Srini's blog

Racing Smashes - Created at Home

2012-01-31T22:38:00.000+05:30

My son Suriya has a pair of toy race cars and he often creates an accident situation with his play and catches that in the digital camera in the form of a video. But, today he came up with a different idea. To make it in the form of a picture.
First he asked me for the camera which I readily obliged. Then he was experimenting the two toy cars and making one of the car be on the floor and another in his hand as if it hits in an angle. He took some five clicks with the cars at different angles and got satisfied with one of the shot.
Then he involved me in his experiment. He asked me to transfer the pic into computer and delete the info other than the two cars. I used paint brush utility, erased the spots with the eraser utility and got a result like the one below.

He then asked me to take the below photo from the archives in the computer. This was the MRF arch at the Madras Motor Race Track situated at Irungattukottai in Chennai. The pic was clicked couple of years when I went for the MRF Racing event. This comes up as screen saver in the home computer at times.

So far, I was not clear on the idea he was having in his mind, but, was responding to his demands and giving him the results with the Paint Brush utility on the home computer.
Finally he asked me to create a scenario in which his cars would appear as if it had smashed at the race track exactly below the arch.
At this point, I became more than impressed with his idea. So, continued with pasting the toy car picture onto the race track picture and doing miniscule cut & paste jobs to match the texture around.

The end result was so fantastic. At first I was in the mood to hit the bed and take a good sleep. But, his wonderful idea made me to sit back at the computer and record such an innovative work by him at this age of just 7 years.

Republic Day daredevils on Royal Enfield

2012-01-26T11:15:00.000+05:30

Silhouette

2012-01-24T20:31:00.001+05:30

Silhouette is the technique of photographing people, objects or landscape elements against the light. If done correctly we can achieve the subject as a shadow (silhouette).

Today while I was coming back from office, myself and other colleagues were waiting for the arrival of bus to go back to our Cuddalore town. The Sun was about to settle down at 5.15 p.m. and it was just bright giving me just a few minutes to make out my camera and do this shot. Though the Sun was giving us luck of shining for a few more minutes, we were unlucky that our bus to Cuddalore had just then pacing towards us.

Packed up my camera and pushed off into the crowded bus and started our journey back to home.

Felt contended to have done a satisfactory shot after a long time on my Point & Shoot camera.

Camera used: FujiFilm JZ300 (Point & Shoot)

My Royal Enfield

2012-01-22T23:07:00.000+05:30

Thats the Royal Enfield bullet 350 I bought on 7 Jan 2012. Its a 1990 workhorse, had an enchanting engine beat and proper RTO & Insurance records. Being welcomed home with tradition. Long way to go with it. So far finished completing the RTO & Insurance formalities and now its getting the refits at the mechanic shop. Many plans in mind for long tours on the road. Should be an awesome time riding this legend on the roads in the days to come!

Fruits

2011-12-16T22:19:00.001+05:30

Got to click this at a road side fruitshop while waiting for the town bus to my office.
Place: Thavalakuppam, Pondicherry
Camera: FujiFilm JZ300 (P&S)

TiECON CHENNAI 2011

2011-11-23T08:25:00.001+05:30

An opportunity to hear from the eminent business leaders on what really is the success and what is the real pain they underwent in making the achievements in their business. Alas they are making the Indian Economy moving up on the right path. Thats whatz TiECON Chennai in a nutshell for me.

TiECON Chennai is a premier event happening in namma Chennai at the Chennai Convention Centre on 24 Nov 2011. That's tomo.

Yours truly is proud to be part of this mega event. I am part of the Social Media Journalists covering this event.

Last year it had been an interesting moments at the TiECON Chennai 2010 event with clicking some interesting photographs.

Click below for my prev. yr event

Write up is here

My photography at the event

The journey to the tomo's event starts today. Catching up the train to Chennai. Leaving Cuddalore by this afternoon, reaching my Chennai home at Nanganallur by dusk. If you are coming to TiECON tomo, please buzz me at 9944945559, Let's catch up.

If you are willing to bikepool or carpool me.. Let catch up tomo!

Stay tuned for the photographs.

Tirupathi Pilgrim trip

2011-11-21T15:16:00.001+05:30

Our Tirupathi pilgrim trip started by Pondy to Tirupathi passenger train on 18 Nov'11. I started off from my Cuddalore at 1.00 p.m. and caught the train at the Villupuram rail station. We, a group of 5, reached Tirupathi at 11.00 p.m. Took rest at the Railway waiting hall. Got up by 3.00 a.m. Took bath and then started off in an auto rickshaw to Alamel Mangapuram by 4.30 a.m. Lucky to have Suprabatha darshan of the diety. By 6.00 a.m. we started off in an auto rickshaw to Alipiri, the starting point of the foot path to Tirumala. Finished our walk up the hill by 1.00 p.m. Had the free lunch provided by the Devasom and deposited our luggage in the locker. Had bath and proceeded to the Vaikuntam Q Complex by 4.00 p.m. We waited for some 3.5 hours and our queue to be opened. Had darshan of the Lord Venkateshwara by 9.00 p.m. and came out by 9.30 p.m. Bought the Rs.100 token for 4 additional laddus and then went for the queue to get the laddus. By 10.00 p.m. we completed our pilgrimage of the Lord. Came back to the amenities hall, had food and vacated our locker. It was now 11.00 p.m. Caught the bus downhill and came to the Tirupathi Rail Station by 12.30 p.m. The train from Tirupathi-Pondy starts by 4.00 a.m. The train was found parked. We hoped of taking some precious sleep on the train. So, we bought the tickets and boarded the train. The train has 8 coaches and we went into each and every compartment to get a seat to sleep on. But ill luck for us, each and every seat has already been occupied by the people. Atlast there were only two seats vacant on the whole of the train. We managed to sleep on it and we found other three upper berths meant for keeping the baggages. We climbed and laid ourselves to rest by 2.00 a.m. Got into deep slumber and we never knew when the train started off from the Tirupathi Rail Station. At around 7.30 a.m. we awoke when the train was halting at the Arakonam Rail Junction. Got down from the sleeping board and finished the morning routine. The train started off after a 40 minute hiatus. We reached the Villupuram rail station by 1.00 p.m. Then caught the bus to Cuddalore. Reached home by 2.30 p.m.
On the whole it was a journey little over 48 hours. Such is the quickest of my Tirupathi trips in my life time.

Diwali has arrived

2011-10-23T08:27:00.000+05:30

Its the festival of Diwali arriving this week. So is the appetite growing for doing some long shutter photography.

Yesterday managed to click a couple of interesting photographs of the flying sparklers.

Exif:

Shutter : 4 Sec

ISO: 100

Aperture: F/6.5

Camera: FujiFilm JZ300 Point & Shoot

Portraiture photography session in progress

2011-10-23T08:16:00.000+05:30

As the portraiture photography session being done my kids was in progress, I managed to freeze the moments on my camera.

The subject in the photograph was being captured in different perspectives.

Need to dig out the pics from that mobile phone. There were lot of pics on the mobile phone which needs to be transferred to the computer.

My son Suriya's paint brush art # 2

2011-10-21T22:21:00.000+05:30

Nowadays we often see our 7 year old son Surya tied up with the computer, using the paint brush tools and making out some interesting artworks on the computer.

I created a specific folder on the computer for storing his paint brush arts and set the screen saver to display his works whenever the computer is idle. Ofcourse this has made him motivated to do some more paintbrush art on the computer. Anyhow we are forced to coerce him to go out from the computer and play in the street so that he don't get addicted too much with the computer.

Here is one more nice piece of art which I fished out from his folder.

There has been a definite improvement in his strokes compared to his earlier art work which I posted here.

Tweetup - Royal Enfield Factory tour

2011-09-18T14:42:00.002+05:30

I had the opportunity to go for a factory tour of the Royal Enfield factory situated at Tiruvottiyur in Chennai.

This tour is called Tweetup which is specifically for the twitter fans of Royal Enfield. If you are there on Twitter, you may also become a fan of Royal Enfield and get the interactive Twitter updates of the Royal Enfield.

The tweetup was schedule at 2.30 p.m. on 11th June 2011, a Saturday.

My colleague Mohan Babu an avid bullet enthusiastic, joined with me for this tweet-up. For us, from Cuddalore, this 2 hour tweet-up would mean a total of 16 hour endeavor. The day started for me at 4.00 a.m. with catching the Villupuram bus at 5.00 a.m. at the Cuddalore bus stand.

Reached my Father In Law’s house early and took some time there. Wife and children were there, so spent some time disturbing my wife out of her sleep while my kids are still in slumber. Remember, if she is in her parent’s house she usually gets off from her sleep much delayed. Quite usual for our ladies whenever they are with their mum and dad!!.

Spent some time there with taking a short nap myself and then having breakfast and left from there at 8.15 a.m. to the Villupuram railway station. Mohan Babu left Cuddalore by 7.30 a.m. and we planned to join together at Villupuram for the 9.15 a.m. Pallavan Superfast train.

9.00 a.m. : Reached the Villupuram Rail Station, bought the tickets for two of us, went to the platform where Mohan Babu joined me. Noel sir was also there and he is also going to Chennai by the same train but in the AC coach. So caught up with him chatting for quite some time on the platform.

Noel Sir is one of the senior most person; he has reckoned more than 3 decades of service in our organization MRF and he is now a consultant trainer. He is an inspiration for us in terms of punctuality. He has reached the railway station by 8.15 itself and waiting for the train.

The Pallavan Superfast train arrived little late at about 9.25, and Noel Sir went to the AC coach and we went to the unreserved coach. Though we were optimistic of getting a seat to sit during this 3 hour journey till Egmore Rail Station, we were drawn aback by the fully packed Un-Reserved coaches of the Pallavan Superfast Train. After some hard efforts, we two managed to squeeze into the coach. We managed to travel standing in the train for the first 2 hours of the journey. Luckily we got to sit after the train reached Chengalpet.

