The Wedding Collection...

My ol'time buddy/bench mate got hitched a few days ago. We had a good time roaming around the popular east Godavari areas (or may be it was west, Im still confused!). Palakollu, Rajolu, Bhimavaram, Antharvedi and thats all. We just had one day and one of the guys bailed so only two of us remained. I was a bit lost and disappointed for the other guy who couldnt make it. I tried my hand at the wedding collection and got a few keepers. Check 'em out at my picasaweb. Also got some regular stuff done at the beach photography and of course couldnt forget my signature shot!

PS: The Girl w Dragon Tattoo releasing today! I wish I was in US for the FDFShow!! BTW Awesome photography on the posters etc. http://www.dragontattoo.com/site/

The Rabbit Hole...

About a little shy of two months ago we bought a pair of little cute furry friends. After a long discussion of coming up with names for our friends we decided on calling them Pam and Andy(short for Anderson..!!). They were lovely and we had a lot of fun playing with them. One day Andy was lying flat which is not how they sleep. So I looked into the cage and could say that he was struggling to get up. We got scared and tried to give him some water but nothing happened. He breathed his last in my hands. Unfortunately we could'nt find a reason for why this happened so suddenly. We bought another pair and two days later it happens again. The second pair was there for a month. It gave us all a lot of joy to see them run around in the hall and kitchen and chew away our onion stock and run towards us, really cute. Three days ago one of them died in the middle of the night just after we gave them a few bites of carrot. Poor fellow! Still puzzled with what was going on, we did not have heart to face any more incidents and returned the last one to the pet shop. We searched for an isolated place and dug a hole through stones n bricks to bury the dead rabbit. Couldn't imagine even in dreams that I would do something like this with something so cute.....
            I was thinking of sharing some fun stuff that we did with them all these days and now it had to be The Rabbit Hole. What a "nice" way to restart my blog, huh!

Office Space..

Ooty Contd...
One thing that comes to mind when we hear Ooty is the tea plantations spread several miles across the region.    And a must see place when in Ooty is the TEA FACTORY/Museum. Visitors can get a glimpse of the whole tea making process right from the freshly plucked leaves to the fully packaged powder. So, while going around the factory/museum there were several stalls selling chocolates, leather goods, tea ( of course!) and an empty office that caught my attention. I felt very jealous of the person who works there. As you can see its on top of a hill over looking the valley directly with glass walls around. I wonder how any one can go out for a break, but somehow there was nobody there. May be the position is vacant, I should have asked some one for the application process. Damn it!
Man, that was some office space. I would definitely want one.

YES. We Recycle!

In the summer of 2009 one of my friends called me and told that he has decided to GO GREEN. I jumped at the idea and we started discussing how important it is that we take responsibility for saving the environment at least now. The idea of going Green has become more ubiquitous than ever and becoming a part of it seemed like better-late-than-never. I then started telling how the basic steps that we can do in our daily routine like separating garbage into organic and inorganic wastes can save a lot of time and energy for recycling. We then discussed about the plastic bags, pet bottles, garbage bins, global warming, ozone layer, weather changes, ice berg drifting in Atlantic, toxic dump in pacific, the oil spills and....
         He said he needed me to help him recycle some stuff and of course in the next scene I was on my way to his place. All my excitement for saving the planet got busted when I saw around 200+ bottles of almost all brands of beer available in the city ready to be sold/recycled. We had to rent a rickshaw to move 'em all . PHEW!

PS:We got enough money to start the cycle of recycling!!

Over the Top...

I was on a South India tour back in 2000 when my Dad and his colleagues planned a 13 day road trip along with families. When we reached this place it was around 7 in the morning with slight drizzles and an unending line of vehicles parked on the road. The previous night due to heavy storms a tree had fallen and blocked the main road. Needless to say, we spent the whole day in the parked bus and it was 8pm by the time we reached the place on top of the hills. As if that was not enough, the whole place was dark due to a major power cut. We found only one shop open with candle lights inside. All of us went in eagerly and everyone bought something there, with a common intention, that when we get back we can tell people that we visited this place and in fact bought something there. We left from there with out a view or a picture of the place.
         If you are still wondering, its a famous hill station called Udhagamandalam A.K.A Ooty. My second visit there happened 3 weeks ago with my sister's family. We spent 3 days hiking a lot of locations. The highlight of the trip was a place called Suicide Point (no, not the one in the picture above! Come on..!!) and the Toy Train (your trip is incomplete without it). When we came back I found my 16GB card had around 1800 photographs from the trip. So, let me say it once again....STAY TUNED!

