Help?

I am facing a "writers block" since 2-3 months. Not able to keep up with he pace and caught up with many things on different fronts. For the first time in teh history of my blogging I missed a month of no posts in this blog of mine.

Any suggestions to over come writers block?!

Of mountains and valleys

On the same front...

Was explore more on flickr over the weekend and came across flickr river. Checkout my images here.

That apart nothing much of an update. Haven't gone out since three weeks for one or the other reasons. Either the weather is not aiding me in taking my camera out or am sick and slowly recovering from bad cold. Will think about some meaningful post sometime soon.

Image Stream

Yep! I was passionate about photography and wildlife and now I am obsessed!! I just realised how much I missed on Flickr front. Never thought of using it before and another very good friend of mine who is also a passionate software pro turned photographer just introduced me to this addiction.

Decided to have foot prints of my image-stream even here. Check it out!

Sunday - Sept 9 2007

Its time to complete the travelogue. Don't know why I started to procrastinate things. But, then again, not as an excuse, am tied up with many things, including temporary lazyness!

Body was aching to the core but I was enjoying every moment of it. After having dinner served by Prashanth's mom, which was a bliss, just before we hit the bed we decided to get up early and hit the roads early. I know getting up is a pain for fellow friends, but, you need to be a bird for birdwatching and there is no short cut to birding and hardwork :). Reached kukkarahalli lake at 6:30. Brahminy kites welcomed us. Raptor early in the morning has always been a lucky charm for us. We spent some 30 minutes here making images of Swamphen, White brested kingfisher. We also spotted and enjoyed the song of ashy.

We decided to goto lingambudhi lake from here and reached the place by 7:45 A.M. This habitat totally rocks. We met none other than the most affable fellow member of INW, Mr. Kulashekara and boy-a-boy, he is an awesome person with utmost simplicity and down to earth attitude. Photo shoot for couple of hours was a real treat here. Red rumped swallow, coucal, ashy prinias, spot billed pelicans, common coot, spot billed ducks, Coppersmith Barbet, spotted dove, Indian cormorant is all we spotted here. Ain't this habitat rich! And ofcourse loads of butterfly activity at 9:30 AM itself.

We had a heavy brunch at Prashanth's place and left for Bangalore ottally exhausted. Full credits again to Anil for driving all teh way through the trip. One of the best birding trips that we had so far!

Saturday - Sept 8 2007

It all started post lunch on wednesday, last week, when my friend Prashanth started to crib that in more than 4+ years of our friendship, I haven't visited his place even once. I told him, I will let him know latest by Thursday. Immediately, I called up Anil and enquired about his availability for a trip to Mysore.

We started to cruise along the Bangalore-Mysore highway around 6:30 AM and just as when I spotted a black shouldered kite perched on an electric pole. Anil was cruising along the highway and I shouted - B.S.Kite! But then we had almost zipped passed through it. I just said to myself - "Lucky Charm" early in the morning, a beautiful raptor. By 7 we were almost birding around Bangalore outskirts. Yes its indeed was an awesome day. All three of us thoroughly enjoyed birding around Bangalore outskirts making wonderful images of Bee Eaters to starling to mynahs to robins. It was almost 9:30 and we were running out of energy. We decided to hit the road again.

Previewing each others images and talking about how it could be better composed and presented we reached Prashanth's place by 11:15. Awesome steaming bisibelebath greeted us. Thanks to Prashant's mom who took great pains in cooking such wonderful meals for us throughout the trip. Mysore was a little on humid side and we charged our batteries, backedup all our images on our iPOD and headed for Karanji lake around 2:00. As we entered Karanji undergrowth was awesome and canopy coupled with puffy clouds started to give us a feeling that we will have an amazing light for the evening. Making few images of whistling ducks and spotbilled ducks, we enjoyed the rocketting flights of Indian Cormorants and spot billed pelicans. We spotted 4 Brahminy kites wonderfully perched on a treetop and a Grey Heron. Just as when we proceeded further, flight of black headed ibis with a wonderful back lighting captivated our attention.

