Merry Christmas!!!

 Christmas comes bearing the message of love, kindness and joy!

With Peace on earth and good-will to men!!

Wishing a very

Merry Christmas to everyone in Blogland!!!!!

Birds

Lost Music Player

The other day I was leaving my work place in a hurry and left my music player behind in my seat. The next day it was gone. The security at my office is pretty tight and only the people who work for my project who have the special access can enter and the house keeping people are frisked. I doubt housekeeping staff would have stolen it putting their jobs at risk. It is most likely a fellow employee. The security cameras do not monitor all the cubicles due to the already imposed entry access :((

Now I can forgive a person who steals a mobile, perfectly understandable given the cost and the glamour of the damn things. Besides, losing a mobile is really a bit comforting, no pestering phone calls from work and family wanting to know what you are upto at all times. It gives one the perfect excuse to enjoy a fully entitled peace for a few months until you get around to replacing them. And no one is angry for not returning or answering calls. Only a person who has experienced this would know the peace and joy of life without a mobile phone.

But a music player on the other hand is extremely important and essence of peace especially when you live in an over populated country with deranged drivers who think just by honking the horn as loud as possible you can get the stagnant morning hour traffic moving. I never knew the noise level of the city's traffic or the horrid music preference of the city's bus drivers and the loud chatter/ phone conversations of my fellow passengers until this misfortune. And I tell you stealing someone's music player is an absolute crime. Although I have no hopes of ever seeing my beloved Sony player and Ipod earphones (which are no match for sony earfones btw) but I curse the fellow who stole my player. I think vodoo magic would do nicely. Never tried before but going to try it one of these days on the thieving bastard. I know it is too much rant and I really appreciate anyone who read until the end. Hope you like these pictures.

Beach landscape

I have been absent for very long in blogger. I do believe my accidental profession ill suits me. I haven't visited  my friends too :( I have been learning some shading techniques from tutorial videos. I hope you like this beach landscape. Landscapes are so much more satisfying and fun to draw than portraits, atleast for me personally. See you soon!

Earth and sky, woods and fields, lakes and rivers, the mountain and the sea, are excellent schoolmasters, and teach some of us more than we can ever learn from books.

– John Lubbock

Nest

My drawing of nest (picture with mobile)

"There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,

There is a rapture on the lonely shore,

There is society, where none intrudes,

By the deep sea, and music in its roar:

I love not man the less, but Nature more."

-   Lord Byron, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, 1818

Poetry is an artful form of expressing one's feelings be it love, anger, philosophy, nature etc. Poets have the power to bring about cultural change, to overthrow a government and to bring joy and hope to blighted lives.

The poet might express his content and happiness with life just after a pleasant walk or an ode to a cherished friend who has just passed away.  It could also have been written from the imagination purely for the sake of money to meet a deadline under the enormous pressure of having to earn his next meal.

Sometimes a verse can mean several things and not all poems are straight forward. What do you think?

Do you think trying to analyse and dissect the poem line by line to discern its meaning takes away the beauty you feel when you read it purely for the sake of enjoyment?

Do you know this bird?

Update: This bird is Vermilion Flycatcher!

Evening, Owens Lake, California - Albert Bierstadt

Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add colour to my sunset sky. - Rabindranath Tagore

Identify the bird. If you get it right, I shall know my drawing is alright :)) This picture was taken with my mobile. Will soon scan and upload it again - sorry botched the wings :(

same bird after a few changes

Roses and love

Finally I have an internet connection and am back to the city where I live. I hope to post more often and take up drawing too. Here is a beautiful painting and wonderful quotes. 

How did the rose ever open its petals and give to this world all of its beauty?

It felt the encouragement of light on its being, otherwise we all remain too frightened.

– Hafez

Chen Hongshou, Leaf Album Painting

We're supposed to love one another and we're supposed to work together to make the experience better.
That's all the religion you need, really, to make a success of this planet...

Red red rose..

We all have the power to give love. And if we do so, we change the kind of person we are, and we change the kind of world we live in.
– Rabbi Harold Kushner

A Red, Red Rose
by Robert  Burns

O my luve's like a red, red rose.
That's newly sprung in June;
O my luve's like a melodie
That's sweetly play'd in tune.

As fair art thou, my bonnie lass,
So deep in luve am I;
And I will love thee still, my Dear,
Till a'the seas gang dry.