Last But One... [Guest Post]

Desire is the only constant in life. Right from the time we start knowing about what desire is, we keep chasing it in one form or the other. As long as we were in school, we wanted to get to college. As long as those boring intermediate classes never ended, we had only one final wish in this life, to get a good rank. After the results are announced we realize that our final wish was actually "last-but-one" and the last wish is to get a seat in a good university/college. We slowly learn that the process repeats every semester with a consistent desire being, "if only I clear all of them this time". We become a bit enlightened after graduation, coz its time to face the real world and start some actual learning. Now the desire becomes solid and also final, to get a job, 'thats it, Im settled for life', we decide. The good news is we get a job. The not so good news is its not final. Then comes the various troubles in the name of performance, reviews, projects, perks, team leaders, project managers, meetings, conference calls, misdirected career path and other fancy corporate terms that I forgot a while ago. My very dear friend Md. Eliyas reminded me of all these and explained it visually in this mashed-up photo depicting his current status at work. Seems like he has a lot on his mind and his plate (Welcome to the corporate world my friend). Just remember whatever desire you have its not going to be the last. Its always last but one.
                Lets all wish him luck and hopefully the photo gets less crowded soon, so we can see the original awesome photo.

india [LIVE].................(Guest Post)

Chances are you might have been outside of your home/house/shelter/apartment/building at midnight on 30th March 2011. You might have fired crackers though its not Diwali yet and its scorching summer time. And also chances are that you'll remember this night for a long time to come. Coz, thats the night when INDIA came out together in unison chanting prayers and cheering a national spirit in the name of victory against our arch-nemesis PAKISTAN at the game of cricket. Even people who are not fans of cricket (yours truly) had a blast of excitement that night on the streets. I heard that tankbund and necklace road were filled with around 10000 fans with flags, DJ, bands and just about 50 police personnel. No harm done, no one hurt, no non-sense, just pure performance, in having fun together. I've never seen any festival being celebrated at this proportion, perhaps the greatest display of national integration. We won the semis in a high octane chase that as reported by the media resulted in thousands of crores of rupees transactions in the name of betting and indefinite bottles of Budweiser in the name of cheering as reported by our maid the next morning. Anyways so my friend Prakash sent me this photo that he took with his new Sony Cybershot. He had a lot of other great photos on that but come on, INDIA doesnt come out at midnight everyday!

PS: Almost forgot, the match, tomorrow, finals, ...SRI LANKA, Dhak Dhak GO, INDIA GO!!

WALL "Quoster"

When was the last time you saw a good quotation, or any quotation and tried to remember it later ? Well, for me it was two days ago when I walked into an office with a friend and saw this interesting look. The walls were posted with all sorts of motivational quotes. Some of them were pretty interesting. Some one surely had a great hand writing. From what I can remember and figure out after zooming 100% into this picture, here are a few gems...

Anything worth doing, is worth overdoing! 


Great minds discuss ideas,
Average minds discuss events,
Small minds discuss people. 


Try everything, because the real 
secret of success and innovation is in
failing fast!


There are two ways to live life. One is as if nothing 
is a miracle and the other is, as if 
everything is a miracle...


Every job is a self portrait of the person who did it.


Dont let the littleness in others bring out the littleness in you.


If you know how to swim, it doesnt matter how deep the water is.


If you set the example, you wont need to set many rules..


BTW can you guess what kind of office is this.


