Wednesday, February 28, 2007

“Bad artists copy. Good artists steal.”

Picasso’s “Maya With Doll”

Paris: Thieves have stolen two Picasso paintings with a combined value of more than US$50m from his granddaughters house. The paintings - Maya with Doll and one of his second wife Jacqueline - were taken from the home in Paris on Monday night. ~ Gulf News

It is surely not jealous artists who have stolen Picasso's paintings, but in all probability professional art thieves. “Bad artists copy. Good artists steal.”~ these words by Pablo Picasso and the sheer brilliance of his paintings prompt art lovers, to go to any extent to posses one of his original works. Picasso's work's rank among the most expensive paintings in the world. "Garçon à la pipe"- sold for USD $104 million at Sotheby's on May 4, 2004, establishing a new price record. (Wikipedia)

"According to the Art Loss Register, a major database of stolen and missing art, there are currently 444 missing Picasso pieces — a function of the artist’s prolific nature, in addition to his popularity, according to Antonia Kimbell, a staff member of the Register, speaking to The A.P.

Ms. Kimbell also addressed the age-old question, arising when art of such widespread familiarity is swiped: What kind of money can a thief expect to make, if everyone recognizes a piece as stolen? A pittance, Ms. Kimball suggested, if anything at all, on the black market. Buyers are afraid to touch them.

“It’s unlikely a legitimate dealer would purchase or acquire any of these pieces,” Kimbell said."

~The New York Times

"Give me a museum and I'll fill it." ~ Pablo Picasso

It has been estimated that Picasso produced about 13,500 paintings or designs, 100,000 prints or engravings, 34,000 book illustrations and 300 sculptures or ceramics. (Wikipedia)

I don't own any of my own paintings because a Picasso original costs several thousand dollars -- it's a luxury I can't afford. ~ Pablo Picasso

It is indeed a luxury which will have the Organized Crime Department of the French Police having a few sleepless nights as pressure mounts to find the art work reportedly valued at USD 65 Million.


When I was a child, my mother said to me, 'If you become a soldier, you'll be a general. If you become a monk you'll end up as the pope.' Instead I became a painter and wound up as Picasso. ~ Pablo Picasso

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Afternoon Stories!

Emirates Towers against the afternoon sun.
Freemind Pictures ©

More the stories, higher the building! Buildings on Shaikh Zayed Road gleaming in the afternoon sun!
Freemind Pictures ©

A moment of peace in the morning rush!


Freemind Pictures ©

The stillness of the early morning scene enables me to take in and enjoy many things which pass me by during the bustle of the day. First, there are the scents, which seem even more generous with their offerings than they are in the evening.
~Rosemary Verey

A patch of green next to Sheikh Zayed Road, on of the busiest roads in Dubai.
Freemind Pictures ©

Monday, February 26, 2007

“Let us go in; the fog is rising.”

Silhouette of the SZR towers in the morning fog!
Freemind Pictures ©

Shadow theatre with a mixture of sun light and fog.
Freemind Pictures ©

A walk in Fog Park?
Freemind Pictures ©

Vehicles at a crawling pace, searching for the road ahead!
Freemind Pictures ©


It was not a day to drive around, with visibility dropping down to less than hundred meters! The fog covered Dubai, Sharjah, Umm Al Quwain and certain parts of Al Ain. Emily Dickinson perhaps did have a reason when she said, "let us go in, the fog is rising" considering the accident rates which predictably shoot up when ever it drizzles let alone rains, or in the case of fog, and not to forget dust storms.

The final toll of yesterday's fog - 1 dead, 100 injured, 8 critically injured, 152 minor and major road accidents on Dubai roads. ~Khaleej Times

The day also saw a 35-vehicle collision on Dubai-Al Ain Road. The heavy fog yesterday morning caused severe disruption at UAE airports, causing more than 20 incoming flights to be diverted and delaying countless outbound services. ~Gulf News

Colonel Al Shamsi, director of Dubai Police Control and Command Room, said drivers should turn on their headlights so other motorists can see them. ~Gulf News The picture below only justifies why there should be an effort to make people aware of the rules of driving in different weather.

“Like a man travelling in foggy weather, those at some distance before him on the road he sees wrapped up in the fog, as well as those behind him, and also the people in the fields on each side, but near him all appears clear, though in truth he is as much in the fog as any of them.”
~Benjamin Franklin (American Statesman, Scientist, Philosopher, Printer, Writer and Inventor.)


