Hanging Alive

Things eventually fall into place and everything comes back to life. It's time to get going! You're hanging alive now :)

The 'Look'

"What's that look you're giving me?"
"Yes... you"
"Quit eyeballin' me, I'm serious"

The 'look' isn't necessarily hostile. It isn't necessarily friendly either.

The 'look' can mean a lot of things. Like that look your mom gives you when you're on the phone giving your jaw some intense exercise; That look your teacher gives you in class when she (finally :P) realizes you're sleeping with your eyes open.

The look you get when you do something right; The look you're given by someone you help out.

The raised-brow look. The squinty look. The wink. The crazy look. The "I'll-kill-you-if-you-say-another-word" look.

Each look can tell its own tale (with a word count of zero). So next time you get the 'look' from somebody, remember to give it some thought and ask yourself: Is there something more to it than meets the eye?

Maybe there is :)

The Ring

Tree/Wall/Leaf/Lamp Post,

Donut/Torus/Oval/Halo/Circle/Mobius Strip/Gray/White/Smoke/Wisp,

Ring. The Ring.

Aquacade

I watched them soar through the air, I stared at them while they played ball and I listened to the staccato of characteristic clicking sounds they made... Thinking of it now, the whole thing was quite a spectacle!

The dolphin aquacade :)

Solution Solution

When you see stagnant water you realize that sometimes, the solution is the problem.

Sometimes it's better to leave a problem unresolved. Sometimes it pays off.

Sometimes...

Fourk attack

I'll just wait for you to come,
I know that you're intentions aren't good
I don't really care, maybe I'm dumb,
No wonder I'm on your plate, I'm your food.

I'll just sit there watching myself disappear,
As mouthfuls of taste bud stimulus for you
Your fork is your weapon, a kind of rapier,
That takes me to where I get turned into goo.

You rip me apart, you can't hear me scream,
You have absolutely no idea how this feels
To not tell a soul, to patiently wait it out,
Gone forever by the end of your meal.

Better Be A Butterfly

Time changes everything. Including us.

Better adapt. Quick.

There are times you wish you could just float, fly and flutter away, like a butterfly. Then you realize that you're still a caterpillar. You still have quite some time to go before you can take flight. A cocoon should help you wait till the time comes.

Until then, good luck my friend.

Earth Has Rings

It's a small world after all :)

As the pic suggests, Africa is dusty, and the earth has rings. Two black, mutually perpendicular halos.

Undiscovered until today... Maybe I should name them after myself.

Now that's a thought!

Left Behind

Doing what's right will certainly get you going. But every once in a while we end up making a bad call. Those are the times we're left behind.

The title/pic is a bad pun, I know ;)

Leafy Green

Plants are one of the few things that really do show their true colors all the time. Apparently green. Different shades of green; Moss green, grass green, jungle green, light green, dark green so on and so forth. But there ARE differently-colored plants. We'll leave those plants and colors for another day. And so my point is that most plants are 'green' (For you budding physicists, yes, it's the same green used to denote one of the three colors of quark).

Looks pretty cool, doesn't it? Oh and by the way, green is clean.

You just might spot something somewhere in the second pic that has quite a bit to do with that last phrase.

Just so you know.

The Fire Inside

It burns. It glows. It illuminates. It also drips hot wax :P

Candlelit dinners. Power cuts. Nursery rhymes. Omnipotent candle indeed!

Anyway, I hope it lights my way. At least till the power's back ;)

Color-curve

Rainbows. Colorful curves that never fail to strike awe into the hearts of kids, at least in my opinion :)

These beautiful curves have always fascinated me... I used to get really excited whenever I got to see one on those rare occasions they actually did appear, although I vividly remember being left wondering why my self-framed rain + sun = rainbow equation didn't always hold good on quite a few occasions. It was one of the first times I observed that something was wrong with an equation. There have been an overwhelming number of such observations ever since :P (Thanks to physics, math and chemistry). Most of them a direct consequence of my silly mistakes. Hopefully I don't stop making these 'observations' for a long, long time :) I find them an indispensable part of how I learn :)

So then I realised there was an element of luck to all this. Luck that seemed so hard to come by on those days you wished you could see a rainbow, especially when the rain/sun combo was actually there! Now the modified equation was rain + sun + luck = rainbow. Luckily I got lucky a few times :) Like when I clicked this pic :D

Anyway, I guess I should start thinking about looking for the end of the rainbow now... So that I can find the leprechaun's (supposedly) hidden pot of gold ;) Maybe I'll get around to doing that sometime soon :P

A rainbow over New Jersey.

