Mang

Mango Tree tall and big evokes a strong sense of nostalgia in me, for much of my life in childhood was spent under the precincts of big mango trees. We were fortunate to have neighbors who had 5 big mango trees with lithe branches in their garden providing much succor and shade to near by roads and houses.

Kids of Chottupura (our locality) virtually grew up under the shades of mango trees. Our evenings were spent under these giant trees. The galli cricket or table tennis or just chit chat the avenue always was facilitated in the shades of mango tree. Come summer the mango trees provided an anodyne milieu for starting our game in sultry heat at 2pm. The Mango Trees have witnessed it all, the thrilling cricket matches played with much verve and passion, the little skirmishes off the field and who can forget the Chottupura slapgate? The Bully Proto slapped the innocuous Natraj under the mango tree. The slapgate of Chottupura snow-balled to a big controversy and was settled out again under the Mango Tree. I vividly remember the outrageous parents and neighbors of Natraj protesting and walking to Proto’s house to tame the bully. Unfortunately the bully never had compunction of his deeds. Stalemate prevailed and no action took place on the field for next couple of days, Proto was unofficially banned. But then things cooled down and back were the boys for action and fun under the mango tree. Summer was also the time of mangoes raw and ripe. Miscreants attacked the mango trees with stones and aimed high at the perching mangoes. Passer by had torrid time evading stones falling on their head or mangoes falling on their heads. We bore the brunt as an old house with tiled roofs the tiles broke when the stone fell on them. But it was all taken in stride because having mango trees burgeoning over the roof outweighed these small hardships.

I was really lucky to have access to mangoes high on the branches by just a grasp of hands from my terrace. Have a look at this picture.

Raw mangoes cut into slices peppered with salt – a real mouth watery stuff. Later part of my year during graduation and post graduation mango tree played a major part in my studies providing a bevy of convenience and a comfortable study arena. During study holidays early mornings and much of the evenings were spent in the terrace under the shade of mango tree reading and working on the subjects. It was as if the Mango Trees providing a cornucopia of energy and inspiration to slog out long hours.

Ok, why these entire mango talk now? Is it just that summer is bringing in the mango memories, well No! When I moved to my apartment in Hyderabad, we had a mango sapling at one of the corners of our compound; it was reminiscent of the giant mango trees which I was used to, infact like a stripling of those grand daddies. I was ecstatic; I was dreaming of the days when it would bloom out and become tall and strong providing the shade and comfort. I was waiting for the day in which raw mangoes would be borne out of it and I can pluck those to revisit the good old days of eating raw mango peppered with salt. Till yesterday it was there on the corner growing more than 12ft high and daily I would check its progress. Alas! today its no more, the lust and greed of human mind has cut its life short. With a stroke of axe it has fallen and rooted out and I have given it a poignant farewell. All this for building a shed for drivers, oh! Man you just could have sat on the shades of Mango Tree rather than under an abestos sheet. But in today’s world there is hardly any sense prevailing…..for such magnificent trees to survive.

Hopefully someday I too will own a piece of land and plant a mango tree!

5AM three of us were up and gearing up for a tête-à-tête with the Tiger. Out of the bed and blanket cover, I felt a chill assuaging into my body. The bittering cold had taken control of me with a thud and my body was trembling and teeth’s were clattering, I couldn’t walk and I hobbled towards my bag and added two more layer of clothing on to my mane. 15mts on I came in terms with the environment. And then started our wait for the jeep to arrive which was supposed to be there at 5AM. Waited, waited and as each tick passed by I knew our chances of spotting animals were coming down. Usually day break and evening are the best chance to spot animals especially deers and bisons. They would generally be holed up near a water hole for the first drink of the day and might be wandering in search of food. By 5.45AM our patience had ran out and we decided to walk out from Guest House to the main road 3km away. Still darkness all around, we started our walk with a small torch aiding us. 20mts on we reached the main road and the first rays of sun were speckling out in the distant horizon. With nothing much to do there, 3 of us took our cameras and started focusing the crimson dawn. It was also one of those days where moon was also lighting up the sky along with the sun. And with the power of 12x zoom at disposal, we got some awesome shots of moon and crimson dawn, teak wood trees reflecting orange lights from the burning sun. An hour passed and the crimson dawn warmed to an golden yellow day and still no trace of our jeep. Despondently we waited and finally we decided to walk back to the guest house and when we were about to reach our room, came the zooming sound of a motor. Our jeep had arrived well 3hrs late. We gave our mouthful and started our safari.

