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THESIS

2010-07-08T07:43:00.000-07:00

house part3

2008-03-02T22:31:00.000-08:00

upper floor - terraces/screens

living room - terraces

home part 2

2008-02-27T11:25:00.000-08:00

my room

upstair corridor

dadis room

poojaroom
more still to come....but cant take anymore photos......

home - part 1

2008-02-27T10:15:00.000-08:00

My home .... after lot of struggling and compromises and fights and arguements its finally over..almost!!! my first project and i love it! .... any coments are welcome ...and sid n parch waiting for u guys to come and see it...

dining taken from the terrace

IF

2008-02-26T08:34:00.000-08:00

i cant but stop reading this.... it makes me feel so good!

IF
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and DisasterAnd treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!
--Rudyard Kipling

Home Sweet Home

2007-11-29T09:08:00.000-08:00

sofa hall

dining area

mezzanine

dining

its crazy arguing with parents.....the end has almost come-- we will be shifting back home.

some images of my ( and my parents-who are not architects) first project...Home under construction...everything from my old house is reused (which explains the triagular windows)...

in the rains

2007-09-22T07:01:00.000-07:00

Dahl- the violent author?

2007-09-13T08:27:00.000-07:00

google celebrates roald dahl's birthday -www.google.com i was reading some of his story summaries and frankly,
i was shocked. i mean the guy who wrote matilda and james and the ...

also wrote-
" Finally his turn is called, and he is led to the "schackling area" where the pigs are grabbed, looped about the ankle with a chain, and then dragged up through a hole in the roof. While he is watching, one of the workers slips a chain around Lexington's ankle and before he knows what is happening he is being dragged along the path as well. "Help!" he cries. "There's been a frightful mistake!" But no one stops the engine, and he's carried along to the sticker, who slices open the boy's jugular vein with a knife" -review of short stories by roald dahl - 'PIG'

and ..

"but when bringing a leg of lamb to the kitchen for the evening meal, she encounters her husband. In a fit of rage she kills him with a blow to the head from the leg of lamb. Thinking quickly, she goes to the local store to create an alibi for herself, and when she returns home, calls the police. They come quickly, and after verifying her alibi, they begin the search for the murder weapon, unaware that it is cooking right in front of them. After a fruitless hunt for the weapon, Mary Malone offers the officers the now cooked lamb. As they discuss the location of the weapon, Mary begins to giggle.." - lamb to the slaughter
all his adult fiction is the same..crude violence

rethinking his childrens fiction , they too had a violent humour..maneating giants, children almost dying in a choclate factory etc...

he remains to be one of my favorite authors

cruise to Alaska atlast!

2007-05-20T10:54:00.000-07:00

i remember the excitement overflow and goosebumps....finally the high point of the trip. i was really shocked to see the ship, it was enormously large-like a floating city. it had 750 crew for around 2500 passengers. it was grand from inside, you could call it baroque- overly decorated. we were assigned our staterooms which were quite tiny according to american standards and quite large according to indian. ours had a window and a great view but who cared? we all rushed outside to the deck on the 12th floor...

12th floor through out the cruise remained our meeting place, if someone was lost - they were found there. it had the market place- which was a buffet eating place- huge, the game room, card room, library, spa n gym, open deck- pool and water slides, the theatre, the auditorium(600 seater with balcony- rococco style) and essentially the spinnaker lounge. the ship had a spectacular lobby on the 7th floor, triple heighted with a lounge and bars, discs and restaurants- i could go on and on about the ship but thats all for now.

exploring and knowing the ship took us probably first half of the trip...it was really exciting.

all these lounges and restaurants and other areas overlooked everchanging outside. the feeling was stange, you are in the same place with a different outside.

i can say one thing for sure the cruise was totally worth the money, and if u eat every living thing on earth - you must go for it. the feed u as if there is no tomorrow, and the charge is all inclusive so no worries. make sure u take a free style cruise, who wants to stick to schedule on a holiday?

Seattle

2007-05-19T10:28:00.000-07:00

our cruise to alaska started from seattle. we had a day and half to explore the city. we walked for really long in really cold weather and bythe time we reached somewhere - the city was shut. dissapointing. so on the first day seattle seemed to be a dull city with grey weather - turn off. even in big cities everything shuts very early in US.. its strange by 9 pm absolutely everything is shut...and there is daylight till then so you dont even feel hungry enough for dinner..

we walked past Gehrys building and the seattle needle(strange monument from outer space). gehry i must say has done a good job with the exterior..flashy and ostentatious but interesting. his usual silver material with which he clads his building was replaced in some places by pink n yellow flashy materials which gave the building a weird look - as if it was some craft model done by some kid. but again it was 430 PM and it was shut.

the next day i almost forced my brother to take me to gehry's building...which by the way is called - The experience music project(EMP). we went inside to find out that it was a dull and boring museum absolutely opposite to starnge exterior. there was no experience of the building in most parts and the interior might as well have been put anywhere. the dynamic outside and boring inside...beauty is only skin deep? probably the best part of the building was that the sky rail runs right through the building..we were not allowed to take any pictures inside, but trust me it wasnt even worth it..

besides the EMP there was pikes market, which was almost exactly like our juhu fish market. only difference was it was it was tourist friendly..it had restaurants n cafes and signs.
Downtown seattle was just okay. the only thing was that it was used up well. seattle is a major port - it reminded me of mumbai ka dead east coast..and to think the east coast of mumbai can be like that?

