:: frozen times ::

Oodles of Technology

2008-09-11T11:58:00.001-04:00

Please visit my new blog: Oodles of Technology for more tech. related content.

Eerie Photoshopping

2008-04-01T15:19:00.003-04:00

The New Republic's front page is quite eerie. This image looks like an effete man - which Obama definitely isn't; and neither is Hilary a benign woman.

Pillow Talk

2008-03-23T19:54:00.006-04:00

In all our silliness and spontaneity, we went to a pillow fight organized by the "Banditos Misteriosos" mobsters yesterday armed with a (soft) pillow and a D-SLR. It was a whole lot of fun to attend something so ridiculous and hilarious. There was a huge turnout, and everyone had a blast.

It comforts me to know that because it was an "International Pillow flight day", and because silliness has no boundaries, "at the very same moment" (in history?!), people in Beijing, Budapest, Copenhagen, Sydney pummeling each other as well.

Maximum City and other stories...

2008-01-25T15:51:00.000-05:00

Created with flickrSLiDR

We're back from India, where we had a family reunion of sorts, and then went to Rajasthan for a whirlwind trip. As my sister mentioned, these are not just photographs; these are memories that I will cherish for a life-time.

My babies

2007-12-06T09:01:00.000-05:00

Over the last spring and fall semesters, I have been taking wheel pottery classes at Clayworks; a non-profit ceramic art school and studio. My proud achievements include making symmetrical cylinders (whew, finally!), and some sugar bowls. These are some of my creations.

Om Shanti Om

2007-12-02T15:38:00.001-05:00

If you're up for some good "time-pass", have been a Hindi film buff since you were a kid, this one's for you. "Karz" was one of my favorite movies growing up. The ruthless Simi, the cutesy Rishi Kapoor and the hapless Raj Kiran - all made for a good masala flick.

The songs are good, and the song "Daastan-E-Om Shanti Om" sounds and feels like the "Phantom of the Opera's" title song. Though, I have to admit that this one is a "good, inspired copy". Shahrukh looks too malnourished to have a good body (or maybe that's the new look).

After the success of Don II, does this movie signal a new era of remakes?

babajob.com

2007-12-02T10:44:00.000-05:00

There is a very interesting article about a social networking website called babajob ,
defined as "village linkedin". What's inspiring is that out of so many social "notworking" sites that have been created, this one stands out for its creativity as well as the potential to make a real difference.

There was another video recently about India's migrant workers and their rush to Mumbai, the city paved with gold and lined with plum jobs. This boy who was interviewed had run away from home, and all he had was the pair of clothes that he was wearing, an address of a friend and a SIM card.

It amazes me how technology is altering the level of access that the working class has these days; no doubt, it's a long road ahead, but at least this is a good start.

Happy Diwali!

2007-11-09T15:35:00.000-05:00

Here's wishing you all a wonderful Diwali and a great year ahead!
Pic courtesy: http://www.gheehappy.com

What I've been up to

2007-10-25T21:40:00.000-04:00

Now that I’ve started working from home, I’ve started reading voraciously and I love the anticipation of deciding which book to read next, thinking about the books, and then occasionally, blogging about them. So my next few blogs are some book reviews.

Kitchen Confidential - Anthony Bourdain

2007-10-25T21:30:00.000-04:00

I love "No Reservations", a show hosted by Anthony Bourdain, a no-nonsense, bad-ass guy who also happens to be a chef. He's brutal about the restaurant business, absolutely detests vegetarians and spares no bones (no pun intended) with anyone in the food industry. I see him as the "ultimate cool guy"; raw, unapologetic, gritty, creative and adventurous.

His memoir does not disappoint; I didn't really get all the French and Italian words related to cuisine, but learnt some new ones. A fast-paced, very well-written read.

Rant – Chuck Palahniuk

2007-10-25T18:01:00.000-04:00

Chuck Palahniuk is at it again with another of his bizarre novels. His protagonist is as usual, a bored-out-of-his-mind suburban kid who likes to contract and spread rabies. He then joins a club where people bang into each-other’s cars to achieve immortality. It gets weirder, but I’ll spare you the details. Two words should suffice here – “skip it”; watch/read the “Fight Club” instead.

