Kshiraj Telang: Life in General

Showing posts with label Life in General. Show all posts

Posted by Kshiraj Telang In: Life in General, Surroundings

Art Caboodle is coming!

Today I am going to share a memorable moment of my career that is too close to my heart. It took place in 2002, when I started my professional career. I was 17 then and was employed at an art studio in New Delhi, after my higher secondary education was over from a small town of India. My wages were too low (around $ 20 per month), but the interest and willingness to become an artist someday, kept me glued to the job I was in. Animation is something I came to know for the first time during those days and through some one's mouth I heard about a book named 'The Illusion of Life'. It was priced at $ 50, which was too much for me as I hardly managed to save any buck from my living. But I badly wanted to get it, and hence started to save every single penny I could to reach my target of the price of that book. It took me a few months, but then came a day when I was just a few bucks short from having all the money that was needed. I found a few old newspapers on the rented room's terrace which I decided to sell to fill the need. I had to sacrifice lunch and dinner for that day as well as I didn't have a single buck left more than the cost of that book. But I was so happy to see that I can go to the market and get it for myself. I rushed to the bookstore in South Extension, New Delhi and it took me no time to buy one for myself. 'The Illusion of Life' therefore became the first book of my collection and from there it all started. I am thankful to the almighty for being kind to me, that today, I have managed to do more than I imagined for my career (along with a realization each day that there is so much more to be done), but in this course, I have always succeeded to buy stuffs that fascinate me, right from books to toys to movie DVDs and more (and thankfully in a much easier fashion).

But I know that there are many talented and deserving young artists in India for whom it is not so easy to reach to the collection I have today. Maybe it is their inability to buy these, or due to lack of consent from their parents, or due to no knowledge about where to get these from (and sometimes even the laziness and less sense of responsibility towards favoring the industry by buying original books and movies and discouraging piracy).

All this has lead to a new initiative of me where I announce the launch of my new blog 'Art Caboodle' (http://artcaboodle.com) where I will share my experiences and write reviews about the art caboodle I have owned or used). This is not really aimed to be a 'show-off' portal, rather aimed to help and motivate those kids who come from circumstances like mine).

I won't be uploading an ebook version by scanning my precious book collection, nor will get you a DVD Rip of the treasure of films I collected till today. I do not encourage piracy, but yes, I will surely try to take you to a tour of each item I own, wishing that it increases your knowledge about them and succeed in encouraging you to start your own original collection.

Posted by Kshiraj Telang In: Life in General

Good Bye Original… Hello Piracy

Ask any of my acquaintance and they will tell you how much I hate piracy and believe in purchasing original electronic products, computer softwares, movie DVDs, music CDs and UMD games for my PSP. It took me more than five years to come up with a library of more than 250 DVD movie titles and almost 100 expensive animation books. As a bearer of torch on my drive against piracy, I have even spent decent money on international calls to Motion Pictures Association of America (MPAA) to report piracy I have noticed in my neighborhood and to discuss and suggest how we could fight it.

As another example, I never hacked my Playstation Portable (PSP) console and chose to purchase expensive and original UMDs without caring that the purchase of a dozen such UMDs even exceeded the retail price of PSP. I did so because I felt a responsibility within… and wanted to do such small gesture of being responsible to the industry that made me. Even then, I have lately had so terrible experiences that my devotee soul refuses to continue its stand against piracy. Here’s one such example explained:

Since a month I was experiencing slight problem with performance from the joystick of my PSP. Except of it working, everything else was in control (that included no hacking done on PSP, never opened by any engineer and all purchase invoice retained). Finally when I failed to live with the nutty joystick, I decided to take it to an authorized Sony Service Station hoping for a replacement of the joystick at any cost they ask for (since my PSP went out of one year warranty). I was ready to pay any price, just because I didn’t want my PSP to be opened by a non-authorized engineer. Let’s come to the conclusion without even discussing the effort that got involved in approaching one service center and the other, I was literally shocked when they told that Sony doesn’t have policy of repairing Playstation Portable and call this a ‘use and throw object’!!! The best favor they could do is get me a discount of some 2-3k rupees if I choose to purchase a new console from them by surrendering this one (which is no big deal as I can easily find any person willing to buy this PSP at such cheap rate to get video watching facility).

