That new beginning is my new blog at UrbnGipsy.Me, dedicated domain and all. That’s right, I decided not to add a blog to my existing professional website at ParasGudka.com as I wanted to blog about non work-related subjects too.

Screenshot of UrbnGipsy.Me

And so, ladies and gentlemen, please make your way over to http://urbngipsy.me/ where I will be sharing my many colourful experiences with you over the next few months. Those of you accessing this blog via RSS/Atom feeds, please redirect your feed reader to: http://feeds.feedburner.com/urbngipsyme.

Alas, for those of you receiving my blog posts via email, I do not have the same option on UrbnGipsy.Me due to technical difficulties at this time.

Thank you for your continued patronage on ‘No Signal’. I look forward to seeing you on my new blog.

- Paras G. (aka Urbn Gipsy)

1. On June 15 2010, I moved to my city of birth and childhood, Nairobi and am currently based here for the foreseeable future.
2. Professionally, I have re-branded myself as ‘Paras Gudka’ (my full name) and am now a freelance Graphic Designer, Web Developer, Copywriter and Photographer based in Parklands, Nairobi, Kenya. More at my new site: www.parasgudka.com (people love the ‘Services + Rates’ section).
3. I also have a professional presence on Facebook at www.facebook.com/TheParasGudka (81 ‘fans’ so far).
4. Part of this blog will be moving to the new blog on aforementioned website that I am in the process of setting up. Please bear with me during the transition phase.
5. There will be just one more post on No Signal after this one, to announce the web URL and RSS/Atom feed address of the new blog at ParasGudka.com.
6. On the personal front, I have rediscovered my passion for the sport of chess and am part of the Nairobi Chess Club team participating in the ongoing Kenyan National Chess League (we are leading at the moment).
7. To this regard, I have even begun an initiative called Chess Events EAC, a website providing reliable information on chess events in the EAC (Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi) at www.chesseventseac.com.
8. We have a presence on Facebook too at www.facebook.com/pages/Chess-Events-EAC/103358966400456 (14 ‘fans’ so far).

Quite a radical approach to art direction, huh? I’m not buying the Africa inspired visuals though. And that last shot of Kelis turning around to reveal a baby on her back is downright ridiculous. Nevertheless, it’s still got enough neon-pop-funk aesthetics to take inspiration from. Andy Warhol would have been proud.

David Guetta impresses as usual with his music. He seems to be on a roll, considering his other hits doing rounds of Dance music charts worldwide: Memories (feat. Kid Cudi), One Love (feat. Estelle) and Gettin’ Over You (feat. Chris Willis, Fergie and LMFAO) among others.

Great beats and interesting video, aye?

It didn’t help that the subtitling was awfully incomplete during most exchanges in Bengali. Imagine being able to understand only the first half of the sentences uttered by the protagonists because there were no subtitles for the remaining half. In my book, this is a serious technical glitch that could badly affect how people who do not speak Bengali perceive the film. I hope whoever is responsible for it, has it fixed soon. I’m going to be looking forward to a properly subtitled DVD so that I can watch the entire film without wishing I had a translator app for my mind.

Rahul Bose as Snehamoy

The film is about a shy Bengali man called Snehamoy, who writes letters to a female pen-pal in Japan called Miyage, who is just as shy as him if not more. Over time, they both find themselves communicating more freely with each other than they ever have with the people around them and this blossoms into their version of love across borders and cultures. Soon, Miyage asks Snehamoy to accept her as his wife; without ever having met or even spoken to him. After much introspection, he accepts and thus begins the story of The Japanese Wife.

Chigusa Takaku as Miyage

To make the plot interesting, a second woman is introduced to test the boundaries of Snehamoy’s comfort zone. Sandhya, the same girl that Snehamoy’s mashi (maternal aunt) wanted him to marry before Miyage popped the question, now comes to live with them as a young widow with her son, Paltu, in tow. While Snehamoy and Paltu start bonding over Japanese kites and a familiar father-son like relationship emerges, his interaction with the mother is relegated to cursory glances at best. He even writes to Miyage that he doesn’t know what her face looks like or if she has shaved her head or not because of this. Gradually, both Snehamoy and Sandhya let their guards down and get to know each other better while Snehamoy is still as devoted a husband to Miyage as ever.

Raima Sen as Sandhya

The trouble with this sort of arrangement of events is that none of the three different relationships between Snehamoy and Miyage; Snehamoy and Paltu; and Snehamoy and Sandhya are fully explored, leaving you with just bits and pieces of each to chew on. At the end of the film, you are left wondering who/what the film was really about. Was the story really about everlasting love? Or was it little more than a poignant tale of one man, two women and the circumstances that bind them all together?

