Photo blog

2009 and The Birthday Hangover!

2010-01-23T00:49:00.005-05:00

I am back.... yeyyy!!!!

phew! after a long time, I felt like I should blog.

2009 - last year was kind of rough for me. Lots of things changed me, and my perspective towards life. Living all alone for almost 2 years, it has been quite an experience. I made some good trips in 2009 and now when I recall, I miss those good days, especially my trip to Costa Rica. It was am amazing trip, although a short one. I still remember the humid air, the sound of waves and having drinks next to the sea - no stress.

I was elated to hear that I was admitted to Masters in Netherlands, and the shock was yet to come when they called the whole thing off, due to their supporting bank going bankrupt. As I was packing my bags and wrapping up my stay in US, came the news about extension for few more months. And I am here enjoying the winters in US, I wish it were summers, atleast I could make trip to some beach or go for hiking.

2010 - LOL - my 2010 started with a bang and a hangover. 31st December is the reason for me to cut loose, a) because it is last day of year and b) it is my birthday on 1st. I really wanted to spend this night in Vegas, because, who knows when I will spend another 31st in USA. But, unfortunately, Vegas trip was too expensive, so we ended up in New York. Fortunately, one my school friend was in NY and we planned to go to some club in New York.

It is always fun to dance with American girls ;) , but most of the clubs are expensive on 31st December, except a few that play Indian music. So, my friends were low on budget and we decided to go to a Indian club. And boy! what a night it was. The club was just packed, there was no place to dance. Since it was open bar whole night, we decided we would drink a lot and have fun, but probably club owners already knew this.

After having few drinks and few shots, came the countdown and the champaign toast. And after that I don't remember what I happened. The only thing I remember is that we were on the streets of New York wishing everyone a Happy New Year, and people were thinking who are these idiots. And then we were in some hotel kind of building, where I was feeling really dizzy and every passing by person was watching me.

TIPSSSYYYYYYYYYYYEEEOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

Next morning, a call from India wakes me up and I find myself in my bean bag. And my friend lying down in another corner. After hanging up the phone, I realize my wallet is not in my pocket.

RED ALARM!!!!!!!!!

As I was trying to figure out what to do, block all my credit cards etc. etc., I realize I don't have my shoes on, and I don't remember taking them off.

ANOTHER RED ALARM!!!

WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED!!

My contact lens were still in my eyes and I was having a terrible headache. I decide to check my bedroom, before calling up the banks to freeze my accounts, and I find my wallet lying in 1 corner and shoes in another corner. WTF Happened!!!!!

Then I ask my friend, what happened last night, and he said, I passed out (oh yeah and he managed to click me), and last thing he remembers is talking to some cops and tipping $20 to some security guard of some hotel for no reason. Cops were after us, as they wanted us to reach home safely.

Then we tried to trace back to understand what happened, and no one had a clue what happened after we left the club. I find a camera in my pocket - turns out that it is my friend's and we thought we may be it can give us some clue. And we find few pictures of us hanging out on New York streets and me lying one some street after being passed out. So, we still don't know what argument we had with the cops and what we did in that hotel and why did we give $20 to security guard, and the big one!! - how did we manage to reach home after being so drunk. Since, we were at my place - who gave the address, since I was completely wasted?

Later my friend realizes, he has lost his watch, his wallet and his cellphone. He manages to find the watch on his wrist (somehow), his wallet lying in one of his shoes (how?? why??), and no sign of cellphone. So we make a call to his cellphone and we find that his cell phone is with some guys we met at the club, and no one remembers why his cellphone is with them. The good guys returned our phone and the fun came to an end :-)

The good part was that I was not married to some unknown girl, there was no tiger in bathroom and there was no baby in any of the closets (yes, I did check all of them) - LOL

THE END!!!

Bottom line, we had a blast on that night with countdown, dance, and drinks - but no girls (which I guess is good).

I am waiting for Hangover part II - I hope it will much more fun (in good sense) and in Vegas!! ;)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Back from Costa Rica and laziness

2009-08-24T23:26:00.008-04:00

Finally, after uploading the pics on Orkut and Facebook. It's time to log my experience on my blog. Phew! I have been lazy for quite sometime to put something on my blog. It has been a long break!

My trip to Costa Rica was great, but the planning was a mess. I had to postpone it by 2 weeks because of unavailability of tickets. Finally, after booking the tickets, it was turn of hotels and other travel arrangements. Thankfully, my team in Costa Rica helped me a bit here. And also, good part is many things can be done online these days.

08/06/09 - I left the home at 1 AM to catch my flight to SanJose, Costa Rica at 8 AM in morning. I knew if I sleep I would never catch the flight. And I had a nice sleep in flight.

08/07/09 - After reaching at SanJose, one my team mates was there to drop me at the hotel. She took me to their office in SanJose to meet with the whole team. It was really nice to put faces on the voices I often heard on various conference calls. And SanJose was kind of like Delhi, growing urban place, lots of traffic, and lots of upcoming buildings for office etc. After that we reached to my hotel

The Intercontinental at SanJose was an awesome hotel and ofcourse they charge for it, about $120/night after discount. The bad part was that internet was not free and I treated it as blessing in disguise, atleast it would give me chance to stay away from the internet. After taking a shower and some rest, I hanged out in the biggest mall, which was in front of the hotel, of SanJose. Later in the night, I met with few of my team mates to go out on dinner and drinks. They took me to a nice place with loud music.

That's the view from my room.

Roads wise Costa Rica was not too different from India, recless driving, narrow streets, and not so well built roads. I was feeling at home!

After dinner they took me to some kind of place which was kind of full of clubs, but there were gross, with young boys and girls hanging and some weird kind of music. Anyways, it was an experience.

08/08/09 - Next day, we had to go to a volcano in SanJose, so I had to got up early. Damn it was early! 8AM, I don't even get up at 8AM on normal week day and I was suppose to get up at 8AM on vacation. Phew!!

My team mates, took me to the Poas Volcano. The way to volcano was nice around the moutains it was a scenic drive of about 40 mins.

Here are few of the views:

And we reached the place near volcano, which had nice shops and restaurant. The volcano was about half a mile walk from this place. The best part was that there was hiking trail near the volcano to reach a lake. So, how could I resist! We took the trail and it was one of strenuous trail I ever did. It was steep for quite some distance before it became flat. I kept clicking on what I could.

I got to eat some nice Costa Rican food on our way back from volcano. And after resting for the day at my room in hotel and hanging out a bit at the mall, we again met in evening for the dinner. This time they took me to another nice place, which was open air with nice crowd and good music. I just love it!
And I pleaded them not to take me to that gross place again

To be Continued....

4th July Fireworks

2009-07-06T22:08:00.002-04:00

4 years back, on 4th July, I was taking a flight back to India and people told me I will miss the fireworks. 3 years later, I try to watch the fireworks from New Jersey shore and it's a terrible experience. 4 July 2009, I along with friends hit Brooklyn bridge in hope to watch the perfect fireworks. And we come to know that the venue has been changed and NJ shore is good place to be at.

Neverthless, roaming on streets of NYC with friends is an amazing experience. After figuring out a good location to watch fireworks, we head to West of Manhattan. The streets of NYC were crowded as if people have been asked to come out of their homes due to an emergency.

After walking for miles we found a nice spot where we could get a good view of fireworks, and after standing for about an hour the show began. I enjoyed it and it reminded me of our festival Diwali, which is all about fireworks. Though I must admit, the fireworks were not as great as what I saw in Disneyland, LA, but the crowd and NYC made this one an unforgettable experience.

I couldn't carry the bulky SLR to shoot fireworks, and I really missed shooting them.

Below is my favourite sunset.

5 years!!

2009-06-21T21:30:00.004-04:00

Away from blogging for several weeks, I spent most of my Sundays at Barnes and Nobles, reading books and sipping Starbucks' iced tea.

As I complete 5 years at my first company and in Software industry, I gifted myself with a Canon 50mm f/1.8 lens; my new prime lens for shooting portraits/close-ups. However, my ankle, which got pulled while sleeping, kept me at home for almost a week and didn't allow me to experiment with the lens.

So, I mounted the camera on tripod and posed in front of it to check what can it do. Since, the focal range of this lens is narrow, it should be focussed precisely on the object, otherwise it gives a blur image somewhat similar to this one. Since I was shooting myself, I had to put camera on timer and with timer, the camera can't autofocus, it just clicks on what it has been focussed on.
This is the best I could get running several times between camera and chair. But it can certainly do much better, and I need to find a better subject to get juice out of it.

Taking a break from blogging........

2009-05-31T18:20:00.002-04:00

Readaholic inside me

2009-05-10T21:08:00.003-04:00

05/09: This Saturday I found something new about myself. Hiking was not an option due to the weather; I decided to visit a nearby Barnes and Nobles and spend sometime reading books. As much as I enjoyed staying away from computer screen, I enjoyed seeing beatiful people in the store.

I re-discovered the readaholic inside me, who loves to take notes on paper rather than typing it and loves to read paper books. I would have probably downloaded gigs of pdf books, thinking I would read them in my spare time, but that spare time never comes. It is dumped inside the folder just like another file on disk. And I purchased 2 books, 1 of which I have already finished reading [200 pages] !!!!!

Once again, here is sunset; I clicked this when I went on hiking.

Appalachian Trail

2009-04-26T20:28:00.005-04:00

Second sunny weekend in row, I guess it will continue from here on. After spending whole winters inside home, I was so desparate to go out that took advantage of sunny Satruday, and went for hiking yet again. And spent time in woods with mother, mother nature.

After registring on Trails.com, which gives 15 day trial period and provides information about almost all the hiking trails in US, I decided to hike Appalachian trail. It came out to be whole day affair, 2 hours of drive one side and few hours of hiking. This was probably the most strainous trails I hiked so far after Mount Rainier in Seattle. And after reaching at top, I realized it was worth. Though the trail is quite long, I covered a bit of it. Thankfully, my Prius gives good mileage and I didn't had to think thrice [though I did thought about it twice] before going on 2 hrs long drive just for hiking.

