Evening Walk with Mr. Prabhu

This is Mr. Prabhu, my nonagenarian neighbour who walks for 45 minutes to 1 hour daily evening. Everyday I hear the sound of his slippers while catching the news of the day on TV. Yesterday, after returning from work, I waited for him with my camera and tripod ready to click a few pictures of his. He asked me what was I doing outside and happily posed for me when I told him I was taking pictures.

This is Srikanth from the next lane who gave Mr. Prabhu company for few minute. I felt he was unexpected bonus for me.

I was humming the Alive is Awesome jingle of the Cinthol product range and felt that these two persons somehow gave real meaning to those words.

Sun Bathing mangoes & a pair of shoes

Drying mangoes in the sun and making pickles is an annual ritual with Ma. You'll find mangoes of numerous variety cut, diced and even scraped all around the house during the summer. The fragrance of mangoes marked the beginning of the long holidays in childhood and tasting a few pieces without anyone noticing was a fun activity. Paradise Pickles & Preserves anyone? :-P

I wished to hold on to you

I wished to hold on to you a little longer

and caress your cheeks

I wished to hold on to you a little longer

to tell you everything, good and bad,

that happened to me after you left

I wished to hold on to you a little longer

and look into your eyes to see if I still

existed there as a happy memory.

Grandpa's Clock

One of the few old clocks in my antiquated house. I got a kerosene lamp hanging nearby in the frame as a bonus.

Click for a click will make the world go...

Chandrakanth clicked me

I reciprocated

He wanted my happy face but it became horror

Surprisingly he isn't scared

Pappa trying to click us together

& does a good job, even though I blink 

I'd first read about Chandrakanth here. Then after a few days saw him on TV; immediately I searched for him on FB & requested him to make a tripod that could be fitted on my wheelchair. He obliged & here I am.

Man in a Jovial Mood

My photography is bound to be in Top Gear (quality-wise) from now on,  because of my new friend (brother) Chandrakanth Madhavan has gifted me a tripod that is fitted on my wheelchair.

I Pretend to be Happy

I pretend to be happy without you.

Sharing small joys with the world

In an effort to forget the euphoria you shared with me.

I pretend to be happy without you.

Knowing that my existence is worthless without you.

Still making an effort to make it count for something.

Quality Time Spent with my Screen Pappa (Lal)

I'd gone to meet Lal for a chat after his performance in Ozhimuri got Special Mention from the Jury in the recently announced National Film Awards (2013).

I'll attach the interview here once it is up tomorrow.

Amidst White Violins

Last Sunday (17th, the last day of the Biennale) covered two more venues, Moidu's Heritage Plaza and the Pepper House. The former of which was nightmarishly inaccessible even on the ground floor with obstacles (the structure itself is on the verge of collapse) every few steps. Pepper House was a bit easier and this time Sendhil took the initiative to carry me to the first floor.

with Raju

with Sendhil

I could do it!

Yes, I could it... The feeling was special, so, the thought came to my mind why not put it on a paper and see how it shapes up. This may have been the first time in 14-15 years I was trying to write something in the real sense using paper and a pen (though I've written a couple of letters & a few birthday message in between).

It took me 10-15 minutes to pour the whole thing out and make the corrections. The result was exciting as you can see.

PS: I've already posted the readable version here.

PPS: This picture is taken by Ma.

You Can

You can make me cry.

You can make me laugh.

And, dance as your nimble fingers wish.

Because my strings are attached on them.

You can play a virtual God.

And decide my destiny.

Because I am hopelessly in love with you.

Flowering Cactus

The enchanting colour of this bunch of flowers drew me from day one itself. It kept growing every day gaining richer hues and I kept drooling thinking about how a pro or a person with little more mobility than me would have captured these changes. After nearly two weeks I just sat in front of it and clicked the best way I could.

This is my Best!

Absorbed

A Post Women's Day Picture of a Lady who can give any Superman a run for his money. :-)

A Prayer

Thinking about you,

Is the only prayer I do,

Every moment of the day.