The Language Instinct - Steven Pinker

2007-10-25T18:00:00.002-04:00

My favorite of the lot. It talks about how language is “hard-wired” into all humans, and gives explanations about how language evolves over time; why kids exposed to more than one language pick up languages much better than adults; and (surprisingly) how deaf-dumb people pick up the sign language. Of course, the best part about it was that it was scientific enough for me to appreciate it; while at the same time explained in lay terms.

In the Miso soup - Ryu Murakami

2007-10-25T18:00:00.001-04:00

Fast moving thriller. I liked the intimate look at Japan’s sex industry, and the seemingly orthogonal view of Japanese culture and the woman’s place in the work force in their society. It seems to be a very male dominated society; teens are extremely fashion-conscious, and lonely, while adult women seem to be very regressive and following in the men’s heels. I might be making some really untrue statements here, but that’s what I thought after reading the book, and from scenes from Babel.

The New Life - Orhan Pamuk

2007-10-25T17:59:00.000-04:00

“The New Life” – a little too esoteric and out there for my taste, I picked up this book because I thought I’d try something different. I was a little disappointed that I didn’t quite enjoy the book. I love the way time-space seems to collide and intersect in movies, but I just didn’t feel it in the book.

Yet another cliché of a movie

2007-10-25T17:17:00.000-04:00

1. The title is the one I hated the most - it's regressive, the word "daag" seems straight out of a medieval novel, and I feel really angry about it, and that's why it doesn't figure anywhere on this blog post.

2. Jaya is definitely trying to usurp Nirupa Roy from the not-so-desirable position of whining mom, helpless wife and sacrificing mother. She seems almost demented in some scenes.

3. Give us a minute dose of reality, and we the viewers will willingly take it. But oops...we're talking about Yash Raj movies here. The mansion of a house (which of course is justified as a white elephant); the late night sewing sessions of the aforementioned self-sacrificing mom in darkness, the Catlic sidekicks with bad Hindi/English, cliché after cliché of ghise-peete dialogues - here's one - "I'm marrying you because you're the only (whore) who knows her Hanuman chalisa"!! What! - where did this come from? As far as Suketu's novel goes, most of the sex workers come from very poor families, and are very god-fearing.

4. One last silver lining - I'm sure the classical purists hate her for selling out to mass media, but I quite liked the Shubha Mudgal's remixed version of the title track.

At the Guggenheim

2007-09-08T17:34:00.000-04:00

Last Saturday was a virtual overload of senses. We went to the Guggenheim in the afternoon, and then the evening show of the Phantom of the Opera. I was really impressed and overwhelmed with the collection and the exhibitions, and of course the interior space at the Guggenheim. I literally got goose bumps when I saw the famous paintings that I had seen only as postcards before in real life, so close that I could smell the paint on them (well, ok I exaggerate). Early Picassos, Kandinskys and Légers made the afternoon really memorable.

The Phantom of the Opera

2007-09-08T17:14:00.000-04:00

We were in NY for the labor day weekend, where we had a mini reunion of sorts with some high school friends and finally managed to catch the longest playing Broadway show ever after so much anticipation. And boy, it did not disappoint. The sets, the music, the acting and the costumes made it a real treat! I loved the Phantom's lair and the smooth ride in the boat. Candles and wrought iron cages and smoke appeared from nowhere and disappeared just as seamlessly. If Lalunadiosa is to be believed, the show was nothing compared to Les Misérables, but that didn't stop us from raving about it.

The Sopranos

2007-07-08T15:16:00.001-04:00

I'm only about 8 years late in joining the fan club, but the Sopranos is an awesome series, and L and I are hooked. I love the slick direction, the crisp dialogs (and the Italian accents), and the way all the characters are fleshed out.

iEconomics

2007-07-03T19:06:00.000-04:00

I know you've had enough of iPhone and iPod related news, but this article offers a fascinating insight into the complexity of globalization and how the iPod is really much more than the sum of its parts.

(Picture cropped from a graffiti-styled white wall of the MOMA)

Stumbled upon something really cool...

2007-06-28T15:40:00.000-04:00

The basic premise of this site is that our experience online, most often called "surfing" is more likely a stumbing experience. We search for something, click on the link, don't like it, go back, click on some other link...you get the picture.

StumbleUpon is a great site to discover new sites, tag them with a thumbs up or down. I've found some really cool sites this way, and what better way to pass your time than stumbling through websites? I love their Firefox extension, so a cool site is just a click away!

