Candid Camera

That’s right! Candid Camera!

Trying to shake off my laziness to write and trying to get back to blogging. I now have a new camera, a Pentax K-x DSLR, I am at a new location – Syracuse, New York (so no more Taljai photos! ) and I am trying to get a new perspective on life.

This post is dedicated to the candid emotions on faces of the kids in this image. This post is also dedicated to the camera which enabled me to capture these candid emotions! This post is also also dedicated to the fantastic trip I had with my friends!

Taken at Alamo in San Antonio, Texas, this image is one of my favorites from the trip and deserves to celebrate my return to blogging because, I believe I can hardly shoot better than this!

Here’s to my new camera, to these kids, to CHILDHOOD, to my wonderful readers, and to all the people who make my life seem worthwhile!

Nits.

http://www.redbubble.com/swf/slideshow.swf

I came down, got on my bike, and went to the first general store available to buy a pair of Duracells. I am too lazy and many times I have made Taljai plans on runtime, so even if I have rechargeable batteries, I have wasted quite a lot of duracells. I started my small journey uphill to Taljai. As it turns out, I was destined to help people on the day. 2 school boys, about 12 yrs old, waved at me for lift, near sahakarnagar corner. I never stop for giving lift, but this time, I stopped. I reached up. Dropped those boys there and parked my bike. Immediately, it started raining. I took out my raincoat.

Now, this is where I am almost close to completing a full circle. Wearing the raincoat – The point where I will leave it all and would not be here to complete a circle.

January 3, 2010 was my very very first visit to Taljai. It was winter. And I had to wear a sweater after reaching the top! I wanted a fog, but at 7:30am, I was late for that. Taljai was a happy place then. Taljai is a happy place now. 7 months is not a big period for a change. But, each time I visited, Taljai was different. My January visits saw leaves turning yellow. Pathways used to be covered with fallen leaves and it was difficult to chase the peacocks because the leaves on ground would rattle loudly because of my feet.

I first saw a peacock in wide open here at Taljai. That first peacock was busy eating Bhakri pieces the regular Taljai joggers had put there for him. I immaturely ran to him to click his picture and he ran away. Seeing those feet move in a rhythmic way while running was a sight to remember. So remember I do.

One such winter morning, I was going through the jungle and I looked at my right and at  about 20 feet away from me – a peacock was sitting merrily on the branch of a tree! I had hardly seen a peacock on ground and this was one whole peacock on the branch of a tree! This was the first time I cursed my camera for not having enough zoom. He obliged for 2 pictures and then he quietly came down and walked away into deeper jungle. It was like a professional model posing for a click or two and going back to her Caravan as if nothing happened. I was the one who was left awestruck and breathless, and this guy went away calmly.

There have been lot of encounters with peacocks since then. Soon I came to know it is no use chasing them into the woods. So after that, I let their appearance be decided by them. I keep wandering and hearing their high pitched screams. Sometimes I take a turn and they are right on the pathway! Sometimes I am too busy looking at one tree and they pass by the other! It has always been such a pleasure seeing these guys, I let it be a surprise to increase it even more.

Peacocks did not change in any season. They kept showing up in winter, they kept showing up in summer, they keep showing up in rains. It is their playground. And they like to play a lot. But the trees, they have changed a lot. Winter had leaves turning Yellow and falling all over. There were some flowers along the way. Summer had no leaves and flowers were completely out of the question. Now rains have arrived, albeit not so strongly as one would expect. But even this much was enough to bring back all those green leaves and all the flowers at Taljai.

I always had my camera with me at Taljai. There are more Taljai albums in my PC than family albums lately. My orkut and FB accounts too have so much Taljai albums, one was named Taljai, next was Taljai again. Recent album is Taljai Rains. There was ver a day when I did not find any extra ordinary picture opportunity. All albums of Taljai have at least one picture which is completely different than what I have clicked before. Winter was still a beginning phase for me in terms of photography so there were lots of subjects. Summer was a little tough. I even clicked empty branches. But those turned out good. Clicking the Sun through all those branches was also a nice experience. It is raining now, and the drops and the bugs and the fresh green leaves have given me more photo opportunities too. I was happy then, I was happy now. Taljai was a happy place then, Taljai is a happy place now.

