Made salsa today :D
Next time will also try making the cheese dip.

The world needs more storytellers,
To tell the stories of the future,
The future that we may never live to see,
The future that nobody might survive to see.

The world needs more storytellers,
To tell the stories of the past,
The past glories that we didnt see,
The past goriness that nobody ever wanted to see.

The world needs more storytellers,
To tell the stories of the present,
The presence of mine that you may not see,
The presence of your’s that I cannot see.

Cooked pasta after a long time. Didn’t come out the way I wanted it to be, but was pretty ok.

As a little girl with an embarassing ‘foutain’ ponytail on top of my head, I remember the distant sound of a moped approaching. It used to be the sound of my grandfather coming home. The sound of dad’s car used to make me jump and scream the cliche “Papa aa gaye! Papa aa gaye” (learnt from the movies of course). The roar of neighbour’s son’s bike meant I could expect his father’s screams becoming audible in the succeeding few seconds.

Apart from the horn, the sound of the vehicle itself is a part of it’s identity too. Without it, it does not feel like a ‘mean’ machine. So much so, that a new electric car would be fitted with fake engine sounds.

The newest addition to the list of vehicles I can identify by their sounds would be the Dubai cabs. I can hear them approach and zoom away. And without even looking, I would know that it was a cabbie who for some strange reason did not want to pick any passengers and thus avoided any attention. And this phenonmenon is very common. Cabs have become so scarce in Dubai that you could probably auction each ride to the passenger who is able to pay the most. Cab drivers throw tantrums for no reason and pick up passengers on the basis of their appealing looks and gender. Even if you call one through their call center, they usually pick another passenger. If their conditions don’t match, they happily zoom around town in the fast lane, in their vacant cabs.

Or may be it’s all a part of a bigger plan. May be they are just practicing to enter the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, which explains the speeding of vacant cabs in order not to put the passenger’s life in jeopardy. And I thought there was not an iota of humanity left in this world.

Whatever the case may be… Something really needs to be done.

Look around you. The hundreds of objects surrounding you right now didn’t appear out of thin air. They have been created by people like you and me, only with a different label i.e. designers. And if these guys did their homework well, the characteristics of the things around you have been created to suit you and your needs.

The function, form, texture and colour. These are the characteristics we are talking about. At times the research does not reveal some or all of them. Sometimes things need to be created from scratch and thus the designer has to use his discretion. In such cases, is the subconscious effect of theses really considered. Barring a few cultural differences, certain forms and colours hold common meanings around the world.

For those of you who have watched Devil Wears Prada may remember the scene where Miranda (Meryl Streep) lashes at Andy (Anne Hathway) with a big speech about how the blue sweater she was wearing landed in her hands because it was chosen by them – selected few people. And that’s how things take place in real life too, in a lot of cases.

Our minds are hardwired to interpret certain things in a given manner. Or we are taught and conditioned to do so. While designing something, do designers actually realise the subconscious effect their designs would have on the masses. The effect additional to the intended one. If pink is the reflection of the new male of today’s world, is it also transforming the ones who never related to this colour. If things have organic shapes today, along with reflecting today’s needs, does that also alter our perception of things on a different level.

Considering that 95% of our thinking and cognition happens in our subconscious mind, design holds tremendous powers. It has the power to transform the society even while they are not aware of it. Do we realise what effect these inanimate objects are have over us? The things we see, the things we hold, the things we use. Every minute your mind is being influenced and altered by design.

Dangerous or useful? I think we can place it right next to the nuclear power discussion.

Edited to add - Right after posting this, I switched on the television only to find Devil Wears Prada playing on Start Movies. Heh!