PANNA

Prof Rao showed me a magical pencil. Pencil was standing horizontally in air with magnets kept nearby. But still I could not take my eyes from the pencil which defied gravity. We played with it for almost 15 minutes. The toy costed not more than Rs 5/- and it was fascinating to watch. Fascinating toys are usually cheap and kids made toys with anything around. A bit of scientific knowledge however will simply increase the "Magic" value of the toy! If you want to see more of Magical Science please vist the Mr. Arvind Guptas Gallery. He resides in Pune, India. http://arvindguptatoys.com/

ALL IN ONE? Well not all! I cant use keynote presentations! I cant store files (can I?) Is mobile browsing a good idea? Is finger input cool? I cant write notes or sketch! Well you can add on! http://www.apple.com/iphone/ http://events.apple.com.edgesuite.net/j47d52oo/event/

When I recieved this picture, few memories struck me right in the middle of my heart. It was so glad to see Ravi mama and his sincere elegant rendering of tabla, Patient and delightingly creative Katti mama and Heroic Aarti ji inspiring as my sister tried to learn more. Its a pleasure to see Mandali back in action. It reminds me of the days when we ussed to work in the evenings posting members and arranging the stage smiling at many great artistes whoever visited us at the old Ghokale Institute. Audience would sincerely arrive at sharp six to listen to artistes. We served tea, and it was a delight to see artistes uncovering their brilliant instruments from their well tied bags. Sitars, tablas, sarods, tanpuras, clarinets and flutes. Artistes always came well dressed,scented with decorated kurtas and great sense of humour. Artistes jokes have punny humour. Before the concert, they would tune in the instruments and I always was eager to recognize the magical raga which they are going to

Source:Google Earth

"Can anyone say How many stalks are in a rice field? How many bends are in a river? How many layers are in a cloud? Can anyone sweep the leaves of the forest? and tell the wind - shake the trees no more? How many leaves must a silkworm eat? To make the dress of colors from the past How much rain must fall from the sky? Before the Ocean overflows with tears How many years must the moon agebefore it is old? In the middle of the night, The moon comes and waits nearby, He who can steal my heart, I will forever sing joyful songs.

Let me sing you a waltz Out of nowhere, out of my thoughts Let me sing you a waltz About this one night stand You were for me that night Everything I always dreamt of in life But now you're gone You are far gone All the way to your island of rain It was for you just a one night thing But you were much more to me Just so you know I hear rumors about you About all the bad things you do But when we were together alone You didn't seem like a player at all I don't care what they say I know what you meant for me that day I just wanted another try I just wanted another night Even if it doesn't seem quite right You meant for me much more Than anyone I've met before One single night with you little Jesse Is worth a thousand with anybody I have no bitterness, my sweet I'll never forget this one night thing Even tomorrow, another arms My heart will stay yours until I die Let me sing you a waltz Out of nowhere, out of my blues Let me sing you a waltz About this lovely one n

Its one'o clock, children wait for the luch bell to rush out into the hot afternoon sun. They collect their plates and go straight for food which is served hot by the Anganwadi workers. They get a good share and luch with loud noise. Children near to school go home and bring their plates often they get teased by the villagers. "What have they cooked today?....get me some share!" tease the others. You can see many shyly walking everywhere with their plates. Mid may meals makes sense in a village as both parents are at the farms, mothers cannot afford to come home and feed the children. Many children finish their first course of food in the morning itself. So afternoon lunch is a essential filler. Its quite a great idea of the Government, well luckily executed well here. Asundi, Karnataka, India

After continiously talking for eight hours pinning some interesting concepts in Interaction design, I got a sore throat! Next day I forced the class to discuss more and more to keep the momentum on a holiday! ( Forgive me guys!.....Govt holidays are at the wrong time!). Well we hmmm I wanted to runt more on conceptual models, low fidelity prototypes, flow sensitive frameworks, contexual data, design and PDA....etc etc well with full volume, morning class was quite a sight. Laptops flooded the huge conference table and it seemed like I am talking to double the crowd! 10 high end machines ( around 10 gb ram together, a lakh gb of space, high speed processors, wireless global internet conectivity, multi to power of multi functionality, lots of electricity, stressful mental activity of creation, query mining and 10 seem to be interested souls! Well.....we were discussing designing with computers after all!

A toy industry at Daman

At Ajanta ! ............No more writing on our historical treasures (only because it is strictly prohibited).....why not leaves?

Festivals bring rituals into our homes. Ladies take them seriously and perform all the ritualistic activities as prescribed. ( Sorry even men do) Prescribed ritualism creates colorful events and lots of preparations along and festivals become active. Food, new clothes,new activties,people,holidays....! isnt it enough to transform oneself from routine? Gods get decorated and people eat well. Rituals look like the active elements of events (you can add based on religious canonic logic). What they mean?.....hmmmmm....let me first experience!

Siva is ready to sell his lot, he has some ideas for the display. To attract his customers, he engages himself in skillfull cutting and displaying. Chennai markets are filled with many such expressive displays. Attracting customers in busy markets forces people to innovate displays. I had only a few seconds to walk across this lovely market and this display was successful in catching my attention......I didnt get time to buy though! :)

Design Week in India 5-9 february, 2007, IIt Bombay All are welcome Massimo Vignelli, Vignelli Associates - The Territory of Culture Ajit Balakrishnan, Founder and CEO, Rediff.com Russell Kennedy, Australia -Design in Australia: Indigenous design network project Mervyn Kurlansky, Denmark - The Future of Branding – A new value system R K Joshi-Indian Typography Lise Vejse Klint Copenhagen -Danish Design: A story from Denmark Iko Avital, Israel- Packaging Design in Israel Naresh Gupta, Asia Head, Adobe - Vision for the future April Greiman, CEO, Made in Space,USA -Digital Graphics Jan Blom, Principal Scientist, Nokia Research Centre,Finland-Mobility and Sociability Halim Choueiry, Qatar - Cross Cultural Design and Arabic Typography Ruth Klotzel,Brazil -National Identity and Design Jacques Lange, South Africa -Vernacular Design: Looking at South African graphic design through rainbow eyes Don Ryun Chang (South Korea) - Place branding and identity design in Asia Omar Vulpinari, Director

Workshop at Satyam, Hyderabad