 Accompanied with a guide, we started our safari in the one of the open game routes. A few minutes on our guide spotted pug marks of sloth bear and bisons. We were excited to see the pug marks of sloth bear. My friends were inquisitive as to whether it had passed the track 5mts ago or 10mts ago and exploring/ruing the possibility of seeing/missing the beast. But thanks to Kenneth Anderson I knew it was impossible to spot a bear in broad day light. Bears are more of nocturnal in nature and they hunt for food in the night and when the day breaks they recline to their resting place. So possibility for spotting the sloth was nil. But our day had begun in a good note; the feeling of walking/driving through the jungles where sloth bears live was exhilarating. And a few meters on we came into the first sighting of the trip. A giant Indian Gaur (aka Indian Bison) was standing on our path. It gave a stare for 2 seconds and slowly cleared the path for us. It was a magnificent sight. Alas!  I was precariously perching on top of the jeep and I couldn’t capture the Gaur on my frame.

 The rest of the drive saw our eyes and ears wide open to capture the faintest of movement or feeblest of sound, but nothing happened and we were out of the game drive. But something more illustrious waited outside. A pack of langurs on the road side were visibly excited and making a huge hue and cry. Jungle law tells when langurs are excited; the predator is on its foray. It can be a tiger or leopard. We hoped that the elusive predator would deign to make an appearance. But the party was spoilt pretty fast when a group of grass-cutters arrived in the scene chattering on their way. Whatever little hope faded away and the langurs fell silent signaling that striped or spotted wonder has run away, stealing away our luck.

 Rest of the day, we went on trial after trial to various spots inside the forest, Raipur a tiny hamlet inside the forest, Bichu keda phata, Kuwapatti and much more. But we couldn’t see anything other than trees. As the day imposed itself, we were picturing beautiful spots deep inside Melghat forests, each spot vying itself to be a picture-perfect wallpaper setting. On the way Alosh and Kunal got something to show their natural instincts and bring out the Mouglee in them. As the day unwounded, long bumpy drive on top of a jeep had started taking a toll on our back and to try our luck again we decided to drive the same game route which we took in the morning.

 Barely had we entered the track, we were greeted by 3 Bisons having water on a small water-hole. This time I was on a vantage position to shoot them. Adding color to this graceful setting was a mischievous langur sitting on top of a tree above the Bison. On seeing us the langur got excited and started making strange noises and slowly descended down the tree and teased the bison. Seeing the langur coming down and making strange noises, the Bison seems to have got fidgety and swish! it heralded a charge and ran across crossing out path. And being in a too good position I could capture the running bison on my camera. It was the moment of the day, it would have been moment of my life if the bison had decided to take a turn and run towards us. But as nature would have it ran away from us and leaving us in mirth. Here you see the Bison standing, after being teased by langur it  runs,runs and runs. Here is the naughty langur which was instrumental in unfolding the drama. In the back of langur you can also see the Bison staring at us.

 These events made up for the dull day (dull only as far as animal spotting was concerned). As we trudged forward lady luck smiled on us and we could spot more families of Bisons and a solitary Sambhar as well.  

 The adventurous journey of day 1 was streaming to an end as Sun started billowing on the western horizon and by 6pm we were back in our hut after a tiring day. On the trial we heard from our guide that there was a Machan in the back of our guest some 2km away and it was used during animal census where the enumerators would stay there for a day or two to count the animals coming to the waterhole near it. As always our irrational excitement overpowered us and we thought of taking a plunge and started marching towards it and god knows may be to stay on top all night. Time was nearing 6.30pm and the darkness had made its cover all around. Barely a kilometer in the track, we had some eery sound in the bushes, some thing was creeping or crawling. Was it a tiger or leopard is it going to pound on us from the back? After witnessing the power of 1000kg bison a little bit earlier during its run, our fears were compounded, was it a bison ready for making it charge? A dilemma, a double-mind strapped us and none of us exchanged any words but 3 of us unanimously were walking back to the safety of our rooms.