The Reluctant Fundamentalist

2007-06-21T10:39:00.001-04:00

Read this book in literally a day. It's a wonderful book with a view from the other side of the fence. Whoever is tired of the jingoism in American politics, and the paranoia surrounding terror, will not only relate; but also empathize with the protagonist Changez. It's a narrative storyline of a disillusioned Pakistani Princeton graduate, as he relates it to an American interviewer.

It's very easy to think that this story is autobiographical. This is how Mohsin Hamid (the author) answered this Q in his interview: "People often ask me if I am the book’s Pakistani protagonist. I wonder why they never ask if I am his American listener. After all, a novel can often be a divided man’s conversation with himself."

Some Photoshop fun

2007-06-16T14:45:00.000-04:00

A solarized image using the Filter > Stylize > Solarize option in Photoshop Elements. The image looks too dark, so adjust the colors by using the Enhance > Auto Levels option. The end result is a cool, pop-artsy look.

Old San Juan

2007-06-10T15:32:00.000-04:00

Old San Juan mesmerized me with the cobbled-stone alleys, the curio shops, and the vibrant colors on the walls. What fascinated me was that seemingly ordinary buildings and in fact even chain stores used these colors to create an effect of harmony and vibrancy. Of course, the city has done a great job in maintaining this effect, and it definitely is not a coincidence that the redeveloped section of Old San Juan where El Morro, and the galleries are, also have repeated this architectural style. The architecture in San Juan seemed to be a medley of Spanish and island architecture - no wonder it seemed like I was in Goa. Featured pic (the ubiquitous Burger King – San Juan style)

Puerto Rico!

2007-05-31T09:42:00.000-04:00

I'll let the pictures do the talking for you. Watch this space for posts on our travel.

The Flintstones...

2007-05-24T16:08:00.000-04:00

I really thought I was reading some kind of a bad, ignorant joke. A creationism museum has opened in the heart of Jesus country extolling a universe where creationism rules, and evolution, securalism and pure science are ridiculed. I was really appalled when I read this article. I feel sad for the parents and their kids who are planning a trip to this myopic universe. Up next - an exhibit showing how the earth is flat and how the sun revolves around it.

Five things you don’t know about me

2007-05-09T11:34:00.000-04:00

Petty-Change tagged me, and since you already know that I can be a real slacker, I'm just going to link you to a very similar post that I had blogged about almost a year ago.

Shear Genius!

2007-05-03T15:11:00.000-04:00

I don't consider myself a very logical person, but I'm always intrigued by paradoxes and oxymorons...though I will not be inclined to draw any derivations out of them - just something to tease the brain, and I'm happy. Here's one very interesting one:

A very dedicated barber shaves all men (and hirsute women) who do not shave themselves. Under this scenario, the question is "Does the barber shave himself?"

Check out the rather above-my-head explanation here.

I'm OK, you're OK.

2007-04-05T09:31:00.000-04:00

http://www.wefeelfine.org has been harvesting human feelings from blogs. Basically, the system searches for "feelings" across the blogging world. In a time where personal emotions and feelings are open for all, this website seeks to take a 15000 ft. view of this phenomenon. The system is weighted on no. of total feelings. Why am I not surprised that Hawaii is the happiest state and Vegas the sexiest city in the US? I think it's a great concept...and maybe another idea for L's thesis!

I think what would be really cool is if they harvested personalities from blogs...it will be fun to see if New Yorkers are more aggressive than sleepy Cambridge. One of the creators, Sep Kamwar's bio is really impressive, and I agree with his mom whole-heartedly. Check out the section "Creators" to see what I mean.

Moo Moo!

2007-03-30T16:56:00.000-04:00

There’s something about the web that continues to fascinate me…be it cool ideas, gimmicks or actual functional utilitarian websites. Personally, I use the web for literally everything I do in the offline world…heck, I even bought my house from a craigslist posting.

I think the trick is make the product/service have its own dedicated following – a niche market that intrigues geeks, non-techies and soccer moms alike. Here’s one I came across – it’s called moo.com and it specializes in creating mini-cards from the user’s flickr stream, or other uploaded images. Now there’s an entire community out there trading moo-cards. How cool is that?

