take the red pill and stay in wonderland ...

Lonely Planet

2006-05-31T05:37:00.000-07:00

F11.0 • 1/500Sec • EV0.0 • 12.0mm • 2006:05:27 • 13:45:27

Scene on the way to Panchagani, a hill station about a 100 kilometers from Pune.

Where's everybody gone?

2006-03-27T02:18:00.000-08:00

F4.0 • 1/40Sec • EV0.0 • 24.0mm • 2006:03:04 • 00:39:09

Itchy shutter finger in between office meetings. :)

Long Train Running

2006-03-21T01:50:00.000-08:00

F7.1 • 1/200Sec • EV0.0 • 50.0mm • 2006:02:26 • 23:07:45

This was shot moments after the one in the previous post.

Metuchen

2006-03-13T07:11:00.000-08:00

F8.0 • 1/250Sec • EV0.0 • 50.0mm • 2006:02:26 • 23:07:30

Metuchen station, waiting to catch a train to NY.

Delta

2006-03-10T01:23:00.000-08:00

F10.0 • 1/400Sec • EV0.0 • 50.0mm • 2006:02:27 • 12:32:46

Mural painted on the face of building, West Manhattan.

Kali

2006-02-14T04:15:00.000-08:00

F3.2 • 1/40Sec • EV0.0 • 24.0mm • 2006:02:12 • 07:35:59

Kali.

The Look

2006-02-12T23:22:00.000-08:00

F2.8 • 1/25Sec • EV0.0 • 24.0mm • 2006:02:12 • 07:22:02

A girl in Shiroli.

Firki

2006-01-18T00:17:00.000-08:00

F8.0 • 1/200Sec • EV0.0 • 50.0mm • 2006:01:14 • 17:22:43

Flying kites in Surat II.

Lapet, lapet ...

2006-01-16T01:15:00.000-08:00

F6.3 • 1/160Sec • EV0.0 • 24.0mm • 2006:01:14 • 11:03:31

Flying kites in Surat.

Table for two

2005-12-15T23:34:00.000-08:00

F8.0 • 1/500Sec • EV0.0 • 19.2mm • 2004:04:10 • 12:49:56

This was shot a long time back on my first visit to Neemrana Fort Palace, an immensely romantic place that I fell promptly in love with. This heritage resort on the Delhi-Jaipur highway is a favorite with Europeans and understandably, charges princely sums of money for lodging and food.

Fern

2005-11-28T02:04:00.000-08:00

F4.0 • 1/40Sec • EV-1.0 • 24mm • 2005:10:01 • 07:55:33

Shot at 24mm, this one is a severe crop out of the original.

Fish

2005-11-26T06:06:00.000-08:00

F2.8 • 1/5 Sec • EV0.0 • 24mm • 2005:04:08 • 17:56:01

A second one in the 'painting a digital picture' series.

Umm...

2005-11-24T05:20:00.000-08:00

F1.4 • 1/30Sec • EV0.0 • 50mm • 2005:07:04 • 12:26:49

I continue to recycle old stuff. Trying my hand at painting a digital picture, I couldn't find a better image to try this on. Actually, that's just an excuse for being at my narcissistic best. :)

~ 180°

2005-11-17T01:26:00.000-08:00

F10.0 • 1/400Sec • EV0.0 • 24mm • 2005:04:16 • 11:13:06

Lake near Mulshi dam. Five handheld shots stitched together in PS.

Hip Hop

2005-11-15T02:14:00.000-08:00

F5.0 • 1/200Sec • EV0.0 • 24mm • 2005:10:01 • 11:13:06

My rapster pal Ashish.

Friends

2005-10-18T23:15:00.000-07:00

F5.0 • 1/100Sec • EV0.0 • 24mm • 2005:10:01 • 07:08:09

Lonavla again. My friends Shu and Abay. Being severely acrophobic, I wouldn't venture anywhere near where they are standing. The EXIF data tells me this was shot eight minutes and nine seconds past seven in the morning. :)

The Trap

2005-10-10T22:23:00.000-07:00

F5.6 • 1/80Sec • EV-0.3 • 24mm • 2005:10:01 • 07:59:10

"Will you walk into my parlour?"
Said the spider to the fly;
"'Tis the prettiest little parlour
That ever you did spy.
The way into my parlour
Is up a winding stair;
And I have many curious things
To show you when you're there."

Slow

2005-10-10T00:27:00.000-07:00

F9.0 • 1/320Sec • EV0.0 • 24mm • 2005:07:06 • 14:36:21

Monsoons. Off season in Fort Kochi.

Camera Shy

2005-10-08T01:00:00.000-07:00

F5.6 • 1/500Sec • EV-0.3 • 24mm • 2005:10:08 • 08:17:43

Guess it's difficult to give your best smile for the camera when you are hanging by a thread.

Rust In Peace

2005-10-06T22:20:00.000-07:00

F6.3 • 1/160Sec • 24mm • 2005:10:01 • 08:20:09

Hurriedly shot at the same junkyard as this while being shooed by the security guard (yes there was one posted specifically to guard the junk!!!). I don't much like the square format but to my mind, it was the only crop working in this case.

