Christmas celebrations at Amethyst

On a cool blue evening, as the moon watched from the sky, Deepak got into character on the amphi-theatre. As Deepak assumed his role and let the limelight sink in, the light to the amphitheater went off. Solution was immediate. The light that faces the pool shall face the amphitheatre now.The audience arrived in sweaters and numbers and early.6:30 was the announced time and people had already arrived by 6:15.Deepak addressed the house - Friends,Neighbors,Countrymen.Light had been taken care of.Now,Sound cried for attention.The mike would not behave.Did Deepak shy away from the theater and say - 'Sorry folks, there is some problem with the mike'.No he did not. He bypassed technology and addressed his friends loudly so that everyone could hear him and be part of this evening.
All this while, Santa Claus was sitting with his left ankle on the right knee forming the digit 4 in the reading room reading 'Rajastan Patrika' refining his perceptions on the way things are and the way things should be.For Rakesh, the path was clear. He was to leave the room , take a right and walk down into the crowd when the bells start ringing jingle jingle.
Shiju and Deva fumbled around with the amplifier and got the first dance song playing. Athulya and her friends Krithika and Prajakta added more meaning to the song , the amphitheater and the evening as they effortlessly and gracefully danced themselves into the song.Now, it was turn for the smart and dressed up boys to take the stage. First , they sang praise to the Lord followed by an energetic rendering of the jingle-bells.Now,it was the turn of the ladies of Amethyst to sing a christmas song. It was easy to make out how much practice had gone into the skit that came next , thanks to the able guidance of Sangeetha and Priya. Reminds one of the old school days which is where most of us would have last played a skit.
The stage itself was set up beautifully under the art direction of Clayton and Sanju who setup a beautiful crib. Christmas tree was also setup. Bobby was the in-charge for the illumination.
As the feel good increased in the crowd, Deepak announced the chief guest of the evening - none other than the Santa Claus himself. A group of reindeers were waiting near the beautiful green , dressed in blue and white eagerly looking forward to welcome Santa and waiting with apprehension and a little impatience for the moment to come.Time would not stop and the jingle bells CD would not play either. Santa decided to wave his hands to the crowd and walk himself down, albeit without having the jingle bells CD initiate his arrival. As the crowd of children brought in Santa uncle with love and hope , as the dressed-up club house watched the events unfold, jingle bells started ringing. Crowd waved and greeted Santa shouting.Festivity filled the air.Everyone was standing up now and the line between the stage and gallery was quickly fading . The entire amphitheater was now a stage to exhilaration as everyone's beloved Santa Uncle opened his trolley bag of chocolates. As snow fell , as crowds cheered, as children hovered around Santa, as everyone shouted, as Santa set the dance floor on fire , the stars smiled from the heavens.
Eyes had feasted the sights, ears had feasted the sounds, now it was time to feast the taste buds. Clayton served the highlight of the evening - homemade wine , Abhilash was distributing plum cake , Shiju and Girijesh distributed fruity and Sachin the eggless cake too. Meanwhile , kids were excitedly waiting for an opportunity to get themselves photographed with Santa. Hari , with tripod and all looked good and ready to give the press a run for the money. The ice had melted big time and one could see the same hand lead the wine to the mouth time and again.
I am not very sure whether there was as much excitement when India won the world cup.
Folks ,it is time for all of you to go back to your homes and wait for Santa.
So far, you just needed a stationary camera watching the amphitheater to feel the joy of the XMas celebrations at Amethyst. To take further pleasure , you would need to follow Santa as he pays personal visits to each of the Amethyst homes. Don't worry - you would also be accompanied with a nice carol group(Boby,Abhilash,Sanju,Preethy,Siji)that would make any Amethystian proud. A reindeer named Pranav had in the meanwhile turned himself too into a Santa , a Santa to match the eye level of the children at Amethyst.
Santa presented glittering wrapped gifts to children whose parents had paid Santa in advance. Nothing as beautiful as a beaming smile on a child who has just got a gift from a fable.As the night turned darker , as the sleep became heavier , children cried when Santa's calling bell cracked their sleep. Santa magic and chocolates quickly changed their mood and the children were smiling now, happy to receive Santa uncle.Santa also had a great time receiving chocolates/juice offered from various homes!Prasanth had brought chocolates from his recent trip to Germany which he distributed to the Santa group.
As the procession was progressing, Lakshmi,Siji,Susmitha,Shilpa and Bindu were sorting gifts for the yet-to-visit homes.Venu/Pratap was all the while with the group taking in pictures.As excited were the children at the chocolates , so excited were the parents for the moments. As parents collected memories, the efforts and the initiative of the organizers of the event , the hours of practice of the coral group, the dance group had paid off and as per financial analysts, the value of Amethyst property shot up by 3 percent during the event.
As we struggle with settling down in Atlanta from the last two months, Amethyst is the one thing that keeps calling us back. All the more so with grand events like this one!