Another very interesting site is webkinz.com that bridges the gap between offline and online play-time for kids – a cross between tamagotchi and neopets I suppose.

This brings me to another idea for content on my blog – every week, I will feature a website (I’ll lean towards the small, indie websites) and talk about its concept, its people and maybe even a sneak interview with an insider. Watch this space!

This is so hilarious!

2007-02-28T11:44:00.001-05:00

I'm back...

2007-01-28T11:55:00.000-05:00

I'm back after a long hiatus, and Ayesha and I are collaborating on this blog called "Sab Kuch Chaltaa Hain" about our experiences (as an outsider) and hers (as a die-hard insider) in India.

Happy Holidays!

2006-12-24T09:39:00.000-05:00

Line Rider

2006-11-30T22:05:00.000-05:00

Line Rider is an amazing piece of Flash gaming. People have gone to crazy lengths to make the rider a skier who could win in the winter Olympics! Check this out:

- Trackback from Pogue's post.

Revenge of the auto rickshaw

2006-11-26T14:43:00.000-05:00

TucTuc, a CNG-powered autorickshaw service is the quintessential rickshaw with a twist - it comes in different designs, and is used in Brighton, UK as a tourist vehicle (and attraction)!

Incidentally, the picture on the left is the "Burberry" TucTuc which is being repainted because Burberry filed a lawsuit against the TucTuc'ers.

Sheer madness

2006-11-24T10:57:00.000-05:00

From the NY Times...

"The Best Buy store in West Patterson, N.J., had almost 2,000 people in line for Friday's 5 a.m. opening, many of whom had lined up starting at 8 a.m. on Thursday. ''They had turkey sandwiches,'' said a Best Buy district service manager."

I really feel sad for these losers for having missed a wonderful opportunity to have dinner with family. A blogger called Black Friday a "pagan shopping holiday". I call it insanity.

Update: For those unfamiliar with this phenomenon, "Black Friday" is the day after Thanksgiving when retailers in the US offer huge discounts at throwaway prices.

A full dosage of culture

2006-11-05T19:48:00.004-05:00

This Saturday, we attended the South Asian Literary and Theater Arts Festival in DC. The festival was really well organized, well attended and we got to experience quite a feast of good movies, book readings and panel discussions. Plus, there was some star power in the form of Nagesh Kukunoor and Kiran Desai. “Dor” and “Punching at the Sun” were screened as part of the festival, followed by a Q&A. I quite liked “Dor”, and I think his style of writing/direction makes you feel buoyant and cheerful about life; and makes you believe in the innate goodness of humankind. L was even slightly disappointed that the movie had such a feel-good ending; but I was quite happy with it. He even asked Nagesh the same question, and he answered “Why not? I want my audiences to leave the theater with a good, warm fuzzy feeling”. He’s really a great guy – so creative and so unassuming. No airs, no fake accents, just sincere movie making.

“Punching at the Sun” is this year’s entry at the Sundance festival about an inner-city neighborhood in Queens and a teen’s coming-of-age story. Left me wanting for more; but I think the director Tanuj Chopra had me quite entertained in the Q&A. When asked a serious question about the teen’s father and how his character was not developed, and whether that was intentional, he started saying how it was an expression of his basic theme etc. Then he just gave up and said “Oh, actually, he just didn’t show up in the last few weeks of shooting!”

The other notables were Devyani Saltzman(Deepa Mehta’s daughter) who’s written a memoir, Tarun Tejapal (really dynamic journalist and founder of Tehelka.com with a colorful personality), and Samrat Upadhyay, whose reading reminded me a lot of “The Glass Palace”.

Randomness

2006-09-10T16:43:00.000-04:00

Can you come up with random things about yourself? By random, I mean eccentric or quirky – something random enough that it’s not an essential characteristic, but it’s still you. It’s actually a difficult Q, and I had to think hard to come up with mine. Maybe I’m not weird enough. Uff – normal is so boring.

1. I had 2 imaginary friends with really weird names. I was 9-10 by the time I realized it was probably time to let go of their friendship.
2. I press the toothpaste in the center; not from the end, and it drives L insane.
3. The clothes in my closet are arranged by color – from whites, warms to cool shades.
4. The toilet paper roll has to unwind from the top; it really upsets me if it’s unwinding from under.

And no…I don’t solve Sudoko on toilet paper!

