Experiments with Light

So it has been exactly 25 days since I laid my hands on the new Nikon D3000 DSLR camera. The camera was a birthday gift for myself. So far the experience has been good, in fact I am already looking to accessorise it with additional lens and a Tripod.
The Camera as such is great, and definitely gives good photos as compared to the Samsung P and S I had before. I still am using the 18-55 Kit lens which came along with it and though I did feel a prime lens lacking howeever, its given good pictures.
So now a few days back I read about the night time photography in one of the tutorials on You Tube, and was dying to try out what they mentioned in the same. So this weekend when I was fidgetting around with the camera, I thought of putting it to the test. So with a Tripod borrowed from a friend, I set out to take a shot in the night, 20:30 was the time when I got this one, not exactly what I was looking for but close enough. The idea was mount the camera on the tripod, set the largest (smallest number) f stop and Slowest Shutter Speed. The location was from the Terrace, there were some cars on the road which were to give me the light streaks and the light from the many flats were to be the source of the side lights. The experiment began with a f stop of 3.5 at 18mm and 10 sec exposure, which kinda gave a dark image though you could still make out the lights and the glow in the bottom of the picture, but the trees werent so clear. The second was with F3.5, 18mm and 20 sec exposure. The result was well I would say nice, good lights, bottom glow and the trees also visible. The final attempt which I made was this one with F3.5 @ 18mm and a 25 Sec exposure, I wouldnt call it a perfect shot, but I loved the way it came out. The Trees like coming out a burning inferno, the Bright Glow at the bottom of the photo giving it a firey depth effect and nicely supported by the side lights from the Flats, even the sky looked as if Lit up by the fire burning below, all this without a flash :-)
Never thought 20:30 could have so much light !!

Raw Meat a Delicacy not to miss !!!

Rice Balls, covered with Nori,comes in pairs.. and different types Maki, Nigeri, Shasmi.. In case you are wondering what is it that I am talking about, then it is a heavenly experience called Sushi. Japs know how to make food exotic, or rather everything exotic that includes their trains, cars, hair styles and even houses.
It was a Sunday like no other, Having driven for the entire day at 120Km/Hr, had driven to Mysore and back with only 4 hours of sleep the previous night.. but more about that in the next account that i write. So what was I talking about? ah.. Yes the Sunday! So i came back from Mysore around 19:00 hours. So as they say the night was still young and even though I was tired I was up for a good party. So we had decided to go to the Oktober fest in Bangalore, where we had gone the previous night. KK did a good show, brought back nice memories about the songs, especially the "Yaroon" song was done well.
So while I was driving back i was co-ordinating with my friends about what the plans were we came up with 3 options one was to meet up at a friends place have a few drinks and then headout to Opus in the Creek, where we had Tatva playing chill and Talamaska playing full on dark Psy. The other was to go to palace grounds and attend the okotber fest again where Indian Oecan supposedly was to play, but there was also the talks going on about one member having a heart attack and going in a coma. The third was to meet at the same friends place have a few drinks and have dinner at this oriental restaurant named "Ginsen" in Royal Orchid on the Airport Road next to KGA.
We decided to go with the third plan and so after having a drink at my friends place we headed towards Ginsen. We started walking towards Geofery thinking the restaurant is near that, however a waiter there pointed out its on a different level and he actually escorted us to that place, which may be standard for a 5 star Hotel but for me it was definately among the top. The entrance for the place is very plain Jane with the remnants of what was a lunch buffet. No Usher to let us in, but i think there wasnt much rush as we had choice of tables. The interiors were nicely done i would say modern not overly oriental as is the case in many "authentic" oriental restaurants. The menu presented was more of chineese and Thai, with the other regional menus offered on request. We were interested in Burmeese but then that was not avaliable. We asked for the Sushi menu, it was decided after much deliberation to order a double platter which would have 24 pieces, 6 of Maki and 12 of Nigeri and 6 of Shasmi. The chef who assembled it ( I cant say cooked, coz Sushi is Raw meat) knew what he was doing slicing the fish placing it in the sheet of Nori, layering with sticky rice, and then rolling the whole thing. This was what was to be the Maki Sushi. Another variation was with crab meat instead of rice, that was a heavenly experience, with the taste of pungent wasabi and Soya sauce intermingling with the taste of crab giving it a slighlty other worldly flavour. The Best one we had though was the Nigeri Sushi, we ordered both the Tuna and the Salmon, best and second best respectively. This consists of a egg shaped rice ball, and a slice of Tuna or Salmon on it, you pick up the whole item and dip it in Soya sauce and get lost in the culinary experience. No talking or even dont listen to what others are saying that you miss the taste. The slice just melts in your mouth, the taste is simply out of this world, plus with INR 1200 for all this it was a steal. Now i am expectedly waiting for the next opportunity i get to eat Sushi.