Here is how NJ looks from one of the highest points in NJ.

FLAC + Zero DAC + AKG701 = pure music

2009-04-20T19:42:00.003-04:00

In my desparation to hear pure music, which was incomplete without the DAC, I was hitting Refresh after every 5 mins on the Tracking website; I hope they have not handed my IP to FBI for increasing traffic on their site. :D The package that was shipped from China reached me in merely 3 days, and it was Friday, making the weeekend great.

After spending $200 on this DAC, which comes with amplifier also, I think it's worth. The music that it delivers along with my $250 headphones, is amazing. The sound is so clear, crisp and sharp that I realize what I was missing without an DAC. On some of the songs, I just feel that orchestra is in front of me. It did cost $450, but when that sound reaches to brain through ears, it is PRICELESS !!!!

After sitting home for last few weekends, I decided that I can't sit anymore and wait till I find someone to go alongwith. The weather was so inviting that I started finding few trails for hiking and decided to hike one nearby at "Ramapo Mountain State Forest". It was so fun to spend sometime in woods, though there were no waterfalls. And probably, that's the best time I had was in California, it has so many things to do, Napa Valley, Yosemite Valley, Lakes, Grand Canyon and not to forget Vegas. I miss California !!!

This is London Heathrow airport, once again reflection of light:

In quest of pure music

2009-04-05T23:31:00.007-04:00

For last few weeks, I have been working endless without getting enough sleep. So, I decided to take rest this weekend. And as I got bonus for 2008, though the bonus is not much, but better than nothing :D. So, I started looking at possible options where I can spend some of it.

Though a telephoto lens for my 40D is on my list already, I have been craving for a good amplifier for to get meat out of my AKGs. So, I started my research on a headphone amplifier and I was amazed by 2 things: 1) people spend thousands of dollars on building a good music system 2) there is a huge market of hi-fi music systems. Audiophiles, as they call themselves, are crazy for pure music and after long wait I have stepped into this category.

Out of my research, which amazingly continued for 1.5 days, I found that depending on your music source, components may vary. Since, most of my music is on PC in lossless FLAC format, I first needed a DAC - Digital to Analogue converter. A DAC is almost a sound card that stays out of PC/laptop, the advantage it has over onboard soundcard is that it is free from noise of internal circuit of motherboard and hence can provide quality output. The DAC is essentially a pre-amp and its output can be fed into the main amplifier which further enhances the signals. And the amplified signal can be then be fed to the final part, i.e. speakers/headphones. If all of these components are of high quality, one can expect pure music, atleast that's what I think based on the cost of these components. DAC, Heaphone Amplifiers, Headphones, they all range from $100-$10,000, even more.

In order to get value of my $250 headphones, I need to spend another $300. I wouldn't have mind that if the best system could be afforded for say $700, but instead what I found was that even a DAC can cost 15000 bucks and same can be true for Amplifier. And most interesting part, people rather Audiophiles are buying those. Anyways, I decided not to break bank and start my quest for pure music. So, I ordered an entry level DAC, which comes with a nice amplifier, all for $150. I guess this would keep me happy till I move onto more quality stuff.

This week's image, Hardrock cafe, Warsaw

Busiest weeks

2009-03-23T22:47:00.007-04:00

Since I came back from vacations, I haven't realized how time has passed. People have been laid off and those who have not been, need to work extra hours. For me, it's time to move up from 1 project to 2 of them.
And it sucks a lot, the night ends with a call and morning starts with a call.

Neverthless, I recently took few shots where light comes indirectly through object creating an awesome scenery. Here is one of them, Warsaw Airport. The picture was originally colored and I realize it looks much better in BW. Especially with those people waiting, it gives a feeling that life has stopped.

Almost done setting my new apartment.

2009-03-09T21:25:00.003-04:00

After a week packed with morning calls comes the weekend. I got chance to get over my jet lag over the weekend only. And the weather became awesome on the weekend, helping in my relaxation.
As I ordered a new pair of bean bags for my living room, I am done with setup of my apartment almost after 1 month. My audiophilism may force me to shell out few hundred bucks on a nice music system. Back home I couldn't stop listening my BOSE that I was missing for months. But this time I want to try something new, I may go for Harman. Thankfully, I have no interest in watching TV, saving me money on expensive TV. They are actually not expensive, but I know only a 46” would satiate me and might become an addiction. However, since I ended up buying cable connection as part of deal, I will utilize it connectingto my Birthday gift (my 24" monitor). I still need to find how that can be done, I am sure it is possible.

Here’s picture from the streets of Poland. Everyone has liked this one and I think this is worth sending into of the contests.

Busiest February

2009-03-02T21:48:00.004-05:00

February 2009, the busiest February I have ever had.

My New Apartment: As my tenure extended, I had to move into my own rented apartment. It was a really tough task to find an apartment and then set it up. Fortunately, I found something nearby, and best thing about my new apartment is the Irish Pub, which is just next door. This apartment is not as good as the corporate apartments that costed 4 times this one. As I setup my apartment, I buy each and every tiny thing on my own from rug to all the furniture. It has been 1 month and I am still living on a mattress - LOL. I am still contemplating what furniture I should buy. Oh, and the best part about the mattress was that I could get this nice mattress in a roll shape, so I didn't had to worry too much about carrying it to my place from the store.

Vacation to India: After working for so many months out of US, I was deparately feeling a need for break. The worst part about my this trip to US is that I don't have a gang here, making my stay more boring. So, after initial setup of my new apartment, I took a 2 weeks vacation to India. It was unfortunate to find that one of our cats have gone missing, however, his mother still visits our home. And I am sure she was happy to see me - LOL.
It has been so long since I met my friends, so I spent time with them and with family as well. All my plans to make a trip to Rajasthan were fruitless as all my friends were busy with their girlfriends. It's so embarassing how the friends who have been with me for last 15 years don't have much time for me now.

Visit to Poland: On my return to US, I spent couple of days in Warsaw, Poland, where one of my friend is on business trip. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to see Krakow, which is more beautiful than Warsaw. It was my first trip to any European place and I felt great to be in Europe. I feel that Europe is much of history rich, monumental scenic place than natural beauty, which I feel is more in US than in Europe.
Anyways, so Warsaw was good, I liked the old, narrow streets and the Main Square, which was not as crowded as one might imagine just by the name. The best part I liked about Poland was the girls, they are so beautiful, friendly and flirty unlike American girls, atleast that's what my experience has been :) Oh, and how can I forget Polish Vodka, it rocks!!!! I had to buy 1 bottle from duty free shop.

After taking sometime off, I feel it was definately neccessary to freshen the mind and especially staying away from computers that were coming so close to my life. However, spending so many hours in flights and on airports, I felt they were my second home. I probably spent more than 60 hours on airports and planes.

LHR Terminal 5: The new Heathrow airport Terminal 5 opened somewhere last year and I have already visited it thrice. I love this airport, it is clean, new, huge and beautiful. And it comes with a monorail. The bad part is security lines, the security lines are huge here, I don't know why. It has some great lounges and a great shopping area.

Here is a pic from LHR terminal 5, the ceiling at sitting area.

Last but not the least, I am really happy that we won few Oscars. AR Rehman truly deserves it!!

And comes my Bday gift

2009-01-12T10:57:00.000-05:00

Here comes my Bday gift, I gifted myself with a 24-inches, just 3 short of my new age, LCD monitor on this Bday. Instead of 27 candles, it's 24 inches screen :)
And I am loving it, I am quite sure when working from home, it will help me improve my productivity drastically. Jeeeez, can I stop thinking about work!!!! It's full HD, so I will be able to watch HD movies on this monitor. And next step is 46-inches LCD, from 23 I want to go straight to 46, aaaa, I mean TV-wise not otherwise .. LOL

As I got glimpse of Golden Globe awards, I feel so happy for "Slumdog Millionaire" movie, which is based on Indian story and happy for all the awards it was awarded. Especially, for AR Rehman, the music genius. Though, I don't like that movie too much, but it's good one, especially story, totally different.

The bad part at work is that it's too tough; bloody 2008 has left its scars on 2009, and with cost cutting comes the burden of more work. I hope it doesn't lasts long and things get back to normal.

This is "The Rim" at Taj Mahal Casino, Atlantic City, one of my favourite place to eat Sesame Chicken. There hasn't been an instance when I have been to Atlantic city and not eaten at this place. The best part I like about this place is that chef cooks in front of you. It has a semi-circled place in middle of which the chef cooks and some people can sit around this semi-circled place. It's fun to watch your food being cooked :), I just love it.
Unfortuntely, the picture is not as good as I wanted it to be and as good as I was expecting it to be. I thought that in sports mode I would be able to capture a good shot, but the chef was too interested in cooking my food rather this picture. Unfortunately, because of the lightening, the auto mode would have increased the ISO and decreased the shutter speed. And hence not exactly what I wanted to capture.

But nevermind, I know I am going to Atlantic City atleast once more :D

Click Click Click.... Bye Bye 2008

2009-01-01T22:10:00.005-05:00

1 pic is worth 1000 words, those are 15000 words .. LOL

As I was planning to packup 2008 and leave for home...came the news that I will be here till 2009 end. 1 more reason to rock New Year eve.

Few days back I thought, so what if I don't have any friends here to celebrate chirstmas with, I can celebrate myself. And I went out with my camera going around the place in streets, in middle of night to click some nice pictures. Pictures of the way people decorate their homes with lights, similar to what we do on Diwali. Though in my free country we do lots of fireworks on Diwali, because we don't like quite things (that's why we keep honking horns every now and then :) ).

