Photography learnings

Its now almost an year since I bought myself a Digital Camera and since then I have been to a lot places.

In those visits I clicked some good ,some bad, some worst and some pictures that touched me.

I think most of us and I am very proud to say that I can generalise this without being specific to any of the genders, have a inclination towards photography. Its more like music that there comes an age in everyones life when they feel like being a photographer.

Although I always felt that phtotography is more of a Being-There-At-The-Right-Time kind of stuff but yes I do appreciate the effort that a photographer puts to capture the best shot irrespective of the quality of the equipment and situation.

So over this year I have learnt few things about photography that I want to always keep in mind.

Just jotting those points for constant reference:

• Paris or rather France was my first trip in which I carried a Digi Cam and thats where I learnt two lessons.
• First , date and time stamps on the photos completely ruin them. Being a first timer I forgot to switch it off and today I have to view my Paris trip photos with those watermarks permanently fixed.
• Its good to capture photos with someone posing in them. They make the trip more memorable. I have an habit of clicking shots of places without any person (known) posing in them, which although good but at times reduces the essence of the trip.
• Using flash stabalizes the photo especially at high ISO. May sound quite trivial, low light, use flash but at times even when the light is fine and in auto mode the flash is not needed , even then its better to manual set the flash for stable pictures.
• My trip to Agra last weekend was the first time when I clicked pictures of huge monuments. There I learned that
• Maintaining the symmetry is so important. Always try to click from the center line for the cliche shot.
• Not only the symmetry., make sure that you are holding the camera horizontal to the ground . Even a little tilt can spoil the complete picture.
• But having said that you must experiment with the angles that is not holding to the center line but try to keep correct proportions.
• Less sunshine is better for clicking monuments. Unfortunately I had to click during broad daylight. So always make sure that you visit the monuments at early morning or late afternoon time.
• Don't hesitate to experiment. More you experiment more you learn what not to do.

For sure Photography is fun and nice passion. If possible do go through the free e -guide for photography from the national geographic sites.

Wah Taj....

Taj Mahal

This weekend I visited the eternal symbol of love, Taj Mahal. One of my colleague from France came to India for the first time and its crime to come near Agra and not visit one of the wonders of the world. Although I have been to Taj many times but two things made me re-visit it with him and other colleagues. First for the first time I had a digital camera with me and so I couldn't miss the opportunity to click the beautiful monument myself and secondly the serenity that I feel on entering the Taj compound and viewing the Monument the first time is un-paralleled.

Taj from an angle..

This time since we hired a Guide too for our guest , I thought of noting down the history that our guide shared. And what better place then the blog to note it.

Well I am not good with remembering dates so I will rather put down the story without being too particular about the exact dates.

Mughal emperors ruled India approximately from 14th century to 19th century but predominantly there were only 6 rulers who were quite successful in their regime. One of them was Shah Jahan, who was the 5th among them. Although Akbar the Great was the first true Mughal emperor to rule India but Shah Jahan was the one who gifted India the Taj.

The story goes like this. When Shah Jahan was fighting one of the wars, one of his wife, who was quite beloved to him , Mumtaj Mahal, was pregant with their "14th child".  And despite of her advanced stage of pregnancy she decided to join him at the battle field. So there she developed some complications and died during the delivery. She asked for three last wishes from the emperor which were as follows:

1. You won't marry anyone else.

2. You will take care of all our children.

3. You will create something that will symbolize the pure and true love that we share.

The emperor was heart broken after her death and confined himself to the room mourning. Then he remembered the promise and as a result he built the Masoleum which is the symbol of their true love which we now call the Taj Mahal. Mumtaj Mahal was buried inside this Masoleum and when Shah Jahan died he too was buried along side her. The real tombs are situated inside the basement which is now forbidden for general public to visit. And instead people can see the replica kept at the ground floor.

You can imagine the enormity of the structure by comparing it with the size of human beings seen in the pic.

The building is 72 meter high and has four minarets alongside it.

Some facts about the Taj architecture.

The main building is made of White Marble which is the reason for its remarkable beauty.The building is built on th bank of river Yamuna. It took 22 years to build the building, 17 years for the Masoleum and 5 for the surrounding structures. As much as 20000 artisans and workers were deployed for its construction.

Contrary to popular believe Shah Jahan din't order cutting the hands of the workers instead he prohibited them from moving outside Agra and that too because most of them have become older by the time it has completed. The minarets are little slanted outside so that they don't fall on the main building in case earth quake hits the area. Unlike most Masoleums, in this one the side minarets are smaller in height to the main dome. The initial structure is made of bricks and over them the slabs of marble with all the beautiful art work crafted on them are pasted.

Flower crafted on a single marble slab

The lawn in front is made in Persian style i.e. it has four blocks with fountains seperating the four from each other, As per Persian belief, the heaven is like this with four rivers flowing and intersecting at the center, Also the myth that Shah Jahan built a black marble Taj Mahal too wasn't true and in fact he was building a park on the other side of Yamuna from where the beauty of Taj could be duly appreciated but he couldn't finish it as his rebel son Aurangzeb had him house arrested.

