Pashunz

Quick Illustration

2010-07-09T11:56:00.001-07:00

A pencil rendering followed by another in ink with some water over it for effects. The sketch just happened as I started scribbling randomly for some artistic relief.. Some reflection of stuff I have been reading lately on feminism.

Pre-monsoon landscape

2009-06-20T09:18:00.001-07:00

Straight from the drawing board... Kshitij, the garden behind Convo, IITB. Thanks to RANG for an awesome water painting workshop!

Coorg pics..

2009-05-14T05:39:00.000-07:00

Landscape in watercolours

2009-04-04T06:29:00.000-07:00

Landscape in watercolours, a medium that i like the most and also find the most trickiest.

The idea is not entirely mine, have refered to another image to make this. Most difficult part was painting the tower, using colours along the hard geometrical edges. One can see that the edges didnt come out very appealing, nonetheless i am quite happy with the final outcome. The vegetation at the bottom looks pretty.

Snap !!

2009-01-02T10:14:00.000-08:00

First few attempts at using my SLR.

Awesome twosome... These are a species of Marigold and the best close-up i could get given the windy day and the exhaustion that set in after a long trek, these are from a plantation of flowers somewhere (narayanpur) around pune where we went to trek up to the Purandar fort.

Awesome twosome.V2 These kids got pumped up seeing the cam and were happily pumping the water though their containers were already full.

Green goblins: The view from the top is always the best. Most exciting part of this trek was that as it was winters, there were pockets in the mountain which were degrees lowers than their surroundings in temperature, navigating through those was a relief.

I stand alone: This was a wiltering twig, a very small one growing besides a hard rock. Dry, weary but stubborn.

Bryopyllum: This is the bryophyllum plant at my home. Extra gyan: this plant reproduces through buds that grow on its leaf, pluck a leaf and bury it in your notebook and you will see roots sprouting though the edges of the leaf.

My Niece and Nephew :)

Water Colors :)

2008-12-15T13:22:00.000-08:00

This one is original, result of a sprained ankle and water colors bought long back.

As usual tried to make something which would not take long. Bored by black and other dull shades tried something very warm here . Have adjusted the brightness and contrast a bit which resulted in the pixelated effect.

Finally !!

2008-12-08T04:07:00.000-08:00

Finally... i sketched something after long... i prefer fast strokes and this was the best way to vent out (no puns!)

Manikgadh

2008-09-24T10:14:00.002-07:00

Relief after long...

Ganpatipule !!

2008-02-04T05:50:00.001-08:00

A place where tranquility, nature and veneration blend in an entrancing unity. This was an amazing retreat after the hustle-bustle of the first phase of the placement season.

The place has everything to offer from a serene beach with white sand, crystal clear water and magnificent surroundings to a beautiful temple which make it an ideal place for a much deserved escapade. There are other places of interest close by like Velneshwar and some forts dating back to the Shivaji era.

This trip resulted from series of events where the entire contingent for the trip reduced from an expected 14 to an unexpected 4, well this worked to our advantage and it was finalized at 2 am that 4 of us leave at 4 am and possibly catch an early bus to Ratnagiri from Chembur and reach the place somehow, everything went as planned until we reached the bus stand only to find out that we could only find buses plying that far if we were to wait till evening. After lot of deliberations, we cabbed back to Dadar from Chembur with hopes of finding some private travel agent who could possibly turn the course of events in our favor. All in vain, we still don't find a single bus that would take us that far, still not losing hope we decide to rent a cab (luckily, there were just 4 of us !) for 2 days after careful calculations and hit the road ultimately.

The entire Konkan route is a pleasure to see and the luxury of of having a car at your disposal made the whole trip worth the initial pain :). The driver was another experience, he kept declaring amazing facts all along our way like he was driving on a National Highway for the first time, this was his first trip to such a far flung place as he just changed his job from being a driver for call center employees in the city to this and we were his first customers !!. The best part was when driving at 90kmph on the Western Ghats he tries to convince us that accidents are very common here and the first one which we just saw was just a glimpse of what lies ahead of us to be seen every 15 minutes and then came the revelations like he had been to jail thrice (once for attacking a person with a sword), that he has some real good contacts with "Bhais" just mentioning the names of whom would get us free meals along our way, more things are revealed like he lives close to kamathipura, had affairs with his teachers and ultimately while leaving us at the campus he leaves saying "mera number to aapke paas hai hi, agar aage kabhi kahin jana pade to seedhe bula lena"... phew !!!

All this and much more spiced up the entire trip and made the whole trip an experience in itself... following pics would help you taste the excitement a bit :)

The Ghats where accidents were too common, just that we were lucky to have an experienced driver with us !!