Omkara

2006-09-02T17:01:00.000-04:00

Watched the much hyped movie this weekend. Though I loved the editing, direction and the dialogues, the movie left me asking for more. It was probably because I was expecting too much from it. I think I should just enjoy a movie without reading any blogs/reviews about it. In any case, personally, I thought Othello’s character is supposed to be a very passionate, almost violent role; but the restrained Ajay Devgan did not do justice to the role. Though he acted well, I could not see the despair and the jealousy that the character needed to depict. Konkana Sen, as usual was brilliant; and Saif’s gaalis left me chuckling.

L and I came up with an alternate casting:
Othello: Abhishek Bachan
Iago: Manoj Bajpai

From the archives

2006-08-24T21:30:00.001-04:00

This pic is from one of my first forays into digital art. Both the pictures were taken at the Met, and then superimposed. The background picture is the hieroglyphic from the Temple of Dendur (this entire Egyptian temple was transplanted to the US) , and the foot is early Greco-Roman.

Aah, a trip to NY just for the museums is long overdue. I am quite excited about going to the newly reopened MoMA.

Some more Photoshop stuff...

2006-08-20T21:27:00.000-04:00

My inspiration was the cover of the Economist's "Intelligent Life".

Dabbling in Photoshop Elements

2006-08-17T21:11:00.000-04:00

I love gifting photographs to friends and family, and nowadays, I’ve started dabbling in Photoshop Elements. It’s pretty easy to create fantastic montages, (slightly gimmicky) but cool jigsaw effects and shadow filters. Here’s how I created this particular picture:

Start with a picture of your choice. Go to Filter > Texture > Texturizer > Load Texture (from file). Once in the folder view, pick Program Files\Adobe\Photoshop Elements 3.0\Presets\Textures\Puzzle.psd. Pick Scale and Relief values for your picture. The cool thing is that instant previews are available in the right hand side pane. I picked a scale of 150% and a relief of 6 for this example.
Once the jigsaw filter is added, using a magnetic lasso, carve out the pieces you feel are kind of central to the theme of the picture. Once the lasso is complete, cut it and copy it on the same picture. Add some shadow effects; I typically like to “hang” the puzzle pieces and then add a heavy shadow to it.

That’s it! Feel free to add any other cool techniques you know or might come across.

Fanaa

2006-08-12T13:50:00.000-04:00

I’m always super-excited about watching even mediocre Hindi movies, so I was really looking forward to watching Fanaa, considering I had good reviews about it. The past few Hindi movies that I’ve seen (Rang De Basanti, Hazaaron Khwaishe Aise, My Brother Nikhil) have left me with nothing with very good impressions about the new directors and the concepts. I am particularly happy with the fact that they no longer consider the average movie-goer to be an immature incapable of understanding complex feelings, plots and grey characters. This movie unfortunately disappoints.

Maybe I have a morbid sense of humor. But this particular episode in the movie is absolutely ridiculous – Rishi Kapoor plunges to his accidental death in the Kashmir valley. The scene cuts to Kajol filling water by the frozen river (why she’s doing that when her house is equipped with the latest gadgets and even a throbbing fireplace is beyond me); where she actually sees Rishi Kapoor’s body flowing underneath the icy river!

Clichés abound…a Delhi travel guide lives in a beautiful apartment complete with a patio and garden furniture. The rain song with Kajol in her drenched chiffon sari. Ee Gads! Poor blind Kajol goes about her merry life with her concept of her “shehazada”. Kiron Kher is intolerable as the overbearing mom. Not one character is fleshed out.

Weekend movies: Kontroll, Melinda and Melinda

Top 5 Restaurants and Bars

2006-07-05T10:29:00.000-04:00

L and I came up with a top 5 list of restaurants and bars. Our lists were similar, though we did tend to get biased towards Indian sea food.

Inevitably, Philly’s restaurants/bars have a certain pseudo ambience where it’s the “In” thing to do. Baltimore, probably because it’s not trying to live up to any image tends to have bars and restaurants that exude that personality as well.

Restaurants:
1. Mahesh Lunch Home, Mumbai - Mangalorean sea food. Don't miss the prawn gassi. Drool!

