2013 in review

Every blog I read is doing this so why should I be left behind. Let me warn you, this is gonna be one of those typical end-of-the-year posts, which talk about the highlights of the year gone by and resolutions/hopes/dreams/wishes for the year to come. So do not expect anything more. Okay, let's start already.

1. I graduated !!!!! Oh yes I did. Sure this was the second time, but this time in a field I actually love and pride myself on doing so. Imagine, a Professional Diploma in Visual Communication Design. Wow. Even I never thought that after 8 long years of being in the legal profession, I would actually jump ship and do what I always really wanted to. I won't say that the two years at design school were absolutely blissful and a smooth sail. There were times when I questioned the entire decision, often wondering if I should have chosen another field, another school etc. But the day I finished my final year project and received kudos from a professor I really admired, I knew it had all been worth it. The self-doubt was gone. For good. 

2. I actually designed and illustrated an entire book. All 120 pages of it. After all the cursing, fretting and sleepless nights, it was done. And it might actually be published by a reputed publishing house like Penguin or Random House. Who had ever thought that I'd have a book out before I was 30. I know it technically does not count as a book-book but who ever cared about technicalities. It is a huge achievement and I will gloat. Thank you very much. Go check it out here - https://www.behance.net/gallery/The-Ayurvedic-Cookbook/12494661

3. Got engaged. OMG. Ya it was just a formality of sorts for the families, but it was quite fun. Dressing up, convincing the better half to pose for photographs, decorating the house myself, incessant banter of family et al. A memorable day to remember. One of the many we have seen the past 8 years.  

4. I learnt to let go. And that's all that will be said about that.

5. I started appreciating little things about people around me a little more. Judging less, accepting and valuing them more.  

6. A very memorable trip to the mountains. A first for me, and I did fall in love. I was always a sun-sand-cocktails person till I arrived in Mcleodganj. Sigh. A week seemed way too short. I just loved the mountain air, the sights, the people, everything. Thoughts seemed clearer up there. Also was the first time I slept in a tent and woke up to snow-caped mountains. It was incredible. Can't wait to plan the next trip. 

I think that about covers it all. The year that was. It seems to have gone by in a wink. 

2014 seems full of promise. Many things to be accomplished, many new places on the travel list, new experiences and what not. 

- I will read more. A small target of 12 books, 1 per month, to start with. I hope to over achieve. 

- I will paint more. Just one painting the past year, shameful.

- I also plan to be way more active, a regular fitness plan must be high priority as i can already feel my bones creaking. 

- I will de-clutter. My home and my mind.

- I will complete a DIY project every month. All those bookmarked, pinned and saved projects that I avoided with "I have a diploma project to complete" will be ticked off the to-do list.

This list is surely going to increase as the year proceeds. And I hope at the end of it all, I can see the above being crossed out with a smile. To 2014 !!

Finally a design graduate !

After months of slogging on designing an Ayurvedic Cookbook, it is finally done. My diploma project is over. I am so thrilled and relieved at the same time. I received great feedback from people who I respect a lot and that meant the world to me.
This is what my desk looked like for the last three months. This desk was my home. I hardly got up from here much to the ire of my back !

Now that I'm on vacation, recuperating from the three and a half month struggle, life feels good :)

A quick break

So I have been buried under work ( i think I've used that line way too many times by now) and shall continue to be so for the next 4 weeks. Or 5. 

But i had to be a part of this very special wedding of a very close friend/brother in Pune. It was all so rushed. I didn't even get time to buy something to wear for the wedding and had to shop the eve before the wedding. It was a crazy mess but it went well. I managed to have one hell of a time even though the ghosts of work were looming over my head all the time. 

On our way back, we stopped for snacks and I managed to capture this lovely shot of the breathtaking sunset. Oh! nature never fails to amaze me. 

I also discovered this really cool website to create graphics - Canva. It is really user friendly and makes designing so simple and easy. I think I am going to be using so much of it in the weeks to come.

Food

Lately, everything in my life seems to revolve around food. Ya sure my diploma project is to design a cook book and that makes it way too difficult to not think about food. I came across this super cute passage:

I think I should stop trying to avoid it. It's of no use anyway. 

Stress doodle

Been buried under work for the past few weeks and will continue to be so for another month or two. Sigh. 

A list of nice sounds

I saw this post/picture somewhere which listed nice sounds. So here is my own list of sorts:

• The firing of a Royal Enfield Bullet 
• The sizzling sound of frying food - onions, jalebis
• The pitter-patter of rain on rooftops
• The sound of a train running through a bridge over a river
• Glass bangles clinking against each other
• The postman's cycle bell

Can't think of more right now. What's on your list?