Evening glory!!.. and here comes our Luv ;)
This was the beach... boundless, indefinite and incomprehensible
This photographer dad, made some superb sand castles too.
This is how densely populated the beach looked...
Random early morning photography and some cricket !!
Naiveness... they were actually twins, just that the other one was not as enterprising
Tents and palms... The place where we made a stay for the night.
The Ganesh Temple..
"Concord" ... driving along the beach we saw this flock of sea gulls, something that was a pleasant surprise and totally different from things that we imagined we would possibly find on a beach ;)

Fly me high !! Gupta and Abhiroop... also my wallpaper

The place and its surroundings are a photographers delight, with a perfect amount of sunlight and angle the pics take a larger than life form with hardly any effort.
Do visit this place !!

Siddhagad

2007-12-30T10:12:00.000-08:00

Reach Kalyan early morning, buses ply to murbad every hour, from murbad reach the base village narivali by bus or local transport. The trek can be completed in a days time if started well in time.

Siddhagad is known for its rich forest and one can encounter rough terrain as you reach greater heights. The forested patches and paddy fields along the course are a pleasure to see. Locals are very helpful and it is advised to take one along as a guide (a small tip does the work) as the paths are confusing at certain points. A 2 hr ascent takes you to a village close to the top where one can refill water, take some rest and move on, the path leading to the top from here is quiet steep, rocky and takes you along the edges several times, being cautious would be helpful :).

One needs to cross a small stream along the patch which floods to great proportions and gets extremely swift at certain points if it rains heavily. A similar incident happened to us, one of my friends lost grip and got carried away in to a 10-12 ft deep ditch, thankfully he wasnt dragged further.
Snippets of the same:

Mahuli

2007-12-30T09:36:00.000-08:00

Come monsoons and the western ghats become more inviting than ever. Mahuli is just the right one as a starter with a flavour of all kinds to offer. An early local to asangaon from mumbai and a 10 minutes ride to the base village gets you going.
The trek as such is very easy and can be easily completed in a day. There is a water cistern at the top but its better to carry enough water along, also caves at the top could provide a good stay for an overnight trek. One can also reach kalyan darwaja if equipped with proper rock climbing accessories.

Khandala beckons

2007-12-30T08:56:00.000-08:00

If planning to get there from mumbai, its better to take Sinhagad express early morning around 5ish which takes you through khandala. A small walk towards the Khopoli water electricity centre gives way to a rocky patch in to the hill, follow it to reach the Duke's nose commonly known as "Nagphani" in the local tongue.

There are two patches to the top, one involves steep rock climbs which just grazes the projection. This patch offers an overwhelming view of the terrain and rains accompanied by gusty winds make the climb interesting with droplets constantly bombarding your face. The other patch is more of a walk and can help you reach the top with lot more comfort, nonetheless its a huge compromise for adventure lovers and could be rather used during the descent. Reach the top to find a shiv mandir and if you are lucky enough some prasad could be awaiting you.

Bushy dam was a huge disappointment, highly commercialized and crowded it wasn't a spot I would prefer giving another visit.

Uphill task !!

2007-06-24T14:48:00.000-07:00

Some pics from a recent trek to Mahuli in the Western Ghats famous as the highest point in the Thane district and for the "Kalyan Darwaza" which we couldn't visit unfortunately.
Its still the same day I wrote the last blog and i am very much in a mood of not going too long with sentences and descriptions :P... let the pics again speak for themselves !!!

Shire ??

... awesome twosome ;)

... once I thought I was the youngest in my class and then i met my DDP partner :D

Comrades !!!

... smile please :) ... one of my few tries at close up pics which didnt get bad really !!

Survival Instincts.... if the resolution were 10 times better one could easily spot a few tadpoles and water skaters in there :).. they were friendly and cooperative.

Budding blossoms: Not a bad try at all :D.

Lets end it here... i am a bit narcissist at times.. rest of the time i edit :D

....adios !!

Wanderlust !!

2007-06-24T14:14:00.000-07:00

Random city roaming .... i am not in a mood of penning everything down, let the pics speak for themselves.

Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus

Navy Colony, Colaba

Afghan Church, Colaba - a must see !!!

... though we werent lucky enough...

The "Leopold's of Shantaram" !!

Tenny the model !!... some place at Nariman point

The NCPA...

ye hai bambai meri jaan :)

Marine lines.. tenny poses yet again !!

The Taj siblings

and... the footstop !!

- Ciaos

2007-01-15T13:31:00.000-08:00

On the Prowl !!!
Not a recent encounter but a pretty old one around an year back. Was out with some friends at about 6 am for trying out some camera tricks with the rising sun from the hilltop and then was a plan to get down at the otherside into the forest patch to the vihar lake.
The photographs describe the events and the encounters better....

