Architecture here

These pictures were clicked in the Old city of Ahmedabad. The Old streets lead our way to view architecture at the times of the Mughal empire under the British in India. Not so lost in the sands of time,this area is one of the most congested in the city(much like Chandni Chowk of Old Delhi),dotted by the yellow and green CNG autorickshaws. It is busy and very lively, at the same time very calm and peaceful.It is colourful and joyful.Although this part of the city has seen much worse of what other cities pray to never experience.Its wondrous, the way it exists!


Copyright 2009 TEESTA DAS. All rights reserved. All images and content on this site cannot be reproduced, redistributed, modified, duplicated, or otherwise used without the permission of the artist.

The Bharwad Tribe

These are some of the pictures of our study of the Bharwad Community in Ahmedabad. We(my friend and I) explored an area by the name of Wadaj.We were studying people and their habitat for this assignment.

Copyright 2009 TEESTA DAS. All rights reserved. All images and content on this site cannot be reproduced, redistributed, modified, duplicated, or otherwise used without the permission of the artist.

A play of lines

Copyright 2009 TEESTA DAS. All rights reserved. All images and content on this site cannot be reproduced, redistributed, modified, duplicated, or otherwise used without the permission of the artist.

SLR camera

Photography course just got over,and I am still in the midst of its final submission.However,this was something that I wanted to do for quite sometime.This course has gifted me some 300 pictures and lots of practice of finally shooting proper(not over or over exposed pictures) with manual SLR cameras.Yes! The course certainly did leave me nostalgic of all the times that I did try and use my father's SLR camera and had failed miserably.Too complicated I had always felt,but somewhere a certain joy overwhelmed me each time I used his cameras.Throughout the course,every click and crank reminded me of my father who was as passionate about photography and mountaineering.Every trek, every expedition,all there at home in boxes of slides,huge wooden tea-chests and closets.

This course is, dedicated to my father.I hope you like it.The pictures have been clicked in and around my campus in Ahmedabad.

Copyright 2009 TEESTA DAS. All rights reserved. All images and content on this site cannot be reproduced, redistributed, modified, duplicated, or otherwise used without the permission of the artist.

Hap, Happ and Happy

This is from my sketchbook...

Recently I realized that since the time I had stepped into my discipline here, I had only been sketching my descipline related objects or whatever else.Such a bad influence I thought!So here...

oh!Its called so because of a poster that we had recently made for poster war, of Red, Redd and Reddy...promoting our colour.Once gain, the basic inspiration was from the popular cartoon show-Ed, Edd and Eddy :P

Copyright 2009 TEESTA DAS. All rights reserved. All images and content on this site cannot be reproduced, redistributed, modified, duplicated, or otherwise used without the permission of the artist.

Monsoon Fiesta 2009,is here!

This is for the T-shirt design competition for MONSOON FIESTA this year.The inspiration behind the entire thing is 'of-course' MONSOON...but jokes apart..so it is.It brings out the energy within each one participating in this fest, be it the poster war, the sport matches,the music or dance.It also represents the fluidity and the movement around campus(which doesnt really exist for outsiders,because its not a very public affair. However,its still somehow there!)Also,the "AIR"-there is something very different about it.Its lively and its aggresive-hence these colours.Its also very wild.People go crazy with there imagination on poster war(something really random that when you look at it you go go "aah!") or go beserk shooting goals(those accidents during basketball matches or soccer-some awesome kick,some wild slamdunk*i havent seen this one though*).Some even demonstrate their craziness on stage...so I said, its wild and "its in the air":Its an innate characteristic inside (almost) every Nid-ian.

The abstract form, which many people have found awkward and difficult to relate to, is again a form that doesnt belong to this world.Even I cant categorize it in a general category.Nonetheless, I would describe it as something which is really fast, it flies,much like a dinosaur that flies(hehehe).

It difficult to illustrate and say "This is what MF is about."So I felt this form really brought forth the 'spirit' of monsoon fiesta.Hmmm..I guess this is the power of Visual Communication(VC)...that it can generate emotions very spontaneously.Nevertheless, the tools used to produce this is and the medium used for expressing it, is the power of Industrial Design(ID)...hence, we co-exist.But wait,I must add this religiously---"YO ID!!!":D

(Copyright 2009 TEESTA DAS. All rights reserved. All images and content on this site cannot be reproduced, redistributed, modified, duplicated, or otherwise used without the permission of the artist.)