I heard they serve awesome Sushi is ITC Maurya, Delhi !!!

How do you realise that what you have achieved over the year is of any significance to the organisation you have done it for? or is it that the achieving part of the year was very selfishly considered, How do you make some one understand that your achievement over the year was only what you do best at that time not necessarily overall. There have been times when these questions have plagued me. So much so that i have gone in a shell, not the shell which secludes you from the rest of the world, but the one which makes you wonder the significance of your actions.
The world is filled with very opinionated people, People from all the walks of life; young, old, powerful, week, man, woman, the people in power, people not in power, people who can make or break your life, people who really don't matter that much. All of these have a certain opinion about something, or rather everything. They know what to expect from something or someone. and are very rigid to change that.
We know that a any dogmatic opinion about an issue leads to very little or no development at all. not to mention the tremendous pressure we put upon the other person. Some one works hard, gives the best shot and achieves feats which are great for anyone let alone that individual, but we don't see people accepting it. Did he have some help? May be he was plain lucky. He possibly cannot do that. May be there is something missing here.
That person goes in a kind of a stigma, that its not possible for him to impress anyone, or rather prove himself. The question one should ask is how are you an effective leader when you form opinions so quickly and are then not ready to change them.
I guess the best way to tackle this is time. Time heals everything they say, well i would say time gives you maturity and with that maturity you understand that recognition comes in many forms not necessarily in the form of a pat on the back. Also achievements are as much personal as they are to prove something to others.

“Empty Brained”

The first Blog entry, I registered for this Blog quite some time ago, not really some time ago but a couple of months ago. The intention was to write something about something, anything and give an outlet to what I think about stuff. Also it was imperative that I do this on the internet as we get very less opportunities to express our views and opinions to people without them getting judgmental about what we say.
I mean I have had many such instances where I actually had an opinion which was contradictory to that of the group or the crowd if you will but I did not express that aloud, just because of the fear or rather to avoid the embarrassment of getting ridiculed by the gang. I mean how many times this has happened, when you are an ardent fan of…. Say Boy Zone or Back Street Boys but you don’t want to accept that as your friends like to Head Bang on Metal. (Not that I like Boy Zone or Back Street boys, I positively loathe Boy Zone and as far Back Street boys are concerned well… it beats me that they are a band)
Any who, the point is that I needed a place to put what I actually felt. As always and is the tradition things did not sail smoothly. I had the time but not the subject, and at times I had the subject but not the time. So I folded it and kept it in the box for time being, with the hope that I will get some time to finally write something.
Even now that I have these paragraphs ready and thoughts flowing I can’t stop wondering about what I will write more after this. I have always wondered, why do people write on the internet, I can somewhat understand about the famous personalities Writers, Actors, Politicians, Media Personalities even Academicians, Journalists, may be Doctors, that leaves “common man” well back to what I was talking about, I don’t know what it means to be a internet personality. What can a blog be used for…. social awareness, advertising, business development or just for using the bandwidth and space on the net. I choose the last option, the reason… come on seriously social awareness I don’t want to get involved it would be great if I am socially aware let alone make people aware about social issues, advertising.. hmm well may be post a resume, so that when someone searches you on the net, they get your resume and they contact you and you get the job. Business development……… hmm well now that sounds interesting I have information about myself online my ideas, views and basically my “Kundali” which can be used for that purpose. This again brings us to advertising.Well this is going nowhere… may be when I am a little more “empty brained” I might think of something sensible