Finally we arrived Egmore Rail Station at 12.30 p.m. We got to see off Noel Sir; bid him adieu and went to the Vasantha Bhavan hotel opposite to the railway station. Had lunch and then came back to the Egmore Rail Station to get the local EMU train to the Chennai Beach Rail Station. We were anew to this locality and was treading this route as advised by one of my friends with a vague mind. We were seeking to know of the bus routes and the distance ahead for us from the passerby. The experience was nice recalling myself of past memories of going on long tours without knowing the local knowledge. Finally we caught the right MTC bus and reached the Tiruvottiyur bus terminus. Then after a short walk of 5 minutes we got to the legendry Royal Enfield factory.

The first sight that invited us was this board. There was a gate on the left side and we went into it. What caught our eyes were a line up of Royal Enfield bullets in Battle Green colour which were ready for dispatch. We were then told by the security personnel of another gate meant for visitors and we then walked past right side of this board. Finally reached the factory.

As planned, we two were nearly half hour ahead of the schedule. We were asked to wait at the reception area.

Thats Mohan Babu my colleague and Shri Nidhi an avid travel blogger of Tata Nano Superdrive fame awaiting at the reception area.

At the reception area we got to grasp this nice book and flipped through the interesting stories around the legend called the Enfield Bullet which has an history of more than half century. The book costs Rs.1,500.

The antique V-Twin bullet. Clicked from insides of the book.

It was about 3.00 p.m. and we got invited by Mr.Praveen who gave us an interesting talk at the Conf. room in the second floor of the building.

Got to know from him that the Adventure Bike of the Royal Enfield which is now being conceptualized will be out into the market in another couple of years. The great thing about this adventure bike is that, you need not worry of the fuel price hikes; you need not worry about non-availability of fuel at demanding locations. If you get petrol, fill your bullet with it, if not? get diesel, if not? get kerosene. If not? get gasoline. If not? get vegetable oil. ...

This bike can be run in 6 different kinda fuel which suits your pocket and which is available easily for you. I direly need this bike!!

There were now 7 people in our tweetup and two more needed to join. So, Mr.Praveen was awaiting for the other two gentlemen. We then got two magazines one is a regular magazine "The Beat" which gives out catchy updates and stories behind the happenings around the enigma called Royal Enfield. The other one is the Trip Calendar for the year 2011. Royal Enfield conducts trips around interesting places with duration ranging from 1 day to 15 days. The God of all these trips is the Himalayan Odyssey which occurs every July. I dream of getting into the next one as a photographer. Let all things work out for my good.

The much awaited factory came the next. We were advised on the Dos and Don’ts while visiting the factory shop floor.

Generally speaking, its rarest of the rare cases where people outside of the business are permitted to visit a manufacturing facility. But, Royal Enfield is a forerunner in throwing the red carpet to we the twitter freaks to glimpse the magnificent beasts while they are getting into shape right from the bolts and nuts to be flying, be it the dirtiest track to the world's highest roads.

These are the accessories which are to come out of the staples of RE. A well designed Tool Box, Rain Wear for the bullet riders formed part of them. RE is opening up for its riders to buy. The products are well designed and catchy.

Then we got to be clicked of a group photograph.

The march into the factory premises starts now...

We were then lead into the engine assembly area. Photography of the high tech machinery is forbidden. He got to enrich us about the steps taken in making of the engines. There is a production line in which the workers assemble the parts. As the engine travels in the assembly line, different parts are fixed into the engine. As a mistake proofing, only one type of engine is produced at a time.

The engine which is fully built is taken off in a trolley and it is tuned. For this its fixed on a skeletal bullet and started. If the engine confirms to their spec, its okay ed and sent out.

Then we were enthusiastic to click these curvy bullets on the shop floor.

But we got driven down of our pomp, when we heard from Mr.Praveen that these were the bullets that have failed in the quality tests and are awaiting for the re-exam.

Though many of us got to see so many videos of the handcrafting process of striping of the Bullet Tanks on the internet; I got to see this process in person there. It was awesomeness at its peak for me. Got much elated with the precision in which the person stroked the paint on the tank of the bullet.

This is the paint shop

This is an export model of bullet “Standard 500” the aesthetic design really ROCKS. It was hard time to leave off from this spot, since the chicky Std 500 make its pull.

Another group photo with the Standard 500 Bullet rocking in the middle.

Then we were glimpsed of the process called chromium coating.

We were forbidden to click the assembly line from nearer distance. Got to click this at the border from where photography is permitted.

The finished bikes comes out of the assembly line.

What you see is the real test of the bullet at top speeds. Got to watch a bullet being ridden at an excess of 110 kmph.

After the bullets pass the dyno tes, they are then ridden on a test track.

The tweetup ended at 4.30 p.m. and we bid adieu to Mr.Praveen who took his effort and time in giving us a memorable life time experience of the legend called Royal Enfield.

The whole set of photographs are available at my FaceBook here.

My son Suriya's paint brush art

2011-09-10T21:04:00.000+05:30

Its my kid Suriya's work. He drew this Ultra Deluxe A/C bus using the paint brush utility in our home PC.

Two day trek to Nagala West with Chennai Trekking Club

2011-08-28T22:45:00.000+05:30

Trekking is not at all in my wish list. As far mountains are concerned, I am a regular to Tirupathi Temple and whenever I go on pilgrimage there, I am particular to go up the hill only by foot path. The trail is a well laid foot path which has all the basic amenities such as Toilets, Medical Support, Eateries, Drinking Water. Coming down from Tirupathi depends on the group with whom I might have gone. May be by walking down the hill or else by the bus. That’s what I am close with the synonym of trekking.

Then, three years back I had gone to TADA falls with my friends of Chennai Photography Club. It was a one day trip with little trek on boulders.

I have been on the Online group of the Chennai Trekking Club for over two years and get to see emails calling for new treks. Post trek experience shared by the wannabe trekkers are the awesome reads that I ever get on the CTC forum. But chance of getting into a trek is impossible for me as I live far off from Chennai. Going for a 2 days trek will need me to take a 4 days leave. This beginners trek was scheduled on Aug 13 & 14 and it rightly preceded the Aug 15&16 Pondicherry holidays. I immediately signed up for the two day trek to “Nagala West”.

While reading the mail, we were informed that this trek is an Easy+ and was meant for freshers. But, I sure did not know for real, how big the + was, which trailed that word “Easy”.

I opted for the pickup point Tidel Park which had the scheduled time of 3.00 a.m. on Saturday the 13th August. Friday was Varalakshmi Nonbu at home. So I took leave on 12th as well as 13th. Varalakshmi Nonbu is an important ritual at home and all the rituals were finished by 4.00 p.m.

By evening I went to shop for things that are needed for the trek. Bought the chappals (floaters) meant for walking at the wet camp sites. Then went to the sports shop and bought a shorts (half trouser). Earlier during the TADA trip, I had bought a cotton Shorts in a textile shop. So, there are two trousers with me. Then bought a couple of batteries for the LED torch light. Came back home and filled my back pack with the things. Had dinner and as planned, I left my town Cuddalore at 10.00 p.m. on Friday.

Reached Pondy and got an ECR bus to Chennai. I was optimistic of having packed all the needed things for the trek. Some thing struck my mind which made me to take out the checklist and have a read. The bus plying away from Pondy. Realized that I have missed taking the bowl and spoon needed for taking food while on the trek. Sent a SMS to Venkatesh the fellow trekker who comes from AnnaNagar.

The bus reached Tidel Park by 2.00 a.m. There was a gang of nearly 10 people in the trekking attire with sleeping mats. Started a convo with them and asked if they are Chennai Trekkers and the reply was YES. They asked my name. I told that I am Srinivasan and have come for the trek. The person conversing with me was then in a little confusion. There was no such participant name in his attendance checklist. I told them, that I had come earlier for the 3.00 a.m. pick up for Nagala West trek. Then they replied that it was an exploration trek and were heading to the Eastern Ghats. Had the opp to meet Peter the founder of Chennai Trekking Club and tell a ‘Hai’. The group then went off in their vehicles.

The Tidel Park was buzzing in activity with lot of people hopping on and off from their office. There was a person selling tea on the bicycle, had a cup of tea and continued waiting for catching up with my group of Trekkers meant for the “Nagala West”.

It was 3.00 a.m. called up Venkatesh and Jayanathan and let them know that I have reached Tidel. Venkatesh obliged that he got my SMS and has taken the bowl meant for me in his back pack. It eased me a lot.

At 3.10 a.m. my group of trekkers arrived in a Van and they picked me up for the next point Madhya Kailash. We signed the Disclaimer form and gave it back to the organizers. Tried completing reading of the disclaimer, but it was too long and I could not finish it. We continued the journey, now Sriram’s Swift car gets added up to the convoy followed by Gokul’s Santro car joining at Le Meridian hotel.

After some 45 minutes the final pickup point Koyambedu Nathan’s Café was reached and the entire bunch of trekkers assembled. Now there was more number of vehicles than was actually needed. Then two of the car owners opted to leave their vehicles. After a few minutes everything was ready and the trip started.

An hour and half into the journey, we reached Uthukottai and had the breakfast. 4 Idlis, a Vada and Pongal filled the hungry stomach. After having the hot food, felt brisk and we left for the mission Nagala.

After some one hour, we were there at the hills. It was learnt that earlier week, one of the trekker in Ritz car had been victimized. His car window was broken and valuables looted. As a follow-up, Gokul went to the person who is issuing parking fee ticket and asked for what all was happening and Why? We in the van went to the parking space and waiting. I changed my pant and shirt to a Tee shirt and shorts. Left those clothes packed in a plastic cover and left it at a corner in the van itself.

Gokul and group in the car reached us after making sure that the local guy does have the real feel of the losses by the people visiting the place. Sriram and Ajay parked the Swift car. Ajay got his sleeping mat for me which was very much useful throughout the trek.

Now the cars were parked and all the people hopped into the van. The van got jam packed with people standing and hanging on the foot board. The remaining about 1 km of journey was a pebbled road and after some 15 minutes we reached the final point.

