Odds at each other's side!

Last week, I was travelling to my hometown by train. It made a halt at a place, I don't which station it was as it was really dark and I was inside a new "postered" Rajdhani Express. But I still could see clearly the train standing right next to ours. As we slowly swayed past the train, one stark reality hit me. There was a sparsely filled AC coach with people sleeping with all the leisures in the world. And right next to it was a general compartment, overflowing with people, people who don't know what leisure is, people who have to even fight for the little place to sit clumsily. This is the harsh reality of India. The great divide, with which every passing second is getting wider. Though its has always been present, in and around me, but don't know why it moved me that moment so much as to make me feel like crying.

Where will this end? Would those hard working souls just persih without being rewarded? I don't know. All I can see is a bleak future. How much ever the better becomes best, the true victory of a nation is tp lift the worse to atleast good!

So Long....

So long....so long I had stayed away from my camera...I don't know why and how it happened. But a refreshing break came to me in form of a pleasant surprise. One night I got a call from my uncle, to join them on a trip to Shravanbelgola. Oh, I just can't describe how I felt at that moment. I was like..."Finally my hands and my eyes will be put to some worth" :D .

But I was worried too, as I had not taken photographs for months. I didn't know that I did remember photography, or would it have evaporated out of me. But once my hands were on the shutter button and my eyes looking through the viewfinder, nothing was stopping me. And I so very enjoyed doing what I used to love a few months back. Here are just a few shots from the trip. Do tell me how you found them. I would be uploading the entire set soon on my Flickr. So, watch out.

She Blogs...

Ouch...! That really hurt. I heard these words and started wondering: am I really blogging? I used to take such pride in that some time ago (rather some years ago...sigh). Whom am I lying to, by saying that i blog? How can I betray me, myself and my blog? I have been making unfulfilled promises from long that I will get back to it. But I haven't. I can no longer be called in the category of bloggers (...sobs...). I feel so ashamed, angered on myself. How did I let this happen?

Is it my laziness or my indifference or just a stagnation of events in my life? I will have to sit and think about the right blend of reasons for this misfortune of mine. And this time I wont make promises, instead let the time tell what I finally made out of this mess.

Why are they doing this to me???

It was a beautiful evening, with clouds on top and a chilly breeze. I took my kinetic and started from my home, though for some work, but that was an excuse, what I really wanted was a speed ride in this climate, but but but... Why the hell do they have to spoil my speed ride???

They recently laid new roads in my entire area, beautiful roads...attracting and enticing and goading me to accelerate. But you suddenly realize that its all to just lure you and out of no where comes the monstrous, grizzly, huge and highly irritating speed breakers, aaaggggghhhhhh!!!!!

The road builders in Bangalore are really sadist, they lay beautifully good roads, but they just dont know how to make speed breakers. The speed breakers are narrow horizontally and rising to such heights that it really bogs you out of your mind to take your vehicle through them. Specially my poor little kinetic :(

And there goes my romantic, thrilling little speed ride! :(

Jungle Mein Mangal...

Recently we had a trip to Bandhavgarh (a Tiger Reserve in M.P.). We had booked a tree-house for us to stay and were expecting an adventurous trip. With the adventure in our minds and moods we set off from Bhopal to Bandhavgarh, via Katni. The ride from Katni to Tala (District of Bandhavgarh) was all the more convincing for the adventure we thought of facing and specially the remoteness of the tree-house resort sent some warning signals to our minds.

Once reaching our destination, our adventure started to shatter bit by bit. We were greeted by the staff present there with utmost hospitality and yeah the regular etiquettes that you see in any of the 3-4-5 star hotels. We were taken down a trail to our room, which was hidden amidst trees and completely isolated. The moment we entered, we were taken by awe. The room was very well designed, all the luxuries that you could ask for, and yet conserving the basic essence of being in a jungle. The best part was, one of the walls of the room was totally glass and opened up into a deck with two lounge chairs. Oh man, it was such a romantic place. I couldn't have asked for a better place.

And there was one more blessing in disguise, only BSNL network. So we were completely off mobiles and isolated in that small place. No STD PCOs and neither did the resort have any phone, so totally off the hook. How much I loved that peace and being in the arms of the nature. In our rooms the only sounds that we could hear was wind, chirping of birds and some stray sounds of animals roaming around. It was a complete bliss. Specially the nights, the sky was like a heavily studded diamond plate. Have never seen so many stars in my life. It was just amazing to lie in the lounge chair and look at the sky and stars for hours together.

Nights were also beautiful coz the place was lit up using lanterns (the usual kerosene lanterns) and not bulbs. The trail to each room was decked up with lanterns at regular distances, which looked like a beaded strand of necklace from far away. And sometimes, if you are lucky enough, you can hear those jungle bands and songs from nearby local tribes.

