Wish 1 - To learn surfing...

 

 

Ever since I have been to the beaches of Bali and have seen the might of Ocean as a fierce and powerful force of nature, I developed a fear of the same. 

 

The mammoth volume of water that is contained by an ocean and the tremendous force by which that volume moves in the form of waves especially during high tides simply gives me goose bumps.

 

Honestly having seen just buckets or at max tanks of water in our daily life , and then have to look and compare  the amount of water that an ocean contains in itself, it makes you realise how insignificant humans or for that matter land mass is compared to water bodies.

 

I just get too intimidated when I am looking at that massive amount of water. Personally I feel that no other natural element can stand up against such a gigantic force.

 

When I was in a boat over the ocean or was skiing on a jet ski , I was scared with the thought that this huge mass of water won't take a second to drown me if I fell into it.And since then I have developed a faint wish to overcome that fear and take on the Might of that natural force.

 

I feel the most fascinating way  to do so will be to surf on its waves. Although even the thought of it is nerve wrecking at present but seriously I want to do that. I just want to take a week off and go to a beach where they teach surf and learn it.

Its just my dream to do so. To ride fearlessly on these waves, rise and fall with them , get splashed , almost drowned  but then emerge from it unscathed.

 

Taken from theatlantic.com

 

 

But somewhere I know it won't be possible to do in immediate future and with marriage to happen in a year or two it will be next to impossible after that :(. Thats why I initially thought to title this post as Goal 1 but then reality stuck.

 

Mom oh Mom ....

We humans at times can exhibit a charmingly strange behavior. And I prefer to call such human beings as "Characters".  And among those species one of the most common people who show such character are Mothers.

 

Yes no doubt they are quite charming and innocent when do such antiques.

 

When I was a kid , like most of the kids in India and probably across the world, I used to carry my lunch from home and being the naughty kid that I was , most often when my Mom used to keep the packed lunch on the desk from where I was supposed to take it, I used to forget taking it  and have to have Dad drop it at school :). And needless in the evening it would have resulted in heavy scolding from both of them.

 

That happened countless times in my childhood and biggest concern of my Mom everyday , apart from ensuring that I don't spill milk on my shirt, was to ensure that I have taken it from the desk.

 

And now if we fast forward to the present , there were times when I used to carry breakfast from home to office and during those time when I could have missed the box at home and still could have eaten a sumptous breakfast at office, she used to put it herself in my bag.

 

I mean when in childhood if she had put that in my bag then it would have saved both of us from the pain, her mental and mine physical .

 

When I mentioned this to her that why during school times you used to keep it at desk for me to pick and pack and now when I am grown up you yourself ensure that its going to office with me ? She had no answer, she just said she does not know why she used to do that.

 

The answer I could think of is that she wanted me to be responsible at that age and now she is just concerned of my well being and no longer needs to teach me anything :)

 

My Adorable Mom

 

This picture was taken at a bus stop in Seoul, South Korea, during our visit last year. This is so typical of the adorable character she is :), wearing those Goggles from 70's and wearing a customary scarf so characteristic of a Bengali in a cold place, all wrapped up. Love you so much Mom :)

Oath of Vayuputras and Others...

 

 

 

I completed Oath of Vayuputras. And I don't know if you will call a book a success if you expected it to disappoint you and it succeeds in doing so?

 

There are few reasons why it disappointed

 

1. It came quite a while after the second installment of the trilogy, so you tend to have a vague remembrance of the characters and incidents. And it takes a while for the flow to restart.

 

2. There was a lot of scope to play and demonstrate the passion and compassion especially the part where Shiva destroys the city (spoiler alert). There was so much opportunity to show the Rodra roop of Lord Shiv, his Tandav ( Dance of Destruction) , his anger , probably his Trinetra etc. The only passionate part I felt was the depiction of Kartik as the warior lord. The way he deployed his War tactics and the intensity with which his battles were depicted were commendable.

 

Rest like his previous book was mediocre. Surprisingly I came to find that he is an IIMK alumnus.

