seoul, south korea > part I

well, here i am.

I've always thought of writing a blog, but somehow, i never got around to actually do it. so why the sudden change of heart?

simply put, the timing was right.

I'm never gonna forget September the 14th, 2009, cause that was the day that made an astronomical impact on me. on my career, on my life, and on my spirit. that was the day i was selected by the British council to represent the country in an international design symposium, called Seoul Design Olympiad 2009 in South Korea! And these winning visuals had won me the ticket to the far east. looks like my work is literally taking me places eh?








that was the day that shook my universe, and that very night i celebrated having a small dinner with a friend that had taken the time and effort in emailing me the link to the competition. i couldn't go for guitar class that nite ... was simply reveling in joy to be sitting down in 1 place...

i owe her one.

so here i am. seoul. i still cant believe it. we had a dinner to introduce everyone at the hotel sunday night, where at once i was treated with compassion, joy and warmth, as i got to know my team members.

simple dinner, simple pleasures.

here i was! amidst a group of international citizens from all over the globe ... from Korea, UK, Italy, Taiwan, Bosnia, Portugal, Singapore, Indonesia and the list goes on.. we're all here cause we're in love with design..and we were celebrating our passions in an event that glorifies the various disciplines of design! graphics, multimedia, industrial, product, video, architecture and everything else in between...!

it all seems so unreal...and yet, here i was...dreams really can, and do come true.

arriving for the first time at the Olympic stadium with its gorgeous exhibits and even more gorgeous air domes, we spent Monday, getting to know each other, couple of presentations and games to get us moving (where we "constructed" a camera with our bodies) and spend the day with Hai MoNi ( which is korean for grandma! ) as our guide.

one funny incident happen to me when i boarded the subway ... another elderly woman looked at me for a while, then approached me as she was leaving the train, smiled and said to me while pointing at my eyes ...

"your eyes, very big,"

in surprise i said thank you and quietly smiled to myself. at that moment i realised that i had not seen anyone else of hindustani heritage around since i got here. no one at all. and i also realised that i think most of these koreans had never seen someone like me before. someone of north indian heritage. i must have been exotic to them! rare and unique .. wow..that makes me feel on top pf this world. finally we came to our stop, and then we followed our superwoman grandma to her first stop.

she took us to two lovely traditional korean villages and gardens set in such a beautiful eastern ambiance, explaining to us that that's where she hangs out ... she and her girlfriends...! culturally, it seems elderly men and women don't spend time together .. both genders feel uncomfortable with each other..a bit of culture shock to me, considering its so clear that both men and women feel lonely and isolated, yearning for companionship.











after that we came back to the stadium, hung out a bit and eventually said our goodbyes...

its now Tuesday evening on the grounds of the vast vicinity of the Olympic stadium, fast approaching the midnight hour here in Seoul, chilly winds gushing outside beneath a moonless sky, with a bunch of wonderful koreans ( the girls are really lovely , sweet and kind ) working on architectural solutions in an attempt to close the gap between the elderly and the young. thats what we're here for...

















our mentor is a white dude from the UK..nice fellow, chris, ..and the rest of my team are Koreans..designers mostly...very helpful, very kind, very approachable.

one girl, Hee, in particular took me to the local markets yesterday in Insadong, after everyone said goodbyes, night to buy souvenirs to take home..i was really touched that she took the trouble to accompany me .. she even bought me something! she then asked another friend to join us, and we went for some bamboo tea in an inn nearby...in an authentically wonderful eastern setting...sitting in an open courtyard beneath the sky, subtle lights surrounding us...it was magical.

people ARE good at heart.

after drinks, we had gone to a Buddhist temple, where three magnificent statues of the Buddha with a serene temperance and a diamond in the forehead, were housed in a structure, decorated beyond belief. it was 11.30 pm. time for one last sojourn to the opera house and a chance to witness a statue of Sehjong, the King responsible for the Korean alphabet among many things, and a general who defeated the Japanese in the 14th century. Hee Jeong, it seems, is in love with him.

it was then time to call it a night.

i arrived here at the stadium this Tuesday morning at precisely 9am, as requested. been working on ideas, sketches and concepts the whole day...everyone is still here..12.30 am. no one's gonna jump ship till its all done..thats for sure...and the work is amazing...digital ribbon screens interweaving themselves in gardens, benches that talk and interact, organic urban furniture, parks interconnected through the growth of a green web, and a billion ideas floating in the air. so this is what it feels like working at an international level. wow!

its unbelievable.

language is a problem. most of them don't speak English well enough..but a couple of translators have been a Godsend. its really interesting to use hand gestures and simplified , albeit broken English, to get the message across, and it has been humorous at times, and its all part of the experience. and i am grateful. im in Korea!
















well, i guess thats about it. its 2.30 am. we still have things to do and tomorrow's gonna be an exciting day. an opportunity to present design ideas and concepts thru sketches and visuals to an international audience .. an audience that's just as passionate about design as we are .

now what could be more exciting than that?