New York, New York

I didn't take many, if any, pictures of this beautiful city last year. This year, I've made it a priority. Picasso comes with me whenever he can, and I shoot away. Seeing the city through Picasso's lens makes it come alive in a way that the hustle and bustle doesn't. I don't know what it is. Maybe it's the fact that Picasso lets me, and us, capture a single moment and examine it thoroughly. In a place where a single moment passes by faster than in other places, it's nice to be able to stop it temporarily.

Here are some of my favourites from the past few months. Enjoy.

Delhi in 18 Hours - Part 1

I was in Delhi two days ago. Having missed the entire tourist experience when I was in the city 10 years ago, I figured I'd use my 18 hour long stop-over in the city (en route to Amritsar from Lucknow) to take in the sights. Being the Mirza Ghalib fan that I am, I decided that his mazaar, along with Nizamuddin Auliya's dargah and the tomb of Aamir Khusrao were on the top of my list. After a quick breakfast of wonderful sandwiches and cold coffee in Jangpura Extension, a trip to the ever-wonderful and oh-so-NRI Khan Market (where I saw some gorgeous Jamini Roy paintings), I hailed an auto and went to Nizamuddin with a friend.

We went through the narrow alleyways and happened on the Ghalib Academy. I'd been looking for it, but had decided I'd wander around and hope to find it, rather than actually ask someone for directions. We went in and I was immediately shocked with how nonchalant everyone was. It was as if they didn't care at all about Mirza-sahab (which they probably didn't), and were just there to earn some money.

Hue mar ke hum jo rusvaa hue kyon na garq-e-darya,
Na kabhi janaaza uthtaa, na kahin mazaar hota.

Immediately upon entering the Ghalib Academy, I was greeted by a stack of books - arranged helter-skelter of course - on a wide variety of subjects. A book of ghazals by Qateel Shifai caught my eye, and I started going through the book, in the hope of finding the words to a beautiful ghazal sang by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.

Hum apni shaam ko jab nazar-e-jaam karte hain,
Adab se hum ko sitaarein salaam karte hain.

As I was flipping through the book, a random guy came up to me and asked me what I was looking for. I told him that I was looking for a Qateel ghazal. He responded that he had no idea what I was talking about and that I should buy the Kulliat-e-Iqbal. My entire exchange with him weirded me out. He tried forcing me to buy an English translation, to which I responded that I knew Urdu and how to read the language. He either didn't believe me, or really wanted me to buy the English version, and kept on repeating that I should buy it. To which I, in a frustrated manner, responded that I already had the Urdu Kulliat-e-Iqbal and wasn't going to buy the English version. I then demanded to see the other books, and was taken first to the library (which was full of old Muslim men, who stared in shock when a girl walked into the library) and then to the little museum on the top floor.

The museum was interesting enough. There were some curios from Ghalib's lifetime, paintings of famous poets, paintings of Ghalib, some of his letters, stuff like that. It also looked as if it was kept shut most of the time. It was disappointing to say the list. Annoyed, I got out of there as soon as I could, and went looking for his mazaar.

NB: I was in Delhi on the 13/14th of July.

SarZameen-e-Avadh

Lucknow is beautiful - the streets, the people, the air, the light, the food. I think I'm in love with this city already, and it's only been 4 weeks. My housemates and I wandered around and got lost in Chowk this past weekend. It was amazing. Here are some pictures from our wanderings...

Jelly-Love

Contrary to what the biologists say, jellies have hearts....

Picasso/Camera Angst

The way he was sitting, the downward tilt of his head, the arm resting lazily on his knee, and the glass tilted in his hand. The lady in black, in the background leaning towards the man beside her; the bottles at the bar glistening softly, framed by the reddish-brown wood of the shelves. The low lighting, a touch of red contrasting subtly with his jacket.

I thought of Picasso, and how I wished he were there. And in a flash, in an instant, in a moment that is too short to describe, he looked up. And the picture was gone.

Aznavour-Love

Oui - c'est triste Venise...ah Venise...

Through the Looking Glass...

...albeit an 8-pointed star-shaped one

I wonder what they're thinking

Dwindling Agnosticism

Echoing adhaans in Sultanahmet

Complete peace in the Blue Mosque

Tears at Maulana's grave

An intense longing

ishrat-e-qatra hai darya mein fana'a ho jaana

Nights of Insomnia

The best nights are spent in the company of brilliant music, turned up as loud as you risk turning it up without waking up your household, with a pot of tea and pure, unadulterated darkness - except from the light of the computer screen.

I could do this every night - but then I'd eventually be completely brain dead. Given my current state of relative exhaustion, it's not the best idea.

I wanna be a rockstar

and a photographer

screw school (?)

The Second Act

The World's a theatre, the Earth a stage.
Which God and Nature do with Actors fill.
- John Heywood

Epiphany

You know - I've had an epiphany.

When I'm too lazy to write on RFS but feel the urge to post a new post, all I have to do is put up one of my pictures. They're relatively pretty and, sometimes, thought provoking.

Or I could just write a post like this.

Paris, Je t'Aime

Voila...un photo du Tour Eiffel...par mon autre camera (il n'a pas un nom...)

More Bark

This picture really represents our world no?

The Wonderful World of Picasso

I got a Nikon D40x for my birthday. As I take more and more pictures, I can't help but want to take a year off after my B.A and travel around the world, taking pictures.

I call this shot Zebra Bark.


ps - I name inanimate objects - cameras, iPhones, skeletons....D40x's name is Picasso