Category: Personals

Happiness is….

Often, we say, we are happy, or that we are sad. The definitions vary as to what is happiness. There are a few which we all agree by, and then a few eccentric ones too.

To me, happiness, is a lot of things, and I ll try to name a few. Rather, let me show you what I mean.

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Happiness is, getting the view of a snow covered peak, while coming down from Tiger Hill, Darjeeling. The morning views from the viewpoint was obscured by clouds, and as we were returning towards Ghoom, the clouds cleared for just a bit, and we saw the peak.

 

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Happiness is, when you take a burst shot at the sun, to capture the sunrise, and instead of the photo everyone took, you take an unique one, which adds character to the photo. Here, it is at Tiger Hill, Darjeeling. As the sun came up, people clamored on to take the shot of the sun. I was on the other side, trying to capture the mountains, lucky and happy, that I got this.

 

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Happiness is, when you dream of how a shot would look, and then when you go to the spot, you actually manage to take the shot, just the way you wanted. Shot at the Darjeeling station. The diesel loco pulled in with the train, and the steam loco backed up to change tracks. I stood right in the middle, anticipating. I took three shots, and all three are spot on.

 

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Happiness is, having a cup of tea after a long tiring day. This is at Siliguri, West Bengal.

 

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Happiness is, when you manage to take a photo which is perfectly composed and has a lot of depth and character to it, and that it is pre mediated. This was shot at Varanasi, UP. I saw this fisherman start rowing into the river, and I ran up a flight of stairs to a vantage point. With the morning sun coming up, and the paddles ready for the next swipe, I took the shot.

 

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Happiness is, finding a playful pet. This here, is Blacky. With one floppy ear, she is a beauty and a very playful one. Though she isnt my pet, but, after an introduction, we were happy to be in each others company. I would scratch n cuddle her, and in return, she would give me poses for the shots. Fair deal.

 

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Happiness is, finding your old toys in perfect condition. Here are two of my oldest surviving toys. And, they still look awesome as ever.

 

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Happiness is, working carefully and obtaining a tough result correctly. Here what you see is a burning filament of a bulb. First, salvaging this from the bulb is a feat, and then, the burn lasts for approximately 2 seconds, and then getting the perfect shot, that makes me happy.

 

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Happiness is, meeting up with friends and catching up after a long time gap.

 

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Happiness is, creating trippy psychedelic photos out of almost nothing. This here, is smoke, used cleverly, thats all.

 

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Happiness is, have a dream come true. To be able to shoot the Ganga Arati at Varanasi had been a lifelong dream. To be able to capture a shot like this, is a very proper fulfillment of the dream.

 

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Happiness is, looking beyond the fence and moving on!

This is my take on happiness, and happiness deserves celebration too. Check the celebrations here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQ3uhnByS1k

 

All the photos are mine, and they have been sourced from these pages….I, II, III, IV, V, VI , VII, VIII and IX. Do check them too, if you please.
I told you what makes me happy, you tell me what makes you happy!
Cheers!!

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Rocky Road Ahead

It’s a well-known saying, when the going gets tough, the tough get going. But, like all the things which matter, it is way easier said than done! Read on, as I elaborate what I mean, and yeah, a rewarding photo awaits too! 🙂

For the ones, who are not very frequent over here, a little intro to me. I am a mechanical engineer, who served a 13 months stint in a famous multinational company and then quit the job. Am scheduled to join a management course soon in July, which will hopefully bring me closer to my original stream. Well, how is this relevant to my opening lines? It is, as this is where I say why and how I got enough motivation to put down the papers.

I ll begin by stating, my team, my manager, my company, as I ll always continue to refer to them until replaced, they were awesome people, no complaints at all. Yet, I quit. Some might say its peer pressure. Not the usual friends group peer, but the more intimate one. Let me elaborate, my father is Ph.D and HOD of a leading branch of one of the oldest engineering institutions in India, and is pretty well-known in the academic world by reputation. My mother, completed her Ph.D from the same university as my father, in a topic which has wide applications and use. And…then…I am a B.Tech, in an IT company. It may sound ridiculous, true, but it does add too.

Anyway, I was still swaying on my decisions, and then I met up with a couple of old school friends at Bangalore. It was more than just a catch up meet, as we were meeting after an interval of about 6 years. After the usual pleasantries, our conversation shifted towards career. We were all into IT sectors at that time, and surprisingly, we were already sure that by the time we turn 40-ish, we would not be able to continue in the sector. High hopes, eh!!
Alternate ideas came up, viable ones like business in photography and other startups, and off course a few fantastic ones like, save from now and go on world tours and all. It was all fun, but I did feel that deep down, we were actually right, that to survive here, we would need more tools, better degrees. I realized, where I was, and with the growth prospects, including potential shifts, I would fall short off my goal, and I wasnt ready to do that. So, off I went in favour of a better degree.

A light-hearted side also exists to this. A few days later we met up again, at the Phoenix Mall, and were browsing through Hamleys! Why, not sure, maybe reliving memories. We walked past the soft toys section. I picked up a teddy, it was pricey. We moved on to the LEGO sets, a bit more pricey. Then, we approached a toy remote operated helicopter, something I would like to get my kid on a birthday. We took a look at the price tag, and almost together we remarked, we need a better job.

When I look back, I feel, these small incidents actually led me to quit and become a student again. And, its my family and friends who stand by me, together, and give me the support to carry on.  It is going to be a rocky road, and I know for sure, thanks to them,  I am now tough enough to tough it out.

 

Here is a shot from the upcoming post of my trip to Darjeeling.

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Sunrise..through the prayer flags! – Tiger Hill

 

For a little more nudge, head over here

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Reset: Start a new life!

