Photo: thomas and friend by Andre du Plessis

I stumbled upon this page as I was leisurely enjoying some beautiful photographs. Tired from a day’s work, complaining, whining, focussed on the emptiness of the glass, I came to this photograph. Unquestionably an attention grabber, my focus shifted from the details of this photograph to the description modestly tucked below. Ashamed at myself and inspired at the same time, I share with you this lovely work of art, both by the photographer and the subjects themselves.

thomas and friend
by Andre du Plessis

I came across this man and his dogs when I assisted at a trade show in Paris during September 2008. At the time he was sheltering from the rain in a disused shop entrance close to the Pompidou Centre.

Thomas was very forthcoming and courteous, and agreed to my suggestion to visit him later that day to take some pictures and was happy for me to record and share his story.

He avoids sheltering schemes, and moves around all the time, spending most of his days around the St. Michelle area. Originally from Dortmund, he has been living rough in Paris for 15 years now. Odd jobs supply him with some income, as he still sends money to his 4 children, who are back in Germany.

This location was quite intimidating, as this doorway was immediately opposite a very plush bar/brasserie, and everyone was staring and probably hating me for taking advantage of such a situation. Thomas seemed to have enjoyed this session. I did not ask him to change his position - just plonked myself down on the pavement in front of him and shot as we spoke and he sat. For this image I asked him to follow the gaze of his dog, and used the available light, as I always do.

He moves around town with his four dogs on long leads, pushing a bicycle & trailer contraption with a flag on top of it. How he manages to keep his dogs in tow is quite a mystery, as they hardly adhere to any orderly system, and half of his awake day must be taken up by the constant untangling of their ropes.

We made an arrangement that I shall look for him on my next visit there to hand him the prints from our impromptu photo session in the street. That will hopefully be soon.

Given Thomas's life and hardships, I especially appreciate this frame where both him and one of his friends look forward and upwards. Positive and determined.

à bientôt thomas!

Courtesy: Photo: thomas and friend by Andre du Plessis

Gliding in symphony - a photo

Came across this shot taken at US Figure skating Championships.

Courtesy: Seattle Times

News delivered to your PC!

Interestingly, after reading a blog entry explaining Netbooks, their emergence and price comparisons, my attention swayed onto a rather queer looking title for this day and age. Turns out:

“In 1981, San Francisco TV station KRON aired a news segment about how a select group of computer users were getting their daily copy of the San Francisco Examiner not on paper, but on their home computer (!).”

Here’s the report, a must view, to travel back in time :).

1981 - report from KRON

Courtesy: A Newspaper? On a PC? That’s Crazy Talk - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

Teetotalism

Teetotalism (or T-total) is the practice and promotion of complete abstinence from alcoholic beverages. A person who practices (and possibly advocates) teetotalism is called a teetotaler or teetotaller (plural teetotalers or teetotallers).

Courtesy: Teetotalism - Wikipedia

India: 500,000 job losses in the last quarter

When I first read of the 500,000 number, the question that sprung to me was, who and how did we arrive at this number. When countries like US & Canada announce their numbers, they have data on hand like unemployment claims to back those numbers. What metrics does India have to arrive at that number. And now that we have arrived at a number based on the tools and inputs in place, how accurate could that be? To me, it conceals more than it reveals. Browsing through Business Standard today, I found some validation and more questions.

Citi further said that the Ministry of Labour has indicated that over 5,00,000 jobs were lost during October-December 2008, with export-oriented sectors such as gems and jewellery, autos, and textiles being most impacted.

However, the report stated that this statistic only covers the organised sector, which comprises just 10 per cent of the country's workforce of close to 385 million.

A shark in your tank!

The Japanese have always loved fresh fish. But the water close to Japan has not held many fish for decades. So to feed the Japanese population, fishing boats got bigger and went farther than ever. The farther the fishermen went, the longer it took to bring the fish. If the return trip took more time, the fish were not fresh.

To solve this problem, fish companies installed freezers on their boats. They would catch the fish and freeze them at sea. Freezers allowed the boats to go farther and stay longer. However, the Japanese could taste the difference between fresh and frozen fish. And they did not like the taste of frozen fish. The frozen fish brought a lower price. So, fishing companies installed fish tanks. They would catch the fish and stuff them in the tanks, fin to fin. After a little thrashing around, they were tired, dull, and lost their fresh-fish taste. The fishing industry faced an impending crisis!

But today, they get fresh-tasting fish to Japan. How did they manage? To keep the fish tasting fresh, the Japanese fishing companies still put the fish in the tanks but with a small shark.

The fish are challenged and hence are constantly on the move. The challenge they face keeps them alive and fresh!

Have you realized that some of us are also living in a pond but most of the time tired and dull? Basically in our lives, sharks are new challenges to keep us active. If you are steadily conquering challenges, you are happy. Your challenges keep you energized. Don't create success and revel in it in a state of inertia. You have the resources, skills and abilities to make a difference. Put a shark in your tank and see how far you can really go!

"Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character" - Albert Einstein

Courtesy:

Phew! This is really the hard part. As I was stumbling around, I came across this beautiful passage and wanted to share it. I started searching around to validate the source of this write-up, but could only find blogs and other websites sharing just as I do. At best, someone has attributed it to a forwarded mail. It really frustrates me to be unable to mention the source of something so strikingly motivational.

In the best of fairness, I am linking it to the blog I read this first at. Thanks, Deven.

In my search for the origins, I enjoyed Deven’s blog, especially the words of wisdom in his profile and, Shekhar Kapur’s blog.

This inspirational passage also reminded me of another motivational piece about the Lion & the gazelle.

Every morning…

Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up.
It knows that it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed.

Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up.
It knows that it must out run the slowest gazelle or it will starve.

It does not matter whether you are a lion or gazelle. When the sun comes up you had better be running.

Courtesy:

An African proverb – source unknown.

This is one of my favourites. I first read it at an organization I used to work for. It has been etched in my memory every since.

A Passage To Hollywood

The director is American. The stars are from India. And the movie, which is scheduled to open in India and the U.S. this fall, has Hollywood special effects and Bollywood song-and-dance.

The horror film "Hisss," currently wrapping up shooting in Mumbai, is a result of a growing collaboration between Hollywood and the Indian film industry.

Money, stars and scripts are flowing in both directions, giving rise to a new genre of crossover cinema. Among the projects in development: Screenwriter Paul Schrader, famous for such films as "Taxi Driver" and "Raging Bull," is working on a thriller with an Indian producer. Sylvester Stallone will appear in "Kambakkht Ishq," or "Incredible Love," an action-filled comedy shot in Los Angeles and starring Akshay Kumar. Indian film mega star Shahrukh Khan is producing and starring in a superhero film that will be co-written by American and Indian screenwriters and digitally souped up by American special-effects technicians.

Crossover projects have been percolating for several years but are heating up with the success of "Slumdog Millionaire." The rags-to-riches tale shot in the slums of Mumbai has become a surprise Oscar darling with 10 Academy Award nominations, including best picture.

Excerpt from: A Passage To Hollywood - WSJ.com

Perfect!

Someone once told me, “Perfect is the enemy of good.”. I finally understood what it meant thanks to a similar reference by Obama in response to the Republicans.

"Let's not make the perfect the enemy of the essential," Obama said as Senate Republicans stepped up their criticism of the bill's spending and pressed for additional tax cuts and relief for homeowners. He warned that failure to act quickly "will turn crisis into a catastrophe and guarantee a longer recession."

Downturn Idles China's Laborers

Firecrackers, which on the new year's eve once went on all night, stopped shortly after midnight. About a quarter of the village's migrants didn't even make it home -- mainly because they had lost their jobs, and were unable to afford the trip or loath to show up with bad news.

The government estimates the total population of rural migrants -- those working outside their home village -- at approximately 130 million people. Mr. Chen said his estimate of 20 million job losses was based on an official survey in January of migrant workers in 15 provinces, which showed 15.3% of respondents had lost their jobs or been unable to find work. He said the total number of migrants looking for jobs this year will likely be at least 25 million, since usually six million to seven million people join the migrant work force each year.

Courtesy: Downturn Idles China's Laborers - WSJ.com

Technorati Tags: Financial crisis

Amazing advertisements

Courtesy: forwarded email from Mayur Rawal

Humour in crisis - Nuggets from Fwds

Few of my favourites from the last email I received:

Do you have any idea how cheap stocks are?? Wall Street is now being
called Wall Mart Street - Jay Leno

The problem with investment bank balance sheet is that on the left side
nothing's right and on the right side nothing's left.

Bush was asked about the credit crunch. He said it was his favourite
candy bar - Jay Leno

The rescue bill was about 450 pages. President Bush's copy is even
thicker. They had to include pictures - Jay Leno

and the best….

What worries me most about the credit crunch, is that if one of my
cheques is returned stamped 'insufficient funds'. I won't know whether that
refers to mine or the bank's