Finally with Christmas getting over, it was time to get set for 31st, the big night. I just love it, and I am too excited about it. Infact I am already waiting for 12/31/2009. LOL. And since 31st is so special for me, I would leave no stone unturned to enjoy on this night. So, I got along with few folks and went to one of my favourite clubs, MIXX at Borgata in Atlantic City. Dancing and drinking whole night on this rocking dance floor was so much fun. Now comes the bad part of SLR, it's so bulky that you cannot carry while partying. So, I couldn't click myself in that adrenaline filled situation. :(

I wish every an adventurous and rocking 2009!!!

And comes the end of the longest post of this blog :)

Yet Again

2008-12-14T22:03:00.003-05:00

Well, I am still waiting to see snow in my life. I believed the predictions and woke up early last week to click snow, but it wasn't there. So the wait is still on, though the temperature is dropping day by day, good for me as I like cold, so I guess the wait shouldn't last long. The only disadvantage is, I won't be able to go out, especially I will miss clubbing :(

So here is, yet again, sunset; my favourite. Sunset from Statue of Liberty.

Watching Mom Dad enjoy vacations ..... Priceless!!!

2008-12-01T00:06:00.003-05:00

It's like re living my life, reminds of beatiful latest song "Livin my life" by Rihanna. Just like I did in 2005, I re-visited North Carolina, but this time by driving 1000 miles in 17 hours all alone. Being only licensed driver I had no choice but to drive it all. The worst part is AMTRAK takes almost same time to reach North Carolina and costs much much more than I spent on gas. The only bad part about driving is that it's tiring to drive straight for 8 hours and incase you get a speeding ticket, fortunately I didn't get, it costs a lot. As we passed through D.C. and came the exits for Herndon, Dulles Airport and Potomac Mills, it took me back in 2005; I wish I had enough time to go visit those places, relive the past and cherish the beautiful time I had there in 2005.
Finally, we reached destination "without getting lost" and it was great fun to see my aunt and their beautiful daughters after so many years.

What do people do when they are in NY ? They visit Statue of Liberty; since my parents were here, there was no point not to take them to this attraction. So, once again, just like I did in 2005, we visited Statue of Liberty, but this time with my parents.
This picture below is of some bird who was asking for food at Statue of Liberty, fortunately, we had things he could eat :)

And now when my parents have left for India, I feel so nostalgic in the apartment :(

Top of NYC

2008-11-17T23:58:00.002-05:00

After 3 years, I am back on top of Empire State Building, the tallest building of NYC, this time with my parents.

After spending some time off with Family in Seattle at my cousins place, I am back in NJ. As usual it's always raining in Seattle, but that couldn't stop us from having fun. The main attraction Mount Rainier in Seattle closes in early October, apart from this there isn't much to see, especially on a short trip like ours.
So, we rented a big 7 seater to fit everyone and visited places around. It was nice to see people in Christmas mood already; this is my first Christmas outside India and It will be all together different experience here in US.

Back in NJ, I am trying to make the trip of my parents, a fun trip. So, I took them to NYC and on top of the tallest building of NYC. Unfortunately, it was very cold and windy. Fortunately, our Hop On Hop Off bus was covered unlike others, so it was a bit of satisfaction.

Here's the beautiful NYC from top of Empire State Building.

My turn !!!!

2008-11-06T00:33:00.006-05:00

It's my turn for vacations...yippppiiieeeeeee

Don't know after how long I am going on vacation, though it was only in starting of this year that I took vacations, but not for enjoyment. And it's not really a vacation when you don't take it for enjoyment. My turn has come and I will be flying all the way to Seattle to meet my parents, as they land there in few hours !!!!!!!

I am all excited and pumped to see them after so many months and all excited to roam be sleepless in Seattle. LOL

I plan to take lots of shots, I am coming Seeeeaaaaattle !!!!!

Below is a shot from Giant Steps, Palisades, the place I went for hiking few weeks back. I found out there were couple of good shots. And some of them can be made better by cropping unnecessary stuff. I used to believe that cropping is not good and one should shoot in such a manner that cropping is not required. But the more I explore the more I learn.

Before

After

Just focussing on what photographer wants to convey.

Fall !!!

2008-10-27T00:27:00.003-04:00

While I was in college, I came to know there are 2 college sessions in US, the fall and the spring. I understood the spring part, but never understood the fall part. Now, when I have seen it, I know why they call it fall.
This is the first time I saw fall in US and I am in love with it. Trees changing colors, pink, green, yellow and all sorts of colors; the same streets become so colorful. I was planning for quite long time to go out and do some fall shooting, but my work kept me busy like hell; I was on house arrest for quite sometime.
And boy, it feels so good to be done with all the work; this weekend there was no work. So, we decided to go for a hike and that was my chance to do some fall photography. I didn't really do a good job here, very little light was able to reach on our tree covered hiking track and I didn't got good shots; need to do a better job next time.......
I wanted to do lot of shooting, but couldn't really find a good subject; I need to be innovative in finding something interesting at a place where light can reach :D.

Back home it's Diwali, the festival of light, and I am missing it a lot, a lot!!!! especially those decorated street markets, crowd of people shopping on Diwali :(
If everything works out well, my next weekend would in D.C. and it will be very nostalgic experience, as D.C. was the first place I visited outside India.

What's cooking ?

2008-10-05T23:12:00.004-04:00

One thing that I have improved in last few years because of my traveling is cooking. I love Indian food, mmm lots of spices. As always this reminds me of a movie, "Along came a Poly", the Adam Sandler movie in which he doesn't likes spicy food.

Good thing being in US is that one gets to try different cuisines; I have tried so many over the course of my travel, Italian, Thai, Chinese and the fast food. But my love will remain with Indian food. Cooking and Eating is all together a different experience rather than just eating. And Indian food generally is hard work, though the recipes are pretty much same, but it takes lot of hard work to cook the dishes.

And when it's nice weather outside with heavy pour, I hate to go out and as always TV has not been my favorite thing. So, to pass time, I thought why not try something new. So, I decided to cook "Vegetable Biryani". And hardly I knew it will a lot of work, it took me around 1.5 hrs to get to this.

This was the first time I cooked this dish and when I tasted, it was so yum, that I couldn't stop myself from taking a picture and posting here. With yoghurt it was perfect authentic Indian dinner.

A Priceless experience !!!

New companion

2008-09-29T01:57:00.010-04:00

Time flies; 6 months in U.S., though it doesn't feels so, but that is true. For first time I am missing home. I miss almost everyone, family, friends, my cats, my Bose music system, dusty roads, freedom from traffic rule and everything.

I can't replace most of these things, but I atleast incase of my Music System, I can. So, I set out to buy a nice pair of headphones, it was on my wishlist since long time. As always in music, I don't compromise, Quality is top priority. I was inclined towards Bose headphones as I have already tasted it's quality in my music system. However after doing lot of reading on web, i found that there are better headphones than Bose. The best one costing $1000, unfortunately, I cannot afford that much. After doing lot of reading I closed on 2 headphones, costing around $350. Senheisser HD 650 and AKG 701.

Finally, I closed on AKG 701, because it looks much better than the other one.

And here's how it looks when unpacked. As usual, premium products come in premium packing to give you that feeling of exclusivity.

And that's how the baby looks like.

They are bulky no doubt, they are not portable so cannot be worn while you are jogging or while walking on road. As you can see, I almost look like a alien or a guy in recording studio.

These headphones are meant when you just want to listen to music and nothing else, when you want to feel the music, when you want to forget the world and when you want to feel each every small note that are easliy missed on big speaker because of impedance and other things. These are high impedance headphones, so does drink lot of battery. I feel they would sound best with amplifier, which again costs about $ 100 or above.

What I really like about these headphones:
The design - damn comfy, you can almost forget you are wearing these. And they look cool as well.
Music - ofcourse, the best part is music, it sounds heavenly. Atleast I haven't heard anything better, nobody keeps the $1000 headphones on demo, so, I don't know ;)
Tight midrange and good bass.
Cost - costing around 250$, I think they are good value for money.

What I don't like about these:
Bulky - they are bulky, but that is the price for the quality, that is probably how it achieves the great sound.
Need for an Amplifier - with mp3 player, these don't sound as good as they do on PC. Probably, they need amplifier, I still need to do more research on that.

My new companion AKG 701 !!! I have a new item in my time table 12 AM - 2 AM, spend time with my new companion :)

Hot Hot Hot!!!

2008-09-21T23:08:00.004-04:00

Sky Scrapers !!! What else can you expect in NYC ?Lots of things, good food, street full of people, traffic jams, and oh! the street food, which I just love.

Recommended by a friend, I decided to taste the most popular street food joint in New York. I didn't believe what he said, but I had to when I saw the line; around 100 people waiting in line to get a taste of the food from this joint. I could see Pakistani, American, Chinese all standing there in the line. It was amazing!!; 12'o clock in morning and people are standing in line to get food !! It took around half an hour of standing in line before my turn came, as always, I ordered chicked (safe bet).
mmmmmm, it was sooooo yummmmmy, sooo spicy that tears started coming out of my eyes. I think in all excitement, I added to much of hot sauce. All in all, I wish I had a larger stomach ..LOL $6 is just bargain for the quantity and the quality.

It's good to know that just like in my country, here in US, street food can be GOOD. This joint is located 53rd St. & 6th Ave., in front of Hilton Hotel and is very popular. If you are coming to NYC and love food, this is must visit place.

Read more on this here I wish I had my camera to take a shot of the line that was waiting for the food, unfortunately, it was lying in my car, parked 1 mile away. Nevermind, this is a place I am going to visit often :)

Here's beautiful, NYC at sunset.

Much awaited weekend

2008-09-15T01:00:00.003-04:00

For past couple of weeks, my schedule has gone crazy. I haven't been able to catchup on my sleep. I sleep at 2 AM working late with my team in India and then calls start 8:30. It's been crazy meeting the deadlines and working like hell.
And the much awaited weekend came to rescue; I was on house arrest the whole weekend; cooked delicious Indian food and caught with everything I have been missing whole week, movies, music and sleep.

This is Pic I took on our way to Jones Beach, some one just got married 4th time and seems like he is too happy to advertise it.