As Prashanth and Anil made some awesome images, I was struggling to get atleast one decent image of Black headed ibis in flight with fanned out wings beautifully lit against the back lighting. 45 minutes passed by and still no images of ibis. Looking at the alter egos getting frustrated, I had to giveup with a heavy heart and proceed further. An intermediate egret captivated our attention few meters away and we looked up and phew! Tons of black headed ibis'. We almost sat there with tripod stretched clicking to glory! Finally came a black headed ibis at a distance as I locked the focus and tripped the shutter and the jinx was broken. We made tonnes of images of Ibis and after a small stint at butterfly park, we almost were drained out of fuel and wanted to call it a day. Savoring Nandini pista flavored milk, we said to ourselves - it was a "Blissful" day!

Last but not the least, Mysore rocks in all respects. Zero traffic hazzles, warm people and wonderfully closer to mother nature makes this place an awesome "adda" for us!

For Day two experience...stay locked on the page :). Latest images of the trip can be viewed and critiqued HERE.

Update

Since I returned to India I am learning lot many things on different fronts. Be it better time management, be it photography, be it something about environment, be it technology, any damn thing under the sun. Leaving everything, there are only 2 things that I am working hard on. One - my tech career and two - birds and wildlife photography.

Monsoon break even is awesome and its beautifully green mother earth now! Its getting so very addictive spending time in the field, clicking, post processing, catching up with friends and of course networking with new people on photography front. I started to think that I am atleast couple of years behind in terms of what I should have already learnt in terms of photography and wildlife. Not looking back, I am working harder in field which is giving me atmost satisfaction and happiness.

I was out on field for long hours over the weekend and I am back in office. I will start posting the images from today. Also, am planning to write few things about last couple of trips and what has drastically changed. Am also planning to document the trips along with the birds that we have spotted which involves recording the birds' activity in and around Bangalore and Mysore along with my friend Anil. Hope I get more time in doing what I am thinking of. Keep watching this space as well as my photoblog here. :)

For time being HERE is the sample image of last trip.

My GODZZ!!

It becoming a nice weekend over here. As I started talking to TVP about interesting things about US, the talk turned to Rock music. How crazy we were and we are, still, about few bands which brought a 'change' in us. Real change I mean!

He started off with You tube links and that's when I realized let me hear to my GODS. Finally found them on You tube and this is addictive mann I tell you....as I write this, am listening to EnterSandman. Listen to One here. Of course Nothing Else Matters and Unfogiven I and Unfogiven II are at the top of my list always! Why did I forget Sad But True?! These videos are GEMS of creations from Metallica...beyond words to describe them!!

A Gentle Warm Up

Not many times I do this. Not many times I defer, procrastinate, prolong. Once in a while I get too lazy to do anything. It can go to any extent. For instance, I haven't read a single "QUALITY" book since more than 7 months now. Any book lover will slap me for this.

Also, its been a while since I blogged with all those 'intense' emotions and of sheer passion like I used to. Many reasons to it, some call them EXCUSES. Few to many important things in my life kept me occupied and continues to do so going forward. One such thing is photography. I will try not to talk about it as far a possible, except for, during the sign off statement :).

Its been a sort of serendipity for me, not sure if the words makes absolute sense for others in this context, to travel LONG distances. Really long distances, once a Year. 2006 was one of the best years for me in my life in terms of travelling. Pacific North West ( United States) is where I landed early October and battled myself against the battering rains until December 23rd, with a heavy heart, missing Christmas and Pacific Northwest( Read OREGON) landed back in India. Was more than happy to see my parents after gruelling 3 months!

July 9th 2007, I was off again to 32,000 feet and -150 Deg F, across the borders and landed in one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Chicago. Its SHE-Kaago...not chikyaago!

Illinois, Land of Lincoln as it is called is known for prairies. Not much of adrenaline rush for me interms of nature and wilderness as compared to Pac-NW. But still, the city stands gradiose on the banks on Lake Michigan. It is entirely a different U.S for me altogether! Initial few days, didn't liked the city at all. Known as Windy City, infamous for unpredictable weather pattern, gave me an exacting feeler as soon as I landed at O'Hare International. Extremely humid and sultry weather was instantaneous for a person who was enjoying the onset of Monsoon, who was yearning for more rains. I did encounter rains here getting completely drenched the very first day, infact the very first few hours since I landed.