 That was end of day 1 in Melghat, day 2 had more exotic plans, this time no jeeps but a trek, a 15km long trek through the forests and our guide would arrive at 6AM tomorrow to start the trek. Who knows may be we are going to cross our path with a tiger or leopard or may be a sleeping bear? Only time will tell…..

 (To be continued)

 Thanks to a geographically diversified coterie at workplace, I get to visit different parts of India in the pretext of attending marriages. Being a wildlife and nature aficionado, I prefer the marriage itinerary to be packed with a visit to wildlife sanctuary near the venue. Earlier it was gir, then sunderbans and now is the time for Melghat, pre-cursor attending a marriage in Nanded.

Melghat Tiger Reserve located in Amaravathi District of Maharashtra is relatively less-known tourist resort. Thanks to which, much of the forest is unperturbed with crazy tourists and pepsi cans and bisleri bottles. A 13 hour bus drive from Hyderabad took us to Amaravathi, the heart of Vidharbha. From Vidharbha another 1hr drive takes us to the shanty town of Parathwada. Much of the journey from Amaravathi to Parathwada criss-crosses killer cotton fields skirting on both sides of the road. As a first time visitor to this part of India, I was having a mixed feeling passing through Vidharbha heart lands – where every tick of two-and-a-half hour culminates in a farmer suicide. My mind was perplexed and I was curiously gazing out of the window on the villagers and their homes, trying to read the misery on their face. An amalgam of shame, sadness and discontent was brewing on my mind, the overwhelming thought – how venal and insensitive we have disintegrated to?

Parathwada was a picture of typical India, with a dilapidated bus station, shabby roads and flith all around. From Parathwada, began the journey to Melghat which almost 900m above sea level. This was the best part of journey passing through bucolic settings and innumerable hair pin curves and breath-taking views. Our stay was booked in Forest Guest House at a place called Kolkas. A two hour topsy-turvy ride through forests and mountains left us in Kolkas. The only proof that we had indeed landed in Kolkas was a sign board which read Kolkas Guest House, Turn Right. Rest apart it was dense forest all around, the conductor while getting down pointed his hand and said walk down 3km you will find a guesthouse and with that bus chugged away. No sign of human civilization, no concrete structures, no electric poles….. just trees, trees and more trees with a road in the midst winding away. The first thing I did was to check if there was a mobile signal, the Nokia was blank. No GSM, No CDMA – welcome to Jungle Land. Then started our trudge on the 3km path in search of the guest house. On the way was the first sighting of the trip – a beautiful golden red spider, resting on a labyrinthine network of web between two trees. Out popped three digi-cams to capture this fascinating handiwork of the spider and the spider itself. I was struggling for 1minute, to get a shot, the spider just couldn’t be figured out through the lens. Thankfully the photography connoisseur in the midst helped with the hint of Manual Focus. So with the mode set I harried my lens in search of the spider and finally caught it through the eyes of the camera. Click! Click! Click! The camera had kick-started for the first time in this trip and on its way to capture the magic of mesmerizing Melghat.

A 20mts walk took us to Guest House, resting on the banks of River Sipna, it was an idyllic setting to unwind one-self and recharge. The guest house is manned by a two-man army and the rooms were pretty shabby and bathrooms were awful to say the least. But outside the room was the lap of nature, pristine, atoned with green, rustling with the sounds of birds and winds gracing the trees. So for once we forgot what’s inside and our souls were kept wandering outside while physically our body was cozying in the warmth of two layer blankets from chilling cold outside. But let me accept here for just 200/= for a suite for 3 persons together per night, what we got was supreme luxury.

The first rude jolt of the trip occurred here, when the two-man army welcomed us and told you are stuck here if you don’t have a vehicle. As I mentioned earlier, since it’s not much hyped destination, there are no private resorts and those who wish to do safari had to have their own vehicles. A pall of gloom descended on us, then started a series of debates, interrogation and quizzing the guys, finally we worked out a plan to sent one of us along with a guy to the nearest village and find if we can get a vehicle. My dear friend Alosh, took up the charge and thankfully the guest house had a bike. They set out in dark, yes darkness at 5.30pm to Semadoh which is 14km from Kolkas. Semadoh is a small village which has a couple of tea stalls and a phone booth. Dropping a new one rupee coin can make you talk for 20sec to outside world. I sent my SOS message to home through my messenger Alosh. While me and Kunal had a hot water bath and comforted ourselves in the confines of the bed, Alosh battered the cold and brought back good news. He got a Commander jeep for the whole day next day for 1500/= and our adventures were to begin next day at 5am.