Shopping, beach, Brooklyn Bridge - NYC rocks

2008-09-02T21:21:00.006-04:00

Long wait for long weekend got over, and it was time to take full advantage of Labor day sale. Fortunately, the weather in this part of world is predictable and one can plan according to the forecast by weatherman. Since, Saturday was thunderstorm day, it was time to go for shopping; we headed towards nearest outlets mall, and boy! it was huge, more than 200 outlets, from Prada to Burberry, packed in one mall.

Sunday being sunny was perfect to pack bags and have some fun. And what can be better place than beach on a sunny day; after planning for so many months, finally I got to visit beach. As soon as I say beach, the last scene of Mr Bean's Holiday movie comes in front my eyes. The scene where Mr Bean heads straight to beach as if he hasn't seen one in his life and he crosses, I don't know how many standing vehicles.
So, we went to Jones beach, which I think is second best beach I have seen so far. First one on my list is Havelock beach in Andamans. It was fun but still there was a feeling of missing something, probably friends and family.

As earth was moving and sun was rising in other countries, we headed towards the Brooklyn Bridge. Last I visited Brooklyn bridge was in 2005 with my whole gang. As soon as I saw the bridge, those memories reminded me of the fun that we had in 2005.
I wished I could have brought my tripod stand and taken the awesome pictures of NYC.
Neverthless, I did took some shoots and I think this is one of the best.

After 2 tiring days, I still had 1 day left for rest, PERFECT WEEKEND !!!

This one was taken in RAW format, providing me flexibility to adjust lot of stuff such as Brightness, RGB etc. I just love RAW format, you can do so much with RAW.

Here's beatiful Brooklyn Bridge

Full Version

Next generation

2008-08-24T21:40:00.005-04:00

While traveling to office, I always pass by this beautiful farm that is house to hundereds of small plants and looks beatiful. I always wanted to stop by and take some pictures of this place. Finally, on Friday I decided that I will take my camera along. Since cameras are not allowed in our office and since I didn't wanted to leave my camera in the car (the heat may cause harm to it's parts), I disassembled the camera. I left the lens in car and took the body of my DSLR, which can easily slide in my bad, inside office.

On my way back to home, I stopped at the farm and tried to find someone to ask for the permission to take pictures. Finally, I found couple of guys, who looked workers at the farm and they were not sure whether I can take pictures. Somehow, I was able to convince them and I was allowed to take the pictures. I was astonished when one of them pointed towards my DSLR and asked, what is that thing.

So, I took few pictures and I love some the shots. I wasn't able to take many good shots, probably because of so much sunlight.

Here's one of them.

Jai Hind - Long live India

2008-08-14T21:02:00.002-04:00

Celebrating 61 years of Independence.

Spot the difference

2008-08-10T23:19:00.005-04:00

After a long time I have got sometime to write a blog. After a long time it has been crazy like this in office. First preparing for the release to Production and then running into issues, resulting in 10-12 hours of call and what not !! But one good thing about IT is that you can work from home, all one need is laptop, connectivity and that's it; ofcourse the power house in top of the head is undetachable, it always remains in there.

Finally, after resolving all those nasty issues, it was time to have some fun. But unfortunately, unlike my other trips, this time I am alone here. And on this perfect occasion when I want to enjoy with someone, there is no one. Well, this creates of perfect situation to go out and look for somone. And what place can be better than the city that never sleeps, NYC. So, as usual I picked up my camera, hopped on to bus and reached to click some shots and roam around.

Though I don't like posting my own pics on the blog, but couldn't resist to post this one. Here you go, 2 cartoons in one. SPOT THE DIFFERENCE !!!!

Reflection

2008-07-20T21:19:00.005-04:00

After hectic time in Office, now it's bit relaxing. And my wrist is also better, it was in pain for last 2 weeks, I am probably suffering from Carparal Tunnel. It was so bad that I tried to hold my camera and wasn't able to hold, since this one is heavy.

As my wrist got better, it was time to go out and have some fun. I went to Jersey City, which is at the riverside and gives a clear view of NYC. The place is just quite in night, all you hear is the sound of waves or music as one of the cruise passes by. And what can be a better place to have rose wine. With cops patrolling around, it becomes more adventurous to have some wine at this place. We don't need any trouble, so we didn't that kind of adventure. For me, no trip is complete without shooting, so I did what I had to. What I forgot was my tripod stand, when taking night shots, it is a must as you need the shutter to be open for more than few seconds. But, I managed to get few good shots.

This shot below is the view of NYC from Jersey city, had I taken my tripod with me, this could have been a great shot. With increased shutter, more light, the buildings in the backgroud would have been more visible. In the original picture, the cruise port was more brighter than this one and was taking all the attention, while that is not what I wanted. So, I modified this a bit with Photoshop; I decrease the brightness of the cruise port and increased it for surroundings. Neverthless, my main objective was to capture the reflection in the water, the port and the buildings in the background, which I indeed accomplished. In full-size this looks marvelous.

Adventurous Weekend

2008-06-22T20:58:00.007-04:00

After resting whole Saturday in my apartment, I was all set to spend some energy outside on Sunday and it turned out to be an adventurous one!! Me and my friend started our journey to a mall nearby and in mid-way our adventure started; our Pontiac G6 started alerting for low fuel and that is when my experience of efficient driving back home came handy. We turned off the AC, drove as much as we can without putting car in gears. We were doing fine and then suddenly on a turn the car lost its balance because of the slippery road, fortunately there were no barriers on shoulder that we could have possibly hit and there was no one behind us who could have hit us. We escaped!!!!! We started again and now we could feel the pump literally sucking the gas from the tank, we were almost empty. Not only we were crossing fingers but we were crossing everything (including signals) in hope to reach the gas station. One thing that was right was that our GPS was showing the nearest Gas Station 1 mile away. Finally, we managed to reach the gas station and it was such a relief as if we were thirsty and just found the drinking water.
We reached the mall just 30 minutes before it's closing time and we thought like we have won the battle. But hardly we know that the last part of of the battle is still remaining. On our way back, our GPS stopped working and we were cursing that moment when we decided to go out. I called my friend and managed to understand the way back to our place. We were Home !!!! The adventure was over :(

Why do weekend lasts only 48 hours ? That's something I am still to figure out. I wish everyone would be like Edison, he said, "I never worked single day in my life, it was all fun". If everyone starts enjoying the work they do, nobody would probably need a weekend. I belonged to that catagory sometime back, but now I am looking for something that is more enjoyable, interesting and challenging than what I do now.
Saturday's thunder kept me confined inside my apartment and that is when I thought well, why to waste time, why not shoot this thing. And ofcourse I have a new arm in my arsenal, and it's a BMW in it's class. Here's Thunder Storm !!!

After my unfruitful attempts last week, I learnt that I cannot just wait for thinder to happen and then take the shot. So, I utilized the action shooting feature, which can shoot about 60 pics per minute. I kept shooting till I captured few good shots and here is one of them.

That's 4 years completed in style. 4 years of my job and in same company !!!!! woooh, another milesone.

Full Size

Vibrant NYC

2008-06-16T19:00:00.007-04:00

I was thinking that this year I won't have to take on the heat of India, but looks like part of the world is no better. And when I hear that Delhi is having wonderful weather since last 1 month, I feel so jealous. But the good part about this place is that it rains atleast once a week, so that makes up for all the heat :)

And I have had some unfruitful attempts of shooting "the lightening"; what I have learnt is that it's not easy to shoot lightening because it's lightening :). It's so fast that by the time my camera shutter closes, I would need some more practice.

Another good thing about this place is the that it is so close to NYC, whenever I feel lonely or bore, I hope on to bus to NYC. It takes about 30 mins to reach NYC, the city that never sleeps is all set to give you company and you can't feel bore here. It's just so vibrant, so colorful and so happening.

And as usual, I am expected to take shots in NYC as everybody does :) I wanted to capture the liveliness of the city, everything just keeps moving here. Be it crowd, traffic or big neon boards.

I had to keep shutter open for sometime to capture all the movement going on around, but at the sametime I didn't do a good job of keeping the camera still as a result, the things that are still are little bit blurred. But that's fine, next time, NYC is just 30 mins away !!!!

Download the full-size here

The city that never sleeps

2008-05-26T22:49:00.007-04:00

For last 2 weekends I have been partying in NYC, the city that never sleeps.

It was long weekend and one of my friend was celebrating her Bday; we all decided to party in NYC. In all 7, we rocked a dead club in NYC; it was just dead, but when we started it became alive. It was so much fun to rock a dead club, that too with so many friends; I have never done this before.
And this weekend, we had another friend celebrating her Birthday. We again decided to celebrate it in NYC, but this time in a different club. Located near broadway, this club plays Indian dance music, that was it!!!! With Indian-American crowd and heavy dance music, no one knew how the night passed away.

The good thing about all these weekends have been that I have been traveling using the bus. For the first time I have used bus in US, Thanks to my company that provides us with Rental car and there is no need to use Bus. But things are different when it comes to NYC, parking problem, driving problem, traffic jams. Bus is lot better, infact now I have started liking traveling in bus. Just sit and relax, no need to worry about signals OR missing the right exits !!!

My photography is struggling a bit, as I don't get much to spend with my big camera.

This is a cute dog, whom I met in elevator while visiting one of my friend. The owner gave me permission to take the pic, the naughty dog was jumping all around, somehow I managed to get this shot. It's nice though could have been lot better.

Atlantic City revisited

2008-05-12T00:35:00.004-04:00

One thing I hate about East Coast is weather. When I was here in 2005, it was same, the weather used to suddenly change just before the weekend and it used to be calm on weekdays. And things haven't change after so many years :).

Fortunately, the weather became little pleasant last Saturday and somewhere from blues we planned to go to Atlantic City. Last time I was in Atlantic City was in 2005, when we drove from Virginia and this time it was short drive of 2 hours. For me, It was revisting the memories of 2005 when we came in large group of around 8 people and this time it was just 2 of us.