Urban Dominoes

Breathtaking view from the Sears Tower, Chicago.

Sprawling city meets the azure blue waters of lake Michigan. From 103 floors up, it wasn't a bad view! Not at all :D... and the horizon stretched on forever!

Seemingly flawless architecture. I wish I could giant size and try and knock down one of those buildings. Would that make all the other buildings fall down in succession? You know, like a chain reaction... Guess I'll never know :( They'd have to be urban dominoes for that to happen.

Sigh. I should probably stop reading superhero comics for now :P

Look, around the bend!

You've come to one of those unexpected twists in your tale; You can see the road ahead bend. Further down the road you can see something; Not too clearly, just a silhouette. But you definitely know there's something there.

At least you'll be prepared to come face to face with it in a while!

A dedication to my trusty camera, which forgets to focus properly sometimes :P

Moss-merized

Moss can grow in the most unexpected of places. It's managed to grow where a wall meets the floor. Dark, damp place. Moss paradise!

The lush, dark green canopy stretches out like a velvet carpet. So soft to touch... but beware! Press too hard and you'll get slime on your fingers. Ewww!

I noticed that there are two red things a little bit off the centre of the second pic. I can see something that resembles a red-eyed ninja monkey there. What can you see?

Stare at it for a while, you're bound to get moss-merized ;)

Salad Survival

Color. We all want color in our lives. At least I do! Waiting makes everything so dull and gray that after a while everything becomes boring and uninteresting. Until something brings back the color of course :) (This is whatever you're waiting for!) And invariably with color comes a feeling of freshness, so you'll be as good as new after that long wait!

Making this salad made me feel so much better :) So I guess I'll share the recipe.

Cucumber slices, Broccoli, Celery (chopped fine), Tomato slices, Lettuce, Jalapenos, Black olives (sliced), Hot pepper stuffed green olives, Gherkin slices, Sweet melon chunks, Pineapple chunks, Cottage cheese cubes, Lettuce, Ground cabbage, French salad dressing, Pesto alla genovese sauce.

Just toss everything around lightly and drain BEFORE adding the sauces. Put away in the refrigerator for ~3 hours.

This stuff tastes good with Penne. Prepare the pasta as usual but after straining it wash in cold/ running water and then set aside in the fridge till it gets cold. This removes the starch and makes the pasta less sticky and more salad-friendly :)

Then just chomp-crunch chomp-crunch munch-munch.

PS : This salad came into existence as a result of one of my many random kitchen experiments.

DISCLAIMER: I am in no way responsible for anything that occurs as a consequence of ingesting the above mentioned culinary creation.

Shadow Hunters

The hot African sun beats down on them. Paying no heed to it, they trudge on through the bush. Their day is made, they have their prize catch. An Antelope. They'll reach home just in time to let the women cook the meat in time for their next meal. They are the shadow hunters.

These guys don't have to worry about RUF or Janjaweed en route. They're part of the Africa that was meant to be, sans rebels, sans war, sans conflict diamonds, sans poverty.

History is littered with instances where something shows so much promise but doesn't follow through.

A dedication to Blood Diamond, a movie that opened my eyes to things I never knew about.

PS : It's a tile bas-relief. Quoting Wikipedia;

"Bas-relief ('bah relief') is where the overall depth of a projecting image is shallow. The background is compressed to such an extent it may be flat, as on coins."

Yellow Brick Road

All roads lead to Rome; Maybe they do! But the routes are always different in most cases. Different for you, different for me, different for some other person and so on. After all the path we choose is a consequence of our choices in real life.

But I figure all these different paths constitute the ultimate road, one that everyone travels on no matter which path they choose; The path of life (I know it sounds corny :P).

This is the path I'd like to call our yellow brick road. Maze-like, intricate and made up of so many different grooves and right-angle turns. Just perfect to indicate choices, and even better to get yourself confused ;)

Wherever we go, however we go, may our paths cross again :)... Sometime, somewhere :)

A dedication to all my friends, and to The Wizard Of Oz, one of my childhood favorites.

Squashed

There are so many people
There's so much to do.
Time's precious and space is scarce
Unbelievable? Trust me, it's true.

Take Mr. Styrofoam for example
Round denizens of a white land.
What you see is a taste, a sample
Of a place where everything seems so unplanned.

