Chasing an evolving dream

I woke up to a Blackberry wake-up tone called 'Evolving Dream'- a 30 second tone. I was also dreaming at that time. The entire sequence played out like an ad in animated frames on a white plate. The plates kept getting bigger, denoting the meal we earn every day, our growing salaries and aspirations. The ad was about people exasperated over failing projects. All the projects were simulated by their HR training wing. Towards the end, the 'failing subjects' were shown the sequence in which they could see themselves, all recorded and edited. The frames had messages that changed as per the stage everyone was in. I watched this sequence while the alarm got louder in a loop. It played till I woke up.

Waking up to sounds as part of the dream is a common occurrence, with the sounds enmeshed in the dream, inseparable, like a theme. But sometimes it amazes me that the mind can cook up a dream, a string of images so quickly with the sounds that play at that time in the morning. So the duration of the dream was no longer than 30 seconds and the detailing was way too much to recall. This writup is just an overview. How I wish a gadget could record the visuals that play in the head. There's a treasure cove sitting there.

Chasing an evolving dream

I woke up to a Blackberry wake-up tone called 'Evolving Dream'- a 30 second tone. I was also dreaming at that time. The entire sequence played out like an ad in animated frames on a white plate. The plates kept getting bigger, denoting the meal we earn every day, our growing salaries and aspirations. The ad was about people exasperated over failing projects. All the projects were simulated by their HR training wing. Towards the end, the 'failing subjects' were shown the sequence in which they could see themselves, all recorded and edited. The frames had messages that changed as per the stage everyone was in. I watched this sequence while the alarm got louder in a loop. It played till I woke up.

Waking up to sounds as part of the dream is a common occurrence, with the sounds enmeshed in the dream, inseparable, like a theme. But sometimes it amazes me that the mind can cook up a dream, a string of images so quickly with the sounds that play at that time in the morning. So the duration of the dream was no longer than 30 seconds and the detailing was way too much to recall. This writup is just an overview. How I wish a gadget could record the visuals that play in the head. There's a treasure cove sitting there.

Oakley glasses and stuff

A colleague of mine is majorly into big brands and stuff- be it Apple products or beer. He wears Oakley glasses and since I don't wear spectacles (yet), This wasn't a biggie for me. What got my eye though was the finish and quality of the product, which was impressive and clearly stood out from regular glasses. I happened to carry my camera bag so I took a few glam shots of the piece on our desk itself. This pair is featured in the May 2012 edition of 20/20 mag and its called Crosslink.

Oakley glasses and stuff

A colleague of mine is majorly into big brands and stuff- be it Apple products or beer. He wears Oakley glasses and since I don't wear spectacles (yet), This wasn't a biggie for me. What got my eye though was the finish and quality of the product, which was impressive and clearly stood out from regular glasses. I happened to carry my camera bag so I took a few glam shots of the piece on our desk itself. This pair is featured in the May 2012 edition of 20/20 mag and its called Crosslink.

Old photograph

I had a small get-together to attend today in the evening. It was the baptism of a friend's daughter. Later, there was a dinner party and my friend handed me his DSLR, expecting me to take decent pictures to cover the evening. While I was happily clicking away and sometimes discussing with him the features of the camera, another elderly family friend was showing around a photograph of herself holding a small girl. That got my attention. The picture happened to be 35 years old and the little girl she held turned out to be my sister-in-law. I was immersed in it myself as I mentioned that my sister-in-law as a litte child looked exactly like her 3-year-old daughter(my niece) who was scampering around the hall. The elderly aunt was so proud of having preserved the fading picture.

This is the power of traditional photography. The memory is held onto forever. It stays in wallets and albums, always waiting to be showed off. I just cannot see today's so-called 'evolved' photography and equipment delivering and living up to this simple yet powerful moment. In fact this evening made me rethink my decision of upgrading my camera. Was a bigger megixel camera any more important than the moment? Nobody was wondering which camera was used 35 years back. It was the captured people and moment that mattered.

I figured we are all losing a grip on what's really important. We crave for gadgets but don't know what to do with it. Cameras are meant to capture people; cell phones are for connecting with people, but seldom do we realise the core use of these things. We brag about owning them. That's all.

Old photograph

I had a small get-together to attend today in the evening. It was the baptism of a friend's daughter. Later, there was a dinner party and my friend handed me his DSLR, expecting me to take decent pictures to cover the evening. While I was happily clicking away and sometimes discussing with him the features of the camera, another elderly family friend was showing around a photograph of herself holding a small girl. That got my attention. The picture happened to be 35 years old and the little girl she held turned out to be my sister-in-law. I was immersed in it myself as I mentioned that my sister-in-law as a litte child looked exactly like her 3-year-old daughter(my niece) who was scampering around the hall. The elderly aunt was so proud of having preserved the fading picture.

This is the power of traditional photography. The memory is held onto forever. It stays in wallets and albums, always waiting to be showed off. I just cannot see today's so-called 'evolved' photography and equipment delivering and living up to this simple yet powerful moment. In fact this evening made me rethink my decision of upgrading my camera. Was a bigger megixel camera any more important than the moment? Nobody was wondering which camera was used 35 years back. It was the captured people and moment that mattered.

I figured we are all losing a grip on what's really important. We crave for gadgets but don't know what to do with it. Cameras are meant to capture people; cell phones are for connecting with people, but seldom do we realise the core use of these things. We brag about owning them. That's all.

Beer and dimsums!

The hot, diabolical Delhi weather layered with scorching angst at work was burning us out. We would either explode with expletives or could cool it off elsewhere. Since we like to think of ourselves as grown up mature people, we decided not to create a nuisance by cribbing about things outside our control. At noon, we had a better idea to get lunch from somewhere else, away from the workplace. There's a really nice place in Gurgaon called The Monk, part of the Galaxy hotel next to 32nd Milestone- a family resort on National Highway 8.
On our way, we picked up two pints of the grainy, natural tasting Hoegaarden. It was more of my colleague's favorite than mine. But now after 3 pints over the last torturous, 45 degrees celsius+ week, I'm just beginning to see hope in beer.

We reached The Monk at lunch time, so all the seats were taken. Since we were clearly not on a date, we decided to take the bar seats, facing the kitchen. We ordered something called the 7 spices dim sums- 6 pieces served in a bamboo basket. This is by far the best thing I have sunk my teeth into and its totally recommended. The peanuts they served were refilled. A bowl of chicken noodles followed, which we shared. We  were already full, so it was a good idea not to order a plate each. The beer pints cost us Rs. 140 each and the meal at The Monk came to Rs 1100. This is ok to do once in a while, but there has to be another way to beat this heat.