Photo of the Day

Photo of the Day

Pah!! If looks could kill.

Just to save Raju from the evil eye, this post is about his little sister.

Strolling around Jaisalmer, we came across an artist village. Since it was a day before holi, most people were either too busy or not in town. So we decided to come back in a few days time. As we were heading out this little one calls out and starts to chat us up. Soon she is joined by her elder sister who offers us tea. Some of the best things in life have come up over chai, so obviously we didn’t refuse.

As we go in, they start pulling out puppets. We had just walked into a puppet maker’s house. And as we were gawking at the puppets this little one was hopping around pretty much like a puppet herself. Soon the entire family and the neighbours joined us and before we knew it a ‘baithak’ of sorts had begun. Raju sung a handful of songs accompanied by his cousin on the dholak while his dad chipped away at a wooden block making more puppets.

All this time this little girl just kept screaming hello!! Hello!!! HELLO!!!! Then she would come and sit right next to the person who was talking and just stare at them. She is the one who brought these two creatures home and now they are busy talking and playing with everyone else. To prove her point she went and brought more people her own height and had long conferences with them.

She never said goodbye when we left.

Thanks little one, for bringing us home and introducing us to your family. And apologies for not chatting with you or asking you your name.

for more on the Uramili project please visit www.uramili.in

Photo of the Day

Photo of the Day

Sigh

Left leg right leg left leg right leg left leg leg leg leg leg lego sets building blocks to make more steps mummmyyyyy

Just don’t think about it

Man I really love these chappals, they are just too cool.

Why don’t you take ten steps and then take a break and then take ten more steps.

No no walk for ten seconds and then rest for five seconds. Then you walk again this time for fifteen seconds then break for 7 seconds and then keep increasing.

did I tell you how awesome these chappals are

Stop being a sissy and just walk.

I cant carry these bags anymore

Why cant these people build roads so we can come by a car

I am going to go back to madras and buy 20 more chappals in case they stop manufacturing these.

Oooh see such a lovely leaf, I have never seen such a beautiful leaf in my life

Shut up. Quit stalling, it’s a stupid leaf

You are stupid.

Fine walk by yourself.

You wouldn’t be feeling this way if you had cool chappals like mine.

Sigh

This photo was taken on the way back from Nongriat in Meghalaya. There were five of us travelling at that time, and we had lost our way getting to Nongriat. We just had to come down these steps but we managed to take a wrong turn. A simple 45 minute journey turned into one almost 6 hours long.

On the way back we decided to stick close to the steps. The monotony of the steps created a difficult rhythm. One that you would like to keep, but its just too damn tiring. Stupid photos showing people smiling like idiots perched on top of hills and mountains not showing the painful expressions while they had to climb.

But as always in retrospect it was awesome.

For a lovely song from the steps, do check out tomorrows Friday release.

For more info on the Uramili project please visit www.uramili.in

Photo of the Day

Photo of the Day

When we sent out a mail to all our friends and family more than a year ago expressing our desire to travel around the country, one friend of ours got very excited. Rakesh runs a publishing house called Blaft, and for a long time he has been wanting to do a book on hand painted signages. When he heard that we were going to be travelling around the country he asked if we would be interested.

At first it seemed simple enough and interesting in a quirky cool sort of way. A month into our journey and we found ourselves getting fascinated by these signboards. The layout, the fonts the colors the illustrations and above all, the detail.

Yes the people and the architecture are such an integral part of any space. But it was only after taking on this project did we realise the part these signages play in the visual richness of any space. And just as one part of us was coming alive by seeing these, another was slowly dying observing the viral spread of Vinyl and printed flex.

This photo was taken at the mothership of hand painted signages, Jodhpur. It was also the first place we visited. We naturally assumed that this is how it would be around the country. How wrong we were.

Some of our photos can be seen in ‘The Obliterary Journal’ which is now in stores and available for purchase online. It is a super book which has some wicked art. Its like holding in your hand a few dozen trailers of some killer films.

