“You read and write and sing and experience, thinking that one day these things will build the character you admire to live as. You love and lose and bleed best you can, to the extreme, hoping that one day the world will read you like the poem you want to be.”
― Charlotte Eriksson
Did you know that memories that we have are often like piece-together-pictures than accurate photographic information? In the same token, recalling a skill requires you to return to the state of mind or environment in which it was originally acquired.
Memory is more like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle than a photograph. To recollect a past event, we piece together various remembered elements and typically forget parts of what happened (the color of the wall, the picture in the background, the exact words that were said). Passing over details helps us to form general concepts. We are good at remembering the gist of what happened and less good at remembering (photographically) all the elements of a past scene. This is advantageous because what is important for memory is the meaning of what was presented, not the exact details present at any given time.
” Is photographic memory real? If so, how does it work? ” by Professor Larry Squire
“With a little heartache;
Gone with the time,
Are certain memories,
Intricately designed.
To call & narrate
A story of blissful sunshine.”
― Somya Kedia
Light is one of our favorite themes. Delve in more.
Slipping to the Dusk
Clouds of Fire
Scurry home
Sprouting Skylines
Orange creep on swirling clouds
The flicker of leaves
The golden lamp
Camels on the horizon
This is a photograph from a couple of years ago that’s really close to my heart. When I had traveled to Netta’s place during the initial years, I was not familiar with that place. Neither am I now. After an afternoon tea with family, me and Netta went to the town aimlessly and I was looking for a beach nearby and on a random search, I got to know about Payyoli beach which was so close to their home but the fun part was that she hadn’t been there before. What welcomed us when we aimlessly drove in there was a very wide, serene beach with not a single soul in the premise feeding in the vibe of a private beach. (No, those were not Corona days. I’m speaking of sometime in 2017, on a guess). There were fishing boats parked there and we had witnessed a blissful sunset together sitting on a boat. That moment in time is captured by this shot. So you see, every frame has a story weaved within it. Even if I’m put in a dungeon with a handful of photographs, I can sit with them with a cup of tea and write story after story behind each of them for weeks 😀
The legendary photographer Ansel Adams kills it with his timeless quotes. He once famously said, “You don’t make a photograph just with a camera. You bring to the act of photography all the pictures you have seen, the books you have read, the music you have heard, the people you have loved.”
We love stories. Would you love to read more memories?
Waiting for your stories. God bless.
I took this photograph from a place called Kuttikanam, a hill station in Idukki district of Kerala, Southern India. That’s my brother having a phone call gazing at that splendid view in front. Right in front of the place we stayed, there was a bridge damaged by heavy torrential rains and landslide, and the only road in the front was damaged. We stayed on the top of a cottage run by a family and there was a homely feel to this place. This place is special because the experience of meeting the family owning this place kindled in me the love for indoor plants and curating them. What I saw in their home was that they put plants in literally anything you could imagine. Damaged cans, throwaway bottles, coconut shells, wall mounts, iron cases, you name it and they’d have a plant inside. After returning from this place and reaching back home, I thought of setting up indoor plants and that’s how we started our moneyplant adventures. I’d be trying to write in detail on this Kuttikanam story. Stay tuned friends : ) Thanks for all the love on the previous writings and feedback. Looking forward to your thoughts. Write to me.
It’s one of my favorite divertissements to scroll through old Google Photos archives, spice up old photos and just wonder about the times back in those days. When I first started working in the Middle East nearly 10 years back from today, during some of my initial years, my work extensively involved being associated with designing and developing new engineering products in a factory (For example, Bridge Bearings, products used in offshore structures, etc ) and I used to spend a lot of time in a factory environment with some colleagues at that time for some prototyping and other work. I have vivid memories of returning back from work in the afternoon at that time gazing at the sun playing its magic of colors at the factory horizon. These are some of those photographs from circa 2010-2011. Believe me, old photographs are time machines for me. I can spend an entire day reminiscing in these old memories. Do you have such photographic memories from the past decade that you recollect? Share your thoughts. I would love to read them.
“There is a certain quality of light to be found only in midsummer in the South, as day, slipping into dusk, acquiesces to the filament, the bulb, the porch light; this seductive light is beautiful when it washes across dry cement, the sidewalk and stoop. The light spilling from the phone booth softens and cleanses all that it touches. It’s a forgiving and almost protective light. The Minotaur is drawn to it from across the parking lot.”
― The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break
Would you love to read more memories?
While looking at some old notes from 2016 that I wrote when I watched this short video in 2016, I can see that I had left a note in a book to write about it sometime in the future. This is done very brilliantly. The theme, visuals, and the overall message is ferried well to the listener and what’s wonderful is that it’s beyond any language or geographical barrier.
For some reason, I remembered the cat that we had around at our home when I was in Kerala. It used to be around all the time. When I used to walk to college, this would come long for a little long. This cat is no more. It passed away in 2010. Life is fragile.
“Let excellence be your brand. When you’re excellent you become unforgettable. Doing the right thing, even when nobody knows you’re doing the right thing will always bring the right thing to you” – Oprah Winfrey.
Found this at some store a few years back.
Sara Sheridan once wrote, “To me, reading through old letters and journals is like treasure hunting. Somewhere in those faded, handwritten lines, there is a story that has been packed away in a dusty old box for years.” All of us bump into these kinds of packed memories in the form of old letters, artifacts, photographs, and other archives. In 2014, while cleaning some old rusty corners in the house, I had unearthed an old photo album. It contains some priceless photographs of my parents and grandparents before my birth. I was showing each picture to my grandmother to know the story behind it. Senior family members of mine may get some very interesting snaps of them in 70s trendy bell-bottom pants and 80s signature costumes. Those were film photographs on or before 1985ish times. Some of these photographs were damaged, yet some are intact. Even though some of the photographs have lines of chemical damages visible, they just dissipate when we are able to see smiling faces of family at some corner of that damaged aged photograph, a beautiful moment of frozen time. Memories like these never leave the premise of our minds. Through books and archives, they bounce back on you! These are treasure troves that are keys to many of our memory locks.
