Rocking Rangoli from South of India

My love for drawing rangolis dates back to my childhood, when I along with my friends spent hours to draw the colourful rangoli designs during Diwali vacations. It was a traditional art passed on by my grandmother and my mother, and I cherished it with passion. Over years I learnt a new form called Sanskar Bharti which was to draw ever expanding and large Rangoli designs. My practice however dwindled to only a few instances during important festivals as I got busier in life.

One of the times I really enjoyed making Rangoli designs was during the annual decorations in my office. It is such a joy. I learnt to make really big designs, put shades into the colours all right there. Making it along with colleagues surely made it more enjoyable.

Yesterday during the celebrations, I enjoyed every moment of making the Rangoli. We did two different forms of it. The theme was South of India. First was a traditional Onam flower rangoli that depicted a Kathakali dancer's face. It looked so awesome with all colourful bright flowers bringing it alive, and the fragrant rose petals brought a magic to it. Pure awesomeness. The design was inspired by the image below:

Another one that I always wanted to try was the traditional Kolam rangoli that the South Indians draw using rice flour. The designs looked complex, and always mesmerized me. I wanted to learn and try it out, and yesterday was a perfect chance :) I tried this one using a white chalk on a brown chart paper, and it turned out to be pretty neat. I think the trick here was to know how to draw those parallel 4 lines such that those intersect with each other forming 5 squares. But I really loved the experience. It was inspired by this design I found on the Internet.

Looking forward to trying out more complex designs from the South of India in this year :)

Soar beyond fears - Why walk when you can fly

Came across this lovely story today, something really inspirational for the new year, and could not help re-posting it here...

SOAR BEYOND FEARS

Once there was a king who received a gift of two magnificent falcons from Arabia. They were peregrine falcons, the most beautiful birds he had ever seen. He gave the precious birds to his head falconer to be trained.

Months passed and one day the head falconer informed the king that though one of the falcons was flying majestically, soaring high in the sky, the other bird had not moved from its branch since the day it had arrived.

The king summoned healers and sorcerers from all the land to tend to the falcon, but no one could make the bird fly. He presented the task to the member of his court, but the next day, the king saw through the palace window that the bird had still not moved from its perch. Having tried everything else, the king thought to himself, "May be I need someone more familiar with the countryside to understand the nature of this problem." So he cried out to his court, "Go and get a farmer."

In the morning, the king was thrilled to see the falcon soaring high above the palace gardens. He said to his court, "Bring me the doer of this miracle."

The court quickly located the farmer, who came and stood before the king. The king asked him, "How did you make the falcon fly?"

With his head bowed, the farmer said to the king, " It was very easy, your highness. I simply cut the branch where the bird was sitting."

We are all made to fly -- to realize our incredible potential as human beings. But instead of doing that, we sit on our branches, clinging to the things that are familiar to us. The possibilities are endless, but for most of us, they remain undiscovered. We conform to the familiar, the comfortable, the mundane. So for the most part, our lives are mediocre instead of exciting, thrilling and fulfilling.

So let us learn to destroy the branch of fear we cling to and free ourselves to the glory of flight.

-- From the Book "Why walk when you can fly"

Of VIPs and 93 friends

A couple of small talks thanks to my kiddo...

Whenever we cross the toll bridge on the expressway, we would read the signs on the lanes, one of those would read VIP. My son asked me what it means and I said Very Important People. He asked me whether we are VIPs, I said why not ! Since then he wants my hubby to get our car in that lane.
The other day he asked me how do they decide who is a VIP and who is not. I said, in my opinion people whom we care for, or without whom our work gets stuck is a VIP for us, everyone including my family, my colleagues, my domestic help and my favorite people who make a difference in my life is a VIP for me. I just wished the toll bridge people also think so, and treat people equal !

The other day my son was talking to one of our family friends, and they asked him about his friends. He started telling them his friends' names, and suddenly said, "My mother has 93 friends!". I was overhearing and was bowled over by this. I asked him later what is this 93 number, and he said he had seen it on my facebook profile the other day. Wow ! 93 friends ! He was proud that his mother has so many friends, and thinks he has not yet reached that number of his friends. For him the friends are yet all face to face and real friends, and not virtual ones like me though :)

It's Diwali Time folks ! Happy Diwali

Diwali is just around the corner, its actually nearer than that :) and it really really excites me. Have lots of plans this time, as its a 3 day holiday. So lots of rangoli, crackers, sweets, cooking, lighting, new dresses, diya, lanterns. It all really fills so many colours in life. Kids are also excited and spending a lot of time in making diwali greetings for their cousins / friends, and trying their hands at rangoli too.

India is really big on festivals, and Diwali is undoubtedly the Queen. People splurge on things that they would not otherwise, irrespective of how much they earn. It gives a zing to the routine boring life.
I have been finding out and telling stories about why we celebrate diwali to kids. So all stories of Narakasura, Laxmi's birthday, Bali-Vaman, Bhaubeej, Ram returning home from Lanka, Pandav returning from their exile, and what not. So many reasons to celebrate, isnt it?

I love the light and colours of diwali, and the enthusiasm that's filled in the air. Mumbai looks fascinating with the lights specially during Diwali. It hides all the dark side of it, and illuminates the hope of this dream city. I wish everyone a wonderful diwali, and pray that it fills everyone's life with joy that lasts forever, every diwali only adding to it every year. Enjoy !

Engineering practices !!

I would be speaking on one of my favourite topics "Engineering Practices" at Agile Tour 2010 in Pune India this Saturday i.e. 23rd Oct 2010. This is the first time Agile Tour conference is happening in India !
Am really excited to think about the event, and specially my presentation. Looking forward to hear new ideas, new thoughts to feed my mind.

The agenda looks exciting, They have 3 tracks, one technical, one process, and one on organizational change management.

So inviting all you folks in Pune and in Mumbai, who are passionate about Agile, to participate in this event, and wish me luck!

What's in my DNA today?

Around 4-5 years back, when I was a loyal reader of Times of India, I saw this advertisement of a new newspaper being launched. It read "What's BMC digging for? a) Water b) gold c) Petrol". It was so apt looking at the roads that are always dug by BMC for some reason or the other. I tried to give DNA a shot, and really fell in love with it. Today after 5 years, it has become a part of my life, and I really look forward to what's in the DNA today.

It brought in many concepts of Web 2.0 such as readers contributing to news, as well as opinions on latest happenings. It also has a separate edition for kids on sunday called YA! which my kids simply love.

DNA is celebrating its 5th anniversary, and enjoy a snapshot of the cartoons published over these 5 years !
Looking forward to a continued relationship with you DNA ! 

What 'MindFood' are we eating?

Read a nice article in DNA today, and it got me thinking.

We make so much fuss about the food we eat, to ensure the right healthy food, fruits and salads, and our tastes and so on. It's essential to keep ourselves healthy, isnt it?

Do we take out time to see that we are feeding our mind with? What do we talk to people around us? What do we hear, and what do we read? What do we think when we are alone, and so on. Do we really put in efforts to ensure that things that we are putting in our mind are healthy :)

Talking /reading the positive things, and listening to those too, can really help us. And pushing off all those negative energies that might come to us from people around us, would definitely prove useful !

Good mindfood for me for today at least :)