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....