Fascinating Brazil!

Earlier this year, I spent a week at Brazil. At Sao Paulo and then at Rio De Janerio, was able to visit lots of places and see the sights. Managed to pack a lot during this time and got a sense of the country, the people, the culture, their economy and more.
As a summation of this time, I could think of this work in progress sand castle on Copacabana Beach as a fitting metaphor. A country drenched in old world and contemporary charm, in the new economy and the erstwhile. Statuesque in its beauty and yet sand-castle-like fragile!

We only have what we give!

A quote from Isabel Allende came to my mind, when I read about Mark Zuckerberg announcing his decision to donate 99% of his FB shares to charity.
I put the quote on a tile that I photographed at Escardia Celeron at Rio De Janerio in Brazil earlier this year!

The beautiful dragon fly from Varca

When I first sighted this dragon fly, I thought it was a tiny butterfly or bird. After I shot a picture on my phone and it was only after I enlarged it that I realised it was a dragon fly

It was the first time I've seen a dragon fly flap its wings in such a wide arch. Or even move the wings way below the body when in a perched position. It was only after I was able to photograph one more closely (this time on my point and shoot) and with fully spread wings that I also noticed the unique angle of the front and rear wings. A third first is the coloured wings on a dragon fly! All of these first made this set of sightings special. Have you seen this before?

Listen...

I wish I'd learnt this much earlier in life. And it always surprises me how much of a difference this makes. It is amazing that so many of our default settings, like this one here, or say the speed at which we judge people, situations etc with so little information are so much of an issue. I often wonder where we pick up these defaults. Got any ideas?

First advance booking, now auction... the life and times of the HMT Janta watch

I distinctly remember a trip that I took with my father and sister more than thirty years ago. This was a visit to the local watch store where we paid an advance and booked an HMT Janta wrist watch for my sister, which would be then ordered and available a fortnight later!

Yes, you read that right, advance booking for a wrist watch! That too for a watch that was called 'Janta' (meaning 'mass' rather than anything connoting special or exclusive) That was the kind of draw that HMT watches had at that time.

It was a big event, a watch was a much sought after accessory, and at that time, almost a rite of passage (I remember getting my first watch when I was in the 8th or 9th standard in school - which was my fathers watch that was first handed down to my elder brother, then my second brother and spruced up with a new strap and buffing for the dial, had reached me)

More recently HMT was in the news again, because the company was closing doors. And a dear friend informed me of old HMT watches being auctioned on an online marketplace. It brought back the memory of the trip to the watch shop to book this same model, so I joined the bid and got one.

Here it is, with a Government yellow dial and devanagari fonts, plus an old world steel strap that I had bought separately years ago.

So at least for me, the legend of HMT Janta lives on, first with the advance booking and now with the auction!

Living on the edge

There's a lot of premium humans put to managing risk.  In nature's ecosystem these seem to be a normal way of life. Here's an insect (this one is like a flying ant) that was hopping from petal to petal on the flower very nonchalantly. This was a return trip it was doing after transporting some food.

I wondered whether it was the wings it had that gave it the extra courage or was it plain adaptability coming instinctively - imagine leaping from a moving petal to petal on a flower that is swinging with the swift breeze and you will get an idea of the degree of difficulty that I'm talking about, that the insect was managing with no apparent effort

It is visuals like this that make you think, that each one of us have a choice  - you can take challenges in your stride or feel overawed and get stressed out.

Yet another case where shooting pictures triggers interesting insights. The striking photo you get at the end of it is the bonus. Or is it the insight?

Snug as a bug in a ...bud

I was going through the set of pictures I took last morning when I saw this one- a set of tine pink flowers, barely three millimetres wide and extremely  pretty. In this picture I noticed what looked like a tiny bug. 

A closer look revealed a bug that was snugly ensconced in the bud that had flowered just moments ago. Very routinely, when you go through pictures taken at very close range, you notice things in the picture that you didn't while you took the photograph. This was one such happy surprise

Dew-drenched blades of grass

Just dew on plain old grass. But it makes for such a breathtaking picture. makes early morning walks worth it!

Eye to Eye

Back at Pawna for the New Year and the daily morning walks there, that have lots of interesting happenings. Like this chamelon who was out to catch some sun. Hoping to get a closer shot, I placed my camera on the ledge where it was perched, barely fifteen centimetres away and got this shot. the chameleon first played it cool and then swiftly zipped back into the thicket

Are the lion kings of Gir in this picture?

In the winter of 2012 we visited Gir and sighted a set of five siblings about two years old (here's the link to that post http://reach4sachin.blogspot.in/2013/06/siblings-in-sasan-gir.html)

Last week I read a report in the TOI which spoke of three sub-adult lions between three and four years of age who carried out a coup and dethroned the reigning lions- who were ten years old. Until recently only after crossing the age of five would a lion attempt to challenge a ruler. But the social fabric has changed. Now lions are challenging earlier, and in a group, till now there were reports of two lions ganging up to challenge the ruler. this is the first recorded group of three lions taking over a pride (here's the link to the article (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/3-lions-overthrow-2-kings-in-Gir-coup/articleshow/45542721.cms)

I couldn't but put two and two together and wonder whether the new kings were from the siblings we saw - there can be a chance because the article states that territory in question is right in the middle of the tourist area.

So people, show some respect, you could just be seeing a picture featuring the current rulers of Gir!

say hi, to ms tweety!

This is Tweety a livewire indie rescued stray, about two months old. She is being fostered by a friend, till she finds a permanent home.
Tweety was the first pup to be adopted in a recent Adaptation, but was returned a few days later - which meant that she was then part of the Hangover Adaptation (held a few days post the first event, especially for pets that get returned) It's a challenge, I'm told for indie strays to get adopted. If she was a lab pup they say, she would get adopted in a snap.
So, Tweety waits.
Here, she is at our place looking out of the window, inquisitively. Tweety has 3 year old Ceaser, for company and she is learning fast. She is already won a few hearts around the house and office -where
she goes everyday with our friend.