First week in Atlanta

    Just to jot our experience so far in Atlanta.We arrived this Saturday and today is a thursday.Things have been improving - Yesterday, Jacob helped setup a VOIP call with Divya's parents back in India, two days earlier Brijesh had lended his office cell for me to call home , Tuesday, I had received my relocation allowance cheque and had opened my bank account and am no longer someone with neither a debit/credit card nor even a hundred dollars on me.And yes, joining the office on Monday was great as there were quite a few folks here whom I knew already and they did extend a warm welcome.The Induction session was also very friendly.

       On the work front, all my team-mates(Pramod,Sreekanth,Preethi,Debasmitha,Chaz) have been very cooperative and have been helping me setup my work environment.I have also to some extent started fulfilling my tasks.Had a call with India team as well and spoke with Anoop.I feel pretty comfortable on the work front as I am doing the same tasks as I had been doing in India.My daughter had been pretty ill initially but has been getting better consistently.Here again, my manager Mahesh has been very helpful and quickly linked me to Prashant who in turn had pro-actively mailed me the route map to the nearest doctor in case required.

        We are put up at residence Inn and this offers a complimentary breakfast and a happy hour early evening which translates as dinner.I have liked the number of options available at breakfast and have been trying my hand at everything.Looks like I have been challenging my digestion though and intend to mellow down a bit on the non-veg items. Divya has been preparing me chappathi lunches that I eat with Sandeep/Mahesh/Mouly at office.Residence Inn also offers cab to and from office which sort of dictates your day routine.You need to catch the cab at nine, so you have breakfast at 8:30 , you leave your room by 8:20 , iron your clothes , dress up Niya , wake up Niya , pack lunch for office , make chappathis for lunch , take your bath , wake up , sleep , setup a wakeup call.Then you have a day at office, you set a reminder for your return cab, reach room , dress up Niya for dinner , go to the breakout area for your early dinner , come back home by 730 , spend a couple of hours of unplanned time on tv/net/phone and go to sleep.

          Amit Kumar Panjiyar, my office mate has been kind enough to take me places while we do  not have a car.The first trip had been to the Indian store - Shivam to make good the rice that had been taken away at the airport.Unfortunately, that trip was done on a Monday when the shop is off.So we returned back to the farmer's market from where Divya chose her groceries while I carried a sleeping Niya.Amit was our first guest at our room.The next day, he again took me to the bank of america where I opened an account.Yesterday, we went again to the Indian store to get the rice and also to the Micro store to get a headphone with mike to call home.

       So that is how we have been surviving - things look better definitely from the first day we arrived here with the bother of our child's illness and the general haplessness.But yes, things need to improve a lot as well - we are not in the driver's seat yet. It was also good to have been able talk to quite a few friends here in the US - Jacob, David , Aslam and also Divya's cousin Sheebachechi/Prakashettan who have extended a very supportive hand , a hand that we might soon have have to hold :)

Onam 2011 Celebrations at Amethyst

Why does one see a good number of ladies outside their amethyst homes on the midnight of 18th Sep,2011?

Jagruti effortlessly accomodated various inputs as she drew the pookkalam design for the forth block,Divya held

the chalk to the string and drew the first major circle,Bindu was all bother as she tried to make sure that no mistakes were made.Two groups of ladies were at the conference hall burning midnight oil to separate out the petals for their respective teams.It was clear that tomorrow's pookkalam competition is far from a casual affair.

The next day(September 18th,2011), around 11 AM, My father told me : "I can see some men standing outside without their shirts on.Looks like the percussionists have arrived."As I walked towards the amphtitheatre , I heard the first beat.Chendakkar had started to perform.

The D-moment had arrived.Shared apprehension as the crowd numbers/ enthusiasm did not seem to have yet coupled

with the drum efforts.Just then Devarajan arrived with the Maveli.

