The Two Year Celebration!

© Udantya 2012

Welcome to the seventeenth issue of Udantya!

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This month on Udantya, we celebrate two years of creative energy!

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Backstage Pass  The Essence of Udantya 

Megaphone  A Word from the Editors

Spotlight  Unseen Words - Aparna Vidyasagar

Darkroom   The Phoenix - Aparna Vidyasagar

Armchair Critic Wanderlust; A Love Affair with Five Continents - Namita Azad

Jam Session   Udantya Bloopers - Namita Azad (with Aparna Vidysagar)

©Aparna Vidyasagar

© Udantya 2012

© Udantya 2012

BACKSTAGE PASS

The very essence of artistic expression is that, it is captured in many different ways.

A picture, a word or a tune.

Your rebellion, your journey and your destination.

Here, we aim to capture it all. Join us or explore with us.

Welcome to Udantya.

Welcome to our creative space!

Udantya aims to be a collaborative effort. If you have any articles, photos or music you would like to share, please email us at udantya@gmail.com. Future themed issues will be announced a month in advance.

© Udantya 2012

MEGAPHONEFrom the Editors

Creativity is a great motivator because it makes people interested in what they are doing. Creativity gives hope that

there can be a worthwhile idea. Creativity gives the possibility of some sort of achievement to everyone. Creativity makes life

more fun and more interesting.

~Edward de Bono

Udantya has been this and more to us for the past two years. And, each time we speak with a contributor, we are truly gratified hear that they too feel the same. We are blessed to have Udantya move forward at a steady pace, and evolve each time we explore a new theme. For this, we thank YOU our contributors and our readers

In Spotlight, Aparna talks about all the words born out of her that have somehow been lost. What is the fate of these unwritten words? Read on to find out!

Darkroom this month features something a little different for us here at Udantya. In the wake of all the senseless violence that occurs in the world, Aparna was inspired to translate her thoughts into a sketch entitled, ‘The Phoenix’.

Namita explores Wanderlust in the Armchair Critic, a book that delves into the adventures of a nomadic soul.

As we begin our third year of Udantya, we share our favorite moments in Jam Session. These are moments from issues past; a little behind the scenes sneak peak into all the silliness and fun that accompanies us along our way! We also present an interesting TED talk that delves into the world of creativity.

© Udantya 2012

SPOTLIGHTUnseen Words

by Aparna Vidyasagar

A motley group of unseen words,

living in the nebula of my brain.

Unsure of their place on a page -

Unwritten; incomplete.

*

Unseen words that meet a murderous fate.

Destroyed; diminished and dissatisfying.

_

These words I mourn.

I yearn...

Hoping for them to emerge;

vibrant and alive.

*

Unseen words that shy away from the world.

Not quite ready for their debut.

_

Within these unfinished stories

lies romance and mystery.

Infinite hope,

and possibility.

*

Unseen words born from me.

Shed your veil of invisibility.

© Udantya 2012

DARKROOM

The Phoenixby Aparna Vidysagar

Acts of violence and terrorism occur throughout the world. Senseless massacres perpetrated by those who thrive on the pain and fear of others. In our misery lies their glory.

Yet their triumph remains incomplete and unattainable. For, how does one quench the human spirit? How does one snuff out the courage to mourn, accept, continue and overcome.

It is futile.Out of cinders and ashes, the phoenix always rises.

© Udantya 2012

ARMCHAIR CRITIC

Wanderlust; A Love Affair with Five Continentsby Namita Azad

The idea of travel and curiosity for unknown lands has always made for great dinner table conversations. Some of us have had the courage to buy the plane ticket and wander off. And, for a handful of people, it’s a way of life. Elizabeth Eaves falls in the latter category, and how! The New York Times has described her as an ‘Insatiable Traveler’, and she often describes herself as someone who simply never wanted to be committed to any one thing.

I learned about Elizabeth Eaves and her story through a piece that she wrote for the New York Times about a year ago. At the time that she wrote this particular article, she was on the other end of her adventurous streak and ready to say yes to having a dining table, a permanent address, and a long distance relationship. It was what led her to this point (which she briefly describes in the article) that intrigued me. I was motivated to pick up her book, ‘Wanderlust; A Love Affair with Five Continents’, where she shares her nomadic paths.

