Seventy ways

Last Sunday me and my roommate, went out for a movie at a mall near MG Road, Bangalore. Well, as Bangalore has more people with disposable incomes than movie halls for them to dispose their incomes in, we didn't get the tickets we wanted.
Ambling around we decided to try out some 'freshly baked cookies' (can't name the chain,they have enough 'disposable' money to sue). Well, the cookies weren't fresh, or crunchy; the staff was indifferent and I found none of the advertised nuts in mine. Probably we selected the wrong flavors.

Cost of two cookies( paper napkins included, VAT included) : Rs 70/-

We came out of the mall, down the street, by a roadside ATM and found a small'ish shop selling a unique combination of " Chats and Italian". We went in to find out that it also sells paranthas. Ordered 4 paranthas ( 2 gobhi and 2 sattu :) with customisation ( no oil, no butter) and two bottles of soft drinks. Service was good, the chef was talkative, the table was clean, the fan worked.

Cost of the two meals and drinks ( paranthas came with dahi,subzi, achar and salad) : Rs 70/-

Lest it be felt that we were out only with gastronomic intentions in mind, let it be known that the afternoon was spend browsing through books at Crosswordz and then buying a few from Blossoms.

Evening we decided to try out some falooda at another roadside shop. "Falooda special with fruits" came in a tall glass. A mush of vermicelli, syrup, color, ice-cream topped with apple, nuts and incidentally, the chefs hair; was delightful (except for the hair part).

Cost of two glasses(with profound apologies for the unintended topping): Rs 70/-


:)

Disobey Obedience !!

Obedience can never be a virtue.
After being through the entire rigmarole of school and college life and into a year in a corporate I realize that much. Actually it is in the corporate world that this unsettling understanding established itself in my psyche.
I think obedience is taught as a virtue to make the job of parenting and teaching pain free. What it also creates is a batch of youngsters who cannot act on their own and rely on someone else to make decisions for them.....for many this is something they cannot get rid of in their entire lives.
We are taught to obey unquestioningly in school, obedience is associated with integrity, good character and discipline. At what costs?
It culminates in an unerring dependency on authority for any action. We always have to be told what to do. We obey tyranny, oppression, racism, to keep our own 'moral' high ground (obedience is a virtue after all). In office we defer going against the ruling of the higher ranked person.
There are few 'rebels' who do......who finally earn the right to decide for others and the process continues....
What should be taught to kids is the ability to decide for themselves. It will make a lot of difference to this world.

serendipity

A lovely word ( with no parallel in any other language, I'm told). The reason I like it better than procrastination is because it needs you to try to make something happen. There is a chance element there but that would never come up if one did not attempt anything at all.

I feel most good designs are a result of that. When I think post-its, the kaleidoscope, dominoes ( its other use), tea....someone somewhere was trying something else and they ended up with something wonderful and different.

The lesson is to keep trying ....sooner or later something will go wrong...for the better!!!

Pointed

There comes a time in everyones lives when he stops feeling envious for what others have and starts to appreciate the joys in his own life.

That time hasn't come for me yet...

By cycle....2

By cycle....

I love to cycle.
As a machine it has always fascinated me. I often wonder at the confidence of the person who built the first one. I am sure he must have promptly fallen off the first time he rode it and yet,must have persisted till he mastered the balance. I cannot honestly recall the last time I did that with a design of mine that did not succeed at the first trial.
Went for a long cycle trek yesterday. It was about 30 kilometers. I think it is the best way it understand the problems with the design.... actually any design. Most of what we do is use a product once and try to figure out the things that could be improved.
Using my cycle once would never given me the idea that the wrists hurt due to the right angle the handle bar makes with the hands, or that a rear view mirror is a good idea even on a bicycle, or even that the seat cushioning does not match my butt contours!!
I guess why people depend on the power of collective opinion( surveys) is because it is quicker and throws up interesting charts and figures ( and though this is very important, it is an imperfect process).
To know the design it is much more useful to take the bike out for that long hike. The painful butt is a powerful stimulant!!!

Art and Maladies

Found the perfect definition for the maladies bothering me since a long time. Its called procrastination. For those rolling their eyes, I must tell that for a long time I thought procrastination to be a glorified word for laziness!!!
For those still in the dark...do check the definition here.....it is bound to make a lot of you feel better.

Been reading a book called "The Invisible Art" by Scott Mccloud. Haven't finished it ....only reached the 3rd chapter but will recommend it to everybody interested even remotely to the world of comics. I am sure it is standard reading material for comic artists ( I can see them again rolling their eyes).

Have been studying a bit about the art of persuasive presentations and examples cannot get better than this book.

Google to know more....