The place is still the same as it was, confusing one way roads around and we did it again, driving in wrong direction on one way roads :) We started visiting casinos and visited Balleys, Taj Mahal, Trump Plaza then finally went to my Favourite, Borgata. I did learn Black Jack in 2005 but I kept forgetting after that and now only I am good at is slot machines (just like anybody else). But the good part is that it sometimes gives you chance to win and it was my chance I converted 100 into 400. That's it, as soon as I saw 400, I pressed the "Take Receipt" button before machine changes it's mind. Next stop was the best club I have ever been to "MIXX", which is Borgata's night club. I was really impressed by its aura in 2005, so we decided to visit it again and it was just GREAT!!!!!!

I did get chance to click few shots.

One good thing about not having girl friend

2008-05-05T22:22:00.004-04:00

One good thing about not having girl friend is that you can spend all the money on yourself :) atleast there is one excuse for not having girl friend.

It has been a week since my Fat A$$ camera arrived, it costs a fortune if converted in to Rupees but in USD it costs only 1200 bucks. I actually ordered one for 950$ but then they sold out that kit and only option was 1200$ deal. The whole package includes lots of goodies including tripod stand.

So, it's Canon EOS 40D that I have got and my old PowerShot A95 is retired, after serving for 3 years. And in the final moments it did gave some great shots. One example is below:

This is Bear Mountain, NY and that is my friend enjoying grass. I had to manually adjust the focus so that it is focussed on the grass and other things behind appear blur. This one is going up in a competition just for fun !!!!! :)

Next shots will be from 40D. Thanks PowerShot A95 for all the your Service !!!!

Drunken in NJ

2008-04-26T00:59:00.003-04:00

It has been a while since I blogged; this is going to be my first blog from NJ and first blog written after being drunk.

I wanted to write a last blog from India with pics of my cats, whom I miss so much, but things were crazy in last week. From arranging apartment in NJ to shopping & then packing, it was so tiring.
It has been almost 2 weeks in NJ and I have been busy like anything. I have been getting transition from a beautiful and fun gal, who will be traveling back to India and I will be taking her position here. Why did I get so little time to spend with her ????? :(
I missed the spring photography here, summer has almost started. And back home it's almost 40 Celcius already, good I am here!!!!

Here's pic (probably last from my current camera, my DSLR is on the way....yipppieeeee) of some Church in Stamford, NJ.

Few more days.......

2008-04-02T12:42:00.004-04:00

Ah! life is so much better without any work :) March is over and I have the bonus, which I have kept for my DSLR. 2 more weeks with my motherland and I will be off to States.

I experimented little bit more with the layers in Adobe and this one involves real hard-work. I played with my favourite part in this picture i.e. clouds & sky. I separated the sky out on a separate layer and then played around with it, playing with different color levels gives it an amazing effect. The hard part here is separating the sky, selecting it is real pain, but fortunately with buildings it's easier, it would have been mess had it been trees or something complex. The Polygon Lasso tool in Photoshop helps you select linear pattern with ease, unlike the free lasso tool should be used to select complex patterns freely.
The good thing with layering is that you bifurcate the objects in an image and can give them different effects.

So, here's beautiful NYC....

This is the original one:

One with violet sky

One with blue (bit darker) sky

One thing to be careful about here is to zoom-in while selecting the objects. More the zoom, the better it is, otherwise the selection will get screwed and a line may be visible between the objects. However, this can be avoided by blending the objects carefully. As in above violet sky example the contrast between the objects is quite high and line is visible between the buildings and the sky if seen carefully. And incase of blue sky, blue color blends better with the buildings and the line is not too visible.

Finally !!!1

2008-03-19T10:49:00.000-04:00

Finally, it's over & here. So many reasons to be happy and celebrate, the presentation with clients went awesome, they were thrilled to see our work. Though most of the time it was my manager who was speaking but I had some part to speak and as usual, I had my heart in my mouth, but it went fine; that's the good part.

And the day I was waiting for last 6 months has finally arrived. Successfully completed the 1 year contract. That makes tomorrow a big drinking day to mark the end of this gruelling year. And then hopefully I will in States in few weeks.

However, there are reasons to be sad as well and that is because of US recession. The situation is scary, it's not only going to impact my friends in States but people here as well. Already companies have laid off people and the bench strength is decreasing day-by-day. I hope the new President takes the right steps and it's all happy once again.

And here are the fireworks :) This is disneyland and the best fireworks I have seen so far is here only.

How Not to Work efficiently - II

2008-02-28T13:17:00.003-05:00

Sessions, meetings, clients, VPs, trainings, new projects, proposals...........the week was packed like hell. Finally, Friday is here and last day in training. So, yes I got some new work, which is really interesting work and moreover it will help our clients to compete better in market, making it critical as well. This will go on for probably another 2 weeks and then after few weeks I may be flying to East Coast, US ....yiipppiiiieeeeeeee. My DSLR is on cards ... :-) It will be my second time to east coast, though I like West Coast now :).

And my hunt for a window manager finally came to an end, I went through another list of 60 odd applications, tried few of them and finally found one, which is close to what I was looking for.

"Actual Window Manager" is the solution to some of my problems, but still lacks few things that would have made it ultimate. It's a great tool that can help anyone like me, who wants to work on 10 things simultanously but gets lost withing in windows. :)

****** 5 stars from me to this application.

Here's what I would call classic painting of nature; sunlight reflection making the water look like silver, a boat, a hammock faraway and a few clouds in sky; just PEFECT!!!!! This is again Andamans

Download Full Version here

How not to work efficiently.

2008-02-18T13:17:00.003-05:00

After being frustrated for quite long time because of my work and running out of my patience, which usually doesn’t happen too often, I have finally stopped working :) I do go to office, but just to have fun, meet friends and checkout the girls :) - work, not any more.
While spending time over the Friday in office, I decided to search for a tool that can help me unclutter the windows on my desktop and have me work (not necessarily official, it can also mean chatting) efficiently.
At any given time I have at least 10 different windows on my desktop and sometimes they increase to 25. Few things that I have been doing, since my college time, to help me with this problem is to increase the width of my taskbar to a level that it can hold 3 rows of windows. The advantages are multi folds: it accommodates more windows, the clock now shows date, day, and time, and the quick launch can accommodate more shortcuts. And the 15.4” screen still maintains a good view :) Another thing that I do to increase efficiency is to place shortcut toolbars on all over my desktop. These toolbars are in auto-hide mode, they contain shortcuts to most of the items that I access frequently and they are all over the place on top, left and right.
But now, since the windows on my desktop have increased, I need something which can help me efficiently work with these windows. And if you are thinking that may be I am not aware of Alt-Tab or may be grouping feature available in windows, then you are wrong. Alt-Tab doesn’t work really well if you have 25 windows open, I get lost easily and more over it’s painful on my little hands to stretch all the way from Alt to Tab. J

So, I browsed through a list of over 100 applications on download.com and finally closed on 4 applications:

Entbloess – this is my pick, it’s customizable, nice interface, easy to use.
TopDesk – works on same principle as does entbloess, but eats too much of memory.
WinGlance – good, similar to entbloess, but very less customization.
WinTiles – this wasn’t what I was really looking, it just tiles all the windows, moreover, it was rubbish, I really didn’t get hang of how to use this one.

First three applications in above list work on same principle: take snapshot of all windows on the desktop, show all of them at same time, and allow you to choose.

Though they are helpful but it’s not really what I was looking for, my hunt will continue in next blog. Stay Tuned !!!!

Below is the enclosure used by British jailers to punish the Indian freedom fighters, they were treated badly and were tied here around this machine, which is used to get oil out of seeds.

Location: Kalapaani Jail, Andaman, India

Time: 2/16/2006

The Best Damn Thing

2008-02-01T13:05:00.000-05:00

It has been quite a while since I wrote anything. What's has been keeping me busy are, no it's not work don't do that anymore :), virtualization & The Best Damn Thing. Just found this cool thing called virtualization, it allows you to run multiple OSes on same box simultanously. During my college days, I used to wonder why is this not possible and they just made it possible.

What's more, we had to set-up a new box, it's a big a$$ box, for our team and the ball was thrown to me. I just finished setting it up few hours back, and now we have Linux and Windows running on same box, that too simultanously. But the litmus test will be next week when team will start hitting it.

Next is The Best Damn Thing, it's the latest album from Avril Lavigne and I think I have probably heard it 50 times. Just love it, especially the electric guitar !!!! I need to think about cutting my work hours and take guitar lessons :D

I just studied this new trick from photography magazine, not sure what it is called but it is cool and easy. Just select a portion of image, copy it on to another layer. Adjust the "Hue" of new layer and then merge all the layers. As Simple as That.

Here's the original picture:

And here is the modified one.
I created 4-5 different layers for each portion of image that I wanted to change and then merged all of them later.

If you zoom this image you will see all the mess that I created while selecting different pieces. It needs to be done with a mouse and not with a touchpad. And as usual my color selection is not that great :)

Lived another year of life !!!!

2008-01-14T09:41:00.000-05:00

The chill is on peak and I am wondering why whole world is talking about global warming. Why don’t they rent some chill from us!!! Sometimes, temperature is just 2 degrees above the freezing point, making the travel to workplace fun and dangerous.

And..... I have lived another year of my life!!!!! Not sure whether this calls for a party, but usually people do celebrate the occasion. Though, they do celebrate the evening otherwise, don’t know why they need another one from me. After all they do get a holiday on my birthday, but as usual they need something more :) and as they say in Hindi, drinkers need a reason to drink.

Looking back at the year that has gone, it was mixed year. This was the first year that I spent completely in India on my job and now looking at the tax that I am suppose to pay has taken all my sleep. Yet another year, when nothing unusual happened at personal front, makes me happy sometimes but not always :). At professional front, few things happened that were good but over all it was a dull year, I reached to the next title, despite me not liking the work that I am doing.

Can a year be described in so short ??? I can do it !!! :)

All that is past now….