Latest doodles

I got this pretty little black notebook from my trip to McLeod Ganj and I've been filling it with drawings and doodles. One night I sat till 2 am doodling away incessantly. It felt so good. Here are a few pages:

Lovely quotes I read somewhere.

McLeodganj diaries - 1

There are such gorgeous flowers blooming in the hills.

Engagement Doodle

So this illustration is dedicated to my recent betrothal to my long time sweetheart. 

It was a cozy, family-only affair just like we wanted. Super fun and very tiring. 

Meals of May

I started this little illustration project for the month of May to keep myself occupied and creative. 

This is what came out of week 1.

God of Small Things

This is one of my favorite books. I love it to bits. This is an excerpt, something I had used for a typography class. Just found it while I was clearing the clutter on my hard drive. Makes a lovely short read. 

Sigh.

Flower Market

A quick visit to the Bangalore flower market last Sunday morning resulted in some interesting pictures,

more of people than the flowers themselves.

This week

So I was inspired to do this from a lovely blog I visited. Plan to make it a weekly post until I get over it. 

More 50mm love

Just some fooling around with a pen and the lens :P

50mm ♥

So my dearest brothers gifted me a 50mm lens on my birthday. I was in heaven. I felt like this cool photographer type, second lens and all, actually third. It was so nice and shiny. I'd take camera accessories over diamonds any day. So I finally got down to using it a bit. I can't wait to take some more shots.

 Hai. Sigh kar karke thak gayi hoon.

Cubbon Park

Bangalore is the city of parks. Having lived here for almost two years now, it is quite a shame that I haven't visited most of them as yet. Lalbagh happened once just a few months ago and in a bit if a hurry. As a result, I was quite excited to visit Cubbon Park last Sunday morning. It was quite an impromptu plan, which changed from Nandi Hills to Cubbon Park due to the lack of bikes.

It so happened that we slept at 5 am and still managed to get up at 7, though it was two hours later than the original departure time. I even had a bath with cold water just to drive the sleep away. It was quite a chilly morning. Sadly I did not have my camera with me, but that means that I have to go there once again. Instead I took along a diary and sketched away for a change. I did borrow a friend's camera to click a few shots. The place was so pretty and serene I couldn't resist.

Cassis

Meaning - black currant. Yep, I tried a flavored beer and it was quite nice. Tasted like a mix between light beer and a breezer. My beer run is soon coming to an end and I will be back to my old monk and coke :)

Farewell

We recently had our farewell party here at school. I can't believe it's already been 4 months since I'm here and it's already time to go back. Actually I go back and forth between thinking it has been too long, and that oh I just came yesterday. Funny.

Sometimes it is hard to believe that you have actually lived a dream. 

It's been so long. The colors have also changed. Sigh. 

Beer diaries 4

So after a really hectic week, I decided it was time to continue my tryst with new beer and I went down to the market to get myself some new bottles. 

Today I tried another Belgian beer. They sure do make a lot of beer out there ! This one was wheat beer - interesting is what I'd say. It tasted quite different from the ones I've tried before. And pretty light too. 

I opened the bottle with my teeth again :D 

It snowed :)

The town I live in get only rain. Rain, rain and some more rain. So when it snows, it really is a BIG deal. I missed the actual snow fall but at least I got snow :) I wished and wished for it to snow, and snow it did. Everything was white and pretty. 

Since I didn't get out of my room till much later, I made some snowmen on my window sill :) It was fun. I was super excited. 

Snow is beautiful. Except when you have to walk on slippery, icy roads. All I could think of was to try and get to the tram without slipping and falling on my bum. But it was beautiful. Just a day of snow, and I enjoyed it.

Illustration night

Listening to songs and illustrating lyrics. What fun !

Summer

It's getting colder here and all I want is to go back to warmer lands. Flip flops, Tank tops, shorts. Sigh. 

Gimme some sunshine.

Jugaad

The closest I can ever come to enjoying Rajma-Chawal in France ----> Chili con carne ! I must be the only living person making the comparison but ya it does taste like that and I like it. 

Yummy in the tummy :) 

Recipe cards

The project at my exchange school just got interesting. We are in the final stage and get to do all nice graphic identity stuff. We have to make to set of recipe cards to go into the gift box we designed (my partner and I) so here is what we have. Can't decide what to go with, so confusing. Help much?