Maveli looked grand.Hopes must have rose as the apprehension had disappeared.Now the drums became

meaningful as the Maveli sat grandly on the stage.Now there was a reasonable crowd too.Maveli led the crowd procession

to the pookkalam on the first block.First block reverberated the grandeur of the drum beats.Hours of tenor

and spirited determination from the ladies of first-second blocks had translated into a beautiful pookkalam.

Maveli-led procession then walked around the driveway.As I trickled through the crowd to take photos of Maveli,

it was very clear that the procession had indeed gained significantly in number from where the possibly baseless

earlier apprehension had seen.Prasanna embodied Maveli so fully that there were atleast a few surreal moments

where I felt like the real Maveli was indeed visiting Amethyst to see how his praja here is doing.Drum beats and chisels continued to shine as the procession reached the pookkalam on the forth block.

Now it was the turn of the forth block to become grand.Creativity in design and color from the

concerted group of ladies in the third-forth blocks had materialized in the pookkalam as shades of lilac and red

danced on your retina.The thick crowd, the outstanding percussion, the colorful pookkalam, the Maveli grandeur, the

traditionally dressed ladies,gents, the traditional look of the percussion group, everything - everything felt great.

Maveli now pulled the crowd like a pied piper into the open ground and rested himself in the shade of a tree

as the drummers entertained him with their enchanting performance.Once the procession had gathered completely

on to the ground, Girijesh gave a small address on the background of Onam.Following this, it was beautiful to

watch small faces brighten up as the generous Maveli distributed sweets to the children.

By this time,The percussionists had lost their stage.Again an apprehension hit.Can the momentum set by the

chenda group be regained in time before the crowd starts to dissolve?It was time now for a fifteen meter long rope

to answer that question.It gave the right answer over and over as men,women and children battled in best of threes

in the tug-of-war game.Everybody had fun.Good thorough fun.Maveli presented the winners for mens' round and ladies'

round with a whole plantain stem of bananas each where as the kids were presented with chocolates.Now came the time to announce the results of the neck-to-neck race for the pookkalam.Venu as judge presented his opinions and let Maveli announce the winners.The surprise of adjudging both teams as winners was an acceptable one to all - there would surely have been a lot of disappointment otherwise.An embruing controversy fizzled off..

Now, it was nearing the time for the feast.I went back to the hall to see that things were mostly in order except

for a shortage of chairs easily solved using chairs in the reading room and billiards room.The spacious conference hall

hosted around eighty people a time as they relished a traditional kerala-style feast.As the hall continued to go on to

host a total two hundred people,I went back home to play host to my visiting friend.

After dropping my friend, as I walked towards the clubhouse, looking for some remaining din from the event,I felt

that Amethyst had suddenly reduced itself to a super-luxury apartment complex with excellent amenities and lot

of space.

"Later towards the day, after long heart-to-heart conversations with Shiju and Devaraj, I realized that Amethyst

was no longer just a super-luxury apartment complex with excellent amenities and lot of space."

Valayar

Valayar 

 

Valayar trip

 

06/13/2004 - 06/19/2004

 

 

 

 

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Tuesday, June 15, 2004

Soon after Chettiar's marriage at Coimbatore , I left according to PJ's directions to Valayar.I stood at the bus steps and enjoyed the sights.I got down a step ahead at Valayar checkpost , had putt and banana.Time was 10:30.I was supposed to catch the train back at 11:30 to Coimbatore so that I can catch my train to Bangalore from Coimbatore.I decided to leave by bus or inquire about other trains.The train time happened to be 1:00 pm as told by the autoriksha driver who took me to the dam

There were butterflies all around the dam which I chased with my lens and took photographs of.These photos have been uploaded to imagestation with comments.The effort was so fullfilling that I started singing to myself as I walked through the jungle.Saw quite a few birds as well in a short span of two hours.

I had taken a round arc trip trp below the dam and reached the other side of the dam.Hardly half an hour to spare, I had miscalculated the time to get to the railway station ignoring the distance covered by the auto.L Subrahmayam was the name of the old guy who dropped me at the road in his Luna.I invited him for lunch but he said that he was going for a function from where he would be getting his lunch.He even took a detour to get me to the road.We shook hands and parted.

At the railway station , a railway employee befriedned me as he saw me intently chasing butterflies on the other platform with m zoom lens.That was another pleasant conversation.In the train , a boy sang Lajjavathi and entertained the crowd.While having chicken biriyani athe Coimbatore railway station , I saw the rest of my friends walking towards the Blore train.I followed them and presented the experience in full heart in the train.The passion I had felt for the butterflies was very innocent and beautiful.

