Finally...........

Picked and dusted myself up to come out of the long self imposed exile from the blogging world. Hope this time I can keep the wheel rolling.

God's own country - Invention of Japan ladder

As my time draws near to go to God's own country I cannot help but to talk about it. It's a nice laid back place with beautiful back waters. I am really fascinated by the people there. They are very chilled, very relaxed and well mannered as far as I have seen. Though they did stare at me thinking I had forgotten my lungi when I went out venturing out in my shorts in the morning. People there do tend to get creative and incidentally I happened to notice with the help of my friend that their creativity tends to revolve around the coconut tree. Coconut is something they really love and tend to add them to everything. They even fry their food in coconut oil. I heard it has its own health benefits, though my taste buds don't understand that. I won't be surprised if they happen to invent an automobile that would run on coconut oil in the near future.
Once while traveling around in a car, my friend noticed that the trunk of the coconut tree in the middle were wrapped with aluminum foil. I assumed may be they had marked their trees with the foil to perhaps avoid confusions with neighbors but realized that even the neighbors followed suit. Out of curiosity I happened to ask what the purpose it served is. It seems that the coconut orchids have rodent problems which climb the trees and chew on the coconut and in order to prevent that, they had wrapped a portion of the trunk with an aluminum foil so that the rodents don't get a grip to climb up and voila the coconuts are safe. I had to say I was impressed with this solution of theirs. But what really caught my attention was the ladder like thing hanging from each tree. It was made of the coconut shells and the branches that fall of the tree. Again to feed my hungry mind I shot the question and immediately got a reply that it was "Japan ladder". I was shocked to find that people in Kerala were actually using something on their coconut tree not invented by them or even people from gulf but rather Japanese. Not wanting to make assumptions I asked them again and I got demonstrated on how it is used, I got to say it encouraged me to go ahead and try it though my survival instincts stopped me from doing so. I was pretty fascinated by this ladder and asked him how did Japanese people invent these for which they laughed saying it was not a Japan ladder and followed by more laughs. It is Japan ladder (pronounced as je-paan ladder) I was like, OK they have a funny way to pronounce Japan but it still did not clear my doubts. Not wanting to be ridiculed at, I kept quite. Walking ahead, I saw a guy actually making this ladder. Naturally I walked up to him and drew my friends along as well. That's when I came to know that this creative ladder was his piece of art and not the Japanese. Confused even more I asked why his affinity towards Japan? He looked bewildered. I rephrased my question asking why he chose to call it Japan ladder? He said in order to honor him people named it Japan ladder. I gave my best confused look. And then He introduced himself as Rajappan and the ladder was initially called Rajappan ladder which over the period of time became R.A Jappan ladder and eventually became Japan ladder.

The scribbler's curse - Calvin vs Jerry

Finally I have decided to start writing/doodling on my blog, desperately trying to dust it and bring it back to life. Ok, Now that I'm back I really don't know what to write about. Mmmmm.........Let's see, Well it was lil more than 4 months since I last posted and now that I'm back I have decided to name the last four months as my sabbatical from blog(frankly I'm sick and tired of accepting that fact that I'm lazy) More than my laziness I'm really not finding time to finish the designs I started few months back. Even if I sit down to finish them I'm distracted with something more important. It feels like a bloody curse that I am just not able to complete the designs I have in my mind. When I was struggling with these thoughts, my life just decided to take its own course dragging me along. I was just a mere spectator when decisions were made and things happened too fast for me to take in.

In one such instance, Sitting at work and perhaps feeling really bored about this monotonous life I sat down to doodle my favorite comic character just to relax myself. It took me 3 pens, 2 pencils and 3 sheets of paper to finish this relatively simple cartoon because the curse was acting up. Half way down to completing the pic the pen stopped writing and I picked up another and found that it too ceased to function properly after few minutes. Picking up the third I sat down to finish what I had started and found that I had blotted the paper and ruined the cartoon. Not wanting to get frustrated and ruin the very objective of relaxing I took out a fresh paper and this time I switched over to pencil and smiling in my mind at the idea of how a pencil can possibly stop writing. That's when I realized I over estimated my fool proof plan when the lead broke and in frustration I crumpled the paper and threw it in the dustbin which bounced of the rim and fell outside. I calmed my nerves and decided to finish this cartoon of this problematic kid. Like my bro would have put in Calvin - 1, Jerry - 0. My office mails were growing in numbers and the work was piling up but I had my mind focused on this. It is me vs Calvin and right now Calvin is winning. Not wanting to get defeated by a cartoon, I took out a fresh sheet of paper and took out a refill pencil this time. Wielding it like a weapon and feeling confident that this time it can't possibly go wrong I set out to defeat the cartoon. Was rudely interrupted by a few phone calls on my extension but still I emerged victorious. I pushed my chair back and punched the air and screamed in jubilation only to find that the eyes of my peers which were so obediently looking only at their monitor screens were now fixed on me. I gave them a lame excuse of having worked out a piece of a complex code that can do wonders to save time and quickly sat down to check my mails. Stealing a glance at the cartoon again, I kinda realized that this is exactly how I was feeling. Confused, with my hands stretched out wondering what is happening around me?

