Saturday, November 8, 2014

Taj Mahal. Enough said.



Travel Tale | Agra Fort | Taj Mahal

An early morning misty view of the Taj Mahal as seen from the Agra Fort.
When I visited Taj Mahal later during the day, I couldn't take my eyes off it - not even for a split second. And soon realized that none of my photos can do justice to the beauty of this marvel. Simply put my camera aside, settled down and just enjoyed the Sunset and Moonrise at Taj.
And even as I began to leave the place, I turned back like a zillion times to see it one more time for perhaps one last time. I was simply in awe!

Monday, December 2, 2013

2013 in Retrospect


Whattup!! The greatest month of the year has begun and before I'd realize, 2013 will whiz by!

I love December for many reasons:
  • Bangalore's Winter
  • Holiday Season
  • Season of Cakes
  • Season of gifts, love and more
  • More importantly, it ends the year to give way to a New beginning - New dreams New hopes New plans New resolutions and New memories
2013 has been quite fulfilling personally, professionally and blog'ally :D.  So before I call it a wrap, here's reminiscing the year that was.
  • Ushered into the new year with a photowalk in LalBagh
  • Was crazy busy but still managed to blog now and then
  • Attended the first ever Comic Con event in Bangalore and was super thrilled strolling about in a batman's mask :P
  • My Photograph was exhibited at the Bangalore's first ever Bangalore 360° - A Photo Carnival
  • Was taken by surprise when the local news channel reported the Bangalore 360 Photo Carnival by reading out the exact same lines from my blog post! Ahem! Here's the video
  • Wrote a movie review. My first!
  • Compiled my idea of Simple Pleasures of life
  • Got featured on Mashable twice in one year! One of the 9 stunning shots taken after dark and one of the 11 food photos that will take your taste buds for a ride
  • Trekked 10Km+12 Rail tunnels to the Dudh Sagar Waterfalls in Goa with the Snapstors and returned with a wrecked body tired mind and a happy soul
  • Stood in the overnight loooong queue and managed to buy the tatkal Indian Railway tickets to Goa with the Snapstors - my first time!
  • Attended a photography workshop
  • Traveled to Malaysia and fell in love with the country here here here and everywhere
  • Went on my first ever Ramadan Walk to the food street aka Mosque Street in Bangalore - one of the captures won me a feature on Mashable
  • Toured Lepakshi and Nandi Hills with the Snapstors - my first time with the awesome gang
  • Explored the unexplored Bangalore's heritage here and here
  • Got Instagram'd
  • Read 10 books out of the 2013 Reading Challenge of 20 books on goodreads
  • Made delicious Cashew Pistachio Roll - Diwali delights!
  • 5978 Characters I 1358 Words I  29 Paragraphs I 9 Persian Cats I 2 Individuals I 1 Platinum Day of Love - Penned My first Short Story. Yayness
  • Felt awesome when my Malaysia Diaries blogposts were found to be very useful to an acquaintance to plan their trip
  • Managed a decent collection of Mobile Photography this year. Oh I also have a collection of B&W photography now. Yay me
  • Attempted a close-up shot of the Supermoon - the brightest biggest full moon of the year
  • Watched unlimited weekend Marathons of TBBT, HIMYM and FRIENDS
  • The loads of family time, the few cooking adventures, the movie trips, the time spent with cats and nature, the rain, the good books, some bad books, the green tea, ok I will stop.
  • Shoppinnnngggggg - Online included :P
  • Met amazing people all along and made some great friends for keeps :) Oh did I say there were also some 'All talk no stuff ' people too?! ;-)
  • Drew great inspiration from here
  • Made a life-changing career decision - let that stay outta the blog ;-)
I guess I should stop here before the list goes on. This certainly does not mean it was a perfect year with only great things happening. I had my share of bad days too which I choose not to rant here coz it's time to spread & share happiness and joy.

Life is looking up again. The crazy randomness, the excitement, the looking forward to something... Period.






Monday, October 21, 2013

Tipu Sultan's Summer Palace - Bangalore


Tipu Sultan's Summer Palace

My visit to the Tipu Sultan's Summer Palace was long due. Wiki Loves Monuments event gave me all the more reason to be there do that at the right time. This was the second destination of our Photowalk with the Bangalore Photowalk group on the weekend of 28th September. You can read about the first destination here.

The palace in itself is not as big as the one in Srirangapatna in Mysore. However, it should be noted that this was an 'abode of happiness' for the ruler Tipu Sultan who spent his summers in Bangalore. Built during the 18th Century by Hyder Ali and further maintained by Tipu Sultan during his regime, this two-storied wooden palace boasts of Indo-Islamic Architecture with the walls adorning the paintings and murals of the times and life of Tipu Sultan.

