Night

Illustrations for a children's book about night in the forest. I had put some here long ago...Here are some new ones!

gone with the sun

(poster colour on sketchbookpaper,2008)

Pages from HIV Campaign

Prayas,an organization works diligently for years on HIV and related issues.These are some posters from the series of posters made for them.This was also supposed to be a small book.It was a challenging experience to put information and complex social scenario surrounding HIV AIDS with brightness and visual interest.The bright yellow was inspired by STD booths and truck graphics!

Stare.

"Stare.
It is the way
to educate
your eye,
and more.

stare,pry,
listen,and
eavesdrop.
Die knowing
something

You are not
here long"

by Walker Evans
from 'The art of looking sideways'

aage aage

(mixed media on paper,8X6",2008)

mein tha jiske peechhe peechhe
ab mein uske aage aage
dekha jab mein aage peechhe
dekha sab kuchh aage aage!

Kumar Gandharva
(in context of his work and music)

a man called mukul shivaputra

he is a sound
forget music
he is the whole
he runs down the blood
forget music
he is a rock
the sound of stones

got to hear a new Bageshree. completely different.all opposing.all beyond music.
he is an addiction for a high forever.
i am only tripping.

i want to chase him.

game

lonE onlY alonE lonelY
let us play a game of es and ys

e y e
y e y
e e y
y e e
y y e

face to face

webmaker webmaker,
where are you lost?
looking for a face
or
wondering which one to cast?

face

(junuka,2008, ink on handmade paper)

my face,when i see it in pieces.

in retrospect

(i am just back from Ahmedabad,after taking a documentary workshop with 4th yr GDPD.just thought should not deprive my blog from some of the new found musings.hey, beware my students!you are not allowed to feel flattered.it is not because of you all.you were a bunch of pains in the ***!):)

i had never reached Ahmedabad in a plane, ever, in past so many years. i am used to getting off at the railway station, bargaining with autowalla and reaching NID. i would feel full in my heart approaching from the other side of the bridge seeing red brick structures hidden in green on the other side of the Sabarmati. It always felt that i was reaching home. But this time i reached looking from top, smoothly landed, got into a car and looked at Ahmedabad. The old city, Relief road, Elis bridge all looked very different. i felt like a stranger in my own home. i wanted to get off and start walking.

Unsettled as hell i was thinking what am i going to teach? What can a struggler teach? The one who is herself finding where she is going. Series of questions hovered around my head as the car entered the gate and i got off. The security bhai came in front and said, “arrey tum aa gayi?faculty ban ke?”

The earth shook under my feet. Now everything is from a different point of view,i realized and hid myself in the guest room like a stranger guest, wishing i had refused to come. It was all poking me to bring up issues i had stopped confronting and buried deep down my soul but there was no way back now.

So this is how it was.it sounds like making love..in a stormy love affair.i lost and found myself at the same time.

Anxiety wounded me
was dead
was buried

Messed around...

new life, flowered
Blooming

head full of 1621 violins

heart full of 2356 colours

jumped,thumped,ran,fell, went cautious
loved.

Here on i am staying away from nostalgia.Life is going to be straight,looking ahead!i have outgrown, i felt.i missed Pune which i never missed before.and i dont miss ahmedabad anymore,i only manage to remember it.i remember writing to a friend before leaving for ahmedabad, about my own attachment with the place and therefore a feeling of stressful fear to go back and teach.but i guess this goes on.

yes and i enjoyed teaching.

more to come...stay tuned..as you can see, two insomnias is just kicking!

How you turn things upside down, as if the potter ranked no higher than the clay!
Shall the thing made, say of its maker, "He did not make me"?
Shall the pot say of the potter,
"He has no skill"?

-Isaiah 29:16

i found this here in the library,in NID, the place i am in right now.About to leave, after completing a full circle..of being here as a student..now as a teacher.It has been a great great mad bike ride! This is where it all starts, actually.

A f u t i l e

eye and i

i am a nut
and you?
i am a tree
and you?
i am an earth
and you?

i am a mirror
and you?
i am a story
and you?
i am an eye
and you?

you me
me you
it is such a small world, i tell you!

-junuka

...shot again

Mumbai...
That says it all
Some dream of Shanghai
Some dream of bread
The city of dreams
mine,yours,theirs,ours.

The film interacts with the slums of Mumbai.The city practically runs on slums.Approximately 50 % of Mumbai's population lives in the slums.Dream of Shanghai evicted thousands of lives.
What do people have to say?
The film addresses the complex interdependence of people and the city. The labor and the prosperity.It was shot over a period of time with NAPM, Mumbai and is used widely for the campaign.

...shot

eyes

hers,mine,camera's

voice

hers,mine,camera's

space

ours.

moving with us.the universe.

These are the film stills from a documentary, 'moseti' i made in 2005 with Bhasha and Aadivaasi Academy in the interiors of Gujrat.Ajmiben belongs to a community called Dungra bheels who live in the hills. The film made me find that humanscape exists whether or not your film 'captures' it.So filmmaking is not a magical solution to solve the worldly matters.Rather the world exists because it's all so unsolved!

again, to the webmaker

webmaker webmaker,
do you ever get bored?
making webs,
making the whole...?

(untitled, drawing ink and poster paint on paper,8X8")

Cease...

Wanted to stop

Wanted to block Wanted to cease Wanted to choke

Wanted to run Again.

Wanted it to sleep Wanted it to burn down

Wanted to see it

Floating with the fume

Nothing happened.

A f u t i l e s

Nothing in this world is futile...

it is all very simple

you know the difference,
between
understanding something
and
a 'realisation'
right?

when i realised
sometime back
that
it is completely futile
absolutely
wholly
totally
fully
entirely
futile

Everything,
all of it,
the whole of it,
the entire thing
is futile...

mind you,
i (almost) always knew it,
but that was a 'realisation'

and now
am the 'realised' one
Let me tell you something i know
Nothing in this world is futile,really.

am telling you,
the life is beautiful
the life is wonderful
the life is intense
the life is meaningful
the life is full
the life is lively
the life is lovely

and that's how
am living it...

simply
because
i seek beauty
i create wonders
i make life intense
i give meaning
i make life full
i live life
i love life

but guess what?
you taught me all this,
you pushed me to 'realisation'

but i just wonder
why did it not occur to you?

over and out...

(black ink on handmade paper)

resolutions are something.
they are not meant for resolving
the blog was a resolution

(not crying was
not combing hair was
not making mistakes was
not going bankrupt was
not remembering old stuff was)
so for a while now, i am over and out.
away in search of some more resolutions.

Do stay tuned to twoinsomnias !

Maya Jagi 2

Maya Jagi 1

...,er,est

hot,hotter,hottest
stiff, stiffer, stiffest
windy, windier, windiest .

and I saw the greenest leaf ever .just for one second or may be three.It passed by.I looked at it to make a face .But it looked to smile.
When eyes vanished and some flaming petals from the summer remained up on the tree, two things happened.

It rained and all was out.
and wading though it my bike got punctured...
...,er,est!