"Its been a long time..."

Bremen Hauptbahnoff.

"It's been a long time, now I'm coming back home.

I've been away now, oh, how I've been alone.

Wait till I come back to your side,

we'll forget the tears we cried."

Wait. Rubber Soul.  The Beatles.

Laziness and preoccupation with assorted stuff had resulted in the long five month gap.  I had been drawing however.  So have enough material to post!

Half and half

Ganesh display off Sus road. Pashan, Pune.

This is a very large display that has been set up during the ongoing Ganesh Festival. It is a stage with a ten foot high Ganesh in front of a half football field sized ground. The orange stairs lead devotees onto the stage where they pay homage.

I had parked to draw it and this small machine shop made of corrugated tin was an interesting foredrop. The guy was building a cabinet with L angled mild steel beams. 

A summit experience

Panel Discussion

Featured speakers

Doom and gloom. Call from HQ?

Security guard and doorman

Not all panelists showed up.  

Concierge and waitress in the lobby

I was in Mumbai for a “Summit”.  I had been there last year as well. Here is the post from back then. Perhaps the best way to kick off a conference is not with a depressing story. The Emcee started off with:  ”One of our delegates told me today that he may not have his job when he gets back to work on Monday”.

 

Well, it was doom and gloom in the Learning and Development sector of Indian IT /IT ES.  I provided my support by drawing in my little notebook as serious discussions about “Investments in Imagination”, “Human Capital”, “Bharat and India: It’s not the same India for all!” etc . raged. OK, not quite “raged”.  More like diffident non-committal declarations upon persistent prodding by the panel leaders:

PL: “Come on <> you surely have an opinon”,

Panelist: “Yes, yes.”

PL: “You must say it!”

Panelist: “Yeah, I suppose…*mumble*”

PL: “There you go folks, <> will now tell us his experience from the helm of<< Name of a super multinational>>”  Hands the microphone firmly to the panelist.

Cornered Panelist: “It’s a demand and supply situation. When in doubt go to the basics. It’s not “One size” fits all.  The situation on the ground is always different and we must assess it before we make strategic commitments in this recession prone economy.”

Thrusts the hot potato microphone back at PL and gulps water. 

I did learn a new term.   Apparently, Indian youth suffer from a severe ‘Intent Deficit”.  Turns out, it means that they don’t know why the hell they are working.

It appears that corporations in India regularly ask their youthful employees if they know why they are working.  And their employees aren’t giving answers the corporations want to hear.

I couldn’t take it after that.  I had to duck out and laugh into the delicious orange & poppy cupcakes served with black coffee outside in the lobby. God bless our youth!

All my Gods have clay feet

Terminal 3 , Delhi International Airport

Lohegaon Airport, Pune.

Back from New Delhi/Guragon this morning.  All the talk in business is about the weakening Indian Rupee. Distressing but boring after the twentieth time.

This week has been stressful.  Lots of stuff happening.  This travel also added to it.

Paper Planes:  MIA

" I fly like paper get high like planes."

Born under a bad sign

Shop across from Tambdi Jogeshwari Ganesh Temple, AB Chowk ,Pune

This is in the old city of Pune. The stone pillar is a "Deep Stambh" or a Light Pillar.  Lamps would be lit in the curved arms along its height.  Made from native basalt rock probably 50-100 years ago, several remain around the city. I have drawn one in the past as well.   This is across from a famous Ganesh Temple in Appa Balwant Chowk. ABC.

It's a busy street corner as well. The old curved shop caught my eye as well.  So I squeezed into a cranny by the entrance to the temple and drew.  Several people stopped by on their way. Almost as usual, one person said something  that was strange and creepy.
The sketchbook I use is oblong. It opens lengthwise and its spine is on the short side.. I am right handed so I prefer to rest the right half on a flat surface and draw.  The long left half is propped up on my left and doesn't get in the way.  Basically, I always draw on the right half. And stingy that I am, I use every damn page including ones facing each other.  That means I rotate the book so that  I always draw on the right half of the book. Makes sense? Probably not. In any case, it turns out that if you open the sketchbook the  drawing on the left is upside down and on the right half is right way up.
Long story short, according to this concerned nutcase citizen of Pune this is not a good thing.  NEVER WRITE OR DRAW ON FACING PAGES UPSIDE DOWN! This was explained to me in a creepy way that was half pitying me in tone and half coaxing like you would coax the  devil to leave the possessed.  The man asked me to reconsider the way I drew.  Sleep on it. He said.  Ponder what I was doing in a quiet moment of meditation. All this in Marathi, the local language. Low tones. Six inches from my face. He left saying that all he could do was suggest the right path.  My life was mine. But bad luck was everyones (!).  He was only working in his "Circle of influence" ( RIP Steven Covey!).  Lot of head wagging.
After he left, I thought up many many smart and witty retorts. My fantasy ended with me changing his life with the debunking of many superstitions that cloud the minds of his kind in this post medieval part of Pune.  But in real life I was squirming and getting really pissed off. Jackass. 