Hit the apartment elevators at 2:00 PM and at 4:00 PM was in my office talking to the client! After an exhausting journey, wasn't able to sleep till 4:00 AM, despite all the efforts of me matching the time zones in flight w.r.t sleep cycles. When I opened my eyes, it was 7:00AM and had to rush to office. Typical mechanical lifestyle spirals down and the phase continues as an excuse for me to keep away from writing travelogues and experiences in Chicago.

No matter how much I put my thoughts down breaking it down into words, off late, am better off a photographer than a writer/poet. I wish, this part of myself paid me as much as I want to fill my stomach, cover my body and shelter myself from EXTREMES of weather. All I need is few words from my boss telling me - " Live life to your fullest in the deep woods of India amongst the wildest of the wildest species of the earth, and I will pay your taxes! " . :D I wish that day will come soon.

All I want to say in my sign off statement is that, I am beginning to love Chicago as a city, but as the line goes - life it seems is not without a sense of irony, I will be flying back to my motherland very soon. This is just a warm up session after a long hiatus. Just to get into the mood of SHE-kaago, just follow the link here and feel the PULSE of Chicago.

Why another blog?

I always want to have my own site. I hope to realise the dream soon. Meanwhile, as I began my journey into the world of software, I was introduced into the the world of blogging during my tenure of my first job by none other than Pakku. But, then I was not interested. One year down the line certain lessons that I learnt from life made to write my thoughts down and that's when I started serious blogging. Initially started of with anything and everything and persistently blogged for more than three years....off late into photo-blogging.

Photography was the next thing that I ventured into and I am confident to say that I make good images too;on the other hand I am not contented and I am aspiring to learn everything about photography which is turning out to be an exponential learning curve for eternity!

When I started off my photoblog, the intention was to maintain a real estate on the cyberspace to portray all my works related to India and Indian nature and wildlife, extensively. As I did considerable progress on this front, I began to feel that I was constraining myself interms of the subjects I shoot. It wasn't always nature and wildlife and as a part of software profession, I began to travel. Going places was just not about work it was something about passion and desire to travel and see the world. That's when I realised that I need to portray my emotions thats captured in a frame to all my alter egos. I started to do some SWOT analysis of myself and my persistence interms of blogging. Going by my past history, the curve was pretty stable - I was capable of doing atleast 1 post per month. That was more than sufficient to start another blog, just to be more orgnised.

If you do not know what are those. Here is the list - First, Second and the new one. Let me see where I stand 5 years down the lane in terms of blogging....

Magical Misty Mountains

He pinged me and said - "How about Gopalaswamybetta?". He knew I was yearning...so was He.

Woke up at 3:15 am. That's just a miniscule of hardwork to begin with, as a nature photographer. Called him and said - "Good Morning sir. Are you up?". He said "ummm...GM(sleepy tone), I will be there at 4:30."

We hit the road at 4:45 and reached cruising speeds of 100 KMPH in next 15 minutes. I could see fast moving megenta clouds contrasting against pitch dark dawn. Sun not out yet and as we moved ahead, Anil switched on the windshield wipers. Wipers swung with double the speed.

"Will we be able to take our equipments out? What if the sun doesn't come out?" Silence persisted, we savored the gushing sound of the monsoon rains hit against the windshield and just moved on.

Yes the monsoon had finally arrived. Bang on at 6:50, we were in Mysore. Savored the most important meal of the day and started off to explore the enigmatic misty mountains of Himavad Gopalaswamy betta. Witnessing the blue river near Nanjangud, as we reached past Begur, we spotted a lovely perch on which Common Myna was resting. We did what all photographers do - click click click @ burst mode.

As we reached the foot hills of G.S.Betta, we were captivated by the expansive mountain ranges completely covered by the mist, keeping its promise of BEING what it is called as. Spotted a lovely play of male and a female Indian robin and couple of swifts. After experiencing the cloud-play against the mountain's summit, as I looked out, up there it was! Yep it was Oriental Honey Buzzard soaring up the sky! It was already 10:45 and it looked like 5:00 PM. We were a little skepticle of reaching the summit. Looking at the mist covered mountains, we thought it might be a heavy downpour at the summit.