Here's a portrait of Tweety that I attempted on an app that allows you to render photos like an oil painting on canvas. I thought she looks stunning. What do you think?

Ganesha 2014

Till date, we had not painted eyes on the idol. Because it's a skilled task and also because it is critical to the final look. I have always felt that the idol should be a similarity of the lord, but you should leave some details to the viewers imagination. I would love to leave the idol just like this with minimal detail

We decided to take a shot and paint the eyes, make a detailed 'tilak' on the forehead, and here's how it turned out! 

Added attraction this year was the second idol, the 'Peshwa Ganapati' from the eCoexist range. One that Sona liked the moment she first saw it last year. 

We had a third idol too, made by our friends Priya & Sarvesh. Watch this space to see a picture of that too! We had another fun Chaturthi!

ganesha 2014 : first look

here is the first look of our ganesha this year. and this time the son is at home to make it, so the feeling is even better. we've used two colours of clay, red for the human body and the grey for the elephant head.
the final finish and painting is still pending
may gajanana bring us all joyous times this year!

okra production line at humgaon

experienced this fascinating production line of okra (lady finger/ bhindi) at humgaon, where we have a small patch of land.
the plant has grown up to about five feet in two months thanks to the good rainfall.  there were small yellow flowers on every branch and interesting bee/insect on almost all of them. the okra is a self pollinating plant (as different from a cross pollinating one) and has these yellow vibrant flowers. the bees drop in and help the pollination process.
saw this nature's very own busy production line and couldn't help being awestruck!
this is one picture of a bee that's just landed on a flower. alongside you can see a couple of baby okras  growing and a few buds that are also on the way!

run up to ganesh chaturthi 2014...

while we were making our idol last year, sona had taken some video on her iPad. subsequently we added some more from chaturthi day - plus some stills of shikhar making his ganesh idol (last year, college projects kept him away at pune, so I made one idol initially and then he made another once he was back) - here is the compilation put together by shikhar - as we are less than two months away from chaturthi this time

temporary sheds have already come up like a small rash across mumbai. these are the ones that are set up for finishing and selling ganesh idols for ganesh chaturthi, coming up this year on the 29th of august.

we're planning, like the past few years to make our own this year too. the plan is for a few of us to make our idols together one day and then colour them a fortnight later. should be very good fun, and i'm looking forward to it.

click on the ganesh chaturthi tag to see posts of previous years idols..

The blooming of a powder puff flower

We have all, in all probability seen this flower, popularly called the powder puff flower. As a kid, I've wondered how the bunch of stamens would look like in the bud form.
I recently got a chance to see this first hand and here is a look for you too.

If you notice in the right bottom of this picture you'll see a green bud, made of tiny green beads. Each of those grow and split open to reveal a single bunch of stamens, looking wonderful against the green of the beads.

This then opened up further to make more room for each of the stamens to bloom. At this stage each set of stamens is coiled into a form that loosely resembles a rose bud

In full bloom, there's room for each stamen to stand tall and here is when you see the powder puff in all its glory!

If you see minutely, each stamen too makes a pretty picture. More stamens, more chance for pollen and pollination. 

These wonderful flowers are in bloom from December till April every year. For the technically inclined, they are part of the Mimosaceae (Touch me not) family and the botanical name is Calliandra Haemacephala

Frisky stray, loved the camera.

Met this really handsome and frisky stray pup at Tungi. He was so inquisitive and interested in the camera that he actually managed to jump up and lick the lens!

The angle of the picture makes it very good for a screensaver for my mac, and that is where it has gone. Makes for a great start whenever I open my computer. If you're interested, drop me a line and I will send you the visual in the screensaver specs.

Magnificent chameleons of Tungi

I find chameleons as yucky and repulsive as the next person. But in the last couple of days I sighted quiet a few of these at Tungi while on a holiday, and even appreciated some of their unique survival kit that nature has built-in for them. Anyone recognise which specific variety this is?

Standing tall and surveying the morning activity. Notice the scales, the mane and the bellows that they can puff up to add to the menacing look, if they sense any danger. They can even change their colour for communicating with other chameleons or for camouflage

This one swung to the lower branches the moment he sensed movement around. Notice how they can change the palette of their skin tone to match the surroundings. With the sunlight and the clouds around, it would be easy to blend into the background

This is what I meant when I said they have the ability to blend into the background. We have the gap in the rock for contrast in  this image, with only rocks all around, easy to miss this one.

This one was in a tree, far from the ground and the branches above. Sensing me five feet away, resulted in this change of colour. It was followed by an inflation of the bellows below the chin, but I was not able to capture that image

good morning grasshopper!

On my usual jaunt taking pictures of flowers early morning at Tambudki, Bardez at Goa, and I came across this tiny (less than 2 cm) grasshopper on this flower. While the colour makes it stand out, notice how the wings mimic a formations of a leaf!
I also thought the dabs of green, melon red and yellow made for a good colour palette. What do you think?
PS: Look carefully and you can also notice another bug, still getting out of slumber from inside a cozy flower.

Can you see it?

Do you remember the times you noticed a pattern in something that reminded you of something else? As a kid, staring at the sky suddenly noticing that the clouds at that precise time resembled a dog, or anything else? The similarity or dissimilarity in the two images is what fascinated you or made you chuckle. And was a subject of subsequent chats with friends, which would start with, 'you won't believe this..

A recent trip to Dimapur and an early morning walk, gave me just a similar moment. Here's a spider's web, that reminded me of a high rise building. Can you see it?