PS: Just finished my first AVID project. Check it out at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PlMwum3MyE

Not Enough Time?....[Guest Post]

Its been exactly a year that I started the Guest Post feature on my blog when my friend Raju(who also got married last month..!!) sent me a nice photo of his car's odometer reading all sixes. Anyways, that was the first and this here is the second from our second guest Sathish Krishna. Sathish is a 3D animator and has worked in several films in the CG department. Now a days he is walking on the streets with a Canon 5D Mark II hanging around his neck. Check out his Flickr.
     I had a lot of instant thoughts when I saw this photo. The first two words that came up were Time Management. This is the one factor in my life that I have been chasing for as long as I can remember. Never had enough time for anything prospective or/and productive. Infact this factor alone drove me to start my first blog, Delayed On Time! which of course hasnt seen any updates since (lemme check, one second..).......... yeah, Jan 2011. No matter how "perfectly" we manage time, we still get attracted to books on the topic, articles in the paper, online posts etc. Time Management is and will remain an unsolved mystery. On a positive note think about this interesting line that I read somewhere recently..."A busy man will always have time for everything but a lazyman will never have time for anything."

PS: Lets continue the GP saga atleast once a month. You know what to do.

All in One.

Last week I went to my MOM's native place PARIGI. My uncle wanted to make a trip to the places that he walked as a child. So, apart from the final destination, we also visited a few other small villages nearby. He became very nostalgic and so did me and my cousins, though we dont recall having seen these places before. We stopped at a village called Aloor to see the Hanuman temple that my mama used to visit as a kid. After searching for a while and asking around we found it...completely remodeled from what my mama recalled. Just nearby the temple was a school which was even more surprising. Well, you can see why. Yeah, thats the whole of it. Its very sad to see the conditions of schools in villages if at all there is one. All we could do was to just laugh it off. In fact most of us would, what a shame! We could have done something, at least for the single reason that the village belonged to our parents. But, NO! Who would take additional responsibilities when all the burdens are already on our shoulders or (on a second thought) are they? Really, r e a l l y think about it once.
     On a lighter note, next time you face some one spelling M I D I U M, he might as well be from ALOOR.

Me Two...

At last. I think the best shot I ever took. Hanging from the railing, balancing my camera on one hand and trying to click with the other, it was a long wait before I could take a few shots and only one turned out to be postable. I have been watching the bird and its nest for a few days now and only today I heard the kids. We watch NGC, Discovery and Animal Planet for about a few minutes or hours (if you are me) and without a moment's thought about how they made those programs we click back to our regular soaps, gossips, nuisance I mean news etc.  Little do we notice what the people behind those programs had to go through to get it. Well for one thing they had to wait, for hours, days, weeks and sometimes months. Remember, "Everything comes to those who wait". However some people get lucky on just a regular tourist safari, like Jason here. Amazing how nature unveils its colors.

PS: Another great channel that I discovered lately is Discovery Science (with the "Sc" logo). Best way to spend time for TV. Check it out.

Thundering Stones

My first train journey was in 2003 (though my MOM claims it was when I was 3) when me and my gang decided to make a trip somewhere and none had any experience. So the safest bet was Tirupati. That trip was very memorable especially to the end when we were saved from a major accident. Details coming soon, stay tuned. Anyways, from then on I made several train journeys and almost all of them passed through a town called Piduguralla. I used to wonder what on earth happens in a place that means thundering stones. Last week I boarded a train and my destination was Piduguralla. My friend Venu who's from that place got married (damn!! all of them are getting hitched this year) and I finally visited this passing town. I did not get much time in exploring the well known lime stone mines but had a great time at the wedding. The most memorable was ofcourse the first time General Compartment experience, on both ways for different reasons.

PS: Almost forgot, this one was at the station PGRL while waiting for the Janmabhoomi Express!

T I R U P A T I

I think the concept of standing-in-queues started from here at Tirupati. Well, I'll agree queue for dharshanam, but holy cow even for buying plastic bags for the famous laddus there are several counters hidden behind each queue. OMG!! Of course this is not new for me, but what caught my attention was the countless marriages that were taking place on that day (feb 13th). I have only heard of marriages at Tirupathi before, but now I can claim having seen several of them on a single day. After standing for about two hours in line for getting a glimpse of lord Venkateshwara's splendidly decorated idol from fifty feet before being dragged away by women in uniforms shouting "kadalandi, jaragandi, dandam pettukondi.." and then trying to push to avoid getting squeezed among floating people in yet another queue to reach the "hundi", we finally made it to a restaurant for lunch. Hoping to relax and eat something at last, we stepped in only to further our queue marathon. There were people waiting beside each table so that they can get seated after those who finished. It was like a competition or may be another meaning of "self-service". For a second I thought of running out, but then I realized we were in TIRUMALA and nothing happens here unless you follow the queue. I tried to bribe a waiter to get us a table since we had kids and a senior citizen with us. It dint work. We waited and got seated. Even this wasnt the irony for me. The biggest bummer I saw that day was a newly wed couple waiting to get a seat. I felt sad that on the most important day in their lives, they had to go through this. I obviously couldnt give them mine, because they needed two together. They'll surely remember the troubles of marriage and how it all started!