Waiting

Kera, a very tiny restaurant that specializes in food from the state of Kerala in India.  Fish Thali.

Linger On, a multi cuisine restaurant.  Lemon grass cooler and pasta lunch.

Tsai Shen Yen, Hong Kong Chinese restaurant. Rice and noodles. Veg Wontons. Coriander soup.

I spend time waiting in restaurants.  Waiting for food to be served, friends, take away...  Then, if no one is watching I draw.

The road not taken.

Joshi (?)Bungalow, BCL Lane, Deccan

I go to the British Council Library on some weekends.  My father is a member. It’s near Deccan Gymkhana.   I was early and walked up the lane next to it to see what lay ahead.  Two apartment buildings were undergoing a facelift.  They will become business hotels.  And in one lot was this crumbling bungalow.  Must be from the early 1940’s or maybe even older.   I sat on a concrete pipe and drew it.  Light drizzle of rain. 

Later at the British Council Library I scored.  They were having a booksale.  Books that have now been worn out and are being withdrawn and some “slow movers”. 

Guess what was moving slow? A Three volume set of Cunninghams Oxford press Manual of Practical Human Anatomy!  A very good anatomy reference for my collection.  I have been trying to learn basic human anatomy to draw figures reasonably accurately.  Vastus Medius is an extensor. Really.  An exciting  moment in my life.

What was worn?  “Secret Knowledge”. A very good quality art book by David Hockney. It’s his thesis that a lot of artists just after the 1500’s started using optics to help them draw.  They would use mirrored lenses to create an image on a paper as reference and then use that as basis of human portraits.  Ingres, Vermeer, are amongst the artists he thinks used such aids.   A very controversial book.  Even I was not sure I wanted to hear that those artists were ‘copying’ .   Buts it’s a good read. And has some really good reproductions of many famous art works.
Also purchased: “History of British Art” ( Blah.). And a good book by Metcalfe about Colonial architecture. It’s interesting reading about many of the old British era buildings one sees in India.    All in all a grand total of INR 450. Or About USD 9.  Amitabh’s a winner.  And the sweet librarian lady now thinks I’m a medical doctor.  

Slippery when wet

Across from "Roopali", Fergusson Road

It's monsoon season!  My cars tires were threadbare. As in, you could actually see the steel belts.   I had been postponing changing them. Finally did it this weekend.  Also changed my wipers.  Somehow, felt I have better grip when I left the service station.  I’m sure it’s all in my mind.  Will go out to the hills for a trek this weekend to celebrate this minor event of monsoon maintenance.

After I gave my car in, I walked around and had breakfast.  Drew this bike against the red shutters.  Got about fifteen minutes before they went up.  And cars parked along the sidewalk.  I painted the drawing at home later.  I took a reference photo.  But the red color in the photo seems really different from what I remembered.

Monday morning you looked so fine...

While there were no posts, there was a lot of drawing going on.  I traveled to Hyderabad on work, and then immediately went on vacation.  These drawings were done on the flight back and forth.  What is of interest is the perspective mess up in my head when I look to draw.  The airplane insides are full of challenges, curved walls, with intricate repetitive seats and other paraphernalia.  And the airports, given regular delays, ensure my subjects stay in front for long periods while twisting and turning in their place.