It all started with a sudden plan to go to the hilltop the next morning and decend on the otherside to the vihar lake(a prohibited place which makes it even more appealing). Those were the days when one could actually go to vihar unlike now when it has been separated completely from the IITB campus by a wired fence which even goes uphill and down again just to ensure that even the enthusiastic give up on the attempt ... well the panther menace could be the other reason :P ...

So, the other day we were all set at 5:30 am for the uphill and the subsequent lake side task with our cameras.... The following pics with little commentary would help appreciate the sequence of events that occured which we had never anticipated...

The morning sun (it's the moon actually !!!) was as beautiful as it could be ......

Just on the other side (the side opposite to IIT) is the stark contrast ... the skyscrapers of Hiranandani give way to this ground reality of most of the lives in mumbai.

During the descent we came across these small conical holes on the ground .... some pretty amazing creatures live here .... these cones house a species of ground spiders and the cone acts as a quick sand for any insect that gets trapped in it which the spider then feasts upon :).

The three stooges ... dhiru, susu and swati ...

The ultimate attraction .... something we werent really prepared for ..... the bodies werent pretty old and looking at the state of the carcass which had all the flesh stripped off anyone could guess this was the act of our regular visitors - the leopards from the Sanjay Gandhi National Park.
a few steps ahead we discover some more ....

Contemplating on whether to go ahead or retreat we decide to continue to the VIHAR .... with a forest covering all along the bank this place is heaven .... one needs to be there to appreciate ... glittering crystal clear water amidst the tranquilty of the enveloping woods.
my foot !!!

The pipes that supply water to bombay !!! ... they separate the IIT side from the forest patch ... its fun crossing by jumping over these pipes to reach the woods ...

the nursery behing hostel 3 on our way back to the institute ....

back again !!!
P.S: Thanks to vishnoi's camera .... may its soul rest in peace !!!

Nameless...

2007-01-11T01:26:00.000-08:00

nothing much to write actually .... just made it without much thinking to start with ....... scanned a sketch i made intially and then colored it ...... just went with the flow and here it is ...... gifted it to a friend ...

MI Comptt - Pixel Palette (Digital Art Finals)

2006-12-30T18:40:00.001-08:00

The event remained more or less the same with a task of making a CD cover for a music album.
Images used out of provided 56 pics:

The front part of the final graphic cover.

The back:

Merged:

Some monochromes of the same design.

I came first in the finals :D with this entry !!!
... siging off ... its already 7am after MI ended tonight ..

2006-12-25T21:02:00.000-08:00

MI Comptt - Pixel Palette (Digital Art Elims)

Given were the above landscape and the three close up pics we had to make something using the above ..... and this is what i ultimately came up with .....

2006-12-14T01:22:00.000-08:00

Padharo maro des !!!
Pics from a recent trip to Jaisalmer and Jodhpur in Rajasthan. I dont take credit for any of these pics .... just digitally modified some of the many pics people took.

....on the dunes near the border..

.... pakistani tank near ranaut (closest place to the border open for civilians)... Longewala - does it ring a bell !!

..... village where the movie border was shot.

..... the kids were really smart.... one of the very good schools(village arjuna, jaisalmer) ... It was a task to pick a few to talk to among the over responsive lot.

.... the people at whose place we had lunch at (village Arjuna) ..... had Dal Baati for the first time and awesome chhaas unlike ever before .... didnt realise i was putting on weight so fast .... didnt look in the mirror for a week nearly .... phew !!

......Desert in Bloom..... it just rained a lot this year as you can see ..... a nearby district also experienced floods.

...... The golden city of Jaisalmer as seen from the city fort.

....... toy time !!

.... rhymes well .... cyber : chai bar !!

... the Jodhpur Fort

.... chatar palace .... all thanks to rathi ... had an awesome time in jodhpur !!

.... the colorful people .... may be they wear such colors so that they can be spotted even from a far off distance in the sand easily .... both the colors are pretty contrasting .... this is no theory ...just came as a thought :P ...

.... the mighty Indira Gandhi Canal ...... though it did good to a great extent .... discovered some new facets..... for example it meant imposed agriculture for people who have been practising animal husbandry since ages.

....... innocence ... the girls were curiously looking in to the camera and us .... though just nomads ... these people treated us like kings ..... had the best chhaas and raw milk there ... there is something about indians :D.

...... the tribals.

..... this was the best part .... simply loved it :)

..... suzlon windmills ... just appreciate the sizes !!! ... and cenotaphs of the old maharajas.

