Mind's | Talk

"સ્થિતપ્રજ્ઞ"

2011-11-29T19:41:00.001-08:00

સામેની કોર ભણી ગાજ્યો'તો વાયરો,

વહેતો ‘ને રમતો, થનગનતો બાંવરો

સૂર્યાક્ષી સીમાઓ, ઓળંગતો, ગાતો,

ઈશ્વર-સંવાદનો એ ગણગણતો ડાયરો

આવી રે ઊભ્યો, પછી થયો સ્થિતપ્રજ્ઞ

શ્વાસ ગયો છૂટી - થયો શૂન્ય, મગ્ન.

જોયો ભગવંત...પેલો, રમતો'તો સાંવલો

વાંસળીએ ઝૂલ્યો, મીઠડો મુહાવરો!

~ આકાર

Painted Horizons

2011-10-03T23:32:00.001-07:00

Beautiful, serene yet tired of silence. That was what the sky looked like that day. It wanted to burst out laughing, play with the setting sun and fly away with the seagulls! There was a distinct rumble in the perceived silence. Why would it be so uneasy when it's keeper had called it a night? It was time for it to sleep. A long night lay ahead filled with dreams and stars, love and compassion. Then why this uproar? Was it possible that it was afraid of the dark?

Maybe. It just may have been possible it was afraid of it's own darkness. But it was cheerful through the day and settled well into the evening! It sang with the winds which whispered wisdom unto man! So why this sadness?

Doesn't really matter I guess. Our lives are far less spacious than the wind dancer here! It's that time again when we let go. We let go not because we are weak, we do so because we are strong. We let go of the night, we embrace the day. We stare at the sun on the rise and smile humbly at the setting King of Darkness. For that is what the measure of a man is. How he smiles, how he laughs, how he rises before he sets.

Unplugged

2010-11-09T02:35:00.000-08:00

Everything about that night was just magical. I hadn't been on stage since a while now, and had honestly forgotten even the mouth to microphone distance which I was so familiar with during school days. But it took only a few hundred people cheering in the crowd to set the mood right! I wouldn't call my 'Piya Re' performance at the USC AIS Diwali function even close to good, but it definitely was something that made me feel a lot better after a very long time! Cheers to everyone who cheered for us and I can't stop thanking Nakul, Arun, Rishi and Priyanka for making the whole performance - all the four songs - so very memorable! Looking forward to more such Unplugged sessions! [Watch the video here !]

Across The Universe

2010-06-10T03:27:00.001-07:00

There are so many things that make our childhood days memorable – it could be something that you shared with your friends, a game that you played the most during summers, a hike, a silly insignificant incident that makes no sense to most except a few or it could just be you troubling the night watchman by making him believe he saw a ghost; for me and a few of my friends, besides all this, it was mostly all about the stars!

The Universe always had intrigued us friends. Every late evening, we would rush to the terrace with a telescope which a kind physicist living nearby was more than happy to lend. We would look through the skies identifying constellations, naming stars for future lookup. Most of us hadn’t yet been exposed to the internet, and books were still objects that a young mind could easily recognize and appreciate. So, we would spend hours studying star maps taken from various books and magazines and try to map the stars at various times during the year. The urge to understand more about the Universe was so gripping that we made it a point to view every astronomical event that would take place. We truly thought that the stars were ours for the taking.

Over the next year or so, things changed. We were slowly growing up and were also growing out of celestial objects and their myths. Our stargazing meets started fading away into the horizon. A few of us took to music, a few took to dance, a few took art and almost all of us gave up on the stars. I guess for most of us it was a time when we were looking for our calling, and clearly, the heavens weren’t anywhere in our sight. Stargazing was, after all, just another “activity”.

But something very important had happened during those times we all had spent together. We had learnt at a young age what it was like to look for something in the dark for hours and not finding anything. We could be patient when there was moonlight blocking the skies and the stars weren’t visible. We didn’t know what existed out there, but always believed we’d find something new and interesting. We knew it pained a lot to focus and get a target in sight on the telescope. We had known it was not easy finding stars in the sky and to keep looking for them throughout the night was an altogether different task - a task which was difficult but definitely not impossible.

I guess stargazing taught us more about staying grounded than anything else. I guess it made us gaze across our little universe with a different outlook and see things in a tad bit different a light. I can only hope and wish that we keep being reminded of how it is not always easy to achieve things. That may probably make us appreciate and understand the endeavors of others too.

