New Year Wishes 2011

As we say goodbye to 2010 and open our arms to welcome 2011, I am wrapping up my memories, successes, happiness and learnings in a shrink-wrap (the picture above is also shrink wrapped for that purpose).

I hope that this year was a wonderful year for you too and the next year would be much better and bring in more prosperity, happiness and success to you and all in your family.

PS: This pic was taken from the top of Hawa Mahal with the ramparts of Nahargarh fort in the background.

Location:

View World2Us Blog Locations in a larger map

A b r a c a d a b r a

Street Performances are something that we are used to from our childhood. This one fascinated me a lot. The guy was performing some magic tricks outside Central Park and you can see that he must be very good at it as all the audience (young and the not-so-young) were all spell-bound. I thought of adding the effect to the picture to bring forth the "magical effect". The show went on for around 30 minutes and the only one moving was the magician; as everyone else was just rooted there.

Just in case you happen to be in NYC and want to see the street performances; check out this link (not an official link).

Enjoy the Magic!

Location:

View World2Us Blog Locations in a larger map

Wheels

This time I thought that I will make an exception and do some cropping, PP (Post Processing), bordering, etc. to enhance the usual capture.

This was a typical scene outside Central Park in New York as I came out to catch the metro back to my abode. More than anything that stuckme were the variety of wheels - from a inline roller skate, to a bicycle, to tricycles and to 4 wheelers - you could see them all in a single view. The avenue down the road leads to the NJ side of NYC.

Location:

View Larger Map

Birds Eye View...

Sometimes a picture suddently changes it own meaning. This was supposed to be a downtown shot from top of Empire State Building. The pigeon suddently decided to sit in between my subject and my equipment and i must say that i do not regret that he did that. I was amazed to see how this guy sprang up so high and found a perch...maybe for him - no sky so high! and i tried to capture this bird's eye view with he himself being in the picture as well....what a view?
Location:

View Larger Map

A City in the Making...

Monsoon is the perfect season to be in Sahyadri Mountains or Western Ghats. This year we decided to take a quick break to places in and around Pune. We decided to do a day trip to Lavasa (called as Free India's first planned hill city). The place is coming up and will take some time; but as a concept it sure is exciting. Check out the location and directions to reach this place here. Do not miss the promenade in the evening and water sports if they are on when you are there. It was raining heavily when we were there and we missed on any outdoor activity. Its a pleasant 1-1.5 hours drive from Pune. By the way - in case you buy a home there ; please let us know we would be happy to come and stay with you during our vacations. :)

Credit is due to Dayanand Gaikwad a.k.a. DG (Link to his Blog) for telling me how to insert location in the blog. Have added the same in this post below.

Location:

View Larger Map

Country Roads Take me home...

I dropped my wife at the Shamshabad Airport, Hyderabad and while coming back to my home just stopped by at the shoulder to enjoy the greens and the view in a warm afternoon while driving on ORR (Outer Ring Road). I think it was the seemingly thrust upon solitude along with the loneliness of the road that kind of got connected with each other in my mind and i took this snap. The solace was this is a 2-way road and 2 days into the future i would be traversing the same road but in the opposite direction which would be the end of my solitude. As they say - every cloud has a silver lining; i say that every barren road has a green boundary. Does it make sense?

My Lego Blocks Playground

Standing at the top of Rockefeller Center and looking at downtown Manhattan; the first thought that crossed my mind was "Lego Blocks". I have been fascinated by them since my childhood (and not that this is not true today ). It looked like i am standing in the middle of a large playground with a Lego City called NYC in front of me and the child in me felt very excited about it. Have a thought similar to this ever crossed your mind - when you felt like a child again...

i wake up in the morning and see a misty valley below; the birds chirping while starting their day; the greens swaying with the morning breeze; the veil of mist just lifting up to give way to bright sunlight; the clouds playing around in the azure skies... what else can one ask for!!! this is the view from my 4 day abode in Mussoorie (the queen of hills), India. Incidently, this was also the first vacation for my son who tyurned 1 year old around this vacation....When are you coming here?

Union of the soul with the super soul

The grace, the grandeur, the elegance, the enigma and the beauty which is attached with various indian dance forms is purely unparalleled.
The Kuchipudi dance form is one that has its origin in Krishna District of present day Andhra Pradesh (2009) and it does share similarities with Bharatnatyam. As per Bharatdesam website, "in nritya it has several lyrical compositions reflecting the desire of a devotee to merge with God - symbolically the union of the soul with the super soul."
This shot seems to be close to this description! The performer was performing with great zeal and vigor and it was really difficult to capture her in a 2D static frame.