My proposals for the Euro International Flag Design Competition

Following are my two proposals for the Europe International Flag Design...they'll be published on the official website soon \m/

1.
Image Name (Filename) : Eu_Design_1
Title of Design : The Euro
Explanation of Design : The Euro, as a currency, has truly standardised the continent of Europe. Since the previous design of the twelve stars on the blue background was introduced in 1955, the idea behind this design is that the emblem need not be redesigned completely. This design depicts the Europe International, as a union, taking off into a brighter (and united) future while still respecting its original values and ideals.

Previous Flag Design (from 1955) :

Euro Design:

2.Image Name (Filename) : Eu_Design_2
Title of Design : Eunion

Explanation of Design : The main idea was to design the countries of the European Union in a retro – effect, but in a way that is is easy to print as well. The superimposed image is given below for reference – the design is such that it matches the contours of the countries of the Union. (am using an old comp here in cyber cafe - cmyk instead of rgb making pic look worse than it is).

Skin Peel Effect and Glowing Star effect,,,

Glowing Star Effect

Peeling Skin effect

Maybe I should have worn a Mask and a Utility Belt

It is indeed rare for a good deed being done in the world today, let alone great or heroic deeds! I was at the business end of two good/ nice/heroic deeds, however you would wish to classify them; both on the same day too! Here in this post I’ll write about the more dramatic one.

I guess airports have a bad reputation about them nowadays, for various reasons. For me, the source of unpleasantness has mostly to do with the outrageous prices. I mean – come on. The food services are like a total ripoff. To loosely quote Jerry Seinfeld, the comedian – Airports are like a separate country of their own. No one can argue of the prices of the commodities on sale. Do the airport officials even know what the prices are like outside? I will liken Seinfeld’s description of a ‘tuna sandwich for 9 dollars’ to the ‘wada pav for 60Rs’ for my example. Anyhow, this post isn’t about these pretty business models.



I was at the Dabolim International Airport in Goa recently, waiting for my flight which had been delayed by half an hour due to air traffic congestion. It was hot in the afternoon, the air-conditioning put to it’s utmost test by the ensemble of sweaty tourists. I had had a heavy lunch at home, and was resisting the sweet clutches of dreamless heaven. To occupy my idle mind, I started reading the posters hung about the place. I was sitting in a row of seats, next to the escalator.

I was sitting there, debating with my drowsy self whether I should take a short siesta. A nap sounded fine to my sleepy skull, the downside being that I would, in all probability, miss the boarding announcement. Damn all flights in the afternoon.

Suddenly I heard screaming, and lot of people running. My first impression was that someone had collapsed. Indeed, someone had – a lady holding a small baby, had slipped on the escalator, dangerously close to the bottom stairs. Her other daughter, maybe four or five years old, was the source of the shrill scream that had semi-brought me back to life. Everywhere people were trying to extend their hands and help grasp the lady – but she wouldn’t let go of her baby. I was amazed at the sight.

This whole scene couldn’t have taken place for more than two seconds.

Suddenly, I was up, my dim-witted brain whirling. In one of the posters I had read earlier, I remembered reading about the red button located at the bottom and top of escalators. The Emergency Stop button.

I found myself shouting, “The red button! The red button!”, but no one was listening. Somehow I squeezed myself in between the jostling knees, and punched the red button before the poor lady’s hair got stuck within the bottom step and dragged her in.

In one slow, agonizing moment, the escalator stopped.

I came back to my seat, totally confused about what had just happened. My brain could barely register that I had just saved somebody.

People ran over to the lady’s help, and made sure she was ok, thank god for that. I heard people asking her if she was alright, and if the baby was fine. I could hear my heart beating; it was almost in my throat by now. I wanted to go over and comfort her myself, but my knees had stopped responding to my brain impulses long ago. Dimly, I heard people talking about what had happened, and people wondering who had stopped the escalator.

I was half-hoping someone would have noticed that it was me, but then I heard someone say that the lady fell because some crazy nut-job stopped the escalator. That itself was enough for me not to get up and claim responsibility for saving the poor woman’s life. I snuck away and found myself a seat farther away, all the while cursing my gutless impulse not to stand up for myself. I saw people looking around for the hero/nut-job, as was their perception, and looked away. More than the sweetness of a good deed, the event had left me with a bitter taste in my mouth.
Now I know what Batman feels like in the Dark Knight. Maybe I should have put on a mask.

Indoor at Indore

Hey all.
I’ve not written anything for quite some time, so I am assuming that the person reading this is either here by mistake, due to a spelling error, or just surfing through blogs. However, in the off-chance that you are an interested viewer, I would like to welcome you back :)
Working in a telecom company is a big deal, considering I am not through college yet. Although 15 starry-eyed undergrads were spread out across the country with the promises of a thrilling joy-ride and a stipend to match, the journey has not been what we initially hoped it would be.
Although the work is mechanical, I’ve had a blast. I am presently in Indore, Madhya Pradesh. I wish I could explain a little more about this city, but I can’t – haven’t really gone out sightseeing yet.
My adventure began, rather ironically, with a mis-adventure. I don’t want to go into the whole story again, I have repeated it too many times to my liking. Suffice it to say I am down by a lot of money, and the soul responsible for my ordeal stranded me in this strange new city. The episode has not ended yet, in all probability it will take a couple of weeks more, after which I might be tempted to key it down into a post. For the time-being, however, let me channel my wrath in more productive ways. And also offer you a free piece of advice – never ever trust a guy you have only heard of and talked to, though you have not seen him, with any monetary matters. I know in retrospect it seems very obvious, as I see in the “Well, DUH” look across your face, but I am sure you’ll sympathize with me after I explain it (later).
Somehow or the other, I have managed to keep my enthusiasm high for the first few weeks :D. The only blip being that I have run out of avenues of entertainment, and considering that I am working alone here and my stock of movies have run out, I am indeed lucky that I’m going back to campus later this week.
Just started (restarted, rather) my Photoshop experiments again, so it’ll be a while before I put up anything. But till then, safe health and cheerio.