YASHASHWI

 

SELF-PORTRAIT CHALLENGE

 

BABY LOVE

Adorable Asmi and Smartie Sanskar at school 

LIFETIME LOVERS

Old China White pictures from dad and mom's anniversary. Happy Anniversary :)


 

conversation hoggers

CONVERSATION HOGGERS

Are people who:

Talk louder than the next person so they’re heard better and can out-converse the next person.

Interrupt mid-conversation and then talk louder than you.

Talk in the middle of everyone else’s sentences and ideas.

TRACY CHAPMAN

Lines off her song Be and Be Not Afraid.

ARISTOTLE

butterflies and dreams

watercolour angel

done in the midddle of exams (as always).

DOODLINGS

october 21st doodlings

Puja for the dogs in all its fun and chaos!!
Tora, Dolly, Kanchi, Gori and Snubby

For Real

THE PERFECT
HE-LOVES-ME-HE-LOVES-ME-NOT FLOWER

from our garden.
Photo by Bhots

new paint bottles adding colour to my life, my journal, and my blog

my new muse

this is the book i'm starting to read today. if it moves me, inspires me, you'll be hearing a lot about this in the coming week.
mahima.

chai chai chai

explaining my links

BRUSHSTROKES is my project and ideas blog. go there if you want ideas to create and write and fun swaps and exchanges.

The Kalimpong Diaries, is a collaborative blog by pallavi, chamki and me. its just recent and progress and posting is slow..but its getting there. :)

pallavi is a friend. her blog is mostly writing, thought process and reflection.

chamki is also a friend. her blog is images and moods and disconnected sentences.

everyday matters is the brilliant, wholly absorbing weblog by danny gregory with notes on life and art and everything in between. some great illustrations and ideas.

drawn is the ultimate illustrators link resource centre!

the braille trail...you have to see for yourself what it is to understand how fabulous it is- bot as an idea and a reality.

wish jar journal is keri smith's blog.she is an illustrator i have admired for ages! an inspiration!

teesha moore...well, teesha moore is one of my original muses. from her art journals to the collages and artfests! a must see re her journal pages!!

52 projects is just great! you must visit it! its a list of some of the coolest projects on the net!

Wild Mood Swings is just the coolest idea ever! whatever mood you are in, go in there and have a look!

Richard's Blog is a blog full of travel in France and around the world with extensive lists of travel blogs, photo blogs and fun blogs!

Crafty Girl and Creative Collage both belong to artist Kelly Angard and have heaps of inspiration. a must visit for me all the time! :)

dew drops at dawn

by: mohit
kathmandu

a cup-o-cafe latte

ASMI with GORI

there's asmi just home from school, getting her thrill playing with gori.

IDEAS for the creatively starved

* write an entire journal in haikus- capturing only i.m.a.g.e.s., moods, feelings of all your experiences.

* write a journal entry with as many different (unusual) mediums as possible: leaves, fingers, sponges, nailpolish, chalk, ash, mud, lipstick.. see the t.e.x.t.u.r.e.s. and effects they give you. hint: try and make it as aesthetically pleasing as possible. :)

* "and why should love stop at the border?" RESPOND to this.

* write a love note to someone in images, colour and writing. mail it.

* carry your j.o.u.r.n.a.l. with you. every little while- every stoplight, every coffee break, every half hour...- take your journal out and sketch one thing you see from where you're sitting/standing. i did this yesterday and i sketched: a fabric rack with cloth rolls, my dog's expression, my breakfast, my computer screen, the view from my car window, .... etc. :) when you get home, paint/fill in colour into the pages.

* paint, collage, and crayon your pages. do pages and pages till your creativity lasts. for as many days as it lasts. when you're done, start using these pages as journal pages..record for journal-ish entries around the images on your art pages, try and alter the sizing and fonts of your writing to suit the mood of the page.

* write letters in unusual paper shapes and sizes: write in long thin strips, in triangles, in circles.

