Life in Pixels

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  • Three Weeks On… And the Tale Continues

    About three weeks ago, I began work on my latest ambitious venture – writing a full-length novel that I hope to get published once completed.

    Well, three weeks later, I’m glad to report my first update that I’ve promised to chronicle here on Life in Pixels. At the latest word count from last night, I’m currently sitting at around 4140 words. This is the most I’ve ever written on a single narrative in my life! I feel that this is a greatachievement in my young writing career, and I strongly believe that this project will definitely improve my skills at telling tales.

    Unfortunately, whilst I’m dying to tell you all what this novel is about, I can’t. What I can tell, though, is that I’ve decided to divide the novel into three parts. This will make it easier for me to write it, as I can focus on setting smaller, more achievable goals to accomplish this momentous task. But it will also provide for a vastly entertaining, gripping read for you, if ever I get it published…

    You can follow me on Twitter to get the latest updates on my progress. My link is: twitter.com/RahulDowlath.

    All for now! 😉

  • On Ambition (and other things)

    Ah, life. Recently, my perplexing mind has been preoccupied with thoughts on this chaotic thing that we all encounter everyday. More specifically, I’ve been thinking about ambition – after all, I do say that I’m an ambitious person. However, I’ve begun to question the true nature of ambition and come to a clarifying conclusion (don’t you just love the alliteration?! 😉

    Ambition is perfection. And the real truth is that you can never practice to be perfect; only perfect practice makes the cut. I’ve decided to take this philosophy at heart, and implement it into my life. After all, to be an ambitious person you need to work hard.

    So, over the last week I’ve practiced my theory by, well, practicing guitar for around an hour everyday. I’ve always wanted to play stunning lead solos, and so I’ve been practicing pentatonic scales over a hundred times in the space of five days. Guess what? I’m starting to create some stunning, sweet music!

    But this isn’t going to stop here – oh, no! Like I’ve mentioned in an earlier post, I’ve been wanting to write a book for quite some time now. Whilst my plans on this book have fundimentally changed since that initial post, I’m going to be practicing writing on a far more frequent level than previously. I hope to update this blog on a more regular basis, but the only problem lies in the face of one vicious, vile villain (ah, sweet alliteration…)

    June Exams.

    To decrypt this conundrum, I unfortunately cannot keep a high frequency on the Internet, as a lot more time is needed to be devoted to my studies. But I am trying my best to manage time more effectively; after all, perfect practive makes perfection achievable. And that’s what I intend to do.

    Watch this space.

  • Book Review: “Q & A”

    “I have been arrested. For winning a quiz show.”

    From these opening lines to a masterpiece debut novel, I was kept riveted. Vikas Swarup, the deputy High Commissioner to India in South Africa, and also the author of Q & A, seems to have articulately captured the essence of what true India is between paperback covers.

    Swarup’s novel tells the rags-to-riches story of eighteen-year-old orphan boy, oddly named Ram Mohammed Thomas, and the events in his life that led to him winning 1 Billion Rupees on an Indian quiz show spin-off to Who Wants to be a Millionaire?

    As the story unfolds, the reader is taken on a rollercoaster ride through India, a country whose true side has rarely been shown to the outside world. When most people think of the country, images of rich cultures, vibrant colours, film stars, and songs and dance come immediately to mind. However, from the point of view of one that has travelled to the country previously, I found Swarup’s portrayal of it to be incredibly accurate, right down to the large, grimy slums, corrupt red-tape-ridden politics and heart-rending poverty.

    The adventure begins when the protagonist describes his arrest and subsequent maltreatment at the hands of crooked police, tortured until he will tell them how a simple slum child was able to know the answers to all 12 questions on the show. However, he is rescued just in time by a woman claiming to be his lawyer. Just as bewildered as the police are, Ram Mohammed Thomas leaves with the woman, Smita, and at her apartment reveals his life story, swearing to “tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.”