Posted by cinish narayanan on 04:41 AM 

 

Sangam

Sangam 

Sangam Mekadatu and Chunchi falls

 

06/13/2004 - 06/19/2004

 

   

 

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Tuesday, June 15, 2004

Saturday(12/6/2004) :

The initial drag to the travel spanned nearly two hours.Around 1 0 clock , the biking in Kanakpura road had started.The road was quite deserted and I enjoyed the ride.We bought a pair of glasses on the way.Mithun , Lazar and Mondry were my companions.We stopped over at a military hotel on the way and had porotta and chicken/mutton.Rain started and I was very dearly neatly offered a jacket.The comaraderie was very good.I am more used to a calculated friendship than what I experienced with Lazar , Mithun and Mondry.I myself have both shades and am equally capable of both extremes.The heavy rain just increased my enthusiasm for riding.I looked quite filmy with the wet hair , jacket and big googles.The greenery that kept surprising us with it's innovations evoked ' o .. what a great place .. ' kind of reactions from me and Mondry(pillion rider) alike.We stopped over at Kanakpura to get some grub and a torch.

There were birds along the way as well that added to the charm.The goggles had killed not only the dust but also taken color away from the sceneries as I realised in time.we waited at some splendid spots and took snaps.We reached Sangam at around 6:00.A boy got in touch with us and helped us through the remaining stay at Sangam.There was a bus trip to Mekadatu from Sangam with college students.The college atmosphere evoked nostalgia and a feeling that life is passing by fast.Liked one homely girl in the crowd and enjoyed her smiles.Took some snaps at Mekadatu.Hope to see them good.The bus trip back was studded with a jamming session by Mondry's mouth organ and Mithun's voice.The college guys joined in.

Now , we were at our camping site with firewood at around 7:00 in the night.There were two helper boys - Srinivas and Chethan.Mithun and Lazar went with Srinivas to get naattukozhi(Country Chicken live) and other grub items.Chethan tended the campfire.The fire caught my attention.I started hovering around the fire with my lens trying various angles.I tried to strike a conversation with Mondry encouragin him into giving similar ideas.However , he who is working as a designer treated it more like a job.I took some snaps of the fire in bulb mode at times requesting Chethan to model.

Soon , the grub team was back.Mithun made bullseyes and stuffed them in buns.Chethan and Srinivas cleaned up the chicken and masalafied them.Mithun took two branches and ploughed it into the chicken.We took turns burning them in the fire.The bun-bullseyes kept us busy, rum in between.Soon the chicken was ready.The chicken was followed by bananas and goodday biscuits.Once the dinner was done , the drinks took more of a priority after which it was time for music.My contributions included well-sung Malayalam oldies like 'Karukaruththoru pennaanu ' , 'Alliambal kadavil' and others not to forget an enthusiastic rocking daffli(drum-like , held with one head and played by the other) session with self-composed beats.I felt honored by the attention and the enjoyment that I was able to give others.I had more of rum.Mithun and Lazar went to the river to lie down in the water.

Mondry asked me to put out the fire so that only the embers burn.I liked the suggestion.when the fire was totally out , the embers shone luke ruby mines.I took snaps.Before long , I felt quite drowsy after the heavy food and drinks and dosed off earlier than I had planned.

---- 

Sunday (13/6/2004)

Woke up early and tried to do some birding but the place was filled largely with mynahs.Tried waking others up but could not.so I biked alone for some time around the area looking for birds.At a hair pin bend , the bike did not climb as it was in third gear.In the hussle , I lost control and the bike , the camera and me fell.Felt jittery but moved on.Stopped at spots where bird calls were strong but was not particularly successful in photography.Took the ride back after nearly an hour.As the slopes were steep , I turned the bike off.The bike still sped at 50Kmph.Whenever the ride stopped due to anti-slope , I would try some birding.Eventually I was back at Sangam.Soon we were biking to the Chunchi falls.

The light pleasant green of the falls was welcome.The terrain was also interesting.I took quite a few snaps from the spot , the water falling diagonally from the left top corner of the frame to the right bottom corner , the fall and the splash and a few more.After nearly half an hour at the falls , we moved to the portion where swimming was permitted.

