The Rebelle blog

Today was an exceptionally dull Saturday. It was super hot and my spirits were longing for some greens and refreshments. After doing everything possible to entertain my dull mind, right from listening to peppy music and writing to friends, I gave up and slept for two hours instead. And, how good do I feel now! A nap was all it took to put back some vigor into a drab day like this.  Ah! These summer days.  I am now poised to get back to work. A writing assignment that seems to loom overhead as I keep postponing it. A casual stroll through Facebook brought me to a friend's witty shenanigans there and I was transported back to a time of visiting him last summer. How happy do I feel to remember those moments, reliving them again and again as if on a loop. Everything stands still except me and the memories. Thankfully, I am able to reconstruct most memories the way they are in my head. I also wrote to a faraway friend over email and the simple gesture of exchanging pleasa...

I had been meaning to read this book ever since I graduated from Architecture School. Years ago, I fell in love with the cover art of this book, so flaming red and inviting with its delicate yellow flowery design and font. Any book that puts so much effort into its cover page illustration is worth giving it a try, is something I always believe. Prior to reading this book, for about six years I've heard numerous reviews and recommendations from friends and fellow readers but never the actual gist or theme it represents. I always thought it is like a guidebook to finding love in about forty steps or rules that will guarantee a brushing with this exquisite emotion. Since I'm not a spiritual nor a religious person, the ideas explored about Rumi and Sufism evolved into their present fame and global recognition did not occur to me earlier (because I never consciously thought upon these two in religious overtones). When one of my friends from college met me at a bookstore sh...

I got caught up and obsessed with sculptural edifices for the entire day yesterday. Somehow a dream from Jhumpa Lahiri's An Unaccustomed Earth made me think of winding, narrow brick lanes and stone sculptures set on pedestals, looking over pedestrians and tourists walking in their slow pace. I ended up browsing pinterest and creating a sculpture board there, pinning and collecting more than 150 sculpture images in about two hours. Was it worth spending two hours on looking at pictures? I definitely think yes. All sorts of stories and theories accumulated in my mind while staring at each one of them. I saw the classical sculptures by Michaelangelo, Bernini, in ancient Greek and Hellenistic styles, by Auguste Rodin as also a lot of garden sculptures and with experimental material usage like hairpins, plastic, masking tape, brown paper. It amazed me and filled me with an acute curiosity to know of what went through the sculptor's mind when he embarked on creating one of his cre...

I am happy and I feel guilty about it. There's so much grief and sadness and tragedy taking place around us everyday and that makes me question if my happiness really deserves a mention here. Let me express it here though. I have exams coming up in the next ten days and I've been quite stressed over all the academic work. But I have found a great source to relieve all this stress. It's called Sketchbook Express. It is an Autodesk digital painting software. I have always been wary of using software. I love handmade stuff, designs, cards everything. I just took to using it and created something from my childhood. It's a very special dream sequence.  As a kid, I dreamt of oceans and undersea kingdoms a lot besides dreaming of aeroplanes and skies. So, here I was recreating my childhood fantasy world. I was a huge believer and admirer of Mermaids and Magic. Just the other day my younger sister asked me if I ever felt disappointed by the fact that magic was not real,...

Oh, how happy I am! It's always a joy to know new things. I attended a public lecture last night on Ancient Board Games in India and World. It was a fascinating insight into something that originated centuries ago and then spread and grew all over the world. I am not into games. I never was. However, I attended the lecture because it was conducted by Dr. Irving Finkel who is also a curator of the cuneiform tablets from Mesopotamia, at the British Museum. I have a rather high regard and respect for museums, ever since I was a kid. My Dad being the reason. I remember our city trips in summer would be to the museums. Mumbai has two: The Prince of Wales now known as Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Museum; and Dr. Bhau Daji Lad museum. We always attended the exhibitions and spent hours on end, watching transfixed the sculptures, paintings and exhibits. It was all I could ever want from my father- Time and wisdom! Museums are an education in themselves. My first impression of Dr. Bhau ...

Lilting music, violin sounds and a mellow afternoon- my idea of perfect time for a refreshing cup of tea and a good book that's about to end. Having spent three years with such luxury I'm spoilt to the core and often long for these afternoons. I remember my professor's warm conversations during thesis, and lazy walks through Fort. I have spent every waking moment with Orhan Pamuk and his Istanbul. Then there were times spent listening to the great Usha Uthup- she's a delight. Everything is so fresh in my mind, Her feminist decoding of 'Bindiya Chamkegi' is original and important and should be heard by every young impressionable girl. We live in such fractured times. I came across this book of Greek mythology and a dictionary on the same while looking for some other books in my collection. While going through them casually, I came upon markings in my handwriting on comparisons with other book characters and my exasperated comments. I remembered my obsessed tri...

Monday mornings bring monday blues. I fought them all and met my friend, Su to visit Kala Ghoda Arts Festival. My first KGAF visit was in 2007, during my third year of architecture school. Eight years since then and the festival has undergone tremendous changes. From giant art installations and kitschy art work, it has come to TV channels promoting themselves via photo booths. The lack of discipline was a serious issue this time around. People sat, stood on and touched installations! It was saddening to see footprints on sculptures. Is this an over-enthusiasm for selfies or a blatant disrespect for art work on display? Both, I say. Unlike all the previous years, surprisingly, I was done looking around in less than two hours. Here are a few snapshots from my visit there.   A stop at the Yazdani Bakery is always a must when I'm in Fort. Su and me are great fans of their delicious apple pies. On this visit, we were out of luck. Had our usual favorite, Brun Maska ...

Watercolors are my least preferred medium. I love watercolor art, but since I am not a trained artist I cannot use watercolors to their maximum effect. Recently, I came across a very gifted artist who paints using watercolors and writes for NatGeo Traveller India. His work is so phenomenal, that I took some inspiration and decided to try my hand at watercolors after three years. I kept it simple. Just painted a few paper craft flowers I have made as part of a greeting card. It was all plain white, and I thought of adding some fresh color to the flowers. My hands were wobbly and I couldn't judge how thin the color layer ought to be on the paper, so my first flower got painted with a very watery yellow and it made the flower saggy too. My second attempt was fair and I colored all of them with a very satisfactory even layer. The last time I used these watercolors was while watching a movie at home- 'Wake Up Sid.' Something during the movie made me get my colors an...

My constant unhappiness over the past few days, has thankfully come to an end. And, how? Two phone calls from two very dear people. One of them, Sneha, my far-away continent friend; and the other, a not-so-far-away yet distant friend. It never ceases to amuse me that when someone is unhappy, how little of an effort it takes for someone else to bring back the cheer in their lives. Think of a phone call from their loved ones, letters(now, emails) though infrequent, a surprise visit, an old tune, that long-lost book you've been meaning to read but didn't, suddenly it springs in front of your eyes! Such small things that bring indescribable joys! One of my architect friends, who teaches in a school and has lots of free time after 2 pm, often would tell me that she has nothing to do post school. Nowadays, she's happy working on a project that's located in an extreme end of the city, and she has to commute for nearly 3 hrs to reach there. But, she's not complaining. ...