One unique feature: Only three colors have lent beauty to this palace - Red, Brown and Golden-yellow. Yes, and with the ample amount of lighting, the palace makes for an excellent photographic monument you would not want to miss. I spent almost 2 hours playing with the light and angles as you can see in some of the images below.







Location and how to get there:
Located centrally in the KR (Krishna Rajendra) Market area - Tipu Sultan's Summer palace is situated right across the Bangalore Fort and is easily accessible by the pulic transport (BMTC buses that ply to KR Market every 5-15 minutes from almost all parts of Bangalore for a charge of Rs 15-25 depending on the distance. One can also drive/ride to the place and can also use the auto-rickshaws for a charge of up to Rs 200.
The palace is open to the public on all days for an entrance fee of Rs.5 for locals and Rs.100 for foreigners.

Do visit my Flickr Photostream Tipu Sultan Summer Palace and Bangalore Fort for more and stay tuned as I continue to discover the Garden City - Bangalore!!



Sunday, October 6, 2013

Wiki Loves Monuments and I Love Bangalore


Here's a peek into namma Bengaluru's heritage from my eye. This photowalk was conducted by the Bangalore Photowalk group in association with Wiki Loves Monuments - an international photo contest held by Wikipedia inviting photo entries of monuments representing the country's cultural heritage. It was fun experimenting different angles & compositions at Tipu Sultan's Summer Palace and Bangalore Fort with my 18-55mm lens, enjoyed post-processing (for once), adding dramatic layers to some of the images.  Above all, it was a fascinating experience exploring the lesser explored Bangalore.

Miniature postcards of Bangalore Fort  - Click on them to view enlarged images

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Bangalore Fort
Location and how to get there:
Located centrally in the KR (Krishna Rajendra) Market area  - Bangalore Fort is easily accessible by plethora of public BMTC buses that ply to KR Market every 5-15 minutes from almost all parts of Bangalore for a charge of Rs 15-25 depending on the distance. One can easily drive/ride to the place and can also use the Auto-rickshaws for a charge of anywhere up to Rs.200.

The fort is open to public on all the days. Oh and there is no entry fee!

History:
Originally built by Kempe Gowda (the founder of Bangalore) in the 16th Century, Bangalore Fort was further strengthened by Hyder Ali and his son Tipu Sultan (the Muslim rulers in South Indian history of Mysore during 18th Century). With the British's conquest of Bangalore, the fort was gradually dismantled in parts to make way for roads and infrastructure and what remains now is only the Delhi Gate of the fort and is preserved and maintained by the Archaeological Survey of India.

Personal favorite images from the Photowalk:
1. The Fort Gate- Took me back to the good old doordarshan days when they would air the historical drama- The Sword of Tipu Sultan, and I used to be so fascinated by the grandeur of  the forts, the armed gates, the army, the costumes, the drama and above all, the very handsome and chivalrous ruler Tipu Sultan. Nostalgic!!
2. The cycle with a fort wall in the background - I've always wanted to shoot a similar composition but in Rajasthan. Little did I know my dream would come true in namma Bengaluru itself. But that does not stop me from visiting Rajasthan someday ;)
3. The intricate designs carved on the Fort walls
4. The Fort in itself with a lush green lawn in the foreground and lovely blue sky at the background.
5. The 16th century Ganesha Temple inside the Fort - unique architectural style that you would not normally find in Bangalore.

Everything about this Photowalk was a fabulous experience uncovering the past. If you're a history buff and are in Bangalore, you should definitely not miss this one.

You will learn about the second destination of the PhotoWalk - Tipu Sultan's Summer Palace -  in my next blog post. Stay tuned!




Saturday, September 21, 2013

Nandi Hills & Lepakshi

   
     An urge to travel, connect with new people, learn and enhance my photography skills led me to an awesome group that organizes short photography tours in and around the city.

I barely knew anybody in the group except for exchanging pleasantries with a few of them at a recent photography exhibition in Bangalore. With a wee bit of apprehension and loads of excitement, I joined them on a day's trip to the Nandi Hills & Lepakshi and to my surprise it seemed like I have known all of them from time immemorial. That's the beauty of sharing a common interest/passion and the need to just let your hair down and have some fun.

NANDI HILLS - BANGALORE
Nandi Hills has always been one of the favorite weekend getaways for Bangaloreans; especially for the photographers - for being more than a perfect surreal nature's abode.
Early morning walk
How to get there:
Located within 70 kms from Bangalore, one can easily get there by bikes & cars exiting from the North of Bangalore. There are also public transport buses plying from Bangalore's central bus station - Kempegowda Bus station in the mornings & evenings for a charge of Rs. 50. Beware there are no buses back to Bangalore after 5PM.
Quick Info:
The gates of the Nandi Hills are open to public only between 6.00 PM to 6.00PM and they charge you Rs.10 as the entry ticket.
There is only one Hotel Mayura Pine Top Restaurant located at the top of the hill to eat and lodge (first come basis lodging with only three rooms). Of course, you can choose to get down the hill and find places to eat/stay away from the hills.