Inside Guest House was resident a family, and the only source of food here was their home. They prepared us a simple yet sumptuous dinner and we were having the first proper food of the day at 8pm after the long arduous bus journey. 9pm, with nothing much better to do in a forest, we crashed to bed dreaming about tigers and bears and an eventful day awaited us in the horizon.

(End of Part-I)

After an ordeal of a trip in the summer of 2005 smothered with some fine memories it was time for another Srisailam trip. This time it was a packaged tour from APTDC. The deal worked out to be 660/- per head inclusive of conveyance and stay in an uber cool resort in Srisailam for one night, altogether I felt it was a dandy of a deal.  

 Off we set on Friday, Aug 17^th an early morning start with overcast sky and benign weather promised it to make it a picture-perfect trip. So I loaded my camera with fully charged batteries and a neatly formatted 2GB card to capture every bling of nature. The travel itself is very pleasurable as the destiny. Srisailam route criss-crosses rustic villages and Nallamala forests which houses Nagarjuna Sagar-Srisailam Tiger Reserve. Nallamala forest is the hotbed of Naxal movement and the forest covers are profuse hide outs of naxalites. An avid watcher can easily spot monkeys, deer’s and wild boars enroute to Srisailam.

Srisailam is on a hill top about 2800mts above sea level. Going from Hyderabad one has to hop from one mountain to the second one through a gorge which houses the Srisailam dam between the two mountains.  The beautiful spectre of nature unravels when one descends the first mountain pass through a narrow bridge to start the ascend of the second mountain. The bridge runs parallel to the dam at least a couple of kilometers away. Standing on the bridge embers of tranquility engulfed me; all around lustrous tinge of green from the skirting mountains lent a mystic charm to the place. The river – which is a sangam of Krishna, Tungabadra and Bhima rivers - underneath was in full spate thanks to the copious rains and shutters of the dam were open aiding the cataclysmic flow. The sight of water gushing-seething-scuttling out from the dam was mesmerizing and it really pulled everyone into a thrall.

 Our first stoppage was at the dam view point. Enthralled by the spectacle everyone was out with their cameras and truly a photographer hidden in everyone was blooming out. Sheets of water were cascading down the dam walls and once it cascaded down, from the sheer pressure the sheets of water ricocheted and transformed to a shape of parabola made from droplets of water. The water gushing looked like infinite lustrous white beads of pearl roiling down in a chain. Because of the sheer force of tumbling water the whole milieu was draped with tiny droplets of water as if an artist has stippled the canvas of nature with tiny white pearls. The atmosphere was engulfed with these sprinkling droplets and from a distance it was as if writhing vines of steam emanating from a hot water stream. It really made my day I was gasping and swooned by these splattered water droplets and splashing river traversing amidst the silent mountains.   

 The next stop was Panchganga which is a small waterfall amidst thickets of forest cover. A very tranquil and serene place and its believed Sankaracharya scripted Soundarya Lahiri and Sivanand Lahiri sitting here. Our next stop was Padal Ganga which also is the backside of the dam or the reservoir. A rope-way takes one to the bank of the reservoir and a boat ride through the water was a riveting experience to behold forever. 

Coming back to Srisailam the destiny – the abode of Lord Mallika Arjuna Swamy, Srisailam holds a high pedestal as is one among the 12 Jyothir Lingas in India. The idol itself is half concealed underneath the earth. One of the most amazing traits of this temple is devotees are allowed inside the sanctum sanctorum and are allowed to touch the main idol itself and one can ever perform pooja on the main idol in their own, which is not allowed in any other South Indian Temple.

Next day morning after a nice darshan and sumptuous breakfast we embarked on the return journey another joy ride through the natures lap bequeathed with charm and greenery. Most of my pictures which I shot in this trip were taken sitting in the moving bus on the return journey and to my surprise they have come out very well, truly capturing the natures best with tactility and are here to stay refurbishing my memory – a poignant travel memoir.