This is the last paragraph I wish to write now. I am a very impulsive writer so this article is going on and on, without any precision or writing technique being followed. Many things I might have forgotten, but I am happy to have written down at least the most vivid memories. I have only a month remaining here. I tried not to get attached with things to avoid complications. At this moment, a lump in my throat proves that I have failed to keep myself away from attaching myself to a place. I want to come back here. As I leave for US, my parents might be shifted out of Pune. Next year, I will not have a HOME in Pune. But I want to come back to Pune. This little Hillock called Taljai will make me come here. I’m sure of completing a circle

Garlands...

Location : Mahaganapati Temple, Ranjangaon.

Please comment whether you like it or not.

Warmth

Yesterday a friend of mine asked, “How can you find new images on same location?”

This photo above, take at Taljai comes from my latest visit there and it has been more than 10 visits now. It is not a small garden by any means. There are lots of trees and lots of leaves and flowers and birds. I believe all of them are different. I just keep looking for the beauty and I click as I find it. This photo here, I found the rays were caressing the young leaves smoothly and the leaves too were enjoying the warmth. A perfect scene you can see in morning!

Because of photos like these, I believe I can find new pics even in my 100th visit there.

3 books

I used to live 35km away from my work place. Sometimes I complained, sometimes I enjoyed it, but now that I don’t do that journey any more, the memories of my bus journey to and from the company haunt me the most.

This write-up is not about those journeys. I do have a lot to write about those journeys but not today. There are too many things in my mind waiting to jump on the paper, I find myself unable to organize their flow. So, I won’t venture in that territory much. But then why did I start by mentioning the bus journeys if I do not want to talk about them? What do I want to talk about then? I want to talk about the books I read. I want to talk about particularly those books which have made a strong impression in my mind about them. And in those bus journeys, I have read most of these books. These books have captivated me so much during the journeys, I used to forget about the sleep I did not have last night. At night, I would do all sorts of time pass and would count on the 1 hour sleep in bus to complete my quota of sleep. But, these books in my hand would make me forget about completing the quota.  I used to curse the driver for driving too fast and reaching the company 5 minutes early sometimes.

Okay, so after much said, let me start telling you the things which I actually want to share. As I said, I read many interesting books in the bus. All having different subjects, different stories, different characters, and yet, today I find them all connected. I want to talk about 3 books in particular – “To kill a mockingbird”, “Curious incident of the dog in the night time” and “The Rainbow Singer”.

What is common in all of them? Is it their fame? No. Mockingbird is a classic. Curious incident has won an award, but it is not even a Bestseller. The Rainbow Singer won’t even be found on the book stands. Is it their target audience? Not at all. Mockingbird was favored by much matured readers who had read big names before. Curious incident is a book which looks like targeted at teenagers. The Rainbow Singer is also for matured readers but for those who have not read the big names before. All these books are written in first person. All these books have the protagonist who is a child with an average age of 13. Their authors relied on simple language and effective dialogues, rather than complicating the things. Their authors have all probably had a history somewhat similar to the protagonists of these novels.

This is not meant to be a critique or a review of either of these books. This is just what I thought when I read them. Thoughts are random and sometimes you will feel I am not even making sense. But the urge of writing it all down is overpowering me at the moment.

