Drums. Delhi. Beat that!
Know that feeling when you follow a faint sound for a while, only to discover an epic jam session? No? I thought so. Last week at Deer Park (Hauz Khas Village) a friend was giving me a psyche-analysis when we heard that faint sound, and followed it to discover this:
The sound isn’t too bad, even though it was recorded on a mobile. We were told it was the fortnightly meetup of a group of percussionists who go by Delhi Drum Circles. The idea is that anyone can get their own instrument(s), and simply join in. Those without instruments took to swinging, foot tapping and clapping to the beats. Photographs by yours truly.
Check out the Delhi Drum Circles and join them on their next session. You won’t be disappointed.
Locked out on Flickr.
Tuk-tuk poetry on Flickr.
Via Flickr:
Translation: “Don’t be surprised at my vehicle; God will give you your own don’t worry”
Too many trees, not enough traffic on Flickr.
Via Flickr:
Rajiv Chowk (Connaught Place) at night. Unprocessed (except for cropping).
Rajiv Chowk, CP on Flickr.
“Who ate my sandwich?!?!” on Flickr.
“Intruders shall be gunned down”
In true Sheldonian fashion, I managed to stay away from outdoor activities during most of the winter here in Delhi. Last Sunday however, in a classic battle of nouns, boredom overcame lethargy and I decided to head out with a camera. My partner in crime was an equally bored friend who shares my love for adventure, and together we decided to take a long walk in the Ridge.
For those unfamiliar with the history of the Ridge, it is an extension of the Aravalli range, some 1500 million years old. Its isolation makes it the perfect place to find some peace and quiet, and in some cases, half-buried dead bodies. I was ready with my DSLR should an opportunity for the latter present itself. Walking along Mother Teresa Crescent, we took a detour towards Delhi Earth Station, and came across this:
Malcha Mahal is a dilapidated hunting lodge built more than six centuries ago. Owned by the royal family of Awadh, it is protected far more fiercely than the rules of English grammar on their signboards the usual neighbourhood-royal-hunting-lodge. A friend told me there are about ten hound dogs, and an old man in his seventies with a functional weapon to scare away trespassers (I didn’t dare ask him how he knew all this). A web search later that evening threw up a great post by Sam Miller, which talks about the history and current state of affairs at Malcha Mahal.
The signboard did its trick, we decided against taking our chances with hound dogs. On our way back we had an unexpected farewell party thrown by our simian friends in the neighbourhood. This photograph was shot after we crossed the stretch shown, miraculously unharmed.
The rest of our walk was less eventful; we crossed a couple of parks where, let’s just say, you don’t take a bunch of kids for school picnic. The evening ended with a great Iran kieve-chicken snack at the Buddha Jayanti park restaurant, the last surprise for the day. All photographs here were taken by yours truly, and heavily manipulated in the post-processing stage to make up for the bad photography weather.
An unusual weekend
What does a typical tech founder do on a weekend to relax?
Catch up on some good movies perhaps. Me? I ended up working with a bunch of total strangers making a short film for the 48 hour film project.
It all started when I spotted their advertisement in the newspaper. A couple of days before the event, I started the hustle to get in by posting this on their Facebook group:
Anyone from Delhi participating in the 48 Hour film project this weekend? I have no clue what it is about, I’m not even a film maker, but spending an entire weekend with a team making something sounds terribly exciting, and I’d love to volunteer my services as Script Spell-checker or anything else useful to get a piece of the action.
I was expecting a good response on the lines of “We could sure use a spell checker here, lad!”. I got a few (ok, two) responses, and after an extensive background check (as I was told later) one of the team leaders, mistaking my “IITian, entrepreneur” credentials as an indication of how smart I was, decided to let me aboard (popular perception, FTW!).
The day arrived when I met the crew for the first time, and tried to figure out where exactly I’d fit. Acting wasn’t my thing, not since I played a tree in a kindergarden skit, wearing what turned out to be a particularly itchy costume. This team was led by professionals. I didn’t want to get in their way, but it was crucial that I get a piece of the action rather than be a mute spectator.
The plot thickens
For the uninitiated, this particular film was to be based on a genre picked out from a draw of lots on Friday evening, and feature a dialogue (“I love Delhi”), a prop (diary) as well as a character (security guard Vikram or Veena Singh) specified at that time. After the draw, Friday night was spent banging out the details of the story. Thankfully I got to hang out with the core creative team and work on the story. Whenever I got carried away, I was reminded how hard it would be to shoot that scene. All in all a great night out.
Saturday was the day full of shoots. Did you know you needed a permission from the authorities, whoever they might be, for shooting any video in public? I do now. This need for permission is a problem in such an event because we came up with a story on Friday night, and with the weekend being off, there was no time to get any permissions.
Delhi folks have a fascination for video cameras. A security guard at our first location ( parking lot across the famous Qutb Minar) hovered around us with what was initially simple curiosity, but turned into this air of authority very common in his profession. Remember the time a guard tried to stop you from parking your car on a stretch of road, because it was “reserved” for parking the vehicles of the office that employed him? It was the same annoying feeling. Luckily we had some witty guys in our team. This guard was told we’d feature him in our film, if he could give us a few takes walking from one end of the road to another. He was happy to oblige, walking in the most comical style, again and again, without the slightest idea that he was posing for a still camera!
All in all it was a very interesting day, including the part where I earned the “needless advisor” title from one really annoyed co-director, who already had enough on her mind. You see, I have a thing for little details, and I really wanted to keep doing something rather than just observing, which made me the most annoying apprentice. The shoot wrapped up by sundown, and the film went into post-production stage.
20 hours to deadline
While our editor was finally putting together the shots for the draft cut, I spent my time working on the credits and the title of the film (which involved waking up a co-worker out of the blue on a Sunday morning). Titles have always been hard, this one was no different. We finally settled on “Off White”, based on a convoluted thought process that I don’t really remember.
(drum roll)
Ladies and gentlemen, readers of all shapes and sizes, it is my pleasure to share with you the 2nd runner up at the 48 hour film project, Delhi, 2011. Watch it till the end (yes, including the credits).
(loud applause)
All in all it was a challenging, exciting and rewarding (excuse the pun) experience. I’ve already started seeing films with a different perspective, trying to nail why a certain frame or sequence is as good as it is. Would I do this again? Absolutely.
(loud applause continues, and curtains fall down)
P.S. In case you missed it, I play the dashing young (tourist) guy whose faith in the goodness of mankind is second only to the cash in his wallet.
P.P.S. Thankfully the directors changed my title from Needless Advisor to Assistant Director in the credits. So cool.