Persian style garden

Bill Clinton, former president of USA very rightly commented on seeing the Taj that "There are only two kinds of people in this world, one who have seen the Taj and other who haven't. And the latter people don't know what they are missing"

If you are from India or are planning to visit India sometime, do make sure to see this remarkable monument and believe me no matter how beautiful you may find it in photographs , its nothing compared to what you see from the naked eye.

Yaaaaaakkkkkkkkkkkk.....

Just because I have feelings for someone and that other person doesn't , why can't I tell her that she just looked absolutely amazing? That she is so beautiful and lovable and I just can't stop admiring her when she wears her white shirt?

After a hell long time I feel like texting her that she looks so beautiful, so pretty but just don't want to restart all this again.. I don't know if I have matured enough and will be able to take the consequences in a friendly way...

Man it just feels like yaaaaaaaaakkkkkkkkkkkk......... :( :( :(

James Blunt blurting in my head... "You are beautiful its true.... but its time to face the truth, I can never be with You"

Tequila shot....

We threw a Bachelorette Party to one of my closest friend who is getting married this Friday.

So apart from the many things that we did (sshhhhhhhhhh...), we broke his drinking virginity :)

For the starters we got him Vodka , of which he very reluctantly took few gulps. And since we planned to make him drink one more kind of alcohol notably tequila shot, we bargained with him that we will finish his remaining vodka and in turn he will take a tequila shot.

So after many convincing sounding theories he agreed and we ordered one tequila shot for everyone. Now this was first time when I was having tequila so I had some "expectations" about it being too hard.  And honestly the moment I took it I got to know that the expressions they show on movies or tv when the actors take a tequila shot is all fake. It was not at all hard and we even din't feel like licking a lemon. I  agree that it may take more than one shot to experience the true sense but still I was expecting even the first shot to be little strong.

But overall a nice rocking party ...

My stare-mate :)

Just few days back I was telling myself that age is just a number and nothing changes as such but then I was made to realize this thought.

 

When we were in early-adult stage , every girl we used to like either had a boy friend or was in love with someone else who din't share the same feeling as hers, in other words not interested in us even if they are single :-P. But still we were asked to have hope that you still have chance. In fact Innocent Devil once very rightly quoted for the category 1 girls that "Don't be disheartened if she has a boy friend, rather it means that she agrees to the prospect of having a boy friend". But somehow with age those girls either got married or had new boy friends.

Now when we are in our middle adult age , which for the bigger mortals can be called the peak of adult age, the girls we like are either married or are engaged to be married.

So this post is about one such girl. Although I am not sure if she belongs to either of the two categories I mentioned for this age as I am yet to see any visible stuffs that confirms that she is either married or engaged but the confidence that I have on my luck she is definitely bound to be a member of either of these categories.

Coming to the topic in hand . We two share an unique relation of being each other's stare-mate For the 10 seconds my bus stops at her stop(she works in some other company) from where my colleague boards our bus , we stare at each other. And now this has been so regular that sometimes I feel like passing a smile. Even when our bus doesn't stop if there is no one to board from that stop, we do stare at each other. Although stare sounds rude but its not something coordial or because we like each other, its just an habit we have developed naturally. I agree initially it may be just me or she caught me staring but now its routine. She stares even when she is wearing sun-glasses which I can catch from the thin glass of the sun glasses.

I am not jumping any gun and saying that I like her very much, I mean she is kind of sweet but nothing more than that...Just something fun and may be a topic to share n write about....... :)

In search of God....

Last to last week I went on , I want to call it pilgrimage , but will rather call a vacation to Shirdi and Nashik.

Procession of Shirdi Sai Baba

Shirdi  is the abode of Sai Baba, who was an Hindu saint and Muslim fakir, i.e. someone who is followed by both Hindus and Muslims alike. In fact there is a story that when he died , Hindu and Muslims started fighting for his body. Muslims said he is Muslim so they will bury him and Hindus said no he is Hindu so will have a funeral pyre for him. So in order to prevent the communal riots ,his dead body turned into roses. People call him an incarnation of God. My family is his ardent follower and had long wished to pay a visit to his holy land. I don't know whether he was an incarnation or God himself but at least what I really appreciate about him is the social work that he did for the poor people. The way he served and loved people irrespective of their caste ,creed or financial status is really commendable and worth following. 

The day after we reached was Ram Navami, the Birthday of Lord Ram, an incarnation of Lord Vishnu. This day is also auspicious for devotees of Sai Baba and is celebrated as Shirdi Divas. On this day there were close to 25 lakh devotees in Shirdi and everywhere we could see processions carrying Idols of Sai Baba like the one I clicked above.

The day we reached was comparatively less crowded and we could have darshan within an hour or two otherwise it almost takes 5-6 hours to have darshan.

On the evening of the day we reached we went to another pilgrimage nearby by the name of Shani Singhnapur (Pic shown below)

Shani Singhnapur

Shani Dev is also one of the 300 million Gods we worship and is the most feared of the Gods because of his anger. Shani Singhnapur is around 75 kms from Shirdi and it costs you around 100Rs for a round trip on the numerous taxis that ply between Shirdi and Singhnapur. The interesting thing about Singhnapur is that there are no doors on the houses and shops around the temple. In fact there is no door on the bank building thats nearby. Such is the ferocity of Shani Dev that no one can dare to do anything wrong.