    Q & A has a very unique way in which its story is delivered: each chapter is an episode of Thomas’s life, as told to Smita, and at the end of each chapter, they both watch a question from the taped episode of the quiz show that relates to how the protagonist knew the answer to that round’s question. However, the chapters are mixed fragments of Thomas’s life, and this is where the genius in Vikas Swarup’s writing is evident: the suspense is created not only at the end of the chapter (as is traditionally delivered by most authors), but by the reader wanting to know how all the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle fit together, and the reason why Ram Mohammed Thomas didn’t go onto the show for the colossal prize money.

    This book takes the reader through one of the most populated, poverty-stricken countries in the world, where, for most citizens, each day is a struggle to survive in the dense slums. From soul-consuming, fast-paced Mumbai with its cosmopolitan flair and deadly underworld, to the beauty of the Taj Mahal in Agra, and a dacoit duel on a train ride in-between, we are taken on a vivid journey with Ram Mohammed Thomas, revelling in his quirky wit and straightforward manner of telling his life’s story. At times funny, at times incredibly sad, Q & A has just the right balance, the right panache, to certify it an amazing, entertaining must-read that deserves every accolade it gets.

  • I’m Thinking of Writing a Book…

    About five years ago, I wrote a screenplay for an ambitious movie project I had in mind, called The Mission to Mars. It was the story of four friends who went on a trip to the Red Planet, and the adventures that ensued. However, it never really got made into a film (a fact that some of my friends continuously remind me about 😉

    The story went under numerous re-writes, and I unfortunately do not currently posses the finalized screenplay (I’m still looking for it… it’s probably hiding somewhere on my old computer…)

    So, anyway, I’ve had this strange idea of revisiting The Mission to Mars, and write a book about it. Well, the story won’t be entirely the same, of course, as I’ve decided to completely re-work it to be more coherent and dynamic. There may not be four friends involved in the story anymore, but rather just one main protagonist.

    This crazy new project of mine is definately not going to be finished any time soon. Writing a book takes a LOT of time, patience and hard work. It requires something called imagination and ideas, the latter of which doesn’t come very quickly and easily. Therefore, I’m going to take this task on slowly and as time permits, but I’ll definately post updates on it from time-to-time on this blog.

    Just as the initial Mission to Mars project was so very ambitious, my final goal is to get this book published. Yes, you read right: published. That’s why I’m deciding to take on this project so slowly – I’m working for quality, not quantity, and I’m really determined to get it out there in printed format.

    Lastly – wanting to know what the book will be called? Well, I can’t really say anything at this point in time – I’m still dec

  • Slumdog: I went, I saw, and I was Impressed!

    If I could describe, in one word, what I thought about Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire – that word would be incredible.

    Last night, I finally got to check out the film, after much anticipation, and I really enjoyed it. Being a Rahmaniac (devout fan of music genius A.R. Rahman) I was able to understand why he won the Oscar for best musical score and best song. His scoring of the film was incredible – it really brought the entire piece to life and captured the essence of what director Danny Boyle intended to portray.

    I think, besides the ending credits song, Jai Ho!, the one music piece I really enjoyed was "Mausam & Escape" – Rahman’s use of a sitar to create chaos really shows what a genius he is. Listen to it:

     

    And, yet another favorite is Oscar-nominated O…Saya. Listen to that one below:

    And this brings me to Danny Boyle’s directing prowess: he really deserved the Oscar for best director.

    Overall, I found the film to be “different”… there’s something about it that just sets Slumdog a part from the regular Hollywood grunge that passes through the projection light.

    One little flaw that was easy to overlook, though, what that Dev Patel, who plays lead protagonist Jamal Malik, and love interest Frieda Pinto, both played their Indian characters with British accents (at least, there was a touch of “Britishness” in their speech). Also, there was a bit of disgruntlement at the fact that the characters talked in English, when, in real-life, slum children in India never talk in English. Of course, being a film, this last gripe HAS to be overlooked, as then the film would be seen as Bollywood, something which a film like Slumdog Millionaire cannot be labeled as.

    I found the film to be very slick and polished, with attention to details, exemplary visual portrayal and a heartwarming ending to the victorious tune of Jai Ho!