Sidharth's "Mythical Cow" revisited

Another attempt at sketching.

Old soldiers never die...

Old soldiers never die…

Old photographs never die, they just fade away

Old clocks never die; they just call time out

Old wristwatches never die, they just wind up

Old watches never die; they just while away their time

Old (k)nights never die; they just call it a day

Old computers never die; they just log off

Old sodas never die; they just pop off

Old fountain pens never die; they just run out of ink

Old gamblers never die; they just run out of luck

Old inks never die; they just fade out

Old shopkeepers never die; they just shut shop

Old paratroopers never die; they just drop off

Old cowboys never die; they just ride away into the sunset

Old batteries never die, they just drain out

Old electric lights never die, they just blow out their fuses

Old honey bees never die, they just buzz off

Old actors never die, they just pack up

Old Shakespeareans never die, they just exeunt

::
Old Soldiers Never Die

“Old Soldiers Never Die” sung by Vaughn Monroe & His Orchestra (1951)

Old soldiers never die
They just fade away.

There is an old mess hall, not far away
Where we get pork and beans, three times a day.
Ham and eggs we never see, even when we're on KP
And we are gradually fading away.

Chorus: Old soldiers never die,
Never die, never die,
Old soldiers never die
They just fade away.

Privates they love their beer, three times a day.
Corporals, they love their stripes, and that ain't hay
Sergeants put you through the mill.

They just drill and drill and drill,

And they will drill until they fade away.

Chorus

Young soldiers shine their shoes three time a day
Young soldiers go on leave; they know the way
Young soldiers say goodbye, kiss the girls and make them cry
Then the girls all wonder why they fade away

Chorus

Washington, Grant and Lee were all tried and true
Eisenhower, Bradley and MacArthur too
They will live forever more, till the world is done with war
Then they'll close that final door, fading away

Chorus

Note: This song achieved instant recognition when Douglas MacArthur quoted it in his farewell speech.
::

Long Legged Sentinels

Another sketch from my collection.

The "inspiration" for this sketch was a beautiful photograph, published in a local newspaper, of cranes silhouetted against the sun, standing guard around a nest.

Misty morning in Bangalore, circa 1975

As far as I can remember, this photograph was taken some time in the spring of 1975. Bangalore those days was a small, uncrowded city and the Bangalore weather was fabulous throughout the year, more so during winter and spring.

My house was located very close to the North-West part of the Ulsoor Lake and faced a military war memorial. That morning there was a light mist and the early morning sunlight filtering thru the leaves of a nearby peepal tree was creating beautiful halo-like effects. I had actually planned to catch a bullock cart or maybe a couple of cows with my camera but it didn’t quite happen that way.

My camera (Sunflex, a twin lens Japanese model, my father’s, passed down to me) was loaded with a 100 ASA black-and-white film (I used only 100 ASA film for all my photography for a very long time). In my opinion, 100 ASA film is a very user friendly film because of its slowness. It allows a bit of leeway in the aperture and shutter speed settings, in regular kind of weather.

So there I was, camera at the ready, waiting for my subjects to appear. But there was nary a sign of bullock cart nor cow. The sun was going higher and higher and the mist was beginning to dissipate. Just then I saw this milkman slowly cycling up. He gave me enough time to frame him against the embankment of the lake and the result is what you see.

The print that is scanned and reproduced here was made on a monochrome paper with a sepia tint.