November 14th

As much perception, as fact, is the reality that for grandparents, grandchildren have grown up too quick.

Dad does reminiscense often about how nice it was when Dhruva and Diksha were little and they got to spend so much fun time together. Dad could play with the kids at any level, and for however long.

He would become Subbaiah the mechanic when dhruva would play with his cars….. enjoy Super Mario in full competition with Diksha…... be the geologist when it was dinosaur playtime. There’s been many a trip to the Zoo and Prime time and Yogi bear park when he’d just take off on the Vespa with both the children. 

I recall this time that we lived close to Kachiguda for a bit, when he would take Dhruva for a walk each evening. And where would they go? They’d apparently walk to the station, buy platform tickets, and go sit on one of the benches watching trains go by :)

Fast forward twenty years to now...recently when Diksha went to their place, dad was sitting in the balcony, and he pointed at the evening sky and said:

“which star is that?”

“Is it Sirius thatha ?” 

“Aah....that’s right….how did you know?”

“I learnt from you only no thatha”

Such wonderful moments….moments which let you know that time together is times indelible and forever.

Thoughts and feeling inspired from the day, November 14th….no, not children's day, way more significant to us…. dad’s birthday

And to add a couple of pictures from this evening when Praveen popped champagne for the b'day :)

Happy Birthday Daddy !!

The Early Hours

I'm not really into poetry, but this one, not just caught my eye.... guess it tugged somewhere deeper within, and that's why it's here.

Also as preface is Maria Papova's beautiful introduction :

“The most regretful people on earth,” Mary Oliver wrote in her beautiful reflection on the central commitment of the creative life, “are those who felt the call to creative work, who felt their own creative power restive and uprising, and gave to it neither power nor time.” 

There is something lovely about this notion of giving time — a generous counterpoint to our culture of taking time, snatching it from the river of being, with the fist of disciplined demand, only to see it slip through. The discipline of showing up is an absolutely necessary condition for all creative work, yes, but it is not a sufficient one. 

Sometimes — often — we show up, only to find nothing happens. Whatever it is we are showing up for — art, love — cannot be willed, cannot be wrested from the hour or the soul. We learn then that the work is the work, but the work is also the waiting — the exasperation, the surrender to despair, and the swell of joy on the other side of the surrender.

THE EARLY HOURS

by Adam Zagajewski

The early hours of morning; you still aren’t writing

(rather you aren’t even trying), you just read lazily.

Everything is idle, quiet, full, as if

it were a gift from the muse of sluggishness,

just as earlier, in childhood, on vacations, when a colored

map was slowly scrutinized before a trip, a map

promising so much, deep ponds in the forest

like glittering butterfly eyes, mountain meadows drowning

sharp grass;

or the moment before sleep, when no dreams have appeared,

but they whisper their approach from all parts of the world,

their march, their pilgrimage, their vigil at the sickbed

(grown sick of wakefulness), and the quickening among medieval

figures

compressed in endless stasis over the cathedral;

the early hours of morning silence

— you still aren’t writing,

you still understand so much.

Joy is close.

Flight of the Falcon

As I walked into the balcony with my morning cup of coffee, I saw this beautiful big falcon on the opposite terrace.

Something so penetrating and powerful about that look, I just had to set my cup down and go get my camera. Bonus was that soon as I got one picture, it took off.....likely it's sixth sense picking up my presence though I was trying to be discrete. 

Yet through the camera, almost by default I got pictures of the take off and flight.....inspiring that lofty sounding title :)

An experience that lifted the spirits...

Einstellung

Not as complex as it looks....it's phonetically pronounced.

Einstellung, is a term used in psychology, to talk of the tendency that people have to set their mind into a fixed approach to problem solving. We are okay to repeat known methods, and become blind to alternatives that might be simpler and more efficient.

It's how we fall into a pattern based on experience. 

Experimental studies have evidenced that we do not consider solutions when we think we already have one, even though it may not be accurate or optimal. 