A bus camouflaged in the fog with no rear lights! An accident waiting to happen!
Freemind Pictures ©

For more pictures, click “Let us go in; the fog is rising.”

Sunday, February 25, 2007

The Fellowship of the Palm Trees!

Freemind Pictures ©

"If you are seeking creative ideas, go out walking.
Angels whisper to a man (woman) when he (she) goes for a walk."
~ Raymond Inmon

Thursday, February 22, 2007

Chimneys of Oxygen!

Freemind Pictures ©

Tree, gather up my thoughts
like the clouds in your branches.
Draw up my soul
like the waters in your root.

In the arteries of your trunk
bring me together.
Through your leaves
breathe out the sky.
~ J. Daniel Beaudry, Breath


Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Adieu Robert Adler!

Robert Adler, co-inventor of the TV remote. (AP)

Click click click,

Television channels appear and vanish at every click. TV programs and movies flicker briefly on screen as the eye momentarily scans the channel before changing the channel again.

The remote control brought about the world famous non-Olympic sport Channel Surfing. Most champions don't even budge from the comfort of their seat. No movements are noticed except for the quick flick of the finger. Yet most television viewers or channels did not come to know the passing away of Robert Adler, the co-inventor of the television remote on 15th February 2007 at the grand age of 93.

The remote has revolutionized and initiated several PhD researches on the phenomenon of the TV couch potatoes. Yet Adler was a man who rarely watched television. He is known for more than a hundred patented inventions other than the television remote which he invented in 1956 with fellow engineer Eugene Polley.

His wife, Ingrid, said Adler wouldn't have chosen the remote control as his favourite invention. "He was a man who would dream ... and wake up and say, 'I just solved a problem'. He was always thinking science," she said.

"People ask me all the time - 'Don't you feel guilty for it?' And I say that's ridiculous," he once said about his invention that stopped people from getting up from their couch in front of their TV. (Gulf News)

May Adler rest in peace. Like some media suggested "Viewers wishing to pay their respects may wish to press the mute button for a minute's silence." or "Turn Your TV On and Off 21 Times as a Salute."

Related Articles: Robert Adler

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

We are Lions!

A warrior and a lion guarding the wares on sale at Dragon Mart, Dubai.
Freemind Pictures ©

Achilles: [to his men] Myrmidons! My brothers of the sword! I would rather fight beside you than any army of thousands! Let no man forget how menacing we are, we are lions! Do you know what's waiting beyond that beach? Immortality! Take it! It's yours! ~Troy, (Film - 2004)

Sunday, February 18, 2007

Life and Death in History

Freemind Pictures ©

In a land where once palm trees towered tall, the Burj Dubai touches the sky. The trees of old, unlike their manicured and implanted cousins are witnesses for decades to an exponential growth in Dubai's history. They are few and silently diminish day by day into history. They are the true trees of the soil which have grown from the soil, once near an old and dusty roundabout called Defence Roundabout. Today the roundabout is an interchange of flyovers and a traffic block most of the time!

The wheels of the unending circle of life rolls on!

Death? Why this fuss about death? Use your imagination, try to
visualize a world without death! . . .
Death is the essential condition of life, not an evil.
- Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Saturday, February 17, 2007

Rashidya Water Tank - Old Landmarks of Dubai

Freemind Pictures ©

The Rashidya Water Tank. Once an important landmark and the only structure which rose out of the sandy waste of Rashidya. It could easily be spotted from Garhoud Bridge and always a silent landmark of the wasteland after that.

The water tower today is no more the edge of the city rather stands lost in the midst of the changing roads, new flyovers and bigger landmarks. Freemind will be on the look out for more old landmarks which were once the most common reference points of taxis of yore.

“Writers are the main landmarks of the past.”
Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton (British politician, poet and prolific novelist)

Friday, February 16, 2007

Doorways of Perception!

“There are things known and there are things unknown, and in between are the doors of perception”~ Aldous Huxley (English Novelist and Critic, 1894-1963)
Freemind Pictures ©

Dubai Summer Scorcher on the way!

Freemind Pictures ©

“Winter is the season in which people try to keep the house as warm as it was in the summer, when they complained about the heat” ~ Unknown

As summer makes it presence felt stronger day by day, 7 days reported that the summer would compensate for the unusual cold winter and long rainy spells with a double dosage of summer heat. It was reported that:

"....this summer’s going to be roasting. Ok, tell us something we don’t know. But while we’re all aware that summers here are extremely hot, according to a UAE forecaster, this one coming will see temperatures up to four degrees hotter than last year. With a maximum temperature of 49.7 degrees recorded in the country last summer that could mean a potentially sweltering 53.7 degrees."