And though out of practice since some time now, I’m sure we can still recognize many of the stars we spent hours looking for – and, oh yeah, where to find that ridiculously and treacherously hidden Andromeda Galaxy! ;)

Maya Texturing Blues

2010-04-10T16:24:00.000-07:00

Have you ever toiled badly for getting that texture placed properly onto your imported model in Maya? It happens a lot when you are using foreign Object files which you need to use for your animation. The main reason why this would happen is, that the model does not always import with its UV sets. In other words, you need to build a new UV set to work with.

Now, do the following:

Open the Maya ( 2008, in my case) file you wish to work on.
Make sure you have the "Polygons" menu selected and go to "Create UVs" from the menu at the top.
Based on the kind of model you have, you should select the apt mapping technique. I am using a simple cube in this example and am leaving things to Maya by selecting "Automatic Mapping"

Assign an appropriate material for you to work with by right clicking on the object and going to "Assign New Material" or "Assign Existing Material" based on your requirements.
After doing so, as shown, select the texture to be used by going to the "Common Material Attributes" section and clicking on the Checkered Box besides "Color" as shown in the snapshot. I will use "Checker" in this example. (Hint: If you don't get the menu as seen in the image, keep hitting Ctrl+a till you do. Its a way to toggle views)

In the perspective view of Maya, you should now get something similar to what is shown in the picture below. if you don't see a texture, hit the number 6 key on the keyboard to turn on the textured view.
All this is quite trivial, but it becomes really hard when you have many UV sets in the scene. What do you do to toggle between UV sets? Typically, the default UV set would be called something like "map1". You need to BIND your texture to the UV set you have selected.
One of the ways to do this is the use UV Linking. Right click on the object and select UV sets > UV Linking from the menu.
Now in the "Relationship Editor" shown, select the apt UV set from the left hand side and the Texture you wish to use from the right hand side.

Once done, you can be sure that the right texture will be mapped using the UV set you wish to use!

A view of how the UV editor would now look:

Another situation where people almost invariably lose their cool : OBJ file exports.

Maya does boast of a cool OBJ file export plugin that ships with the product, but in most cases it DOES NOT preserve texture maps. So what do you do? A good way would be to use a product like Deep Exploration by Right Hemisphere. You can very easily open a Maya model in Deep Exploration and then export it as easily as an Wavefront OBJ (and the corresponding mtl file) - with the textures preserved!

Happy texturing!

Making memories of us

2010-04-09T00:56:00.000-07:00

There is this thing about the rains. The lack of a productive atmosphere can make you probe deep into your thoughts and search for memories which are either hidden by effort or simply cast away, branded as unworthy or unimportant.

People – the ones that make our memories are so accessible these days. Keeping in touch is no more a pain, seeing someone far..far away is a piece of cake and knowing “What’s on your mind?” is usually just a few clicks away..

And yet, we long for that one offline meeting, that one long drive with pals, that long jamming night with only the chilly air and a thousand beautiful notes to fill the void of the darkness, the smile on your friend’s face when you gather for his surprise party which hardly ever is a surprise, the smell of the grass in the college garden when you walk towards your classes, the long talks which hardly mean much, a stop on a bridge overlooking a river which is probably the most beautiful in this world – made beautiful by the company of people you are with.

It is good to find such rainy day moments when you can savor what you had, and what you did – for we might just get pointers on building the way we’d like this day to be remembered, and probably be successful in making a few good memories of us friends. Again!

" Godspeed "

2007-12-11T08:01:00.003-08:00

Every gleaming dawn came slowly to this man. It was almost as if the sun was trying to shy away from this onlooker, for he carried his age with elegance and his pride with a sense of wisdom that only time could deliver.

But this morning, the old Knight stood wearily. The sun was on time, and so was the world – only, it was moving a bit too fast for him. The horses which once used to give in to his whistle now chose to gallop right past his tattered self. He was about to retreat to his blissful heaven when one of the stallions came by and stopped before him. The black horse was nothing less than magnificent. His sparkling eyes revealed a surge of strength that the onlooker recognized quite easily. Yes, the stallion was beautiful. And though beauty was not strange to this old man, the beast, he sensed, was something more than what he saw and deciphered.

The old man just stood there. He was probably trying to think what to do next. A yard away was his present – a hill top which was his heaven or probably his doorway to the same, and in front of him was his past, a past he could never forget and which he yearned to live yet again.