The Experience Music Project- Frank Gehry

U.Va

2007-05-19T00:10:00.000-07:00

roman pantheon

Rotunda - Uva

University of Virginia seemed like a small town by itself. the buildings are short and spread out, seperated by vast endless greens- almost like a garden city. walking from one building to another seems to be enough excersise. it was designed by thomas jefferson, who was inspired by the roman architecture. In his words the experience of the college should be like a 'academic village'. the roman influence could be seen in a few buildings like -the Rotunda- library building at the head of the garden. the buildings were all inset with a colonaded pathway all around. over all it was a pleasant place straight out of history, with changed use.

Uva- pics

charlotesville- my brothers place

2007-05-18T03:02:00.000-07:00

initially i did not like c'ville too much.. .. there is almost zero life - actually only 100,00 people and a lot of green all around, but thats because i am used to bombay. A fter visiting other big cities i am sure i liked c'ville the best. the drive from DC to c'ville was a good refreshment after the long flight and mumbai hassles.

c'ville started out as a university town(UVA)-with all possible amenities, good food and a cute downtown. its green all around with amazing colours. my brothers place was even better than i expected...last time i visited him, he had an apartment which was absolutely dirty- a typical bachelors house. this time, because he is married, their home is beautiful, with a forest and stream behind, large sloping back yard-on which they grow various fruits n flowers, a well landscaped front, and a typical american(venturi) home.

it was good fun to stay at his place. he has a game room in the basement(pool and tt), and a forest behind to explore- where i spent most of my time.

f ront - with his spurano

his back yard- merges with the forest
exploring the forest

colors

2007-04-24T09:48:00.000-07:00

pre ad vivas, i guess eveyone wants to get it over with!

After effects...

2007-03-05T06:48:00.000-08:00

pink hair...

its more pink but cell phone camera not that great

Happy Birthday Dad and a very happy holi

2007-03-03T11:02:00.000-08:00

I might have entered the kitchen and actually done some cooking for the first time today....the entire morning i spent making dads birthday cake wich turned out to be reallly cool...mom and the two grannys made other dads fav dishes...it took us 3 hours to finish cooking. i was exausted by the end of it...

In the evening we did a family holi puja in the terrace, while my granny recited the shlokas, my parents put various things in the fire. this was the first time we did anything like this.

Moms new haircut...

2007-03-02T10:58:00.000-08:00

Inspired by me, mom too went to HARSH for a haircut. i think he took 20 years off....even at 50 she looks more like my sister!!

museumification of a private space

2007-02-28T10:04:00.000-08:00

Stay Over..

2007-02-23T20:38:00.000-08:00

my mom n ruchi and my dad in the background

phorum vishu n saumi

My place stay over. so much fun it was. bahut mazaa aaya...... after a long time 6of us were there together on a stay over. as usual we stayed up till wee hours in the morning and had popcorn and maggi n all. i took out all the snaps i had probably around 400 of all the trips and school etc...

we made get well soon card for saif...just for kicks...it was very funny and all of us drew fans on it indicating we were fans!! heheheheheh...quite literal ? discussed the same stories and teased each other like kids....

one thing struck us ...we were going to be 22 and still behaving like bachhas...our moms were married at that age..!! but being kids is fun..

generally we stay at phorums nanis place... where she opens her pandoras box. a corrugated sheet packing box. it has absolutely everything..the cards i sent her 5th from NZ, the choclate wrappers nishit and i gave her, scrap books, rough books where we wrote notes in class, her school diary....every little thing is preserved. i mean some things we dont even remember she has em...its really great opening it ...memories in a box.

Hiral and Saumi are leaving soon for the US. its not going to be so many of us anymore. riddhis left, shyams goin, viraj is goin, nish is goin ....Mumbai is going to become quite lonely...but i am sure we are never going to change....we will still be the stupid kids!

Hrithik

2007-02-23T05:27:00.000-08:00

took this picture at 10th road ... he was learning how to skate for dhoom2 i guess! he is really hot stuff!!

Bandra worli sea link

2007-02-22T07:58:00.000-08:00

Went for a site visit to the bandra worli sealink exhibition. very fancy and very cool and those engineers took great pride, not as much in the sea link as in having put up such a good exhibition. worth a watch.

Home...

2007-02-22T07:38:00.000-08:00

sunrise at lokhandwala

morning chai in the terrace

sunset

sunrise

I am bored of staying here in lokhandwala. u see hundreds of people but cant talk to any. i wish i could go back home quickly. its been 3 years since we shifted here, and i still do not know the name of my neighbours or anybody in the building. I must say we live a extreme "urban" life of isolation. This place is not us. probably i never even tried to because i knew i was goin to shift back. Back home.

Recently i was walking around JVPD. each street has a memory attached. thinking back every thing that i had gone through became an event- coming home from school with the heavy bag and heavy TD bag, going to anita misses place, sitting in her terrace discussing almost everything(which is gone now), ruchi falling on the road, riddhi running and screaming chased by a puppy, us trying to touch an elephant, madman following us...

i guess this only becomes important when u move away...home was where i could sit for hours at the window and daydream...i cant do that anymore.

The two kids...

2007-02-20T05:04:00.000-08:00

My parents have four kids , my brother, me and my two grandmothers. Its quite a job i guess for them. the crying and complaining and screaming and howling....i just cant imagine. i must say its good fun to listen to old people. they are amusing, with their stories of their chilhood, it seems that they have undergone time travel. its beyond my imagination. one of my granniy who is 93, dresses up in front of the TV thinking that if we can see them so can they....astounding concept?

they do live in world of their own..the past. the present amazes them as the past amazes us...