The jeep safaris into the national park were too exciting too. It was fall time and the colors of the trees were awesome. The feel of being inside a jungle and be able to watch the activities happening there is just amazing. We took two jeep safaris into the national park, and finally in the second one we spotted a tigress (a pregnant one!!). Wow such a majestic animal it is.

To top it all, the service that you get is amazing, they literally treat you as kings and queens (of the jungle...hahaha). The food was amazing too, not the usual 3-4-5 star types, but a good deal home-like. In short, it was a perfect "hideaway" vacation which we enjoyed to the best. And I would recommend all of you to try out that place.

For more information visit http://www.treehousehideaway.com/

Oiling the Rust!

Hello after a long time!
Well, lot of my friends have been asking me about my new updates at my blog. And even I have been trying to write something, but alas , I am not able to churn out anything good enough. I am finding my writing skills to be rusted, down to the position of making so much of fuss and noise but yet nothing fruitful out of it.

So here comes my debut post, sort of like an oil drop in the long rusted machine. You can ignore this! :D

And will try to update my blog atleast once a week! So keep dropping by! :-)

Tip Tip Tip Baarish

Just came back from a refreshing bath in the nature's shower :D.

It started raining some time back and I was sitting all alone in the house and wondering, what the hell am I doing? And that's it...went up to the terrace to have a good feel of the rain.

Its so long that I intentionally got drenched...And it was truly worth going up there.

Woh thandi thandi baarish ki boondein...
woh sansanaate patton ki awaaz...
woh gili farsh pe panv rakhna...
woh paani mein uchalna...
woh baadlon ka garazna...
aur woh jhoom ke gaane gaana...


Ohhh...It was so romantic...so magical...
It made me so happy...that I came down and started writing a post...after a long long time...

I wish each one of you who is reading this to have an unrestrained joy like this. :-)

Happy Monsoon to everyone!

Moral Dilemmas

Have you ever faced a situation where in you don't know which way to choose? A duvidha or dharamsankat, as called in Hindi.

For example, You are supposed to be at a contest and are the judge to find the best talent. One of your close relative is one of the contestant. There are two situations in this case. First, there is a better contestant who actually deserves the prize. You can make your relative win over him/her. The second situation is, your relative is the best. Now you start thinking that if I make my relative win, what will people think of me, that I practice favoritism. And you may deprive him/her of what he/she was worthy of. What will you do in these situations?

The above example was actually a milder version. Milder in the sense, it doesn't involve life and death. But there can be situations where a person's life or death is on stake. And you have to choose between life of someone who is close to you and life of many others. What good or what bad will you choose?

I have always had this thought in my mind, that what if I am in such a situation. God forbid, but what will I do? I still don't have a complete answer. Will I be able to think rationally and keeping my emotions behind the practical thought? Its very easy to think, when you are not under pressure. But, when in pressure, it depends on a person's mental stability and ability to think rationally and more importantly, unselfishly.

Here are few dilemmas which I found while surfing.

Of Special regard is the first one. Let me know what you think of it. Was the captain correct or was he unethical?

Weekend Spent Shooting!

I am back with my tales out of my routine life. And this time its about a weekend photography shoot (so don't misinterpret the title ;-) ).

I joined this group called Bangalore Weekend Shoots very recently. Missed out on the first weekend shoot due to some unforeseen circumstances. But was determined to join the next one. After a lot of scheduling and rescheduling my weekend, I finally got myself free for the Saturday trip to Channapatna.

The trip started with meeting of all the fellow photographers from the group at Town Hall at 6:30 a.m. (believe me I woke up at 5:30 a.m...a record for me :D). I was picked up by Vinayak, Srividya and her cousin Anu from my place at 6:15 a.m. I was already pretty nervous for the shoot and once when we reached Town Hall, my nervousness had reached new heights. Looking at people with fundu gears and equipments, I felt like the odd-man-out. And knowing my inhibitions with new people, I thought of better standing quietly at one corner of the troupe. We waited for another fellow photographer, Shreelesh, while I just tried to calm myself down. Finally, with the arrival of Shreelesh, the caravan started.

The first stop was at Kamat Lokaruchi, for a nice breakfast, after all an empty stomach will drive you crazy. After filling the stomachs, cameras came out and a few shots were taken at Kamat's. We even met another flickr member with an ultimate photo gear. I had noticed him at Town Hall as well and thought he is a part of the group, but later came to know that he was not. Anyways, he took a nice wide-angle shot of the entire group and headed his way.

From there we started towards Channapatna and with a 10 min break in the way for shooting some photos, we reached the place to find it all deserted. Then Shridhar, another fellow photographer took the lead and went in search of toy industries. He finally found one, and with a bit of searching and U-turns we finally reached the small industry. It was far away from what I had expected from my a priori background study on Channapatna.