Let’s talk about To Kill a Mockingbird. Quite an intriguing title to start with! But a fitting title indeed. Scout Finch, is hardly 6 years old girl who likes to read but hates the school. Harper Lee the author has made this little girl talk and describe the things as she sees with her tiny 6 yr old eyes. When I really got into this book, as soon as I opened the pages, the entire Maycomb village would appear in front of my eyes and I could see all the characters while reading their dialogues. It was always an amazing feeling. I read most of it in morning Bus, and all those mornings were lovely. Never mind how much cribbing and complaining went on after that in office, but the mornings were as pleasant as they can get. A few months after I completed reading, I downloaded the movie. Just like the book, the movie To Kill a Mockingbird is also a classic. Gregory Peck has acted beautifully indeed in the role of Scout’s father. Scout is not exactly how I imagined her, but not bad also. Still, I did not like the movie. Movies are not made in first person completely. This one was not at all in first person. Movies are compressed. It is a challenge to fit all those pages in a 2 hour movie. But, in doing so, movie never goes as deep as the book manages to. As a reader, you have had long relation with the book and you cannot feel that relation with the movie. So, the film did not impress me much, but the book still makes me nostalgic.

Now moving to the book with even more peculiar title – Curious Incident of the dog in the night time. Written in first person, from the point of view of a young boy who is suffering from Autism. The book is not about that dog that got killed. The book is not meant for teenagers at all, in my opinion. You might feel it is a children’s book if you look at the front cover. Also, try skipping through the pages, and you can see that the novel is written in big font and pictures and caricatures and child like drawings and mathematical equations are scattered all around the book. You might think otherwise but believe me, with all these strange things coming together, this boy Christopher, and ultimately the writer Mark Haddon, both make sense. I started reading the book and after first few chapters, I thought it is a comic novel. After some more chapters, I thought it is about adventures of a mentally challenged boy. But it is nothing like that at all. In the end, this novel made me feel sad. It moved me so much in the end, I had to restrict myself from crying as I was in bus. After ending also, the book and the characters refused to leave my thoughts for many days. Now, this book makes for a very good film story, but no one has found it yet.  A film came few days later, named My Name is Khan. After hearing it is on Autism, I wanted to give it a try even though it is SRK-KJ combo. But I did not and I am glad it is not a film based on this book. Maybe if by remotest of chance I become a movie maker, I will chose this book for my first film.

Coming to the third novel – The Rainbow Singer. This is not a famous novel. I had no reason to buy it. Still, I did. For just 100 rupees. There are few buildings on JM road which have book festivals going on almost permanently. They keep new books and old books all the same. These festivals do not have the lavish interiors and the genre-wise sorted racks of books like Crosswords or Landmark. It is mostly a sea of books and you have to dive in to find pearls in it. That day, I found a pearl named “Train to Pakistan”. But it was very small book so I searched for something more. I found this hardbound Rainbow Singer lying around. By appearance, by the excerpt written on its back page, by its utterly Second hand looks, the book was not appealing in any sense. Still I bought it as it seemed like a good deal to get 2 books for a nothing cost. It was destiny which made me chose this pearl. But, after buying it, I completed Train to Pakistan immediately and this book went in my rack and remained there for 1 year. I took this out after my GRE when I did not want to spend for new books and instead wanted to read whatever that was available at home. Again a novel written in first person, and the protagonist here is a 14 year old boy named Wil Carson. Now, this boy is not mentally challenged, but this boy is not normal. I don’t know about Ireland’s history much, but author Simon Kerr does not make feel the need of it. Wil Carson is the most notorious child I have read. He joins the terrorist group at the age of 14 and hates catholics to the core. He is not a loveable child at all. This book does not amuse you page by page. But, it does disturb you more and more, page by page. Entire novel is very disturbing. The last few pages of this novel reach the peak. As I finished reading, I felt I am going in depression. It was a complete shock. This book will wash out all your conventional thoughts about a child. I like this book very much. Even after being so much disturbing, this book gave me an unexpected joy! This unexpected joy can only be compared with the joy I had when I watched Munnabhai MBBS! I had not seen trailers of Munnabhai but who would have thought a Sanju baba film will be this great? Lagey Raho was expected to be fine and so it was, but MBBS was never expected to be fine. Still, it was not only fine, it was great! Same thing is with this book The Rainbow Singer. It is written powerfully and conveys the emotions of the boy very well. It has well defined story line and everything is perfect for me. Still, it is very disturbing. Worth reading again and again and worth the joy of being disturbed by literature of such quality. I am still searching if anyone has made a movie of it. Indeed a movie material and if a movie is made, it will be very controversial. Now some critics have compared this with a book named “Catcher in the Rye”. I want to read it as well. It is alleged that John Lennon’s killer had copy of Catcher in the Rye in his hands when he killed Lennon. It is alleged that the killer had started believing he was living in the book. I just want to check whether Catcher is really that much captivating.