Renaissance

What?
This ambigram is my official entry for the ACAC.It is an ambigram of the word Renaissance (literally meaning rebirth) drawn in the shape of a cross.

Why?
I chose the word "Renaissance" because of it's associations with both history and art. The choice of drawing it in the shape of the Cross is to symbolize the Resurrection of Christ.

How?
This ambigram is completely hand drawn. What started as a rough sketch on my scribble pad got drawn with precision on graphing paper to achieve better symmetry. I then traced it out on a drawing chart. Scanning the ambigram proved to be quite a challenge because the scanned image did not look as good as the original. I had a tough time enhancing the image on the computer but thanks to my friends the finished product looks real good.

A big bear hug.
A big bear hug to thank all my friends who have supported and helped me in finishing this ambigram. Without each one of you this would not have made it here.

Old wine in older bottle

Finally, after a long slump of non existence in the blog world I'm back. Basically this slump was due to the small disorder that was born with me which in other words can be described as laziness (I wish there was a scientific term to describe this and make it sound real cool).
Here are some cool and not so cool avatars of me that I created with the help of a very popular app in facebook (the result of spending too much time in front of the computer). Let me know what you guys think of it.

Something different

In an attempt to do something different I created this. Even though this is not readable, it does give me great satisfaction for having created this one of a kind art for a very cool person. Hope it is liked and appreciated.

Jerry vs Beaucephalus

Oh boy, am I in love? U bet I am. Finally the week long wait is over (phew it felt really long though) and I got my hands on a brand new FZ16 from the stables of Yamaha and it was a love a first sight. And it's only a day old as I write this blog and it continues as a love at every sight cuz every time I look at her my heart goes on a song.
Before I start singing, I ought to do one thing. Bid farewell to my ol sweetheart Vandana. She deserves much more, but at this point of time I can only give her a few lines from this blog. She has been with me for so many years. Day and night, rain of sun shine she would always be ready for a ride. We did have our own share of bitter experiences but that does not count. She was truly a magnificent machine even though a puny one but had terrific attitude and she did kick up dust on the bigger bikes when ever possible. Only time can answer if Beaucephalus can really live up to what Vandana has done for me. I'll really miss her and I'm sure I will occasionally wanna go out with her when my dad is not looking (:-P)
Now back to how it all happened I was still drowsy cuz most of the night I was awake and don't remember when I finally slipped into the other world and when it was morning I could barely keep my self awake but excitement made me jump off the bed and in a jiffy I was ready. I was counting down the minutes of the final hour to go to the showroom to collect my bike. I tried to watch tv to keep my self under control but I could not for long. Finally when the time came I rushed out of the house and hired an auto to the showroom. The auto walla demanded an exorbitant rate and I just order him to take less and jumped into the auto drumming in the seat with my fingers. I bet it was my lucky day cuz he did not whoop my ass but instead he did drive me to the showroom for the amount we had negotiated. The traffic was reasonable and I reached there on time and I jus rushed in and told the sales lady I'm here to collect my bike. The lady glanced at me in a casual way and I could guess she was used to seeing over excited guys like me on an everyday basis. She politely asked me to wait for a second and made some calls telling instructions here and there and fishing papers from now where while I was trying to settle down on a creaky chair. Seconds turned into minutes and minutes into hours and finally after an hour and a half (I was surprised I did not loose my patience till then) my bike arrived and it took another half hour to get the crash guard, cool mesh and tank brassier (don't blame me cuz that is what it is called) to get on it. The lady tried to tell me some instructions and after hurrying through all the paper work I almost snatched the bike keys and ran out to get the bike.
Once I was on it, I quickly turned the bike on and shifted to the first gear. The Bike gently growled to life and I was on my way. I was really floating in my own sweet world and riding it was no problem at all. I shifted to the top gear and I was literally on the move leaving the traffic behind and the feeling was marvelous. I felt like I was GOD, and that is when I was rudely put back to my rightful place when a cop stopped me. I was too happy to get irritated. I was jus hoping it to be a routine check and move on but it was not the case. He asked me where the number plate was. I told him I jus took the bike from the showroom and I was heading to the sticker shop. He did not believe me. I even showed him the sticker shop that was located in the same road that I was heading out to. He insisted on booking a case. It frustrated me and I said go ahead and I'll handle this in the court. This really surprised him and he said pay what you can and leave. I was like why the hell should I pay when I have not done anything. Another cop came along and said sir, it's a good occasion that you had bought a bike. Don't let these small things trouble you. Jus give me 100 bucks and I'll take care of it. Damn me, he knew I'd fall for this rosy talk and guess what I did give him the money. But who cares I was on my bike again, headed straight for the sticker shop. Got the number plate stuck with the registration number and I headed straight to the church to get my bike blessed by the priest. It was already around 1 in the afternoon and I was hoping he was available to bless the bike. To my relief he was there and guess what? He liked my bike a lot. We were standing there talking about the bike's features and he was mightily impressed. He then blessed the bike and me and that is when I decided to officially name my bike. So by the powers bestowed upon me I here by name my bike as "BEAUCEPHALUS". Thus Beaucephalus was born and I, a mere mortal, born to ride her. And the self proclaimed sheriff has mounted his ride to check if everything is ok in town.