Till a' the seas gang dry, my Dear,
And the rocks melt wi' the sun:
I will luve thee still, my Dear,
While the sands o'life shall run.

And fare thee weel my only Luve!
And fare thee weel a while!
And I will come again, my Luve,
Tho' it were ten thousand mile!

If you desire something from the very depths of your hearts, nature conspires to give you your deepest wish.

A blue bird

If you walk into a forest - you hear all kinds of subtle sounds - but underneath there is an all pervasive silence.
– Eckert Tolle

I had drawn this picture from my blog friend's photo http://birdsfod.blogspot.in - Thanks Bob!

The beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves, and not to twist them to fit our own image. Otherwise we love only the reflection of ourselves we find in them.
– Thomas Merton, Trappist monk [Roman Catholic]


Constant kindness can accomplish much. As the sun makes ice melt, kindness causes misunderstanding, mistrust, and hostility to evaporate.
– Albert Schweitzer

Have a lovely week everyone!

Taj Mahal, Agra

I am now on an official trip :((( and since this place is near Agra, thought I might as well make it a bit cheery and fun by visiting the most beloved TajMahal.  Hope you like the pictures below. Since it wasn't a planned trip, I didn't have a camera and these pictures were taken with a mobile phone.

My  laptop still has some issues and I have not been able to visit any blogs :((

Entrance to Taj

Designs on the marble walls

The Uttar Pradesh government should really be more considerate of Indian tourists and provide appropriate footwear and facilitate easy and (guide/ nagar palik/ cheating dhaba)-hassle free environment for both Indian and foreign tourists. The trip was a nightmare other than the marvellous architecture.

Wise thoughts!

I remember a time in a class on a cold winter morning a Japanese girl came with a surgical mask & I thought, “Wow, people would go to extremes NOT to get sick in Japan.” Afterwards on a break I approached her & asked in a cynical manner: Why the mask? Are you afraid of catching a cold? And then she said, “In Japan you use it when YOU are under the weather & you don’t want other people to get sick. It is the polite thing to do.” Wow! That's a lesson I will never forget.

– Pablo Valle

And now here is my secret, a very simple secret; it is only with the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye.
– Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Count your blessings. Once you realize how valuable you are and how much you have going for you, the smiles will return, the sun will break out, the music will play, and you will finally be able to move forward the life that God intended for you with grace, strength, courage, and confidence.
– Og Mandino

Hindu Gods

Hurray!!! I am very excited to say i have 100 followers!! :)  Thanks dear friends for your kind comments and for enriching my life with your interesting, beautiful posts.

Below are the drawings of Hindu Gods. I hope you like them.

Lord Ganesha - Remover of Obstacles

Lord Krishna - Protector

I must say I'm not satisfied with the scanned image of Lord Krishna, maybe I will post a picture (DSLR) sometime soon. The blogger interface, not cool at all if that was what they were aiming for - could have had a bit of colour and a easy accessible interface.

Grey lag Geese

A bird does not sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song.

Chinese Proverb

Gay, guiltless pair,
What seek ye from the fields of heaven?
Ye have no need of prayer,
Ye have no sins to be forgiven.
Charles Sprague

My first attempt at shading - feel free to criticize/comment/suggest improvements. Thanks to Adrian for his awesome picture and letting me draw it.

Spring Song

Hark, I hear a robin calling!
List, the wind is from the south!
And the orchard-bloom is falling
Sweet as kisses on the mouth.

In the dreamy vale of beeches
Fair and faint is woven mist,
And the river's orient reaches
Are the palest amethyst.

Every limpid brook is singing
Of the lure of April days;
Every piney glen is ringing
With the maddest roundelays.

Come and let us seek together
Springtime lore of daffodils,
Giving to the golden weather
Greeting on the sun-warm hills.

Ours shall be the moonrise stealing
Through the birches ivory-white;
Ours shall be the mystic healing
Of the velvet-footed night.

Ours shall be the gypsy winding
Of the path with violets blue,
Ours at last the wizard finding
Of the land where dreams come true.

- Lucy Maud Montgomery

Cute Pictures

Here are some cute pictures from the internet. Hope you enjoy them!

 

Laptop crash..

Now that the internet problem was somewhat remedied, my laptop decided to die on me! :((  I miss blogland more than ever now and browsing, online reading.... I'm very sorry I am not able to visit your wonderful blogs or draw from pictures.