New Year has started and I hope this will bring some great things.

Coming back to pics, here are the fireworks at Disneyland

Time: 04/29/06, 7 PM
Location: Disneyland, LA

Now, the ISO levels have been set to 1600 here, which is quite high, but it does the trick of capturing the details. This is quite evident by the surroundings around the explosion on the top, it looks more like a atomic explosion. However, if the ISO had been kept low and then later this image would have been processed in Photoshop, results would have been better.

I shall try that next time, but for that I need to revisit this place !!!

Fresh Stuff!!!!

2007-12-29T14:53:00.000-05:00

Finally, I managed to get my lazy a$$ to work. Usually, I take a nap in the bus while returning back home from office, but It didnt happen on 12/28 and I noticed this temple all lighten up. It was so wonderful, that I decided I will click this one before end of this year :). And I did it.

Below is Akshardham Temple, built couple of years back and located just few kilometers from my home. Unfortunately, camera is not allowed inside the temple, else I would have got some more stuff to click and I had to click this from parking space, which is located on one side of the temple. The temple looks awesome in day and in night as well, check out more pictures on the website of temple: http://www.akshardham.com/

Time: 12/29/2007 7:00 PM
Location: Delhi, India

Download full size image here

Behind the bars !!!

2007-12-16T11:30:00.000-05:00

No, what you are thinking is wrong. I am still out, haven't gone behind the bars yet :)

This week, it's the Jail built by Britishers; it's called Kaala Paani Jail (Black Water Jail). Located at Andaman & Nicobar island, India, most Indian freedom fighters were brought here and were treated like animals. Since it is located on an island, even if someone breaks the jail, he will end up in the middle of an ocean.

Download it here

INDyeah

2007-12-06T12:16:00.000-05:00

Winters Winters Go away come on another day, that's what I say every morning.

I have been trying to get up early in the morning and go for shoot. There are some amazing things that happen in winters and one of my favourite is fog. Fog makes pictures wonderful, it adds that hazy touch and that too in natural way. Hopefully, I will soon get up early and take this amazing shoot !!!!!

Following is the aftermath of the tsunami that hit the coast of India 3 years back and I was on vacation last year at this time of the year.

Date: 11/29/06
Location: Andaman Nicobar, India

Download full size here

Cloud Highlighter

2007-11-25T11:47:00.000-05:00

Winters are here and this year I am not liking the winters, probably because I have become more outgoing. And winters ensures that you remain in home, inside those extra layers. And that is the excuse I have this time for not shooting :) And, who says life is easy, atleast it is not easy for me, my work timings are back to normal which means I have to get up early at 6:30 AM to reach my office instead of getting up at 9 AM, which was my time for last 9 months.

Now, the best thing I like about winters is the punjabi breakfast i.e. Makke ki roti (bread of corn) with home-made butter and sarso ka saag (a mustard dish). This breakfast is very heavy especially the butter, which is raw butter but who cares, even if I have to run 5 miles after eating, no issues at all :).

Check the picture below, I call it Cloud Highlighter. The original picture is just about cloud, but Photoshop gives it a new dimension and it feels like someone has marked the clouds with a highlighter.

Original:

Modified:

Download full size here

Happy Diwali

2007-11-11T12:26:00.000-05:00

After all the lifelessness, I am back. Diwali, hindu's main festival, is over and I enjoyed it very much. Infact, I enjoyed the holidays (4) more than Diwali. That is because of my allergy to smoke and dust; the popular culture is to burst crackers that not only cause noise pollution but also cause air pollution.
And in past week I was all busy to get fix my laptop, it crashed and bringing it back was not that easy. Now, that is the price you pay of being exclusive and brand concious, had it been any other laptop, I guess I would have fixed it pretty quickly but with my VAIO it was not that easy. Especially, with all the hacks I had applied, it became more difficult but thankfully it's over now and my laptop is prefect now.

Now, unfortunately my artillery i.e. camera is still not with me and I have missed catching Diwali on my camera.
Here's a green one this week:

Fall of Niagara - this is where all the water from Niagara falls go !!!

Download full size here

Lifeless

2007-10-28T13:30:00.000-04:00

Sunday, 10 PM and I am still working, this week has been quite busy as we wrap up the patch work on web application for our client. But it's over now, the application is all set to launch on 10/29, hopefully things will be lot better from next week onwards.

Here's a lifeless (dead) photograph for this week, just as I feel this week. Oh yeah, I just spent 2 mins on Photoshop to enhance it a bit, so check out the before and after :)

BEFORE

AFTER

Download full sized here (3Mb)

Comments

2007-10-16T15:20:00.000-04:00

Thanks for the nice comments on my last post. It's good to see people wasting time reading my blog. LOL
One of my friend even wants me to become his teacher, ah! that's the best comment, but dude give me some more time and I betcha I will give you all the tricks. I am still in learning phase.

In last post, I missed posting the original picture, which I actually thought I will post during the time I was writing that entry, but the beauty of the new enhanced picture just bowled me and I lost that thought of train :) But then what are good friends for, to help you get better and one of my good friend just gave this nice suggestion. Thank you!

Here you go, this is the original one. Now give some pain to your fingers to scroll it down and compare 2 of 'em.

Camera got Lucky

2007-10-15T14:52:00.000-04:00

My camera got lucky or rather luckier than I am. It has gone on trip to FRANCE!!!! Oh I forgot, few months back it went on trip to Italy too. My uncle who has been making these trips takes my camera along. I wish I was as handy as my camera :). When will I get lucky :( may be I should click "I got lucky" button on Google more than often.

Well, I have got so many pics to post that I don't need a camera. But yeah I would miss the coverage of festivities that are currently going on in here. Festive season is in, and that means holidays...yippiieeeeeeee.

I used to think that modifying pics with tools like Adobe Photoshop is not good idea and that a good shot doesn't need tools like Adobe Photoshop. That is true, but as I read in the magazine "Popular Photography", I realized tools like Photoshop enhance the shot. And when I put the pic below as my desktop wallpaper, it looked wonderful, better than the original one. Here's my first post that has been modified using Photoshop. And the modification is just the adjustment of Brightness and Contrast.

Here's beautiful Brooklyn Bridge.

Timestamp: 05/22/2005

Wildlife continues

2007-10-06T15:59:00.000-04:00

The wildlife at my backyard continues, infact things have changed now. It is no more backyard, it is now frontyard wildlife. Yes, the kittens have grown a bit and they are not afraid of us anymore, especially me. I often catch them to give them what they are hungry for : love and milk.

My love for animals continues and it will; still remember those days when I was 9 years old and I used to hide small pieces of bread from my food, so that I can feed the 2 street dogs. Then came cat whom I caught at a rainy day when I was probably 10 years old, she used come in night and quietly slip inside my blanket. And then we shifted to 3rd floor where there was no sign of wildlife. Later we came to ground floor apartment once again and it started again, 2 years back, a yellow cat visited us and became a regular visitor and now these 2 guys and their mother.

These 2 are great, one of them comes to me whenever he sees me in the balcony and then tangles in my legs. Then I have to sit and love him, he probably likes my toe that's why he tries to chew it everytime and then I have to tell him that Dude, this is my toe and it hurts. May be because I always keep touching his paws he chews my toe ..haha funny. The only thing is he is so afraid of camera that It's a struggle to get him on camera. I once tried to give him a bath so that he remains clean and in the end he gave me a bath.
And the other one is a shy guy, he rarely comes in hand.

Killer EYES

Water is life: SAVE WATER DRINK BEER

2007-10-05T15:59:00.000-04:00

Double Worldcup

2007-09-25T15:29:00.000-04:00

yohoooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!

we are the 20-20 cricket world CHAMPIONS !!!!

It was double world cup for us, World cup final and that too against Pakistan and our team did it !!!! It was nail-biting match; with every ball heart beats were increasing. And this is the time when you would not like to have neighbors on the floor above, everytime they jump out of joy, I was worried if roof is going to fall on me, phew!!!!

And what do you do when you win WORLD CUP against your so called arch-rival, get out of home, beat drums, dance, drink and enjoyyyyyyy

I had to pull this out from google

Cricket is our religion and Sachin is our God.

2007-09-18T15:29:00.000-04:00

Yes, here cricket is a religion. Though it was disasterous performance in World Cup, our team still has some juice left. New generation's 20-20 cricket where only 20 overs are bowled is on its peak because of 20-20 world cup. And when it comes to cricket, it doesn't matter which caste or religion you belong to, it doesn't matter how much money you have got in your bank account, all that matters is SCORE!!!!!

Well, who the hell cares about world-cup, for us victory against Pakistan is our world-cup. And the picture below shows that only. This is a coffee outlet outside my office building where there is big flat screen TV (I wish I had one at my home) and those in my office just like me, who usually don't see sunset are there to see the score. The time I took the picture, match was topping its suspense and crowd was building up. We did won this match but I missed that fanfare and sweets at my home. As soon as we win a crucial match against Pakistan, whole place is out of there homes barring those who don't like cricket. And then sweets are distributed, trumpets, fireworks and what not; they dont celebrate even my Birthday like this!!!!

If I don't mention Sachin here, this post would be a waste. He is world's best batsman, started playing 18 years back when he was only 18 years old. Unfortunately, he will retire soon and I know lot of us will miss his cricket. HE IS THE BEST. He has won us so many matches single-handedly. Ok, that's enough of praise, nobody is going to gift me ferari for this!!!!

15.099

2007-09-08T14:19:00.000-04:00

15.099, my new seat number. I am still on the same floor but moved to a new desk, which is close to window. And I have been spending 16 hours in office, so no time for shooting. I have been busy constructing an Architecture diagram for our clients, which is fun in itself though not as much as photugraphy. So whatever little time I get I spend it looking out of my window and here is the view.

Location: Gurgaon, India

Time: 9/8/07 6:00 PM

That is sunset in India.....and here is sunset in Herndon,VA 2 years back. I love going back in time especially in good times, it's great place.