The organizers distributed the food supplies for the trekkers. One packet of Chappathi, Sweet Boli, two bananas, three guvas a few bars Chocolate were given to us. Trekking with a back pack with things needed for two days was a new experience for me. Felt some what a heavy pack on my back. Now, another problem for me is having the camera. I was wearing the tee and shorts which never had a pocket. So, I kept the camera in my back pack. Walked a few meters ahead, then felt that I should snap the scenic greenery in front of me with the trekkers moving fast inside the forest. Then, offloaded the pack, opened it then took the camera out and clicked. This was a cumbersome process which built up a little pressure in me because I was the last man moving in the group and I am totally illiterate about the trail.

The pebbles ahead in the trail are of size half of a soccer ball and its anew for me walking on them. So, I have the probability of fear of falling. So, kept the camera inside the pack and moved on. Any how I walked fast and caught up with the people trailing in the group going before me. Now I joined Sindhu and Karthik. So, had a feeling of ease after having pep talk with them. There were plants on the path and we need to trail ahead in a zig zag.

After moving a little inside the bushes, there were thorny plants which rubbed on. After some half hour into the trek, we some 5 people have grouped and there was nobody to be felt like going before us. One of the guy in our group, gave a shout and there was feedback from another guy who shouted back. So, this gave us little moral boost that we are on following them correctly.

We then moved on. There were too much of bushes ahead and we walked to our left following a narrow trail. To our happiness, there was now a jeep trail going on and we started walking in it. Now, we realized that the group which was moving before us were off from the correct trail and into the bushy area. Now a guy gives them a shout and they come in our direction and joined us to walk ahead on this jeep trail.

After some time walking, I pulled out my camera from the back pack and clicked interesting photographs of the people walking. Why I am happy is that there is sufficient sunlight from the West falling on my subjects which gave me good results in capturing the mood of the people trekking their way Westwards into the forests.

Then encountered the first water crossing our trail. Offloaded the bag and sipped the tasty water. It was soothing and relaxing.

Now we had the reassurance that the group is now bigger and we are in the right path. Now there is water stream flowing beside the trail and the sound of the flowing water pushed down the boredom in me.

The sound of the gushing water was a music to hear and boosted my morale up as we kept on trekking those moderate heights.

Now we reached the first pool. Everybody threw off their back packs, removed their tees and jumped off into the water pool. I first kept my back pack safely in one place and removed my shoes. Walking on the rocky terrain bare foot gave me little punches from the sharp stones. My knees were aching. Then my foot got into the chill water and it was somewhat hard to move ahead.

Anyhow removed my tee shirt, took the sleeping mat and went into the water pool. I was confident that I could use the sleeping mat in place of a swim tube. So I had earlier decided not to buy a swim tube. At my fist step the into the water pool, it was too cool and was hard to go next step. After dilly dallying myself, I went waist deep into the water. Then, used the sleeping mat and tried floating on it. But I am anew for such an experiment. At first I managed to lie on the rolled mat and had succeeded floating on it. But, few seconds later, I could not balance. Resultant is that I went into the water and the mat is now above me. Now caught hold of the mat and managed to float with my face up in the water. Though there was little fear inside me. I managed to stay floating for some more time and had to fight myself a little to lower my legs into water and then managed to come to the knee deep water. After some time, Karthik lent me his helping hand. He taught me on how to balance the roll of the sleeping mat. Now I recognized that I have toppled since I had not balanced it.

Now with the learning from Karthik, I managed to balance the mat and stay afloat. But it was hard and after some trial and error I came out of the pool. The fishes are now swarming around my legs. The feel of the fish bite was anew and at first it was similar to a small voltage passing into me from a live wire. So I shoved away the fishes.

After some half hour, the organizers gave the call to windup. All the people were off the pool and some of them munching chocolates and guvas. Then, I wore my shoes and took my back pack and started the trek ahead with group trail.

There was one high rock which needed climbing and it was too difficult for me. Climbing such an height without any accessories was never a cuppa so far in my life. I was there in queue and the guy before me had made it. Now its my turn. People were there up and lent me their hand to lift me. Once up that rock it was a conquer for me. It was a morale boost that engulfed the fear that I had initially in the trek. Support from the fellow trekkers is free flowing; whenever its needed; people are supporting. What a team work!! WOW

Within the next half hour, we reached the second pool. The experience in the first pool was a reassurance for me to take a plunge in a faster way. I removed my shoes and tees. Took the sleeping mat and went ahead. I stay assured that trying to swim with the mat is a futile exercise. So made myself clear that swimming is not my cuppa. I went walking till its waist deep. Immersed myself a little and then came out to the bank and sat on a rock immersing my leg knee deep. The fish started their biting of my toes. The experience was awesome. As two more guys sat beside me, the number of fishes giving me the bites decreased. With many of the trekkers disturbing the calm water around me, many of the little fishes went away from me. Now, I decided to go for a change. There was one swim tube floating around and I grasped it. Worn it and tried floating in the water pool. Woaha! It was a nice experience. First time I am floating on the water which is too deep. Tried splashing my hands. Wow, I am moving forward. Then splashed my hands in a rotating manner. Now I am turning around. Wow, what an experience. Then I managed to move myself swimming to the other side of the pool. It was fascinating. After some time we were given instructions from the organizer that we need to windup. All of us came out and packed off for the journey ahead.

There was long walking ahead. Finally we reached the third pool. The hills surrounding this area were too high. The water pool had a depth of 25 feet.

The rocks on one side of the pool which is above some 50 feet provided a diving pad for the wannabe swimmers. People were jumping in and the thud of the water was so loud. I got to keep my back pack in a corner and took out my camera. Sat on the rocks which gave the excellent view to catch the people making their dive into the pool. Two more people joined me and we did the interesting photo shoot ever. The interesting thing here is that, the person diving into the pool should be first standing on the rock. Then we the three photographers need to get ready for shooting him. Then I got to give the signal for the dive to start.

We freezed the moments of the people in the air. Wow.

After some half hour, some of the people were out of the water pool. There was a swim tube lying on the rock. Then I packed my camera into the bag and wore the swim tube and went into the water pool. Karthik helped me go nearer to the water fall. The water nearer the falls is flowing against me and it was hard for me to swim further to the falls. Karthik pulled me into the water fall. The fresh water falling on me gave a massaging effect. Thank you Karthik. After this, I tried swimming around the pool. It was very easy to swim along the water current. But, once if I tried against the water current, it was too hard. Anyway it was enjoyment. But I had to bargain myself over to enjoying the fish bite rather than swimming. I went to the rocks; sat and enjoyed the fish bites. Then, came out of the water pool and changed my clothes and dried the wet shorts. Now changed to another which was a older one bought couple of years ago and this was a blunder I have done on adding it on my itinerary. I should have bought a new one instead of taking this one for the trek. Let me tell you further what had happened.

People were found sleeping in the shadows. Bit hungry myself, I took the sweet poli for the lunch. Stomach got filled and I went to the shadows to have a short nap.

So far trekking up the hill was little hard for me and this rest was a much awaited one. I was of the mindset that, we rest here till the night and have dinner and go for sleep here itself. This was my thought because, I could not find any trail going higher from this point. After some one hour, realized that only some ten people are there around and remaining folks have gone. Afterwards, I got to know that there is a trail high above the rocks and I need to climb the rock. The trail was so steep and narrow. I gave my back pack to Kahan and managed to climb up successfully.

Trekking further up was damn hard for me. The mount is too inclined and keeping the next foot forward on the little boulders gave me fear of possibility of a fall. The rocks on the right side are slanting and 30 feet down it is the stream flowing down to the third pool. The fear forced me to concentrate more on my next foot. Finally the slanting trail had come to an end and it was boulder walk ahead. Sometimes the trail is too steep.

Meanwhile, only three people were moving with me. The people who had gone ahead of us were nowhere to be seen. The walking ahead was hard with steep climbs in between. The rolling stones, slipping black sands and dead woods on the trail were giving us enough challenges.

Finally the people who were ahead of us; who were so far not seen; we were able to hear them converse up above the hills. Then we reached this place. I was glad that we got to catch the group ahead. But, the fact on knowing “Why they were awaiting there?” drew me down of my spirits. The trail which they thought of reaching ahead is not existent. They have encountered a dead end. So far, all the people were too tired and envisioning that this spot should be the point where we would be summiting the mount and then going down on the other side. But, hitting a dead end made us too tired. Realized from Bala that, earlier in our walk, we all have climbed bit higher than the needed. After a short while, it was decided that we need now to go down.

Then came the Mini Kutralam aka the 4th water pool. Now I direly wanted to have a refresh. So, went ahead and got drenched in this water falls. Some time ahead, there was a call to windup and start the walk further. Most of the people in the group had already left the place and were higher up in the slopes. I started the walk ahead with my shorts being wet.

The shorts being a older one, and that too wet and the trail being so steep without any resting place ahead it was too much difficult to move ahead. The trail on this mountain slopes were encountered with rolling rocks, thorny plants, slipping slopes. I really am disgusted at this point on why the organizers mentioned difficulty level of this trek as Easy+?

At least I should have changed from my wet shorts to the dry one. At the most I should have worn the new shorts while on the upward trek. These are lessons for me. As I was toddled my way up the difficult trail in the tow day trek, my old shorts started giving trouble. Bit by bit, it was getting torn. There was no way in the midst of the slopes to take out the back pack and changeover to the new shorts.

Trekking further up was bit difficult; the trail was too steep with rolling stones found here and there giving disturbing moments for me. Sindhu was preceding me, Venkatesh who was preceding Sindhu was fast and he has gone up fast. We were the last people and Hari was the sweeper for our group. A sweeper in a trekking group is a person who trails behind the group and ensures that everyone has moved safely. Here and there Hari gave hints on using the roots to climb instead of the rocks. These tips helped me a bit.