PS: Going back again this weekend, for a second time this month. Wish me smaller Queues!!

Beach Night

I was in Chennai last week. The first day itself I ran to the beach in the evening with my camera and got some really great shots. I always missed capturing the night sky with regular digital cameras that I had earlier. With changing ISO and Apertures on my SLR I shot a few bright shots that appear to be taken in the dawn, my sister couldnt believe it. I was planning on shooting some short film kind of video on the beach but just killed time trying to script out something. Gotto do it next time, oh yeah Im going back again next week, so may be, may be. By the way the best thing so far this week is I finally got my permanent driving license, though I was not excited about it. Coz I learned that having a four wheeler license means its inclusive of two wheeler license is not common sense, its lack of sense. Which ofcourse is non-sense, I mean I learned it that way. Had I ticked one more option(Motor Cycle with Gear) I wouldnt have to worry about booking another date and taking my bike, not to forget the helmet which otherwise renders one ineligible for the test!  Anyways good news is I dont have to take the computer test again, it'll be just the track. We'll see when that happens, if at all....

Anchoring....

 

I saw the BEACH for the first time on my life-changing trip 10 years ago. It was in Chennai and over the years I have visited many beaches and even now when I touch that wet sand, I still have the same excitement with in me. When I stand in line where I see land on one side and water on the other, that beach line seems to be the dividing point. Half the world on my left (or back depending on how I position myself) and the other half on the right(or front..), half completely solid land and half completely with water, half where I can run walk, live and explore and half dangerously powerful and yet tempting to be explored. Its very exhilarating to stand at the point that makes sure both the land and the water dont cross each other. So, if land and water are so powerful in their own way, imagine how much powerful the Beach is, anchoring both and Im standing on it. Its almost like Im in the Space! Wonder how that would be like....

Why Google's Street View is not available in India yet...

I have found a great number of interesting things that work in the States and some how are not feasible here. MapQuest caught my attention when I was still new to US. At that time I, like any newbie, used to compare each and everything from the two worlds. Some how the idea of having all the geographic information of a city or state online was amazing to me, and also it occured to me that it wouldnt quite work for India, well you know why. I mean I myself get confused sometimes when I find a new building in place of a road that was there a month ago. Well, it might be a while before solid(read permanent) streets and roads are laid out which might be you know, a while. Until then hang on to your phones and random pedestrians for Street View in India!

Enter the "DRAGON"

Hey a quick thought to ponder on....can you guess how many times we press the "Enter" button in a day? You wont believe if I tell you. Dont bother about the number, but try to ponder about the significance of doing that. Well, as I tend to think, we spend too much time at it. Not that its absurd, but actually it is. Just think otherwise and you can find many things you could do that dont have to be in front of your work station. I know there are (too many) people who make a living, practically living in front of their computer. But at the end of the day these are all there just to help us "LIVE" the life comfortably, but we are finding comfort in using them and loosing track of the larger picture. May be we can start by spending a little time in doing things like having actual conversations with friends and family or playing a game of shuttle with our colleague or take out that rusty bicycle and go for a ride or climb a local hill or go for an evening walk till the farmers market and pick up some farm fresh fruits & vegetables and on the way back visit a temple for some pleasant ambience and.......or..........the list is endless. So, how about for a change you try these incase you havent already....
PS: Dont forget to check this blog though, before you go to bed!

Bull's Eye!.......Just missed!!

