An Experience - part I

A couple of weeks ago, my university celebrated its annual cultural festival. Being part of the arts club, I had quite a lot of work to do in its preparation.

The arts club try to do their bit of charity by raising funds for needed groups. This time they wanted to contribute to the Navachetana institute for the mentally challenged. The plan was to raise money by selling artworks created by the people of Navachetana institue. A couple of us were made to go and get those pieces of art made. I was a part of them.

Before I continue I should state the fact that I had never indulged in any sort of charity work apart from donating clothes or books. So it is understandable why I would be hesitant to participate in this event. Apart from that, I had never interacted with any mentally challenged person till then. So, what I was about to step into was a completely uncharted territory to me.

I was actually reluctant to go because I had a lot of pending work. But upon insistance of my superiors in the club, I agreed.

So a team consisting of five of us headed towards the institute. The ironical part was that none of had any experience in dealing with the mentally retarded. All we had were some paints, markers, crayons, paper and our ever friendly glue. I hate to admit it, but I was not enthusiastic about visiting the place even when we were enroute. Buy all that changed in due course.

Upon arriving, we were greeted by who seemed to be the head of the institute. I say so because of her obvious dominating character. She lead us inside and gave us some simple instructions on how to interact with the children and adults of the community. She told us that without any help, they didn't stand any chance in creating any sort of presentable art. So if we wanted results, we would have to guide them, however tedious it might be.

Having soaked in what she said, we stepped into that unknown land. We split ourselves into two groups. One tending to the adults while the other managed the children. I took on the adults.

I approached a group of adults that sat in the corner of the room. They consisted of a female and two males. Due to my anxiety, I failed to ask them their names. My conversation with them was carried out in Kannada (the language spoken in my state). I asked them if they wanted to draw or paint. The lady was more proactive unlike the males. She told me that she would love to do so, as long as I guided her through it. To which I replied that, that was my intent. I placed a brush in her hand and held it. We dipped the brush in black paint and painted an elephant. She was terrifically pleased with what she had done.

I, then turned my attention towards the males and asked them what they would like to paint. But I got no answer. I assumed that they were just scared. So I took my brush and placed it in one of their hands and guided it through the paint. We painted stick figures. By the look on his face I felt that he was amused.

Soon after we finished, the head of the institute came and announced that it was lunch time. She advised us to use the time to plan out what to do next, now that we had an insight into what we had to deal with.

And plans we did make. We cut out certain shapes for them to colour and stick on. We thought that was an easy and simple way of accomplishing what we had sought out to do. But through out that break, even while we were planning, my mind was else where.

My mind was too busy trying to comprehend what had just happened before the break. I'm afraid, I still don't have the right words to describe what I felt. Hopefully I will be able to convey my feelings in my next post...

My first go with charcoal!

This is the first time I'm using charcoal. Hopefully I'll get better at it. If you have any tips or comments, let me know because it'll help me in learning the art.

Uncertainity

I have been having a blast this last month. Things have been pretty great except for a few petty misnomers. For the first time the phrase "too busy having fun" actually makes sense to me. But at the same time the phrase "All good things come to end" has always made sense to me. The uncertainty of whether things will continue to be the same is not a pleasant thing. The feeling you get when you realise that someday it will all go down the drain is just haunting.

I know I've said change is a good thing. But I'm human, I go back on my words. Nobody likes it when things go bad. Especially when it happens all of a sudden. There is no way of preventing it. All you can do is handle whatever comes your way.

Here I am having the time of my life, with absolutely no idea of whether its going to last or not. I feel terrible when I think about it. Leading a life in anticipation of what is going to occur next, sounds wasteful.

People say we ought to live in the present and not pester about the future or the past. But is that really possible? Can we actually move on? According to me its impossible to do so.

No matter how hard you try, there will always be a part of you reminiscing about the past or wondering about the future. The past is a part of us and the future is something that will soon be a part of us. Being human, its inevitable to ignore any part of us.

I guess all we can do is try to lead our lives with minimal worries. Try not to plough our past with scythes. What's done is done. No point in digging unnecessarily when you know that no treasure lies down below.

As for the future, try having fun with its uncertainty. There is no point in brooding about the future, because all it holds is just more future. Its like what Isaac Asimov said "In life, unlike chess, the game continues after checkmate". So just enjoy while the game lasts!

Another sketch

Just another one of my amateur sketches.

Sketch

Been a while since I last posted something. Reason being because I've been a bit busy. Thought I'd just upload a sketch I did. Nothing great as usual. Just some usual amateur work.