Eaves’s travelogue begins while is a Sophomore in college and on the verge of starting a grounded life with her fiancé, Graham, in Seattle. Breaking that promise marks the beginning of a long streak of departures from certain ideologies. Ideologies that she had believed she was going to fulfill but couldn’t bring herself to. She spends much of her college career

participating in study abroad programs and internships that take her from Cairo, to Yemen, and to Pakistan. She attempts to sustain her slowly wilting relationship with Graham throughout the course of these escapades but fails with each trip made further away from home.

© Udantya 2012

Everything that follows becomes a dreamy progression through distant lands and naive romances. These travels take her through an oasis city along the coast of China with Stu, which then lands her in Queensland where she lives in a boat-shed with a group of surfer boys. Then enters Justin to whom she loses herself to in the jungles of Papua, New Guinea. Eventually she finds her way back to the United States in a relationship with a French cyclist; a relationship which began in Peruvian Andes. This too is short lived. It is clear that wildness of these love stories and the worlds in which they blossomed give her the biggest thrills and highs in life. Whenever anybody questions her nomadic ways, she blatantly admits - “I’m just taking a break between one real-life thing and another...”

A little over a decade later, Eaves’s begins to realize that the exhilarating disequilibrium of her travels is soon becoming the reason for the lack of certain constants in her life. She misses having a circle of friends; a lover who doesn’t switch out with each zip-code; and more than anything else, a home to come home to.

Wanderlust is the persistent urge for a life that refuses to reach a calm. What one cannot stop wondering throughout the narrative is if there is an end to her exotic routes or it will be yet another momentary change in her ever-shuffling life? If she stops, why would she choose to do so? Having been bitten by the travel bug myself, I too have enjoyed escaping from all that is concrete around me. As a result, these were a few of the questions that swarmed my mind as I turned the pages.

Elizabeth Eaves’s story resonated so strongly with me because it is a tale of a truly nomadic soul. Each new chapter re-introduces her child-like love for the unknown and adventure. The book ultimately becomes a joyous trip around the world.

I definitely recommend reading ‘Wanderlust’, to live the world through the eyes and heart of a woman who never ceases to “escape from the escape”.

© Udantya 2012

JAM SESSION

Udantya Bloopersby Namita Azad & Aparna Vidyasagar

As we begin our third year of Udantya, we share our favorite moments in Jam Session. These are moments from issues past; a little behind the scenes sneak peak into all the silliness and fun that accompanies us along our way!

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/60521520 w=500&h=281]

Around Town

The idea and origin of creativity is something that has been discussed time and time again. Julie Burstein attempts to unravel this mystery through her book 'Spark: How Creativity Works' and features on a Ted talk where she shares the stories of four people who create for a living - filmmaker Mira Nair, writer Richard Ford, sculptor Richard Serra and photographer Joel Meyerowitz.

http://www.ted.com/talks/julie_burstein_4_lessons_in_creativity.html

© Udantya 2012

FAQ

We’ve had a few questions over the past few months, so we thought it would be a good idea to chart out our very own FAQ page.

Do you have specific requirements to submit to Udantya?

Absolutely not! We love it all; the quirky, the unexpected and the conventional. Share your ideas with us. We want to highlight creativity and artistic expression in all forms.

Since we are a web-magazine, we have not yet felt the need to set any page limits or length restrictions. If that changes, we will let you know!

How much time do I get to submit a piece?

We usually announce the following month’s theme when we release an issue. Our rough editing scheme is as follows. (When you email us to contribute to a particular issue, you will get a set dates for that month).

-We usually ask for a short summary of your idea for the intended piece by the end of the first week of the month.-The first draft follows roughly a week to ten days later. You can submit a first draft even if you didn’t tell us your overall summary. Partial drafts are also accepted, so that we get an idea of the direction of your piece.-We like to work closely with you and reserve a week thereafter to finalize a draft. Our goal is to facilitate your vision for your piece and we view this portion of the process as a team effort.

Can I send you stuff even if it doesn’t fit a theme?

Yes, of course! We will try to find a place for it. You may even give us ideas for more themes!

Might I make a suggestion?

Yes! Questions, comments, suggestions and ideas are all welcome. Just email us at udantya@gmail.com

© Udantya 2012