Order and Chaos

While I was growing up (still I'm), I knew that whatever was shown, explained or taught to us (young impressionable minds) was the censored version of the reality. I never understood why our education system and the media try to feed us this pre-decided, pre-recorded, mind numbing, bullshit. Now, we are tuned to absorb this and we adjust to whatever is going on. We rarely confront the reality. When the reality hits us, we feel betrayed. That is when we realize that there is chaos in order.

Last year, I went through my friend Javed's blog. He is a photographer and journalist. I read his articles about the madness that existed in Chattisgarh. Those articles talked about the atrocities that were committed on the adivasis by the Maoists, government and its forces. It seems that they have locked their conscience in a box. There, the law is completely warped, concept of security does not exist and humanity has become a joke. It’s commendable how these adivasis survive. They have maintained their self-respect by showing resistance and by not crossing over to the other side. 

Javed's articles have painted a vivid picture in my mind. I was surprised, how come the media wasn't broadly covering any of this sensitive information. Journalists who are brave enough to cover this are not given enough support. Media is really turning into a commercial circus. 

Have we really come to a point where Bollywood and other superficial things matter more to us?

All this has inspired me to create this illustration. It represents the aftermath of order and chaos.

Order

Chaos

This illustration is dedicated to all the people who are going through the same situation and to the journalists who are spreading awareness about such issues.

Here's the link to Javed's blog: http://moonchasing.wordpress.com/

Start reading it from here:
http://moonchasing.wordpress.com/2009/11/page/2/

...and then you would know...

Destiny

No, I wasn't high when I drew this. I didn't want to get high either when I was done drawing it. Also, through this art work I am not trying to connect or target the people who are high or are about to get high. Although, if they are able to connect to this then it's a completely different story! Yeah, I'm not high. Anywho, this art work is just an interpretation of the most obscure topic, "Destiny". 

Why Destiny? Well, according to me destiny is completely vague (maybe it's supposed to be that way, who knows?). 

They say that the day you are born, your destiny is created. It's apparently a pre-decided path. And so you sing Que Sera Sera and let the chips fall where they may. If you try to deviate from your path, you would eventually end up with the same result, the "pre-decided" result. Obviously, the deviation might cost you a lot, it may result into more paper work, emotional drama, self loathing, you know...all that jazz! It's like a dizzying roller coaster ride, with no end. The best thing that you could do is grab on to your seat and take a deep breath when it goes through that huge, nasty plunge. While doing that you also need to try your best to not to puke on yourself or on someone sitting besides you. That's just too much of a mess. 

Some say that you create your own destiny. So those guys may not agree with whatever I wrote in the previous paragraph. That's absolutely fine. Their concept also makes sense. You aim for what you want and you try to achieve it. It completely depends upon your potential and will. Most of the times you might get defeated by someone who is more capable than you but sometimes you'll rise like a dark horse. There will always be distractions from various onlookers. The question is, "How do you distract yourself from those distractions?". 

Don't ask me...I am not an expert! All this is very subjective. What you see is what you interpret. I derived all that from my art work. For you, all this may not even make any sense. That's absolutely perfect. Stick to what you see. You don't have to agree with me or try to get in sync with my frequency. What you have seen and interpreted is your reality and imagination. I don't want to cloud it. 

I would definitely be happy to hear about your opinion/interpretations.  

Mermaids of the Street

What if Mermaids were the hookers of the sea?

Recently I found a perfect song for this artwork. It's by RY X and it's called 'Howling'. It's almost like we thought of the same thing; I expressed it through this painting and RY expressed it through this song. I think both compliment each other so well...I don't think I could have found a perfect song than this! 

Well, I would also like to dedicate another song...it's a classic.

Abstract

I am trying my hand at abstract art. According to me abstract art is the best way to express serious things in a simple or cryptic way. It can also be used to amplify the effect of basic, not so noticeable things. 

This time I used black ink to paint this. While I was painting this I didn't have a specific image or a concept in my mind. I just went with the flow, slowly trying to connect the dots to make sense of the entire picture.

I am not going to make it easy for you and tell you what this painting means. I do not wish to influence your judgement. I want you to look at it and come up with your own interpretation. By doing this I am not testing your intellect; I am just curious, curious to know and understand the various interpretations that can be derived out of this painting. 

When I was 18..

I recently went through something that I had written when I was 18. It was definitely a random, teenage rant. I remember writing it during the phase when I had little bit of insomnia, had recently finished reading Twilight (the book isn't that bad) and had heard the song "Coffee Shop" by Landon Pigg. This deadly combination made me think that it was high time that I started noting down my thoughts in some form. That piece was the first time I had written anything in my life. 

Now, when I read that piece again, I noticed that I have changed so much in three years. Then, I believed in God (now, I am more of an agnostic); love was a desirable concept (now, it's vague); I was more hopeful (now, I am more realistic, practical); I was so naive, so gullible (maybe, I still am).     

Anywho, I wrote something, with broken thoughts and blurred direction. And it's called..

I think that possibly or maybe I'm falling for you….  

