Slim

Another few months have passed by since I have made something here.
Running is quite a popular activity, and gaining more popularity in India. I am passionate about medium distance running myself ... so it's usually a wonder why I haven't made more than one tee on running at Toubé Bäs.
Here's the thing: I have a lot of friends who run, but it's very rare that I find a true runner. Let me explain.
When somebody tells me something like, "I am a runner! I ran my first half marathon at the SC in Mumbai!", I quickly ask them, "So how often do you run now?"
Usually, they don't. This is what turns the sceptical-in-me off.
I sing in the bathroom almost daily. I wonder if that makes me a "Hey, I am a singer!" guy. Probably not. Neither does shooting a couple of photographs through my mobile phone now and then makes me a photographer.
I, especially because I have been running a 5K almost every week fr the past 16 years, feel that for someone to call or tag themselves as a "runner", one has to have the need for running. I know several people who feel an emptiness when they go without a run for a week.
This t-shirt is for those kinds. If you are a one-time-did-a-marathon person, this t-shirt won't fit you, really.
If you have been to an ultra-marathon ages ago, stopped running since, you are just not a runner. If all you do is practice for 7 weeks before an SCMM or a Kaveri Trail, you are just not a runner. You probably were, but not any more. So sorry. True story.
But if you are someone for whom running is just a necessity ... like Kripa Sagar (who inspired me to make this tee), or the Doc ... you are my hero! This t-shirt is for you.
But for practical reasons, I would have gifted you this tee.
To the others, I would encourage them to run more, and run safe. It's brilliant that you took to running, now do it (though, don't overdo it!)

For the past many months, all I have been creating for Toubé Bäs is a string of 'Passion' based t-shirts. Have been waiting to do a 'Cause' tee for some time now! Here's the thing, though: no matter how much I long for it at times, I can't force myself to just make one just for the heck of it. That would be a tad pretentious.

However, about a month ago, Bijay Nair connected with me through the website, telling me about his plans of running 2012km till the 12-12-2012. While this itself is a gutsy attempt, he told me that through his run, he also plans to generate funds for children suffering of cancer. Kudos!!

He asked me if I could design a tee for this - and I was like, "Yah haan ... of course!!"

So, this tee happened.

Hmm ... child cancer ...

These two words, at least in my head, paint a very depressing, a very serious picture. I had no idea about the somberness of pediatric cancer until I came in touch with the noble team at the Mumbai-based NGO, Jana Rakshita, that supports cancer patients (especially pediatric). Even the superficial bit of knowledge that I derived from them about the gravity of the state-of-affairs was pretty enlightening. Thought-provoking too.

I can't get into explaining the seriousness of child cancer - that is probably out of the scope of this page, or this website (but you should jump to www.janarakshita.org if you feel like knowing more about the child-cancer scene in India), but the one piece of information that, now when I think about it, always gives me a 'kick' is this: 80% of the times child cancer is curable!

The word, 'curable' brings so much hope to this, otherwise, gloomy situation. Poora equation hi change ho jaata hai. While "Child" + "Cancer" = Despair, 'Child' + 'Cancer' + 'Curable' = Hope.

Here's the basic nitty-gritty: those young pediatric-cancer patients have an 80% probability to get healed COMPLETELY. To rediscover life, to revitalise, to get rid of the terrible pain and the horrible experiences of putting their tiny and fragile minds and bodies through repeated chemotherapical, surgical and radiative sessions. 80%!

The only things they require are: support, funding, and guidance. A combination of all three. "Pick-Any-Two" doesn't work here.

So while Bijay will be wearing this t-shirt design as he runs, I decided that I would sell this tee here on Toubé Bäs, and guide all the proceeds to Jana Rakshita to be used by/for pediatric cancer patients. Like my Gita-inspired father says ... if you can make any contribiution towards the society, choosing to not make it is a sin. Once in a while, I would like to follow his ideologies.

Being a 'cause' tee, it's an 'unlimited edition' t-shirt. It's also slightly cheaper than the 'passion' tee's here (though I've compromised nowhere - 10 colors have been printed on the tee, and the quality remains the same).

Btw, do share the link if you can. That would help.