Somewhere up above I could see the people ahead moving on. After hard efforts we moved to the top. Then the peak of the mount was about to be reached. So far we were told by Hari that once we reach the peak that was the end and we could meet the people waiting there. I was of dream that it was the camping site and that my aching muscles would be getting enough rest for the remaining part of the day. But once we reached the peak, there were hills far away and we could see the valley before us. The mountain is then sloping downward. But, what Hari said that people would be there. Such a fact seemed to be a fallacy and many of the people have moved far away downwards. Anyway this is the tactic of the sweeper to motivate the people to move faster.

Now Hari tells us that the people are staying some 1 km ahead and we could reach there. Then, the trail was so slanting downwards and the difficulty has eased. We were now getting enough wind. Myself and Sindhu are the only persons trailing behind. Hari was encouraging us to move forward.

After enough of aching and walking, we reached a stream. Venkatesh was there taking rest. We joined him. Got his water bottle, fetched the tasty stream water and quenched my thirst. I am bit relieved. Now I changed my shorts and from now on, trekking was comfortable. All these time, post the 4th pool, the steep trail, thorns, rolling stones coupled with the uncomfortable torn shorts gave me toughest ever memories in my life. From now on, that was a story.

We now took a bit of rest and energy level has come up with the fact that the trail is flat though with boulders. There were loose rocks and dusk was fast approaching. Hari and another organizer were keeping watch of we the new trekkers. They ensured that we had torch lights for further walking ahead.

And finally we got to see Divya, Chandru, Sanjeev and others strolling on the stream. We went past them and further through the stream we got to witness the whole group camping at the end point of the trek.

There was a small stream of water with a small pool preceding it. The place was surrounded with 150 foot tall mount on one side with greenery spread all over it. This was the place where we stayed for the night. This has been my first ever experience to stay for a night inside the forest.

Opened my back pack, took out my mobile phone to realize of the couple of missed calls from Dad and Brother. Luckily the camping site gets AirTel coverage, added to this is that roaming charges make my service provider richer. I called Dad and conveyed about the trip. He was bit worried of my first ever jungle trip. He asked if there were people living there inside the jungles. I clarified him the negative and that I am in the midst of the mountain and there were experienced group of trekkers leading us. He clarified if I have safely reached the base and signed off from me with half a relaxed mind. I assured him back of the fact that The Chennai Trekkers visit this place every week and its not anew. Bit assured, dad bid me good night.

Then, took out the wet clothes from my bag and dried on the branches. Camp fire followed but since there were insufficient space, cooking process was started with the available firewood. Jayanth and the group came up frying out pop corns. It was tasty.

Then soup was prepared. For this the stream water was used and the soup was tasty. Cooking of Maggie noodles followed. The dinner was tasty.

After dinner, I could not see many of the people. Realized that most of them have settled at different camp sites for a good sleep. The trek I had just completed has resulted in my calf muscles sending out telegrams to the brain to take rest. The rocks at the place were too uneven and it was hard for the aching legs to walk as desired.

Myself with two other trekkers found out a place little bit further to sleep. This place was flat and a tarpaulin was spread and we kept our bags aside. Two of us had sleeping mat and we laid it down. The sleeping mat was very much comfortable. The time was 8.30 pm. Another group of people were resting nearby. After some time there was a convo from the other group that there would be rain in the night. Though I heard this, I did take little care to take note of the forecast. The aching muscles pulled me to sleep and within minutes we were in deep slumber.

But the forecast of a rain from the person in the next group did gave me a ring inside my heart. In the mid of the night, there were rumblings heard in the group next to us. One person was asking others to get up and another guy seeking for the tarpaulin to make the tent. The time was about 12.10 a.m. But the fact is that though the wind was chill; there was not yet a single drop of drizzle to have fallen on us. I disregarded the happenings in the camp next to us and continued to sleep.

But, my optimism was given a toss. Exactly 20 minutes had passed and there was rain with thunder. The person who had predicted it got a high place in my heart. By this time the tent was ready. They gave a call to everybody to come inside the tent. Rain had started and the drizzle had gained momentum. It was raining man!! Wow. Whata Experience!!

There was a tarpaulin on the ground; we were instructed to keep the backpacks to one side. Then the sleeping mats were put up and all people managed to sit inside the tent. Venkatesh was sitting next to me. After some time he managed to lie flat on the mat. The rain was gaining momentum and there were little thunders. One by one everyone lied flat and it was a tightly packed space. Sindhu could not find space in the tent, she sat and continued her sleep leaning on the back packs. Though most of us were in deep slumber, couple of guys were awake and alert for any flooding of the stream. It was dark; they kept a watch on sound of the water gushing in the stream. Luckily the flow of water never bulged, it was a great relief. Rain subsided by now the wind was too cool and we were not able to bear it. People searched for their backpack in the dark with their torch lights and took out their bed sheets and continued their sleep. There were too many back packs and mine was trapped below everybody’s. Sindhu realized me searching my back pack and after sometime she managed to fish out mine. I succeeded in getting my bed sheet and had a good sleep from then on. By about 3.30 a.m. rain God bid adieu to us and I was out of fear of any probable flooding of the stream.

Morning was so awesome inside the forest. I wanted not to get off from my sleep. After so long time I came out and had chat with the people. Walking a few steps out was so much hard as my legs are having muscle pull. Anyway managed with giving a warm up and then started walking bit by bit. Then, went to a far away place to finish off the morning routine.

Coming back to the camping site, tea was being made ready. Picked out my chapatti packet and ate one with pickle as the side dish. It was so good.

Few minutes afterwards, got a call from Jayanth and Bala that tea was ready. Finished the tasty tea. We were informed that lunch will be at the 3rd pool.

So, next will be the walking down the hills. This time I was particular not to trail behind the whole group. So, quickly packed up my things and got ready to join with the first set of people to leave the place. It was Chandru, Sanjeev, Divya, Venkatesh and few others who started the first of the sojourn. Since I am in the front, it gave me a moral comfort that even if I find difficulty in walking, I can take rest, join the people trailing behind. The sweeper will not push me to move forward similar to what happened for me the previous day. Moreover it was bit easier to go down. Enjoyed walking with the people.

Reached the 4th pool i.e. the Mini Kutralam did some photography and had ample time to take rest and wait for the people behind to join in.

No more steep mountains!! Now my mind is free and the fear has gone off. This is also a problem. After the 4th pool, I was moving on the boulders with laxity in myself; slipped on the boulder and had a little fall. Got mild bruises on my hands and legs. Afterwards this incident made me attentive in the further course of the trek.

The previous day, we were walking on the trail which was too slanting and very high above this stream. This day, I was particular to avoid that trail. We got to walk very much with the stream on the boulder rocks and this was easier. End of the trail, was giving me adrenalin gush.

Pic Credit: Venkatesh

Here we needed to creep on to the rocks and move on. I left my back pack on the rocks and continued my walk on the rocks. The trail is on the curves of the rock. The width was just 1 feet and its narrower at most of the spots. On its side is the water pool at a depth of 50 feet.

Anyway reached to the flat surface safely. I sought help from Sanjeev with telling him that I have left my back pack high up. Once he got to know of that, he immediately left out, climbed the rocks and fetched my back pack to me. Thanks Sanjeev

Continued with clicking the people jumping into the pool.

Sometimes there were three guys clicking photographs and it was fun being the director of photography and coordinating the people who are diving into the pool to synchronize with the shutterbugs. Often I was asking the cameramen, “Hey Are you ready?”. Then asking the divers “Are you ready?”. Then shouting One, Two, Three. Thud comes the sound with people jumping into the pool. The result from the cameramen are now making rounds in email with cherishing the memories of the trek.

After the group photo shoot Sanjeev, Chandru, Divya and Venkatesh left for the day.

After some time, I got offered of the swim tube from Sriram. Blew the tube, worn it and went into the pool. Karthik was there to assist me to go near the water falls. The support that I needed from time to time did not get dearth of it from people in the group. I enjoyed the trek just due to the cohesive support from the people around; lending their helping hand whenever I am in need. This made me overcome my tiredness and got me strength to make the move ahead.

The 3rd pool then witnessed the cooking of the Maggie noodles for the lunch.

There was a dog which was roaming around. Its usual that dogs join with the people during treks and usually people seek the guidance of the dog to know the correct trail to move further. You will surely reach your base if you follow this canine. Trust worthy formula.

The announcement of lunch was given out, I promptly left the pool and fell in the beeline for the food. The very reason was that, I should keep my pace ahead while the whole group starts the trek downwards. Finished eating, then it was time for us to leave. Anyway, the fact that we needed to leave the place after the last foodie time, game me some sad moments. But the trek downwards kept me busy.

Second pool passed. Some of the people fetched water in their bottles, meanwhile I got to quench my thirst. I was dearth of energy and water was a refresher for my energy. I was particular to make my back pack lighter and was not carrying water bottle. Often I sought help from others to quench my thirst. Thanks Sriram for helping out in need. You carried that extra kg which we and mostly me who had quenched thirst.

The dog which was loitering at the 3rd pool had been keeping pace with us. Then came the First pool. We were about 10 people keeping ahead in the group and we had the benefit of taking rest till the people behind reach us. Few people ventured into the pool. I sat on the bank and tried to get the fish bite experience. Only two fishes were there to give me the fish cure. Then it was time to wind up as the people have reached us.

We were about to leave and one guy, a non swimmer caught in the mid of the water pool. Others alerted of the danger and the SOS call was immediately attended. Karthik swiftly went into the pool and sorted out the bad situation. The guy was safely moved out and we continued our walk.

We reached the final water crossing and had a taste of the crystal clear water. Anyway this is the last sighting of the water for us. We left after this five minute break. Continued walking on the flat trail which was free of boulders. It was easy going from now on.

At a point, we got good view of the Nagala hills. So everyone stopped there. After the whole group converged, we did a group photo shoot. Then continued reaching the van.

Dusk was fast approaching. Then, I planned to do silhouette photography.

The sun had settled down. If this silhouetting was done a half hour before, the sun may have been brighter and silhouetting may had been a more perfect one.