We had more of rum and toddy in the water.Played silly games with the 7-up two litre bottle that had the rum.the bottle floated in the water and we took our sips and passed around.Howmuchever we drank , the rum would not get over.River water was mixing in as we soon realised.Pressed the bottle down the water bed and released to watch the bottle jump unpredictably.Got a shellfish and ate it raw.Mithun and Lazar caught a fish in a towel.Played - who-can-hold-breath max game.I happened to win it.also the who-can-spit-farthest game which Mithun won.Quite drowsy, I tried another bird/butterfly session around the area.I reached a bluetiger habitat but did not take snaps as I already had one and the butterflies were not opening up well.I came back to the spot and tried to take snap of kingfishers one of which was rocksteady but too far and the other that flew off though not-that near.

The bike made complaining noises after the morning accident.Soon it died off amist the 45-50 Kmph ride back.The dope did have a strong effect as I rode adventurously.Once a sheep came and hit the bike but I stayed in control.Another piece of luck cam when a bike in front moved over to the middle of the road and waited for a long time ata gutter.I passed a fraction to the right of them and whooshed off.The ride was exciting because of the speed.Again we stopped over for grub.Before long I was at my Blore house happy about a good weekend.

Posted by cinish narayanan on 04:43 AM 

 

Sivanasamudram Talakkad

SivasamudramTalakadGloaterTrip 

Trip with gloaters group to Sivasamudram and Talakad

 

06/13/2004 - 06/19/2004

 

   

 

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Saturday, June 19, 2004

Friday - 3:30 Lakshya - Sanu and Aslam were here and we were waiting for Jacob to come over form Bombay - Lots of kaththi adi amidst TV watching - Jacob 

arrives - before long , the card session started - The carding went on till 6 on saturday morning after which I got switched off - At 8:30 , PravinS called 

me up and asked myself ,Binoy and Jacob to come over to his place.

Me being the only non-ECE(2000 batch) in the gloater group , felt a little out-of-place since it was natural to expect a few in the group mildly resentful 

about a non-ECE guy in the group.May be not.However , there were zero light jabs of the minimal that I had expected.I hanged on for some more time in the van while 

Sandeep was telling the love-stories of fellow gloaters and others were listening intently.the ambience was set up very fast.I personally with the 

others-can-always-think me a non ECE feeling lied low for some time.Before long , I was out of the pupa and an active participant in the trip.There were some 

digital photography sessions followed by Anthakshari.Quite a few of us liked to sing.I was a very important participant as well.I could sense an alikeness in 

the good feel that each of the singers were getting.The lyrics and the music were equally felt while the songs were being sung.Malayalam music and lyrics, 

quite impressive as they are added even more charm to our enthusiastic Anthakshari.I was totally off-guard while singing , trying to totally feel the mood of 

the song and sing it and not having a very measured approach.Mridul and Tiju had quite a good understanding of the lyrics.

The lunch distribution followed the anthakshari as the van had meanwhile reached Sivasamudram.Generally , I would come along last and have my 

food.Today , I played a morale role in the distribution , waited for others to get the food , was quite involved with the task at hand suggesting ways to do 

it.That felt good.I could see the usual me walking around as Narendran whom I gather to be a loner always minding his own business.The biriyani plus chicken 

was interspersed with some wisecracks that were well received to my joy.All along I had just been myself and it felt like I had clicked in well enough.That 

was great me being a non-ECE ;).Once we got down , there were three waterfalls to our left and a butterfly habitat to the right.Had a slight episode with 

the butterflies after which we walked down to the falls.Tried to capture some good snaps of the falls.Once we reached down , there was nothing interesting as 

I had seen enough water falls.So Job and me set out on our butterfly/birding session.We did manage to get some snaps.Noticed that Job had more enthusiasm 

than me.We were good partners all along helping each other with observation and photography.The observation details will be uploaded to the imagestation site 

as comments.This was another session of good human interaction .. hmm.

After spending roughly 2.5 hours at Sivasamudram , we moved to Talakkad.We had bought mangoes.For some time , one could see all gloaters munching 

mangoes.Tall trees by the side of a large waterbody with dry white-sand terrain.Walked through the trees for some time.There were some hanging 

branches.Mridul exhibited his tree-climbing skills to the entertainment of the crowd a few of which took photographs.Soon more followed.Rajesh tried to 

outsmart Mridul with his antics exposing himself to the danger of lungi-snatching.Sandeep took the ownership and the lungi while I took a snap.The hanging 

branches session was fun for all.