..... a Paliwal house. As the locals say paliwals were wealthy brahmins who had benefited a lot from the silk route trade. They had around 80 to 100 villages with a population of around 300 to 400 people per village. A king once proposed to marry a paliwal girl but the proposal was put down by the villagers because of the caste barriers... the furious king gave a deadline of one night for the family to vacate his kingdom failing to which he would forcefully marry their daughter. Not just the single village but the entire community from different villages vacated the kingdom in just a night taking with them whatever they could and abandoning their immovable property. Till date there are incidents when people find jewels hidden in the walls of those houses that once belonged to this community and are now inhabited by the new immigrants.

..... a paliwal villlage around 400 to 500 years old

2006-11-16T06:05:00.000-08:00

Can we chat !!!

Admit or not but if you are reading this blog you probably are among one of those(us) who have evolved a virtual self of oneself in this Cyber Space. Dont we find it easy to communiticate in this virtual world than the real..... why is that we prefer messenger over meeting up personally ..... given that time and efforts are not always the constraints ... why is it more exciting to have chat with fake ids ... ones in which you also tend to manipulate your personal information about sex, age, race than generally speaking up with a stranger ..... how many strangers have to met for the first time and befriended without knowing much and is that figure comparable to your chat mates about whose real existence you are not even sure of!!!
So, how does it matter and does it make any difference... am I not still the same ??? .... this is probably the question that first irks in our minds .... well the answer is... to start with it really doesnt make much of a difference but slowly one tends to to potray oneself as what he thinks he should have been rather than what he actually is ... responses from a person on the cyberspace may be much contrasting to the real life.
Consider this situation in which a staid housewife and mother of three small children developed a cyberself that was into violent virtual sex and various forms of cyber pornography. She developed this cyberself over several months and she began to spend more and more time in cyberspace projecting as this licentious cyberself. Suddenly, last summer, her normal personality transitioned into this cyberspace personality, that she called "Linda". In front of her children and with her husband looking on in disbelief, she stripped naked and performed an obscene erotic dance. She needed to be institutionalized (from a web article).
Though not all reach such extremities but everyone(atleast I do) of us to some extent would agree that the behavioral patterns which we share on the web and in reality are different to some extent. People are most pretentious here and when a like situation is encountered, the virtual responses again would be quiet different than the real. Its more of what you would like to than what you actually are.
The anonymity of ones identity is the most potent tool that works both for and against you. "For" because it is potentially liberating and beneficial at times as people put aside their complexions as there is not much of worrying about ones identity and "Against" because you are not being true to yourself at times by potraying ideas which can be done only under the veil of anonymity.
Though this can lead to serious psychological problems it often leads from simple things like a lack of understanding concerning the proper way to develop, nurture and manage diverse cyberselves. Its more of self-understanding and self-acceptance.

Ever wondered having so many virtual friends and virtual messenger ids would have such implications about yourself !!!..... can we chat now ;) ??

2006-11-05T09:50:00.005-08:00

Simply impressive !!!
I had attempted an abstract long before... now read this... courtesy aneesha ..... surely my work stands no where in front of her description ..... i liked it so much that included it here.
Read this and then see the abstract :

Water, Air and Fire I

The three mothers of Universe – Water, Air and Fire, considered as the origin of the entire cosmos strikingly resembles woman’s persona. I have attempted to compare their traits one by one. This post is dedicated to water, the creator of Earth.

WATER

Just like the little rivulet, flows down the hillock, bubbling gaily,
The cherubic little girl in her surpasses the impeding pebbles, effortlessly,
As this coy brook shapes into a waterfall, with the sole aim to advance,
The woman in her rises up to face the circumstances that resists her stance,
Triumphing over the trials, as this torrent transforms into a gigantic ocean,
Powerful yet modest, boundless yet in limits, mighty yet full of compassion,
The mother in her assumes such astonishing contrasts with ardent passion.

Life begins in womb as the fluid shields the fetus, blood induces the spirit,
And milk nurtures the baby, all forms of water, revitalizing the teeny bit,
The perfectionist in her creates the flawless combination of beauty and brain,
And she delivers her elite creation, beating the limits of unbearable strain,
The graceful curves, the soulful serenity or the refreshing vivacity,
It’s a delight to admire their traits and get mesmerized in their beauty.

I wonder what God had in his mind, when he created woman,
Strikingly analogous to the aqueous spirit!

Here is the next one...Air...the space between heaven and earth...which gave birth to spirit.

AIR

Like the occasional gust of air that brushes against your tender cheeks,
With your eyes shut, as you let your soul get pampered to its peak;
She walks along leaving you mesmerized by her grace and lore,
The bracing breeze or her fleeting look, you are left longing for more.