The Tribal Lord

Recently I found a book in our Rongbuk Library, called the Tribal Folk Tales of Assam,by a former Civil Servant and Chairman of the Assam Public Service Commision,S.N. Barkataki.This book had probably been inherited from our Gentiana Library.Hence, dating this book back to 1982, when this book cost only Rs 25.Well, after a little more than two and a half decades, this amazing book of short stories, would be nothing less than a grand.So will completely Gaurd this book from any kind of theft!
Nonetheless,I have really enjoyed reading the stories, mainly for one reason, they are very, uniquely different.Quite fed up of reading the usual fantasy, and the usual fiction,this was a wonderful change.Much different from the Panchatantra and the Jataka Tales, even the My Book Houses, that I read so fondly when I was younger.This certainly reminded me of my childhood.It reminded me of how our surroundings influence our habits and character.The distinctive characteristics which are regarded as tribal are to a considerable extent shaped by the climate, the nature of soil,the terrain and the scenery of the land which they inhabit.As in countries like Tibet,life in these hills have also been hard.
The author has personally been to these hills and has encountered these unusual stories, while he was posted there.The hill tribes of Assam, lived in the districts of Garo Hills,United Khasi and Jantia Hills(both the districts now in Meghalaya),United Mikir, and North Cachar Hills and the Mizo Hills.The tales from these tribes reflect the astonishing old, cultural patterns of the hill- tribes, their religious beliefs,their behaviour and habits and customs.
Having done EP(Environmental Perception, a course offered in the Foundation Programme of my college) and thoroughly enjoyed it,these popular stories are an inlet to the social anthropology of these tribes,besides being their primary source of entertainment.So, I yes!I have been a sort- of nerd, but have throughly enjoyed this!
Anyway, I would consider this book a treasure, firstly because compiling so many folk tales across Assam is like a mammoth task and Mr Barkataki has been like a genius! Secondly, competing to do the same is almost next to impossible because, there are no "hill-tribes of Assam" any longer, having been absorbed in the new constituted autonomous states.
Nevertheless, the book can be borrowed or better still, read in the Rongbuk Library any day, any time.

Queen of the Spring Season

Jo Bole So Nihal!Sat Sri Akal!

Rest on the Foliage

This is much like "Stereopia"...but called Rest on the Foliage,its inspired from yoga,unlike the bollywood poster of stereopia.While you are concentrating in yoga(or meditating,or praying for instance),several images run through your mind...much of it is what you have either already experienced or really want to.Resting on the Foliage is to relax your mind from others and concentrate on yourself.Maybe not as worldly as the kinds of things that you might want to buy in your next shopping spree or something,but targets that you really want to achieve,deadlocks that you really want to break!So REST ON THE FOLIAGE!

Franz Beckenbauer

Mahmoud 'Oil'adinjad

Keira 'I-want-to-be-the-thinnest' Knightley

Re-Location

This is a a mental location of the place that i just visited when I returned home....you know....if I simply zoomed out of my house in Chandigarh, where would the house in Kapurthala be.Done simply for fun sake and not much like a map.so, details dont necessarily have to be added...i guess...heehee!!:@)

The outing(contd)

In kapurthala, when we found time other than eating auntie's home-cooked "punjabi khaana" we did visit a couple of places.The Science City being one.Uncle was very sweet to accompany us and he didn't want to miss a thing.So from the time we arrived at Fun...oh sorry Science City:P he continued to click pictures...talking about myself...what to do...i don't really carry these digital things around for memory sake...my 'photographic memory' is enough!hehehehe!
Another one of those days, we went all the way to Sultanpur Lodhi to visit Baba Ber Sahib, a huge Gurudwara where Guru Nanak-the first Sikh Guru- had supposedly attained his enlightenment.The Tree there, its a Ber tree that Guru Nanak had planted himself,making this tree a heritage tree, some 500-550 years old!!Good God!
And then, before leaving Kapurthala,we met Mai,our really old maid.She used to be with us always until we shifted to Patiala.It had been 5-6 years since I last saw her, and she hardly looked any older...she must be 65 by now!She was still the same...ever jolly, every happy and that same tight, suffocating hug when you meet!God Bless Her!

A weekened outing

Recently, my mother and I decided to visit our neighbour's house in Kapurthala, a small town in Punjab.We used to live there when I wasn't even born...so we are talking about reviving some 20-21 year old memories for my mother.
The journey started in the evening...wah!I was missing the countryside!The fields, and birds and the open sky...I was born watching them...very refreshing from the Chandigarh city.The harvest season just got over,Baisakhi the festival of the Punjabis-so on the fields still lay,bundles of wheat crops cut and ready to be sent off.As night began to fall, we were still driving past the fields under the open sky,but only at night do you get to see things that happen behind the scenes!


"TIGER TIGER BURNING BURNING BRIGHT..."
Fire in the fields!Well, they believe that after one crop season is over it is important to burn the field....but then in return they kill all the insects surviving on the soil, the animals feeding on those insects go hungry and die...and the smoke in the air is of-course and potential threat to the environment!!"Huh!who cares...as long as I am alive!"
"So, as long as I am alive,I will do whatever!"They run their combines, huge threshing machines, after the night falls."Well, hello Mr. V.Smart Farmer Singh!Isn't it banned to run your machines once the sunsets???You can barely see anything,you can hit an electric pole and your fields can catch fire!""Huh!Who cares...As long as I am alive!I,I,I,I'm stayin' alive!"
Here we go again!
"Tiger Tiger burning bright,In the forests of the night;What immortal hand or eye.Could frame thy fearful symmetry?In what distant deeps or skies. Burnt the fires of thine eyes?"-(The Tiger, by William Blake).Such high rising flames, right behind a building-either a bungalow or a factory.GOD LAY MERCY!

The last bit of the journey was peaceful...no fires!It was only the Road, the trees and us!