I hope to get it sorted this weekend. Is there some law that says "Electronic and electrical goods will always break down as soon as the warranty is over??" Also, I have some serious suspicions about buying Sony laptops on boxing day especially with the offer. A year goes buy and my hard disk crashes! :(( 

Now I wonder how much I need to shell out for the replacement, hopefully will be able to manage with the old one. 

Hoping to visit your places this weekend. See you soon.

International Women's Day!

Celebrating International Women's Day!!!


 

 From Top left: Helen Keller, Mother Teresa, Princess Diana, Marie Curie, Joan of Arc, Queen Cleopatra, Jane Austen, Audrey Hepburn, Artemisia Gentileschi, Rani Lakshmi Bai, Emily Dickinson

(Please click to enlarge)

“Your candle burned out long before
Your legend never did…”

To all the women who since the beginning of the world, have enriched the lives of people in their unique, special way!!


Happy Women's Day!!

Robin (scan and mobile)

Today being 29th Feb and following the old Irish custom/ Scottish law did any of you(r) beautiful ladies propose to their sweethearts? I knew of this only after watching Leap Year movie! Do let me know, I love romances, both real life and fictional.

This isn't strictly a new post. I'm just taking the excellent suggestion of Peter Olson (http://www.peter-pho2.com/) and accordingly post both the scanned image and the mobile image. (I still haven't brought my Nikon over to my new place)

So, what do you think is better - the mobile or the scanned image (shameless promotional tactics for a mediocre drawing,  I know ;)) )


Picture 1 - Scanned

Picture 2 - Mobile (already posted)

Some quotes...

I have been neglecting my blog due to very limited internet. And blogger is blocked by my employers   :( Seriously, whoever said blogging is a social network site? ;)))

Here are some random quotes I enjoyed reading in recent times.


"Only when the last tree is cut; when the last river is polluted; only when the last fish is caught; and the animals are dying, only then will they(mankind) realise they can't eat money"
Prophecy of the Hopi Tribe  - Native American

"...there is something so amiable in the prejudices of a young mind, that one is sorry to see them give way to the reception of more general opinions.

… for when the romantic refinements of a young mind are obliged to give way, how frequently are they succeeded by such opinions as are but too common, and too dangerous!"

 - Sense and Sensibility

I have been astonished that men could die martyrs for their religion -
I have shudder'd at it.
I shudder no more.
I could be martyr'd for my religion
Love is my religion
And I could die for that.
I could die for you.
 - John Keats

Robin

Write me how many notes there be

In the new Robin’s ecstasy

Among astonished boughs

Emily Dickinson

My source - http://birdsfod.blogspot.in/ Thanks Bob. :)

I took this picture of my drawing with mobile. Maybe I will repost it once I bring my Nikon here. Any suggestions about posting my drawings other than as mobile photos??  I haven't tried scanning yet.

Joy

If I keep a green bough in my heart, the singing bird will come. 

Chinese Proverb

And Joy is Everywhere;
It is in the Earth's green covering of grass;
In the blue serenity of the Sky;
In the reckless exuberance of Spring;
In the severe abstinence of gray Winter;
In the Living flesh that animates our bodily frame;
In the perfect poise of the Human figure, noble and upright;
In Living;
In the exercise of all our powers;
In the acquisition of Knowledge;
in fighting evils...
Joy is there Everywhere.

- Rabindranath Tagore

Back after a week!

I have been absent from blogland for ten days and missing so many interesting posts. I have moved to another city and a new job, hopefully I will like it. Reading posts is still a challenge not that I lack the time but my internet available time is drastically cut short, thanking to the sodding network securities of the sector I work in. I don't want to start a bashing here, I am determined to maintain a optimistic view :))


While I started this blog, comments were far and few mostly from friends who knew me personally. So I mentioned please feel free to share your thoughts and suggestions. Now, I guess I'd have to modify it - post comments that are not racist, uncomfortable, not spams. And I do mention that my drawings are only a hobby and I am no artist, but I love the encouraging comments of my blogling friends who are very kind and appreciate me. Also, this is not a dating site, be warned photographs can be deceiving. I guess I've covered that from all angles. In short, its fucking annoying to read comments that are unwelcome, so it will not be published.


Off to catching up with the posts. See you soon!

Horse

He knows when you're happy

He knows when you're comfortable

He knows when you're confident 

And he always knows when you have carrots!

- Author Unknown

(Please click to enlarge)

Good or Bad??