Lone

2005-10-05T22:40:00.000-07:00

F5.0 • 1/100Sec • 24mm • 2005:10:01 • 08:12:38

Spotted on the way back from the lake in Lonavla. Amidst all the fern and moss, this was the only mushroom I noticed.

Lake Placid

2005-10-04T22:38:00.000-07:00

F11.0 • 1/320Sec • 24mm • 2005:10:01 • 08:01:47

Lake in Lonavla. Spherized in PS to give the impression of a self-contained eco-system.

Junkyard Treasures

2005-10-04T05:03:00.000-07:00

F10.0 • 1/400Sec • 24mm • 2005:10:01 • 08:16:11

Junkyard next to Amby Valley, Lonavla. Thanks Deepak for the swell job on the template.

Faces of India

2004-10-18T03:04:00.000-07:00

Smokin Joe
One of my favourites from a few days of busy shooting last month, first in Paharganj area of Delhi and then Mathura, Agra and Fatehpur Sikri and finally Jaipur. I will post a few of them here.

Though, you can see them all on my TrekEarth account.

The Blessing
A holy man? I doubt it. He was a devil in the disguise of a Naga sadhu if you ask me. Those eyes look evil.

Yes the DoF is too shallow and the hand is in sharper focus than the face. I shot this on aperture priority and in hindsight a smaller aperture may have been a better choice.

As for the focus, on the spur of the moment, I decided to go for the hand and not the face. The hand raised in a blessing posture, to my mind, was a contradiction to his not so holy character, and I wanted to bring that out here.

The Sarangi Player
This is Sooraj. He is 80 years old. He plays the Sarangi (a traditional stringed instrument). He has been playing it since he was 7.

I am told he has been sitting at the same spot in Amber Fort in Jaipur for the last 65 years. He plays his music for anybody who would care to listen and pay him a little some thing for it.

Sooraj's claim to fame: He played for the American President (Clinton) when he came visiting.

Something I noticed later ... see how he holds his glasses in place by tying it with some colorful string on one end.

Seen on the roads of Gurgaon today

2004-07-19T03:37:00.000-07:00

That is your everyday goods carrier.

A kid selling colourful masks made out of recycled synthetic rubber.

Kasol Revisited

2004-07-12T03:58:00.000-07:00

Since I don't have anything new to share, here are some of the promised pictures from my visit to Kasol earlier this year.

The River Parvati

A hanging bridge across River Parvati

A low POV shot of the same bridge.

The other side of the river.

Wet Wet Wet

2004-07-08T03:09:00.000-07:00

The Monsoons are almost here and yesterday, it poured a bit in the evening. I was on my way back from work when it started. So I took a detour and just drove around to see if I could get something interesting when I found this guy.

I returned home with squeaky wet shoes yesterday.

And this is later in the same evening. This is the carpark below as seen from my third floor apartment window.

Don't look this way

2004-07-07T03:14:00.000-07:00

Mr Wadhwa got himself hot new wheels sometime back. So we decided to take the 1497cc, Water cooled, 4 stroke SOHC, 8-valve in line 4 cylinder, Honda City Exi for a spin on NH8. Jap fuel efficiency combined with great driving comfort led to a well spent Saturday afternoon. About 100 km out, we spotted some sheep in a field and made a pitstop.

This one was just half an hour old and already looked so uninterested.

And then, there was this one time we went for a 3-day, company sponsored trip to Naukuchiyataal. It's a place in Uttaranchal near Nainitaal. On our way there, we stopped at a tea stall for refreshments. It was early morning. The local kids were all ready to go to school, standing in their uniforms and waiting for transportation. Except for this shy little one.

He just wouldn't look into the camera when I pointed it at him. Lucky me for I got this nice expression when he was looking the other way.

Brother in alms ...

2004-07-06T02:11:00.001-07:00

The Kasol pics will have to wait. But here's one I clicked yesterday on my way to office at a traffic stop. Admittedly, not a very original composition nor an uncommon sight in India. But I liked the look on his face.

And here's one more I worked on over the weekend.

The mimetic poly-alloy (liquid metal) from which rose the T1000 or a bucket of water in my bathroom as seen under a table lamp? Don't bother asking what the table lamp was doing in the bathroom. :)

Acting the Goat!

2004-07-05T00:32:00.000-07:00

Kasol is this hidden away valley in Himachal Pradesh off Manali. Hardly any Indians visit the place and is mostly frequented by Israelis for its picturesque setting and easy availability of dope. I visited the place with a few pals sometime back. Apart from the fact that the local people make all Indians feel very unwelcome, it was quite a refreshing experience.

We were coming back from a rave early morning when I spotted these goats who were just waking up I guess. I thought the look on their still sleepy faces was that of bewilderment, questioning why I had tresspassed into their bedchambers.

I will try and post some more pictures from Kasol soon!

Splosh!

2004-06-30T13:37:00.000-07:00

This is most scary and embarassing ... like haplessly thrashing around in a pool for the first time, trying to learn how to swim while kids half your age gracefully glide around in perfect execution of the breast stroke. So while I test these waters, I will keep my first Blog post limited to one image upload. That is only as soon as I figure out how one does that. So lemme see ...

Okay... looks like I managed to get one in. This is a print ad I did for Calvin Klein that almost made it to Vogue. But seriously, its my half finished bottle of parfum and a mask from Nepal sitting on my dining table, shot in diffused sunlight.