...as seen by...

I have lost the knack of waking up to the alarm. I cant believe I used to wake up at 5:45 every day, and go for a jog. The pox had rattled everything. Now all I can do when I hear the alarm is: turn it off (even snooze aint an option!) or even better: not hear it at all, so that I can throw a tantrum when I wake up finally, some time when the sun has reached directly above the head. So last Saturday, I set the alarm at 5:40, as I was supposed to meet some friends at Madiwala at sharp 6:15 AM. And so, it was riding the bike at spine-numbing chill winds at 100 kmph, and jumping the traffic lights (its no harm when you are the only person on all the four sides of the junction, right? And besides, obeying rules is my principle, but its no use being a fool about it) Finally I met them at madiwala by 6:40. Turned out that they waited for a long 2 minutes or so. Afterall, we're all running on IST(Indian Stretchable Time)!!! We proceeded to our destination, which was in front of the Yeshwa...

I guess I have been quiet for a while. I knew that nations won’t go to war if I stopped writing. Heck, I thought no one cared. But what happened last week challenged all such notions of mine. I was asked 3 times, in a span of 48 hours, why I had stopped posting. And considering the fact that everyone suddenly got concerned after a span of almost 2 years, I have reasons to believe that the blog had started turning in its grave. Yes, I had decided to burry it. Now I need to dig it up, and create some magic, like Dr. Frankenstein did. And one of the three people who asked the question, happened my own dear wife, so I couldn’t just push it away. Hmm, well, you see, quite a few things happened in my life during this period. (We’ll ta lk about that, hold on…) So seeing this sudden spur of interest in my long-lost habit of blogging, I went back to the blog, and read it. It made me smile, several times. And then, I was convinced, I should resume writing. So let me write about what I did last S...

There are no rain pictures this week! Because it has been raining incessantl y for the past 48 hours or so... So I cant go out and take a rain picture. I cant go out and take a rain picture when its not raining either. Catch 22! Anyways, there's been this wonderful sight that has been raising my hormone levels whenever I go to drop my sister in college. Naah, its not girls am talking about, I have grown out of it(pretens ion, nevermind!) Its the lush green paddy fields on the way. So I took a calculated risk, and ventured out with my bike, when the rain seemed shying away for while today afternoon... I took a deviation from the main road, and I wasn't disappointed at all. There was this narrow pot-holed road lined on either side with trees, and beyond them lay the vast expanse of green green paddy fields. ***click on the images to enlarge Two women were cutting grass to feed cattle. They would have made a pretty picture. I contemplated walking upto them and asking for a picture...

Friday: This was taken in office, on Friday, just after I got into the car, relieved to have pushed one more week aside. This is my office building, all drenched in rain. Looks beautiful doesn't it? If you are being subjective about it... Today: The rain is arresting today... quiet literally!I remember someone saying something about the rythmic beat of the rain... No its not the normal pace that you're talking about... the rythm of the rain, starting.... getting stronger, then waning out into a drizzle, then heavy showers accompanied by winds.. and then calm for a while... That rythm. I've been meaning to go out and try some shooting thi s weekend, but somehow, found myself confined to home again.. Another day perhaps... I have a few more weeks before I leave this place.. and the monsoon is just about getting into its groove..

Am back! Yeah back again. I wanted to make a series on the monsoon. Yes. m onsoon in Kerala. With pictures. Thats where the rub is... * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * It wasn't raining when I woke up. There was a queer silence around. I strolle d outside... Yes it had rained yesterday for sure. But I cant hear the toads anywhere.. Where have they all gone? Perhaps they've already found their mates. And don't want to be disturbed on a rainy morning, from their sleeps, from th e cozy comfort of having their loved one near.. Toads!! So here's one to start off... ***** click on the pictures to enlarge***** The 'chembila' as it is called. Used to double up as umbrellas for school-children caught unawares by a sudden drizzle without warning. That would make a great shot, if I could get one. This is the June- 2nd week moss. Very adolescent. Very soon, this guy...

Someone said yesterday, "You've thinned down a lot". I've been used to that for quite a while. While folks at home are on the verge of a collective nervous breakdown over the issue of my thinning down, friends and acquaintances put it in a more comforting clothing, by asking "How do you manage to stay in shape?" "Oh its no big deal, I just go on a 5 km jog near my home everyday, and once in two days I play tennis. When I dont play tennis, I visit the gym. I don't know swimming otherwise I'd have loved that too, and yeah, I dont even look at fried or fatty food!" Truth is, I do nothing. And I am a big fan of potato chips, dark chocolate and and late night movies, in reverse order. Which should be your one-buck-ticket to obesity. Yet people have managed to say I have thinned down every single time I see them without fail, no matter how frequently or rarely. Which is kinda unsettling, if not exactly worrying. Unsettling because, at this rate, ...

Life's all about moving on. Shedding the scales, and getting a new one. Well, easier said than done. Because, accept it, we all love our pasts. We would be happier if one day, we could just walk back to our house and find it as it was ten years ago, those days when you were spilling over with the excitement of having discovered something called"college". Your room would be adorned with posters of Gabriela Sabatini(remember her?) or a very boyish looking Sachin Tendulkar! You'll once again open and adore the new "action shoes" that you recently bought. You had just heard about Nike and Reebok then. You're discovering the first signs of real conflict with your parents, when you've just hung up after that call from a girl in class. "Oh come on! She's just a friend. You guys just dont understand". Its another matter that you secretly admire her and you, with a couple of close confidante friends are plotting big time to break it out to her o...