That said, you must watch ‘The Japanese Wife’ for Rahul Bose’s portrayal of a Bengali man from the village whose struggles with the English language often result in bhery funny scenes, accent and all. Moushumi Chatterjee plays the perfect mother figure to Snehamoy complete with taunts and jibes over her incomprehension of his marriage to an absentee Japanese wife, while even with barely a mouthful of dialogues, Raima Sen manages to take your breath away with her silent, soulful expressions.

Visually, the film is a feast for the eyes. One can almost smell the air of the Sunderbans and get a feel for the languid pace of rural life there by just looking at the visuals on-screen. It’s almost poetic.

Overall, I would rate The Japanese Wife a 3.5/5.

Films like these can really inspire the film-maker hidden in every one of us! I, too, want to write a story for the big screen some day.

On today’s show, he met with the founders of Kiva, a San Francisco based non-profit organisation that facilitates on-line micro-finance lending to entrepreneurs in the developing world.

Here is a video of the show (if you are unable to view it, see it on Rockhopper.tv here) :

I was so impressed by the work this organisation is doing, that I immediately decided to become a Kiva lender myself. After all, how big a hole can US$ 25.00 (INR 1,286.00) really burn in my pocket? Barely enough for it to even be noticed!

Scrolling through the list of entrepreneurs that needed funding, I knew my first loan would be going to a Kenyan, considering that I am one myself (by citizenship, not ethnicity). So, I chose 58 year-old Jane Njambi Njoroge (the first ‘N’s are silent on both words) who sells animal feed to farmers; keeping both her age and area of business in mind. Agriculture (especially the organic type) is one of the industries that I am passionate about supporting and this was my chance.

The process of lending the money itself is really simple. All you have to do is register for an account on Kiva (with minimum form fields to fill out); choose the person you want to support (through detailed profiles with proper information about the candidates) and then pay the money through your Paypal account or a credit card. That’s it! Before long, you will find a confirmation from Paypal and one from Kiva, in your e-mail inbox waiting to be opened.

I hope some of you reading this will also be inspired by Kiva and follow my lead of becoming a lender. You could possibly turn around the life of an entrepreneur struggling somewhere out there (there are 45 countries to choose from, including the United States itself) with a loan of just 25 US Dollars! Think of all the good karma that will come your way.

My next loan is going to go to an Indian, since I’ve lived in India for almost 12 years now and it’s time to give back. Who will yours be going to?

My favourite was the ‘Blank Spaces’ one (shown above) by Rajneel Singh from New Zealand. Which one is yours?

I was expecting it to be more about design with lots of interesting visuals to look at, but it’s actually about the rise and fall of the design school itself, with some interesting black and white photos from the 50s and 60s.

Here are some photos I took from my camera phone (please excuse the quality):

Some of the textual content on the larger boards is laid out a bit funny, so it could take you a while to understand the chronology. Not very user-friendly for a design exhibit, if I may add.

The 3D exhibits of actual assignments by students at the school were rather interesting, like this model of the precursor to today’s minivan above. Or these experiments in physical geometry below.

Overall, the exhibition was pretty lack-lustre. If you do find yourself in the area though and have time to kill, go for it. It might just give you some valuable insight into the field of design education from half a decade ago.

The exhibition is on till March 28, 2010 from 10.30 am to 7.30 pm daily.

Venue: Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath, Kumara Krupa Road, Kumara Park West, Bangalore 560001.

So, please go and have a look at my portfolio and tell me what you think of it.

As far as the look and feel of the website itself goes, it is still a work-in-progress and I will be adding more elements and functionality as I go along. For now, the bare-bones design serves its purpose. If you have any suggestions, feel free to send an e-mail to me@parasg.com.

Cheers!

Tired of living amongst people I don’t share similar values with. Tired of being bullied on the road for following rules and trying to set a positive example. Tired of having my film-watching experience spoiled by unruly mobs of supposedly “educated” youth (just because they converse in Hinglish, dude!) and their cell phones while my mobile and I keep silent. Tired of being the only one interested and listening, while others continue to yak on about themselves in exemplification of the term ’self-centredness’. I’m tired.

I don’t belong here. Not in this city. Not in this country.

It’s about time I started packing up and moving on to another land to start work on the next sequel of my life, which might, some day, star a wife and kids and an accent I adore. Some day!