GIMP Power again ..

Did some designing work last week. Designed our company's T-Shirt and a wedding e-invitation card for one of my school batch-mates. Both of them wore done in GIMP. And since the time I have learnt about layers in GIMP, life has been easier while creating designs.

The picture looks more like a UN or an NGO logo but most people in the company were in its favour so it was chosen anyway. The basic idea behind this picture is that the road symbolizes growth, progress, and a journey into tomorrow. And the white dove is a symbol for peace and security. Therefore I have tried to depict the motto of the company, "Creating a secure tomorrow" in this picture. The white feather has 3 colored segments in the center which represent KritiKal SecureScan company logo in an artistic form. Any person who has seen the logo before will be able to connect with it.


I had no idea how to make a wedding invite since I had never done anything like that before too. Tosh made my life pretty simple by letting me decide completely what has to be done. I was infact surprised a little that he had so much faith in my creativity :) He just asked Ganpati ji to be there in the card. I did some searching on the google images for a nice background to start with. Found one at www.poojasdesigns.com and got started from there. The original design was too bright for a background, so faded it a little, applied a canvas texture and then added some more design to it on my own. Also put a watermark label of the site from where I had picked the background since I felt it should have been done. Rest of the card just happened. lol. Wrote the message and then referred to one of my best friends who is very good at English. I mean she is better than me so you can just imagine how good she would be :P .. haha, just kiddin. She suggested some changes here and there, some words re arranged and the final thing is what is shown here.


I actually enjoy doing these kind of things. After a long time I felt my Sunday did not go waste. Something came out of it.

Btw, today I could not win over my dilemma, went back to sleep again ;) (refer to this) But right after this post, I am going to exercise and sweat it out to compensate for my laziness in the morning.

Have a nice day all !

An interesting observation ...

I can boast to call this observation as my original since I haven't come across this anywhere till now and nor have I heard anyone pointing it out to me. I made this observation long back when I was in college and suddenly this thought struck me as some enlightenment that most of the feminine names in our country end up in a vowel :) I dunno if it sounds very obvious to you when you read it now but of course its something too general and yet no one ever mentioned it or found interesting enough to put it somewhere. And there were always some names which appealed to me more than the others and when I observed this I could actually find a pattern in the names that I like a lot. Payal, Palak, Mehek, Sonal, Snehal are some names which I like a lot. And all these end in a consonant. They are some of those names which are unique in their own way. But not all names that end in a consonant appeal to me and also there are many names which end in a vowel yet they appeal to me.

Can a thought / observation be patented ? lol. Would be glad to know if someone else too noticed it for once...

Jogging event

Ha ! Yeah its an event for me. Right from pushing myself out of the bed till I get back home from jogging is a series of events. There is so much to observe around and also a lot of things that are going on in your mind while you are running or walking. After 4 days of bunking I was up again today at 6:45am. I must accept that its only those 15-20 minutes I need to survive and battle out that I take to get ready for jogging. Because that is the time I am in a big time dilemma of going back to sleep, or go out for jogging. And even though the choice should not be hard enough to make, yet I do get back to sleep sometimes promising that I would do some exercise at home itself or else would jog in the evening - NONE of which ever happens ;)

So today the battle of the dilemma was won and I was out of my house by 7:05 am. The sun was already out which means I will have to leave earlier from tomorrow, which means I will have to get up earlier from tomorrow, which means I will have to sleep early from today :) Anyway, the park where I go for jogging is about 1km from my house. I walk to the park, which in a way warms me up too before jogging. On my way to the park I see school kids with their parents (mostly mothers) waiting for their buses, some private bus owners taking a bath under a hand pump and cleaning their bus. Today there was a policeman stationed near a drain which was kind of deep and there was a fence laid around that region. And the whole area was stinking. And the look on that policeman's face was speaking his mind. No one could stand at that place for more that a minute but he was there all the time.

Traffic was already high since people had started for their offices and anyway not everyone goes through the dilemma that I go through each morning ;) I like the park where I jog for more than one reasons. The jogging track is a 3km track with milestones every 100 meters. So you always know how much you have jogged and how much remains. Its lush green from the inside with a big fountain at a corner too which is hot spot for the kids that come in the morning with their parents on sundays and holidays. On each of the lamp poles you'll find a speaker attached which plays the radio. Anyway, I have my earphones plugged in so I have my own playlist to listen to.

Then there are so many different people who exercise in the morning there and the whole sight motivates me. People of different age, different sizes and shapes ;), some really cute girls, and a few body builders too. When I started jogging in this park some 4 months back, I wasn't sure how long was the jogging track. And I kept jogging until after 1400 meters I gave up. And I walked the rest of the path to find that the track was 3000 meters. I wondered if anyone ever took even a round of that track. And there are many you know. And I am glad that I am one of them too now.

Each day I get on the track, 2 kms are somewhat fine but the last 1 km is a struggle again. Somewhere in the corner of my mind a thought keeps reappearing that "Piyush you could stop, anyway 2km is also too much". But then someone would just pass me jogging, or from the other direction walking and I would tell myself if he can, then why can't I. And somehow I push myself that last 1 km. It may sound funny but sometimes I start following a runner trying to get past him. Sometimes I succeed and sometimes I dont. But while trying that, I complete my 3km quota for the day. :)

A few things which I HAVE to do are:

-> Get up early no matter when I sleep.
-> Be regular
-> Increase the limit from 3km to a little more every week.

My school memories

Click here for snaps

St. Francis College, Lucknow where I spent the most memorable 12 years of my life. Found these photographs in Aniruddh's orkut album yesterday, thanks to both Aayush for telling us about Ani's album and to Ani for posting these "rare" and "precious" snaps. I was literally jumping in my room when i saw these snaps and have been in a trance ever since. Can't stop smiling even now. And with so many people from my school batch still in touch, its a very nostalgic feeling to remember those old times with them. Also, its very funny to observe how we were at that time and what we look like now. If I try to remember some names then here is a list.

Farhan, Gaurav, Tosh, Vaibhav, Saif, Shiv, Pappu, Vipul, Ajit, Kar, Mathur, Jitesh, Mallu, Appu Darling, Farhat, Pranay Chopra, Pranav Prabhat, Deepanjan, Manas, Aniruddh, Ravi Raj, Sameer, Mohit Vij, Ankit Rathore, Navendu Mishra, Ankit Chhabbra, Rishi Anand, RituRaj, Rahul Rastogi, Praveen Saxena, Bhuvanshu Srivastava, Tosh, Naman, Francis Wu, Neel Jyoti Sanyal, Ashish Jaggi, Vivek Pratap Sahi, Raminder, Sudipt Mangal, Shivam, Pawas Shukla.

ahhhh ... wish i could go back to school !! :)

Long time ...

Its been a long time. Haven't been to blogging ways off late. Anyway, a quick update :) This year has been a traveling year for me. In the last couple of months I have been to Jammu, Patni Top, Meerut, Kota, Bikaner and Chandigarh. Attended three marriages. First one in Jammu of one of my colleagues getting married to my senior. Then cousin brother's wedding in Kota. And finally one of my best friends - Manjeet - tying the knot in Bikaner.

On the personal front, it has been a mixed bag this year with equal share of good and bad days till now. But as of now, having a great time :) Work-wise, days are hectic as usual.

Will soon share the photographs of my various trips till now.

And trying to be regular once again .... :)

My first recorded instrumental

Nothing great about it if you know how to play a keyboard. I was amazed to see some great instrumental videos on youtube and that is what motivated me to give a try too. I am nowhere near to being called a good keyboard player but I will be among the better ones soon if i can continue my practice. Wish me luck. and enjoy the music :)