Just mushy words! I know.

But still I hope,

They reverberate somewhere in your soul.

Precariously Perched

A construction worker working next door on a Sunday (in all probability an immigrant), that too without any safety gear. I'd hear the songs of Aashiqui coming from a phone placed somewhere inside the building. It made clicking these pictures more pleasurable.

Bonus

While looking for the link of Aashiqui I discovered that my favourite song from the film Dheere Dheere Se is inspired by Joyce Sims' Come into My Life, which doesn't really bother me as such and I like the original too...

Here are the two songs:

Dheere Dheere Se

Come into my life

Endurance

Physical pain becomes second nature once it crosses a limit. You just learn to live with it, it becomes like overgrown fingernails, they don't hamper your capability to work much but their presence is a mild irritant in the back of your mind.

Pain has been my constant companion for me since the time I can remember. It was physiotherapy and other such assorted treatments from a very young age, the excuse being 'don't you wish to be ok?' 'walk?' 'run?' 'play cricket?' etc. At other times it was ridicule, the louder I cried the vicious the ridicule. I can't say how much such treatments helped me physically but, it surely helped me in braving the pain silently and learning to ignore it all together. I became detached from my body so to speak (this isn't a high funda thing as it sounds but a practical thing that happens naturally, so, now I feel that my b***t has gone numb still I can go on typing this without much fuss).

Heartache or emotional hurt is a different matter. You can read lots of self-help and how-to books or follow any spiritual guru, but, when it comes you're left to your own devices. There is/was (I'm not sure) a streak of depression in me that would take me brink often, it could be anything, sometimes something that may seem absolutely silly.

In the last few days there were couple of instances that I feared (they weren't silly for me, not even in hindsight) would take me to the brink or at least it would take me a few days to be back to normal. But, to my surprise I was back to normal in just a few hours on both the occasions. And, to top it up I can think of those incidents without any uneasiness. I have also thought about how my brain was working during those hours to see if there was any peculiar pattern that was followed.

I'm getting a few answers from this process. The best of them maybe that my heart too learning to endure pain without hampering my capability to work, otherwise I couldn't have written this post.

Thoughts on a Special Day

Hold me tight.

Let the gloom pass.

We will survive together.

It'll be just a normal day as any other.

I know that for sure My Love.

Imperfection And Inaction

I hardly strive for perfection or do my best, I’ll do better next time is my mantra (as there is a sense of dissatisfaction gnawing somewhere deep within and never a fulfilment). It is the mental thing, I just can't discount my limitations when I imagine myself doing something, it is only when the actual work starts the limitations come to the fore stifling even my thinking or the thought process and leaving me inactive. Sometimes, I stop making effort to do it again (if the degree of disappointment is very high), otherwise I just do it the way I can and leave the rest (it is very difficult for me to get out of the 'self-pity' zone if I enter one and I harass a couple of dear ones, so I've to be careful I don't slip into it).

Basically I feel I've turned out to be a happy person. I don't feel I require any special conditioning to remain like that (some weird chemical composition in the brain maybe).

Once in a while I do get lucky and achieve near perfection as in the snap below:

I clicked it sitting in an auto-rickshaw in a traffic jam. Since then I have tried hard to capture fancy number plates (to make a series). But, has never come this close.

Second visit to the Biennale

At the Aspinwall House.

In front of the work of Vivek Vilasini.

With Sendhil

With Raju

Sendhil with a headless Raju

Discussing about how to be in my frame with their heads intact

All Smiles

At Ease (before Raju got punctured carrying me to the first floor a few times)

The Unholy Trinity

Details of the First Visit to the Biennale are here.

Banana Vendor of Kochi

Shamir, from whom Ma sources our daily dose of energy. I'd clicked these pictures as 26th was a holiday and he came around noon. He patiently moved around his cart for 15 minutes as I requested him to and Ma placed me wherever I wanted to...