As soon as we reached the foothills, we saw the plaque board which read - Bandipur Reserve forest. The gate was closed and despite heavy rains, one of the forest department official came running to us. The board contained various fare listings and we paid him Rs 50 ( for the car). He was shocked looking at our equipments. Who doesn't! We were sitting inside the car with photographers jackets on and a huge 500mm barrel mounted on a tripod. He immediately shot back saying - "Sir idella bidallvalla sir!" ( Sir, these are not allowed!). I told him that these are not video cameras but **still ** cameras. He was convinced with my confident answer and let go of us. Just couple of minutes back, I had closed a conversation with Anil, where I was telling him, how expensive it is making a wildlife film( 1 Lac INR per day, if you say you are making a wildlife film - according to reliable sources)!!!

There was a heavy downpour. We had cruised 4 KM uphill and screeeeech! There were 4 vehicles ahead of us just frozen amidst the mist. There was a tree that had fallen right past the middle of the road, luckily the event had occured with none hurt. We sat in the car "enjoying" the downpour, mist and last but not the least listening to the roar of 100 KMPH winds, ofcourse with a pinch of pun after encountering an absolute stunner moment( Censored)....remembering another friend of us, Mr Aussie Hunk!

We didn't know that place we were stuck, was just few meters away from the wonderfully serene Gopalaswamy temple. All the while we waited in the car for nearly close to an hour and we had reversed the car thinking we need to head back, just as when, one of the forest guards came with axe to make way. Another group of guys were really enjoying with ambience with a photo shoot which made us realise, we were missing something....as I just got out to realise that there were no rains! It was sheer bliss....completely covered with mist with zero visibility beyond 10 meters and dodging 100 KMPH winds was a different experience altogether. Heaven on earth I must say!

Lord was adorned with butter ( what we call it as BeNNe Alankaara), Gopalaswamy was really looking divine. After offering our prayers at the temple, we made few wonderful photographs on our way back, enjoying "moments and views" of nature.A truely refreshing experience amidst an enchanting,enigmatic and verdant semi-deciduous rain forests of Bandipur.

Yearning to go back to the wild......

[ Birds Spotted : Common Myna, Jungle Myna, Black Kite, Brahminy Kite ( Juvenile and adult), Cattle egrets, Pond heron, Indian Robin - Male and female, Green Bee Eaters, Indian Cormorants, Oriental Honey Buzzard, Swift ]

Pictures can be seen here.

Current Mood: Refreshed and amused.

King of the 'KINGS'

I adore this guy and have tremendous respect for him for all the work he has done about King Cobras. Check the info about him here. This guy stays just 300 KM from Bangalore and does all the work on King cobra and I Came to know about it only recently..what a shame on my part!

Current Mood: Amazed!

Its all about Decision Making.

The distant monument that you see is the crown point. I took this picture standing at Chanticleer point. The river to the left is Columbia river. It was a breathtaking feeling standing at this point.

What Next?

Some people are born with astute thinking and an awesome business acumen. They are born with it and they are go getters. Some people "become" businessmen( Glass Ceiling here!) inheriting their forefathers'. These people are building-the-empire-standing-on-the-shoulders-of-giants kind. There are few ( infarct very few) who come from middle of nowhere, start from scratch, achieve great heights and are the cream of Indian Inc. If you are thinking about N.R.N, I am sorry I am not referring to him, but of course he belongs to the last category and I have tremendous respect for him. But there is one more person whom I am thinking about. You are right, I am contemplating on KF-Air Deccan merger, Mr Mallya. I don't like to put him under the second category, but he truly has made an impact in terms of "Acquisitions" business. Mann!! this business magnate, takes a gamble always and wins .... I wonder how is does it consistently!!

The darts on the curve: A Celebrity, UB, KF airlines, Shaw Wallace, Whyte & Mackay, Air Deccan ( doesn't sound as sensational as previous names, yet something "different"! )....what next?

Current Mood: Amused and Contemplating

I Just love this song for music, for lyrics, for emotions!

