends showed us few other houses and the art works and the style in which the house had been designed and coloured, amazed all of us. It was clean, neat, colourfull and had motifs and other different wall paintings on the in and outside of the house walls. They had kept God idols etc hanging from the ceiling, painted the invite to the wedding in the houses where marriages had taken place, the lamps and wedding turbans that were hanging on the nails on the wooden pillars of their houses. Even with so much humidity and heat, the inside of the houses were cool because of the cow dung plastered on their walls.

The massive support that the whole village showered on its talented son, Mr.Ramesh H was something that one could feel so much positively in the air with such strong and happy vibes that were hovering across the whole village.

We then feasted our eyes to the amazing Tarpa dance while the Head Tarpa player (who was easily in his seventies) played the amazing looking musical instrument and the other dancers, performers and singers showed us their skills and brought us closer to the village, people and their art forms. They danced, hopped, twisted and turned greeting us and sang songs of THE GAURI (the God and Goddess) and the harvesting of crops which were very important aspects of the village life.

Later on as we looked at the Warli art, it was very clear that the Tarpa dance, the Tarpa, the harvesting process of crops and the gods, idols, temples, their faith, religion and worship played a massively important role in their upbringing and were vividly seen in their Warli art.

We travelled across to majority of the places and areas learning about Warli art and were gifted to watch the young artists and the master of Warli art at work. As the master craftsmen Mr.Ramesh and the 10 year old Ashish with his friends and elder brothers Rajesh, Ramesh took small pieces of cloth dipped in their soil / mud and cow dung, which had dried up now to look like a great canvas place for their art to be etched or created, they slowly began the magic.

As we watched their undivided attention and focus on their art being converted to shapes, forms, figures we could see that they were actually creating the different dances and performances that we had just seen their today, few hours ago. It looked amazingly alive and breathtakingly beautiful. The flow and the rhythm of the art work were exquisite.

Throughout as Mr.Barney and Mr.Jeremy were shooting the whole thing and taking notes, I had a real blast as I could not only learn about the art of warli, but also meet such sweet, skilled and amazingly talented people and learn so much about my own culture of the village life in India.

By the end of the day after taking rounds of the places where the master artist usually works, where he gets his inspiration from, later on we also caught a glimpse at the various artworks created by his wife on cloth, t-shirts, Ramesh’s unique combination of using the gourd vegetable to be used as pots, moulds and create amazingly exquisite showpieces of Warli art on it, we headed back to the vehicle. Mr. Jeremy treated us to a nice lunch and we then headed back home.

The journey back home was very much different than the way it began.

There was so much curiosity and so many queries when we had started at the crack of dawn, but as we headed back home, I was filled with so much awe of the humbleness, simplicity of their lives and pure art that I could feel rushing inside my head. I rested in the comfortable and BIG Chevrolet and went back home with a day, that was fun, had a huge learning experience, meeting brilliant artists, great people, the partners of A FINE LINE who had shown so much respect and love for the art and Indian culture…..

(For pictures of this whole journey, click on the link below: http://ananthvclicks.wordpress.com)

The day had ended with the setting sun and I was grateful to a very good friend of mine, Mrs. Neela Shinde for introducing me to the brilliant researchers from UK, was Thankful to both, Jeremy and Barney for such a wonderful journey and humbled by the loving and talented villagers at Dahanu.

God bless art and artists for spreading so much life, culture, love, passion hope and dreams all around us.

Be well

Ananthanarayanan V

http://ananthvclicks.com

http://techdivine.cgsociety.org

http://www.art.in/artists/ananthanarayanan-v.htm

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