As the zephyr quivers both the green and ripe leaves, impartially,
She makes a million hearts flutter as she paces past elegantly;
On a typical day, when you least expect something extraordinary,
When the sun shines bright and everything looks merry;
The breeze changes its direction and blows right through your terrace,
She enters your life and you wonder why God is so generous!

Like the breathe enters the flute pores to create melodic symphony,
She pervades your soul to transform your aura in to a mellow harmony;
Just when you get addicted to their enjoyable presence and vitalizing touch,
The tender breeze takes the form of devastating cyclone, wrecking thy life,
No rhyme or reason, she walks away breaking the bond of man and wife;
And you are left wondering why the hell then the breeze blew your way,
Merely to make you realize that, with woman and wind around,
Unpredictability is not far away!

.........Wasnt that awesome !!!

this was what i had tried sometime before .... i just felt both of them kinda gel together.... white is what is common to water, air and fire !!

2006-10-31T02:01:00.001-08:00

Manga Reloaded !!!

Here it comes again .... in brief i did it using fotoshop.... the sketch isnt entirely mine... i copied it from a site and then scanned and wrked on it..... the last blog on the same had to be deleted due to some problem with the blog ... also lost the comments :(

2006-09-17T15:19:00.001-07:00

Kalsubai Reloaded !!!
( a series of unexpected events)

This is my second posting on the mother of all treks to sahyadris, the last one being very brief was really not a justice to it so thought of giving it a second shot both by visiting it again and describing whether the green giant has changed or is still the same (fairy tale:P).
Out of options of Naneghat and Kalsubai to choose from it was obvious where to go as naneghat was visited just a month back.
I shall not get philosophical about the ghats anymore like earlier postings and come straight to the topic. We started at 4:00 am from IIT to board a train at kanjur .... though thought that a walk till railway station would be a good warm up but there were extra lucky people .... all of them having managed a rick. Train arrived as per time ...us having arrived at the station much before contrary to the IIT standards and there we were in the local with half the seats vacant(try and imagine one). We still managed floor near one of the doors... intros, PJs, dumbC and a game on checking pervert standards(courtesy:Sushrut) of ppl spiced the atmosphere. Kasara arrived in no time(2hrs) and we were there on the station with 2 more hours to go. Hired 2 jeeps for 20 ppl to the base village "bari". The base was a typical rural gaon with students going to school wearing gandhi topis and thus started the ascent to the seemingly unreachable heights.
Some of us were excessively prepared so had to compromise on bag weights ;) ... having covered a patch of the forest and little ascent started the first signs of "I guess this is what the top would also be like so i shall rest... so the rest should move". Little motivation from us(me and shintre during the ascent) was more than enough to overcome this intial lethargy and once having started there was no looking back.
Three dangling iron ladders and one chain with little rock climbing were good challenges and flavoured the ascent. Reaching the top one could find an old well and a small temple of "KALSUBAI" after whose name the peak is named.
The scenery was breathtaking .... thick, moist, white clouds send a chill down the spine and the peak being the tallest.... one can look down at the other peaks and count them. After having some food we started the descent.
The descent was pretty enjoyable too, it had started raining and ppl came down sliding though the muddy paths relieving their legs at the cost of their butts. Sliding, kicking and rolling everyone managed to come down ..... those who came early had good time playing in the cold streams. The jeeps took us to the Bhandardara dam which in itself was huge ... though we didnt have the permissions to go inside, a good part of it was visible from outside.... from there we left for railway head at Kasara.