2. Alma De Cuba, Philadelphia - Excellent food, beautiful presentation, very romantic ambience. Don’t miss the mojitos and the lamb merguez and fig glazed antichuchos (skewers)

3. Tapas Teatro, Baltimore – Small plates, tastefully done décor, trendy and still cozy. My idea of a perfect date is going for an indie movie at the Charles, and then to this restaurant next doors.

4. Mainland China/Legacy of China, Mumbai – Chinese done the desi style.

5. Levante's, Bethesda/Dupont Circle – The Adana kebabs are to die for. The restaurant has a peculiar “Levante’s” dish in every course.

Other contenders were The Pod (Philadelphia), El Sarape (Blue Bell), The Helmand (Baltimore). Rumor has it that this place is owned by Hamid Karzai’s brother.

Bars:
1. Continental, Philadelphia – L likes the quantity of the martinis, I love the white chocolate martinis and the “Steven Starr” kind of décor – meaning this is the place to be in the “in” crowd.

2. Brewer's Art, Baltimore – a once-grungy, now-yuppy hangout, it serves really good Belgian and German beers. Being a devout Catholic, L’s favorite house beer is “Resurrection” :) My favorite is the girlie beer - Kindl Weisse served with a raspberry shot. L’s friend’s gripe is the newly painted peach colored walls. But personally, I prefer it to be yuppier than grungier – considering my hair doesn’t end up smelling like an ashtray.

3. Not Just Jazz By The Bay, Mumbai – just love this bar’s live band. I actually recognize and love – be it the Beatles, Clapton or Santana.

4. Leopold, Mumbai – the hangout of all the characters in “Shantaram”, this is the perfect place for people-watching. Be it druggies or foreign couples with adopted Sri Lankan kids, this place is always filled with people in interesting phases of their lives.

5. Tangerine, Philadelphia

Other contenders were Peanut Barrel (East Lansing), Buddakan (Philadelphia).

Local Library raided!

2006-06-20T21:48:00.000-04:00

Aah...the smell of books! We raided the Towson Libary today; and here's the loot:

1. Grimus
2. Satanic Verses
3. Freakonomics
4. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
5. Confessions of an Economic Hit-Man

The picture on the left is slightly unrelated; but if I were to justify why it's there, I'll say that it's because it reminds me of books lined on a shelf.

Arco Degli Acetari

2006-06-18T21:37:00.000-04:00

Arco Degli Acetari is a charming little courtyard in Rome. When gazing at the pictures, charcoal paintings and the caricatures in Piazza Navona, I chanced upon this oft-used little courtyard – bright red, quintessential Rome. So we asked this graphic artist dabbling in tomography where we would be able to see this courtyard; so we felt really proud about discovering this small neighbourhood. It more than lived up to its imagery; L captured a good picture of it – I particularly like how the light seems to almost flood one corner of the picture.

Juxtaposition

2006-06-15T22:00:00.000-04:00

I find juxtapositions in architecture, or indeed any art form most intriguing. Post-Modern against medieval, fusion music, the suspense of a tangy mango chutney with Cuban cuisine – I believe it’s something to do some kind of sensory overload; where the first reaction is “Oh – this doesn’t fit” and finally it grows on to you, as if you think it existed since time itself.

Centre Pompidou is an exoskeleton of “inside-out” activities, meaning it has the building functions such as plumbing, escalators, heating on the outside in order to maximize space to house modern art, and is located in Paris’ medieval quarter. It’s difficult not to gasp at the ugliness of the building, but I was equally flattered by its design after walking through the building and going up the escalators.

I was less impressed with IM Pei’s pyramid in the Louvre; maybe I just didn’t get the concept of the entrance to the museum – not sure it had some subliminal message about the openness of space against the traditional architecture.

Somewhat unrelated to art but certainly within the realm of this topic is a fun place in Baltimore for Tex-Mex cuisine called Gecko’s which serves the most delicious mango chipotle enchiladas. Yum! Truly a burst of flavors.

YUVA Studio has launched.

2006-06-11T15:20:00.000-04:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 1, 2006

Toronto design studio launches online environment to stimulate creativity

It's Children's Day in China and Hungary, and children everywhere have something new to play, create and share with! Thanks to YUVA Studio ( www.yuvastudio.com ), a Toronto based studio with a mandate to develop products that nurture creativity in young children.