He was reluctant. What could he have done to be faced with this bizarre choice? Did he not say his prayers right? Was this one of God’s anomalies or was this just His way of testing his mettle all over again? No, that couldn’t be right! He had proved himself to faith and humanity a long time ago. Yes, a long time ago. But was it long enough? Could the world have changed so fast? Had this strange pace got to every living soul? Or was it just his age getting to him? Man is a fickle being, and the Knight knew this. He had served many not to know this. Alas, the people he served took fancy in ruling over lands with a mind full of zest and a reckless compassion which signified an emptiness far too mean than his present plight. “Ah, my present ! “ He reminded himself of how he hated it. So, what was this? Was it God’s Will or just a few deeds undone? Even if it was so, was it not God’s job to forgive and forget? Nay, God left this to Man a very long time ago.

Forgive and Forget. It seems man did the latter too frequently and the former, seldom. He had done the same. He too had been a man. And, what a man he had been! Probably it was this that led the Stallion to his feet. Was this his redemption? Was this God’s way of saying "Godspeed"? He gazed across the fields, still thoughtful.

Then he saw the fickleness of it all. His present was just an echo of his fears – fears he chose to encourage when he rode through nights of pain and suffering.

“God’s play” he thought with a wry smile. He nodded at the gentle beast and took to the reigns. And then he rode with his Past, away from his present and toward his Future. A lot remained to be explored. Age was too much a price to pay for the wonders in store for him. All he needed to do was to gallop ahead.

And he did.

An Ode to the Disliked Bands

2007-12-11T07:56:00.000-08:00

The other day, I was a spectator to a very interesting conversation. This particular talk took place in one of India’s biggest money making vehicles – the train. The train is probably one of the most informative hot spots of the country. One can get enlightened on a variety of topics, and what’s more, you actually get to share the seat with some of the most ‘literate’ people of the world. This time around, I was fortunate enough to be with two musicians of immense (hearing) experience and an enviable taste of western music – or so they thought.

One of them was quite the talker. I can safely say he was THE talker. He commenced the discussion and was kind enough to end it too. According to him, western music was “a genre of mixed genres”. I really fail to understand what he meant by that, but well, he was the expert.

According to the expert, Pop music was crap. All the major Pop bands of the 80’s were just a bunch of cigar smoking, long haired, lethargic weirdos who had no clue what music was all about. All they could do was burst their lungs with smoke and put the minds of the people on fire. Pop was bad and so was Rock. I learnt something very interesting that day, Rock bands consisted ONLY of those head banging idiots who were just a step above their fellow pop wannabes. They too, according to this expert, had no clue what music was all about. (Wow. What a realization.) And of course, Western music could NEVER succeed the Indian form of music. It was way too corrupt for that. Although the expert was clueless about the total number of swaras in western music, he was sure there were EIGHT in Indian classical music. They were Sa, Re, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, Ni and (obviously) Sa, and these sounded much better than the ones the finrangis played on the guitar.

Not only was western music crap, it also supposedly appealed differently to different kinds of people. Now let me clarify what he was trying to, or maybe I’ll just put it in his own words – “Guys who listen to boy bands like Westlife and Boyzone are not normal! They are the kind who like other men!”

Whatever.

It is such people who mar the very idea of music. These people belong to that clan of pseudo musicians who can go to any extent to prove their point.

One must realize that western music has its own flavor and is supposed to be enjoyed differently. Indian Classical Music has a rich heritage, and is definitely one of the best forms of music in the world. But that does not mean Rock is crap, or even Pop for that matter.

I believe there is a certain Universality to music as an art. And many of us fail to realize this. Why cant we appreciate both these forms? It is not uncool to listen to a person playing Raag Khamaj on the Violin on Doordarshan. Similarly, there is nothing offensive about Shakira performing at a music awards function.

I guess this discussion can go on and on since this duality of thought prevails in almost all spheres of life today.

With all due respect to the ‘revered’ expert’s thoughts, I humbly disagree with almost everything he said. I guess I’ve already told you all why, but the main reasons are :

There are 12 swaras in Indian Classical Music and
There is NOTHING abnormal about listening to Boy Bands.

The Roadway Home.