This is where events took another twist. There was already a train waiting to leave in 10 minutes. Some of us were attending our nature calls (me and sanjeev), some booking the tickets (jangir and joe), some still outside(ani and ankur) and rest were on the platform. All of a sudden the train whistles, there is a confusion and people at the platform start boarding the train.... the train leaves with the rest(13 ppl) leaving 5 of us(me, jango , saswati, joe and sanjeev) on the platform and 2(ani and ankur) outside the station. 5 of us being unaware if them being out of the station assume them to be with the gang in the train rush and board an Express train that arrives at the same time hoping to catch up with the rest at kalyan(without the express train tickets !!) . While we were almost at kalyan we came to know that the 13 who had earlier left have come back to kasara and are coming by the next train that was 1 hour late(time taken to travel from kasara to kalyan is 1 hr). So we decide to leave and wait at kanjur for the gang and leave kalyan taking an empty local from there.
Having had enough of running we fall asleep and realise that kanjur had come after the train starts moving ... in a hurry all 5 of us jump off from the train. Sanjeev and joe decide to leave. Ankur calls up to inform us that we may leave as they would take an hour to come .... 3 of us decide we sould leave ....as i get up i realise something is missing .... something very dear and intimate .... I had forgotten my bag in the local!!!! ..... Cursing the heavens we ask saswati to leave and decide to go to the railway police and ask for help ...... As if all this was not enough we find the "thulla" crunching moongfali on liquor .... even worse he refuses to help and asks us to go to Ghatkopar saying that his office was a small and not good for any business ...... having heard too much from him and reaching my limits i trash him with all sorts of things we imagine about their attitude and that worthless people like him are the ones who ruin the image of the governance........ having realised this was too much for him we rcush out banging the door on him before he could retaliate ..... the results could have been unimaginable if we were still on the otherside of the door.
Still things decided against settling down and the auto which we hired from kanjur to IIT overtakes a nearby taxi wrongly and both of them get down at the edge of th road and in no time reach for eah others collars ...... thankfully the nearby ppl intervene and things were prevented from blowing up. We reach Insti and saswati having reached before joins us at H5 for dinner .... she had another set of wierd experiences with sick ppl offering lifts and stuff ..... All said and done we reach H5, have dinner and retire to sleep.

The trek was both a great outing aswell as a great learning experience for all. Hopefully in a few days all recover from the cramps they are experiencing.

The Gang:
Fifthies: Ani, ankur
Fourthies: Sushrut, Swati, Sai(me:D)
Thirdies: Jango, Shintre, Shiksha
Sophies: Sanjeev, Joe, Vedang, Vivek, Akshat, Saswati(MSc), Abhishek, Jyoti and vandana.
Freshies: Sanket, Anurag(nicknamed commando as he was the only person who crawled the trek unlike the rest ... and managed great stunts around 3 were ppl had to pull him up when he got stuck in a wierd position on a rock edge and the ladders)
Spl (Ex Research Fellow): Amruta Pathak

2006-09-13T16:35:00.000-07:00

Nostalgia...
These are some of the arbit drawings made during the sophie times or even before.
The first pic is the one that i sketched initially and colored using photoshop... 'twas the first attempt at painting using the software.
The second is a Pokemon character names "Slizor" ... the spelling may be wrong!!! .... it was a poster color painted thing with little digital brightness and contrast modifications added later on after scanning. The cartoon series though is very kiddish. .. i like the way humble animals are modified to fit the wild imaginations of the creator by enhancing the features that usually go unnoticed... for eg. the big sharp eyes with exaggerated claws and robotic body.... simply awesome !!!!

Had a few more characters .... couldnt upload them ..... blogger didnt allow me :-|.

2006-09-13T02:19:00.001-07:00

My first Digital Abstract !!

Abstract art is understood to mean art that does not depict objects in the natural world, but instead uses shapes and colors in a non representational or subjective way. It is a form of art much different from the usual representational form where objects are drawn as they exist.
The one that i have tried above is actually a result of fiddling with a few blobs of paint and randomly smudging it using photoshop.

2006-09-04T12:57:00.001-07:00

RAJMACHI!!!
This is one of the most wonderful treks I ever went for and also the one that I shall never forget as it was a day before mumbai recorded "the record" rainfall..... imagine a group of 30 students out for a trek just a day before their city was hit badly by the sudden cloudburst.
Well it all started by an idea to give a good head start to the coming semester and what could have been better than a trek to the mighty sahyadris during the awesome monsoon season it is blessed with. As a usual trek exercise some of us woke up at about 4:00 am in the morning and woke up the entire gang by 4:30 and we were all set for the ordeal.
The team was special in the sense that there were many who were trekking for the first time and that it was raining ;). The scenic beauty after the local train rips through kalyan was as usual spellbounding. Soon the ghats started emerging as giants dressed dark green challenging the mere mortals through the heights of the skies ... the whole experience was very exciting and evoked a thrill experienced never before. In about 2 hours we reached Karjat and now we had to take six seaters to the base village "Kondivade". While we were in the vehicle the driver warned us against going close to the river that was flowing nearby as it had already taken a life.
Rajmachi is connected to Lonavala through a pass and while ascending you can see the express trains digging into the tunnels and coming out time and again ..... We had an option to trek all the way to lonavla provided the constraints of enthu, time and energy permitted us.
So the actual trek started .... we managed a decent distance in to the green and soon a local village boy said he would guide us to the peak ..... Though we were enough in number and a small contribution from each of us could have earned him a fortune there were some who refused to budge and he had to accept a meagre amount to his utter dissatisfaction.... soon he realised that he desreved more and started demanding extra bucks .... his proposal was put down ... though he showed signs of frustration he was ignored and this led to his leading us to an unknown path and abandoning all there.... having realised our state a bit late we had to fight our way through dense bushes to make our own way to the correct path ..... thank god that we managed to find one..... so again we were all together geared to scale the heights though some skepticism started creeping in a few minds most of us were too determined to budge. The path lead us to a small village on the mountain where we had a light breakfast and from there one could see the pass to lonavla. A little more effort took us to the base of the RAJMACHI FORT which in itself was a beautiful piece of arcitecture and engineering.... given the time it belonged to it was difficult to imagine how people carried such heavy boulders all the way to this height, carve and engineer them to such preciseness to make an unpenetrable fort that still stands the lashes of the weather boldly after hundreds of years.
This was just the base of the fort and before we could proceed futher a dense cloud rising from below separated 3 of us from the entire crew and within no time we were separated from them all. As it was obvious that they would take the same path down we preferred to wait at the village. In some time the ppl arrived and we started the descent. This wasnt an easy task for one of us and we had to manage him in turns till we reached the base.
It started raining heavily when we were at the base and the small waterfalls turned in to strong currents ..... with chest high water we had to cut our path through them by making human chains ..... this was one hell of an experience ... ones that i always die for :D.
The return journey was very dead .... all were waiting to hit their beds .... the local dropped us at kanjurmarg ... me and some friends walked all the way to Harish's and had a dinner .... then walked all the way back to hostel.... and thus ended the awesome trek.
Newspaper headlines the other day read "Massive landslides during the heavy downpours ...... village kondivade among the worst hit by landslides in the area"!!!!