Well, this is going on and I have written quite a lot. Trigger to write all this is a fourth novel – Forrest Gump. Again, written in first person. Starts when Forrest is a child. So far, very good. But I have seen the film first and the comparison is obvious. Novel is a lot different than the movie. While reading Forrest Gump, I came to know my real liking – first person novels. A novel that is not necessarily following a genre. So I remembered all these 3 novels and I could not stop writing. I recommend all these books to you. I have tried not to give away the story of either of the book so I hope your interest will remain intact. Read this article, but don’t get influenced by it and make your own opinion.

Caped Crusader

I confess first and foremost. My camera is tiny and the fly you can see here is even tinier. I did not see it. I did not see the fly and did not click the photo to catch this fly.

This is one of those lucky shots. I aligned my camera to get a macro of all the leaves which were wet because of a powerful sprinkler running crazy around the corner at Katraj Snake Park. I thought I could capture the drops. After clicking also, it looked OK on my camera’s LCD panel. But I saw this fly only when I transferred the photos on my computer. The photo spoiler had become the photo enhancer.

I like being honest. Otherwise this photo will go down as a mistake. Had I seen the fly beforehand, I would have focused on the fly and not the middle of the leaf. The fly would have featured in the centre of the frame rather than in the top half, which has actually flouted the thumb rule in photography.

Nevertheless, this image is good enough for me as it is different and a good learning for me as well.

Restricted Growth

I don’t like flash. It kills a photo. But there is always an exception and that is this photo here. Flash was ON when I clicked it. I cursed myself, turned the flash off and clicked the same thing again 3-4 times. I could not believe it. The light was low, and without flash I was getting shaky pictures. I checked the Flash version again. The subject was sharper, well illuminated and I had a black background as well. There were less distractions. I was amazed. The fencing is also well lit, and the reflections do not play a spoilsport here.

A better camera would have given me an even more sharper picture, but this is still good enough. I am proud of my camera and I will always be. It is my first camera, so much easy to use, and takes water drops on its face without damaging itself. A light rain does not affect it much.

A better camera, my dream and my need… both! When will I have it? I hope its soon.

Summer Rains...

And it rains in Pune,

On7th May…

A simple shot taken at my home of the Abolee flowers, lovely as always they are, and now ornate with these little droplets.

I go beyond...

This is very typical of the Sun. Probably the most dedicated worker! The Sun always has such a quiet day in office. There are no obstacles in his path, and the petty affairs of human beings do not deter him.

The Sun rises, at his allotted office hours each day, serves for whole time till Sunset without taking a break and at the end of the day, turns the lights off, leaves all the worries on the desk, and goes beyond… Let’s not get scientific here and say, although Sun completes his hours at one place, his working hours start again at other place almost immediately. But, it is because of the Sun, that humans have had their working hours defined. Of course some organizations will not agree with it so they will bring a Global Delivery Model and will want their employees to work more than the Sun. But they should not feel overworked, because when they rest on weekends, then also, the Sun is working! Is there a Sunday for the Sun? never…

(PS : Am I getting too childish with my posts lately? I just cannot come up with a title and the text. It is becoming harder. I want to work on my write ups and avoid being childish… Please bear with me!)

Come out of the shadow

We never think who is living under  a shadow and who is not. We never think the one who is living under someone’s shadow likes it or not.

In case of this shot though, the 5 green ones thought they had enough of the shadow. They wanted their Sun. They decided to rebel. The tree’s shadow could not stop them now and the Sun was just inches away. One by one, the leaves started to come out of the black blanket and look around. A rebellion is started by them, to come out of the Shadow. But it is summer and the Sun is not really kind to those who forget that cover of a Shadow was for their own good.