2007-09-30T13:11:00.000-07:00

The best time to day dream is while biking. Let me be more specific. The best time to day

dream is when you are riding your bike from Vidyanagar to Baroda after a week’s tryst with college studies. The road home seems like the best way to unwind the past week’s thoughts and focus them on the road ahead. It gives shape to the idea that one is actually moving ahead - moving ahead to do something worthwhile. Yes, something worthwhile. Something like going Home. The “Going back home” feeling is just amazing. One would want to get back home as soon as possible. But then, there still is that road ahead. It just stares at you through your helmet’s blurry plastic shield. It just stares on and asks you to take turns as and when required. What’s more, it even imposes speed limits! Some of the limits cannot be ignored. Most are respected. Some have to be ignored though – Well, isn’t it fair?! We need to get home on time, right?!

At times, the road seems to create a lot of distractions to stop you. It houses many vendors selling some really good stuff. There are tea stalls, food stalls, little shops which sell things like key chains etc. which are relatively worthless yet priceless. But the road is broad and keeps on staring. It asks you to go on. It whispers never to halt. It expects your bike to be filled to F when you start. It does have reserves on the way, but it appreciates the biker who uses them frugally. It does allow a breakdown, but cannot permit a pile of machine on its body. The road must remain clean. Many are following. Most shall pass. ALL must go through.

Why would this road, then, be the best one to day dream on? Is it not dangerous? It has taken lives before. Though this road is committed to serve, it serves too well at times. It paves the biker’s way to either perdition or to the heavenly chamber. But the biker is not worried. He needs to go home. He deftly handles his bike. His adroit hand skillfully struggles with the accelerator. He jumps over pebbles and skids over sand dunes. He is covered with dust. His blurry helmet reveals more darkness than light. The hazy lights up ahead mark the arrival of unknown vehicles. The biker must either allow them to pass or overtake them without much ado. Either way, all that he CAN do is move ahead.

The evening sets in. The biker gleefully watches the sun set over his right shoulder. It is now time for the day to end. Tomorrow is a new day. The wind has caught a chill and makes the biker feel the coldness it has acquired. The biker is reluctant. He denies all the sensitive absurdities that force him to take a stop. He may not have tea. All that he MAY do is move ahead.

And then he sees the dim yellow shine of the city area. The biker rejoices as he encounters familiar sights. The moist evening air is not so cold anymore. It is filled with warmth and lovingness. It is filled with happiness. He knows he may pass fuel stations now without checking his meter. He knows he may do away with his age old helmet. He knows that now he may speak what he dreamt of all day long. He is back. Now, all that he SHOULD do, is Stop.

Cry of the Smile...

2007-06-01T08:53:00.000-07:00

Cry of The Smile

Blooming through the place that day,
The Smile did once more have its way...
The whole day it roamed from face to face,
And now at dusk,
It wished to stray from Pace...

Just as it was to take a Nap,
A giggling boy came sat in its Lap.
The puzzled smile was a sight to see,
As it thought, Who has this other "me"?

It asked the boy,"Who are you Son?
Whilst I was here, who gave you Fun?!"

The boy now laughed and gave a deep sigh,
And the Smile saw Sorrow like the limitless sky...

The boy said softly,"You are a busy one...
And at my place, you have never come!
You have better things to do,
Than seeing a grave at the age of two!
You surely have more things to do...
And so I made another "You".

The smile had nothing more to say,
As the tear from its eye broke the silence of the day!

-Aakar

My Paintings : A SlideShow

2006-06-13T05:00:00.002-07:00

Origin of Superman : "The Man of Steel"

2006-06-12T20:43:00.000-07:00

"The Man of Honor, The Man of Steel"

Who doesn't know this famous caped crusader. He is the heart throb of millions, and an ingenious creation from the artistic and publishing point of view. Superman has been around for a long time now...

A Brief Histroy...

Superman is the brainchild of writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster. "Joe and I were high school classmates in Cleveland," Siegel recalls. "Like me, he was a science fiction fan; we published a fanzine called Science Fiction, with Joe as art director and myself as editor." In the January 1933 issue, Siegel's The Reign of the Superman, illustrated by Shuster, saw print. In this tale, the "Superman" becomes a villain after being granted super-powers by a mad scientist who is very much like the later arch-villain, Lex Luthor.

Later in 1933, when Siegel saw Detective Dan, one of the first comic books, "it occurred to me that a Superman who was a hero might make a great comic character," and wrote a comic book story that Shuster drew: The Superman. After it was rejected by Dan's publisher, a dejected Shuster destroyed all of the original art - only the cover survived.

