This and that in B'lore -- 1

Typically, 2-3 days after an event like Stray Birds @ Thalam, I should be doing a lot of digital PR.

Here on this blog and in other places like FB, etc.

(Digital PR -- in this specific case -- should involve me posting excerpts of my interview(s) and the links where they can be read at leisure by all and sundry. It should also involve a lot of  photographs of the launch / release, with some specifically showing me hobnobbing with celebrities and a lot of me dazzling the camera with the sparkle of my teeth and dermabrased skin.)      

But as you must have already guessed, I am not doing anything like that.

For one, nothing barely spectacular happened -- the event was low key (and lacked build-up) and even if anything like that happened, I would certainly not blog about it, will I?

And -- in a day and age when the What's App glitterati have elevated the word "selfie" to an altogether stratospheric level -- while I am not bad in the teeth department, far from having dermabrased dazzle, my face is the kind that would probably not even make it into any "dark is beautiful" campaigns, thanks to the liberal growth of blackheads on it (courtesy of more or less a lifetime spent out in the "unforgiving" sun).

So there. No digital PR here, either way.

~

Speaking of dazzling photographs, it sure is a heady feeling to see your work up on the walls of a gallery, with the lighting putting each framed bird under the spotlight. And, whatever it be said for the numerous "likes" bird photographs shared on FB gather, nothing beats displaying a bird in all its "everything in focus" glory in sizes bigger than cellphone (and phablet) screens. Who knows, someday I will also be spendthrift enough to print 20X30 (and even bigger) bird photographs.

~

Some trivia.

The exhibits were 50 in number when I went to get the prints.

One bird went missing somewhere in between the computer and the printer.

That meant there should be 49 birds up on Thalam's walls.

But there are 46, it seems 3 birds went missing somewhere in the flight of the courier packet from Hyderabad to B'lore.

I lugged along another 4 frames (along with some copies of all three of my books). But that's okay, since I am anyway used to lugging weights and expectations.

~

My biggest trepidation was the journey to B'lore (by bus). But since I was sleep-deprived and mentally exhausted (preparing for any public event does that to me -- mostly because I am all alone in dealing with the logistics) and was not carrying along any of my photographic gear, it was easy enough on the way out. The last hour or so into B'lore was in fact as relaxing as the concluding stretches of any of my train journeys -- with a wintry sun dappling a dew soaked bus and the sight of a just-waking-up Hebbal Lake (where I have never managed to go birding, in all my forays in B'lore) with its attendant Black and Brahminy Kites was a welcoming insight of the fact that -- hey, I do know some landmarks in B'lore too!

Coming back was something else, however. The horrors of Majestic (compounded by the traffic snarls all around) meant that is was a scene out of my worst nightmares repeating itself. Thankfully, I had a friend around and he has excellent phone skills.

So, I caught the bus and got back to the Deccan, far lighter than I had set out. And I can say, all's well that ends well.