Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Capturing Spider

Oh! man it is so very difficult to capture the spider and its web. Auto Focus does not work on web, because of its tiny nature. Background is again very important as the wen threads can be very thin. This morning while walking in the park I noticed few webs which attracted me. I cut short my walking and went back home to get my camera to shoot them. Here are some trials. Please comment.

 

PS:

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Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Cotton works

In this post, I will try to explain cotton related items my mom does during festive season. We call it "Vastra", translated as clothing, which is offered to God during pooja. Next week we have Lord Ganesha and Godess Gowri pooja, which is very big festival all over India.

Step 1 - Loosen the cotton:

Raw Cotton contains lot of seeds and it will not be as feathery as shown below. It will be very dense. First step is to pull layers of cotton make it less dense.

 

You can see dense cotton and loosen cotton (on the plate) here ->

 

Step 2 - Creation of Threads

Above raw is converted as threads as shown below using hands and milk

Step 3 - Different Kinds

Different designs of threads are created using milk. Some of them will have bulb and flat as shown below.

 

 

Step 4 - Colorful decoration

Using Kumkum, the Vastra is decorated

Step 5 - All kinds

 

The round shaped flat structured vastra is specially made of "Ganapathi" and the bulb-flat design is offered to Godess Gowri.

Complete Album:

 

Monday, August 25, 2008

Trip to Chikmagalur

Event:

It was Dhruva's marriage on 22nd Aug 2008, Friday. He had invited almost all high school friends. We decided to attend his marriage.

Plan:

Initially MS, Srinand, Pasha, Harisha, Teju, Gautham and myself had plans to travel to Chikmagalur in 2 cars. But gradually Pasha, Harisha and Srinand dropped for various reasons. Finally MS, Gautham, Teju and myself decided to travel in my car and Srividya G and Sidda came in their car. We got up very early at 4 AM and started at around 5 AM from from MS place.

Trip:

It was very dark when we started and lot of traffic in Tumkur. Narrow road, less lighting and High beam from oncoming lorries made the driving very difficult after taking left from Tumkur road. We stopped Kamat Upachar for break fast and I drove till Hassan and then MS took over. The last stretch was driven by Gautham. We reached the marriage hall at around 10 AM. It was just before Muhurtham. Had break fast again at the marriage and took some rest.

 

Photography:

Gautham and I went for some good photography around the place. There was a lake near by and found some fauna for our cameras. You can watch all photos here ->

 

I loved this insect --

So sweet girl

And this boy was very quite

 

Gautham, MS and myself

 

Return Journey: 

Started back from there by around 5 PM and reached Bangalore by 11 PM. We felt air was little less in tyre but never found any place for air. So we drove very slow discussing on various topics. Stopped at a dabha near Nelamangala for dinner.

 

Photo Slide show:

 

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Thursday, August 21, 2008

My Photoblog

All, I have started by photoblog. Please visit the same and share your comments. Thanks

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Lalbhag Flower Show

My friend Gautham, a.k.a Tamma (NHS Class Mate), invited me to Lalbhag flower show yesterday for capturing some snaps. He has also newly bought a DSLR Canon EOD 400D (Digital Rebel XTi). But the timings did not match and he went in the morning and I went in the afternoon. Have a look at few of my snaps..

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I was gifted - Nikon D40

I was always fascinated about DSLRs. In all my trips, I used to watch DSLRs brought by co-tourists and was dreaming to own it some day. My dear Thimmi was always silent observer of this desire of mine and made a plan to buy one from the US with her brother Sunil's help. She surprised me last week by gifting Nikon D40 (Reviews) with a tripod. I was so amazed at that moment. Thanks a lot Thimmi. Now on, I fill my blog with all the shots from my D40.

Friday, August 15, 2008

NHS Trip - Madikeri

Story Continued from: NHS Off-Academic Trips -> NHS Trip - Pearl Valley -> NHS Trip - Yercaud

Trip to Madikeri was planned sometime in 1997-98. We were in 1st year Engineering, I think (Guys, please correct me if I am wrong).  Plan was to visit Madikeri, Bhagamandala, Tala Kaveri - Birth Place of River Kaveri, Abbey falls, Kushalanagar and back home. You can also read my recent story on Madikeri trip. I am trying to recollect all the fact in this story. I barely remember.

We were very fond of train journey and hence took train from Bangalore to Mysore and from there we went to Madikeri by Bus. We rented a dormitory and all of us stayed in one room.

The group was Srinand, Sudhindra, Myself, Naga, MS, Harisha and Gopi. (Left to right in the pic below)

We visited Raja Seat and enjoyed the evening. I still remember the late evening, it was raining cats and dogs and there was no power and I had brought candle and matches as per my father's suggestions which helped a lot to kill the evening. The rain was really deadly and we had never witnessed such rains in Bangalore.

Raja Seat:

Why Naga is staring MS like that???

 

 

See the "iStyle"

Abbey Falls:

Next Morning we started and visited Abbey falls. Enjoyed a lot. Now, getting down to the falls is prohibited as it is very dangerous. But at that time, we could get into water.. Naga was very afraid of water and never touched the water..

I am really surprised to see Srinand getting wet in water..

 

 

 

Chaddi.. Whats happening man ??

 

Abba! Look at the faces..

Bhagamandala - Talakaveri:

We also visited Bhagamandala, Talakaveri. Some snaps..

Bhagandeshwara Temple at Bhagamandala

 

Tala Kaveri.

Nisarga Dhama:

While returning back to Bangalore, we visited Nisarga Dhama near Kushalanagar.

 

 

Complete Album Slide Show:

 

Story Board:

Pearl Valley -> Yercuad -> Madikeri -> Chunchi Falls ->  Sangama - Mekedatu

Saturday, August 02, 2008

Review: Deception Point by Dan Brown

I was not a great reader. I had never finished any books completely. I don't remember what triggered me, I started reading this book with lot of dedication. I used to easily lose all the interest by the time I had finished half - that was my previous experiences. But now I have finished this book by Dan Brown, Deception Point. I am so happy that I am writing a review on this book.

Book is a scientific thriller. Dan Brown's other famous works are The Da Vinci Code, Angels and Demons, and Digital Fortress.

Book keeps you interested till the time the suspense of - The "controller" is revealed. Its a very good mixture of politics, scientific facts and very adventurous. The tweaks and turns are very good. But I think final part of the book is little boring. You feel frustrated towards end.

 

My next read is Winning, by Jack Welch - as per Sri's Recommendation

Friday, August 01, 2008

NHS Trip - Yercaud

Story Continued from: NHS Off-Academic Trips -> NHS Trip - Pearl Valley

This time it was decided that we go little far. We desperately wanted to go in train. We decided on Yercaud. But there was no train till Yercaud, which is a hill station. So we booked train till Salem and from there we went to Yercaud by bus. We took a dormitory. Enjoyed the whole trip. I still remember I lost my frizbee disk there.

Went boating, can see some snaps.. Also there are some view points, like Men's seat/ Women's seat. Trekked in the evening and enjoyed a lot. Team was (As I remember) MS, Harisha, Naga, Chaddi, Gopi, Tejaswi and Myself.

Boating at Yercaud:

You can see from left: Naga, Harisha, Chaddi, MS, Teju, Gopi and Myself

See this snap.. This is meee .. So funny.. yappa..

I am not very sure whether this was during Yercaud, some please correct me if I am wrong

Story Board:

Picasa Content

Pearl Valley -> Yercuad -> Chunchi Falls ->  Sangama - Mekedatu