Crossing about 40 curves (some of them very steep) as we got to the top of the hills at around 6.30 am, we were amazed to be greeted by thick blanket of clouds veiling the hill and the fort. What followed were myriad of images captured by the enthusiastic group ranging from Landscapes to Macros, HDR's to Pano's, Portraits to Groupies, Flora & Fauna, Birds, Monkeys, Insects and virtually everything. Nandi Hills offers plenty of photographic opportunities I did not even imagine. At about 1400+ mtrs above sea level, strolling around the lush green hilly area, breathing the chill healthy air was such a welcome break from the madness of the city life.
Bamboo Homes
It is believed that the hills got its name because it's shape resembles a sleeping bull. There are other stories as well one of them being that the ruler Tippu Sultan built a fort around this hill and named it Nandi Durg. The Tippu's drop point on the hill offers an awe-inspiring view of the valley; so splendid that my camera could obviously do no justice to it. The upside-down bamboo houses with awesome photographic frames are a new addition enthralling the visitors.
The splendid view of the hill and the valley
After a quick breakfast at the Hotel Mayura Pine Top Restaurant located at the top (the only hotel atop the Hills to eat and lodge), we went on a short trek inside the Nellikai Basavanna Temple area before heading out to the Bhoga Nandeeshwara Temple located in the vicinity of 20 kms from the hill. One of the intellect group member KR enlightened us on the history of the temple that dates back to the 9th Century when it was built, extended and preserved over a period of time by the Cholas, Gangas and the Hoysalas and was finally strengthened by the Vijayanagara rulers during the 13th Century. The temple pond surrounded by stone steps all around is another amazing view you should not miss. The exquisite ancient architecture makes it easily one of the lovely locations for pre-wedding photo shoots and portraiture. I got one of my portraits clicked too ;-)

LEPAKSHI - ANDHRA PRADESH
How to get there: We started for Lepakshi at 12.30 pm IST from Nandi Hills to arrive at the destination in 90 minutes (70kms) driving past the Bangalore-Hyderabad NH7 highway.

Exhausted and hungry, we gorged on the yummy food two super cute girls D & P in the group had packed for all of us. The rotis, the variety of yummy sabzis and cool-drinks along with the cookies were so yum and much-needed, we cannot thank them both enough.

Lepakshi is a small village in the state of Andhra Pradesh dedicated to temples. The day was as hot as mercury and we had a tough time walking bare-foot inside the gigantic Veerabhadra Temple that dates back to the Vijayanagara empire in the 16th century in the history of South India.
The striking pillars
The striking features of this temple are the intricate pillars carved out of rocky stones bordering the temple from all the sides with perfect amount of light enough to make the pictures look stunning. The most interesting one is the 'Hanging Pillar' attached to the ceiling but not to the floor. Yes, a pillar in a suspended state. It is believed that the British were fascinated by the pillar and in an attempt to run some experiments to uncover the secret to this genius engineering that they caused the pillar and some of the other pillars to tilt in one direction of the other. I was so amazed at the sight of this pillar that I sat leaning against it for more than a few minutes marveling this genius and admiring the mural paintings on the ceilings.
The Hanging Pillar Photo Courtesy: Adit Lal 
The sculptures & paintings of deities, dancers, musicians, animals and stories from Mahabharat and Ramayan adorning this ancient temple is another interesting feature you will not miss. Unfortunately, photography is restricted inside the worship place that houses the deities including Veerabhadra, Shiva, Parvathi, and the goddess Kali with paintings of the Shiva-Parvathi kalyanam on the ceiling that are appearing to fade off.
Mural Paintings on the Ceiling
Sculpture of a deity
The open air kalyana mandapam is a beautiful hall surrounded by off-white pillars. We had a humorous modelling-cum photoshoot here that will add to some of the lovely memories of the trip.
Kalyana Mandapam
As we headed towards the outer enclosure, we came across a huge tree offering shelter from the scorching heat of the sun. Amazed at the central location of the tree, most of us climbed up to get a funny group picture. It seemed like as though the monkeys around the place were not enough that we had to climb up the tree too. Fun times.