 I was watching The Lord Of the Rings again :) And obviously, the age old question or atleast since the book was read by its dearest readers occurred to me. Is Gollum good or bad? Not even Tolkien could understand this character's true nature.

I believe that no person is either good or bad. It depends on the situation one is forced or trapped into. Besides, it gives variety to life. There are not even just shades of grey in between the black and white. There is a whole range of colours of light with the invisible rays, unfelt rays, etc. in the human spectrum of evil-good trait.

There is always a conflict of emotions within us and more so in people with an active imagination and passion. But how is it that one chooses to be good at one point and then bad again concerning the same event or person but at a different point in time. Is the mind and heart so oscillatory?

You try to think good thoughts and deeds, lean towards it but at the same time sway towards the bad. Of course, knowing whether a thing is evil or good is in itself a conflict. When you are ruled by passions, be it in a case of patriotism or the greater good or a personal matter, how does one decide to choose among the existing course of actions?

Does the outcome of an event decide if a being is good or bad?

Considering all this Is Gollum good or bad?  I would love to know your take on this.

Lost moments

Her heart remembers
a cold wintry night of yesterday
with the promise of snow in the air.
She is dining with friends
amid laughter and friendly banter,
with her shy smiles and covert glances at her lover
Brimming with the hopes
and dreams of tomorrow.

But oh! when it is tomorrow
it is not the happy sunny smiles
and the worship of the loved one that awaits her
In the dread and despair of tomorrow
she sees in her mind's eye
the long gone scene
not as a memory
but as something so real
that she only has to reach out a hand
and tear the veil
to touch the ethereal face
as solid beneath her palms
and enter the other universe
of mirth and merriment.

Who is that dark-haired lass?
laughing with her midnight eyes
sassy and cheeky
glowing with love,
youth and beauty
the daredevil with a zest for life
seizing the moment,
not caring for reason.
Was it a dream or was it real
Now all that is left
is just an empty shell.

Pride and misunderstandings
the great curses of love
have built a wall
around her heart
which beats so reluctantly
lamenting a lost youth.
An acute pain sears her heart
so great is the agony
that tears spring to her eyes
longing for the times gone by
yearning for the moments lost.

A cute bird

This is my first attempt at drawing a bird - Great Tit.

My source - Thanks Bob!

A Bird Came Down the Walk

Emily Dickinson

A bird came down the walk: 

He did not know I saw; 

He bit an angle-worm in halves 

And ate the fellow, raw.

And then he drank a dew 

From a convenient grass, 

And then hopped sidewise to the wall 

To let a beetle pass.

He glanced with rapid eyes 

That hurried all abroad,-- 

They looked like frightened beads, I thought; 

He stirred his velvet head

Like one in danger; cautious, 

I offered him a crumb, 

And he unrolled his feathers 

And rowed him softer home

Than oars divide the ocean, 

Too silver for a seam, 

Or butterflies, off banks of noon, 

Leap, plashless, as they swim.

Liebster Blog Award

I have been awarded the Liebster Blog Award by Anne at miscellanees. Many Thanks to Anne for this award. I'm not at all sure of the awards thing because I don't think my ramblings deserve any award ;)

The rules for this one are to choose five other upcoming blogs with less than 200 followers for this award. And they, in turn pass it on to other 5 upcoming bloggers. Very difficult indeed, because the blogs I follow are pretty much well established in the blogland and are extremely talented writers or artists.

I'm breaking some rules here, seriously its very hard to follow all those. So, here goes my choices in no particular order. Please don't take offense as you guys are not new bloggers.

Sprinkles at wyldechylde - I love her blog because the posts are different and varied every time I visit her.

Red at Hiawathahouse - His blog has posts with a variety of topics, lots of real life stories and interesting day-to-day happenings.

Lisa at Where Peaceful Moments Flow.. - I just love the look and feel of her blog, very simple and elegant, the very pretty photos and the dreamy quotes that go with it.

Dave at Cimba7200's thoughts - He has been blogging since 2005 and I find his blog very interesting. He was the first blogger I followed. I stumbled on his blog accidentally and it was refreshing, laid-back and cool.

Hilary at The Smitten Image - I have broken all rules but I want to appreciate her excellent work in choosing POTW awards. Her blog has excellent photographs, even the mundane things turn into works of art and has led me to many versatile and beautiful places, excellent photo shoots and travels all over the world. Just a token of appreciation to keep up the good work!