Ahab Flex pen with Noodlers permanent black. Koi waterbrush

Ink and pen and paper

It has been awhile since I went out and drew.  I just inked this tonight to mitigate the guilt.  The old city has some strange structures. This one was bristling antennae for a reason I could not fathom.  They didn't look like the omnipresent mobile phone towers.  And the building was a really acute slice in an angled narrow lane.  And the dark rain stains that dominate all Indian architecture.
Was listening to "Miles runs down the voodoo".  14 minutes of driving bass with Miles trumpet on top. Most excellent.  And then "Jean Pierre".  It was one of those "Essential" music albums that I never thought I would buy but that's what you get in music stores in India currently. Compilations, "Best of's", and other selections " Dance Party XXX".  I also possess "Essential Bruce Springsteen".  You can order stuff on-line now but browsing for music is always nice.

Six Blade Knife, do anything for you.

"..Do anything you want it to. One blade breaking my heart.
One blade tearing me apart."

Today was Ganesh Chaturthi. First day of the Ganesh festival.  Took the day off.  In the afternoon went to the  old city to draw and look at festivities. Found this stone facade that was quite ornate.  "Nagarkar "Dagdi" ( stone) wada".  This doorway encloses a traditional courtyard and homes around it in a contained neighbourhood called a "wada".  The colorful banners line this really narrow street in Budhwar Peth.  Close to Appa balwant Chowk.

Started a new sketchbook.  Also found my "Legend" CD.  And heard my "Dire Straits: Dire Straits" a few times over on my drive to a  trek to Visapur this weekend.  "Six Blade knife".  The whole album is so laid back and great to hear.

High Sierra

Watching Humphrey Bogart as I finished inking and coloring this.  This is one "machine" from an astronomical observatory in the middle of New Delhi.  It was built around 1700's by the Maharajah of Jaipur. I was on my way to a meeting near the Indian Parliament house. The largest democracy in the world debates and passes bills and legislature there.   It rained suddenly and I waited under a Frangipani tree full of white blossoms.  I stood and drew with a pencil and then inked the outline.   Not too much smudging despite the rain.   It was very gratifying to draw it there.  You notice so much more than when just taking a picture.

In the shuffling madness

This is Martin Bradburn.  I like Sebastian Kruger's art, his focus is rock musicians, the Rolling Stones in particular.  I was tempted to draw some but then thought maybe I should start close to me with musicians I knew and liked (ok, not really liked).  This glowering person does not usually play bass.  Nor does he usually glower.  However, I liked this picture because of the lizards and his focus.  His lovely wife may disagree about the likeness but its what it is.  ( If it is really objectionable, Ill take it down !).  He and Wayne are part of MeccaLilly, a Rhode Island redneck banjo playing outfit that will make you squeal. 

Two turntables and a microphone

There is this community of "Lambadi's" near where I live.  They have essentially squatted on land that has now become a large slum/shanty town. They are different from the locals with their own language and customs.  Some say they are the original gypsies ( Romany) who migrated to Europe.
They work as day labor.  The women wear colorful dresses decorated with mirrors.
I have been busy and lazy, alternately, and my blog did not get updated.  Haven't been watching the London Olympics at all.( Almost).
This was a poor digitization effort. It is pencil and watercolor.  And not so garish. The real life colors they wear are quite bright. This green in her blouse was almost fluorescent.

Gym Cycle Generator

In  old Pune city this is an old temple dedicated to Ganapati ( or Ganesh).  Since the city of Pune has so many temples dedicated to Ganesh, the temples are referred to by their location. This one is called Kasaba Peth Ganapati.  This temple is a few hundred years old.
In the back courtyyard I found this stationary excercise bike that has been adapted by the local electrical/electronics  industry as a human powered generator.  Pune has numerous and unpredictable power outages.
As I drew this, a person who worked in the temple, came and looked at my drawing. On his cell phone, he showed me a picture of Ganesh he had painted.  He seemed to feel both sorry for me, and superior, as he asked me if I was limited to my sketch book and one black pen.  All his paintings are large and  in color. Oils. Winsor-Newton (a famous English paint manufacturer).  He then told me he was a "hard" man but his anger and rage issues have been calmed by this Ganesh in particular.    It was very uncomfortable looking into his dark glasses as he shared this.  Big vermillion mark on his forehead framed by long greasy hair.   I said it looked like rain and left hastily.

Winehouse R.I.P.

For some reason I remembered that it will be a year already since she died.  I was not a big fan but she had a very unique voice. Good band as well.