Stray Birds @ Thalam -- an update

The exhibition is still open.

That is to say, it has been extended till this Thursday, the 21st of November.

So if you are in Bangalore (or passing through) do go and say hello to the Stray Birds! 

Must have something to do with the fact that it is seeing a lot of footfalls.

Or that all the birds look serene and peaceful on the walls of Thalam, as if they were on familiar perches, and as such, the Thalam guys are not too inclined to take off the exhibits.

Anyway, I wouldn't know, I am here in Hyderabad and missing out on all the action.

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The Bangalore Mirror did a story on the Stray Birds.

Read it here 

The actual story (in the physical -- as opposed to online -- newspaper) has a lot many more birds.

Hopefully, I will get my hands onto a copy of the newspaper.

 

  

Stray Birds in the news, etcetera

The Hindu's Metro Plus Bangalore edition covered Stray Birds today.

No, this was not my doing at all, but rather that of the Thalam guys (from what little I understand about how these things happen). Do take a look, see here. I must say the questions I was asked were pretty thought-provoking (and evidently well thought out).

I would have liked some more questions about the bird poems themselves, but as we all know pictures (or photos) garner far more notice. In fact, I am told that Thalam is seeing a lot of footfalls everyday since the opening of Stray Birds. 

Thank you Harini, thank you  Thalam!

~ ~ ~

In the little bit of boxing that I have done, I have never lost a tooth (thanks to technique, gum guards, etc.) and the damage has been limited to swollen lips and the taste of blood -- which in a very funny way, is heady, almost a mood-upper, in the way it keeps you keyed up.

It was that very taste of blood that kept me going through the bus journeys to B'lore, the pillion-borne flying on a friend's bike and the launch of Stray Birds.

Yet, spending the whole day with your tongue trying to be an eye proffering uneducated diagnoses of your oral well being is no way to be.

So, the tooth had to come out (on Tuesday, some three days ago).

The knockout blows of the painkiller thereafter has been something altogether, even to someone like me.

The morning after grogginess (especially on the first day) was yet another. Luckily for me, I have a Dentist whom I can trust my life with, yet getting a tooth removed is certainly unnerving. But somehow, in some kind of an evolutionary way, I seem to have managed to survive it. 

And yes, pain is good -- if for nothing else, for the fact that it makes one feel alive.

(On an irreverent, very self-depreciating aside -- that leaves me with 30 teeth. Thirty teeth and 2 hearing aids in my 40th year. If I do the math, what exactly is my value in the Marriage Market now?)   

Stray Birds in Bangalore -- Postponed

Just a quick update.

My book launch and photography exhibition at B'lore, Stray Birds has been postponed to November.

The opening (of the exhibition) and the book launch will now be on November 9th.

And the exhibition will be ongoing till November 16th.

More updates to follow.

Why is this event getting postponed, you ask?

Cold feet is one reason -- I have a lot of trepidations about lugging all my photography gear, about Bangalore, etc., etc.

What to exhibit is another reason -- I have too many photographs of too many birds; selecting from a gazillion of these feathered folks is no easy task. Then again, this is art -- and always a Work In Progress.

Work -- yes, that's the primary reason.

November isn't that far away; meanwhile I have canceled a train ticket and Stray Birds has been postponed.       

Stray Birds in Bangalore

This was under consideration for sometime.

I mean the good folks at Thalam have kept an invite open for almost 3 months now.

But as is my wont (as befits someone who uses hearing aids and would rather be behind the camera than in front of it) I have been diffident.

Which is a trifle unfair to the book and the photographs I take -- to the Stray Birds, considering how successful the launch and show at Hyderabad was.

Anyway, here it is now, more details soon, please watch this space.

P.S. -- Photography exhibitions are certainly peculiar animals (logistics wise)...what goes without saying is that this one will be as much of a learning experience for me as the first one was; what doesn't is that I bloody wish I had a car now, a car capacious enough for me to load all the framed prints (read  exhibits) and highway it to Bangalore. Which means I have minimum issues logistics wise and maximum control (artistic, artistic) on what I exhibit.

Oh well, not that I bloody know how to drive.      

Stray Birds in bookstores

Looking back more than three years, I remember how I had to hustle to place Moving On in the bookstores. And how the so called "big bookstores" repeatedly rebuffed me for being a small publisher (and unknown "author").

Fair enough, books are after all business and if Chetan Bhagat and his ilk sell more, and deserve more shelf space in such bookstores, so be it.