Le Petit beurre is a simple yet delicious french biscuit made famous by a factory right here in the city of Nantes. The first three are in the shape of the biscuit itself, which is why that outline. Feel free to try out the recipe. 

Football match in Nantes

I was so excited to watch my first football match in France. I asked a bunch of my classmates, who surprisingly were quite interested in watching it. Some had never seen a football match before o_O !!

So we arrived at the stadium, the one we pass every day on our way to college, and it was choc-a-bloc. Where did all those people come from. I didn't ever imagine it to be so crowded. There were people everywhere. And there were food stalls (more than a dozen) and wine/beer stalls (one too many) and  merchandise stalls too. Wow, the place looked transformed. I was even more excited. While we bought our tickets, food etc. I could hear people singing and cheering inside. It was going to be a fun experience.

The crowd in the stadium was quite large, though it wasn't packed. But the energy. Oh my, the energy. It was enthralling. just to sit there and watch/listen to them cheer made my day. If only I could understand what they were saying, coz it was all in French. 

FC Nantes versus Nimes ( a city I recently visited) Nimes won sadly. They played really well and had a good goal keeper. We played well too, especially in the second half of the first half. But alas. And the saddest part was that I missed the only goal Nantes scored, thanks to my lovely friends who wanted to buy food and drinks. But it was fun. It was a cold, cold night but so worth it. 

Sadly, I didn't take my camera so this is a picture taken by one of my friends. 
And here is my ticket :)

View from my window

Decided to start illustrating again. Frequently. Often. Whenever I can. Here is my first attempt after long.

Beer diaries 3

Another day, another beer. This time it was a fellow classmate's goodbye drink in the city. We were waiting for the other to finish dinner so we had a beer to begin with. It was the cheapest one on the list :P (Students cannot afford to be picky) I like this one. I tried it in Nice too. It is light and thus, not too bitter. 

Google tells me that it is a Belgian beer. 

Beer diaries 2

What luck! We had a little get together today hosted by my German classmate. And I got to taste two kinds of German beer. This is turning out to be quite interesting. 

After quite a terrible day, we had a delicious meal consisting of 5 different kinds of German sausages, some other German dishes and one Korean egg preparation. Oh, and two French pies. Oh and also an interesting chocolate with liquid coffee inside. 

So the beer journey continues. Lets see what tomorrow has to offer.

I really hope 2013 turns out to be a good year.

Beer diaries

So I was at the supermarket. And I didn't even need anything. I just went because my friends were going to buy something. I was just looking at the aisles when I came upon these tiny bottles of beer. All different kinds. Strange and alluring. I whimsically decided to pick one up and try it. It being my last month in France and all that.

And now I'm planning to try at least two a week.  Don't want to sound like a drunkard but we don't get such a variety in India. And its rather inexpensive. Looking forward to the next one. This one was kinda strong.

The year that was: 2012

The year sure was eventful. A dream came true. Many new experiences. A great deal of traveling. A best friend married. Some silly mistakes. Some lessons learnt. A year older and I hope much wiser.

Highlights:

1. I made my first musical instrument. An iktara. Made me feel quite proud.

2. I worked at my first design internship. It was okay. I learnt a few things - travelling by public transport in Bombay was one of them. 

3. Volunteered at a theater over a weekend. It was fun.

4. Made a symbolic painting for the fella. I think the only one I made last year. (must paint more)

5. Finally saw a play at Prithvi Theater and more special as it was The Vagina Monologues.

6. Bought my dear DSLR and fell in love with it.

7. Saw the Eiffel Tower. Sigh. Double sigh.

8. Danced like crazy at my best friend's wedding. 

9. Celebrated a very Basque Christmas. 

10. Experimented a lot with food.

Songs that got me through 2012:

1. Moora - GoW II

2. Somebody that I used to know - Walk of the Earth

3. Someone like you - Adele

4. Bhondhu - Indian Ocean

5. Sparks - Coldplay

6. Mumford and Sons

Some memorable movies I saw:

1. Batman Begins and The Dark Night Rises.

2. The Help

3. Schindler's List

4. Problem with the Curve

5. English Vinglish

I hope 2013 turns out to be wonderful.

Words to use more often

Saw this on a tumblr account ... I really like some of the words, can't say I use them so often though. 

And then there are some I don't know the meaning of, which I must change. 

So here's to increasing my vocabulary this year. 

A Happy 2013. 

A post about the year gone by coming up soon.