(I have been doing cause t-shirts on and off ... some work, some do not ... may be we are still to warm-up to the idea of using t-shirts to make a prolific statement in the society. It's quite a culture in the many countires. Learning ... learning!!)

I don't want to tom-tom a lot about the design ... but I can easily say that is was such a fun experience to sit down with this design! The concept came to me pretty early ... but to convert that concept into something tangible was a task - and all thanks to the one who rendered it (who else?) - the dashing Asha Patel! Quite a lot of input came in from Archana Srikanth (who says she is the critique, not the creator)!. Thanks to botufdem!

Like the earlier US Open t-shirt, I have put in a good deal of text on the back - it talks about the tee, about Bijay, and about JanaRakshita.

I bet people you show this t-shirt to will be turning you around and reading it with intent. Or people behind you in a queue, an escalator, or the elevator :)

Damn ... I was supposed to release this t-shirt on July 13th - which was a Friday :( Missed it ...

See, that's what happens with people like me - brilliant, but damn lazy!

I have always been a Mirza Ghalib fan - not the hardcore type who understand each and every word the great man has uttered, but a passionate 'liker' ... and this liking for Mirza Ghalib, for me, perhaps began when doordarshan was the only channel we could watch (thank gawd!) and mom and dad allowed us to watch the serials at 9pm. Yeps, I am referring to Gulzar's televised tribute to the dramatic poet ...

A month ago, I had an urge to revisit Ghalib's "Unke dekhe se jo aa jaati hai moonh par raunak" ... did some youtube-giri, and landed on this. What followed was a lazy, lazy Sunday afternoon with Praveen Kumar Gill (my pilot batchmate) at his Hyderabad abode (where else would you want to be to feel more Ghalibish - except for Ballimaran??) checking video after video and ghor-dissection of his sher-o-shayri and ghazals at http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00ghalib/ghazal_index.html ...

Of course, I shared a link on FB, and unsurprisingly ... a good chunk of people responded to that post. There's not a lawwwwt of people who take the time off to appreciate Ghalib, but the one's who do ... are almost devotees!

And that passion is what drives me to do any t-shirt here - no wonder I instantly decided to do a Ghalib t-shirt.

Initially, I decided to do this t-shirt with the ever-dashing Neha Celly ... we discussed a few things ... but she got busier (Celly ... we'll do some other tee soon!).

However, grrrrrreat friend (and what a woman!!) Asha Patel did everything that you see here - and hats off to her!

Like always, I scratched the first thought of creativity that came to my head. I have this habit of ignoring the first line of thoughts ... for some weird reason! While doing this tee, the first thought was to do a grungy portrait of Ghalib, mention something in Urdu, and add some trivia about Ghalib.

I felt that would have been a nice t-shirt, but ... may be too predictable. Plus, I needed something more contemporary ... more stylish ...

So we decided to still do a graphic of Ghalib ... but instead of the portrait version, we would do it as if we are making a stylish logo ... symbol for his 'brand'. No sketchy lines ... no random backgrounds ... no wrinkles on the face ... Instead, I decided to go for solid colors, solid lines, proper shapes. Infact, we went ahead and made the entire face-graphic symmetrical. Easier said than done ... but when Asha says she will do it - she always does.

Why this thought? Well, all I wanted to achieve was a symbolic representation of Ghalib - a different way of making him look contemporarily cool too. We also pondered over the size of the graphic on the t-shirt. A smaller graphic looks subtle, sophisticated ... while a larger one attracts attention, is loud and vehement. I went for the latter one in this print - may be i might do a smaller print the next time.

It did not take me long to find the font used to write down one of Ghalib's shers (my favorite ever ... but more importantly ... there must have been a reason why Gulzar sahab chose that one sher in the introduction to his TV serial). We could have done it in Urdu ... but I went for English because eventually, it makes sense if people end up deciphering it with minimum effort. They ought to know what's written, right?

Very, very luckily ... only those people who knew the sher in advance can decipher the writing on the back. It's only fair ... since I really think that anyone who doesn't know this sher of Ghalib doesn't even deserve to wear or own this t-shirt. It really is that simple.

So here's the Ghalib tee. Again ... not more than 501 copies of this tee will be sold ... ever. Plus, what better color to do a Ghalib on ... than a 'Regal' blue?!