YUVA Studio's Product Design team announced today that YUVA, their premier product is ready and available for purchase. YUVA, the root of all words meaning "young", is an online environment, a creative playground for children aged 4 -10 years.

Shapes are at the core of YUVA. Co-founder Jayashri Deshmukh, refers to them as "the basic alphabet of a person's visual language". YUVA fosters PLAY with a palette of shapes. The rich environment challenges the imagination of young artists as they merge, rotate, enlarge or flip them to create a variety of drawings. "It's like playing with 2-D blocks. In the process of play and experimentation, a child makes a multitude of connections that unfold the principles of pattern, design and composition."

CREATE follows PLAY - it is a more deliberate act, one driven by intention. Using YUVA, children will be able use their original drawings to create e-cards, posters, greeting cards and even custom T-shirts.

A natural step to follow CREATE is SHARE – the act of confidently showing one's creations to others through e-cards, printouts, galleries and the YUVA Studio Merchandise store. YUVA not only makes sharing easy for children but also encourages them to solicit a response. E-card recipients can send messages to the artist. They go directly into the child's "Sketchbook" – much like signing an Artist's guestbook. The YUVA Studio Gallery is a public-facing online venue for these young artists to submit their drawings to. Soon, the Gallery will invite professional artists and designers to curate art shows and competitions.

Although YUVA's primary audience is children who have basic computer skills, the co-founder of YUVA Studio, Parth Upadhye says, "YUVA is actually for everyone, for all ages. There's a child in each of us that delights in creative play. In our product tests we found that while the children were drawing trucks and birds with YUVA, their parents were designing rugs and wallpaper! The possibilities truly are endless!"

At YUVA Studio, we can all be YUVA Artists.

About YUVA Studio:
YUVA Studio (www.yuvastudio.com ) designs and develops products that: foster play (with shapes), stimulate creativity, and encourage sharing. We have a "single" focus - that of creating products that fit this "Play. Create. Share." model of a creative process.

Contact Information:
YUVA Studio | www.yuvastudio.com | Play. Create. Share.

T: 416-607-6125 or 604-678-5764
E: media@yuvastudio.com

Enchanting Europe

2006-06-04T22:40:00.000-04:00

L and I are back from Paris, and I cannot stop thinking about it. For the past few days, I have reliving it by writing this blog, typing long emails, talking about it with my friends and family and tagging our online pictures.

My flight to Paris from Baltimore was very eventful to say the least. I got delayed by more than 12 hours...it was really awful. The book I was reading "The Accidental Tourist" turned out to be an ominous sounding title after all. We stayed that night in Paris which was close to the Eiffel Tower, went to see the Eiffel Tower, by sunset. The next day, we went to Rome, and were floored by the Colosseum, the Roman ruins and the Pantheon. Truly unforgettable! These ruins cover a massive area, and it is not hard to imagine the kind of life the Romans lived. Palatial gardens, artistic temples, and the larger-than-life orgy that they led on a day-to-day basis.

The next day, we went to St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican, and explored the small neighborhoods and squares in the evening. We went all the way up to the dome at St. Peter's, even saw the tiled mosaics on the dome. Really extravagant and an amazing architectural feat. What was kind of disturbing was the fact that most of the bronze, gold and marble used in the Basilica and the Sistine Chapel had been plundered from the Roman forum, the Pantheon and other pagan symbols. Sistine Chapel was really awesome, and I'm glad I took the audio guides for the explanations. There are so many parables woven into "The Last Judgement", "Genesis" and other Michelangelo frescos, that L's Sunday school teachings would not have been enough:)

Paris was a totally different experience; we hit the usual touristy spots – the Louvre, The Pompidou centre, Montmartre neighborhoods, Notre Dame, Hotel De Sully, Place Des Vosges, the Isles…I still cannot get over the fact that there was history at every corner, every square, and yet the locals seemed untouched by it all. After all, they're Parisians right?

I absolutely loved the idea of the "piazza" in Rome and the "places" in Paris. Highlights of the trip were delighting in the concept of a "caffe" bar in Rome, the inevitable "Made In China" Pinocchio keychains, gawking at the wonderfully dressed people in Paris, discovering small courtyards in the inner alleys in Rome, going all the way up to the top and enjoying the breathtaking vistas of Paris from the Georges restaurant on top of the Pompidou and enjoying the fabulous food, wine, gelatos.

