Journey

Life is a journey.  Starts with birth.  Ends with death. 

In the land of ‘karma bhumi’ we do not know what we are carrying forwards from our previous births.  

We do not know what is stored in the present life, pleasures, pains and relations. 

Past is behind us.  Future we are not very sure.  

Our present act leads to our future.  

If we live present rightfully which becomes our past and leads us into future, future will also be good. 

In this journey of life let us all help one another and leave pleasant memories behind in the fellow travellers when we reach our destination.

  

Milky Way

I had a strong desire to visit Himalayas and roam in the wilderness of nature sometime in my life.  The opportunity had come in the form of advanced workshop of Nikon School.  Though I was still fiddling with the basics of NikonD I decided to attend the Advanced workshop just to visit the roof of the world.  Ladakh in Leh of Jammu Kashmir state of India is a beautiful place with its Karakoram Himalayan ranges and lakes and rivers.  It is a cold desert with scanty vegetation. 

My first attempt

My visit was from 28^th September to 2^nd October.  That is the time when temperatures start falling and visitors/tourists visits are low.  The travel experience and photography sessions with Nikon mentors are unforgettable memory to be cherished forever.  As part of landscape photography we were asked one day to photograph night skies – Milky Way and star trails.  I was afraid of going out in cold nights.  I decided to skip that session.  But one of the young enthusiastic budding photographers who was having supper sitting beside me enquired what I was going to do that night.  I said I am afraid of cold and will go to sleep.  She said, ‘Looking at you I can say that the chance of visiting this place by you in future is minimal.  Why don’t you enjoy and click some pictures of night sky.  You cannot have such wonderful opportunity again.  It’s a matter of fifteen minutes to half an hour.  Just don’t miss’.

Mentor checked and corrected the settings

At the same time one of the guys had already gone out to click few pictures of Milk way and started showing to everyone in the group.  The pictures were awesome and I decided that I too should have few photographs of night skies at Pangong TSo.

My attempt trying composition

With the help of mentors I could click few pictures of Milky Way.  As a child I vaguely remember seeing Milky Way as my elder sister pointing at some group of stars.  But for the first time I saw the beautiful sky with stars, an amazing view never to forget in my life.  I feel grateful to the young lady who encouraged me to spend few minutes in the wilderness of cold nature amidst mountains, lake and starry skies.  

One more attempt

Village Home

As civilization progressed our lives and surroundings have changed a lot.  We have moved away from nature and living lives in a mechanical way.  To get out of this mechanical life we often plan weekends out off the city in nearby villages or woods.  

Some cities have come up with constructions that resemble old caves or village environment where people can have luxurious life style feeling artificially being in natural environment.  Anything man made can be near to nature but cannot be natural.

I am fond of taking a photo of village street appearance.  Once I had this opportunity.  I could also take a picture where a village setting is made up in hotel.  The difference is obvious.  You can make out which is natural and which is artificially made.  So I did not label the pics.

Instant Photographs

Before the advent of digital cameras, at any tourist place there would be only few people and one or two persons in the family would operate camera.  Care is taken not to waste even a single shot and increase number of snaps from 36 to 37.  Digital cameras and phone cameras have made every single person a photographer.  There is no fear of wasting snaps.  No fear of unnecessary expenditure.  As many photos are clicked as desired.  Other than professional photographer rarely a thought is given to the composition.  At the end of the day no one knows how many photos will become hard copies.  They remain either in the memory card of camera or stored in the hard disk of the computer.  From the computer the pictures can be shared world over with friends and relatives.  But the pleasure of watching photo albums sitting together with near and dear at home remembering the story behind the picture will be missing.

To help the tourists at most tourist places we see pro photographers who give us instant photos.  They are ever present at the site and ready to take photographs at best and iconic angles of the place and give pictures in an hour or two.  In some places where more tourists prefer photos taken by the photographers it may take more days and Photographer will send the copies to home.  I think it will be a good idea for tourists to take instant digital photographs at the site and keep them as souvenirs.

  

Here is the photographer at the Laknavaram in Warangal.  The hanging bridge on the lake is ‘L’ shaped and at the joint there is an extended area of bridge.  Here he has his equipment and processes photos and gives it to the tourists in an hour, by the time they come back after visiting the restaurant on the island and boat ride in the lake.  When I asked him to pose for me and I will post it on my blog he was happy to do it.  I wish he will have brisk business on all the days of the week.

This plant is seen growing wildly at Laknavaram.  I have seen this type of flowers for the first time.  I took few pictures.  When I took this photo I thought that the flower is different from others.  But find an insect on this flower was a surprise to me.

Caged

The picture looks like the line is behind the grill.
 Actually I have taken this from the window of the bus. 

Man is the most intelligent of all living beings on earth.  With intelligence and wisdom man evolved from caveman to smart city dweller.  Being the most intelligent of animal kingdom, man is powerful to command, control and use other beings for his development.  Powerful man has the responsibility to protect nature and allow other beings to live.  Protecting nature and other beings maintains ecological balance that helps human race to continue healthy existence on earth.

Disappearance of forests, changing life styles of man has become the cause of extinction of hundreds of beings.  Wild animals that live in forests are kept in captivity in zoological parks or protected/reserved forests. In these forests though the animals appear to move about freely, their freedom of movement is restricted by  the boundaries created by the authorities (man).  But when we move in these forests to see wild animals in their so called natural habitat we go in a vehicle through the windows of which we can see animals but animals cannot reach us. 