We reached the van, the canine was ahead of us and it was seen waiting near the van. Expense calculation were done and we paid the extra amount of Rs.250. The total expense of the trek came to Rs.750/-

After getting changed in our attire from the trekking to the casuals, all the people hopped on to the van. It was a crowded vehicle moving on the road filled with pebbles. The driver was kind enough to accommodate. Usually van drivers turn down any crowd situation and shove away driving on improper roads. This driver was a friendly man coping with the timely need of the group.

The car parking area was about 1 km away and we reached the spot.

There was one car and one Royal Enfield bullet. Since Sriram’s car had vacant seats, I opted to go in the car. Once we people left the van, the localite who was waiting near there got paid of Rs.250. This is a goodwill amount paid to him in the hope that he takes care of the vehicles and prevent any theft. The van left the spot. We left the back packs in the car and got seated and was about to leave.

Alex was not able to start the bullet, just then knocked the window of the car. We stopped and knew from him that the fuel in the Royal Enfield was stolen. The localite was then asked why we need to pay him the money if they can allow the fuel to be stolen. Gokul rightly got back the amount after argument. The localite helped the people in guiding to a nearby shop to buy petrol. After some 15 minutes, Sriram’s car came back with petrol in a bottle. The bullet then came to life and roared with the thumps. As Alex rode ahead, we followed him on Sriram’s swift car. The local guy who was standing at the road junction was briefed about the bad situation we were put in. He escaped with putting an argument in his favour. There was no benefit of having a toothless argument with him, we pushed off from the village.

The road is free of any traffic and very few vehicles were making their presence. Gokul was driving the vehicle and cursing the oncoming few vehicles since they were coming with their head lights in high beam. Then only we came to know from Sriram that its offence in USA if you drive your vehicle with headlights in the high beam with an oncoming vehicle within 200 feet. Why not such good rules are promulgated in our country? More than 90% of vehicle users do not know the road rules in India. Even if you do not know any of the road rules, you can buy a Driving Licence in India with ease. The end result is the loss of precious lives due to careless driving of the people here in our country. Had there been stringent rules in our country, had the RTO take the task of penalising the offenders, had the system of Issuing licences without proper driving tests are curbed, we might have a comfortable driving experience. As long as corruption finds good time in our Regional Transport Offices, we need to encounter such bad road experiences.

Further driving on the highways, we got to see Alex cruising on the bullet. Realized that he was still on the look out for a petrol bunk to top the bullet’s fuel resource. After some distance, he ran out of fuel and stopped the vehicle. This was Andhra Pradesh. Now came in search of petrol bunk in the Tamil Nadu area, found one nearby, filled the bottle with petrol. Went back to Andhra Pradesh, topped up the fuel for Alex to continue his journey further.

All of us then reached a town and found out a hotel, had enough filling for our stomach. From there Gokul preferred the Ponamalee high road, and we reached the outskirts of Chennai at around 10.00 p.m. Gokul got dropped at his residence and Sriram continued driving. We reached West Mambalam and Ajay got down. Once nearer to the Mambalam railway station I bid adieu to Sriram. I later reached Palavanthal railway station by EMU train then caught an Auto rickshaw and went to my brother’s residence at Nanganallur in Chennai. The time was around 12.00 a.m. The feeling of having completed the trek successfully was so awesome.

To have a look at the complete set of my photos, click here and here

The Hand Crafting at Royal Enfield

2011-06-12T11:05:00.003+05:30

As one come across any Ad by Royal Enfield, it says "Handcrafted in Chennai".

Yesterday, I got to go for a guided tour of the Royal Enfield factory situated at Tiruvottiyur in Chennai. This meetup is called tweetup, which is for the twitter fans of RoyalEnfield.

Got the luck to see the real handcrafting of petrol tanks of the bullet.

Had a short chat with Mr.Jai Kumar who is doing this real awesome job of handcrafting for the past more than one & a half decade.

The Trek Polama experience

2011-06-09T23:54:00.002+05:30

I have been a member of CTC for quite more than a year. But the hardest fact is that, I have not participated even in any single trek so far. Being a member of the online group of CTC, I get the email updates of the treks posted by people who have finished their forest trips. This has made me contended of empowerment of knowledge of the forests and the eco system existing in South India. Myself being farther from Chennai (Cuddalore is 200kms away) its a challenge to join in the treks organized by the Chennai Trekking Club given my 6 day work week.

But, I am sure to make to one of the treks in the near future.

The symposium "Trek Polama" happened on Sunday, the 27^th of March'11 at the IIT –Madras campus. Being a Sunday, I am lucky to make to the event.

After my office on Saturday, caught the bus from Pondy to Chennai. Got to reach my Chennai home in the night, have dinner and then go check the internet and update my travel plans for the next day.

The bird walk is the first gala opener in this event and it was scheduled at 5.30 a.m. Spoke on mobile with Kartik Kannan who is living at Madipakkam to know on how to go about the next day. He is coming by Nanganallur and myself wanted to join him & bike pooled to IIT campus.

As planned, in the morning, we were to catch up at the Roja Medicals at Nanganallur. Alas Kartik missed the path and came to the spot after some hard efforts. Thanks Kartik for all the help at that odd hour.

Then we went to Kartik’s house and his wife Janani joined us for Trek Polama. From Madikpakkam we three got in two bikes and went into the IIT Campus through the Velachery side entrance. Man!! it was very near. I earlier thought that Nanganallur was en-route for Kartik and he will be going to GST road and then reach IIT-M.

If not for Kartik, I would have travelled to IIT-M through the GST road and might have travelled double the distance at that odd hour. He took arduous task of coming down from Madipakkam to Nanganallur, getting confused with the roads, driving some extra kilometers and finally catching me at the Roja medicals and then conveying me back to his house and we finally reached IIT through Velachery.

The Bird Walk is at 5.30 a.m. and we were amply on time.

Deepak my friend and the coordinator (an ornithologist) of this bird walk were there. Got to the see Deepak after so long a time.

And that's Janani and Kartik...

There were some 40 people ready for the walk and it exactly started at 5.30 a.m. with Deepak segregating the people into two groups and giving directions for us to go ahead. We joined with the first group and Ponniah was the knowledge person who explained about the different names of the birds. Whooa, these many birds!!

That's Ponniah, explaining about the birds...

I never imagined of so such large forest area inside the IIT-M campus. I was pretty dumb struck with the vastness of the woods and the existence of large ponds and greenery inside the IIT campus.

There was one bird which Ponniah told of the rarity kinda. I happened to click this pic on my cam. But, since it was too far away, it was not too clear. I am sure you are able to see that bird in the above pic. Just then the bird flew away. Ponniah asked if anybody have clicked it and he direly need the picture of this rare bird. Though it was too blurred picture, it was just a memorable click. The name of the bird is orange brested green pigeon.

It was observed that few of the bird walkers were clicking their cameras with “FLASH ON”. This resulted in the birds flying off due to frightening. I realized this after half way into the event and prompted them to swith off their flashes. My kind advise to newbie photographers is not to use the flash while you click in the wild. The forest or the woods is for the birds and the animals and we are actually guests there. So keep in mind not to disturb them. Also, your effort to capture them in your camera is defeated if your flash is ON.

Then the time ticked past 7.00 a.m. and it was a time to cling on to “Basic Photography” session scheduled at the CLT auditorium which is around 1 km away from these woods. So we bid adieu to the bird walkers. Kartik, his wife Janani and myself walked past to the audi.

It was nearing 7.30 and Kartik and his wife went for breakfast. I skipped breakfast and went on to catch the Photography session at the audi. Lucky me, Bhagat of Makka Sudios who is giving this session is yet to come and start.

When I got into the audi, Rajnikanth, the coordinator for the session was introducing the participants.

Finally Bhagat arrived and started the session. He continued with telling about the intrinsic details involved in photography. He started the introduction session with querying the participants on how they started into photography. It was an interesting session. It would have been a more interesting one, if he shared his works with us and explained on how to get a better photograph.

It was around 9.30 a.m. when the event kick started with Peter and a senior professor from IIT-M giving the intro talk.

Then Peter gave the session on Maps, GPS and Navigation session. Surprised to know of the vast of information available for anyone to learn. The way the trails are discovered using different kinda maps are mesmerizing. It was an awesome session with Peter throwing us knowledge on the various maps available.

The treasure hunt is in progress. Seems someone has succeeded hunting the treasure.

Then there was a session by Mr.Rass's on the restoration of Adyar poonga. The spot which once was a place full of mounds of filth have been turned into a nice eco park in about 5 years. Half a decade back the same spot was with rubbish which were shown through photos and the tireless effort by him did bear fruit with now the park in Chennai inviting people to enjoy, as well as the species which work in balancing the eco system of the estuary to live. He showed the photos of Auroville taken during the 1968 and the present scenario. Awestruck to know that Auroville was once a barren place and now the vegetation has developed a green canopy with continuous efforts of the people. Ross has played a vital role in that too. He himself pats down that these works are only a drop in a bucket of water; there are still mountains of work that need to be done in the current scenario to restore our environment.

Then came Sujai’s talk on mountaineering. This guy has completed mountaineering course and have successfully done mountaineering upto 17,000 feet. Whoooaaah. He gave a presentation which had the pics of the mountaineering tools that were needed if you wanna trek the higher altitudes. Such a crisp and clear details and a simple and powerful presentation made the audience decide to go for a mountaineering. 4 institutes run by the government are there in our country which makes the people get trained to climb the mountains. The fact is that, the fees for a full month course is Rs.4,000 and it comprises of food, accommodation and the training. The actual expense towards this mountaineering course is 5 fold which is taken care by the government of India.

Had a tasty lunch...

Post lunch session was a talk on “The Snakes of India” by Sujan Bernard. We were spell bound on seeing the nice photographs of those magnificent species. He gave a demo on how to handle a snake bite. He gave some of the interesting facts about the snakes. If an agriculture field has many snakes, it means that the field is fertile. Ohhhh! So far, I only thought that snakes in the fields are bad for the human visitors. Got to know of the actual fact behind the existence of the snakes.