His smiles and laughs have become more sporadic and liberal. But they are not mere highfalutin ones; but are boisterous guffaws slivering out the innate happiness in his mind. Philippics and apoplectic tirades are not something privy to his tender and pristine soul. I think this one of the best phases of his life we as parents are enjoying. A pristine mind, always anxious and curious about surroundings, grasping and moseying towards any objects around his vicinity with an inquisitive intent all the way yelping and bawling and his body suffuse of energy.

Who on this earth would enjoy and laugh merrily at the crackling sound of paper, rustle of the leaves, switching on of the lights or the splurge of water from a pipe? Taken in front of the mirror he passes a sarcastic smile at himself and peers around to catch himself in the mirror. Well I guess any 8 month old kid does all that stuff. These mundane happenings for us are the greatest source of joy for him. Our days are made up and enlivened by this crackerjack boy who on each passing day learn and explore new facets of life. So one day he would learn how to say “Hello” (not verbally). So when we say “Hello!” he brings his hand forward for a shake-hand. And may be the third day he learns “Namastey”, saying which he clasps his hands together. He is so embroiled by the new lesson that he forgets the old “Hello” and after a lot of practice he might remember how to react to both the greetings. Amidst all this we see a life sprouting in front of us, ours own, who by his demeanors infuses vibrancy to all at home. He is for us the “Innocence Personified”.

It’s sad to think from an unsophisticated beginning human beings mind gets polluted progressively with all the unwanted emotions and thoughts taking him to the brink of irrationality and wilderness. That’s why whenever he sleeps I gently hymn the words of my favorite MLTR song to him.

The Milky Way upon the heavens
is twinkling just for you
and Mr. Moon he came by
to say goodnight to you

I’ll sing for you I’ll sing for mother
We’re praying for the world
and for the people everywhere
gonna show them all we care

Oh my sleeping child the world’s so wild
but you’ve build your own paradise
That’s one reason why I’ll cover you sleeping child

If all the people around the world
they had a mind like yours
we’d have no fighting and no wars
there would be lasting peace on Earth

If all the kings and all the leaders
could see you here this way
they would hold the Earth in their arms
they would learn to watch you play

Oh my sleeping child the world’s so wild
but you’ve build your own paradise
That’s one reason why I’ll cover you sleeping child

I’m gonna cover my sleeping child
Keep you away from the world so wild

The commies dikat is out for the upcoming Presidential polls “….a secular candidate with political background….”. The word secular in the vernacular of commies is obviously to be interpreted as someone who has proven traits of being anti-Hindu (esp. middle class Hindus), minority appeasement gets bonus and political background means he/she should have slithered around with politicking in his/her past?

Under such a concoction  of politics and secularism the top 4 candidates coming to my mind are

1. Arundati Roy - A hardcore hypocrite,  funded by NGOs to globe trotting, stay in five stars and known for giving acerbic speeches on India and Indian civic to elite European, American diaspora. So whenever there is development/industrial/infrastructural projects involving land acquisition Arundati and coterie are there upright with a Socialist Commie ideology to put hurdles in the project and grab media attention worldwide. Her secular credentials are impeccable, after her fight for a Afzal Guru (Muslim) convicted by Indian Law for terrorism. And also have many such vibrant ideas like troop pull out from Kashmir, ways to malign and demoralize armed forces for human right violation etc. Overall a fitting bill for a political, secular candidature matching wavelength with Commie ideologies.

2 .  Arjun Singh - The messiah of  Muslims and downtrodden sections of Indian society, fighting hard  and raging a battle today against social  injustice,  apartheid,  untouchability and what not? An entirely palatable candidate for Commies for doling out sops to (creamy layer) for the so called backwards he is definitely one of the strong contenders. It would be even sacrilegious to question his secular credentials. Having strong political background for amassing wealth and building bungalows worth 20 crores in 1980’s its time for all to give serious thoughts on this contender. And above all he is a good player of yes-man, sycophantic roles all through his life for the Family.

3. Shahabuddin Bihar RJD MP with strong political credo with 52 criminal cases on him. Vast experience of Constitutional loop holes to escape each time after being convicted. Being a Muslim no one can question his secular colors. And probably the only candidate who can match the Left mandate of “person with thorough knowledge of the working of the Constitution”.

