Whiteness

Look up. Look down.

Six months on from the last time I was here ... much has changed.

What gives? Why so scared? Why is change so hard to accept?
Decisions. Some good some bad and some just plain shocking.

The fragility of human relationships ...

... surprises me everyday.

Summer breeze

 

Stories untold and blogs unpublished. Place holder to remind myself.

The killing fields

The water was still and yet just fifteen feet deep at its deep end. The shikara cut through the weeds with the faintest of splashing on the side. Just enough to let you know you're on a lake. A lake in the middle of the city. The touristy bits faced the road - in full view of all who were smitten by the house boat bug. Not me. I wanted to see what life resided behind. 

I took the shikara in the narrow water lanes by the side. Barely squeezing through the weeds and the old dilapitated hutments. The locals sitting quietly in their porches, sipping on hot tea on this cold evening. Little pink-cheeked kids screaming, playing hide and seek, while their mothers pluck supper from their vegetable gardens. Gardens which are in their own backyard - in the middle of the lake. The narrow back alleys were just like ones you'd see in any city - Mumbai, London, New York. The florist, the cafe, the vegetable seller - all in one place. 

The sun was all but gone. The orange hues began invading the skies. The clouds took this opportunity to roll in and make the already perfect scene better still. I asked the man to stop rowing. We were in the middle of the lake. I wanted to capture it, just like any annoying tourist with a camera should. And as I clicked away furiously trying not to miss a single moment, I realised why I was the fool. I put my lenscap back on and lay back. This was not one for the camera. 

I must have been staring at the fading light for a good thirty minutes before I heard another voice to my side. "Sahib, if you're going to be here for more time I suggest you take this. It will keep you warm", said the man handing over an angeethi full of red coal. I looked at him wondering what a life that must be. I thanked him and asked my oarsman to join me around the angeethi. We talked about the golden era when Kashmir regularly had choc-a-bloc streets full of tourists and when Bollywood came calling on a regular basis. The days which earned this valley its moniker of 'Heaven on earth'. How it was revered to be the most beautiful place one had ever seen and how it all has gone sour. He pointed out the structures by the banks where bombs had, at one point or another, razed the structures completely. The streets where day long gun battles had led to mass exodus of the locals. We spoke of the army and what its presence meant to the locals. We spoke of the Kashmiris and why they'd flown. The stories would have taken me months to pen down and years for him to recite. I could feel the lump in his throat and swallowed hard trying foolishly to make it go away. I asked him to take me back. I promised I'd return. Soon.

Kashmir will always be one of the most beautiful places in my heart. I'd seen Scotland at its prettiest and while its no Swiss Alps pretty it is nowhere close to the pristine beauty that is this valley. There is more character at every bend and every little cottage in here than I'd ever seen. 

I vowed to come back. 

A promise I'm yet to fulfill.

A choice is made of free will
Just like the choice to kill
In the speed of a moment
Life stands still now you're standing in my killing field

Resurrect already

Resurrection is not my speciality.
But I think its about time this blog came back to life.

Up and atom!

Coda … revisited

Sometimes memories take you back a long way. This piece, even though thoroughly abused by musicians all around, takes me back a long way – 15 years back.

In memory of all the things we all gave up one by one as we grew up. To all those choices we made and path we carved. Just because we were too lazy, couldn’t stick it out or because we too afraid.

Regrets are not all bad.

Weighty start

The state of affairs are dismal to say the least. I had vowed to put up something here everyday. That was on November 15, 2009. Nine days and one introductory post later all I have managed to achieve is multiple level jumps in Cafe World on Facebook (I detest the hold it has on me) and a whole season of Frasier (I love that show).

Today out of guilt I sat down and downloaded the Windows Live Writer app which makes blogging less tiresome (I hate Picasa’s inability to format properly and the whole business of using Blogger itself is just too much).  WLW has been a good discovery. It lets me do any number of format changes without mucking things up. The plugins are functional too. The picture displayed above was put up using one of them. I never post hyperlinks as much but with this tool its as easy as reading when on the can – multi-talking without knowing it. All in all that is one less excuse I should have for not writing more often.

In other news the Jazz Utsav 2009 was not a complete disaster. Even though the venue was changed from a lovely location by the sea to a closed room - Blue Frog, the music was good enough to keep you entertained. I bet though I would have stayed much longer and enjoyed it more were it at the original venue. Damn the BMC for being their usual stupid self and trying to kill all things culture. This is one of the biggest reasons why I love developed nations more. I feel there are fewer nincompoops there. I’m no saying they aren’t there at all – just fewer. I had planned on getting the entire thing on camera but when I heard it was in Blue Frog I gave up the idea of carrying my camera and this is the best I could do with my phone camera.

Pretty scratchy if you ask me. I would have never put it up were it not for my desire to fill up this space for lack of words :)

That should do it.

Tomorrow then …

Dawn to dusk.