I chose five, wanted to choose lots but thought I'd atleast stick to one rule. Please visit their blogs, in case you are not already following. You're sure to have a lovely time.

P.S. If you choose not to accept the award, no offense taken :)

Appended to initial post:
Please feel free to ignore the sodding rules :))

Power of Music

I was reading "The Chronicles of Avonlea" by Lucy Montgomery. The third story is of a young boy, Felix who has the skill and genius to play music which the listener wants to hear in the depths of his soul. The following passages moved me. At the end of a life of Magdalene of the harbor, Naomi is scared of hell and wants forgiveness, but is unable to grasp the love of a forgiving God with an all en-compassing and unconditional love. Felix, the minister Mr.Leonard's grandson, with his music makes Naomi, on her deathbed, understand God's love.

"Felix drew the bow softly, perplexedly over the strings. He had no idea what he should play. Then his eyes were caught and held by Naomi's burning, mesmeric, blue gaze as she lay on her crumpled pillow. A strange, inspired look came over the boy's face. He began to play as if it were not he who played, but some mightier power, of which he was but the passive instrument.

Sweet and soft and wonderful was the music that stole through the room. Mr. Leonard forgot his heartbreak and listened to it in puzzled amazement. He had never heard anything like it before. How could the child play like that? He looked at Naomi and marvelled at the change in her face. The fear and frenzy were going out of it; she listened breathlessly, never taking her eyes from Felix. At the foot of the bed the idiot girl sat with tears on her cheeks.

In that strange music was the joy of the innocent, mirthful childhood, blent with the laughter of waves and the call of glad winds. Then it held the wild, wayward dreams of youth, sweet and pure in all their wildness and waywardness. They were followed by a rapture of young love—all-surrendering, all-sacrificing love. The music changed. It held the torture of unshed tears, the anguish of a heart deceived and desolate. Mr. Leonard almost put his hands over his ears to shut out its intolerable poignancy. But on the dying woman's face was only a strange relief, as if some dumb, long-hidden pain had at last won to the healing of utterance.

The sullen indifference of despair came next, the bitterness of smouldering revolt and misery, the reckless casting away of all good. There was something indescribably evil in the music now—so evil that Mr. Leonard's white soul shuddered away in loathing, and Maggie cowered and whined like a frightened animal.

Again the music changed. And in it now there was agony and fear—and repentance and a cry for pardon. To Mr. Leonard there was something strangely familiar in it. He struggled to recall where he had heard it before; then he suddenly knew—he had heard it before Felix came in Naomi's terrible words! He looked at his grandson with something like awe. Here was a power of which he knew nothing—a strange and dreadful power. Was it of God? Or of Satan?

For the last time the music changed. And now it was not music at all—it was a great, infinite forgiveness, an all-comprehending love. It was healing for a sick soul; it was light and hope and peace. A Bible text, seemingly incongruous, came into Mr. Leonard's mind—"This is the house of God; this is the gate of heaven."

Haiku Poems and Translation

Haiku poems - those short three lines that convey a world of meaning. But the translations - I'm not so sure. I read some haiku poems today and was baffled by the translations. I remember one haiku, which my mother loves and told me when I was a little girl. It is in my native language, Tamil.

"vizhigal vinmeenagalai varudinalum
viralgalo jannal kambiodu daan"

I wouldn't dare attempt a translation but it goes something  like - although the eyes may caress the stars, (you are merely present on Earth with) your fingers remain on the window grilles. Thus conveying the differences in daydreams or more aptly, mooning over stuff against the hard facts and harsh realities of life. It could also mean the planning yet to be done for some big dreams aspired to be achieved. Although, of course the former meaning is more romantic in a poetic sense.

This is the most famous 300 odd years old poetry in Japan. And the literal translation goes something like

The old pond;
a frog jumps in —
the sound of the water.

Furu ike ya                Old pond!
kawazu tobikomu      frog jumps in
mizu no oto                water’s sound

Do you believe the translations (not the Google translator!) retain the beauty and essence of meaning that is originally intended to be conveyed?

The Piano

The piano was created by an Italian named Bartolomeo Cristofori. The date  of creation is believed to be somewhere in the mid 1600’s.

When my heart is unsettled,

And tossed about the seas of emotions,

My fingers go to the keyboard,

Where my soul bleeds the pain,

Into the notes,

Into the music,

And I seek peace,

Among dead composers.

     R.Scarlett