Chilligavva

Was I excited reading about the unearthing of a major pre-historic village, near Stonehenge in southern England. You can read more about it over here at the National Geographic site, which BTW is a sponsor.

EXCERPT FROM THEIR SITE.. "Cult Houses" The project team says these imposing buildings to the west may have been the homes of chiefs or priests (photo) who lived separately from the rest of the community. Another theory is that the buildings were used only for rituals, as hardly any trace of household waste has been found inside them. "They may have been more like shrines or cult houses," Thomas said. People may have gone to them "to invoke the spirits of ancestors" or "to have out-of-body or trance experiences." The main group of houses were clustered along an impressive stone avenue discovered by the team in 2005. Measuring some 90 feet (27 meters) wide and 560 feet (170 meters) long, the avenue linked the site of the former massive timber circle at Durrington to the River Avon. The road mirrors a similar avenue at Stonehenge that connects to the Avon downriver of Durrington.

Did that mean, that as early as 2500 BC, ...

HAPPY REPUBLIC DAY TO THE CITIZENS OF INDIA. Update: Was I pleasantly surprised when I got a comment from Hyderabadiz, saying that I am featured in their blog in the topic "What Hyderabadi Bloggers are doing on Republic Day". For those of you, new to Hyderabad, India, you must read the PUNCHLINE description of Hyderabadis in their post.. Too Good.. Its 58 years since India was declared a Republic, on 26th January 1950. India got its Independence from British Rule in 1947. From 1947 to 1950, till our constitution was written and ready, King George VI was the head of state. Lord Mountbatten and C. Rajagopalachari served as the Governors-General of India . The first elected president of India was Rajendra Prasad. Since childhood, I have sung the patriotic song "Saare Jahan Se Achcha". Only today, after receiving an email from my friend, my thought went out to the song, and a little "googling" ...

Pic Source:Mangalorean.com-Sand Art.

I hail from Mangalore, and every time I go nostalgic, I read Mangalorean.com, or grab some news at daijiworld.com. So last week I came across an article about the Mangalore beach festival. I was immediately transported to my childhood memories of a wonderful clean beach [Please note mumbaikars and chennaites, and vizag natives!]. Eating ice cream, playing in the sand, eating date-palm fruits.. Lovely memories there.. And super soft sand.. To me this is the most distinguishing feature of the east and west coasts in India. The east coast sand is coarser and rough ! I then bumped into another link to a sand art. I was floored. Its too too good. I really wish I was there, from the bottom of my heart...

Hailing from a multi ethnic country we definitely encounter racism in India. Some subtle, some not so subtle. The subtle variety lurks everywhere,but no one talks about it. Its funny to read about our sensibilities being offended when it comes to defending the ethnic slurs heaped on a gritty movie star, Shilpa Shetty, that too in a reality TV show. In the back of our minds, we do know that all this is make believe. In a country devoid of hot political topics, the discussion on the slur has even hit the British Parliament. Tony Blair what a welcome relief from the Iraq topic.. Likewise the American Press thats carrying the story too.. Phew... Most Indians would agree that we as a race are very hypocritical. Read more about this in Suman's Blog. All are equal, but some are more equal is the chant. If we were so magnanimous, why do all our matrimonal advertisements require fair pretty girls most of the time? [On an aside, of late the software caste has overridden all such restrictions!] How in social ...

This Sankranthi I designed a simple card to send to some of my closest people. Sometimes I like sharing my work with all and sundry, but sometimes, I dont. Would this constitute a limited edition design. Yup!.. So after the event, I think I am ready to show my work to the world. I like to watch Manga Anime [barring the uniformed same look], and I attempted a "Manga Style Sankranti Card. Only one recipient unfamiliar with the style, came back with

"the color theme is good, but the kite is elongated. I am used to square ones."

So obviously, some of my recipients didnt "get it".

Yesterday, I taught Miti the basics of drawing in a graphics program. In the last week of Dec. 2006, Massa bought me a Pen Tablet, as I was struggling with my mouse. For the geeks, its a Graphire 4.0 [CTE 440] by WACOM. We finally installed it last week, as I was upto my ear in pending work, post vacation blues.. With its arrival, starting Monday, I got busy putting together this new Chilligavva design, and yesterday Miti was intrigued enough to use it. After some teething trouble he called me to deliver his first image. It just blew my mind away.. I happened to draw the girl quickly to demonstrate how to use various tools, and it in turn served as an inspiration for Miti...