Here's to a new beginning. Let's hope I keep to my resolution of writing everyday for the next 30 days. Well that and exercise everyday. But then we all know how that works out. So buckle up and get ready for a heady ride. There will be much venting and grumbling. There might be some rib poking and definitely a lot of useless droning. Anyhow I know for certain besides one person there isn't anyone who visits this little corner of the web anymore.

So here's to your entertainment ... and my inner Dickens's resurrection.

Six string and a song

My newly acquired six string. No song to play though.

Amelie -ish

I wanted to try to get the effect they used in the movie - Amelie. I dont think I managed to nail it.
I might have come close though :)

40 winks

Coming back to journey that was... meet the second partner on the trip. The sage, the poet and one heck of a driver.
No! I mean it. If I was ever curious about how much fun it would be to ride those scary Chennai or Karnataka buses, I wasnt so much after a ride with him :). No wonder all the motorsport talent is all down south.
Caught him here taking a nap in an Italian restraunt after a hike up Wallace Monument in Stirling. A nap, some yummy pizza, vino and off we went....onwards to search for the Loch Ness monster.

Rescue?

Coffee on 53rd st. in midtown NY. An accidental capture of the funny side of signage.
Perhaps I ought to go back to that city. So much to see ... so little time.
Sigh.
Like always.

Glass eye

Last meal in the Second City.

Anti-mornings

Meet my first fellow traveller - Ms. Shah. Always grumpy in the mornings. A disease even two potent cups from the best beans cant cure. Mornings are just not her thing. Hence all our morning plans almost always got canned or delayed. This however was an exception because we had to set out early on the road. Plus she was granted pardon from driving duties hence the backseat snoring is what she took up - happily.

Morning Ritual

We started early saturday morning. Getting up was one bit but actually lugging our bags out of the rooms to the car rental place was another. This was taken at the 'pit stop' on our way there. Fueling ourselves up before the 8 hour journey to Lake District - the stop for the night. A really nice cafe by King's Cross this, right after Starbucks when you walk up towards the one way street towards Nido. The plan was to hail a cab next to our rental car agency and then kick off.
Ofcourse we were surprised to find that instead of the Ford Mondeo we'd be allotted the Mercedes. We were definately off to a good start then.

Road Trip: The Ride

Trying to link the string of thoughts to the 'Pot of Gold' here. I dont think I'd be able to do justice to the place or the trip that was. Amongst other highlights this was the silver lining. The Mercedes B Class or the rental car we took for the week long road trip from London to Inverness, Scotland. It was spacious and comfortable to say the least. One huge and two normal sized bags and three people. A sun roof and and 1.5L engine. Just enough grunt to take you upto 170 Kph and torquey enough to make the hill climbs a lot of fun.
Although I will perhaps want a convertible the next time around I have to say driving this car for almost 2300Kms was more fun than imaginable. It served well and we even managed a parking ticket :-)

Rick Chocholae Ceke

A certain Mrs. Philips makes one of the most delicious chocolate cakes.
Combining that with Kahlua can make you dyslexic.

Yellow Fever

South Bombayite

And not the good kind :P
Anyhow since this is about my photography and not the subject I'd rate this photo pretty high with a little loss in the shadows. But then I deliberately wanted high contrast and a strong vignette. Pretty old picture. I love going through my pile of stuff.

Double Take

One of the alternative shots. Still working on the Scotland and Chicago snaps.
Between applying to a MBA school and discovering the place I have little time to play with Adobe or Picasa.

Chicago GSB Product

Still experimenting even though I dont post here enough. Here's something I put together quickly. I envisioned the selective desat while composing but I would have liked a little more time to play around a bit. I have a few alternative shots which I will try and put together soon.
Oh and this is with a 55-200 VR ... a lens I borrowed from a friend who moved on to a 18-200 VR. Excellent boken in this lens though its a little slow for my taste. The 18-135 spoils you that way. Though I cant complain about the bokeh... top notch stuff.

Granny

...a.k.a Megha. A pint sized monster. :-)
Well ok... so she's a nice cook and all that. And all grand-motherly, in a nice way :)
A future Wall St. honcho .... cheers to some good rib-poking times :)

Pot of gold

A glimpse of what was that one blissful week in Scotland.

A dream ride

While I have been travelling myself for a while in the past few weeks, keeping this space updated has become a bit difficult. But after looking at this picture I knew I had to put it up as a reminder to myself to live this dream, which my brother did this summer.
He rode to Leh/Ladakh from Delhi on the only bike in India which can do this without any strain. I think this picture defines what its like to travel through those valleys with just your thoughts for company. I am very proud of him because I remember only a few years back when he would take my bike every other week and come back with some dent, scratch, fall ... but this trip for him was without any events at all. It is indeed quite a surprise and definately a first for my brother.
I've been busy discovering the land of scotch whisky and the land of opportunities. Will put up some pictures soon, if nothing else then just as journal entries for nostalgic purposes. (cos I am pretty sure whatever few readers I did have, have left and gone long back :-))

Happy Couple

Well not just yet... but in not too distant a future, they should be.
Cheers to them.

I-spoon

One from the archives. Some people will do anything to avoid being photographed.
This one thought she will try the pirate look.