"We had a great character," Siegel remembers, "and were determined it would be published." They set out to recreate Superman as a comic strip. One summer night in 1934, Siegel came up with almost all of the Superman legend as we know it, wrote weeks of comic strips by morning, and had Shuster drawing it all the next day - including the creation of Clark Kent, Lois Lane, and Superman's distinctive red, yellow, and blue costume.

"I suggested to Joe he put an 'S' in a triangle," Siegel says. Shuster added the cape to help give the effect of motion to Superman. Together they chose primary colors for his costume because they were, Shuster recounts, "the brightest colors we could think of."

Over the next three years, their Superman strip was turned down by every comic syndicate editor in the country. Esquire Features suggested, "pay a little attention to actual drawing. Yours seems crude and hurried."

But Sheldon Mayer, an editor at the McClure syndicate "went nuts! It was the thing we were all looking for!" He couldn't convince his boss, M.C. Gaines, to publish it - but when DC Comics publisher Harry Donenfeld called Gaines looking for material for his new title, Action Comics, Gaines sent him Superman.
Donenfeld showed it to his editor, Vince Sullivan, who bought it, saying, "it looks good... it's different... and there's a lot of action! This is what kids want!"

In order to meet the first issue's deadline, Shuster cut, pasted, and redrew Superman's daily strips into 13 comic book sized pages. The cover was based on an interior panel; according to Mayer, "Donenfeld felt that nobody would believe it!"

Slowly and gradually, the sales picked up and Superman was a hit. Many cartoon films were made in the late 40's depicting the Man of Steel in all his grandeour. But his most memorable impersonation was by the late Cristopher Reeve. He immortalized Superman on the Silver screen. The legacy is now being continued by Brandon Routh. This young actor is all set to star as Clark Kent/ Superman in Superman Returns which is expected to hit the Screens by 30th June. Lets hope this film goes "Up, Up and away!" on the charts too..!!

Earthshine: The Da Vinci GLOW

2006-06-12T18:58:00.000-07:00

Leonardo Da Vinci. He is undoubtedly one of the most known persons of our time. A lot of controversy arises at the mere mention of this guy's name, and Da Vinci himself-when alive- was no stranger to this. Whether or not we believe a certain Author's claims of Da Vinci's Connections to a Secret Society or his 'Social Preferences', we have to admit that he was a Genius par excellence. Genius in its PUREST form!

Very few know that Da Vinci was a great Astronomer too. One of his finest works in Astronomy was solving the ancient riddle of 'Earthshine'.

Earthshine??!

You can see Earthshine whenever there's a crescent Moon on the horizon at sunset. Look between the horns of the crescent for a ghostly image of the full Moon. That's Earthshine. The image shown above is Da Vinci's Sketch of Earthshine. (Source: NASA.gov)

The Reason...

When the sun sets on the Moon, it gets dark-but not completely dark. There's still a source of light in the sky: our very own Earth. Earth lights up the lunar night 50 times brighter than a full Moon, producing the ashen glow-or the EarthShine.

Where Da Vinci goofed up..

We cant blame the poor guy! First, he was in the 1500's and Second, it required a lot of guts to be a 'Free thinker' in his times. Still, he was wrong about TWO things as far as Earthshine was concerned...

He said that the Moon was filled with Oceans, which we know, is not.
Earth's Oceans were the Primary source of Earthshine. But actually, the CLOUDS are as they do most of the reflecting..

Yeah, he did goof up at places, but he had got the Basics right, and had understood Earthshine way back in the 1500's.

Who knows what else went on in the mind of that great thinker. One can't stop to think of the possibility of him having solved the riddles of space and time: Something for which Einstein slogged all his life.

Kudos to the man, an example for Humanity!

Finally A Blogger..!

2006-06-12T17:42:00.000-07:00

Although I have been a Blogger user for quite some time now, it was not untill recently that I actually took the pains to create a post-My very first POST! Now isn't that "something"..?

..It could hardly be called Something. It is funny the way things change when an apparatus as stupid as a computer becomes your friend (Read: ONLY friend for Geeks and Super Nerds). But in todays context, having a Blog, a space on the Internet, a Hi5 account, a Gmail Invite, your very own computer-all these have become something like food, which you just can't do without!

So, lemme see how far I go about flaunting my very own blog at Blogger!

Peace.