Say Cheese!

Click, transfer, edit, upload, share, comment!

Taking photographs and sharing it with the world has never been so easy. All thanks to the ubiquitous digicams and photo sharing sites like Flickr, Shutterfly and of course Facebook and Orkut. “You have just been tagged!” – you see that line in your mailbox and it triggers a flurry of activities which finally culminates in a smile, telling your friends about the incident and background about the photograph, just admiring the natural scenery, laughing at the smart alec comments to making your own comments. A simple photograph can just lighten up your face for the rest of the day.

However, I do miss the good old days...When there were no digicams. Yeah, so maybe, I am old fashioned. A few days back, I was looking for a few old photographs which had not been “digitized” and so had to scour through several old albums. Ah! The musty smell which arises when you open up those old albums...it’s something else. Nostalgia took over and several incidents immediately flashed by. An old black and white album, sitting with Mom with a hot cup of tea, Mom coming-of-age, hearing all her stories about how it was during her times, hearing the clichéd but smile inducing “hamare zamaane mein to..”, funny incidents about fights she had with her siblings, and life and people in general during those times! A picture can certainly evoke a thousand memories. A couple of hours can just pass by breezily looking at those albums, huddled together with family and friends.

Now, even those old photos of decades ago are being scanned, digitized and uploaded. I agree that now you will be able to share those warm memories with a lot more people at just the click of a button. Only, instead of sitting together and spending quality time with many others, all you will get to read are the words “Chintu from the US has commented on your photograph!”

None the less, whether on the computer or in your hands, a photograph has the capacity to delight, inspire and even provoke some serious thinking.

P.S. attaching a few links of my favourite photography sites plus some links from an e-mail doing the rounds about the 2008 story in pictures! Enjoy

2008 in pictures

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/12/the_year_2008_in_photographs_p.html
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/12/2008_in_photographs_part_2_of.html
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/12/2008_the_year_in_photographs_p.html

Favourite Links

http://wvs.topleftpixel.com/
http://www.durhamtownship.com/blog-archives/003455.html

Birth Pangs

Do you remember the time when you were a kid? When all uncles and aunties used to ask you, “Beta, tumhe bade hokar kya banna hai?” And you, influenced by television, parents, people around you or your friends used to reply enthusiastically – “Doctor, Pilot, Engineer, architect, fashion designer  and such other clichés and some smart kids used to say superman, he-man or some other superhero. And then on hearing this, there was this glint in your parent’s eyes full of hope that seemed to say– “my darling son/daughter!”

I am sure I have been asked a similar question in the past although I don’t know what my reply was. Coming back to the present MBA days of my life, when you should be reasonably sure of where you are headed, if someone were to put forth the question again, I still wouldn’t know what to reply. Call it the quarter life crisis or call it what you want. I don’t know how many of you face a similar situation. The days just slip buy with alarming speed but you are stuck in a time warp. A thousand different things cross your mind like squirrels running and scampering – I should be doing this, that seems interesting, oh! This seems promising also, why don’t I try my hand at that – but unlike squirrels, there seems to be no fruitful activity taking place. The people around you seem to conjure time magically out of thin air but you are always complaining about lack of time. You remain muddled, confused, frustrated. A thousand ideas come to your mind but none bear fruit.

People tell you that it’s just a phase. During such times, you find out what your strengths...Oops...Core competencies (am doing MBA after all) are, what interests you and focus your energies on that. Yes, sounds good I know. But I have decided to give it a try none the less and start doing something I like to do - write. On anything that might interest me. Musings on life, current happenings, sports, movies, books, just about anything. I just hope this initiative of mine lasts and doesn’t peter out like the others. Looking forward to write my next blog. Till then.....

P.S. I actually felt better after writing all this.

P.P.S. a big thanks to desi who acted as the midwife in getting this blog out!!