As a kid I was always fascinated by anything sharp and deadly like arrows, guns, knives youknowwhatImean? I dont know whats that abnormal phobia(trust me, its not philia!) called. At that time many of my friends including my brother too were like that. We used to make darts with a needle, four match sticks and a rubber band back in high school. To add the the gliding effect, paper cuttings were used to use as fletching. Then we upgraded to ball pen refills and so on. After about a decade I found the safest option for my craze : "The Magnetic Dart Board". It was back when I was in Omaha when I first bought it and my roomies liked me more than ever. I mean I also bought a case of beer with it which might have something to do with their sudden affection. We had a lot of fun with the board and I brought it with me when I moved back. Those were some great times back in Omaha.

'WALL'aikum Assalam!

In Brief, about a year ago, government decided to demolish the famous age old "Moula Ali Kamaan", as it was not safe for the busy and congested traffic underneath. Obviously the local religious groups disagreed and both groups had several discussions and meetings. One morning when I was driving that way, I had to apply sudden breaks with awe to see a WALL raised overnight. Someone has truly said, "Where there is a will, there is a....W A L L!!".(That someone might as well have been a local here..). The last I heard, the wall will be there until the arch is refurbished and the roads layed on either sides, which means the wall will become famous too. Neverthless for over a year, rest of the people have been following the "actual" quote by finding a way around the walls to commute.

10 Ten 10

The first sms that I got this year has something interesting about dates that this year we will have 1-1-11, 11-1-11 and 11-11-11. Ofcourse the timings on the respective days at one point will also read 1:1:1 blah blah blah. Okay, so what! Ever since this decade started the whole drama with the dates emerged starting with the controversy about when actually the millenium starts, from 2000 or 2001. I remember one of my professors telling about half an hour that we could see something that day which comes only every thousand years. Yeah, it was 20th February, 2002 at about 20:02. Hmm, really? I normally dont believe in this stuff but from 2006 it became very public about the repeating numbers in dates. Surprisingly(read stupid), I bought the idea and had some big plans on 9-9-9 and I bet most people have had, as 9 seems to be a special number for half of the worlds population. Alas, it was gone even before I woke up from my "rest-after-you-return-to-home-country" period.  Neverthless the thought remained and last year on 10th October I convinced my team and we started working on our first animated short film. For that we needed some random footage and photographs in the city and outskirts. We found some beautiful places on location scouting, like the one above. The project got shelved after a few sessions of work. Hope it'll see light soon....er!

On location...

Place: Araku Valley, Vishakhapatnam

Time: About 11 in the morning

Altitude: About 2000 ft above ground

Item : RED 4K Camera hanging at the tip of a Jimmy Jib

Well, as some of you know that I have been sort of working(unofficially) for films from last year. Being a data manager I had to be there on location everyday they shoot and make sure that the recorded data is safe guarded, backed up for recovery, yada yada yada, since it was a digital movie. With the emergence of RED 4K last year many films have opted for it especially because of its low production cost, though some camera professionals are not quite satisfied with its lattitude and focal speeds. RED is more an option based on the subject rather than the cost, but who cares in telugu film industry about subjects! All they are concerned about is how far they can tailor the script to suit the traditional formula. My favorite project so far hasnt seen the light of the day though it started almost a year ago because of its experimental nature. GAGANAM is one digital film that Im looking forward to this year which has many creative aspects regarding the camera work, thanks to K V Guhan, the well known DOP of films like Athadu, Jalsa etc. and his team headed by Arun who actually dragged me into films. BTW my favorite director David Fincher made "The Social Network" on RED 4K. And he has already started shooting for his next big movie, "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo". Wonder if its digital too(doesnt imply just RED, as ALEXA is on the loose now..).

NYE in SMC at SCBD

As usual in search of variety, this time it was about where to welcome the new year (cant believe its already there!). After dropping a friend at jaw dropping speeds from Tarnaka to Secunderabad to catch a train just in time, we still had an hour before the midnight event. Just traced the roads for half an hour shouting new year wishes to random pedestrians and traffic police(ya right!) we decided to stop at St. Mary's Church. I caught a glimpse of the Holy Mary statue from outside the gate hundreds of times while going that way and was amazed at the beauty of the colossal sculpture. And now I finally made it to the other side of the gate at quarter before midnight on New Years Eve. It was amazing with huge crowds singing gospels(I think) and priests performing the ceremony which was quite similar to the hindu worship at temples. We left the place at half past midnight, came home, saw "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" movie (swedish) and hit bed at 5....Happy New Year Folks!!