Everyone's waiting for their chance to shine
Everyone seems so close together.
They're all standing, standing in line
Bumped into, stepped on, squashed. Forever.

Hanging Dead

When the ball isn't in your court, there's not much you can do to force the pace at which things happen. In fact you can't do anything but wait. Wait, wait and wait some more till something gives.

Things are hanging in the balance, and your existence is of no relevance.

You're essentially hanging dead. Dead as far as how everything turns out is concerned.
But don't lose hope... Ever. Make sure you hang around long enough.

A dedication to every single person who has felt the same way.

Splash!

These pics just go to show that you can freeze time. All it takes is a click, a simple press of a button (after all the zooming and focusing is done of course)... It's that easy.

Falling raindrops and splashes in progress :) Next time you take a pic, tell anyone who asks you're freezing time. It sounds so much cooler :)

A dedication to technology, which is an integral part of almost everything today.

PS : The dark shadows in the first image are all raindrops.

White Beauty Dark

White chocolate. Or albino chocolate, as I call it.

Come on take a piece, and if you're not too shy, a chunk! Bite into it. Twirl your tongue around it. Sniff at the warm chocolate smell as it wafts into your nose. Luscious. Swallow as the chocolate melts; Sweet, white, gooey goodness... Feels heavenly doesn't it? I think it does :)

A dedication to chocolate and chocolate lovers alike; Half the pic to those who love it white, the other half to those who prefer it dark and the whole pic to the ones who enjoy chocolate irrespective of its color.

Also dedicated to the Mesoamerican people for first making xocolat, as they called it.

Rain Mosaic

I guess random things can turn out to be real pretty... Like this pic, for instance :)

The water and the ripples, highlighted by the flash... Refreshingly fresh. Seemingly alive. Glistening mosaic revealed.

A dedication to all the things that are there to be noticed but aren't because no one looks hard enough.

PS : Click on the pic to get a view that might just quench your thirst :D

It All Stacks Up

Everything you put aside for later keeps piling up; One day you finally decide to take a look at this pile and realise, much to your dismay, how much you've not done... Everything can wait, but you panic, your mind starts looking for reasons to worry and your heart starts to race. Panic. Unnecessary, and uncalled for.

But you find this little realisation doesn't change the fact that new things keep cropping up even one tiny bit. So you've to deal with the new stuff, plus you're panicking. That's when things start getting out of hand. You try to take on everything in one go; You can't do much with the stuff that's gone, the new stuff ends up half-done, and you start putting things randomly into your nice and ordered stack of things to do...

If you find yourself in the above situation, I wish you good luck... Hopefully things turn out well. It's all your fault; You see, it pays to realise that it all stacks up!

Retro Orange

Orange against green. The white light shining right at both... This description would most certainly fit the bill when the Netherlands football team makes its way out onto the turf for the quarterfinal clash against Russia :)

Their die-hard fans are in orange too :) That explains all the extra orange :)

Rooting for the Dutch all the way!... A dedication to Euro '08, Austria-Switzerland.

Deer, Oh Dear

Captivating beauty held captive... There's not much good you can do by freeing them, they've been tamed. They're used to being taken care of...

Warm, pettable, adorable, yet dependent. It's inexplicably sad :(

A dedication to all the animals meant to roam free that have ended up in cages and zoos.

Alone In The Dark

There are times when you're stranded in the dark like a lamp-post, and can see only about an arms length on all sides... You catch glimpses of things lurking in the shadows, but you can't investigate. You can't run either.

Scared, alone, helpless...

We all feel the same way at some point of life. All we can do is wait it out. Daybreak brings more than just light, it brings relief :)

However dark it may be, things are bound to change :) Rest assured, you're never left alone in the dark for too long :)

Jetlagged Neighbours

Their day starts when ours is just about to end. That's about when the lights come on, one by one, shockingly visible against a backdrop consisting entirely of their opposite :) Aids in the never-ending quest to expand the city skyline. The crane keeps lifting, the machines ramble on, the humming noise in the distance never ceases and the announcers voice occasionally booms out over everything else; All this goes on, least affected by the fact that everyone around has, in all probability, drifted off to some corner of dreamland already! A constellation of little balls of light in the distance that helps meet construction deadlines and gives workers their daily light exposure ;) Handy little balls of light indeed, they're quite an eyeful too :)

It's hard to believe there's so much going on when we're all fast asleep...