So as I was saying, on Ram Navami day there were close to 2.5 million devotees in Shirdi so we knew that we can't do much at Shirdi , so we decided to go to Nashik, which is around 95 kms from Shirdi and costs you Rs 200 for a complete tour to Nashik and Trimbakeshwar Jyotirlinga which is further 35 Kms from Nashik.

Before going to Shirdi , I din't know much about Nashik and just thought of it as some important city of Maharashtra, but on reaching there I found out not only its one of the place where the Khumb happens every 12 years but mythologically its one of the most important city of India. Nashik is situated on the bank of Godavari and is also the place of Sangam of three rivers , Godavari, Aruna and Varuna. Below pics show the sangam point.

Sangam point

Godavari

Nashik is one of the most important place in Hindu mythological epic Ramyana. It contains the place named Panchavati where Lord Ram, Goddess Sita and Lakshman spend their exile as per the wish of Ram's step mother Kaekai. And this was from where Goddess Sita was kidnapped by Demon king Raavana and taken to his kingdom in Lanka (modern day Sri Lanka) and thus leading to Lord Rama attacking Raavana's kingdom to kill him and bring back his wife. Actually Nashik got its name from the fact that when Raavana's sister Surpanakha tried to force Lakshmana to marry him, he cut down his nose and it fell on the bank of river Godavari and thus the place was named Nashik (Nas coming from nasal or nose).

Krypaleshwar , Nashik

Above is the picture of another temple named Kripaleshwar at the same point, which got its name from the following story. Lord Brahma who is the creator of this earth according to Hindu mythology, had 4 heads in 4 directions and due to his lust for the lady who was born from his navel (hence was considered his daughter) he created a fifth head on the top. Lord Shiva then cut that head and as Brahma was God , it was still considered as a sin and thus was advised by his devotee Nandi Bull to seek solace and remittance at Nashik and the temple was named in honor of Nandi Bull as Kripaleshwar (Lord of Fore head as he gave that good advice.)

KaleRam Mandir , Nashik

Above is the picture of Kale Ram mandir (Lord Rama in black marble) at Panchavati and there was a similar temple named Gore Ram and that was from where Goddess Sita was kidnapped. Also at Panchavati there was a cave in which the real Goddess Sita was hidden and Raavan only took an illusion of her along with him.

Trimbakeshwar Temple

From there we went to Trimbakeshwar(pic above) which is a Jyotirling. Jyotirlinga is a shrine of Lord Shiva where he exists as linga of light which is attained as the highest form of spiritualism. There are total of 12 Jyotirlinga in India. And I have been to 5 of these already.

All in all a very spiritual and enlightening trip and truly recommended to all. Although I was little disappointed by the commercialization of Shirdi but nevertheless a nice place to visit to experience various aspects of faith that people have in this world.

In outer space...

Just want some time alone... Somewhere far far away from where I currently am.. Somewhere where I can be quiet with no one to talk ...

We are the World Ond Day Cricket Champions....

The day for which I so dreamed has finally arrived... We have won the Cricket World Cup... Thank God and "God" for it :)

Mom Oh Mom...

Mothers are simply amazing. Was just surfing through the channels trying to find something other than the cricket talks that is engulfing each n every media space, where people of any intelluct has an expert opinion on the Indian cricket team. Its World Cup final today between India & SriLanka.

So I landed on one such channel which was airing Sehwag's Mom's interview. The intervieweer asked her what was the last thing she said to Sehwag when he called , to which she replied "Beta kal kuch kar liyo (Son, do atleast something tomorrow) ".

This reminded of the time when I called my mom from college telling her I have topped my semester and her first remark was "You have passed in every subject right?".In her defence, in that semester we had a tough paper in which many people flanked. But the anxious tone she had with which she doubted despite me telling that I topped was so similar to what Sehwag's mom had when she said that.

I am not comparing our talents (as if I have any as compared to Sehwag) but to our Moms may be we are the same. Sehwag with his reputation and performance itself demoralizes the opposition without even touching a single ball and here his Mother asking him with a doubt in her mind that her son is not doing anything.

They are our biggest supporter and perhaps our biggest critic too....

Yellow......

The problem I have with most of the people who are close to me is that whenever I discuss anything thats bothering me with them , they always jump to provide me a solution. But I on the other hand is just looking for someone to listen me out. I am not saying they don't have the right to give their opinion but the moment they start giving it I feel as if they are judging me. Honestly I feel that the only person who can help me out is myself and the only person who has a solution is me. So when I am opening up to someone else its not for the practical approach which I myself very much capable of providing myself but its more for the emotional support.

My friend tells me that I have changed for good in the sense that I no longer get irritated with few particular things but the point is that now I don't want to show that iritation to others. Earlier it was because I wanted them to understand but now I have realised that I fail to make people understand me.

 

PS: Why Yellow??? Was listening to this lovely song by Cold Play while publishing this post.