 

Ok I may sound hypocritical of him as I dislike his writing so much but at the same time I ardently read through his novels unlike those of Chetan Bhagat which I just labour through. I agree with his content and masala rendering he appeals to masses but I personally feel he could be more articulate. But having said that I will recommend people to read the triology and also awaiting to read his next series which he hinted to be on Mahabharata.

 

The next bunch of books ( I like to read couple of books at I time) I have picked are quite popular, kind of modern classics, that everyone who is into reading must have already read.

 

The Alchemist and The Fountainhead.

 

I was kind of avoiding these for the reasons that one they are popular , second I am a non fiction lover and last the font size of the copies I have seen have been too small to be comfortable.

 

Luckily this time I got a copy of Alchemist which is decent and I have already read most of it and should complete it by today. To be honest I find it quite simple but of course appealing. With its plot of chasing your dreams and proverbial lines ,I can see why it is so popular.

 

Having read few pages of Eleven minutes and then failing to proceed I had my apprehensions about Paulo Coehlo but now I am glad that I picked Alchemist and now again want to pursue Eleven minutes.

 

Coming to Fountainhead ,I have purchased a second hand copy long time back but never had the courage to read it, so it was lying packed as it is in my cupboard. But recently with having nothing else to read I took the plunge. With its minuscule writing I could manage few pages, I liked it and have made up mind to read at least 10 pages daily.

 

Having started so late to read novels is something that I regret about my life and is one thing I would like to change if given an opprotunity to start life again :)

Saaf Safai Seekho O Padne Likhne Walo

 

 

I was a firm believer of Educated people are more civilized. Yes , was not am. I mean yes I still believe education can be a solution for a lot of problems but definitely not in the present form.

 

With spurt of crimes and uncivilised behavior still so rampant in India especially with educated people involved, seriously makes me think that there is wholesale overhauling required with our education system.

 

Cleanliness is something that is very closer to my heart. Something that really disturbs me when I am in public places. The level of garbage and dirt I see carelessly sprinkled everywhere makes me sad.

 

Once when I visited a slum with a friend of mine , I was surprised to see that despite of their mean surrounding each of them had clean huts with TVs but each of them had dirty muddy water either stagnated or flowing haphazardly outside their homes. I was  shocked to see that how could these people who could afford some more basic necessities than their other unfortunate lower class people can be so ignorant of the need for a clean surrounding. I mean I who knew that I won't have to be there for more than half an hour was not able to bear the stench then how can those people stay in that stench and filth without doing something about it?

 

Everyday on my way to office , I see two government schools on Mathura road. And everyday in the morning you could see people defecating outside them. Baring the area outside the gates, which should be hardly few meters, rest all is full of human faeces. And I can see children entering the gates or praying just on the other side of the walls. I simply don't understand that how can anyone let this happen ?

 

Yes we all can take the path of blaming the authorities of not doing anything when all is required is to have a will to take things in your hand. And in both cases somehow I blame the children and thus our education system for the situations . Our education system does not instill the courage and initiative taking capabilities in our children that they educate their parents and even school authorities to take these things seriously.

 

Yes we have the problem of public or toilets at home in India with our 70% people still defecating in open but that does not mean that people can continue to live with its side effects. Having a clean and hygienic environment is one of the most basic need for a healthy life.

 

Like in this news story , it was the determination and courage of a 13yr old child which brought such a drastic change. So its high time our education is revamped to put more stress on civil and moral issues. 

 

Keeping our homes clean is something we have valued, with our women folk who stay at home, working all day to ensure that everything is spotless. But when it comes to places outside our houses we just become careless. People still don't think before littering around in public places, spitting wherever the urge comes irrespective of whether they are walking in crowd or standing with people next to you. And what hurts more is that this is being done by people who do have a brush with education either directly themselves or indirectly from their kids at home but still we are not able to change their habits.

 

And at the same time revamp requires a careful and meticulous effort and just not some blind following like in the initiative taken by CBSE to introduce open book exams when ironically US which has open book system is contemplating introducing the stricter exam system that India has. Of course open book has some pros but at the same time the cons should not be neglected especially with India having the advantage that its not the first to implement it.