The article also elaborated: "A recent UN report blamed human activity for global warming and climate change and predicted a rise in natural disasters. Last night the Dubai Met Office were unable to comment on the weather for this summer saying they are only able to sensibly make five-day predictions."

Time to stock up on some Vimto and Tang to experiment making some refreshing summer thirst quenchers. Stock up on your sun tans too!

Thursday, February 15, 2007

Light is good from whatever lamp it shines

“Light is good from whatever lamp it shines.” A meeting of the morning and night light!
Freemind Pictures ©



“At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.”
~Albert Schweitzer (German Philosopher. 1952 Nobel Peace Prize Winner)

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Mannequins dressed for the day?

And where shall we go for the night? Definitely not window shopping!
Freemind Pictures ©

Morning Rain!

Dubai World Trade Center rising tall after the morning rains!
Freemind Pictures ©

For more pictures: Rays of the Sun!

The Dubai Clock Tower a monument truly part of Dubai's history, free of dust after the rains, faithfully displaying the time as it has done over the last few decades.
Freemind Pictures ©

The delight of trees!

Freemind Pictures ©

To see several trees together in one place, is a delight. For people living in a city where the only trees seen are implanted, potted in perfect symmetry and to top it all - all the same size. Nature fine tuned with a little cosmetic surgery indeed! But nature breaks the rules and lets its branches grow in all directions, shed its leaves at will constantly reminding, nature can be shaped but never conquered.


The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way. Some see Nature all ridicule and deformity, and some scarce see Nature at all. But to the eyes of the man of imagination, Nature is Imagination itself.
~ William Blake, 1799, The Letters


Leaning to a side and taking a relaxed view of life and trees
Freemind Pictures ©

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

An Oasis in the midst of a traffic roundabout!

The fountains and palm trees in the midst of the Dubai Trade Center roundabout, with the new Etisalat tower in the background.
Freemind Pictures ©

Monday, February 12, 2007

Earth laughs in flowers!

Flowers seem intended for the solace of ordinary humanity. ~John Ruskin
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Earth laughs in flowers. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Freemind Pictures ©

“Count the garden by the flowers, never by the leaves that fall. Count your life with smiles and not the tears that roll.” ~Unknown
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Saturday, February 10, 2007

What's the baskets for?

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“The crowning fortune of a man is to be born to some pursuit which finds him employment and happiness, whether it be to make baskets, or broad swords, or canals, or statues, or songs”
~Ralph Waldo Emerson (American Poet & Essayist)


Baskets have been part of human life from about circa 8000 BC. Baskets made with several interwoven techniques were common at 3 000 BC. Even today, it is seen and a part of everyday life. It is still used for gifting and decoration and a strong reminder of the quote "Don't put all your eggs in the same basket!"

Then again the age old quote has several interesting twists too, Enjoy!


“Faith is putting all your eggs in God's basket, then counting your blessings before they hatch.”
~ Ramona C. Carroll


“The way to become rich is to put all your eggs in one basket and then watch that basket.”
~ Andrew Carnegie (American Industrialist and Philanthropist.)

Friday, February 09, 2007

What is Time?

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Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you. ~ Carl Sandburg (American Journalist - twice Pulitzer Prize winner)

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All that really belongs to us is time; even he who has nothing else has that. ~ Baltasar Gracián (Spanish writer)

Thursday, February 08, 2007

Desert Bloom!

Life from the Desert sands!
Freemind Pictures ©

What makes the desert beautiful is that somewhere it hides a well. Antoine de Saint-Exupery (French Writer and Aviator)

There was no well, rather the rains over the past few days have carpeted the deserts with beautiful white flowers. The sight of flowers rising out of the sand is a stark reminder of the Phoenix, where life rises, perishes and rises again, in the continuous circle of life.


Desert Flowers against the sunset!
Freemind Pictures ©


Desert Bloom!
Freemind Pictures ©

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

On rains and rainbows!

Crane suspending rainbows?
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“Life is like a rainbow. You need both the sun and the rain to make its colours appear.” ~Unknown

Raindrops on the dusty tarmacs of Dubai.
Freemind Pictures ©

Heaven knows we need never be ashamed of our tears, for they are rain upon the blinding dust of earth, overlying our hard hearts. ~Charles Dickens, Great Expectations