But an achievement of sorts from back then was getting to place Moving On in two lovely, old and quaint and very "bookstorish" bookstores of Hyderabad -- Walden and Akshara.

Largely (of course) due to the intervention, goodwill and help of friends -- my PR sucks.

Ink Dries went a step further and had its launch / release at Akshara Books, largely again (of course) due to the intervention, goodwill and help of friends.      

I will of course, be headed for Akshara and Walden soon with Stray Birds, but speaking of bookstores, Stray Birds is already available at a bookstore in Hyderabad's original shopping district, Abids; a place famous (among the bibliophiles at least) for its second hand books market (where incidentally U saw a copy of Moving On as well!).

At a very "bookstorish" bookstore -- AA Husain, where almost every single inch of the place is laden with books.

I feel very Hyderabadi to say this. And I intend to go to AA Husain soon to see what "out of print" and "impossible to find anywhere else" treasures are roosting there.

BTW, if not for other rare to find books (and Stray Birds), AA Husain deserves a visit for its big collection of bird books and field guides. Because its managed by someone who knows the worth of anything to do with the feathered folks, a fellow birder.

So, do head out there soon!              

As copies of Stray Birds head to Flipkart...

I have never really known what to say when the topic is my poetry or my books. I mean, I could probably talk a lot about why I write poetry -- talk in a ramble, a walkabout, a meander, a dogleg... -- but talk nonetheless.

I could also say what I have said any number of times, and what is the most basic and truthful part of my poetry, that I write primarily for myself and for release.

But ask me to sound articulate, measured and meaningful and there isn't much I can say.

Maybe I am too inward looking, or then again, I am probably too artless for being measured, etc.

**********

I have signed quite a few copies at Goethe-Zentrum (yes, the turnout was surprising and so was the involvement of the people) and now I have finished signing some more. This lot of the copies are headed for Flipkart, where (I am told) quite a few books have already been bought (on pre-order).

I should be happy.

I am happy.

But then, this is a book of poetry...

************

What exactly does success mean, in terms of writing poetry (and authoring poetry books)?

Who do you use as an yardstick to measure against?

Another "famous" poet whose book sold 100 copies?

Or someone like Amish Tripathi who has bagged a 5 Crores advance for his upcoming series of books?

Well, then again what is a poem that can be called a success? One with which everyone agrees, or one with which everyone disagrees, or one that just "works"?

*************

So a nice guy chases me again and again and finally meets me and asks some questions. That resulted in this 

Do take a look.

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Another birding ghoom, another fall.

That, just about sums up what happened on Saturday. I slipped and fell / slid on the bund of the buffalo wallow. And have skin that's scraped off -- on my right leg, a bit below the knee and a bit besides the ankle.

I am like, bloody hell -- again the camera and lens survived it all, thank God!

Oh yes, they did not touch terra firma, either. But I did, I did and it burns like anything -- to remind me.  

    

Stray Birds -- the Photo Poetry Exhibition

Apart from being a book of poems, Stray Birds is also the name of the Photo Poetry exhibition currently ongoing at Goethe-Zentrum.

The exhibition comprises of 25 large (12X18 inches) and 24 medium (10X12 inches) size, artistically framed, high quality prints of bird photographs (guaranteed to not lose colour for at least 5 years) and some of the bird poems from Stray Birds (the book).

These are photographs that will grace any wall (at home or office) and add a birdy touch to any environment, and yours for the taking (after the duration of the exhibition; ask at Goethe-Zentrum for more details).

The exhibition is open from 9.30 in the morning to 5.30 in the evening and on till the 23rd of June.

So hurry, go see a stray bird in the eye!

Thursday the 13th, June 2013, a grand evening

The title more or less says it all.

It was a grand evening indeed.

Was this my best "book release" ever?

I don't know.





But I must say I was blown away, by the turnout, by the amazing professionalism of the guys at Goethe-Zentrum (specifically Anna) and the fact that I sat in between the one and only Aasheesh Pittie and the one and only Vijay Marur. 

The best part of the evening was when a nice lady wanted me to sign two books for her with "birds" added to "wish you all the best in life".

A big thank you to all who came over braving the rain

A bigger thank you to Anna, Mercy and Amita for putting up with my "first show" jitters and resultant delays.

An even more bigger thank you to my brother Sashi, if not for his stewardship, I would have been headed towards Hussein Sagar with an auto load of prints and frames.

The birdman is happy and humbled, thank you everyone.

Some of the pics of the event are here 

And if you would like to follow what is happening vis-a-vis Lil' Blue and Stray Birds, keep checking out this page on FB