Nishka and pigeons...

One of the first species my little one started to recognize was the pigeon. These pigeons perch on the window sills of the building in front of our house as well as on the window sill visible from the kitchen window. So even when Nishka was as small as three months old (she turned one a few days back), whenever she got bored we would take her to show her the pigeons. The result was that she learnt the word "Pijjjiiii" (for pigeon) around the same time that she learnt words like "Mummy", "Hi", "Bye" etc.


I had read somewhere, that little ones start dreaming at the age of 11 months or so. I had read and forgotten about it. But one early morning it all came back. It was around six am and we were just waking up. The eleven month old was still in her sleep. Suddenly she turned around, with her eyes closed, and her finger pointing somewhere towards the ceiling, said loudly "Pijjjiiiii....", "Pijjjjjjiiii..." I could only smile. My little one was dreaming about pigeons.


Just yesterday, we had a welcome visitor at our house. Sitting on the pink flowered mattress of our bed was a grey coloured pigeon trying to look cool and disinterested. He sat perched on the mattress and surveyed his surroundings while we stood at a distance and watched. The little one was super excited and the pigeon seemed in no hurry to leave. Kamala, our baby's caretaker took the baby near the pigeon and the pigeon kept standing next to them as if he had known them for ages. The baby smiled at the pigeon, waved her hand and said, "Aiii"(as if to say.. "Hey.. look up!") The pigeon stubbornly chose to not turn to her call. She called him again, "Hiiiii!" The pigeon kept looking straight. Kamala, who was holding the baby with one hand, touched and stroked the pigeon on its back. The pigeon seemed to enjoy it. Kamala then put her hand around the pigeon and held him. Nishka squealed in delight. She turned back to look at me and pointing her finger at the pigeon, squealed to me again, as if say, "Look mamma.. Pijjjji"


We have been staying in this house for around 10 years now. Pigeons and monkeys used to have a free hand at the house when we had initially moved in. Once they noticed that there were people staying in the house, they stopped coming. They must have stopped feeling a part of the house.


Now, after a long 8-9 years, thanks to the little one, the pigeons were back in...!

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Ganjam

One fine day as we were travelling in JP Nagar, Bangalore, something made me stop. And look back. It was a huge banner of a lady wearing something that looked like red satin. She was sitting with her head resting lightly on her knee and her hand encircled the knee as if she was tired or probably waiting. Her hand holding the knee came right across the center of the picture and she was wearing a single gold bracelet on that hand.

It was impossible not to notice the beautiful bracelet with intricate designs on it.

The beauty of the picture stayed in my mind so much that, after that day, I would make it a point to go on that road just to watch the poster. The poster was an advertisement of the Ganjam Jewelers.

Most businesses advertise themselves. Which means there are lakhs and lakhs of advertisements and advertisement posters all over the world. Also the point an advertisement makes is simple - "Come look at our product..."

But how many of those lakhs of advertisement are actually successful in saying it? How many advertisements are successful in showing their product tastefully enough to make people remember them long after they have seen them?

I did not find the picture that I have mentioned above on the internet. But I did find a few more Ganjam ads. Do have a look and make your own opinion.

As I was looking for the Ganjam ad pictures on the net, I came across a lot of fashion sites commending the ads done. Also I came across a curious observation made by the experts on these sites. Most of the models who are posing for these Ganjam ads are not what people would call "conventionally beautiful". People and experts are commending the ace fashion photographer Prabuddha Dasgupta for the very successful experiment he has done by using these models.

To conclude, I would say that these ads are very creatively and artistically done. Hats off to Ganjam and Prabuddha Dasgupta for creating these ads!

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Che Guevara

Che Guevara at the La Coubre memorial service. Taken by Alberto Korda on March 5, 1960

I had not heard about Che Guevara until I saw the movie 'The Motorcycle Dairies'. I had heard about the book and the movie 'The Motorcycle Dairies' though. So last year, when we had spotted the DVD in the landmark book store, we bought it instantly.

The movie starts with a 23 year old Ernesto Guevara (as he was called then), taking a year off from his medical studies to take a tour across South America with his 29 year old friend, Alberto Granado in the year 1952. Guevara along with Granado undertook this journey on an old motorcycle and went across Argentina, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Panama, and to Miami, before returning home to Buenos Aires.

As he travelled through the various countries, he moved by the conditions of the people he met. He was greatly enraged by the poor conditions of the people working in the copper mines in Chile. The persecuted communist couple (who did not even own a blanket,) with whom he needed to spend a night in the Atacama Desert moved him to no ends. He saw capitalism and Imperialism as the cause for all oppression in South America. By the end of his travel, he saw Latin America not as a collection of nations but as a single entity having a ‘Latino’ heritage and having similar issues to handle.

As a last part of their journey, Guevara and Granado spent a few weeks working at the leprosium in the Amazon Rain Forest. (Those days leprosy was considered as incurable and contagious. Hence people who had leprosy (called lepers) were kept in a separate place called the leprosium, which would typically be located at a place cut off from the general civilization or on a highway, where it would be easy to collect funds for the running of the leprosium.) The poor conditions of the lepers and the camaraderie shown between the ostracized lepers deeply affected them both. The movie ends with both of them returning back from the leprosium and Guevara getting back to his studies and Granado joining a leprosium in Venezuela. Guevara went on to complete his medical studies and become a doctor in 1953. The complete journey took them 9 months and and a travel of 8000 miles.

Guevara’s experiences on his motorcycle journey impacted him enough to want to do something about it. He got involved in Marxist activities to abolish capitalism and imperialism. He joined hands with Fidel Castro and was one of the key members who led the Cuban revolution that revolted against the regime of Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista between 1953 and 1959. As a result of the revolution, Batista was ousted and Fidel Castro went on to form a government on the Communist lines. Che Guevara became the second in line to him.

Following the Cuban Revolution, Guevara performed a number of key roles in the new government. These included reviewing the appeals and firing squads for those convicted as war criminals during the revolutionary tribunals, instituting agrarian land reform as minister of industries, helping spearhead a successful nationwide literacy campaign, serving as both national bank president and instructional director for Cuba’s armed forces, and traversing the globe as a diplomat on behalf of Cuban socialism. Such positions also allowed him to play a central role in training the militia forces who repelled the “Bay of Pigs Invasion” and bringing the Soviet nuclear-armed ballistic missiles to Cuba which precipitated the 1962 “Cuban Missile Crisis”.

Guevara left Cuba in 1965 to foment revolution abroad, first unsuccessfully in Congo-Kinshasa and later in Bolivia, where he was captured by CIA-assisted Bolivian forces and executed on October 9, 1967.

His execution was perceived as martyrdom by many and he became an inspiration for many leftist movements across the globe. Times magazine named him as one of the 100 most influencial people of the 20th century in 1999.

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Source : Wikipedia, The Motorcycle Dairies( movie ).

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