So we may stay stuck in a pattern or not resolve an issue, if we don't actually innovate. 

This apparently presents itself across the board, and has been demonstrated in varying areas of expertise and skill sets. I've read studies done in medicine and chess....and evidence says, whether we know it or not, we all experience it.

Issue is not lack of knowledge, it's being on auto pilot.

With this even self awareness might not help, it's yet coming from our own mind see. It's then about going out there and getting that alternate perspective....being able to reach out, listen, have that open mind. 

How language shapes the way we think

Basic but interesting.

"Does language enable expression of what we already know, or does language enable you to create what you know...to alter your thinking, and so your world" .

This is something that has always fascinated me. I do believe our concepts crystallize and expand as we articulate, and to that extent language alters thinking.

It's a much debated subject, and there are theories both sides.  The movie 'arrival', took it to a whole new level, showing how learning the language altered her very conceptualization and grasp of time. She had access to time as the fourth dimension. Sci-Fi yes.

This is real, at a basic experimental level. It's what psychology does, make theory a science, so, interesting for sure. 

Dhruva's Film 'The End' Wins Best Original Soundtrack

At the Final competition of CinemadaMare, Italy.

End of the 3 months of touring in 12 Italian cities, they had the main competition of CinemadaMare film festival, and it was such a joy to see Sagar Saha, for Dhruva's film, The End, get 'Best Original Soundtrack'.

Dhruva shot a short clip of the film screening at Venice

Why it's especially exciting is because I remember those days when Dhruva was making the film, so engrossed that we hardly got to see much of him..... we had no idea when he was sleeping, when he was eating...nothing, he was in another zone. 

It was taking longer than he had planned, and the final jury (final exams) was fast approaching, and the music score was yet pending as he had to go back to Pune to get it going.

I could sense his stress levels going up as time went by. So many movies I've watched with him he'll draw my attention to how it was the music that was determining the emotion felt... a lot of his listening would be movie sound tracks, so I knew just how much the music component meant to him. 

He said he knew what he wanted, and he believed that his friend Sagar, who is good at the key board, could compose it. In fact there was so little time towards the end that I asked if we could get anybody else in Hyderabad to help with music composition, and he was like "no amma, I know exactly what I want it to convey, and I know Sagar will get it when I tell him, only he can do it".

And he did, and how !

From the CinemadaMare site:

At the end of 3 months of touring ... and of competition, in 12 Italian cities, here is the result of the #MainCompetition of CinemadaMare 2018: - Best screenplay by Monika Maslowka and ArenManoukian, for the drama "The Maltese fighter", by Maltese director ArevManoukian; - best Editing to Fabrizio Franzini, for the film "Piccole italiane", by Letizia Lamartire; - Best photography to Giorgio Giannoccaro, for the drama "Il tract"; - best Original soundtrack to Sagar Saha, for the film "The end", by the Indian Dhruva Prasad Devara; - Best Actor Malcom Ellul, for the film "The Maltese fighter". In the photo, the jury presided over by Salvatore Verde

Congratulations Sagar and Dhruva. It's a wonderful achievement !!

In addition, the film got selected among other film festivals, at Mexico, Brazil, Italy, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Pune, and at a 'Film Festival for War Veterans' in the US, and also won "Best Short Animated Film' in Jaipur and Pune.

Dhruva, what I'm most proud of, even beyond your effort, commitment, and focus, is your belief in yourself, and in your film.......the belief and faith that enabled you to send it out to so many film festivals across the world. 

And this is not just a proud mother speaking, it's what I'd say to anyone who believed in themselves as you have. There's nothing more powerful. 

Congratulations Again !! 

Persistence vs. Consistent

From Seth

Persistence is sort of annoying.

Consistency, on the other hand, is the happy twin brother of persistence.

Consistent with your statements, consistent in the content you create, consistent in the way you chip away at the problem you’re seeking to solve.

Persistence can be selfish, but consistency is generous.

And the best thing is that you only have to make the choice to be consistent once. After that, it’s simply a matter of keeping your promise.