The construction yards next door, my jetlagged neighbours...

PS : Click on the pic to get a fuzzy full screen view. The arrows on the building to the left seem to be pointing at something... maybe a treasure chest? I guess it's more likely to be a toolbox! I should definitely keep my unusually active imagination under control :P

Heaven's Spotlight

Don't you wish in times of doubt for a moment, a moment during which everything suddenly becomes clear; uncertainty gives way to clarity; that moment, when the directions seem marked in color on the map of your life and all choices become so much more easier to make...

Every now and then the veil that keeps you in the dark gives way, and you see the light as it shines through; guiding you, bathing you in certainty and making you believe you know. Very enjoyable. This is the exact moment heaven's spotlight is shining right at you, and the stage is yours and yours alone! Don't forget to wave goodbye to those cloudy wisps of ignorance when you pass them by :)

White Screen Of Death

It's colorful face, once caught in a texting race,

Ended up winning after all

It's beautiful, ringing voice, heard over all noise,

Barely let me miss a call.

The color's gone now, I don't know how,

The blue back light is all that remains

Its face has gone the shade of the purest white snow,

This white screen of death causes much pain.

Sunshine Hardboil

Perseverance; the only word that comes to my mind when I look at this pic. 12 hour shifts of constant, relentless solar energy coming right at us from a big, hot yellow ball 93 million miles away. Everyday. Now that's definitely perseverance! Oh, stay out in the sun too long and you'll most probably be cooked alive resembling, to a large extent, KFC chicken, complete with crispy skin coat and some hardboiled soft tissue inside ;) This is sunshine hardboil, nature's microwave setting for summer, at its very best!

Gravity Defied?!

Clicked in the nick of time! Whew!. Just as our spherical orange friend was about to hit blue, hard ground. But think about it, could you figure out where Mr. Pong-ball is headed; Left? Right? Straight up? Look at the shadow, it might give you an idea! (Ofcourse I know where it's headed, I saw it in video mode :P). Do take a guess! :)...

PS: The light source is right above the table. This is for those who correctly point out shadow shape depends on the position of the light source :)

May The Loaf Be With You

The 'Light' Side of the Loaf

Of the many little things I could've noticed around my house, I couldn't help but noticing the crisp, oven-fresh french loaf lying around in the fridge. There it was, in pristine condition beneath its white wrapper, and as I ran my hands over its baker-etched grooves and glazed surface, I saw my camera!. A little voice rang inside my head (My little chef?!?) "If it's too good to be eaten, atleast keep it fresh in your memory!". What better way to do so than by clicking a pic?. (I'd have preferred to keep the actual thing fresh that long, though that would make it too good to be not eaten :P).

So the first pic was taken, and for some reason beyond my understanding, the flash shutter was stuck!... The pic was perfect, bringing out every fine detail of that gorgeous golden loaf. But without flash!, how could that happen? no no, it HAD to be redone!. This led to the second click, after taking the necessary measures to prevent another shutter stuck-er. Picture perfect again, this time with the glow reminescent of flash-illuminated pictures. As I shuttled back and forth between the two, a rather interesting thought passed my mind. Lighting and color differences galore!, one was the light side of the loaf, the other was its dark side!

The 'Dark' Side of the Loaf

I figured this thought of mine could be dismissed as a trick played by a mind saturated with Star Wars, but no!. Looking at the pics a while longer, they seemed analogous to the two sides of the same coin, or rather like the same thing viewed from different perspectives (or more suitably, viewed in a different light ;)). Quite a nice thing to ponder over if you think about it!. Especially with infinite time on your hands. Who knew bread could be this effective when it came to killing time?.

Just for you anxious readers who are thinking "Fine fine, light side, dark side. What happened to the loaf, the bread!?!". Well, unfortunately our loaf isn't loafing around any longer. It was just perfect with the soup we had for dinner. Guess it finally served its purpose served alongside the soup... Bon Appetit!

To wrap it up in typical Star Wars style; In times of hunger and boredom, may the 'loaf' be with you! :).

My 15'' Window To The Web

This is it, the place where all my blog posts come into existence, fresh from thought...quite cozy I must say (its been tidied up a bit for this first post ;)). I spend infinitely long stretches of time on that chair, a perfect perch to gaze into my 'window' of sorts!... Well with my trusty camera at hand, it's time to open this window...my instant imprints start here... Enjoy!.