Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Bhopal: Where The Dead Still Walk On Earth


THIS famous, terrible & tender picture was taken by magnum photographer Raghu Rai on the morning after the night of horror in Bhopal, on December 3, 1984, when a huge cloud of poison 500 times more toxic than cyanide spewed from a factory belonging to Union Carbide Corporation.

Thousands died in the most hideous ways. As the sun rose on streets full of corpses, Raghu found himself in a stony graveyard where a man was burying his young daughter. The father had covered the tiny body but then, unable to bear parting from her, brushed the earth away for one last look.

For the Bhopalis this picture has come to symbolise twenty-one
years of unimaginable suffering, an injustice that has never been righted,
crimes that continue to go unpunished, and a community that most of the world has forgotten.

Today in Bhopal, well over 100,000 people are still chronically sick from the effects of that night, while some 20,000 others are suffering from illnesses caused by contamination of their wells and stand-pipes
by chemicals leaking from the abandoned plant, which to this day remains derelict and full of poisons. Union Carbide and its owner Dow Chemical continue to deny responsibility for the water poisoning and refuse to clean up the factory.

Years after, while those who died look for justice and those are still alive look for a way to live, Bhopal is a city which may not sleep till a long long time.

Find out what you can do, for those who manage to live and those who died a silent and painful death here.

Thursday, June 22, 2006

Diva's Part 1



Madhubala - The original Diva, who still rules many a hearts. She came much before the short dresses and fishnet stockings. Much before the high heels and larger than life bust sizes. But just look at her eyes, the expressions on her face, the arch of her brow and you will know why she is a Diva in the truest of sense!

Sushmita Sen At Koffee With Karan



Now I can't say anything more here. Just watch it.

Monday, June 12, 2006

Here It Is... Again!

Dali’s painting, Meditative Rose, shows a single vivid red rose that has beautifully fully bloomed. This rose sits in the middle of the picture and is the main focus of the painting. The color of the rose stands out so much since the background is an intense blue sky with white fluffy clouds. The rose hovers over the Spanish landscape. Yellows, oranges, and browns are used to create the scenery of the land. On one of the petals, there is a tiny drop of water just to add a realistic feature.
The variety of darker and lighter shades used in Meditative Rose shows where the light hits the rose and land. Behind the rose, Dali used the element of space for the sky to give the illusion of depth. Unity and variety are shown in Meditative Rose as the colors chosen by Dali bleed together in a way to unite the aspects of the picture as a whole. Balance is shown in Dali’s picture since the left side is equivalent to the right side. The emphasis and the focal point are on the blossomed rose placed in the center of the work of art.
Dali’s artistic style is a blend of precise realism and dreamlike fantasy, which has become his trademark. Dail often described his pictures as ‘hand-painted dream photographs’. The significance of his style is that it is unique and it is stimulating to the imagination. The style of the Meditative Rose is very similar to many of Dali’s other works. Dali uses the rose as a female sexual symbol. In the Thirties he made several paintings of woman and roses in place of or to symbolize their heads, wombs, and the female internal reproductive organs. The Meditative Rose shares a similar structure with the Portrait of Gala with the Rhinocerotic Symptoms (1954). Both paintings have the fimiliar intensely blue sky and has the rose over the Spanish landscape.
Dali’s reason for creating this work is unknown but while researching about his other paintings, the rose was used to symbolize a female sexual symbol. Maybe the meaning of this picture is of a beautiful woman hovering in the sky symbolizing Mary the mother of Jesus since he has done so many religious painting as well. The meaning could also be his wife who he adored so much. Dali’s Meditative Rose is view to be beauty but the meaning behind this beauty lies only in the heart and mind of the creator himself.
Dali instantly attracted me to this piece of work because of the bright use of colors and the vibe of beauty it gives off. It is more on the simple side of his works but at the same time it’s a little difficult to figure out what he was trying to portray when painted this. I loved this painting as it did evoke an emotional response. When I look at the Meditative Rose it puts me at ease as it flaunts its gorgeous use of colors and its beauty.