Rungta’s Webmarks

Limits of a Photograph ∞

Nidhi on photography, storytelling and memories:

You see, I believe that photographs make for good stories, but not great memories.

[…]

I’m not saying the human eye sees reality/things exactly as they are. Everything is a perception, be it a photograph or a memory. I’m just saying a memory usually turns out to be very different from a photograph.

I’ve noticed that I often refrain from (and rarely miss) using my camera when going through some of the most incredible experiences during my day-to-day life. The top of a mountain peak, the edge of a cliff, that warm partner on the cold 3 a.m. walk, the lip-smacking chole bhature, that stunning piece of architecture, the captivating live performance…

I’m not sure of the exact reason, but I think it’s a combination of things. A bit of wanting to surrender myself completely to the moment, some hesitance in attempting to replicate something so unique, and the feeling of futility in trying to capture and preserve the moment as a mere photograph. (This, by the way, is also why I’ve been reluctant (so far) to share photos from two recent influential and extremely stimulating trips to Hampi and Fatehpur Sikri.)

Yet this insecurity of doing justice to a real, lived moment lies at the heart of my fascination with art. When you stop trying to document the entirety of your emotions and choose instead to express, to tell a story—your story—is when art shines best. And I have nothing but admiration for the artists who manage this feat.

Be it a tweet, a painting, a book, a photograph or even a film, there are always constraints. The great storytellers manage their way around—nay, embrace these constraints, and they do it so well that they’re able to evoke emotions so vague and diverse that you might just find yourself pointing to their work to indicate the way you feel.

How Punk Are We? ∞

Arjun Ravi, co-founder and chief punkster at NH7 speaks about the past, present and future of indie music in India. From the second Rumble talk held by March.

Speaker Deck ∞

Flickr for presentations? Well maybe not, but bad analogies aside Speaker Deck is a refreshingly simple take on sharing presentations online. I’m sold.
(via Rahul Gonsalves)

We, Who Are Web Designers ∞

I’m a web designer and I help build the web. I love my job, absolutely and utterly.

Jon Tangerine puts this a lot more eloquently.

The Music Project ∞

The Music Project is a series of video portraits, documenting independent music in the country.

An excellent project by Tehelka.

The indie music scene in India is gathering momentum every day, but much of the music is still very hard to come across. Initiatives such as this and NH7 are doing a great job at bridging this gap between the artists and the listeners. Great not just because their work supports upcoming musicians and gives shape to a new culture, but also because of the quality, care and taste with which this work is carried out.

With The Music Project for instance, Tehelka has done a really nice job of selecting a diverse and interesting group of bands & individual artists, but they have done an equally good job with the production itself. Intimate, patiently shot video sessions, very high quality sound recordings and just enough art direction — all set in various eccentric urban spaces across contemporary India. And they have uploaded and shared these episodes on YouTube for us to enjoy (in high-definition, no less).

Pity then how all of this goodness goes largely unnoticed on a Facebook page. My only gripe. Yes that platform is popular, but it is not the answer to Life, the Universe and Everything.

Ah well. Not-realising-the-internet’s-tremendous-potential rant aside, this really is a wonderful project. Go listen to some new music.

The Grammar of Anarchy ∞

Excerpts from B. R. Ambedkar’s closing speech delivered to the Constituent Assembly on the 26th 25th of November, 1949. (Read the full version at Dalit.eu).

Update: The day’s proceedings in full, over at the Parliament of India archives.

Ira Glass on Storytelling ∞

If you create, if you have good taste (and no, I do not agree that taste is purely subjective), you know about The Gap. If you’re in it right now or just starting out, Ira Glass shares something he wishes he had been told when he was a beginner.

Somethingwehavealwayswantedtodo: Our First Film ∞

In March 2011 the two of us set out to travel around India and make a film. The film you see here is a teaser of sorts, edited from footage of the first two months of travel - mostly around Himachal Pradesh, and a bit of Rajasthan.

From an unsuccessful house hunt in Chennai to documenting performers and artisans up and down the country, somethingwehavealwayswantedtodo. Wow.

If beauty is in the eye of the beholder, music is in the ear of the listener. Delightful little travelogue. The whole thing is done quite well, but the editing just shines through. If this is just the teaser, I’m excited to see what they come up with next.

On Attribution and Credit ∞

John Gruber provides a good primer on attributing your sources, giving credit where it’s due and not being an ass.

Senna ∞

A fitting, moving documentary on the life and speed of the legendary Aryton Senna.

So wonderful, so tragic.
(Wikipedia | Trailer)

The Basic Elements of Creativity ∞

Copy, transform, and combine.

That, as Kirby Ferguson offers, is the formula for progress. This is only the third in a four-part video series titled Everything is a Remix. Well worth watching.

Public Transport – Never a Dull Moment ∞

My friend Souvik has penned just the perfect post on the entertaining experience of using the public transport systems of Delhi, and perhaps, the rest of India.

Markdown and a Text Editor ∞

Kevin Lipe looks at close to 20 years of writing tools for the Mac. His ultimate combination? A plain text file in a plain text editor. Timeless.
(via Daring Fireball)

Minimal Movie Posters ∞

Design, films, posters. Re: Something about not going wrong.

The Film Sessions ∞

Design, films, music. Can’t go wrong with that combination.

Inside Job ∞

An Inconvenient Truth of the finance industry. By Charles Ferguson.

(via Daring Fireball)

The iPhone Tab Bar, Lessons from Reality ∞

Petter Silfver’s guidelines for iPhone/iOS tab bar design. Valuable lessons, certainly for any navigational interface, possibly for all user interface design.

Includes this delightful bit:

Speaking as a designer myself: when designers get bored, shit will happen.

(via @jasonsantamaria)

Web Design’s Known Unknowns ∞

We’ve long known about and (gradually) come to accept the unpredictable nature of the web. User-agents, rendering engines, viewport dimensions, network bandwidth; the list goes on.

However, in designing solutions, we often commit fallacies of generalising devices based on the viewport—320px must mean a phone—or, bandwidth based on device—phone must be on a slow connection—etc., you get the drift. Jeremy Keith provides a good overview of three such unknowns while highlighting one crucial yet often ignored factor.

Typocentric: Bazaar ∞

Fantastic devanagari lettering from a workshop conducted by Meena Kadri at the recent UnBox festival. (Also on Flickr.)

Bombay Production ∞

Statutory Warning: Great music coupled with beautiful design can adversely effect your output.

The Sartorialist ∞

A short with Scott Schuman, the street fashion photographer behind The Sartorialist.

Restaurants: Showcasing Bad Web Design Since Forever ∞

New blog featuring highlights from the secret “best practises for restaurant web design” guide. Appears strikingly similar to the disregarded “worst practises in web design” guide.

URL Design ∞

URLs are for humans — not for search engines.

Amen. Baffling when elements as important as URLs and page titles are ignored, or worse, fall in the hands of SEO “experts”.