Time: Third year just the begining of the first semester.
Gang: H4 thirdies 2005-06

2006-08-06T07:51:00.000-07:00

Nagaon Beach ... The new year fun !!!
Simple moments become special when you have the right kind of people around.

About Nagaon beach: A virgin ... untouched by the urban dirt around mumbai beaches can be called one of the most inviting places. Palms and eucalyptus flavour the soothing humid sea winds and the wide stretch of the shore time and again reminds you that theres a lot for you to cover. A morning jog cannot be more pleasant elsewhere and if you have a good company the isolation can work wonders giving you ample time for romantic excursions. To add to the beauty of the beach the travel can be chosen uniquely. We took a ferry from Gateway to alibaug. The travel is awesome in the evening as sea gulls follow the ferry and you get to watch their acrobatics. Shoot a bread crump at them and dodging each other they swoop to catch it.

This night-out was special in the sense that it had so many unique things about it .... not to mention the unique people around all weird in their own ways !!!!

We lit a bonfire at night, had a blast and rested waiting for the sun to come up ... morning was equally beautiful, the cold sparking sea water relieved us of all exaustion and we were all set to wind up the stay in the form of memories and return.

The gang: Ankur, Ani, Jango, Shintre, Shiksha, Parmar, Biren, Shilpa, Avinash and me.

2006-08-01T02:08:00.000-07:00

Matheran
The name Matheran means either "forest on top" or "mother forest". This is again another hillstation of the Western Ghats and situated at an height of around 2600 feet. This is one of the hillstations developed by the British as a summer hangout place. The unique thing about Matheran is that polluting vehicles arent allowed inside. You can also avail the facility of a narrow gauge train if you are lucky and are in time. The thing that puts one off is that this place has too many tourists making it crowded at times. People are the last creatures that i feel like seeing when on treks atleast till i am all fine.

The thing that makes this trek a unique one for me was that this was my initiative towards team building during my tenure as the Fine Arts secretary. In the institute I feel it is most difficult for the Institute Secretaries to have a committed group of people to work because they have no incentive to offer than their company in exchange. So it all started with a group of people(RANG sophies + Suri and me) who had just started knowing each other and there was a full year lying ahead to be spent together.
We started at about 5:00 am from Insti to Neral after whereas a deadline of 4:15 am was set to depart from insti, thanks to people who had long hairs to comb and could even think of taking bath before a trek. We were well in time to catch the first local.
The onward journey became beautiful after we were out of the suburbs. The patch from kalyan to karjat is the most beautiful in early mornings of the monsoons. You can watch the numerous waterfalls and lush green hills as the local train tears through the dense cold morning air. Tiny raindrops hitting your face when you try facing the direction of the train leaning outwards sends a tickle down the spine. A person doing this for the first time is bound to be overwhelmed by the excitement it creates and I could see the same in the faces which were trying to grab as much as they could. The train halted and we rushed out.
We were around 11 and most of us were here for the first time. The most unfortunate thing was that the narrow gauge train route was blocked due to recent landslides and so was the trekking patch so we had to walk all the way along the road as none of us wanted to hire a cab to the peak. We took breaks at spots where we found waterfalls and streams. The clear, cold mountain water was too refreshing and a regular encouragement for those who gave up at times. We reached the hill station in 3 hours after starting at the base at 8:45 am.
We were expecting some rest after reaching the top but i guess that was simply too much to expect. The points were spread all over the hillstation with each point being separated from other by atleat 4 kms. Without pacing we could have never covered the "to be seen" spots. Charlotte lake, Monkey point, Panorama point, porcupine point were some of the good ones. Though we managed to cover most of them we were badly exhausted. We took a cab downhill and reached insti back at about 8:30 pm. The trip was a hit as we all had enough fun and obviously the purpose of the trek was also served.