Once I visited Bannerghatta National Park in Bengaluru.  When I took a bus ride I felt we, the passengers, in the bus are caged and the animals are moving freely.  I could understand the limited power we humans have and the how much we fear the wild animals.

The bear sitting beside the halted bus and watching us

The bus,with all the doors closed and windows grilled
The moving cage!

                                                                        

Abstract Art

The branches are unique to every tree.  Each branch is having its own course of growth

Trees are most important part of nature.  Without water there is no life on earth.  Without trees man will not have survival.  Trees provide us oxygen that is essential for a human being to be alive.  Trees also provide us with food, shelter, clothing and health.  The beauty of flowers and the cool breeze from trees make many persons great poets.  Trees themselves are artistic in their growth and appearance.  No single tree though of same species will have branches exactly same as another tree of the same species.  Like we human beings are unique by finger prints and iris each tree is distinct.

Recently I visited Cubbon Park in Bengaluru.  The 300 acre park in midst of metropolis is probably the main reason to sustain life of people in highly polluted city.  The park is more like a forest in the centre of the city.  It is amazing to see the number of huge trees and bamboo grooves here.  The rustling of bamboo shoots produces the music that resembles the sound of rain.  Every tree presented me its beautiful abstract art.  These are few pictures of those artistic trees. 

It looks more like the trunks have grown close together, branches spreading as to cover the sky 

The base of this trunk is shaped into some person lying on the ground  looking to a side

Just imagine which animals are here and what they are doing!

Here I find one elephant trunk

Name this animal

Is there any deer that is looking back?

The reptile seems to carry a tiny human being below its belly

A reptile entering or coming out of its burrow

I don't understand this.  Truly modern art!

Just a Face?

Anaconda?!!

A Pastor giving sermon to the visitors!

Mushroom in trunk standing out majestically

The love birds sitting in privacy of tree hanging the helmet beside on broken branch

Royal Meal

“What is in a name?”  Famous quotation from Shakespeare’s Romeo – Juliet.  A rose whatever name it is called its fragrance doesn’t change.  But roses are of many colors and hues and there may be variance in fragrance.  But the moment anybody calls a flower rose immediately the different colors of roses come to our mind.  But somebody wants to call a rose by name jasmine because it also has fragrance, it is difficult to imagine and correlate the flower and fragrance. 

Human beings are highly evolved animals.  The ability to communicate by means of language is the most important step in evolution.  Different parts of the world have different languages.  Every language has its own script and expresses words that will be understood by people speaking that language.  People speaking other language will have to learn the language specific to the region to communicate to the people of the region and live in that region. 

We give names not only to the articles of daily use but also different places depending on the activity carried out there. One cannot call a post office a hospital or hospital a railway station as they like.  Establishments in different location are given specific name to be more precise.  So it is very important to have a name and the name cannot be changed according to the fancy of a person.  So a rose should be called a rose and not chrysanthemum. 

The name given to an establishment does not only specify the type of establishment but also conveys the variety of services provided or motto of establishment. Apt name given to a business establishment will definitely boost the business.

This is a photograph taken near Borra caves, Vizag.  This is a thatched house with a big hall and kitchen and a room behind the hall.  There were few tables and plastic chairs for the customers to sit and have meal.  In the front, to the right corner, there is a counter to collect bills.  This hotel is named as Shri Chaitanya Rajula Bhojana Hotel.  Rajula Bhojana Hotel means it is King’s meals hotel.  But below it is also given that it will supply Bengali meals.  I found it amusing to see the name given to the roadside motel given the name suggesting to supply royal meals.  The customer is considered the ‘King’ and the meal provided is “king’s meals’.  After a tedious journey and as the acids in the stomach make havoc hot rice with simple dal will definitely taste delicious and the customer will bless the hotelier.

Indian Squirrel

In January I have visited Agra. Agra is a place on the international tourist map. One of the world's wonderful monument Taj Mahal is in Agra. The other important tourist spot is Agra fort. This fort is of great importance in Mughal history in India. All the Mughal kings were coronated here. Shah Jahan who had built a beautiful monument Taj Mahal for his beloved wife Mumtaj Mahal was imprisoned by his son Auranzeb in this fort. Imprisoned Shah Jahan could have the view of Taj mahal from his prison. He died imprisoned in this fort.

There are beautiful gardens in this fort. The interesting thing I found here is squirrels running fearlessly in this courtyard and gardens.

Indian squirrels have three white lines on their back. There is a mythological story attached to the presence of these lines. Lord Rama had to cross the sea and enter Lanka to fight Ravana who had kidnapped his wife Sita Devi. During that war to cross the sea with his 'monkey army' they had to build a bridge across the sea. This was done by the army by bringing and putting huge rocks in the sea. This is called 'Rama Sethu'. This 'Rama Sethu' of rocks is believed to be present now which connects Srilanka and India and is submerged in waters. During that time when 'sethu' was being built a little squirrel want to do its bit of service to Lord Rama. So it had carried tiny pebbles aiding the army. Lord Rama had come to know of this squirrel and with affection he had stroked the back of the squirrel with his fingers leaving their marks which are carried through generations of squirrel. Based on this there is an adage in Telugu, "vudutha bhakti". This means however 'small' people might be what little they contribute for the cause will be recognised.