But still everyone else seemed to be busy. So even I took my camera and started taking random shots. I was completely blank in the start, what to shoot? But, as and when I took snaps, I started finding reasons and urge to take this and that. I took some snaps in that particular workshop and then headed for another one where women were the makers of those wonderful toys. Here, the colors were more, it was more lively. But something was lacking. I didn't spend much time there and started loitering around. Thats when I saw a small door at the backside of the school in the premises. There were many kids looking intently towards me and they called me inside. That was really the best part of that day.

Those kids were so enthusiastic and full of vigor and liveliness. They were all going gaga about getting themselves photographed. I liked that smile on their face when I click a photo. Wow! it was all worth those smiles and few minutes of happiness that I could give them. Looking at their ecstatic faces, even their teacher didn't mind my intrusion and was most welcoming. I took a series of shots and had a nice chat with the kids. With an intention of not disturbing them much I reluctantly left the place.

Next in line was Dilip Kumar, The Horse. He was getting too nervous modeling for two photographers shooting at him from two different sides..hehehe. Meanwhile, I had sort of made a friend their in little Irfan. He lead me to his house, though he was so shy that he hid himself. Had a small chat with her elder sister about the life and education in their place. I always feel I am over-blessed after talking to such people. I just can just hope for them!

Well, I know its getting too long...but believe me the day was too long. Anyways, from Channapatna we headed back to Kamat. Took some refuge, water, buttermilk and Sugarcane Juice to refill ourselves. And then headed for Big Banyan tree. Though mistakenly, we reached another spot, I think it was a meditation center by Swami Nityananda. We took a few snaps there and headed for the original Big Banyan Tree. Again it was a disappointment to me, from what I had imagined of the Big Banyan tree. But here again I found three kids, so eager to be photographed. They smiled and giggled and posed like whatever I asked them of. It was good. From there we parted our ways and left for our respective destinations.

All in all, the day was amazing, far from expected, but then always the uncertain is more interesting and turns out to be the best. I learnt a lot of things that day. Technically, spiritually, and philosophically. I really will be looking forward to more such trips and more learning.

Flights of Fantasy!

I got a call from my uncle about a music concert, and he asked whether we will join them. I was all agog about it but hesitated and said I will call back after asking my roomie. I was a bit wary while calling my roomie...she will be interested in classical music or not...but my excitement was not subdued...she said yes.

So we both set out for "Chowdaih Memorial Hall". On reaching there, the first surprise was the building itself. I had heard about the building, but to see it in front of my eyes was a different experience. It was in the shape of Veena. There was quiet a crowd so we got inside with some trouble and found seats after scanning carefully through the overflowing hall.

The first performance was by Ustaad Shahid Pervez. The melodies of his Sitar were spell bounding. Even the hum of the strings was so enchanting. Specially the last piece that he played was just amazing. I almost held my breath through it. The Tabla was also amazing. Next performance that day was by Begum Parween Sultana. I had heard her long back on one of the television talent hunt shows. But listening to her live was captivating. But due to time restraint we had to leave in the middle of her performance. But whatever I heard has got inscribed in my memory forever :).

The second day was all the more vivid. It started with a performance by Pandit Ullhas Kashalkar. Though I am not the right person to ask about it...as I am not much inclined towards Vocal...but I can definitely say that the people around me enjoyed it to the most. I sat through the performance just waiting for the one performance I had been waiting since my uncle told me about the show. And atlast he came.

As truly said by the hostess, we Indians have the privilege of having two such artists who are not known by their instruments but their instruments are know by them. I was dawned with the privilege of listening to Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma. Everyone just waited for him with an excitement. He took some time to adjust his instument Santoor. Such small instrument and yet so much of sweetness in the sound..its really amazing. Even while he was adjusting it, it was music to my ears. I was wondering if this is so melodious what it will be like when he actually plays it. And it was something out of the world. It seemed to me that the music played by the Harps of the Heaven can not be more melodious. I was taken into a different world. A trance followed it. Time just flew by and my ears were blessed and my senses treated well. Everyone in the hall was just mesmerized and awed by his magic. There was complete silence. All you can hear is the ethereal sound from the Santoor. His hands moved so dexterously over the instrument, it appeared as a sculpture is chiseling the marble. When he finished he got a standing ovation. But the junta got greedy, they wanted more. And so he played Raag Pahadi in the end. I wanted it to be everlasting. But alas, all good things come to an end :(.

Oh my, what a performance it was. I am smitten by his music. The sound of those strings are still echoing inside my mind. I would recommend all of you who love music and melody, to grab a CD of his and experience the best of the best concord. Truly the Indian Heritage and Culture is beyond distinction.