EDiJ - Continued

EDiJ #15 - Draw something summer
In this part of the world, the best thing (or may be the only good thing!) about the summer is some of the most delicious fruits I've had - Lychees and Mangoes!

EDiJ #15 (contd)
Mango! delicious mango!!

Of the two best summer offerings - the mangoes and lychees - I can never decide which I like better!

EDiJ #16 - Something I've always wanted
I've always kept my books in whatever shelf space was available, but I've always wanted to have a nice, simple, spacious book-shelf.

Kalam Aaj Unki Jay Bol

A beautiful, inspiring poem, by my most favorite poet ....

This is quite a famous poem, most of us would have read in school text books (though I think the textbook did not have the complete poem, only two paras). For a long while, I was not able to find the entire text on net either. But recently, I did find the complete poem, and it was a great pleasure indeed ...

कलम आज उनकी जय बोल!
    - रामधारी सिंह 'दिनकर'

जला अस्थियाँ बारी-बारी
चिटकाई जिनमें चिंगारी,
जो चढ़ गये पुण्यवेदी पर
लिए बिना गर्दन का मोल!
कलम, आज उनकी जय बोल!

जो अगणित लघु दीप हमारे
तूफानों में एक किनारे,
जल-जलकर बुझ गए किसी दिन
माँगा नहीं स्नेह मुँह खोल!
कलम, आज उनकी जय बोल!

पीकर जिनकी लाल शिखाएं
उगल रही सौ लपट दिशाएं,
जिनके सिंहनाद से सहमी
धरती रही अभी तक डोल!
कलम, आज उनकी जय बोल!

अँधा चकाचौंध का मारा
क्या जाने इतिहास बेचारा,
साखी हैं उनकी महिमा के
सूर्य चन्द्र भूगोल खगोल!
कलम, आज उनकी जय बोल!

KidSpeak / SidSpeak

My blogging activity had again seen an interrupt, as I mentioned earlier. However, here are some collected "gems" of kids' wisdom over this period ....

***

As I got ready to step out one Sat morning: "I don't like your dress. It's not beautiful!!"

***

To N, sitting in some deep thoughts, who he wanted to come and play with him: "Papa, what are you thinking? Come and think in my room."

***

Sid insisted on going to a "toy-shop" with a very specific objective in mind. There, we told him to ask the shopkeeper himself for what he wanted. So, Sid told the shopkeeper, in no uncertain terms, "I want a FLYING helicopter". The shopkeeper kidded him, "Will you take a toy one, or a real one?" Pat came the response - "Do you think I have a license? Can I fly a real helicopter?"

***

Earlier, when Sid was younger, whenever he found a rubber-band, he'd come running to me, "meri chonti (choti) bana do"  [Make a ponytail for my hair]. I thought he had grown out of this phase, but yesterday as I was tying my hair, he said, "Give me a rubber-band too, make my 'choti' also". To humor him, I found a small rubber-band, and tied a small bunch of his short hair on top of his head. He went to check his appearance in a mirror, and immediately exclaimed - "I look like a girl!"

EDiJ - The progress so far

As I mentioned, after the EDiM challenge got over, I was inspired enough to join the EDiJ (every day matters in June) group. I am not a regular like most of the people on the group; I am usually hard-pressed for time, and due to my lack of practice, cant do a drawing quite quickly. So, I skip on the days when I don't have time, or don't find the topic quite interesting, without feeling guilty about it :-)

EDiJ #1 - Draw your favorite well-loved object, or a childhood toy

In childhood, my brother and I, didn't have too many toys, but had a lot of games. This is "Plot 4", that my brother and I played a lot with, over years. One player has red coins, other has yellow coins, and you take turns putting the coins in slots, aiming to make a row of four coins of your color, straight or diagonally.

EDiJ#3 - Draw anything you like

I love flowers, and pansies are amongst my favorites. Tried my hands at oil pastels again ....

EDiJ #5 - Holiday theme.
Deepawali (Diwali) is one of the major festivals in India - the festival of lights and cheer. Modern electric lights now replace the traditional earthen lamps, but those have their own charm, and most people will still light some for the tradition. Many people also create colorful patterns from colored powders in their homes - called rangoli (rang = color). Quick drawing in color pens, to wind up the day :-)

EDiJ #6 - Draw a self portrait

I am not good at portraits, and guess I have been a software engineer for too long. So I decided to make a "functional" drawing of myself.

EdiJ #8 - Draw something tart or sour.
Tried to render some lemons in color pencils.

EDiJ #9 - Something green.

EDiJ#11 - Draw something alive.
What could be more full of life than a child?
Sadly though, my sketch does not well capture the innocence.

EDiJ #12 - Favorite food.
I love cakes!!

The EDiM challenge

EDiM #11 - Something with wings.
Catching up on backlog (May 29)

 

EDiM #12 - Draw a button or buttons
Some belated buttons! (May 26)
I bought these decorative buttons for a dress, but havent yet put them on after a year! :-P

EDiM #16 - A neighborhood store.
This is the first one I did, after joining this group mid-way through May:
I didnt find an interesting store to draw, but there are these road-side eating joints, found profusely specially in southern cities of India, that offer a quick bite, (come/eat-whiel-standing/go) quite fascinate me. This one is on my way to office.

 

 

EDiM #17 - Bread.

This is garlic bread served with soup, I had for lunch that day.

EDiM #17 - Bread (2)
The result of the first attempt was not quite interesting, so I decided to draw the whole-wheat bread (Roti) we usually have with our meals. It turned up looking more like a bun though :-)

EDiM #20 - Draw a streetlight
The streetlamps around were rather plain and boring, so I drew one of these lamps that light up the parks in my apartment complex.

 

EDiM #25 - Flowers.
For this drawing, I borrowed my 4-year-old's crayons (who has by now misappropriated whatver little drawing supplies I had). I wanted to experiment a bit, with color and shading, though the crayons didnt give the results I wanted.

EDiM #27 - Clouds.
Went to a small hill on weekend, and saw a fascinating pattern of clouds. Tried to capture in a pencil sketch ....

EDiM #30 - Something representing your favorite sport.
Well, Table Tennis is the only sport I have ever played ...

 

EDiM #30 - Sport:  Another take.
Figure Skating is perhaps the only sport I like to watch, for their beautiful, graceful movements (and not to say, pretty dresses!). This is my first attempt at oil pastels, all the while trying to ward off my 4-year old who kept saying, "Even I like these colors", "You have to share them with me", etc :-)

I am back. Again.

I am back. Again. Or am I??

 

So, it has been a long break again. I had taken a two week break, and couple of weeks on either side were spent in preparing/settling. And then the usual challenge of starting to write again .....  I'll keep my fingers crossed on the duration of this burst of activity :-)

Other than the vacation which was spent visiting family back in north, there was one significant development in this while.

A friend added me to a group on Facebook, called "Every Day in May" (EDiM). The group had defined a list of things to draw for each day of the month, and the objective of the members was to draw the subject chosen for that day. It is not a competition, just a challenge (and its not even mandatory to post everyday), but just do it, for the joy of it.

My friend had added me midway through, but when I looked at the amazing work done by the people in the group. I was inspired (even though I cant do tenth as well as most people there) - to draw again after a gap of four years.

I no longer had any drawing equipment - whatever little remained of the few things I had, have been "misappropriated" by Sid :-) But, I was inspired enough to draw, even if it was simple sketching, using just a regular pencil on printer paper.

In fact, I was inspired enough to join "Every Day in June" challenge when May ended, and also to buy some new books, paint and brushes this weekend.