Big Cat Diary

I have finally completed all seasons of Big Cat Diary. 7 amazing seasons of wild adventure.
I was till probably a few years back only amazed by a couple of big cats, the Tiger and the leopard of India.
But after watching a few episodes of Big Cat Diary at home in Bangalore and now watching all the seasons of the Big Cat Diary on the internet, I am in awe of all the Big cats, both in India and in Africa.
It feels so good to have seen the true raw nature of the African big cats, their lives and their story.

Anyone and everyone should watch this show. its just amazing.... 

Brands and their Made ins...

Here in the US, when you are living in a small town, and nothing much to do in the area, you will visit a nearby city and some of its Malls, as I do quiet often.... you will do loads and loads of the so called window shopping.. but here in the US it is not as much as window shopping...
You will find clothing brands and stores... The clothes, the styles and designs of course  change with season, but after a point, specially for guys, you will almost find the same kind of clothes every time....
There will be very few eye catching clothes that tempt you to have a look or even try some... Over the past year, I have seen numerous clothing and have noticed the 'Made in...' tag. You will put off immediately on most occasions...
You will not be surprised at all to find that it would be mostly 'Made in China'... Almost everything... but off late for the clothing in spring and summer, I have noticed that the clothing has not just 'Made in China' but also Indonesia, Vietnam, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Mexico, Thailand, Philippines and even Pakistan for that matter...
I could never have thought that I will find a 'Made in Pakistan' in the US.... I have seen very few items or things made in the US itself... I understand the business side of it, the enormity of this was something that I was surprised with...
Then When I look at the overall retail picture in the US, you will find that this is not just with Clothes, but with almost everything... From Shoes, electronics, cushion, comforters, jewelry, accessories, crockery and the list will go on...
I saw one store selling a women's hair band for 28 $ after sale and the original was 40 $. Again made in China. I also saw one guy selling a plastic transparent bag for 25 $. Nothing seems to be made in the US???

Well this is just an observation, I am sure there is plenty more like this here...

Food Tour

It has been just over 6 months away from Bangalore and I am slowly starting to miss every bit of it that is India, my home!
Well let me ask you something before I tell you what makes me feel so...
Have you ever thought of planning your outing just on the basis of food and everything else comes second?
Well to think of it, it sounds a bit like the HOMP show... but when I actually tried it out, it really works well.
You have to have company that loves eating food though...
What made it very interesting and surprising for me was that we planned a trip on the basis of what we wanted to eat and where we wanted to eat... Then once we finalized our food tour, we then planned what tourist spots to see...
This plan worked very well as we saw all the places that we planned and also saw more. We eat all the Indian food that we had planned...To add to this we did not have any confusion in our head as to whether we are missing out on some tourist attraction or not... the reason being tourist attractions were not on our mind when we planned, but the food was. tourist attractions were part and parcel of the food tour you can say :) :).
Well this all happened over a 2 day weekend... short time and had loads of fun and great food...
After this very successful trip I am thinking of using similar ideas to plan a trip. For food lovers like me and my wife, it will surely work.
Now coming back from the trip has been a bit tough... I am missing all the good Indian food and then again saw Dhobi Ghat which reminded of the India in a very realistic and different way... Missing home for all the great food by my mom and then again missing the street food of India...
For all the food lovers, you can give a food tour a try and let me know if it worked for you?????????

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thoughts and Memories

Life takes you places that you could not have imagined. Life makes you experience moments that you will cherish for the rest of your life...
As I sit in front of my laptop, writing this blog, I am filled with a few thoughts about how my life has taken a turn and have got a few memories to cherish on this momentous day...
I was a carefree guy, little did I expect that a guy who had a past in studies as I did, would one day think of travelling to the US. On Dec 6th 2008 , I was sort of lost in the Cincinnati airport, hoping someone would assist me to get around the airport and to my destination which was my hotel. It was a great feeling and a moment I will cherish where I first experienced all that a foreign land had to offer - cold, amazing infrastructure and of-course my first foot into the US of A. I had all the fun that a bachelor has to have... photography, car driving, snow, visit to New Jersey and a Glimpse of the NY skyline and Statue of Liberty, etc...
The year 2009 had a lot of Mixed memories, Had fun in US for a few months, had a depressed feeling in the middle of the year at work where I put on lot of weight. Then had an amazing later half of the year, where I started playing sport again ( to reduce my weight was the inspiration), had an even amazing time with my photography, had got opportunity to do some amazing work as well....I should be happy of-course of the year gone by... Dec 6th 2009 was a day which I will never forget in my life... My parents had started the tough job of finding my soon to be wife and Dec 6th 2009 was the day I was heading to see the first girl. I had strange feeling then on this whole process... Little did I know on that day, that the first girl I met would be my wife today...Well it all happened too soon after that... I am married now... and am writing a blog on the same day Dec 6th 2010...
Today Dec 6th 2010, I am married to the girl I saw on Dec 6th 2009 and am back in the US, visiting and exploring places in the US along with my wife... Have got some amazing moments to cherish along with her in my life now. There is no more of that carefree bachelor life that I had then...
The responsibilities have increased, the roles have increased... A lot has changed...
I am now a husband to my wife, a son in law, I am also being called jiju, wow, never thought of that...
It is an odd feeling sometimes to be called jiju...
I have also for the second time post my engineering life have I done something mechanical... I am fixing furniture at home... doing research about car engines and oil...
With all this happening around, my zest for life has only increased... I have upgraded my camera, my photography has not stopped, I've become of an adventure and travel person. Now that I have company... Seeing new places... not anymore lost in a new place...
As for looks are concerned, From a boyish look to a more mature look has taken after all only 2 years...