Thickheadedness

I didn't have a great day today. I took the bus to my college today. While walking from the bus stop towards my college, I noticed a lady on her scooter. She had rode up onto the pedestrian pathway in order to ask the shopkeeper for some goods. I was irritated by the fact that she was so lazy to park her scooter and walk up to the shop. I ignored it and walked past her. Within a few seconds I heard a horn go off behind me. When I turned around and I saw the same lady still on the pedestrian pathway, asking me to give her way. I was terrible annoyed and I asked her what she was doing driving on the footpath. But the answer I got was just a simple shrug of the shoulders. That's when I lost my nerve!  She managed to nudge her way through and got off the footpath. As soon as she did so, I caught hold of hand with my left hand and I applied the breaks of her scooter with my right hand.

She was scared. I questioned her why she was driving on the footpath. She replied that there was no space for her to remove the vehicle. I stated that she should have used the same way she got onto the pathway! Then I spent the next few minutes yelling at her for not using the vehicle lane. I realised that there was no point in trying to get through to her. I just asked her to leave and I walked on, towards my college.

You might think that I was rude and shrewd. If so, then that was the exact idea that passed me as I narrated the story to my friends. But, at that point I lost my calm. I just hoped that the lady realised her mistake. Another incident occurred towards the end of the day.

After my class I hopped onto a bus towards home. I was fortunate enough to get a seat. Feeling relaxed, I turned my attention towards the woman across the aisle. She was engorging a piece of sugar cane. What disturbed me, was the sight of her throwing the piece of sugar cane out the window after chewing on it. She kept at it. I wanted to correct her. But, I thought I should try a different approach this time. So I took out a book from my bag, tore out a sheet and handed it to her. Then I requested her to put the chewed pieces onto that sheet and throw it away once she reached home.

The good news was that she actually obeyed. She put all the chewed pieces onto that sheet. I felt happy and I thought being kind actually helps gets the message through. But boy, was I wrong. As we approached her stop, she got up, crumpled the sheet containing the pieces of sugarcane and through it out of the window! I was angered by that. But I didn't react much apart from a sigh.

The lady in the bus was clearly an illiterate. Still that is no reason to not have simple manners. But the scooterist was a literate. I know so because she spoke to me in perfectly good english. Yet, she failed to be able to follow simple rules. To be an illiterate and do wrongs is one thing. But to knowingly go wrong being a literate is plain disgusting. This isn't the first time I've seen such unattractive events. I've lost count the number of times I've seen educated people spit in public places. The act of spitting is according to me one of the most ugliest habits. And to see people spit is just depressing. I fringe every time I see a person do it. Be literate or illiterate, certain amount of social behavior is a necessity.

Well, people knowingly committing social "do nots" is only half the problem. The other half is their inability to listen to a person when they try to correct you. In other words, thickheadedness! There I was trying to correct two people. And most probably I've failed in both cases. Not only did I waste time on such pointless people, I also wasted my energy. What do you do in such cases? Do you just ignore such events and move on? Or do you fight a gain-less battle hoping to win? My mother advised me to do neither. She told me to pick my battles. Fight the ones you know you stand to gain and avoid the ones where defeat is inevitable. I'm going to try following that advice. Seems like the most sane thing to do. Doesn't it?

Ramble on!

If you had read my ealier posts, it'd be clear to you that I'm a Led Zeppelin fan. One of my favorite songs is undoubtably "Ramble on".

One of the best parts of this song is the soft percussion by Bonham. Its as if he was just tapping his sticks upon a softer cover. But I know it isn't. The way the Jones bass and Bonham's drums play with each other as if dancing in a feud is impeccable.

And the lyrics! Oh gosh, its probably one of their best ever written. Page and Plant did a great job on it. The most interesting part is how it has references to the poem written by Tolkien in his "Lord of the rings". I, being a fan of the Lord of the rings, enjoy these glimpses into Tolkien's poem.

Mine is a tale that can't be told, my freedom I hold dear
How years ago in years of old, when magic filled the air
T'was in the darkest depths of mordor, I met a girl so fair
But gollum and the evil one crept up and slipped away with her, her, her

The comparison of the woman to the ring and the two guys fighting over her to gollum and sauron is so playful, yet brilliant!

The opening lines of the song reminds me of middle earth. Ah, middle earth!

This song was one of the first few songs I ever heard of Led Zeppelin and has remained one of my favourite rock songs of all time. The variations in the vocals was carried out by Plant in a perfect manner! Can't think of anyone who could've done a better job.

Page's brilliant riffs and Plant's vocals which intertwine each other like creeper and enveloped by the warm sunlight provided by the the bass and drums play off make this song complete and pretty much flawless!

The song is literally about a man trying to find the perfect woman. But the woman is just a metaphor for our desires. The idea of just wandering off in to the world in search for what our hearts truly desires is a thought that would have occurred to all of us. To get away from everything and go backpacking, would be great. But right now, I wanna complete my studies, get a job, build my life. I do have quite a lot on my plate right now...

But I know I've got one thing I got to do, Ramble on!