* for interesting journalling and art prompts, look through the interview section of magazines. pick questions that stimulate your imagination, cut it out and paste it to the top of your page. respond in the rest of the page.

* reproduce a photograph you love in loose watercolour

* write love letters in:
haiku
paint
epistle
sonnet
images
song

* more coming...in a hurry right now. wait for an update and some scans. :)

Bhots and Asmi in my room.
I hink the best thing we can do to those we love, is be acessible to them. so they may feel understood, and loved, and not alone.

asmi colouring in grid squares.

the primary thing in art

is not to draw accurately

but to be able to imagine.

Illo Friday

to an old illustration friday topic:

C.H.A.N.G.E.

inspired by the design on a p.a.s.s.i.n.g. t.r.u.c.k. while sitting at the coffee guy one evening.
this was the colour of the truck.

this is the day divya wore a R.E.D. shirt and pallavi and surabhi happened to be wearing grey. on the way back from the c.o.f.f.e.e. g.u.y. divya walked in between pallavi and surabhi like what pallavi called:
a red tamatar sandwiched between two f.u.n.g.i.f.i.e.d. slices of bread.

DRAWING WORDS

PRAYERS ARE PERSONAL
to me BECAUSE
one cannot fully disclose to
another a side of oneself
that one is only, newly,
starting-trying-to
d.i.s.c.o.v.e.r.
takes a little time.
w.a.i.t.
a little. :)

To Pallavi

The Auden Generation

"there is no such thing as the state
and noone exists alone;
hunger leaves no choice
to the citizen or the police;
we must love one another- or die."
-W.H.Auden

[auden, of that peculiar middle generation "bracketed between the two World Wars" had so much to say: about the world, against anarchy. He, in very many ways, still holds relevane today.

a host of moderen, real poets with solid, didactic poems coming our way in literature. they are all thought (and fear) provoking,
and still u.p.l.i.f.t.i.n.g.
in their assurance that there are people speaking out, affirming f.a.i.t.h.
that there are people speaking of love, not money;
and that there are people not afraid to s.p.e.a.k.
and not afraid to p.o.l.i.t.i.c.i.z.e.
for,
if they were afraid,
we would really have no voice.

letters to lovers contd.

dear lover,
this is to you who was:
a small salute.

"at every moment in our lives, we all have one foot in a fairytale and the other in the abyss."
-paulo coelho,
eleven minutes

it was no fairytale (it missed the happy ending)-for all its potential to be one-but, maybe, a beautiful,beautiful abyss.

sometimes,

relationships become so much a part of us,
a relationship starts to become your i.d.e.n.t.i.t.y. before it happens, you always think you're above that (you're a thinking, rational person with your own opinions and i.n.d.i.v.i.d.u.a.l.i.t.y.). and when it does, it defines you in the best, most loving way.

"...oh he taught me to love him
and called me his flower
that was blooming to cheer him
through life's dreary hour
how i long to see him
and regret the dark hour
he's gone and neglected his pale wildwood flower"
"wildwood flower"
reese witherspoon,
walk the line

the break up series

"breakups make for some great writing opportunities"

someone told me recently. do they? really? without being either run-of-the-mill? or sob-story?
or thank-god-its-over? i don't want it to sound like "any break up". it isn't "any" breakup (never is when its your own).

"comfortably numb"
is what it feels like
..but a little less comfortable
...and a little ness numb
if you know what i mean.

dear divya,

sometimes,
you don't need a change.

sometimes,
everything IS ok.

sometimes,
it is enough to BELIEVE.

all times,
it is enough to LOVE.

love,

mahima.
19.09.06
mumbai

wrote this one day. and just 2 days after that, seemed more relevant to me than it would be to her.

" ... no sword
of wrath her right arm whirl'd,
but one poor poet's scroll,
and with his word
she shook the world/"

from "poet"
alfred lord tenneyson

KTM AIRPORT

the richness, the colours, the beauty

to be able to capture these

in your mind,

in your art,

in your writing

that's the goal of every artist.

the room that looks lived in, loved;
the wake up nudges from a wet muzzle of someone you love;
the opportunity,
the joy
the freedom,
the love.

