Where few dare to tread

Once again at the same place as my earlier post. This time we went in for a Lion Safari and our king did not disappoint us. There he was basking in the sun and enjoying a lazy afternoon siesta. And of course, we were the one inside cages...looking at the KING from our confines. Life is like that - you are sometimes the hunter and sometimes the hunted...

The Sighting

A comfortable warm morning with a bit of mist and a lot of anticipation made a perfect cocktail for us to explore Nehru Zoological Garden at Hyderabad. And boy, this was a scene straight out of my dreams - come face to face of a tiger and capture that moment while he looks into your eyes. I can assure you that the moment is really spiritual. The animal is such a beauty to watch and cherish (albeit from a safe distance). When are you meeting this one?

Play of Sun and Shade

This is one snap which i could not locate on the map!!

This was taken deep inside the forests in Sarawak. I was standing outside the rest house of one of my clients in Malaysia and when this wonderful image was gifted by mother nature. The hills were all green and the clouds were lingering in the balmy afternoon paving way for a rainy evening ahead. The place looked untouched and virgin though i was there for a client in lumber business. A study in contrast!! The client had a very scientific way of saving the environment - this is what i would say is "responsible co-existence".

By the way, we were not there on an off-site or vacation; it was part of our official duty to conduct requirement gathering and having discussions with users who were working out of this location deep inside the rain forests of Sarawak, Malaysia.

Can you feel the breeze as the clouds put a wonderful display of sun and shade?

The view from my Jharokha (window)

At Jantar Mantar, a photo by Sachin Bery on Flickr.

I wish I had a place like this from where I can have my morning cup of tea and enjoy the greenery and chirping of birds. Jaipur as a city is full of such beautiful pieces of architecture locally known as "Jharokha".(झरोखा)

Imagine the kind of detailed work that would have gone in making these stone look like "Moulded to this shape" - also notice the intricate carvings and "Jaali"(जाली) or Lattice work. Want to see this place for yourself, go ahead and see it at Jantar Mantar (near Hawa Mahal; "The palace of the wind" and a very popular tourist destination in Jaipur, India)

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Break free from everyone...

I was playing with my son and there were all these toys of his which were spread across the floor (for parents this is nothing unusual). What caught my eye was the 'car' which was outside the toy basket while all others were trapped inside the 'so called cage" a.k.a. toy basket...so it was the car that looked like "broke free" from the clutches of the dark lord and spread a bright "yellow" tinge all around.
Not much of post processing done - except edge glow and framing! The pic was taken with a color priority of Yellow...tell me how does it look?

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I am doing my bit...

Reduce, Reuse and Recycle are the key words we need to be following religiously today...well i am doing my bit by switching to CFL lamps. They are 'cooler', give a nice light while helping us save the environment...so please go ahead and change...

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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.

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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!

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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.

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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?
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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.

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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.

Remembering 9/11

Each country has its own share of happiness and sorrow. This time on 9/11, i happened to be in New York on business and had a chance to capture this view from New Jersey side (just outside PATH station). The two vertical beams of light that were lit-up were at the location where the twin towers originally stood. An eerie reminder and even the night wept as it rained heavily... kind of posted this to share my thoughts and the sheer agony that mankind has to face due to mankind.

The Foggy Day

Thats a shot across the Hudson River of New York City. This was at 10am in the morning and there was thick fog over the city. You will not believe but by the time we were in the city, this fog just disappeared and it was a beautiful day. Amazing weather variations!

Life in my room

The green buds shooting out of the woods, aiming for the sky and trying to achieve it goals...grow grow & grow...btw can you make out what is the subject in focus here?

The Layers!

This is one the pics that i took, by mistake, as i was leaving my abode for 5 days in Ooty. Just turned around and clicked this one to have one last view of The Monarch (the place where i stayed). Instead, i turned a bit to right and captured this layered expanse of nature starting with an array of flowers on a green bed, followed by the royal gate, the green tea gardens, the ever so tall graceful trees, few heavenly abodes, more trees and finally the majestic blue Nilgiris to complete the background. what to choose??

She shall surely see the shimmer at sea

This is taken from the waterfront (Eagle Square) in Langkawi from where the yachts just venture out into the sea. There are more pics of Langkawi here. I was actually reminded of this pic on seeing Rahul's post. I could not mine-out a "no-man" (i.e. with no human being in picture) pic for the waterfront and hence was contented with this one. Any day i would love to go back here and enjoy the shimmers.