"Good news...."

Working in a MNC makes you come across diverse human behavior and which makes yuou both proud and guilty of your customs and traditions.

We Indians are always portrayed as quite emotional and dramatic people especially when it comes to our family and relations. And we somehow take pride in our those strong bonds. But I still somehow feel we have a lot to learn as far as events surrounding birth of child are concerned.

 

It still seem quite a taboo to share the news that you are expecting a child with your friends and others.

 

In last few months , couple of my french colleagues have become parents and I found it quite amusing, but at the same time satisfying, the way my manager over there and other colleagues were sharing the news affront in the weeklies, even before the couple have delivered. They were equally excited in the way they used to say " He is on leave and we don't know when but soon we should expect the good news". Of course they had a shyness in their voice but the excitement made you feel and sense the strong bond they all socially shared.

 

In India on the other hand its all hush hush affair till the child is born. People are not at all comfortable in involving people before hand the actual event has occurred. 

A close friend of mine is expecting and after coming to know from another common friend I congratulated him and his first reply was "Please don't share with anyone else, its quite a personal affair". I won't say I was not taken aback but somehow I could understand his reservations in making it public or letting others participate in it.

 

Me and one of my colleague wondered about this socially different behavior we encountered.

Why our elders and society teaches us to be so secretive and uncomfortable about such things? With due respect to the privacy of each individual , what could be the reason for the same ?

 

Foremost that we could think of was the fact that we are scared that something bad might happen if the news is made public. (Seems insane right ?). In India people are more jealous of others success than they are happy of their own achievements. So they feel any ill - thought may prove harmful for the baby thus its advisable to keep the thing under wraps for as long as possible. India in its earlier times had a huge number of infant deaths or miscarriages (its still not fully eradicated) and instead of accepting it wholly as a result of poor medical facilities, we get comfort in our superstitious beliefs. 

 

Second , people feel embarrassed to touch anything that is even remotely related to sex. In a country where the sole purpose of sex is still to procreate , the reverse is also true. Ask any recently married guy jokingly "When are you giving the good news ? " and don't be surprised to get the most embarrassed look that person may have ever given.

 

Ok I am not implying that we people need to be totally forthcoming about our pro creating activities with everyone , I duly respect the notion of keeping your personal life reserved but what I personally feel is that people in India should stop portraying these things as one of the most heinous crime that you may have committed and be so uncomfortable about such things with your friends and well wishers.

My Gallery.....

Created my own gallery at home...... The pictures are currently black and white paper print outs and will be like that till I save enough to buy a color photo printer. 

And now I can understand why my friend Seher once wished for a printer :) ... At that time I was surprised and thought who on earth wishes for a printer but now I can so relate to her and I too desperately want one for myself.

Photography learning II

My best photograph will be the one that I am going to take tomorrow - Ansel Adams.

This is what one of the pioneer of photography quoted when asked about his best photo.

So photography, like life, teaches you new things everyday and like life here too you will have to keep improving and rectifying your mistakes.

As I have shared some time back, after I visited Agra and Humayun's tomb, the things I need to improve upon, today too I share few things that I have learned or noticed in the last couple of months in which I have been extensively involved with photography.


Being Hasty - First of all on this list is what I often do when I see some nice people or things and want to click them as quickly as possible. .. so as  a result I get a lot hasty and pictures comes out blurry or out of focus

The above pic was taken while I was on my first photowalk to Rastrapati Bhawan and honestly after clicking those buildings for some time, I was kind of getting bored . Just then my eyes fell on these two sisters who were looking so cute dressed in same dress and at that very moment I thought to click them. I was so excited seeing that I thought that this pic was going to be the best of the walk.  But when I came back and checked this at home , I could see that the girls have come so out of focus. Had I steadied myself a bit or calmed myself  first I would have really captured them better.

Ask people if you can take their photos - Although in street photography the sense of being voyeuristic helps you portray people candidly, without them being conscious about getting clicked but I do feel that by doing so you at times miss out on other angles that would have reflected things in a better way.

