Raam Naam Satya Hai

Got an opportunity to see this play titled "Raam naam satya hai" in the National School of Drama, New Delhi on Friday. It was the first time I was seeing a play though I have had a very keen interest in theater since a long time. It was a comic play with a message about AIDS awareness. But I had a lot of things to observe during the play. How do the artists use the entire stage space, usage of lights to change scenes, background music and how does everyone manage without a mike in a decent auditorium with a capacity of around 200. The artists seemed professional though none of them was a prominent figure. I specifically observed the artists when they just had to stand in a corner of the stage while the focus was another person at another part of the stage. And I was amazed to see the devotion. Even when the focus was not on them, they ensured they were giving their best. They all had to stare at the person in focus who was narrating his story and they all did just that. Not a single movement by anyone, even the expressions on all the faces never went off for even a second. Everything was just perfect. I must say I was mesmerized by the play completely. So much that I actually waited near the stage to meet some of the artists after the play was over. Met the main character, "Gopinath Mirashe", a young and smart guy who I believe was the best actor among all. Others were good too. He had done 3 yrs diploma in acting and was performing in plays under a 6 year contract with an agency. I also learnt that there are regular workshops for people like me who would want to participate in such plays be it part time. It would be a dream come true for me if I ever get a chance to perform in a play ever. It reminds me of an incident when I was preparing for engineering entrance test and met one of my favorite school teachers after months. She asked me what was I doing these days and was shocked to learn that I was not into arts, music and theater anymore. I still remember the expression on her face and the way she told me how I was made for arts and that I might be an engineer one day but I wont be satisfied ever. And how true she was, I can realize it only now. Though I do find time for music, painting, photography and traveling sometimes but that "sometimes" is not that frequent. But I know my job is not going to keep me away from any of this for long ever :)

IIIT Hyderabad finds a much deserved recognition ..

Dataquest Ranks IIIT-H Top #5 in Placement, and Top #9 Overall (2007)

IIIT-H has been rated top #5, in campus placement, among all technology schools in the country, by DataQuest-IDC's annual survey - 2007. The University, which has never been placement focused, has been ranked ahead of IIT-K, IIT-D, IIT-M, BITS-Pilani, BHU-IT, and all other NITs and IIITs, in placement. Read Dataquest's latest edition (June 15).

Overall, IIIT-H has been ranked top #9, among all engineering colleges in India. For a University in its ninth year, being rated top 9 is truly an outstanding achievement, and a tribute to the IIIT-H's visionary founders, passionate management, and committed research faculty. Though top #9 is an achievement, the rank fails to reflect the University's actual standing. By any measure, IIIT-H stands second to none in the country, in computing, IT, and its applications, the only areas where we exist.

News channel sans news

I had missed the match between Nadal and Federer yesterday and simply wanted to know the result of the French Open final. My first choice was to switch to Start Sports but they were showing another live event so I started watching Times Now. Kept waiting for half an hour but there was no news about the match. Not just this, there was no news at all for that matter. All they were interested about was the much hyped Orkut ban controversy and they had been showing it since afternoon (that is when I had seen, might have been since much before too). Going on streets, getting views of the common public in different metros. Switched to Zee news and they were covering the IIFA film awards and the special match BigB played with the metally and physically challenged. Then they started showing clips of Black movie and how the role played by BigB in that movie was a memorable one and how did he relate his match to this movie.

A child falls in a ditch and remains there for N days and all the news channels have this and only this to cover ? I have often seen many news channels showing a haunted house or a sage doing some rituals at night. What is the purpose ? Who wants to know it ?

There is an ad aired frequently on RED Fm where there is a line which goes like this .. "Khabaron se bekhabar yeh khabari channels" (News channels that are unaware of the news). Rightly said !!

News channels these days are more of an entertainment channel which have all the ingredients to make a recipe taste good and spicy but lack the nutritive nature which would keep the consumer healthy.

New additions to the album

Have added new photographs to Abeer arts. Do check them out !! Specially the Jama Masjid and the moon.

A date with the moon ..

Yesterday I had just finished watching Hollow Man on Zee Studio at 1am and was still not feeling sleepy at all. Played synthesizer for a while and as I looked outside the window of the living room I could see my only audience for that moment - the moon. Instantaneously a thought flashed my mind that why not try capturing the moon with my new 10x optical zoom camera. And there I was, standing in my balcony with my camera and aiming at the moon. I set the camera at the maximum possible zoom i.e. 10x optical + 5x digital. At such high zoom and the moon being so far its very hard to even catch the moon on your screen, forget about taking a snap. Also, its important to keep the camera steady and holding it in hands is not a good idea at all. You ideally need a tripod for distant object photography. But anyway, I had no tripod with me so I just tried hard to keep my hands as steady and still as possible. First snap - blurred. Second snap - blurred. Third snap - the moon wasn't even there in the frame :). Fourth snap - W.O.W. I was lucky enough to get a decent snap of the moon without too much effort. I am not sure how easy or difficult it actually is to shoot the moon but for a novice like me, it was a big achievement and I was overjoyed. Tried another 10 shots or so and was able to capture three more good snaps. Quickly downloaded the snaps on the comp and the moon never looked so beautiful to me before :)

Links to the original pictures: (The snaps are also added to Abeer Arts Gallery)
Click here for Snap1
Click here for Snap2
Click here for Snap3