Locatlion: Herndon, VA

Date: 7/22/05

My 1 year old

2007-08-27T10:13:00.000-04:00

My 1 year old, it’s my new laptop, in fact no more new. Today is its 1st Birthday, unfortunately, I am very particular about dates. Dates just remain there, in my head; this reminds me Kylie Minogue’s Can’t get you out my head. Naaa naaa naaaa naaaa naaaa naaa naaaa naaaa naaa…….

This is my baby, whether it is movies, music, work, talking to friends, it does it all. Oh yes, I forgot, I use it for the meditation and reading books too.

So there is nothing really great about this picture, just that I had to use a good background to shoot this one. I took couple of shots on other backgrounds and then felt it would look good to shoot it on dark background, since the color of lappy (short form for laptop) is light. Apart from that, it’s just the brand that makes me happy.

SONY guys, please don't sue me for posting this picture. This is my laptop and I have spend $1200 for this and by the way this is my blog and I shot this pic from a NON-SONY camera!!!. And yes the author reserves all the copyrights for the content, so you better not copy this picture now and use it on your advertisements !!

I love my India

2007-08-20T16:09:00.000-04:00

It has been really busy week, earlier I used to work on single project at a time and now I have 2 of them. And I feel like life is a curse for me.
Few days back we celebrated our 60th Independence Day and I was thinking what is it that I really like about my country, what is it that makes me proud of being an Indian. And here it goes.

Road Names – all of the names of our roads make sense, we had so many great freedom fighters and most of our roads are named after them and not something like “Frying Pan Road”.

Childhood – I still sometimes visit those streets where I grew up and that house where I fell so many times to stand up.

Weddings – I like the Indian weddings. I have seen American Wedding (not the movie) in few movies and I am really scared of it because I feel it is so formal. And weddings in my country are so great, our big families and friends circle which sometimes constitute 300 people make it so interesting. We go out on streets dancing, singing and firing crackers, without really caring about traffic jam.

Food – I really miss the spicy Indian food when I go out of country. Therefore, I learned on my own, how to cook some of my favorite dishes. I remember one of my American coworker was in India for quite long time and he loved the Indian food so much that he took classes to learn all the stuff. I hope he is good time cooking Indian food in LA.

Workarounds – in local language we call it as ‘jugaad’ and it really rocks. It actually is workaround for everything. Since most Indians are middle-class families they have to acclimate in whatever they have. From childhood we learn how to adjust, how to spend only on necessary items. And that gives birth to ‘jugaad’, the cheap alternative or workaround and many innovations have happened because of this. I remember a village girl invented a washing machine that runs without electricity. She attached the machine to cycle and peddling the cycle runs the machine, a ‘juggad’. AMAZING!!!

Secular – the advantage of being a secular country is that you get to holiday on festival of each religion whether it is Christmas, Id or our own Diwali. And it is fun too.

Culture – one of the things I really like is that we treat our guests as God. We let our guests sleep on our bed and we ourselves sleep on ground. (No that’s not a rule, but when we run out of space).

Lastly, I don’t have to really care about people loosing jobs in Europe or somewhere else.

60 years of Independence

2007-08-15T02:37:00.000-04:00

If you are wasting time by reading this blog, then do it at your own risk, don’t throw away your computer if you get frustrated. Here is the disclaimer: the author of this blog takes no responsibility of any harmful effects that you may have after or during reading this blog.

It is that day of year which is working vacation for us. It is a national holiday because it is our Independence Day. It is working because we fly kites on our Independence Day and it is really not easy job. In the subcontinent beach is only available to few people and unfortunately my location is not good for that, so we get to use our terrace. Nevertheless, the wind was good, sun was bright; I have been waiting for this day for more than 2 years as last year I was out of country, so I missed it badly. Moreover, this is the only sport I am good at, besides soccer, I really enjoy flying kites.

On Right: it is me preparing kite for its maiden voyage

Unfortunately, I got only morning to noon to fly kites, and thereafter since I have not been spending time with family, we planned to visit the nearest shopping mall. Flying kites is messy in the summer, you sweat a lot, and I had to change my shirt thrice. My shorts did a good job to provide air supply J. And it is good competition, as soon as your kite starts its maiden journey, some kite from behind will compete and one of them wins the battle by cutting the other one. Yes, it is in the sky, the thread of both kites is at test here and of course the skills of the person flying the kite.

On right: me taking rest after sweating out. Oh, by the way I don't ride that usually.

Since I have learned it on my own by experimenting, I
think I know most of the mechanics. Kites can be configured
according to one’s mood. Whether one wants to use lot of energy or one wants use more of wind energy, kites can be configured accordingly. The thread is also important, it is not normal thread, a special thread with coating of paint, and minute glass fragments to make it capable of the battle in sky. I cut my fingers in almost an hour from the time we start and of course there is tape that you can use to protect the fingers but you don’t the feel and besides that the thread cuts the tape and then tangles in the tape which can get one to loose the battle. Oh yeah tangling of thread is painful process because “you can only untie a knot when you know how it was tied”, now, how do I know how it was tied, I was busy flying my kite!!

Visit to shopping mall was hell of an experience, we Indians just love discounts and everybody knows it except us. Every outlet was offering heavy discounts, which was properly advertised and the mall was packed like it will explode if few more people enter it. The air-conditioners were ineffective, almost 90% or may be 95% people were there just to pass time and we were among those 90-95%. People shouting, children crying and humid heat, nothing was right. There was no place to move the shopping cart which the rest of 5% was carrying. Out of the 5%, 2% of the carts were empty with kids in them who were getting ride in the cart.

14th August

2007-08-14T02:37:00.000-04:00

Just few hours before 15th August, our Independence Day.

This is gurgaon skyline. Mobile phone camer really doesnt capture good in night and especially after zoom it goes worse.

Hungry

2007-08-08T14:37:00.001-04:00

It has been a busy week and my camera is hungry. I haven't got good shots since quite sometime. Hopefully, things will be better next week, I need to get some great shots.

Come August and I see pilgrims on the Delhi roads. These pilgrims walk hundreds of miles every year to collect the holy water from rivers in northern India. Most of them are men but I often see women also. Dressed in saffron clothes and carrying stuff to worship and to collect holy water, they travel miles. Stoppages on roadside are created expecially for these guys where they can take rest, get water and other amenities.

I don't know how do they do it, I walk few miles every weekend to be fit. But hundreds of miles is too much. The Sun doesn't wants to left behind too, it plays its part.

I am sure most most of them are illeterate and that's why they ill tempered too. Some of them are notorious and do crazy stuff, such as they get on to a truck, with big speakers, playing loud music they dance and roam around.

These guys are hardcore, that's why they are able to do this, I take stairs to 15th floor of my building and I get tired like anything.

Kudos to these guys.

The Brilliance

2007-08-08T14:37:00.000-04:00

Shooting the rain

2007-07-22T13:33:00.000-04:00

Well , you can't really shoot the rain using pistol but you can using the camera. I have had unfruitfull attempts of shooting rain. Everytime I used to end up shooting objects other than rain.

This made me think, how to shoot rain. I sat down and worked on the mechanics to see what is wrong and I was able figure it out. I was doing it wrong, I was not modifying the focus of the camera to capture the rain. Important thing to note here is that it is focus and not magnication (zoom). Zoom only goes inside into to current view but you need to tell the camera what is my object of interest that needs to be shot.

This image on left is good example of how focus works, check the plant's branch which though is near to the camera but is till blur that is because my focus is far away from branch. No, I didn't wanted to shoot that balcony though there are some hot girls living there, but my intention was to shoot the rain. :)

Another trick that I found worked for me was to increase the time of exposure, now this one can get really messy. You cannot just go on increasing the exposure else you will end up with a white image, but you need to increase a little bit. And again you need to be careful of not pointing your camera directly to sky, this will result in lot light coming into the camera and you can again end up shooting a much brighter image than you actually imagined. Ofcourse if it is a very heavy downpour then there will be no need of all these tricks, rain itself will do the trick.

Last thing to note is that you need to shoot the rain against dark background, because the way humans distinguish things is using the colors...oooh this is my favourit topic......humans would not be able to distinguish things if they are lying over each other and are of exactly same color. This is actually known as Edge detection and is used in robotics.

Fantabulous

2007-07-01T12:51:00.000-04:00

Fantabulous

Location: Gurgaon
Time: 6/23 12:00 PM

The Painting of Nature

2007-06-27T03:47:00.000-04:00

Only 1 word for this: AMAZING

Location: Gurgaon
Time: 06/26 7:30 PM

set, sunset!

2007-06-17T13:30:00.000-04:00

This is again one of my favourite shot, but not with my favourite camera. With this shot I feel I should keep camera with me all the time.
It was weekend and my cousin visited my house. I was on my way back from market with my cousin and I encoutered this amazing scenery of sunset. So colorful it was, yellow, orange, purple and mixture of all these colors. Couldn't stop myself from clicking. Ahhh, I wish I had my canon (its my camera) to shoot. After all, I hardly see Sunset nowadays, I get out of office only after 10 PM.

Location - Delhi-UP Border
TimeStamp - 06/17/2007 7:10 PM

And this one below is Panoramic view of Sunset in Pleasaton, California. This one has been shot using canon.

Location - Pleasaton, California
TimeStamp - 07/29/2006 8:30 PM

Next thing I need is SLR, it costs a whooping 1000$, currently on top of my wishlist.

No Tough Decisions!!!!

2007-06-11T10:09:00.000-04:00

Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Life became little easy with the news that I was expecting. I was just told that I have been promoted to next title. As I told my friends about this they dragged me to nearby Pub.

We didn't had much because it's still middle of the day and we need to work for some more hours. But it was real fun to have chilled beer in such a hottt weather and the fun doubles when you sneak out of office to have beer. :)

Yes it is 45C again, newspapers are flooded with the Heat Wave. Delhi is being beaten by the Sun whole day, and it's the boiled ground that emits heat in the night; but as usual I am enjoying :D. The only thing I hate is hot water which comes out of shower, so I have decided to take bath from Refigerated water from tomorrow.