As in the above pic, the pic is nice just because the girl was not only looking at me but was smiling. And this all happened because we had spent some time playing around with each other standing at bus stop.

Taking straight photos, although I have corrected the symmetrical flaw that I had with my earlier photos that I took of monuments but now I see quite a lot of issues with the horizontal axis of the photos. As you can see in the below pic , the monument seems to be falling to the right. 

At present its more due to that fact that my hand is not yet accustomed to handing the big bulky camera and I tend to slant towards one direction or other but it has been so apparent in my photos that I seriously need to keep it in mind every time before pressing the shutter down.

Less post processing - as I am currently spending a lot of time on touching them up in software. 


The left pic below is what the camera produced and right is after some post processing was applied to it.

Could I have managed this without PS ? Yes and No. 


Speaking of this picture only, yes may be I could have done better with the camera itself but in general, I will have to quote Ansel Adams again :


“Dodging and burning are steps to take care of mistakes God made in establishing tonal relationships.”. 


So its not always possible to capture the correct color and tones with your camera as it too is a machine and you too are human so quite prone to errors.


Earlier I was strictly against using any software to enhance the photo as I used to feel its against the principle of capturing that moment correctly but now I have understood that although its still quite an important thing to be right at the first time  and many times just by knowing your machine well you can get similar results out of the camera too but at the end what matters is how the photo is presented to the viewers. If post processing helps you to convey your photo in a better way then there is no harm in it. In fact I have learned that most of the photographers shoot RAW, and since we cannot view RAW directly we have to always apply post process to them. But the final idea is to spent less time on computer and more on the field :)

Taking less snaps or be ruthless in deleting them... someone very rightly said that more snaps you take more things you learn but they take up so much space that at times its quite difficult to manage and since there are so many pictures that sometimes you get bored in correcting them that it takes a while before you transverse to the good ones and by that time you lose interest. So with advent of digital cameras, people do have the liberty to click as many pics as they want and honestly even famed photographers don't get a perfect shot all the time in first go. But at the end you should be able to discard them quickly too.

Thats all for this time.... Will share more as a learn more :)

Cherry Blossoms...

One of the main thing that was on my mind while I was planning for my Korea trip was to see and click the beautiful cherry blossom flowers that are main characteristic of the Korean and Japanese islands... So here I am presenting some of the photos of them that I managed during that trip.

My first stop in Korea was Seoul and there I could not see any cheery blossoms at all.... And for which I was told that its little early for them to blossom and I should see some by next week.

So It was only when I reached Jinju , where my sister was staying,  that I could see some of it. And my first impression on seeing them was they are quite a smudgy flowers and as you can see in these photos , most of the petals are not sharp. Initially I thought it was my technique that was causing it but later on I checked some professional shots of it and they too looked the same.

The day I saw them , it was quite cloudy and was raining too in between , so I could not get bright and vibrant pictures but now when I see them then I find that the overcast  has added a nice white background to the close ups of the flowers.

Then at Jinju Castle we found the below trees which were laden with Cherry blossoms and as soon as the sun was out ,they turned pinkish.And everyone was so busy getting their pictures clicked underneath them.

Jinju Castle

 

Jineyang Lake, Jinju

The above pic was taken at Jineyang lake at Jinju and and this was one place where we found scores of Cherry blossom trees. As you can see in the below pic all the paths in and around the lake had these trees laden with flowers on both sides and it felt so beautiful to walk amids them.

Lastly I went to Busan, which owing to its proximity to Japan (It was during the Japanese rule over Korea that Japan introduced these trees to Korea which have originally being native to Japan only) was supposed to have more Cherry Blossom tree.  And although it did not disappoint but still I found the ones in Jinju more prominent.

Black & White - I

Deoksugung Palace , Seoul

Guard Changing ceremony at Deoksugung Palace , Seoul.

Deoksugung Palace gate ...

Marching Guards ...

Once these guards take their place, visitors are allowed to go near and get their pictures clicked with the guards..

Deoksugung Palace