Then there was a session by noted noted wild life activist Mr.Shekar Dattatri . He elucidated on the efforts against mining taken by him to restore the eco system on Kudremukh. He pepped us on how we the nature conscious trekkers can do their bit in safeguarding the wild, as well as create awareness through the internet.

Then came the talk on how to build your own cost effective houses by yourself. The trend to build yourself an house will definitely cut costs. This system of using the unburnt bricks and the non dependence of the cement goes a long way in making an environment friendly method. She is to start constructing houses made of bamboo and wet bricks in different places around Chennai. I am interested to make a visit to the bamboo house while it being built. Let’s see.

Then came the session “Photography paadhi, post processing paadhi” by Ashok Saravanan. We were given an astonishing act. A portrait photograph which had a dark face and a bright background was processed and the face was brightened. But I understand that this could be done by people who own a DSLR and not me as I have only a P&S camera.

Its now past dusk. A panel discussion on eco conservation called “TrekX” came up.

Eminent people were present in the discussion. Noted environmentalist Mr.Sekar Dattatri made for a thought provoking discussion. The things that I minuted out of this discussion were...
1.)The forest is home for the wild animals, we the trekkers are actually the guests. Keep in mind that you are peeping into the privacy of the wild. Be a responsible trekker. Do not disturb them.
2.) Its not a tour that you go into the forests. It is actually a home to a variety of species. Even if you are sure that you are not disturbing the forest eco system, your foot steps are actually killing a small number of speicies that are living on the soil. Mind it.
3.)Do not make unnecessary noise while in the forests. You are actually disturbing the animals there. Actually you are a guest, obey accordingly.
4.) Make sure that your attire is not of alluring colour. Animals are not comfortable.
5.) Keep your group size to the minimum.

Actually the one day Trek Polama event had given me a lot of knowledge on the forests and the wild life. Had I been not there, I would be poorer of the empowerment of the knowledge on the forest eco system, birds, photography, eco conservation, cost-effective housing, mapping, snakes, mountains, mountaineering, etc, etc..,

I bet that, it’s a very rare kinda to get empowered of a vast and diverse knowledge in a single day. My kudos to Chennai Trekking Club.

Come on Chennai, Come on CTC. May the treks go on for ever. May the people like me learn more on forests.

More of the photos are available at my FaceBook. Don't miss them

Last but not the least; My big thanks to the team which has missed their sleep for days & nights together; put in their effort to make this a successful event.

Photographic moments

2011-04-11T22:19:00.000+05:30

Yesterday, a Sunday evening, went to the cuddalore beach with my friend Vasanth. Vasanth is a colleague of mine, a budding photo hobbyist and has done a Diploma in Cine Direction. Months ago we went and did long exposure shots of moving vehicles at the Beach road when the dusk was approaching.

This time when we went for a stroll there were too much of crowd. We went walking to the South most end of the beach where it was less of crowd and one can get to see the Sun setting down. It was a perfect evening with the sky being clear.

Did a portaiture as well a silhoutte with Vasanth as the subject. There was no photoshopping rather a water mark.

Camera: FujiFilm JZ300 (P & S)
Place: Silver Beach, Devanampattinam, Cuddalore

The Rock Band Show at Pondy Beach

2011-04-10T21:34:00.000+05:30

Happened to go and see the "Live Music"at Pondy beach near to Le Cafe. This Rock Band show hosts performance of bands from different cities. One of my friend Mr.Sidhharth DJs for this program.

It was a wonderful evening got immersed in the blast of the rock music.
This program is organised by Dept. of Tourism, Pondicherry. Rock band teams who wanna make jazz at this show can ping pondyjam@gmail.com.
Some more photos are here at my FaceBook.

TrekPolama - The First largest Trekking Symposium in India

2011-03-24T21:54:00.001+05:30

Conducted for the trekkers, of the trekkers and by the trekkers, “Trek Polama!” is a yearly event by The Chennai Trekking Club. Lovingly called the CTC, the club was founded in 2008 with the main aim to get the adventurous souls of Chennai together and to discover the unexplored locations in and around Chennai.

With over 1000 participants last year, “Trek Polama?” was a base for existing trekkers and new enthusiasts to explore new avenues. This year, in collaboration with ecoLogin, an alternate tourism service provider, CTC presents the event at the CLT Auditorium ,IIT Madras Campus on Sunday, the 27th March, 2011.

Trek Polama! has both indoor and outdoor events. The event kicks off with a Bird Walk at 5.30 am followed by a Hands On Session about the Basics of Photography. A wonderful opportunity to explore the rare thing called forest in our metro Chennai. The indoor session starts at 9.00 am with sessions on GPS / Map reading / Trail planning, Navigation. Mountaineering, The Snakes of India, Post Processing of Photographs etc and will go on till 6.30 pm.

Eminent speakers like Shekkar Dattatri, Sujaan Bernard, Anupama will be coming in to give Guest Lectures on topics ranging from "Wild life videography - how it contributes to conservation" , "Build cost effective environmental friendly house with your own hands" to " The Snakes in India". In addition , there is a Biking workshop and fun events like Treasure Hunt and Outdoor Climbing Activities.

The schedule is

5.30 a.m.    - Bird walk
7.00 a.m.    - Awaken your 3rd eye - Outdoor Photoshoot
9.00 a.m.    - Curtains open for Trek Polama!!!
9.30 a.m. - Pave your way - GPS / Map reading / Trail planning ...
10.00 a.m. - Treasure Hunt
11.00 a.m. - Beyond Trekking - What next
11.00 a.m. - Know your Ride - Bike workshop
12.00 noon - Basics of Mountaineering
1.00 p.m.   - Lunch
2.00 p.m.   - Scale with the wrigglers - Snakes of India
2.30 p.m.   - Canopy Crapers - Outdoor climbing...
3.30 p.m.   - Photography Padhi, post processign padhi
6.00 p.m.   - TrekX - Panel Discussion

Though "Bird Walk' & "Outdoor Photoshoot" require pre-registration, the event is open for the Public and everyone is invited to take part in it. “Trek Polama!” promises to awaken the inner trekker in you, again this year. Its synonymous that CTC's events attract much of the crowd, so be aware. Do not miss to buy your Lunch Token by 10.30 a.m. itself!!

I have long been a member in CTC's google group, but so far have not taken part in any of the event. The primary reason being far away at Cuddalore (nearly 200 kms from Chennai). This is the first time I have got to take a plunge in the fun. I shall be leaving Cuddalore on Saturday evening to Chennai. Staying at Nanganallur and catching up the first event called "Bird Walk" at 5.30 a.m. at the IIT-Madras campus. If you are there, buzz me. Let's catch up.

Visit the official website of CTC at http://www.chennaitrekkers.org

Catch'em up the Face Book event page here

Get the lively email updates of the musings of CTC by joining the Google Group

Bharathanatya Arangetram at Cuddalore

2011-02-28T22:18:00.000+05:30

Getting a chance to witness an event like Bharathanatyam would be of too little probability for me. These classical events do happen at temples during festivals and that too some what a crowdy one with little chances to feel the real bliss.

But on 26th Feb, there happened a Bharathanatya Arangetram at the Subburaualu Thirumana Nilayam in my town Cuddalore. The event was a perfect one, with the big hall filled to its capacity and the audience maintaining stoic discipline while enjoying the event. Seven little girls performed their Arangetram. Rendering of the music by the stalwarts did add the perfect touch to the event. The stage lighting was perfect and gave the enough ambience needed for such a classical event.

Some pics here...

This event was conducted by the Annai Subbammal Natyalaya in Cuddalore. Though I am yet to know where this dance school is situated, got to know their number to be 9443285376. Should call them up and get to know of any similar events organised by them in the future. Should never miss it.
More photos of the event are available at my FaceBook page here.
Photos published here were of minimized resolution to augment the bandwidth constraints. In case you need full resolution pics, please buzz me at 9944945559.

Few of the clicks from the MRF Formula Championship 2011 event

2011-02-08T23:17:00.000+05:30

The event was so awesome and had my greatest moments of clicking the high speed beasts on the race track. As it will take some time to post all the pics here and write a narration of my experience..,, here comes a few clicks for you to relish

One of the panned shots of the Formula1600 car zipping past on the race track during the event.

The stunt bikers from the US giving out the spine chilling moments.

Those spine chilling acts were so dangerous, but the stunt bikers performed those daring acts at ease..

Those two bikers on the air, are just one fourth of a second away in their take off. Just a small error will prove fatal.

After the stunt, those men were cheered by the girls.

A race car getting past through through the traditional operating procedure.

Ofcourse, the tyres with the muscle proved its mettle for the daring drivers to zip past their machines with atmost confidence. A lot of permutations and combinations in designing of these tyres by my colleagues here at MRF have quizzed the litmus test to be right in every type of races coming out from the staples of MRF.

The fastest bikes of its kind are zipping past through the MRF arch.

Our MD Mr.Arun Mammen with the Fastest Indian on Earth Mr.Narain Karthikeyan during the prize distribution.

And here is yours truly, just trying to sit inside one of the model MRF formula car. Man, its too tight a cabin. Howzt these formidable drivers sitting in it and that too riding it at incredible speeds...

Stay tuned folks, yours truely will give you an awesome moments on this blog.

And, if you have missed this event on 7th Feb'11,, Don't worry, just be there at the same venue on 13th Feb'11 to watch the second racing event of the season.

MRF Formula Championship 2011

2011-02-05T21:39:00.000+05:30

The racing season from MRF has started. Tomo, the racing track at the Madras Motor Sports Club in Irunagaatukottai gonna witness the prowling thumpets of the beasts from the Staples of MRF. The event starts 15 minutes past 10.00 a.m. and has two categories of two wheelers (sub 200CC and 600CC) and 1000CC cars and the formidable 1600CC Formula3 Cars. The event is set to settle the dust at around 5.00 p.m for the day.

Me and my friends gonna start our journey from Cuddalore tomo morning 4.00 a.m. to Chennai. If you are there at the event, shall catchup and have some good moments clicking the racing beasts.