-personal spaces.

HOW DO YOU KNOW HE'S THE ONE?

the associations we make

with people,

with places,

with ideals

are all subtle

often unplanned

always meaningful

this is a tranfer page: a printout that was transferred to my journal with nailpolish remover and then hand painted..

Made this while i was still in cool, comfortable Nepal. just thinking of the monsoons...and now that they're almost over, i want this up to say I SURVIVED!!!!! lol.

letters to lovers

LETTERS TO LOVERS

I

Dear Lover,
This is to you, who was the first.
You
With your crazy quirks that i grew to love
-still love;
you with the deep brown eyes, the big dreams, and
your drumset.
Thank you:
You were when I first learnt to blush.

II

This is to you, dearest,
You
Who loved
Without competition
or expectations
or preconceptions
- Just a genuineness.
You who
-all my life-
have been full of
Lessons, warmth, openness, purity.
Thank you:
I have never stopped learning with you.

III

And this is to you
who is today,
who I hope will be forever;
you
with your
Intensity,
Complexity,
Capacity for joy,
Honesty;
Thank you:
Just- Thank You.

IV

We will always Be.



P.S.

V

Dear Lover,
no, you are not forgotten:
You
Who are 'friends'
and crossed over
-even for justamoment
[sometimes, with just a glance, sometimes with a confession,
and sometimes, with a full blown kiss]:
Thank you:
you make up me lightest- funniest- memories:
yes, ones that I will always cherish.

LAUGH

i wonder if you can....

[responding to a writing prompt]

i wonder if you can

laugh at failure;

laugh with truth;

laugh.

fall;

and sit there

laughing

before

you hurriedly stand

up.

laugh without reason;

laugh with fullness;

laugh out loud.

SIZE MATTERS

SiZE maTtERs
a big heart is beautiful.
a small hand shows innocence.
small feet are adorable.
long ones are grand.
size matters
only because each thing viewed
in context of its size
changes the kind
of beauty
it embodies.

... spending our lives overdoing things to make up for all the times we never did them .....

be good

be bad

just be

list poems

several yesrs ago i read the concept of list poems. well, here's one that happened spontaneously, in the process of collecting random overheard words over the course of one day:

shut up
drive
why should i?
come with me
listen
wakin' up too early
ohmygod
don't push me
play
too

its amazing how a little bit of random order and some imagination can do. lol.

Regrets

" LTTE REGRETS KILLING RAJIV GANDHI"
reads the headline today.
Oh what we would be
if we regretted before
we did.
mistakes avoided.
lives saved.
souls redeemed.
Regrets...

monsoons

monsoon rain downpours
-little sneezes upsetting
your daily humdrum.

this, incase you haven't guessed, isn't about the kind of recent monsoon that takes over entire days of your season in stroming downpours- those are just full stops!
this is the kind of monsoon that we deal with (bravely) with flimsy windcheaters and and umbrellas that get overturned.. but stops at that, and the occassional soak.

FEMINISM

all these "-ism"s we do in class. i keep wondering how many of them "work" and how many are mere concepts everyone talks about like they talk about 'truth' and 'religion'... existentialism... fanaticism... masochism...and- the big 'F'- feminism...
anyway, accurate discussion of concepts is one thing; framing clever words to convince a class of 20 year olds what their political leaning is, to me, an assumption of mass stupidity .

so here's to sister ananda:

Is feminism
A mindset or a movement?
Skip the drama, please!

i wish they would all encourage us to decide rather than actively want us to decide what they believe in.

more for rainy day blues

HA! for my current political leanings, i'm finding this hugely funny! :D

humour and the blues... long post

today's shitty and wet and rainy and dull and..... BLAH!
so here's trying to make the best of a rainy day..just some stuff to make life look more than a city full of water!

currently made up oxymorons:

COLLEGE LIFE

BEST MAN

more favourites...these are not my own:

ACT NATURALLY
AMERICAN ENGLISH
BORN DEAD
CATFISH
DAILY SPECIAL
WE'RE ALONE

and then, of course, there's

murphy's laws

...the number one for laughs and truth!

