NIASA 2008

It was 6:00 in the morning. Dhaval was already up. I thought I must also brush up. Dhaval practiced his presentation, I saw him making notes. I quickly had a bath and was already ready at 6:30. Finally I told Dhaval to rehearse his presentation once. He did. And he was pretty much in time. 13 minutes.

Then I asked for my turn. We were getting late. However, Dhaval allowed me to rehearse once. I was not in time…over 16 minutes. Deciding to cut down on my talking, we reached the venue.

Things started an hour late. In addition, we were said that we had 20 minutes to present instead of 15. We were happy. Dhaval got a little extra time to make notes. I already had mine typed out. I had already visited the toilet 2 times. Dhaval’s was the third name to be called and we were excited towards that. In the middle of his presentation, the lights went off…that is when we cautioned him to go slow with his speech.

I congratulated him. Things went on. There were interesting projects. Many of them could not finish theirs in time. It may be the 5th time I went to the refreshing room. My name had not been called yet…

After lunch, I had almost given up hopes. After the sixth presentation, I kept my notes inside my bag. But it was then I had actually become more attentive towards others’ presentation. And I was literally enjoying them. When the seventh presentation ended, the announcer called out…”Anuj – Cinema for the Blind”.

I was relieved. I visited the loo once again!

While the jury was still discussing the 8th project, I went to the loo for the last time. And then it was me. The presentation went glibly…I talked out my last line on the ring of the gong. 10 seconds extra…

I was almost impatient through the final presentation .

15 minute break and the winners were announced. Anuj ….Cinema for the blind. Gauri jumped out of joy. Dhaval congratulated me.

The venue and the date for the national jury have not been decided.

The Da Vinci Code

I have never read a book so passionately…and especially considering that I took 3 years to read fountainhead….i finished da vinci code in just less than 3 weeks!

What was gripping about the book was the way it used story to leak out the hidden secrets in symbology! While the first half of the story is very informative, the second part is very filmy! It’s easier to hide identities of people in a book than in a film…still after reading the book, I felt like I must watch the film. Because symbology is to be understood by seeing….and not only by imagining…

One wonders that how exciting can the life of sophie be…imagine solving puzzles to get a birthday gift….wow! I would love to do it. Imagine making those tricky puzzles, making treasure hunts…that was the strength of the story. The entire book was a puzzle book, and hence it set my pulse racing….

The prime thing is that the book raises questions (for me it was the first which questioned Jesus’s virginity!) and then there is so much so symbology around us…we don’t even understand it…that is when one feels at loss of knowledge.

Then and Now

those mornings...
standing at the foot board of the local train
with earphones plugged in
the soft air gushing against the eyes
compelling them to close
and concentrate on the music...

these mornings
standing at the foot board of the local train
with people pushing in
the stale air in the compartment
making it difficult to breathe
and get out of the crowd!

Ego

Today I skipped my lunch in order to complete drawings to be handed over to the contractors. I was actually refrained by sonal until I completed the drawings. It was evident that she had her own ego behind that!

I simply obiliged.

But what I understood that the Gandhian philosophy does work. After having her lunch, she came to me and told me to have my lunch and then resume. Then there was my ego at work! I told sonal that I didn’t mind having my lunch later.

But what is interesting that both of us had egos…right in their own place. Earlier, she felt that I would wait and later I wanted to prove that I can wait.

The best part was I think that both of us realized our mistakes…she felt she should not have stopped me and I felt that I must have completed my work before!

Ego is a double edged sword – once you know how to use it, it can take you so high, but at the same time, it may destroy you completely.