Explore other themes in fine art
Choosing the Circus
Mind Vessel
Dreaming Beyond
Mirror
Done in Love
Enigmatic
Tranquil
Parallel worlds
Book of beautiful moments
Swayed In
Author: Ajmal
kite sky.
A photograph of my father glancing at some kites on a clear sky, Quilon beach, circa 2014
Explore our photography themes.
keepsake.
From a souvenir shop in Istanbul, circa 2014.
Explore our photographic themes.
conversations.
A photograph from a street at Yerevan, Armenia.
” When was the last time you listened to someone? Really listened, without thinking about what you wanted to say next, glancing down at your phone or jumping in to offer your opinion? ” – Kate Murphy
This message that I read somewhere really made me give a thought to it and decided to add my two cents to it. I did some reading on it and it can be realized that the above quote’s concern is actually pretty widespread in our day and age. It’s hard to find a good patient listener these days. Comparing to a few years back, I can relate that I really find a hard time reading a full-length editorial page or a long format post. Right after we delve in, we are constantly distracted by a notification or a call or something else of that sort. The short attention spans of people are the reason that most ads these days are very short. While exploring this theme and reading on it, I happened to read about Kate Murphy’s book titled “You’re not listening“. As she explains it, the theme is on the erosion of listening skills. I’m yet to read it, but my initial impressions remain pretty optimistic.
“Despite living in a world where technology allows constant digital communication and opportunities to connect, it seems no one is really listening or even knows how. And it’s making us lonelier, more isolated, and less tolerant than ever before. In this always illuminating and often humorous deep dive, Murphy explains why we’re not listening, what it’s doing to us, and how we can reverse the trend. She makes accessible the psychology, neuroscience, and sociology of listening while also introducing us to some of the best listeners out there.”
In its review, The Guardian referred to it as sort of an exploration into the modern epidemic of self-absorbed talk. They tag it with
” Restaurants are noisy, social media connections are shallow, giving a TED talk is living the dream. What happened to conversation? “
She writes:
“At cafes, restaurants and family dinner tables, rather than talking to one another, people look at their phones. Or if they are talking to one another, the phone is on the table as if a part of the place setting, taken up at intervals as casually as a knife or fork, implicitly signaling that the present company is not sufficiently engaging…people just as reflexively reach for their phones. Like smokers and cigarettes, people get jittery without their phones.”
She puts in a lot of interesting statistics and some surveys on how quality time is sabotaged by the sheer absence of listening skills. I’m yet to read the book completely and have only gone through some excerpts. As I understand from reviews, she puts in a lot of interesting suggestions to better engage in profound conversations. I’m looking forward to reading this sometime soon. She writes in the book “Our devices indulge our fear of intimacy by fooling us into thinking that we are socially connected even when we are achingly alone.”
aerial aura
Dear friend AR recently teased with a glimpse of some of his exquisite aerial shots coming straight from the vast UAE deserts terrains. The creative tiger inside AR surprises us with such brilliant roars. I can’t wait for more to come from him. He’s an amazing photographer as well.
passionate soulful prowess
Recently I’ve have been grazing through the videos by Chinese blogger Li Ziqi, who became an internet sensation after her videos on handicrafts, traditional cooking, and DIY from the countryside of Mianyang in southwest China’s Sichuan Province grew in popularity and caught netizen’s attention worldwide. What attracted my attention is the inherent calmness and the passionate composure with which each theme is made. It is in stark contrast with the heavily commercialized video bombardments, often largely obliquely spurious that we see on every video platform. Each video I’ve seen so far is so genuine and brilliantly captured. From what I’ve read in magazines, Li lives with her grandmother in a Chinese rural province. Orphaned at a very young age, she moved to city to work. After her grandfather’s death, she returned to the village to take care of her grandmother who fell ill. All her food and handicraft videos are often crafted from scratch and are prepared using authentic basic ingredients and tools making the best use of Chinese traditional techniques.
She initially started posting videos on Mepai, which is a very famous social platform in China and garnered great attention. In 2017, she started posting videos on Youtube which grew in popularity ever since. Her grandfather was a cook in the village. She learned how to grow vegetables, fish, carpenter handiworks, traditional dishes, and bamboo crafts. The well-made videos with its passion and subtle nuances give a wonderful experience of Chinese traditions and culture and her positive spirit on self-reliance sent by her life expertise has attracted warm international reception.
Her videos are unfeigned, lucid and basics from scratch and mostly don’t use any sort of modern technology or even electricity in most cases. She does everything on her own from cutting goat and rabbit fur for the brush hairs to chopping small trees to make paper. In one of the videos that I saw, she built a coffee table and two sofas using bamboo in its entirety using carpentry skills inspired by her grandfather. In some other videos, lip colors are prepared from fresh flower petals and honey. You’d be amazed by how she delves to the roots. The honey shown is not from a supermarket, but from a beehive in the village. She prepares her own deserts, sweet potato jelly, and pancakes from the sweet farm potatoes which she harvested on her own. A lot of traditional ways of preparations are shown.
The authenticity and fervent equanimity keep these visuals apart from the rest of the crowd and has truly impressed me. As we touched upon in our note on compassionate prudence, true magic ensues when people put in their signature on every single thing they do and when everything is done with love. Stories like this truly inspire!. God bless!