Do you feel sometimes, that this life, the one you have right now is somewhat dull, somewhat boring, and you would really want to have a reset button? I do! I mean, I did! What changed, what made me reconsider, read on! And…if you manage to read till the end, there’s a photo and a nice video waiting too 😉

Post my schooling and I had three paths open, Engineering, Medical and BA in English. For the B.A, I was interested, it was my second choice, with preference to Engineering or Medicals. I managed to clear the entrances for BDS, not MBBS, and I wasnt ready to drop a year, so I took up Mechanical Engineering. I became a Mechanical Engineer.
Now, in the 4th year, placements loomed, and I felt, so what it’s an IT company, it pays fine, it’s a multinational too, it ll be fun! So…off I went away from my stream and I became a software tester, working on Mainframe systems!

For the ones, who are not familiar, I ll give a simple explanation. I changed from tuning engines and welding in the college workshop, sweating and greasy, to a formal clad, sitting in an air-conditioned office and basically checking computer programs if they work fine or not. It felt like a complete U-turn from what I had learnt and dreamt of doing. Anyway, it was my job, and I had to do it properly. I learnt programming too and I daresay, was good at it. I knew my job, and I knew how to do it well enough.
I used to pull overtime on the days that demanded it, and surprisingly I loved it. I loved the hectic schedule, the way we would live for the Friday and Saturday nights, how we would hate the Sunday nights and Monday mornings, I loved it all. What I didn’t like was the documentation and at times the repetitive stuffs we would need to do.
Maybe I was still on the “new job” high, but after 13 months of zooming through the office on chairs with wheels, I was getting restless.

This was when I decided, I need to reset my life to some time back. To a time from where I could pursue my stream again and not deviate much from it. This was, 6 months from now. I gave up my job, appeared for higher degree exams and got through to a Post Grad program in Project Engineering Management. That ll keep me in touch with my areas, and let me grow too. So, if everything goes fine, 4 months from now, I ll be at Pune, becoming a student again. But, hey…GATE results are around the corner too right 🙂

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India win against Pakistan in ICC WC2015

Hope you don’t need a reset button in your life, and if you do, lets hope you find it soon enough!

Out with the old, in with the new!! Check this out!

Check the details right here

Cheers!!

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Optimism, Hope…Love

Hi all,

We blog for a reason, or rather a host of reasons! It might be a way of self promotion, self-realization or simply a place to let go. My posts generally are more inclined towards the stories through photos. But then, I came by a campaign to write about the moments that has given me hope, optimism for the future! So, here it is, a tiny part of the grand story I call, my life.

We start, like most stories do, with a happy relationship and promises of better future. Trust me when I say this, things really did look very bright then. Time flew by, and the relationship lost its sheen. Stress developed and the veneer of perfection cracked and the rust began to creep in. Yes, things turned bad. Misunderstandings, ego clashes, harsh words, we had them all, and ultimately, we snapped. Almost 5 years of relationship was lost. I had heard that a break up could be tough, but never imagined how much tough it actually is, till I got the first hand experience. It was as if I was stuck in a dark phase, nothing seemed to be cheerful. Life actually appeared bland, devoid of colour and spice. Call me dramatic, but that was exactly what I had felt. Trapped, bogged down…lost!

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It’s not as if I didn’t have friends to take my mind off the things. But, I always craved that tiny bit of “special” attention. Suggestions flowed in, the most common amongst  them being socialize. I tried that too, met up with some people, tried making new friends, they didn’t help much though. We all have that one friend who knows what exactly will solve the problem, this time, it wasnt a “what”, rather a “who”. This, certain “who” turned out to be junior of mine. A year junior academically, but, as I soon found out, it didn’t matter at all!
Introductions were made, and friend requests were sent away. It was fun because, here was a lady, who has no prior idea of who I was and vice versa too. So, it all depended on what we posed as. We chose to be honest. I liked her. Liked the way she would answer my questions, counter question at times with very valid points. It became a habit to chat with her, no calls yet, I didn’t have her number and didn’t have the courage to ask it too. I would wait patiently in the evening, for her status to have a tiny glowing green orb beside her name, and we would chat. We became friends, and I found out that she was an accomplished person. College topper, excellent artist, gifted with the pencil in sketching, a vivid dreamer, superb imaginations and I found her beautiful. She was pretty no doubt, plus, I repeat, she was beautiful. There was something in her smile that would make me smile in the darker days too and the twinkle in her eyes, simply spell-binding.
You may wonder, where’s the optimism or hope? Well, if you have read till now, you must know that I totally adore this lady. It was a call from her, on my birthday, the first call from her, that was my sign. During our first conversation, we talked about the creative things she does. She had a list, and I didn’t have much to say. I remember her saying “go creative,  you ll be happy”. Maybe I needed this push, or maybe I just needed her to give me the push. This was almost two years ago. Since then, I have picked up photography, followed by blogging, travelling solo, learning music and also a new language. She is still one of my best sources of inspiration and one of the parameters of my works is always, “Will she be impressed by this?” She is one of the closest friends I have and my photos bear her presence, and I feel that wont change in a long time to come. I still strive to impress her everyday. Now, we talk, chat, flirt, fight, love…care everyday!
I know you ll read this, so…here’s to you, You are simply amazing, and I owe you for making me shed my shell. Thanks 🙂

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That call, was my ray of hope filling me with optimism for the future! Yours may be different, yours may just be this (https://housing.com/lookup).

My photos have been sourced from here.

I ll sign off this post with a line from a movie I once watched….You tell me your story, and I ll tell you mine!
Lets share, lets care, lets grow together!!

Cheers!!

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