Life goes on and on, you do different things, meet different people and see different things. No matter how much people tell you to do something, you’ll always end up doing things that you think are right at that moment.

I see darkness. No dreams, no images, no colour. I think weariness has taken over me. Everything looks so blank. There is something missing, I can sense it. I know that if I open my eyes the darkness will vanish and then there shall be light, but then I would be crowded with tsunami of thoughts, thoughts about everything and everyone, which I resent. So I'm trying to run far away from them.

There are too many things going on in this world. Things which I can understand, I'm trying to understand and some which are beyond my understanding. Things have become too complex, for better and for worse.

But, somehow we have lost the true essence and meaning of things. Priorities have changed. Right things seem wrong and wrong things seem right.

Now that’s what everyone says who goes through a rough patch. It’s a basic human nature. You realize the importance of things when they are missing from your life. Life is like a jigsaw puzzle, you keep on joining the

pieces until you can see the whole picture, every single piece counts. If you lose a piece then you won’t be able to complete the picture. Small things matter.

(What am I doing? I shouldn't get stressed about all this. This is just a phase. Things will happen at the right time. This hollow phase will soon be yesterday and so I have to make way for tomorrow. There's no time for crowding my mind with useless thoughts. This is just a phase, just a phase. Quickly snap out of it).

New things attract everyone. It’s something like dangling a new shiny toy in front of a kid. A year and a half ago I was so close to the people around me, but now I think that someone has reset my life. Everything feels so different. It doesn't feel welcoming and pleasant. It feels as if someone painted whitewash over a beautiful painting. Now, everything is so blank. The comfort level is gone. It surprises me how quickly strangers become your closest friends and in the very next moment they are transformed into something that they already were, strangers.

Sometimes I feel as if I'm standing in the middle of the street and everyone is just passing by me as if they are in some kind of hurry. If you screamed, danced, cried, laughed or tried to do anything to get their attention, they would never stop. They would just ignore and keep on walking.

Curiosity kills, that is why Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge, of good and evil. But, by doing this they disobeyed the orders of the God. They sinned, and so they died. The Lion fell in love with a Lamb - no matter how powerful Edward was, he wasn't able to read Bella’s mind and so he was curious to know her, that made him fall in love with her. Here, Bella was the forbidden fruit for Edward and visa versa. This made them fall irrevocably in love with each other. Did they sin?

I wonder how it would be, when someone will actually stop and notice. Will that person mean something to me? Will that person be curious to know about me? What will happen? I don’t know about that person, but I would be more curious to know about him. I would wonder what made him stop and notice me. What did he think I was like? Where was he going? Did he think that it was a waste of time to stop? Or did he really want to stop? This is what I would think at that moment, no other queries will cross my mind. When this moment will pass more thoughts will come across my mind and that will take away the hollow emptiness inside me. I won’t be bothered

by these thoughts, but they would take me into a trance, it would be something like going to Neverland, where Peter Pan got to be a kid forever.

Being noticed is not wrong or bad. It just shows the curiosity of the other person. It is not necessary that a person who stops in the middle of the crowed to notice you should fall in love with you. It only means that there was some connection between you and that person. You cannot explain the depth of that connection, but it means a lot.

God has different means and ways to show us our path. He help us differentiate from what is right and wrong. Déjà-vu, voodoo, serendipity, tarot cards, crystal balls, so on and so on, does any of this make any sense?

When I was a kid I dreamt that I had the power to freeze time. I would freeze time and then observe the people, creatures and things which stood motionless around me. But my power had a loop hole. Whenever I froze time I would feel some one was calling me. Not verbally, but I would want me to meet them. It wasn't a bad feeling but it felt as if someone of great importance, a person who can transform my life and give a new meaning to it was calling me. I had to meet that person, but I dint feel like going on a quest to find that person. I wanted things to progress gradually and then eventually meet that person when the time was right. I never knew why I felt that. The intensity of this feeling was different at different times or situations and whenever it got stronger I would lose control over my power and things would get back to normal again.

I still get this dream. I know that it’s just a dream, but it's so powerful. It calls for me. Whenever I dream about it I wish that it doesn't end and I get to know what it means and how it ends.

********

I still wish the same...don't we all?

Noir

Because things look better in black and white.

My nephew - Viraj (top) and cousin - Samrath (bottom)

School corridor on a Sunday afternoon.

Entrance

Exit

Train travel to go to Colaba

Full proof protection from thieves

Streets of Colaba

Second hand books

Take me somewhere nice

The moment I heard the song "Take me somewhere nice" by Mogwai, I fell in love with it. The illustration, the whole concept of berating/being under water fascinated me. It reflected that we are surrounded by a lot of superficial and mundane things. Everyday you go through it and try to survive it. How do you survive all that? By looking for an escape? Or by being ignorant? 

Here I have tried to give a psychedelic effect to add more drama to the illustration.

Here's the video..

Mogwai - Take me somewhere nice

"No Surprises" by Radiohead and "Be quiet and drive" by Deftones also have a similar concept. I hope these songs take you to your safe place.

Radiohead - No surprises

Deftones - Be quiet and drive