We walked back to the water.Tiju had impressive orange swimming trunks that got loud booos from the crowd.the rapport was good all over.Quite a few 

times , I have seen people who try to enjoy but are not able to do it as they are too shelled up.I have myself felt it many a time.Here , everything was just right.Job called me for a look around this habitat as well for birds and butterflies.This was a similar episode as in Sivasamudram with equal success and rapport.Job was quite committed to the cause.He was very eager to help me get good photographs as well and took good initiative towards that moving branches away from the view , insisting 

that I not take snap as it is not worth and the like.I was a little below-par with Job in the passion , the enthusiasm , the initiative and the 

comaraderie.For instance , once the birding was over , while waiting for the rest of the gang , Job suddenly slapped me hard on the back and shouted 'Raptor 

Raptor'Thankfully I did see the bird as I turned around shocked.

Soon the saner ones joined.We had a tea session.I explained the SLR focussing technique to Kalyan , Pravin etc to their delight(the joy of discovery).The next stop was 

unanticipated.This was a holy temple that had got buried in sand.A kannada guide explained the stories of each of the around seven temples that we walked 

to.Though most of us were complaining during the walk , I thoguht it was enjoyable on-the-whole in terms of the paras that are inevitable in such a 

gatherng.This was something to remember about.Job showed us an owlet which he had been seeking all aong.

The trip back was generally quiter with just a few of us playing anthakshari.Again I was tring to capture the mood of the song and sing accordingly 

with little concern for the vocal tones.This was acceptable and that was really good.It showed that all were singing with their heart in the song.The game 

stopped when the songs and the energies dried up parallelly.The dinner was at Ravi's kitchen with an IAS related discussion anchored by Raghu followed by a 

palmistry session back at STBed(Sandeep's house).I was the palmist and I could see that most of us were susceptible to palmistry.After another brief kaththi 

adi with Jojish followed by card session , I left back home with a very contented heart.

Posted by cinish narayanan on 10:22 PM 

 

2004July2ndKochiBirdBFly

2004July2ndKochiBirdBFly 

2004July2ndKochiBirdBFly

 

07/18/2004 - 07/24/2004

 

   

 

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Tuesday, July 20, 2004

There was an Indian robin just outside the master bedroom.I took my 300mm lens and poked it out of the window.My hands were shaking as I tried zooming and focussing through the grid grill.I sat on the floor first and later sat on a pillow to adjust height.Took the snaps of the robin and the sunbird that came as a lucky break.Later during the day , I stalked the robin through the compound.I got approximately 5 feet from it and got a few more snaps as well.Then there was the bird with the long curved beak that sat on the plantain five feet from the lens.Through the plantain leaves , I focussed on the spot where the bird had just flown off from.It came back another time and got captured.That was another lucky break.Then I chased butterflies through the compound to no avail.The neighborhood house sported a very smooth neat black mormon like butterfly that made it's place neatly into the roll.

Then there were the snaps I took from the park near shopping complex.There was a dragonfly(black and white - quite elegant) and a small ash-brown butterfly.As a disappointed me walked out of the park , I wass greeted by the sight of a jezbel which I followed to no avail.I walked on and sat at the park near the LIG border.There were birds but none could be photographed.Further down , I reached the park opposite Iraq aunty's house.After so much hard work with butterflies , I had decided that dragonflies are a much easier target.However a dragonfly family mocked me as I walked around in circles trying to get the perpendiclar angle.After nearly half an hour of effort , the rain called off the match.I walked back home.Saw a priniah emerge out of the trees from one LIG house and later a sunbird from another both of which were striking.However , I decided not to poke the lens into the compound.I walked on back to my house.

At the junction near my house , I saw another Jezbel.Again , I felt mocked with very few snaps in the roll and another chance passing by.As I was following the Jezbel , I noticed a sparrow at the soyus window.I took three snaps of it , the third was a lovely one occupying all of the sparrow and in perfect focus with ample time for judgement.An autodriver watched on without encouraging or discouraging.A gas distributor man smiled and encouraged.Pleasantly surprised , I returned the smile.After one good photo taken , I walked back through my street sweat forming in the afternoon sun , quite tired.I saw the gas man again and he asked ' Tharikida aano foto eduththathu ..".That was interesting.Jezbel was now there at my house as well as I walked the terrace hoping for chance birds.

I had gone with my parents to the marine drive where I took snaps as they were eager about having the snaps taken.I have not yet started having a strong enough interest in people photography yet.

Posted by cinish narayanan on 12:47 AM