The filter coffee and The Hindu the quintessential combo for many South Indian homes for starting the day. But now the combo has gone awry at least for me. The Hindu the leading light for news and analysis for decades has renegaded itself to a voluble mouth-piece for Commies dishing out acerbic articles for the sake of Socialists.

So what we see now - fortnightly bashing for BJP, Narendra Modi and Gujarat. Then once in two weeks the obedient sycophant M/S. Harish Khare would play out his sycophantic notes for the family and Manmohan. Attack the US capitalism and harp on Iran. Its a such a sham the editorial and analysis. A case in point, is the analysis of UP verdict where Mr. Khare has surmised it like this

“Above all, the U.P. vote is the first evidence of a kind of “Manmohan Effect”: the country’s collective nerves remain calm and un-excitable, despite occasional provocations from jihadi groups.

While there is no cause for the UPA bosses to feel greatly excited, there is also no need for them to persist with their self-doubts.”

At the ground level its pretty eminent that verdict is decisively against UPA and the family has abjectly failed in its propaganda, The Hindu and Khare  wants to make us believe that defeat of BJP is a victory for the family. The height of Commie-ism was witnessed in Nandigram coverage when editorial were penned by Karats absolving themselves (Commies) from the blame of taking innocent lives and putting it squarely on other parties and naxalites, where as the fact of the matter remains Buddha bungled it when coming to maintaining law and order/acquiring farm lands. Whatever the Commies say, truth remains that Guajarat remains the best managed state with best-in-class infrastructure and investments and the 30years of Commie rule is not taking West Bengal anywhere in terms of investments, industry or quality of life.

I reckon editorials and analysis should subjugate the people to think apolitically and should be the medium for vibrant discussions. Instead The Hindu is just serving trash by enslaving itself in its nepotism and jingoisms for a few parties and bereft ideologies.

Now if anyone is really interested in some quality opinions and analysis I recommend make a switch to Business Line, though from the same media house of The Hindu, I hear its under different management. The difference is distinct and quality is top notch. Even though a Business News oriented paper, it really serves the purpose for a reader who is really looking for some quality analysis, views, and opinions. The opinions are written by eminent scholars and researchers without any political moorings and most articles have positive connotations and this is something which all should read, rather than being entangled in the morbid political rivalries and blame games and casteisms which is eating out the psyche of this nation.

So next time a CRR is hiked or 123 agreement is signed or Wheat price is raised by 100/quintal or a Vidharba happens or a SEZ is acquiring lands scan through the Business Line  OP-Eds to see the real implications and ramifications of course all without the tinge of political shades. Apart from the OP-Eds Business Line also has some quality add-ons like New Manager (as the word says its about managing people/organizations by new manager), e-world (happenings in IT world), Life, Investment world (shares, mutual funds, loans the whole of investments), Mentor and of course the daily Last Page titled Variety which can enthuse all and sundry with interesting stories.

So I have made the decisive switch, The Hindu to trash and The Business Line in hand with a mug of aromatic coffee.

Vishu beckons

Mannasil Nerayey Kanikonnakal Virichu Kondu Veendum Vishu Varavayi.
Kai Nerayey Kai Neetavum Manam Nerayey Madhura Smrithikalumayi Vishu Kaalam

After Tom, Dick and Harry now I too am an owner of digital camera! Got the Lumix DMC-FZ50 model from Panasonic.

As cricketers say “Let the willow do the talking”, let me just show you the images and let it do the talking. Let me introduce Chimpu-the Chimpanzee, my sons best friend. Here you see Chimpu yelping on the railings of our balcony enjoying the photo session. Now this Chimpu always likes to be the center of attraction, as his liking I have taken this shot with all focus on him. So as you see the background building is not looking as sharp as Chimpu and the railings does. This is done by keeping the Aperture Priority to 3.2.

Now let me quickly show the same Chimpu with aperture of f11.0. Chimpu hates it if he knows he is not the center of attraction. So quickly have a glance at it

Sharpness of the background and Chimpu are even in this aperture mode.

Ananthu and Chimpu love water, cold water bathe makes them guffaw merrily. The sound of gushing of water from the pipe makes them excited. And water that ubiquitous life line - captured in oceans, waterfalls, rivers, drains and rains enamors our eyes. So let me show that gush of water from the pipe though not enticing as waterfall.

