Madhubani

 

Ardhanaarishwar

Madhubani Painting

Created – Oct 09

Bangalore Through My Lens

Since I moved to Bangalore a little over a year ago, my weekends were spent at the usual hangouts - MG/Brigade, movie @ Lido, Commercial St. [ thanks to all the wedding shopping] and of course countless visits to Coffee day, corner house, pizza hut and brio. Brio @ Crossword is my personal favorite, but it' s sad that they closed the one @ Indira Ngr...leaves me craving for good pasta. Nevertheless, so last weekend I decided to do something different and ended up in Chickpet with a camera going Click click! ... herez B'lore thru my lens ...

Golden Beauties

Daily Dose of Blessings

Earning money - bead by bead

Destined Bakra Day

I get a call from a Bangalore landline number and I answer:
Voice: Am I speaking to Ms. Ruchita ?
Me: Yes
Voice: Ma'am, you have a ticket booking with Indian Airlines on dd-mm-yyyyy to travel from Bangalore to Mumbai on our flight IC xxx
Me: Yes
Voice: We are sorry to inform you but the flight has been rescheduled and the new departure time is 10 :30 pm
[Ok there we go...]
Me: Ten thirtyyyy !!
Voice: Yes Ma'am. Your flight has been postponed to 10:30 pm and will reach Mumbai only at 12:15 am.
Me: Okk...Is there any other flight that you can put me on ?
Voice: You can change to our afternoon flight at 4:00 pm.
[Aur meri chutti kya tu sanction karega]
Me: That is too early. Any other option?
Voice : No Ma'am. You can either take the afternoon flight which reaches at 6 pm .... [And get stuck in Mumbai traffic !!!!]
or take the rescheduled flight to reach at 12:15 am [ And Trust Indian Airlines' punctuality to make my parents wait endlessly till early morning]
Me: Ummm ...Okk..
Voice: If neither suits you, you can ask your agent to cancel the flight and you will get full refund.
[full refund ka achaar daalun !!]
-----
-----
And the conversation continues.
I look at the time on my computer screen - 7:30 pm, 1st April 2009.
[** Dimaag ki battii **]
[Ok...now please tell me that this is a prank!!]
Me: Ok ...I will reschedule if need be.
Voice: Ok.
[Huh !! OK ?? C'mon now tell me pleasseee ...prank prank !!]
Voice: Thank you Ma'am.
Me : Thank you :-((((((
And the phone disconnects.
No prank :-((
I am actually stuck with this rescheduled flight...
Didn't someone tell me how punctual IA was !! Fooled quite timely, I say.

SMS of the Day

‘Please note that discounted SMS rates will not be valid on 14th Feb 09. For more, sms 3Days to 222(Toll Free)’

That’s Airtel for you :-)

Nostalgia …

At times words just fail you and the inarticulate you takes over. The thought does not translate into meaningful words but leaves you with a smile on your face. Yeah :-)

I celebrated my 26th birthday last week and as I look back I remember those enumerable moments that are etched in my mind. Moments that I want to re-live.

As a toddler, I ran behind my elder sister and chased her wherever she went. Yes, she was the world to me. The lush green gardens of Anushaktinagar and a 5 year old chasing around her elder sister, wanting to be like her, trying to do all that her sister could! :-) :-)

Fast forward a few years and I see myself with 2 of my closest friends in the Primary school. I could do anything for them. I mean it. I would bad-mouth anyone who hurt them, Bully anyone who troubled them and happily give away my treasured belongings to them [and yeah, Only to them]. That was me then :-))). Happy in my tiny, little, secure world.

A few more years, and there I am sitting on the steps of RAIT, outside that Mechanics lab, chaapoing assignments, page by page, word by word, as we gossip about the latest happenings. Evenings were spent with the A-nagar gang - those long walks, the car races, Kareena Kapoor’s songs blasting in Angad’s car, I-Max experiences and so much more …

A lot has changed since then of course, like it does for everyone. I call my life Nomadic now …for I haven’t stayed in any one city for more than a year after my BE. Action packed, fast paced and constantly changing – like a stream of flowing water.

4 years, 4 different cities, across 2 continents. I wonder what is it that I will remember about this phase of life when I look back.

P.S – As I read this post again, I notice the similarity with one of my favorite scenes from the movie “Bluffmaster” :-)

Check out Boman Irani and Abhishek Bachchan -

Scotland of the East

Glimpses of my trip to Shillong this holiday season.

Wishing everyone a prosperous new year !


Enjoiiii …

Mumbai Attacks

What do you want?
And
How do you achieve it by these attacks?

Rendezvous with Bangalore – 4, November Rain!

Ok. This post is really about nothing in particular. It’s me unwinding after a crazy crazy week. Ah! What a week it has been. Quiet a juggling between home, office, some traveling and Oh! working till 3am. First time since I joined, I accepted a meeting notice for 2:30 AM…huff!!! Let’s not talk about it.

Amongst the better happenings – I did manage to steal away a few hours for myself to spend an evening @ Besant Nagar beach.Calm yet roaring, dark yet enlightening, quiet yet talking to me and engulfing yet making me feel the warmth of my own Mumbai! It’s amazing how nature makes you feel so minuscule and yet so much a part of it.