Araluthiro jeevadha gelathi snehada sinchanadalli…….
Baadadhiru snehadha hoove premadha bandhanadalli…..
Manasalle irali bhaavane….
Midiuthirali mauna veene…heege summane..
Araluthiro jeevadha gelathi….

Hakkiyu haadidhe tanna hesaranu heladhe…
Sampige beeridhe kampanu yaarigu keladhe…
Beesuva gaaliya hakkiya hadina natina hesarige hongilla…….
Nanageeke adhara yochane….
Beda gelathi nantige hesaru…….yaake summane……

Araluthiro jeevadha gelathi..
Hmmmm…hmmmm….hmmmm….hmmmm..

Mathige meeridha bhaavadha selethave sundhara….
Nalumeyu thumbidha manasige baaradhu besara…
Baala dariyalli..bereyaadaru chandira baruvanu namma jothe…..
Kanuvenu avalalle ninnanu….irali gelathi anubandha heege summane….

Araluthiro jeevadha gelathi…….snehadha sinchanadalli…
Baadadhiru snehadha hoove premadha bandhanadalli manasalle irali bhaavane..
Midiyu thirali mauna veene heege summane

I just love the **mood** in this image. It was early in the morning and I wanted to visit Washing park in downtown Portland. Never imagined that I am going to get such a beautiful view of the downtown. It was slightly overcast but it largely helped in improving the mood in this image. Down at a distance you see the beautiful ice capped Mt. Hood. This mountain demands tremendous respect from me. Any mountain is a challenge to scale and fun to watch. The sense of serenity that they exude is just tremendous.

Looking at these archive images of mine, it leaves a sense of nostalgia of Year 2006. It was a fantastic year for me with such a wonderful trip to pacific northwest. All thanks and regards to almighty.

This is the most memorable Multnomah falls. The height of top falls is 542ft(165 m) and that of below one is 69ft(21 m). I managed to take this picture when the bridge was empty. Its extremely difficult to get such a shot because, the bridge is always brimming with people. This is an awesome falls. After taking this shot, as I trekked up to the bridge, the water splash that one gets is just an amazing feeling thats inexplicable. None can explain that feeling unless one feel it. The roaring falls plummeting makes a king of misty atmosphere around the falls. All said and done, nothing can beat that ecstasy a getting a splash!

James Blunt - 2

The Below You tube embedded link fails to play. I wanted to check what's wrong and you tube says - " This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Warner Music Group". Duh!
Atleast for people who haven't got a chance to listen to it, FEEL the lyrics here:

James Blunt - You're Beautiful

My life is brilliant.

My life is brilliant
My love is pure.
I saw an angel.
Of that I'm sure.
She smiled at me on the subway.
She was with another man.
But I won't lose no sleep on that,
'Cause I've got a plan.

You're beautiful. You're beautiful.
You're beautiful, it's true.
I saw your face in a crowded place,
And I don't know what to do,
'Cause I'll never be with you.

Yes, she caught my eye,
As we walked on by.
She could see from my face that I was,
Fucking high,
And I don't think that I'll see her again,
But we shared a moment that will last 'till the end.

You're beautiful. You're beautiful.
You're beautiful, it's true.
I saw your face in a crowded place,
And I don't know what to do,
'Cause I'll never be with you.

La la la la la la la la la

You're beautiful. You're beautiful.
You're beautiful, it's true.
There must be an angel with a smile on her face,
When she thought up that I should be with you.
But it's time to face the truth,
I will never be with you.

James Blunt

I was chatting with TVP after a long time. Since the time he went to THE U.S., this is first time that I have chatted with him for so long. We talked about everything from electronics goods in US to his cooking skills to his work. Off late he has become a english hip hop/rock music freak. I still remember, during engineering, when ever I used to listen to BSB or Metallica, these guys used to leave the place silently or used to pull my leg and make that playlist disappear. Its suprising to see the total turn around.

On this note, TVP made me hear this song. He said - " I was bowled over with the lyrics". When I watched and listen to it....I too was in t he same state as TVP. I simply loved the video. Just awesome!!

Check it out.

Current Mood: Calm