So you see the pipe and water gushing out. But the water looks like losing some sheen and transparency and looks like an extended rod from the pipe. Lumix had taken this with a Shutter Speed of 1/40 or exposure of 0.025 sec. So let us try to restore some beauty of the gushing water. The next one is shot with shutter speed of 1/500 or an exposure of 0.002 sec.

Did you notice that small wavering pattern and transparency of the water? Oops! bucket overflow let me pour some in the mane of Ananthu.

Chimpu and Ananthu’s favorite pass-time is to stand in the balcony and peer at the distant road and on the swooshing vehicles madly swirling ahead of the other in the race against time. Let us see some of the vehicles moving on that road. Here is a jeep seems to going at a high speed.

Even though the jeep is moving at roughly 60km/hr its looks as if stationery in the road. Lumix took this shot with Aperture of 6.3 and Shutter Speed of 1/320. Now let me show you how these vehicles are zipping through the road.

Did you see that? Hyundai Accent Car appears to be actually zipping and the background looks kind of blurred as in eddying. This is captured with Aperture of 7.1 and Shutter Speed of 1/250. This zipping effect was bought in by slightly moving my hand with the car

The HITEC City where we live as you know is the hub and frenzy of construction boom in Hyderabad. In our backyard is rising up a new commercial building. Have a look at this man working under sweltering heat in hot sun.

Does it look like a cloudy-gloomy day? Well its the effect White Balance Adjust. Lumix can control the color temperature so in the above shot I have kept White Balance as Cloudy to bring that appearance. The same thing under an incandescent light setting will be like this

Boy! does it look like Sun is at its peak?
One of the biggest problem while taking photos is exposure or amount of light on the subject compared to its background. Many shots I have taken in my good old Kodak KB-100 camera gets spoiled because of this. To see what I am telling have a look at this snap.

Here the focus is on the corridor in front of our flat. But the light outside is so bright that any subject in front is going to appear dark like a ghost. Lumix allows me to control exposure on the subject to compensate the bright background. I can under-expose or over-expose the subject.

Now you can see the background outside the railings is not so bright as I have increased the exposure on the subject, in this case the corridor.
I suppose I have bored you with my paeans on Lumix DMC-FZ50. Feeling sleepy? Well my son is definitely feeling so. Let me just go and put him to sleep showing him the bright moon risen on the eastern horizon.

For the curious- this shot is taken with 12x Optical Zoom. And in any night shot what you need is to increase the sensitivity of the lens and here I have kept it to ISO-400 and Shutter Speed of 1/400.
Here is another shot on Mr. Moon with an ISO-800 setting.

Now that I have let my willow talk, what do you feel? Is it just another Tendulkar or Tenducker whatever you call? Or will it be a Ricky Ponting?

The Factory has churned out another flick - Nishabdh. What a name to a film production company -Factory. Whenever I hear the word factory first thing coming to mind is churning out stuff in a assembly line - a repetitive monotonous affair. Factory is where innovation is one time at design and rest is just mechanical production. True to its name Factory churned  out some good movies like Rangeela, Satya and Company — and subsequent lots of production have been worth a shrug off.

Coming to its new product Nisabdh good thing about it is the awe inspiring locales of Munnar where the plot is set in and RGV has captured the essence and greenery of Munnar without any tinker in his frames.  Surely this film will do a world of good to Munnar and provide fillip to its booming tourism. The story itself revolves around 5 characters and invariably you know its all about illicit relationships and infidelity. Earlier we had night-mare called KANK which was glorifying this theme in a Bollywood Masala ambience. This one takes it one level further by conceiving a relation between 60 year old man (who though looks like 70+ in the film) and 18 year old lass who seemed to forgot wearing her bottoms all through the film.  But thankfully its not Karan Johar who is directing the film, so no songs, no concocted wits, no grisly tears and of course no rock and roll. The emotions are captured by the photography in the frame itself or sometimes just by mute silence. And finally RGV seems to have played safe neither delving on the genesis of such a relation nor the fall out of it.

But film is well scripted and shot. After a long tiring day or on a hot sunny afternoon under the comforts of air-conditioned multiplex watching this film can make you doze off intermittently. That doesn’t mean you should put off your plans of watching this film. Somethings are good like the acting of AB, Revathy and Nassar, the photography, the screenplay and then picturesque Munnar and the crew have definitely done their homework before setting on the project.