MRF Festival of Speed - India 2010 - Event photos & videos

2011-02-01T22:02:00.000+05:30

A cloudy, cool Sunday and it was 22nd Day of August 2010, when the bike racing event called "MRF Festival of Speed - India 2010" took place at Madras Racing Track at Irungaatukottai.

I hear you asking, "Hey, Why you are writing that now?"

Yup, though I wrote a couple of articles about this event here and here, its 5 months now and I really missed writing out a bit of travelogue of the event.

Again I hear you asking "Hey, how come you realize that fact now?"

Yup, the next racing season has started and the racing beasts from the energetic staples of MRF is set to prowl at the same Racing Track of the Madras Motor Sports Club at Irunagaatukottai on Feb 5 & 6 and 12 & 13. Get set for that.

Now, a few photos and an interesting video about the previous year event is here for giving you a bit of appetizer.

During the event, I managed to click a few pictures videos on my digital camera.

The 600 CC bike racers getting ready to plunge into the race track. Racing teams from 8 different countries participated in this event. The 600 CC are the fastest bikes in that event.

The following four pictures are the ones in which the photography technique called "panning" was achieved at its best.

"Panning" is a photography technique in which the camera should be moved relative to the moving race vehicle and simultaneously clicked. If done successfully, the race bike appears still as in the above pictures and the background appears distorted, giving us a visual treat of racing effect in the still photograph. If not done correctly, everything appears still, which kills the racing effect in the picture. It was a challenge to capture these high speed machines within the picture frame with my Point & Shoot digital camera FujiFilm JZ300. But the end result was quite good for us to relish now.

During the afternoon, there was little rain, after which an interesting demo by the most popular Indian Formula1 driver Mr.Narain Karthikeyan took place. Thats Mr.Narain, plunging the MRF Formula car into the race track.

He spun the MRF Formula 1600 car on the wet race track and made the smoke to engulf the whole vehicle, at one moment the car was hardly visible due to the abundance of smoke. Please switch on audio speakers to hear the thumping engines of the Formula Car and the screeching sounds of our MRF tyres.
After the performance he had commented that Our MRF Formula tyres were good on wet track too.

Managed to click a snap with Mr.Narain after he finished the demo.

In the middle is Mr.Ashwin who is the fastest driver in Formula 1600 category, on to the left is Mr.Murali of our MRF Power House(which is situated near to the Irungaatukottai). I am sure that he will be the winner for this upcoming racing event. Hope to see him flash the winning cup on 13th Feb 2011.
Best wishes Ashwin...

The bikes of Honda Stunner making the start in the race. Since there was rain, photography could not be done further.

MD of our MRF Ltd., was there and gave away the prizes to the winners of the Honda Stunner category. Third prize was won by an Indian while the first and second prizes went to the foreigners.

Plenty of pics clicked during the event are available on my FaceBook page. Please click here and view them. I am sure you will enjoy.
Shall come back shortly with the details of the upcoming racing event this weekend.
And if you have plenty of time, here is a bit long photologue of the MRF International Racing Challenge which happened during Feb 2010.

A click while travelling by train

2011-01-03T22:40:00.000+05:30

A farmer toiling the land.
Happened to click this pic while travelling on the train from Cuddalore to Villupuram

Camera: FujiFilm JZ300

A click at my relative's wedding

2010-12-17T23:50:00.000+05:30

The Indian Wedding

Place: Kumbakonam

Date: 12 Dec 2010

Camera: FujiFilm JZ300 (P & S)

Clicked to my hearts content at TiECon Chennai 2010

2010-11-28T22:32:00.000+05:30

The TiECON Chennai 2010 event which happened at the Chennai Convention Centre on 24 Nov was really a good one. I had the opportunity to hear some of the wonderful talks by the doyens of business houses in Tamil Nadu.

I was part of the Social Media team to cover the event. During any of the mega events such as this kinda, it is the usual thingy that media houses and the press come in and cover the event. Now with the advent of Internet and the Web 2.0 making the buzz, there is another addition called Social Media. A group of 20 people got to be there in this Social Media team.

What does the Social Media Team do?

Social Media comprises of publishing out Blog updates, Twitter updates and FaceBook updates. The people in the team who has got into this volunteer sort of work have different kinda tasks assigned to them. These set of people converge out of purely on their own interest. I got an interest in photography and so I was one of the official photographers of this event as part of this social media team. At the event a set of people sit before their computer at the venue, hear the talk and publish out the live updates through the internet. Simply speaking, this is pumping in the Google juice into the internet. This is actually this work seems so simple and cost effective. But, its the reach that makes it a powerful one over the other kind of media. People interested about the event and living far off (may be in the other side of the globe) would be following the event to get updated on the happenings of this conference. They get updated of the happenings with just an internet connected device. Social Media has come into play to be a powerful tool to spread the message instantly far and wide and at a negligible least cost. The social media team actually does its service for free out of self interest of the team members. The updates that gets published gets archived and its a rich repository to be referred in the days and years to come.

I got to be there as a photographer in the social media team. Got to click the moments of TiECON Chennai 2010.

The whole set of 136 photos are here for you to relish.

Camera Used: FujiFilm JZ300 (P & S)

Official photographer for TiECon Chennai 2010

2010-11-22T22:51:00.001+05:30

What is TiE?

Browse through the slides below...

TiE - AN OVERVIEW

The mega event called TiECON Chennai is happening on 24th.

Its fortunate moment to be with the team of Social Media Journalists. I am one of the official photographers for this event.

Here is the agenda of this interesting event.
Shall come back with interesting clicks made at this event.

Clicking of Diwali moments

2010-11-21T20:31:00.001+05:30

This Diwali it was a special one for two reasons.

1. Its my brother's Thalai Diwali

2. Its first diwali for my new digital camera (FujiFilm JZ300) too

The Deepavali Nonbu ritual marks the start of the festive spirit at home and here mum is performing the haarthi to the kalasam.

Amman in the form of kalasam adorns our home twice every year. Once during the Varalakshmi Nonbu which comes during the tamil month of Aadi and the next is during the Deepavali.

The bursting of crackers happened for two days since there was a increase in inflow of the crackers. One bundle which was bought by me and another bundle found its way here once the new ponnu and mappillai (my brother) came back from their home with a big pack of crackers on the afternoon of Deepavali.

On the day of Deepavali we could manage bursting only one fourth of the cracker inventory since everybody were busy with the chores.

On the second day, we decided to finish off the rest. So, we went to the terrace to finish off all the crackers and also do the long shutter photography. My wife got influenced in photography, thanks to the cute little camera from FujiFilm. Gayathri tried some of the clicks, as well, do play with the firecrackers as I was clicking the long shutter pictures.

The ground chakkars did give some appetite followed by playing with some sparklers.

The design 8 being done by the new ponnu Saranya.

The new mappillai(my brother) tried the butterfly as I did this click.

Gayathri doing the circles.

Gayathri doing the star design, alas she has delayed completing it. So, the next try we did with some precision.

The person behind the camera gives the shout while clicking it, the person in front of the camera starts the action of drawing the art on the air. Ahhh, we achieved it. wow. The camera has the maximum of 4 seconds for the long shutter, it required some time for us to get the coordination.

Then Gayathri got to click the camera as I tried to make the sparkler revolve in some random paths. Ahhh, some sparks landed on me too. Should have tried with the kambi mathapu rather than the jaati sparkler. Alas by this time, all the inventory of kambi mathappu have gone dry.

Finally did get one good circle of the fire.

At last, we got tuned with the camera timing and finally got to record the shots with ease.

P.S.

Before starting this fireworks photography we kept a bucket of water nearby with a mug in it. We ensured that, our little kids are farther away from us and somebody should watch them. There is no flammable articles in the path of the slinging sparklers.

If you wanna try it, please ensure you abide to safety precautions. Playing with fire may prove otherwise. But, the pics will give you a festive moment whenever you recall them. That is photography.

Camera: FujiFilm JZ300 (Point & Shoot)

Long shutter delay used: 4 Seconds

Its Diwali time

2010-11-02T21:52:00.000+05:30

We have started our Diwali festive spirit from yesterday.

Direly missing my childhood moments of pestering my Dad and Grandpa to fire those diwali sparklers and crackers and getting the goodies after some interesting moments.

Yesterday tried some photo tricks with the sparklers being lit by my kids. Succeeded in the second pic.

If you have a thought that burning of these fire crackers & sparklers are causing pollution, request you to click here

Happy Diwali to you all.

TEDxChennai on The Hindu's Metro Plus

2010-10-21T21:40:00.000+05:30

It has been a great moment at the TEDxChennai event at the IIT Madras campus. Felt contended of being an Official Photographer and clicking to my heart's content of some of the interesting moments at the event. Its a gratitude of being a part of the volunteers behind this event though remotely from Cuddalore.

The full set of my photos clicked during the event is available here at my FaceBook profile

An interesting article alongwith a group photo on TEDxChennai has appeared in today's Hindu's Metro Plus. Find me standing extreme left in that picture.

TEDxChennai

2010-10-11T21:46:00.000+05:30

Kribs appetized the event with the apples. The event was very good with vibrant speakers mesmerizing the audience.

And here is one of the clicks from the event. Some more pics are available at my FaceBook page here
So far managed to upload some 20+ clicks, some 1o0 more are there to still upload, shall do it soon

Experimenting candle light photography at home

2010-09-27T19:58:00.000+05:30

Long ago we tried this candle light photography with the subject being my toddler son Lokashyam. The occassion was Kaarthigai Deepam and we used some 5 agals (lamps) for lighting. The special experiment motivated my neighbour to get involved in making the baby smile, which helped us to complete the session quickly.

Its really tricky because it was practically impossible to make a toddler to respond to your commands.

Camera used: 3.2MP sony ericsson mobile phone k790i

The experiment was so tricky because my toddler was just 6 months then and should not be put to hardship. Luckily we closed the session withing 10 minutes and getting a wonderful portaiture for our life time.