Back in Namma Banguluru [Yepp !! it means Our Bangalore, in Kannada – I am getting inducted you see] it was pouring all weekend long. Dark skies and winter evening – perfect for a hot bowl of soup and steaming sizzlers. And that’s exactly what I did – Thanx to K :-)We guys managed a lazy, relaxed dinner in a warm lille place in Indira Nagar.

BTW, in K’s words – Karan Johar has lost it! With his latest flick, KJ has yet again displayed his obsession with the acceptability of gays. And we wonder why the obsession…?

As for me, I am simply in love with all the songs of Dostana, very peppy, yet each one with a different flavor. My personal favorite – Jaane Kyun. There is something about this song, with its colloquial and casual lyrics, it really captures the reassurance that friends give you “TU hai to I’ll be alrite!” Anyways, I thought the movie was a good deal to spend a rainy winter evening and drool over John.

In the end, the weekend rains did what was much needed - shower my spirit and water my soul…err and my fuzzy lille head too :-S

Testing Testing

Testing …1.2.3 :)

Testing my Nokia for picture quality

&

Testing the new Windows live Writer Beta!

If dreams were made out of stone

If dreams were made out of stone, it would be Hampi. There could not be a more apt description for a place so beautiful. A complete world in itself, Hampi is worth a visit.

Ok, so I’ve been prompted by my Dad’s e-mails to really put down this travelogue. His regular e-mails describing various trips inter-twined with his philosophical sways have been a source of inspiration for me. Nevertheless, given my limited capabilities to provide lucid travel accounts, I am going to count on pictures to help me.

Who – TCS Gang
Where – Hampi via Chitradurg
When – Diwali weekend

What one must carry - Loads of time, stamina and spare memory cards and batteries for your camera

Day 1: Chitradurg to Hampi and sightseeing

Early morning @ Chitradurg

Chitradurg to Hampi :-) No. We were not in this bus :-)
Reminded me of a clip from Veer Zaara...



First halt in Hampi – Pattabhirama Temple, Photographers delight !



Sun and shade ...



Quiet proud of myself for having clicked this one :-)



They welcome us to their world... quiet literally!




One of the many magnificient pillars







Clicked this one when we are roaming around aimlessly ...

Queen's Bath - One of the more famous sites. Unfortunately it is in a pretty sad state. Thanks to all the graffiti!

Posing around :-)

After having posed, she asked me to show the preview of the snap ...Yeah ! Way to Go :-)

Entrance of Underground SHiva temple

Ok. Group posing this time !

Elephants' stables

Captured this stunning piece @ Royal Enclosure

Few more of the Royal Enclosure

Day 2: We decided to view the sunrise from Mathanga hills. Mathanga hills are supposed to be the one where SUgreev took refuge.

Ya got up at 4 A.M and trekked up the rocky hill. All we were equipped with was one single torch amongst 5 people. In the dark we could hardly see what we were treading. A little below the topmost point we were accousted by a group of monkeys. But little did we realise we were invading their territorry.

The top of the hill was a small temple. Again it had only the pedestals and missing idols - as is the case with many temples in Hampi.

Clicked this one through one of the columns -

Changing colours in the sky -
As the sun spread orange across the palette

Shiv found some company as we waited for the sunrise. Later we realised the hill had loads of such oversized centipides

Few more as we wait for the sun ...

Finally ...

Yea...that is the height we were sitting at. Got to see some interesting structures from the top-

And then we were attacked by a group of monkeys, whose territory we had encroached ...

Rubaroo roshni ....

Time to give back :-)

The black faced monkey .... remember those from Ramayan ? Btw, check out his eyes-

After a sumptuous breakfast we walked around the vibrant and colorful Hampi bazaar -

Virupaksha temple @ the end of the bazaar -

Some more experiment with the sun and light

One of my favourites. Clicked @ Ganesha temple of course :-)

Some more ruins ...

Ok, this one is just for the gags :-) Check out our poses ;-)

This is what we were really trying to do - Rock on pose :P

Quiet a sight ...

One of the few Gopurams we saw that were not destroyed by the Moughals. Most others we saw had beheaded figures.

The famous Stone chariot @ Vithalla temple. The chariot originally had horses [made in stone ofcourse :-)], which were destroyed and have now been replaced by elephants [not visible in the picture]

Swayam Shri Ram aur bhakt Hanuman :-)

These school going kids earn some money for themselves on Saturday's and Sundays

Temple opposite to Sugreev's cave. You would be surprised to know that Sugreev's cave was the only place we saw which actually had a pujari.

@ the entrance of the watch tower -

Top of watch tower -

A little before sunset. Clicked @ Hazarram temple

The external walls of Hazarram temple, all depict various scenes from Ramayan.

Outside Diwan-e-Aam

Love is in the air :-) Models - Sheetal and Sachin;

Candid picture

Hahahaha. No comments :-)

The sacred bath -

Atop a platform where the king sat and watched various celebrations :-)

Day 3: Return to Bangalore

Visit to Tungabhadra dam on our way back -

Sunset @ Chitradurg-

Ok. This post is No where close to my Dad's e-mails . This can only be a photoblog. No more.