I was very disappointed and cursed myself for not hacking the PSP for entire warranty year which could have at least gifted me the chance of playing a wide range of games. At the end I had to take my PSP to the market I hated the most (and even reported twice to Film Piracy Help line)... Palika Bazaar, New Delhi! In that underground complex with shops having billions of movie discs and vendors claiming to have every movie you may name, I somehow managed to find the shop I needed. There sat an ordinary chap with a few screwdrivers. He later proved himself to be far more qualified and skilled then the so-called engineers with tie at service centers. He had packs of joystick accessory and took hardly two minutes to replace my dead joystick with the new one. And once again, my PSP worked with full functions adding some life to my UMDs which I was regarding worthless. There after it just needed an exchange of smile between my wife and me as we both were thinking the same thing: ‘to hack the PSP as well!’ I now have my memory stick loaded with loads of games I can play which is also my first step towards piracy. I am not sure that this new change in me will last forever as I still feel hatred for piracy and can never forget my duties towards my own animation industry. Even then I would wish that there should be some change in this world which could offer better support to a very few people like me who are avid believers of original products and hate piracy. Until then… ‘You will always remember this as the day you almost caught Captain Jack Sparrow.'

Posted by Kshiraj Telang In: Life in General

Jack Skellington ear rings for Swati

I went to Lajpat Nagar market with Swati around a couple of weeks ago. There we found these ear rings of Jack Skellington from Tim Burton's 'The Nightmare Before Christmas'. I was so happy to find the character of my favorite film maker, and Swati resulted equally sweet to accept them as her ear rings. I am not sure how they appear as an accessory on a girl, but that hardly matter when for me they are from Tim Burton, and for her, she doing it as a lovely gesture for me. Thanks dearie! You look beautiful with them.

Posted by Kshiraj Telang In: Artworks, Life in General

And now our ring ceremony

So finally its she and I, about to have our ring ceremony coming first day of February. Truly a big day for me, as it officially confirms our union. I am so happy and thankful to God for giving me the rightful partner. In my papa's own words recieved as SMS, "Lucky ones are very few among thousands, who love someone and get to marry the same person". Really true! Thanks to both the families for understanding us and making our wishes fulfilled.

Posted by Kshiraj Telang In: Artworks, Life in General

Thank you JH

This very quick drawing was made when I was attending my father in ICU at Jabalpur Hospital where he was hospitalized due to a severe attack of Pneumonia. I am thankful to Dr. Behrani and everyone else from the hospital unit, for their efforts helped my dad survive such a critical condition. I dedicate this drawing as a tribute to those kind people from the hospital. I am also grateful to everyone from friends and family who had their wishes and support for us.

Kindly ignore the drawing quality... my objective of making this and the environment around me was different then.

Posted by Kshiraj Telang In: Artworks, Life in General

Shopping, gaming and my angel along

My idea of date is slightly different. I choose to shop, that too of stuffs which interests me. ARR music keeps playing whenever possible. And thus the maximum amount of the time gets spent in purchasing DVDs for myself, searching books and exploring gadgets. My dearie isn't as crazy as me about them. Even then she is always smiling and involving in everything I do. At the end of the tiring day, when we sit together, I have all my time employed at unpacking DVD covers and flipping books. But while I do that, there is someone sweetly waiting with a spoon to take care of my appetite.

Posted by Kshiraj Telang In: Life in General

When the caricature reached A. R. Rahman

Those who know me closely must be aware of the fact that I am a die hard fan of A. R. Rahman. His music is always in my ears, with the help of iPod plugged in loaded with ARR's music. Aneesh and I can travel to any part of India to attend a live concert of him. I can never forget the day when ARR was here in New Delhi to perform in a live concert. I went so crazy after getting the tickets that I started creating caricatures of him, believing that I will hand over it to him if I get to meet him during the concert. But the performance was quite inaccessible for us to make anyone personally reach ARR. Even after disappointment at caricature front, it was truly a big day for me, getting to see ARR for the first time. Post to that, I was looking for every possible way by which I can make the caricature reach ARR. And one day the opportunity came knocking at my door. It was Alan Hadley from Chennai who was about to begin a magazine named SCORE which focuses on Music, Art and Lifestyle. In its inaugural edition, Alan was keen to use the caricature done by me as that issue was exclusively on A. R. Rahman. Without any delay I requested him to go ahead. In a few days, this is what I get to see:

This is the cover page of the magazine: