In Mumbai

I have been inactive for quite some time now. I really haven't commented much on Obama because I wanted to wait and see him deliver his actions rather than comment on his promises. Don't get me wrong, I rooted for him too. Also Mumbai attacks have left me agitated to think that just writing on a blog is not going to make a difference. We need to act. We, here at VCU Brandcenter are trying to do the same. Will update soon. I finished third semester at VCU Brandcenter with pretty good GPA, only that no one cares about it other than the person who will grants me a loan. And I am in Mumbai for a month. The most animated and excited I have been lately is when I decided to make a trip back to my first love Mumbai. There is so much I have already experienced. 12 hr no meal flight, lost baggage, pollution, crowd, auto rickshaw, street side sandwich, ragda paitis, first mosquito bite in a year, 5 days long on going wedding of a cousin sister and much more. Everything that we crib about when in the city and the same is what we miss when away from it. Will keep you updated as experience Mumbai all over again.

West meets East

Eddie Vedder & Rahat Fateh Ali Khan along with Jeff Ament, David Robbins & John Densmore . Recorded in a concert "Dead man walking - Not in our name" at Central Park, New York, 1998.

Face of Love

Long Road

Why Indian Women rock!

Professor M. R. Venkatesh talks on Global imbalance - an imminent dollar crises.

Change the way we change

Copywriter: Jake Dubs
Art Director: Jeenal Shah

3rd Prize for ART 180 - Change for 10 on a dollar size bill.
Judged by Jelly Helm, no introduction required.
We also won a raffle draw.

Money can do a lot. Art can do a lot more. That’s why, on this 10th anniversary of ART 180, they asked for both — a $10 donation along with our artistic vision for making your community a better place. This was our small attempt.

TED: Ideas worth Spreading

Talks Wade Davis: The worldwide web of belief and ritual.
In his talk, Wade how other non modern western cultures are not fail attempts of being us but unique attempts to answer the question "What is it being human?"
If humans are agents of cultural destruction, we could also be and must be facilitators of cultural survivals.

Jumanji with Dicota and Jeremiah at Swansborough Elementry High School.

Jeremiah, me and Dicota




I love kids. I have dozens of cousins who share a varied range of age difference. And I being the eldest of all have lot of kiddos in my family. I had spent 3 years during my undergraduate studies tutoring 3 of my favorite cousins and 4 other kids for State Drawing Exams. Reading book to Dicota and Jeremiah brought back those memories. The pleasant ones.

SouthSide Speed Way and Bollywood Music

Photographer - Jeenal Shah

An evening I spent getting to know the culture of car racing dancing to beats of bollywood music.
Dented cars and number plates, raging competition, planned strategies and surprise winners minus beer (atleast for me) warmed our heart. It was no close to Nascar but good enough for what my pocket could afford. Since the cars on tracks in this race were no F1s they were making noice I could not bare. I turned my ipod on and started listening to Bollywood remixed songs. Best move. My eyes were glued to the first three cars in race and music kept the momentum going. My ipod also made couple of rounds amongst my friends present in the stadium who were chilling with beer in one hand and groving to bollywood music. I cannot thank less to Kelly O' Keefe for introducing us to this. And also Steve Jobs.

First Friday Art Walk - Sep' 08

It was a nice drizzling evening on West Broad street right in my back yard that I realized Richmond wasn't as dead as I was thinking. Music, art and people hustling with excitement to explore what the city's and traveling artists had to offer. Some of the exhibits were put up in peoples houses. Even though overall taste wasn't exactly chique, it still brought the positive vibe of the city into lime light. There was innovation and a variety of art form. Lamps, ornements, glowing air bubbles, paintings, photography, music bands, food you name it and it was all there. It was definetly something I want to get back to. Of course we bumped into familiar faces and got reviews about exhibits ahead.
My favorite work was by Nick Kuszyk.

You can find more of the artist work on www.rrobots.com
I also liked this band and their music, though I didn't understand a word.


This whole experience reminded me of Mumbai. I would religiously every saturday visit Jahangir Art Gallery and National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) in the Fort area of South Bombay. This is also called Kala Ghoda or the Art District of Mumbai. The annual Kala Ghoda Festival is the best show. It brings the vibe of being a Mumbaikar to life. It is a cultural experience for sure.

Ganesh Chaturthi - One of the many festivals during Monsoons in Mumbai

Photographer - Mukesh



Photographer - Abhijeet






Photographer - Mukesh

Monsoon in Mumbai

Photographer - Nikhil


Photographer - Ketki

Photographer - Mukesh


These are some pictures taken by my friends of Mumbai and places on outskirts of Mumbai.
Trips around some weird places on outskirts of Mumbai are a ritual during this time of year.
It is beautiful in Monsoons. I miss it.

Labor Day Weekend - At a Mall

We stopped to have dinner at P. F. Chang in a mall on our way back to hotel from Flume Gorge.
Waiting for the Chinese Bistro make space for 16 people to sit together, we roamed around in the closed mall. The only thing I could buy there at that time were the window displays. And I was sold.




Yes this was a very Colonial looking entrance of the store.
It looked like someone had ripped this from ground and relocated in this mall.
I wanted to go check inside.



I don't remember the stores name but close on the lines of Urban Outfitters.
The creative use of books to make window display was interesting. Clearly this store was for intellects who had a taste of style.








Photographer - Jeenal Shah

This was another store display close to our waiting area in the mall.
I loved the small hand painted thought blocks.
Quite an inspirational mall.

Labor Day Weekend - Cape Cod Whale Watching

Photographer - Jeenal Shah



Photographer - Dhruti Shah

It was indeed most memorable event of the trip.
After traveling for 1.5 hrs into the ocean we spotted a family of humpback whales.
Starting our trip at Provincetown Harbors we ended up in between Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, the whales' favorite feeding grounds. From what I hear the water is shallow here, plankton upon which whales feed rises closer to the surface.
The journey into the ocean was amazing in itself. The huge waves of water hitting the head of the boat would form rainbows every time it touched back into ocean. The whale family was at 10-15 feet distance from railing we were leaning on. The giant magnificent was such a delight to watch. We were actually pretty lucky because we had 3-4 sightings of whale on our entire trip back to shore. I really cannot understand why someone would want to kill them. But hey I am a vegan!

Labor Day Weekend - Flume Gorge at Franconia Notch State Park

Photographer - Jeenal Shah

Three day trip to Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
It was one of the most fun trips I have had recently. Packed with 16 strangers who had one common friend, Rakesh. Rakesh is one of my bestest school pals who came to United States to study about a month ago.
First pit stop was at Flume George. Moss-covered granite walls, past cascading waterfalls, historic covered bridges, glacial boulders formed a fantastic view.