The last and one of the main attractions was the multi-hooded Nagalinga standing tall with stories that the seven headed snake was carved out of a single piece of stone within moments even before the lunch was made ready that day.
NagaLinga
The best time to visit Lepakshi is early morning when you can avoid the scorching sun. We bore the brunt of the sun but nothing can hold a candle to the fun, memories, bonding, captures and the learning we took back with us. And as an icing on the cake to this incredible journey, the gorgeous sky adorned by the multi-colored clouds smiled at us inviting us to freeze the moment.
The gorgeous Sky clicked with my mobile phone

For more photos from the trip - please visit my Flickr Photostream:
Nandi Hills
Lepakshi 





Monday, September 9, 2013

Monsoon Memories


Give wings to your thoughts this monsoon - If I remember, this was a blogging contest at work a few years ago and a curious me wanting to be on top of every contest did not wanted to miss this opportunity as well. And now looking back - it seems like I was over-enthused but nevertheless ;-)

Why this now? As I began gathering memories of 'the office' with the ensuing D day at work - I had to save this post at some place before it would be discarded for good. So here it is.

Monsoon Memories
"The very thought of monsoon makes me nostalgic. I love this season more than any. I mean who does not enjoy watching rain from your balcony with hot coffee, hot bajjis and hot masala bhutta? (ok, not always). 
I can watch it rain eternally and aimlessly often tempted enough to feel the droplets falling right on my face from heaven and the scent of rain mesmerizing enough to not to ignore.

 As a kid, I remember making paper boats and sailing them in the rain puddle formed outside the house. All the neighborhood kids would make their little boats and compete with each other and the last sinking boat will be declared the winner. Innocent were we? Wish I could get back to doing something like that now. I still remember our departure from a trip to Ooty last year with friends. I wished for rains throughout the trip but was only disappointed. And when we started for Bangalore in the late afternoon, I saw my wish coming true. Watching the downpour in the ghat area was simply spectacular. We asked the driver to stop the bus and went running down the ghats. My passion for photography made me take some photos of the sight. We then resumed our journey but hold on, for our bus broke down - a blessing in disguise and we became kids again.

Come to talk about an experience I will never forget. This happened a few years ago - there was this job interview I was called for and I was very determined to bag the job. Thanks to the heavy downpour and the wet roads causing heavy traffic jam, I ended up reaching the venue late by almost 2 hours and almost completely drenched. As expected, I was asked to return the next day for it was too late. One can imagine how much I hated rains that day. Call it good luck, I got a call that same evening for an interview with a reputed organization and the rest is history. Yes, I am here in one of the best organizations I could have ever imagined, meeting some smart people, mentors, colleagues, and some lovely people who are friends for life now "


Sweet innit? Now how much of that is true and who won the contest you ain't not know ;-)



Sunday, August 25, 2013

Social Media Icons



     Ahoy!! I now have the social media icons up on my blog, finally! Check out my new 'KEEP IN TOUCH' section.


It usually is a struggle especially when the HTML codes are greek and latin to you! I am glad I bumped into My Favourite Things for a real-quick tutorial. It was very simple - all I had to do was to zero in on the images of each of the icons from photobucket.com. Copy the HTML code from here and link em to my social media profiles & photobucket images using 'Add a gadget' from the blog layout and tadaa! I thought I'd share this for the uninitiated.


I like how my blog's growing by the day :-)






Friday, August 23, 2013

NotAMinuteToSpare


     And my crazy ass-schedule days are back with NotAMinuteToSpare! I wonder what will happen of me if and when I will have nothing to do. Duh, that will never happen - there is so much to do, I will be on my toes forever.

In the midst of my super hectic schedule, I happened to stumble upon an instagram profile of a certain photog - Rose, a creative director at an ad agency in Toronto. The profile's sole and unique aim is to portray a splash of colors from different walks of life captured beautifully by Rose - all on her iPhone! Clearly, an excellent example of how you do not need the fancy high-end cameras to bring beautiful and vibrant perspectives to life. I love the attention to the details that breaks the monotony in an otherwise vibrant splash of colors that can prove to be blinding. Do check out the link http://instagram.com/gummyting to see it for yourself.

In the meantime, I have been dying to complete a DIY project themed around monsoon - if only it rains when I am not at work/stuck in the middle of a stagnant road traffic - sigh. If you're lucky enough, you'd see a post on it before the rains disappear this year ;-)



Sunday, August 11, 2013

There's always a million reasons NOT to do something


"There's always a million reasons NOT to do something". How true! Little did the makers of 'The Office' and the fictional character Jan Levenson realize that the line could strike a chord with many people in real life. Nevertheless. I wish I never had to use any of them ever.


Meanwhile, the personal to-do list just got BIGGER and exciting and the impatient me wants to do all of it like right 'now'. How I wish there were 48 hrs in a day for the obvious. I can't wait.



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