We're still soaking in this unforgettable trip, and are bashing "America" for not being even close to Europe...the faux Corinthian columns adorning the office buildings and churches here are so passé.

I will try to cover each place in detail in the next few days.

bombay meri jaan!

2005-06-27T20:41:00.000-04:00

I just finished reading "The Moor's Last Sigh" by Salman Rushdie. The book's so beautifully written...he's really a class act. I copied a paragraph about the way he describes our beloved city. Few people can write such a wonderful statement as him. Even after I finished the book, these words kept coming back to me. Here goes:

"Bombay is central, has been so from the moment of its creation; the bastard child of a Portuguese-English wedding, and yet the most Indian of Indian cities. In Bombay all Indias meet and merge. In Bombay, too, all-India meets what-is-not-India, what comes across the black water to flow into our veins. Everything north of Bombay is North India, everything south of it is the South. To the east lies India's East and to the west, the world's West. Bombay is central; all rivers flow into its human sea. It is an ocean of stories; we are all its narrators, and everybody talks at once."

- The Moor's Last Sigh.

Rendezvous with the prince of Persia

2004-08-17T21:38:00.000-04:00

Serious gaming is serious work. And I’m not talking about NSTL BREW testers here. I’m talking about gamers. Being not so ambidextrous in real life (as against my virtual avataar), I have always found playing TV games a bit of a pain. Something that requires too much hand-eye coordination…basically just too much tedious, mind-and-finger-numbing work. A bit of an irony here, since that’s what I earn my living from. (Well, not really). Or so I thought until, I met my knight in shining armor, or rather, my prince of Persia.

It so happens that I grew up with the PC versions of most popular game titles today: Mortal Kombat, Doom, and other beat-the-opponents-life-to-pulp games. Not something I enjoy doing very much even though it’s thrilling to see Kano (one of the characters in Mortal Kombat) wrench out a heart out of his not-so-lucky adversary’s ribs. (Ouch…I’m so evil it hurts). Back to nostalgia, as I was saying, I grew up with rather duller, plainer, 2-D versions of all these games and do not once remember having to watch a 2 minute movie before the start of every level.

These days of course, we are forbidden to start pressing 100 keys at a time, hoping that one of them would work wonders, before watching the story enfold before us. I always thought the antagonist, namely this prince of Persia was in search of true love, looking for his first kiss, with the princess behind several 2-D shimmering curtains…well, not any more. The prince has become more hip and definitely more materialistic; he’s now in search of untold riches, scheming viziers and blood-sucking bugs. He’s now endowed with the gravity-defying abilities that would put Neo’s famous matrix action sequences to shame, and a time-stretching dagger that would give any self-respecting time traveler an inferiority complex. The concept is just mind-blowing. After some effort at trying to press all the keys on the controller at the same time, I finally got the much treasured “sands-of-time” dagger; only to learn that I had covered only 5% of the game so far…it really felt like an eternity (pun not intended). The game’s screenplay is so sympathetic to gamers like me, that since if the prince who is the narrator of the story falls off a treacherous cliff and dies for the nth time; the voice-over says “No, no…that's not how it happened. Let me start over."

Gamers have this tendency to take things playing games rather seriously, which is kind of scary. I mean, there are threads and threads of discussions over what the colors of the princess’s headdress should have been, and how the principal storyline should be based in Persia (now Iran) rather than the countless references to India. But being so meticulous, they tend to document everything very painstakingly. And I owe them a million pixels for this. I’m talking about the walkthroughs, without which I would be like a gamer without opposable thumbs. Being so new to the world of gaming, (here’s where my years of naïveté come to bite me), I never venture out to jump up like a monkey to the next column to clamber to the next level of the game. So here I am, supposedly playing on the PS2, with a browser window open waiting to be googled for the next step in the rather long process of winning the emerald/princess with untold riches/Persian loot with the sands of time from India. In fact, even I admit it rather sheepishly; I have a printout of a particularly difficult puzzle at the 11% mark in the puzzle to help me get to the 12% mark. The walkthrough does not have fine print stating the fact that listing the percentage mark figure next to each specific step just might make a raw gamer’s life a little more daunting not to mention disheartening. Plus, counter in the fact that I’ve been playing this game for two weeks now.

- Written for the internal NSTL newsletter (Aug. 2004)