Design

I had a privilege of meeting (in a group obviously,where I was merely a presence) and hearing a billionaire last month (not bragging just establishing the credentials of the gentleman). We (the group) were discussing various things, when the discussion veered towards design and I quote what he said...

"The hardest thing to achieve in a design is simplicity. Simplicity takes effort and much more detailed thinking than a complex design. But simplicity sometimes is also harder to appreciate than a complex design. But the effort of the creator should always be to achieve simplicity. But there is another dynamic in a design, specially for public buildings, which is local sensibility. In such a case you cannot ignore the local sensibility and sense of design even if means sacrificing simplicity. India is a great example, in India people appreciate monuments, structure, for them design is an art form and sensibility is guided by the structures they have been exposed to; intricately carved temples, art forms etc. It would be difficult for the masses in India to enjoy anything that is simple. People might see simple as boring"

Just FYI, gentleman is 36 years old.

words, idea and a link

Last weekend went out drinking (again) with friends, two of us were generally getting bored so reached the venue much earlier than planned. So rather than just hanging around and chatting about nothing we decided to play story-telling game. It’s an old game, many of you would have played at some point of time, but for you who don’t know, the rules are like this, one gives the other person three random words and the other person is supposed to construct a story or situation around it. The condition is that the story/situation must be complete and told in maximum of one or two sentences.

I enjoyed it a lot, so here are the situations and the stories. You are free to write your own versions.

Situation 1: One life, one death and a divorced couple on a boat
Story: A recently divorced couple meet again at the spot where there son had drowned and the wife tells the husband that she is pregnant.

Situation 2: Two people on different tables in a restaurant, one with the mobile wants the other out of the place
Story: Man with the phone makes a call that lasts for 3 minutes, gets up from the seat, puts the phone surreptitiously on other guys table and walks out. After some time cops come and arrest the other guy.

Situation 3: Gun, shoelaces and a man
Story: Man wants to die so that wife gets the insurance money. Suicide will get him nothing. Takes the gun, puts the shoelace on the trigger and other end to the door. Sits in front of the gun and waits for someone to open the door.

Situation 4: Bed, overturned quilt and an open door
Story: You see a bed, overturned quilt, open door and you hear the voice of a little girl from the next room “Mom I had that nightmare again”.

Situation 5: Woman at a bar, mobile and a cherry
Story: Woman at the bar, keys in a number on the mobile, places the phone on the bar, puts a cheery on top and walks out.

There were some more situations which I cannot remember but we were surprised to find friends in so soon, after two hours.

Thank you - A true story

I must be around around 7 or 8 years old when this incident happened. To whosoever i have told this incident/story never believes it is true. As amazing as it may sound, it actually happened, I witnessed it. I have tried not to embellish the story but tell in a manner as i experienced it as a child and the way the memeory still holds it.

One day my brother and I were playing in the garden, when we saw this parrot stuck in the bushes. We tried to help him come out by pushing the branches here and there but somehow he was unable to come out and was very scared. Finally my brother reached inside, gently held the parrot and helped him out. Then we put the bird down thinking he would now fly off. But the bird just sat there looking at us. We tried to cajole him to fly but he just plain refused. So we finally decided we cannot just leave the bird there, we will bring him home to stay with us.

There were two issues one we did not want to keep the bird in the cage (and we hoped he might want/remember to fly at some point of time), secondly we had a dog at home. We were scared that he might harm the bird (with a dog named hiti, short for Hitler, it was a fair assumption). So we marked out the territory for the parrot and the dog so that there were minimal chances for their interactions. When the parrot was in the house, the dog stayed out and the other way round.

So the parrot happily adjusted to the new environ hopping from room to room, eating the food which we offered, and making our lives delightful in the process. He would sleep in our room, was generally quite, we tried to make him speak as we had seen in the movies, never succeeding. Everyone was happy,arrangement was final, we assumed he would be with us forever.

As is with every story, it was not to be. One day we were sitting in the garden, when my father picked up the a parrot and put him on his forearm and said this is how Maharajah Ranjit Singh used to put his hawk. Parrot stayed there for a second and then suddenly he just flew away. We looked at him in his flight, completely taken by surprise. We thought this was the end of the friendship. He was a joy till he stayed with us, sad he had flown away but then we always wanted him to fly, so it was mixed feeling of joy and saddness. I remember crying and clapping at the same time.

This logically should have been the end of the story but it was not to be. Three days had passed, when my sister screamed asking all of us to come out quickly. My father, mother, brother and I ran outside and we saw these hundreds of parrots flying on top of our house and from those this one parrot came down and sat in middle of us. We knew this was our parrot. He stayed with us for ten or fifteen minutes, met us all. We patted him, played with him while none of the other birds came down, they kept circling on top. After which he flew away after saying, I assume, a thank you and the final goodbye. This time all of us just stood there smiling at each other.

He never came back again but has always stayed with us as a shared memory of the family.

Now you know why people never believe it but i hope you would because it is true.