All the good ones are taken.

If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

isn this not the sweetest thing you've seen!!!??? makes me melt!!

and THIS is how i was in lit class the other day.
LOL.













just for the record...and just so i don't forget, these pictures are from crazyphotos.com....some nice stuff in the midsdt of several things that are funny to look at but not funny enough to save. but watchable site for bad days. :p :)

this was china white!
we got dressed in the morning and realised all four of us were in whites. and then we went for dinner and it happened to be called China White.
oh well, atleast its a colour you can never get too much of!
mumbai 2006,
dad and mom for bhai's college.

sometimes, fun photos happen in the most unexpected places.

this is in bluebird, kathmandu where mom and i went shopping and met the whole jing bang lot. a second before this, asmi cha was inside the trolley.

sometimes, photos of yourself laughing is all you need to really make your day feel better..

...written on one of those days BLAH!

WHAT I'M LOOKING FOR IN A GOOD BOOK

23.06.06
Mumbai

[still writing haikus. loving them for their potential and precision]

WHAT I'M LOOKING OR IN A GOOD BOOK

teach me; oppose me;
de-stabilisze my mindscape;
...just inspire me.

ONE HUNDRED GREAT BOOKS IN HAIKU

Bought a terrific book at Oxford today. Its called

ONE HUNDRED GREAT BOOKS IN HAIKU-David Bader

Frm what i've read so far, i alreay have several favourite. here's one:

THE CONFESSIONS
St. Augustine

This is just to say
I screwed around. Forgive me.
I enjoyed it so.

And if you're read OEDIPUS REX (Sophocles), you'll love this one:

Chorus: Poor bastard.
Oedipus: This is awful!
Blind Seer: Told you so.

Still reading, loving, laughing :)

23.06.06

1 am haikus

05.05.06

TAROT
inspiration, a
whole new world carefully wrapped
in a soft silk scarf.

MY "KNIGHT OF CUPS" DAY
a gentle wake-up
cal. love, kiss, and then, good-
bye to start my day.

PILLGRIMS SHOPPING
sheer potential
in a polythene- pilgrims,
you are expensive!

ANTI-CLIMAX
"starry starry night..."
And then- the moon hides, dogs howl
And you are afraid.

KTM, NEPAL.

THE BLISS LIST

From the sporty (soccer) to the sexy (little kisses on the neck) to the small but magnificent (steamy showers, homemade whipped cream, throwing things out)- the list of all the things that make you go

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

* long milk baths in a mint scented soak

* JADE!!

* a good rock song

* a steamy movie

* even better, a steamy day!

(10 of cups from winged spirit)

* baths..of whatever kind!

* nights full of endless laughter at bad jokes

* waking up to a favourite song

* EXISTENCE (that's from osho zen )

* singing in a hot, steamy (the regular kind :p) shower with deep conditioner in your hair

* foot massages: mmmmmmmmmm

* falling alseep entangled in fresh silk sheets

* the kind of writing that "moves" you. literally!

* "Diamonds on the inside"

* just the sound mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

* 1pm wake ups

* tia maria

* melted chocolate

* melted chocolate with ti maria :D

* dimples on a cute face

* breakthroughs!
(this is "breakthrough" from the osho zen tarot)

* chocolate fondue..and the mess it creates :)

* tht familiar fragrance which always brings those GREAT memories!!

* soft ped socks

* cashmere

* the feel of my dog asleep at my feet

* candle lit rooms with flower arrangements in martini glasses

* a nice long couch nap :)

* when asmi finally lets you sleep. aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh....

* the moment that you finally, after 1 gruelling minute, collapse from the plank pose

* sometimes, silence...just perfect silence.

* hot chocolate fudge with anything cold and soft

* GORGEOUS colours

* lying on your back outside of a warm day

* hotties with guitars :D

(more coming!)