Cooooooooooolllllllllllll

Gone 3 times round the earth in last 7 years

2007-05-30T07:00:00.000-04:00

I havent clicked anything great, but following is something I always wanted to write.

Amazing June

Here comes June!!!!

June has special significance in my life so far; it was in June, 3 years back that I graduated as a Software engineer (really!!!). And it was same June, 3 years back I joined software industry. So, I will be celebrating 3 years in software industry ….truly calls for a toast!!!!

O yes and it will mark my 7 years of traveling. Since my workplace is around same place as my college was, I have been traveling on same roads since 2000….woaahhhh and it is 2007!!!

Let me check how many hours or rather months I have spent traveling.

College = 4 years 48 months
Vacations = 2 months/year x 4 -8 months
Misc. = 1 month -1 month
------------------------
College Total 39 months

Work = 3 years = 36 months
Overseas = 7 months -7 months
------------------------
Work Total 29 months

Grand total = 39 + 29 = 68 months

Total working days = 68 x 20 = 1360 days

Total KM traveled = 90 Km/day x 1360 = 122400 KM (3 times the circumference of earth, I need an Ice Tea!!!)

Hours spent traveling = 3 hours 1360 x 3 = 3980 hours Wow!!!...

Lets convert it into days => 3980/24 = 165.5 days

Converting to months => 166/30 = 5.5 months

I am still good at math. HaHa

O o … in last 7 years I have spent 5 and half months traveling. And that doesn't include the long drives overseas such as Virginia to Canada or California to Grand Canyon.

Well, all that is past, coming to present, next week is going to be crucial for me professionally; the result of performance review will be declared in next 2 weeks. And I definitely expect an exalt this time else I will have to take some tough decisions (hope my manager doesn't reads my blog).

43 to 26 in 3 Hours Flat!!!!! Its Raining, man | Are the Gods of rain reading my blog?

2007-05-16T12:35:00.000-04:00

Yohoooo!!! Never even in my woldest dream I ever thought that heat will be over soon and that after such a hot blog I will post a rainy blog. But, it happened. It rained, rained, rained and rained and rained and rained, bringing the temperature from 43 to 26 in 3 hours flat. On this sunny day, from nowhere these clouds came and showered on Delhi. No More HeAT!!!

It seams like the Gods of rain has started reading my blog and showed some mercy for those little creatures in my last post.

Of course, how can I stop myself from clicking on this occasion. The small camera in my mobile was not able to capture the tiny droplets but few guys got lucky to get into camera. :)

And here comes my favourite part, SKY, once again impressively dressed in many colors.

The Heat is on

2007-05-11T02:53:00.000-04:00

In this part of world, temperature reaches 45C.

ACs, yeah if you have power!! Well, there was a time when I used to beat the heat just by keeping myself busy. Though I have not changed that habbit of mine but things around have changed. We didn't had a AC in our home, now we have one. And I spend more than half of my day in office now, ofcourse, it is air-conditioned but only till 8 PM. Phew!!

It has been 2 years since I got to enjoy the summers, enjoy ? Yes, I enjoy the patience and challenge that is required to beat the heat. It's not easy. And for last 2 years I had spend my summers in U.S. Though I thought I will spend this summer also in U.S. but fortunately I got change to enjoy it here in India. Well, apart from heat, there are so many things that you get in Summer, for example, MANGOES, JAMBUL and many more. My favourite are ofcourse JAMBUL and MANGOES.

I have been hunting with my camera, a picture that can show how hot it is here. I had to turn to my backyard where I shot (with camera) the kittens, few days back.

Here they are again, these little creatures beating the heat by just lying on the floor.

As I finish this post I would like to mention some songs on summer

The Heat is on

Cruel Summer - Ace of Base

Wake me up when September comes - Greenday

Going into past

2007-04-22T12:27:00.000-04:00

Well, I did not clicked this week, butI have so many of them already clicked that even if I don't click for an year I can still post it on blog. :)

Location: Big Sur, California

Date: 8-June-2006

What I am posting here are few shots of Big Sur, a beautiful place, located on coast of California. Here you can find clouds, mountains, sea together at one place. Now, when I say clouds that doesn't mean, far up in the sky but just above your head. And its the Pacific ocean that you get to see from here.

It is so beatiful, just like a perfect painting on a canvas.

There are some good hiking tracks that you
can enjoy here. Like this one.

To know how violent Pacific is at this place,

check this. Must be atleast 7 feet high wave.

A must watch for everyone visiting California.

Wildlife photography!!!

2007-04-12T12:37:00.000-04:00

Yes Wildlife !!!

No, there is no need to go to Jim Corbett or any other sanctuary, my backyard is good enough for this.

Ok, the wildlife here consists of 2 kittens only. Ofcourse, they are twins!!!

Here they are, two kittens. I had to stretch a lot for these shots, so many awkward positions to get these. It was not easy shooting them without letting these little animals know what I am doing.

Now, here is the first one in 2 different shots.

And here are both the brothers in same picture.

Construction

2007-04-01T12:27:00.001-04:00

As I wrote in my previous blog that there are few constructions going nearby my office building and that It would be good opportunity to captrue these and compare them over the time. So here is the first one in the series.

This is on left side of my office building. New structure coming up, seems to be like a pyramid. I have heard its a hotel not sure what actually it will be. So far, only pillars are there but I am sure in another 2 months they will start covering the structure with glasses.

This area near my office has come up so fast, every year1-2 new buildings come up. But now there is no space left, whatever is left is already being worked on. The place has become so crowded that there is no place to park car here. As you reach office, the parking is already full.

I could easily see those apartments behind the construction, six months back, but not anymore.
Let's what does this turns into.

Area around my office

2007-04-01T12:27:00.000-04:00

Ok this time no sky :).

It’s the night scene around my office that is here. I wanted to click it from my Cannon Powershot but since I don’t carry it to office, I will use my mobile phone’s camera.

Now, here are 2 pictures of same place one in the noon and the other one in the night. Soon, I will post a panoramic night view of this place. There are 4 places nearby where the construction is going on for new buildings. This is good opportunity to shoot current scene and then later once the construction is complete, shoot some more to compare .

This first picture, has been shot from 14th floor of my office building and it’s the building in front of my office building. The building in front of my office building has offices of many companies, IBM, WNS, eQuant to name few of them.

The white balcony in the picture is actually, the top floor of the tower next to the tower I work in.

And the second picture is of same building in night.

Since there is glass in front of me, there is reflection of the place I am standing at. I will up0load another picture for this one.

Rain also attended the marriage of my cousin brother in Karnal - It was a whole day event

2007-03-25T13:44:00.000-04:00

3/12/2007

It’s the sky yet again that keeps me impressing and forces me to use the camera in my mobile phone that I should use more than often.

I was in Karnal to attend marriage of my cousin brother and it rained all day with some small breaks in between.

The evening the sky was awesome, clouds of different colors covered the sky hiding the sun behind. Though sun was trying peek through the clouds but it didn’t managed to do so, as you can notice in the first picture, a white spot.

Later, the night was all about drinking and breaking the dance floor. Good that all the arrangement was indoor else it all would have been spoilsport.

Location: Karnal, Haryana, India

Time: 6:30 PM

3/13/2007

It’s the same location as above and time is 12 hours after the shots that I posted above. The weather was pleasant and sky was different from what it was 12 hours before. Not, the heavy sheet of clouds was no more, there were only patches left. Just like you see in 7 years old child’s painting of sky. The pictures are darker than what it was at that time.

Location: Karnal, Haryana, India
Time: 6:15 AM

First photo blog-- infact second one :)

2007-03-25T12:10:00.000-04:00

It’s been long since I started thinking of starting my photo blog, but my work was keeping me busy and ofcourse my laziness was keeping me back :). So, here I am starting my first photo blog. Now, since I have clicking for sometime but havent posted the pics, here are all the past pics and hopefully, I will be able to post regularly the new pics that I click. And since the best thing I like to shoot about is the sky, which is different almost everyday. I just love shooting it but I hardly see it on weekdays because I am busy with my work :D And, if you are thinking where's my first photo blog, visit http://360.yahoo.com/sandeep_142

4 Months old

Yes, this one is 4 months old, when I was taking break in the lobby of 6th floor of my office building. The sky was more beautiful than you see in this picture.
Sun was playing hide and seek with the clouds. Orange, yellow, pink and violet colored sky was amazing to watch.

The timestamp of this picture is 12/20/2006 4:50 PM

Location: Haryana, Gurgaon, India

February 2007

These ones are relatively new and ofcourse they too feature the sky. This is when I used to leave office on time and take bus to my home. These were taken on my way back to home from inside the bus. Therefore, you will see something like TRUTUF, which is engraved on windowpane of buses in India, on some of the pictures.

This one is very interesting; this is first time I realized what is silver lining. When I was in school, I read about silver lining in cloud but this was the first time noticed it actually in the sky.

The sky was dressed up with patches of clouds and clouds reflecting the light of sun as silver lining.

Location: Delhi, India
Date: 2/27/2007
Time: 6:03-05 PM

March 2007

I thought these pics would be good enough but since it was 4 in morning, dark and foggy, the pics are not too good. However, the weather was awesome and at the same time unusual.
February in India is when winters usually end and March is pleasant. But for last some years the weather is becoming unpredictable in this part of world. Now, imagine fog in March in India. It’s absolutely unpredictable and unusual.

And it was 4:30 AM (no, I am not drunk, 4:30 in the morning) when I sat in cab to leave for home and the weather made me feel I should use my mobile phone to click some pictures.

The first picture is of my building which was around 30 feet away from my place. On a usual night, this picture would have been much clearer. Notice the fog around the lamppost. The second picture is specifically of the lamppost to display how foggy it was.

Location: Gurgaon, Haryana, India
Time: 4:30 AM
Date: 3/2/2007