Identity crisis

I did it again. I googled myself and then yahooed myself. At least I own my name on the net. Sat wondering how big that deal has become. An unusual name guarantees self named user ID's .
I am lucky to have an unusual surname that way. Lucky because my parents weren't born in this generation and named me so simply because it rhymed with an elder cousin brother's nomenclature.
No one is born with a name.Tomorrows parents have so much more to think about. Here is my take on the ground rules (in no particular order)

1. The beginning letters should ensure school roll numbers fall safely in the middle.
2. Shouldn't be common as that would mean an email ID like "ravi1962007superstar" ( it exists!!)
3. Unique but not too much (preferably use a less common alphabet like Q in the beginning)
4. Shouldn't be weird ( hard for a name beginning with Q!!!)
5. Should be pronounceable in most accents ( heard a story of a girl named Kaamini being called "Kameeni" ('wicked woman' in Hindi) by her accentually challenged American boss)
   
6. Shouldn't be long (think of the endless forms that she will have to fill in her life time)
7. Shouldn't be short ( almost always will result in problem as in Point 2 above)
8. Should be something that, when shortened would result in something that sounds cool ( examples are too tragic to be mentioned)
   
9. Finally it should also mean something nice!!!

Here are a few nice links I found on myself though:

A French trend watching site thought that one of my ideas was...er...well it is in French and here it is
This site featured my website on their blog (one of their inaugural issues). This link is here

Factual fiction

Was remembering a story about how the landscape at Hampi ( see pic) was formed. The tourist guide actually told us three and gave equal importance to all of them

Story 1:

The place was Lord Hanuman's playground. He used to gather the huge rocks and pelt his chums with them. The mountains are the remnants of those that were unpelted.

Story 2:

When Lord Hanuman was flying over the region carrying the magical mountain from the Himalayas, some of those rocks tumbled down and formed what we see today.

Story 3:

The formations are most probably caused by earthquakes.

Take your pick :)

For me....it was a close call between 1 and 2 ( settled for 1 eventually). I know that the 3rd one is probably true but in a world where we can't accurately talk about either the past or the future.....I choose to believe something that gives me the thrills, something that is beyond the mundane....;)

D friends ;)

Went to the wedding of a really cute and really close(to me!!) couple. Interdisciplinary design education has its perks as in bringing a wide variety of incredible and open minded people together :)
Have learned a lot about life and a bit about design from them.
This is my tribute....

Mother Computer

A question has been bothering me since yesterday.
" Do I exist because of a computer?"

I am not questioning my biological upbringing,mind. The work I do, what would it be if the computer did not exist?An era where sheets and pencils and instruments have been replaced by this modular ( one for all) machine, I feel the question is a valid one.

Always thought of the computer as a tool and always tried to use it as one till suddenly realizing that it is predominantly the only tool I use. So much so that I cannot have any creative "output" without it. A computer has shaped my perception of a finished product!!! A sketch is always a rough till it is honed by the monotonous precision of a number crunching machine.

Wonder how the pyramids were built...oh forget that...wonder how the Howrah Bridge was built? What about a precision output that is computer free. Architecture taught me that....where did that go?

Of boots and bikes and cost of style

Bought a pair of Nike ACG boots yesterday . Good shoes, styled well,comfortable. Came in a recycled paper back and cardboard box.
Cost : Rs 3900/-

Bought a Hercules MTB 3 months earlier . Good bike, styled well, no gear, came with its own pump and bell and lots of metal mechanical parts. Don't know about recycling (pun unintended).
Cost : Rs 3500/-

Value for money? Will get back in six months with that.

Work code

In India, people are fascinated with degrees and qualifications. You cannot work if you are not qualified to do so. Qualification is not whether you can do the work, it is more about whether you have a government approved degree declaring the same!!

In the US, of what I have heard, all that matters is if you can do the work. As long as the establishment is satisfied with the quality you produce it doesn't give a damn about your degree. This works both ways though.

What is a degree? It is an assurance that the candidate has studied and passed the prescribed examination for some fixed subjects. It can never be a reliable indicator of how good that person is in that field.

Signing off to ponder.

T-design

Having opposed the concept of technology as a initiator of design for most part of my design life...this does seem a bit hard for me, but there are instances where this is true.

Good technology does help in initiating good design.

Here is the technology link:

Player one:
Young trainee...talks about a new technology (glass) that slows down light that passes through it
Player two:
Me.....thinks that there is potential...dunno where or how
Player three:
MBA geek ( this one is cool though)....says can be used for foiling assassination bids ( political leader behind the glass.....assassin unable to pin point location...you get the drift)

Brilliant!!

Saw a cool portfolio on the net today....trying to use Google's creepy crawlies to add importance to that by adding a link here as well:

Photo effect

Recently came across an interesting concept for advertising used by Wockhart Hospitals. It was for their new package offer for would-be mothers called 'Nest'. Simple photo of a mother and child and some text.

Reason I liked it? It looked believable. The mother and child looked real. Why they looked real? The photo used had the effect of having been taken with a mobile phone camera...slightly blurred, colors a bit off. In short it looked as if the dad himself had taken it after the birthing...

In a world of photo touched up unblemished women and their squeaky clean, plasticky kids.....the Nest ad made a bigger impact.

It created an illusion of truth that was easier to believe.