The group: Suri, Shiksha, Pooja, Bhavna, Sumit Parmar, Jango, Dilkash, Brahm, Niraj, Niranjan and myself.

Sad part of the trip: We didnt carry a good cam. The fotos were taken by a cellphone cam

2006-07-29T15:59:00.000-07:00

Bhimashankar
As the name suggests this peak houses one of the 12 sacred jyotirlings of lord shiva scattered across the country. The mountain also shelters the Giant Squirrel which is a rare breed of squirrel found only in these mountains.

The group that went for this trip consisited of a large number of girls from my college (girls are a rare species here). There were 2 routes to the peak, the shorter one involved a short but a steep rock climb and the other one was explored during the descent. The ascent was fine with all reaching the top in time but strange incidents happened when we started heading back. To start with, one of the girls broke her toe nail just when we started the descent. Fortunately enough she was accompanied by her boyfriend who was managing her well initially.. but after all he was human and getting tired is human nature.
The group got split into smaller groups and the team leader decided to take the other easier route which he had no idea of. Things went fine till the first group reached the plateau type region below which was the rock climbing patch which we were to avoid. The crew took another route following the arrows laid to guide trekkers.
Meanwhile we were supposed to be with the girl who was hurt and escort her to the plateau from where the team leader would take over. When we reached the plateau it was already 5:30 pm and as it was a winter time the sun started setting. We left the girl and her BF with him and ran to catch the crew that was heading ahead. The downhill path though eaiser was more than 3 times the original path we followed. We had to run on plain ground to cross bases of around 3 peaks and ultimately we reached the group that was leading but it was quiet late the sun had set and it was getting dark and cold. We were 2 hours late than planned and the transport that we had ordered was nowhere to be seen.
We waited for the return of the 3 people who were still stuck in the deep forests and were in situation where we couldnt decide what our next step should be. In some time some students saw some glitter ahead and they ran towards the same. Surprisingly, the vehicles that we had ordered still waited for us down the village when they got to know that our group hadnt come down yet. The cold was biting through the skin and we lacked adequate cover but atleast we had shelter now.
Some students who could whistle well were sent with torches to check for signs for the return of those three but they returned without any hint. We waited till one guy said he could see some light in the trees. The whistling group followed and returned with a news that gave a sigh of relief to everyone. The lost were found !!!!
Though the trek was equally beautiful it was more adventurous than any other. I still smile when i remember that incident and never fail to narrate this to people I ever go to trek with.

Some names:
Team Leader: Gaurav Parmar
The girl: A fresher when I was a sophomore. Hint: Has devastatingly shrill voice.
Whistle men: Sumit Parmar, Sunil Saini ....
Others: Manish, Ashok, Ashwin, Umesh, Premsagar, Vikas.

2006-07-29T15:40:00.001-07:00

Kalsubai
This was my first trek ever. Thanks to the institute mountaineering club that got me going for the first time and I am still continuing.
Kalsubai is the highest of all peaks in Western Ghats and also one of the most beautiful for it lies in the region of Bhandardara that houses several beautiful waterfalls....Randha Falls being the famous of all is about 200ft high and the view sends a shiver down the spine as one could be shattered to pieces under it.

2006-07-29T14:50:00.000-07:00

The Sahyadris in the monsoons
Western Ghats are a mountain range in India that run along the western edge of the Deccan Plateau, and separate the plateau from the narrow coastal plain of the Arabian Sea.
The stretch along Maharashtra and Northern Karnataka is known as Sahyadris.
The windward side is simply awesome during monsoons with the densely saturated winds from Arabian sea pouring on the ranges giving birth to numerous waterfalls and fauna.
I love them because these are the first ranges that i ever trekked and there are so many peaks close to each other that you can locate the last peak you conquered...... moreover it will always have memories of my college days and friends embedded which i always fear from getting lost.

2006-07-29T13:46:00.000-07:00

Treks !!!!
Nature has always fascinated me with her beauty.
Here are the amateurish expeditions compiled by an amateur blogger .... thats me :)