If you are interested in hand painted fonts, please do check out the incredible work hanif kureshi is doing at http://www.handpaintedtype.com/ and do check out the film on the guy who came up with the layout of the legendary Ganne ka Ras and Fruit Juice Board.

For more info on the Uramili project please visit www.uramili.in

Photo of the Day

Photo of the Day

About 80-100 people came for our screening this Saturday at SPACES. We fumbled and mumbled and had an informal evening sharing stories of people, places, the film, and our journey so far. It was great to have been able to screen it to a live audience and watch people react to our work. There was an added excitement as this was the first time we got to see everything on a big screen.

This photo was taken at Om’s café in Jaisalmer. There really is no back story here. We saw this and it seemed to reflect our thoughts.

There was a write up in the Deccan Chronicle today about the Saturday screening. You can see it at http://www.deccanchronicle.com/tabloid/potpouri/%E2%80%98-stories-narrated-themselves%E2%80%99-422
—

Photo of the Day

Photo of the Day
Meet Chandrakiran Upadhyay, a music teacher at the Tara International School in the village of Raison in Himachal.

Raison is half way between Kullu and Manali, and the white water rafting that begins just after Manali, ends here. This is also where the Catch Mineral water factory is.

Chandrakiran was always musically inclined but didn’t pursue it as a career. He was a national level volley ball player, and sports took up all his free time. Now that he has retired from his Government job, he spends time teaching and learning music. Both his children are musically inclined, but his wife calls herself a listener.

Talking to him normally he comes across as a shy and soft spoken man, but get him in front of a harmonium and out comes an earthy, powerful booming voice. he plays the harmonium, tabla, flute and the harmonica. He has started writing poetry of late and setting it to music. The song by the school kids in our 17 minute film has been written and composed by him for the school.

For a little more on Chandrakiran and his music, please check out tomorrows Friday Release.

Photo of the Day

Photo of the Day
One of the sad facts of traveling is the large amounts of garbage you see discarded everywhere you go. Plastic bags and soft drink bottles have become standard fixtures in landscapes everywhere. When we were in Lata in Uttrakhand, Rana ji, a poet/activist who we stayed with, was telling us how the stunning route to Nanda Devi is filled with toilet paper, beer bottles and plastic.
After having returned to Chennai we ourselves have become shocked by the amount of waste we are generating. It’s nearly impossible to buy anything without a ridiculous amount of packaging. Segregating it into plastics, paper and glass gets rid of a majority of it, but still.
This photo was taken in Aizawl. It’s a shop that makes mainly flower pots out of used tyres. They also make smaller tubs and buckets. Creatively turning what would otherwise be junk into useful things.
For more info on the Uramili project, please visit www.uramili.in

Photo of the Day

Photo of the Day
You see something, it grabs you, but you don’t fully understand the meaning of it, and it ends up staying somewhere in the back of your head, waiting for connections to be made.

Our journey began with taking the GT Express from Madras to Delhi:

Full of excitement, anticipation, we are waiting on the platform, clutching on to our bags in fear that putting them down will end the journey. We are waiting for someone to unlock the doors of the train. That’s when we hear a song. Full bodied, guttural sounds bouncing around the wet floors, the fish smell, and the fast moving bodies. For a moment it feels as though the railway station is a large being and the music is echoing in its chest. The echo accentuates the base notes while the high timbre of the jalra plays hopscotch on the earthy sounds. Our first guess is that it’s a group of pilgrims. We move towards the sound only to find it coming from inside the locked train. Looking in through the window, we see about 20 men in uniform, standing in the pantry car singing on top of their voices and praying.

We didn’t pull out the camera.

This photo was taken the next day. This particular group is one of the most cohesive groups we have ever seen on a train. They enjoy working together. Which is possibly why they are the jolliest pantry car guys you can imagine. Even during the day they come in humming or singing or cracking silly jokes with customers. We didn’t film any of this.

Something about music in the workspace, although surprising, seemed so natural a fit that it never occurred to us to film it. A year later, we are making a film on how people manage to bring music into their day to day lives.

For more info on the Uramili project, please visit www.uramili.in