Exhibition Blues

I have recently also voluteereed for an exhibition where we have to talk about Bringing peace into the lives of Children. AH! one can actualy talk lots on the topic, provided your audience understands you!So,in order to make matters worse, they invite school children, for the time-slot that I have volunteered.God!What I hate the most is explaining things that are interesting, as in when you especially make the effort to make people understand, you would lack the skill to keep them interested in you!Damn!X(

Driving Lessons

I recentlystarted my Driving Lessons at a certain Driving School called 'Sangam Driving School'.
They send the teacher and he comes over to your doorstep to pick you put for the class.The accent as usual is very counfusingly funny for me. You know he'd say Brake and I would Accelerate!God what havoc on the roads!But of course, no worries!no crashes....yet!;)

Mingo a.k.a. Aashram

Recently, on my way back from Ahmedabad, a senior of mine, who is from Chandigarh itself, asked me if i could carry his new pet kitty home.Since I was travelling by train, it would have been easier for me than for him( he was flying).Being an animal lover myself, I couldn't help but agree.
Well, the over-night journey to Delhi, on the train was quite amusing. We were three of us. My friend donated her precious pink t-shirt with blue hearts to wrap around the kitty and her Blue towel to cover the kitty's basket(God Bless her!).AH! the continuous mewing was rather difficult to deal with.Other passengers also began complaining soon...and the night was painful-awkward sleeping style, the "wannabe"sleeping moments.I eventually had to sit up all night, next to the toilet, with the kitty on my lap eating "rabari"(an indian sweet-we figured it was really fond of it!)
The way things turned out by the morning, I was quite sorry for my friend. She had decided to discard her t-shirt and even probably her towel, because of kitty fundaments on them!!:D
What can I say next, I guess one over-night journey is good enough for an animal-lover to get used to the animal.So,(i feel proud of this!) i was able to handle the kitty from then on!Could make it sleep, run play, eat, accouding to how i wanted...or rather, I synchronised myself with the kitty's biological timings!It was great fun.
My aunt and uncle aren't particularly animal lovers and are very conscious about what happens around the house.However, the task was manageable even there!
I was a little sad handing over the kitty at the Chandigarh station.I miss it...I decided to call it 'Mingo', derived from flamingo...because of the colour of its nose).The attendent on our Ahmedabad train had however named it 'Aashram', after the train itself...as a memory of the journey!Quite an unforgettable journey.;)

IF: Impossibility

Well, this was done very randomly.Its actually like "Wingardium Leviosa"(a charm from J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter Series)...seemed pretty impossible everytime I tried it.For those of all who have read the book, its a 'Swish and a Flick'!

Illustration Friday:Padma Auntie started wearing shades

Padma Auntie was always very scared of ghosts and bats .Being very superstitious as well, several ill-omen creatures also bothered her..the ones seen most often were crows on her balcony.However, by the influence of our "ever-cool" entertainment industry,she too found her new talisman.Now she wears them everyday, and the local crows have since been head-over-heals for her!:P

Talisman

done for illustration friday:P

Stereopia

Stereopia takes me back to those old bollywood movies greatly publicised on the deadly orange and pink tinted posters.My picture shows the stereo-scenario, where there is a tall, imposing figure who is the epitome of style and fashion.Not necessarily an actor though,can also be a political leader,or a musician or a singer...basically someone seen and broadcasted all over! The figure, is greatly admired, loved and worshipped by a smaller creature(shown as a cute squirrel),who blindly follows whatever it sees.After all, you believe what you see.This is probably where visual communication steps in and takes over the mammoth responsibility. After all, an entire generation of those squirrels will eventually follow what it sees!

Sleepy Nightjar

Nightjars are small nocturnal birds with small features.
I've seen a couple at home, hiding in the trees.I like to watch birds as well.They are the most wonderful creatures made by god(that's if he exists),of course closely followed by dogs!!:P

A Design Opportunity in Roti(Food)

My idea was for the dry, hilly regions with lack of water but lots of sunshine!(some place like the village we visited for our Environmental Perception course.)
The concept was to first generate water by the simple method of precipitation.There is moisture in the lower layers of soil, but the only problem is that the water table is very low.Hence, by digging a deep pit, putting a plastic sheet on top and tapping the water,voila!We get what we want!.From here, water pumphouses will pull the water and supply it to the area.One of the supplies would be to a Steam Generating house(steam generated using solar reflectors),from where pipelines will again be connected to the houses around the area.These houses can cook food using steam, instead of being dependent on fossil fuels, or even LPG!~similar techinques could be adopted in citites, maybe on top of houses or apartments!

Roti-Food

This assignment was to represent what we actually know about Roti(Food) and the issues related to it.



This was the next level of the same assignment, where we had to think about how roti is or is not sustainable at the moment.The problems and issues related to it.We interviewed some organic farm owners,designers, wholesellers, People teaching and practising sustainability in colleges,CEPT faculty and the IIM faculty.Also, some of the NGOs working in this field.It was a very enriching experience to actually understand the wider picture of how things are around us. Formulating, editing, filtering and then representing the data was difficult but fun(once again)!:)