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Wednesday 31 August 2011

Click! - Portait or Passport?

A book by Nora Roberts has grabbed my attention and its really very gripping as you're waiting to see what comes next in the story. The book has pulled me away from my Julius Caesar text, which was lined up as home-work!
Visions in White, the page- turner I'm talking about portrays a marriage photographer as its central character. She's a photographer by profession and specializes in this genre because she partners a wedding planning agency with her friends. The story is set in U.S.A and highlights the concept of photography in the country. Its fascinating how they take the art so seriously and not just for requisite passport size photos!
How many of us in India think of visiting these professionals for our photographs for the defining moments of life. The most popular photographed event in an Indian's life is his/ her wedding. That too is usually done in a preset pattern.
Mackensie, the character etched by Nora, engages in observing the personalities of her clients, their likes and dislikes, their wavelengths and commonalities between those. She spends time with them and is allowed freedom of space to create the portraits. While many of us have such concepts here, we rarely hire a professional for it because a little bit of knowledge acquired via Google, a small camera and the subject of the photo seems to do the needful!
I don't mean to be critical of my own country but I think there's room for a change in this area. What do you think? After all, we have moved towards taking the help of Photo Studios to tweak, blow up and print our photos. So why not make room for some more finesse in the art of photo-making, er , clicking!

Thursday 25 August 2011

Personally impersonating

I was just surfing channels this afternoon and chanced upon a new show where a person is selected by a celebrity and he/she gets to experience the life of the star he adores. So its like the celebrity also gets a chance to encourage their fans. As the program progressed,  I drifted to thinking about the actors' work. They're supposed to shoot for a merry-making scene even if a near one is suffering an illness, supposed to cry(maybe sob) if they choose to work on their birthdays or anniversaries or just any special day! Their's no room for a mood swing, no allowance for a shift in emotions. They have to feel like the character they're impersonating, and lock their own personality in the vanity van!
How do they oscillate between such changes in mindsets- marrying in a movie, mourning in another, dying in this frame, dancing on that......and the list goes as long the list of verbs in a director's imagination! 
We as the "common" people, crib about a shift in mood or temper and some of us even lock ourselves up in rooms until the phase passes. But what about these not-so-common people! 
Its fascinating how their personalities change with their make-up, attire, scene and setting. What's more, is that their individuality is retained too.
Imagine how tiring it gets for us sometimes, to balance between our different relations, but for these STARS, it is a tough call to balance between "several" blood ties, each of different films and as many true blood ones!

Monday 22 August 2011

Paschimbanga (read: Poshchimbowngo!)

As I was reading the newspaper this morning I paused at an article by a Guest Writer and it explained what the non-Bengali Calcuttans thought about this change in name. (Funny, we still call ourselves Calcuttans when the city is Kolkata!) This Bengali translation of West Bengal doesn't help at all. The so-called historical baggage is not done away with in any manner! The alphabetical progression which was another absurd reason for a name change is not well achieved either. We progress from W to P and the rationale, if any, sounds vague. What is the thought that plays on the minds of the Ministers in office that their indifference moves a state to change its name in a bid to gain sufficient attention! 
The suggested name reflects how the decision is consented by only a certain group of people because the other linguistic groups that co-exist cannot even pronounce it, let alone approve it! 
Yesterday the Ministers( including the PM) met the Industrialists of West Bengal (er, Pashchimbanga) at the Saha Institute of Physics. At the event, the Governor of West Bengal Shri M.K.Narayanan touched upon the proposed change by saying : "Smt Mamata Banerjee, the Chief Minister of West Bengal or Paschimbanga? Not very sure yet....."
His pronunciation of the new name brought into focus, how the re-christened name would be practically butchered by non-bengali speakers. The Respected Governor who hails from Kerala pronounced the name as it is spelt and alas! the third syllable became "banga"! 
Not the Governor's fault, but the point has come to surface and with strong proof! Bingo! oops, sorry the name is "Banga" , ummm or is it "Bowngo?"

Sunday 21 August 2011

Funda behind Floss

The idea was weighed in various ways in my mind and I contemplated a lot over creating a blog. Several visits to the page of blogspots. Sometimes I even got as far as the step where my blog was a click away! Literally so, one click would make me feel I had created something. Some creation that brings excitement, responsibility, opportunities, avenues, and a lot more...... But unlike this time, every previous attempt ended with the cursor being pointed at the cross on the right hand corner and SHUT! 
I've finally made it! No apprehensions, no inhibitions and no fears.

Mental Floss- The name stands for something that's not for mandatory use like a toothbrush but its useful, all the same.The posts will hopefully provide food to the brain through written words or sometimes even pictures. My aim is to offer fodder to the curious grey cells and set the thinking worm to task! 

Inviting all people who like to think, observe, analyse, retrospect, introspect, contemplate and discuss.....
Here's to all thinking souls!