Here are a few.
a piece of happiness
Thank you Molten Chocolate Cafe for crafting this elegant piece of happiness!
Here we kick off Ep 1 of our new series – ‘Culinary Experiences’ for journaling some of the best ambrosial culinary experiences, be it the finest cordon bleu delights of a master chef or a cheesy experimental simmer at our little kitchen, we are trying to scribe it here.
Molten Chocolate Cafe is an elegant dessert eatery situated at the heart of Al Majaz Waterfront in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. We visited it on a fine winter evening and boy it was true happiness experience as they say it. They have a plethora of good European confectionaries. They’re born to satisfy your tiniest sweet tooth through their delectable and rich indulgences. Their culinary dessert assortments range from French crepes to Belgian pastries and waffles tailored to cure the cravings for all things chocolate, a cocoa experience that anyone with the tiniest sweet tooth would remember! We tried Cheetos Chicken which has Focaccia bread, red cabbage slaw, crispy chicken, sriracha sauce and Cheetos crumbs. The dessert we savoured is their molten lava cake which is their signature chocolate cake dusted with icing snow, topped with a scoop of ice cream with a slice of strawberry.
interpretive
A photograph of a world traveler that I took on a visit to Princess Islands in Istanbul. Remembering the words of Eliott Erwitt that “Color is descriptive. Black and white is interpretive.” She was delightfully surprised at the seagull glancing at her through the ferry window. The year is 2014.
“ Perhaps I am old-fashioned, but black and white films still hold an affectionate place in my heart; they have an incomparable mystique and mood.”
― Ginger Rogers
Ponder Series | Visual Narrative
Made a small visual narrative for Ponder Series. In the commencement post, I had written:
Often in the rush of our routines, we fail to appreciate certain hidden subtleties and nuances of living in this universe, which we can only admire if we consciously make an effort to think deeply with profundity.
Some of the chapters from the Ponder Series include :
> Reflecting on Shadows
> Stumble over Pebbles
> Ethereal Quality | Petals
> Golden Ratio
> Vision – Pondering on the intricacies
> Ruminating on Bird Nests
> Living Embellishments
> Pondering on Birds
> Perceptions
Ruminating on Bird Nests
This is a photograph of a nest that I captured from Al Ain Oasis in Jan 2019.
Although we don’t find a bird nest so often, that’s something to reflect very deeply. If we delve in deep and ponder over the intricate aspects of a bird building a nest, that’s truly miraculous and inquisitive. It’s truly astonishing and thought-provoking to see a bird carefully and meticulously engineering its nest like a masterful civil engineer. I thought of sharing some interesting aspects on bird nest construction that I’ve read some time back and trust this would be an opportunity for both of us to ponder and reflect on this wonder around us. Welcome to the Ponder Series.
Nests are usually designed by birds for camouflaging their defenseless offspring chicks from prey. Hatched newborn birds are often immobile and are hatched without any feathers and a well-built nest would cater as smart thermal insulation for them from cold. Grasses, twigs, and yarns are used to construct them and a few birds even choose hair and fine grass within the nest to produce far more comfort and softness and additionally aid in providing extra insulation. Several species of birds use differing kinds of materials in building their nest. Mud, leaves, feathers, are the base materials typically opted for. They’re illustrious to be naturally sturdy materials. They’re additionally inherently elastic and are tough at the same time. Some birds go a step ahead and even make use of plant fibers in a mixed-use with mud. This arrangement prevents any cracks from developing. Mud is usually employed by birds as a structural adhesive to connect totally different components along. Firstly, the best location for building is identified and as a primary step, they’d gather mud and feathers and they’re typically transported via their beaks. Certain birds combine their spittle with mud and at first prepare a base portion that is sort of a hub and that they can house with grass, moss, and feathers. They normally prefer overhanging locations to forestall rain or water from accumulating and inflicting any potential damage.
Some birds sew totally different elements by utilizing their beaks as sort of a stitching needle. Some species like tailor birds commission structures using silk from cobwebs, cotton from seeds and fibers of tree bark. By making use of their sharp beaks, they punch holes on leaf edges and spider silk or plant fibre is seamed through these holes and knots are tied in every sew to forestall slippage. Once this base is available, grass is embedded into the inner chambers. Another inner nest is weaved and eggs are usually hatched in this inner nest. Isn’t that amazing?
” The human bird shall take his first flight, filling the world with amazement, all writings with his fame, and bringing eternal glory to the nest whence he sprang.”
– Leonardo da Vinci
Think about these wonderful creatures and how do they accomplish all these miraculous constructions and acts of purpose. Hope next time when you glance at a bird, you’ll be having an entirely different perspective. Pondering, thinking and reflecting on everything around us helps unravel the subtle depths of the Divine.
” Glory be to You, O One whom flying insects glorify with Your praise with their chants of thanksgiving. Birds and their chicks glorfy in the nests with their songs of gratitude, through the tongue of the order and balance in their creation and movements, and of their designs and adornment. They proclaim Your favors on them and thereby manifest their gratitude when tasting the fruits of Your kindness and being fed with the works of Your mercy. “
– Seedbed of the Light by Said Nursi.
More to explore from the Ponder Series :
> Reflecting on Shadows
> Stumble over Pebbles
> Ethereal Quality | Petals
> Golden Ratio
> Vision – Pondering on the intricacies
> Living Embellishments
> Pondering on Birds
> Perceptions