Life is taking exiting turns

I think after a brief stay of 3 months in the US, I am already feeling home sick.
I am missing my home and my parents, my brother and my city a lot. With very less population and crowd around here in the US, the activity around is missing.
The work is getting monotonous and boring, but the good news is that me and my wife are seeing a lot of new places and photography I tell you has its way of changing the mood of a person...
I had till now done very less photography in the US apart from the regular record shots of places being visited, but the recent visits to places have given me the interest and excitement to get back and keep clicking...
Here is one of my shots of a person so involved and excited at being at the Taj Mahal, Agra and was clicking a shot.
Below is the snap of the excitement in the person's face at being clicked with the Taj Mahal in the background.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Excited and involved in photography. 

The excited lady being clicked by the above photographer.

Back on the scene

Hi it has been a very long time since I have blogged.
Life has changed a lot since I last blogged. Lots of changes in my life and hence the delay.
My blog was very angry that I could not devote more time to it, but what to do there were a few more important things to take care...
I was able to see some amazing new places in the last few months, some breath taking scenes in one of the most astonishing of places in India. Got some amazing snaps.
Could not believe my eyes when I saw those snaps and told to myself if I could really click such snaps or is it just the place. Well I realized that it is just the place and not much has changed in my photography.
Travelled to a new country and to a new city. Met an old friend and settled in a new life far away from home.
Exploring new places, now with my wife always there for company...
Now I am sure to blog more often and also keep sharing things in my mind...

In the midst of a desert...

Paradise in Kashmir - 1

I had been to Kashmir in early March for a short holiday and was really mesmerised by the beauty of Kashmir. It is truly Paradise on Earth...
There is hell lot of things to share here about Kashmir, but would try to make more room for my snaps and less for writing...
Kashmir as you all know is known at the moment for:
1. Lots and Lots of security forces.
2. Terrorism.
3. Snow capped Hills.
4. Dal Lake.
Well there was heavy secirity cover all over the place and the snow capped hills were amazing, but the thing that surprised me the most is the Dal Lake, the people and the amazingly vast human resources that is available in this state...
Me and my family had been to Srinagar, GulMarg and Pahelgaon. 3 places all different in thier own way.
Srinagar is the capital of Kashmir and is best known for Dal Lake. Wow!! what an amzing lake it is...
25 Kms in circumference and believe me it is huge...
The thing about Dal Lake are the House boats, the romantic setting and the flashback of some old film songs shot here...

The snow capped hills

In view here are some snaps that represent The Dal Lake. We have the Snow capped hills, a boat (Shikara) ride with amazing view in front, Some brid life at the Lake, Mobile department store, boatman and a few from the market place in the Dal Lake. Transport to the market place from one shop to another is by the Boat...

The stay at the House boats was truly amazing. Speactacular view right in front, luxury within and a very relazxing setting...

This is the different views in front of the our House boat...
The Dal Lake is truly an amazing place... it is soooo huge and yet the administration over there has let out only a small place for the house boats whereas the rest of the lake is protected and maintained very very clean...
It is truly a shame that people down here in Bangalore struggle to maintain one small lake (Ulsoor lake) clean for a long period of time and keep giving excuses. They should for once visit Kashmir and learn a few things...
We had been to many other places withing the Sninagar city and one place is the temple on top of the Hill overlooking the Dal lake. This is a Shiva temple and there is a huge Linga in there. The very first rays of the Sun falls on this Linga and then lights the rest of the city of Srinagar...

The view from up there is such that on one side you can see the old part of the city with the River Jhelum on that side and the Dal lake and the newer part of the city on the other side. This is the best place to have a look at the vastness of the city of Srinagar...
Of the other places in Srinagar, we had been to the place known famously for its terrorist attack a few years back namely the Lal Chowk. This place is bustling with energy and has too many secirity people, which makes the peopel feel really secure...



Truly the visit to Srinagar was amazing... I will write a bit more about that trip in the next blog... which is a trip to Gulmarg and Pahelgaon...