A peep into the race photos

2010-09-14T22:01:00.001+05:30

As I already told, I happened to click some good photos during the racing event "MRF Festival of SPEED" which happened on 22 August 2010 at the Madras Motor Race Track at Irungattukottai.

Just now finished uploading the complete set of my photos clicked during the event. I am sure that you will relish browsing through the photographs.

Had the opportunity to click with the First F1 driver from India Mr.Narain Karthikeyan.

The full set is available at my FaceBook page here.

I had shared some of the pics with my colleagues at office, many of them did not believe that these photos were clicked using a simple point and shoot camera. Anyway feedback like these is giving me enough motivation. Thank you folks., stay tuned for the full story about the event

Its Vinayaka Chathurthi at home

2010-09-11T13:29:00.001+05:30

Its Lord Vinayaka at my home
Chathurthi celebs were just over
Finished a sumptuous lunch with some kolukattais

What makes Chennai special on 10.10.2010?

2010-08-30T19:08:00.003+05:30

Rasmus Ankersen

Rasmus Ankersen published his first book “DNA of a Winner” at 22 years old. The book became a bestseller and led Rasmus to follow up the success with “Leader DNA” and “Raising a Winner”.

At age 25 he wrote three bestsellers. His desire to understand the code that unlocks World Class performance led him to be head coach of the first soccer academy in Scandinavia, which has produced several international top players. Also he was a mental coach for the Danish youth national soccer teams and has also and still is working as personal coach for several World Class athletes. The last six months Rasmus has been traveling around the world visiting the world’s most successful performance hotbeds. The result is his first international book “Shocking Truths – How to grow a super-athlete” which will be published World Wide this year.

Also in the business field Rasmus’ work has had a huge impact. He is speaking about “The Gold Mine Effect” for organizations and companies all over the world. Last year he spoke at the famous TED University in Oxford. Also Rasmus is advising executives how to create an environment, which fires up human potential. In his home country Denmark he has been awarded as one of the three biggest business talents and recently the prime minister invited him to contribute with a chapter to his upcoming book, which is going to define “The Danish Dream”.

Today Rasmus lives in London from where he controls all his projects. Based on his findings in The Gold Mines around the world he is just about to build one the most visionary soccer academies ever seen. Late 2010 he will launch the first part of it in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Another vision is to build a running academy in Ethiopia with the ambition to take running to a whole new level. Together with his researchers Rasmus is also working on another book release in 2011, “Hunger in Paradise”, about how the rules for motivation and leadership will change dramatically in the future.

Our king blogger Kiruba has been the brain behind the great event called TEDxChennai. Both these men had got the opportunity to meet at Oxford. Kribs had invited Rasmus to Chennai for giving a Ted talk which he has obliged.
So, Rasmus would be making this years TEDxChennai a wonderful one.
Ok
I hear you asking, why you jump off without selecting speakers from Namma Chennai.
Yes, we answer your Big Q here with the whole list of speakers who gonna make this TEDxChennai a more spicy one.

The earlier event of TEDxChennai happened on 29Nov'09, and I am sure you like some of my pics of the 2009 edition here

Stay tuned for the upcoming TEDxChennai event on 10.10.10. More details here

A panned shot of the racing bike

2010-08-23T22:17:00.000+05:30

Went for the racing event "MRF Festival of SPEED" which happened on 22 August 2010 at the Madras Motor Race Track at Irungattukottai.

Seen above is the panned shot of a 600 CC racing bike.
Camera used: FujiFilm JZ300 (Point & Shoot)

A workshop on Real Time Biosurveillance Program by RTBI

2010-08-02T21:35:00.000+05:30

Biosurveillance – What does it mean?

Keeping tab on outbreak of diseases. Its done by the Health Department of our Government of Tamil Nadu in our state. So far I do not have any knowledge on this subject.

Fortunate to get invited by Prof.Ashok Jhunjhunwala from IITM for a press conference on “Real Time Bio-surveillance Program” on the afternoon on 7th July’10.

But there was an interesting workshop which preceded this press conference which pulled me to arrive there in the forenoon itself. After attending this session at the Research Park campus at the IITM, came to know of many of the interesting aspects involved in such an exercise.

How the present system of bio surveillance works?

The first of the information such as symptoms of the disease / epidemic gets to be known to the nurses working for the concerned village, probably attached to the Village Health Centre or the Primary Health Centre.

This exercise involves the nurse to record various data in a form as provided by the government. Each of the nurses have a few villages for them to cover and they go far into these places carrying bundles of forms which may weigh nearly 7 Kilos in total. They get to record the diseases and the various attributes as need to be noted in the form. End of the day, they go back to their office and submit these forms. Even if there is no disease or any symptom, “Null” gets reported for the day. These forms go to Primary Health Centre and finally to the Deputy Directorate of Health Services. The movement of the paper which might have taken not less than 15 days of journey finally ends at District Health Centre where the data is then fed into the central server of the Health Department.

With the umpteen number of human intervention and multiple modes of transport, the time between the info received by the village nurse and the data recorded into the server will take not less than 15 days, sometimes a month.

Given the vitality of the information during an epidemic, the response that could be taken based on this system gets to play a spoil sport. It takes some 3 to 5 weeks to know the health statistics of the population.

What if this whole system responds in an instantaneous manner??

The Rural Technology Business Incubator is pushing into play a new project called Real Time Bio-surveillance Program (RTBP) which is going to make the need of a paper and pen almost to null.

All it needs is a simple JAVA based mobile phone with GPRS connection. Once the project which is now in pilot is successfully implemented in our country, the story of nurses carrying 7 Kilos of paper bundles will be talked as if it was a Stone Age practice. The time to get the data recorded into the Health Dept’s server is almost instantaneous. This pilot project is getting tuned at the backyards of our own Tamil Nadu in the district called Sivaganga.

He is Dr.Raghupathy, Deputy Director of Health Services, Sivaganga District. Implementing this project is not an easy task. The work involves an additional burden right from the Deputy Director till the Village Health Nurse. But given the benefit of near instantaneous response this project going to gift us in the near future, their toil is worth it.

How this new system of bio surveillance works?

The village nurse gets to click a link on their java phone and download the software in it. This software gives out a form where they record the data. Initially the records needed to be typed for each of the alphabets, which was not only cumbersome and time consuming but also increases the probability of error to creep into the system. But the tech team back at RTBI has made little changes to it. Now typing the letter A will give suggestion for diseases starting with “A”. Just go down and click, its recorded.

I thought these nurses would be having difficulty in using English. But during the Q hour, I got my thought beaten down. One of the Nurses asserts that, it was too much easy for them now to use English in her mobile phone. She votes for English to use in her mobile phone.

Such an advancement in our home land. WOW

Literally they have not used their phone for anything other than making/receiving a call. Now they have mastered their phone. All this has not happened in two days, but more than a year in implementation and with the field project associates of the RTBP constantly motivating them and responding to their queries to assist them in trouble shooting their queries. There were instances where the whole software was deleted from the phone.

Its exciting to know that such a project is going to deliver a robust emergency preparedness module for our country in times of any health hazard. As if to eliminate the chances of errors in a typical keying in routine, Prof.Padmashri Ashok Jhunjhunwala has quipped that this project will soon be getting a voice based response system which should eliminate the need of typing and a computer directly interacts through voice with the village health nurse and records the data into the central database.

“This project was not about just meeting its objectives, both at research and in implementation. It was about seeing it through as it is genuinely perceived as a way to go, path to future. RTBI in Chennai, LirneAsia from Sri Lanka, Auto Lab from USA and National Centre for Biological Sciences in Banglore, though not only joined hands with different skill sets (Technology, Research, Implementation and Liaison with Government respectively) but also are striving to achieve one goal as in how this project can be integrated to mainstream processes, scalable not just in Tamil Nadu but across our country India. The intent is not to eliminate paper alone, but how can we get across the information faster and in a more effective manner. After all, we still do carry notepad to take notes, but at the end of the day email/call to get the word across faster” quips Suma Prashant the Vice President of Exploratory Initiatives of RTBI, IIT-Madras and she fails not to mention that it is her team that saw this through, and adds on to give due credit to Dr. Ganesan, Ms. Vincy and Mr.Janakiraman.

If you feel of direly missing this one day workshop, I am sure your visit to my FaceBook photos will quench you a little.

Brother's wedding

2010-07-21T20:14:00.000+05:30

Brother's wedding went on well, the wedding happened at Tindivanam on June 24 and reception at Cuddalore happened on the evening of June 26.

Brother's getting married soon

2010-06-22T23:29:00.001+05:30

Brother is getting married on 24th June, so, preparations are on...

Bro selecting his suite. Made it at the John Players showroom at T Nagar in Chennai.

This was the suite which was bought finally.

Grandma, Daddy and my wife sorting out the sarees to be given out to relatives.

Pandhagal function which marks the start of the wedding function happened on Sunday 20 June'10 at our home in Cuddalore.

Nalungu being done by my aunt.

Haarthi being done at the end of the nalungu function.

Now we are packing up for the journey to Tindivanam tomorrow for the wedding. Shall update with some more pictures after the function.

Little bike smash by my neighour's son

2010-06-08T22:03:00.001+05:30

My neighbour Selvam Anna's brother Sathya Anna had bought a new Suzuki Access 125 scooter yesterday. Today they have gone to temple, performed rituals and brought the new bike back home.

Selvam Anna brought that brand new scooter to his house just a few hours back. He has a daughter and son , both around 14 years old. These two siblings had got to try something anew with the brand new bike.

I had then returned home after a few trips for my tiny tots on my dad’s TVS-50 moped; parked it while looking at them experimenting with the new bike. Selvam Anna and his son were standing on the left side of the bike, while his daughter was standing on the right side of the vehicle and she holding a tiny tot (Sathya Anna's son) standing on the bike.

The tiny tot was so curious and has turned on the ignition key. Selvam Anna's son tried to auto start the vehicle and was successful. Now I could see from distance that the head lights glowing on the bike. The curious son has tried to rev up the engine and the new engine was very prompt in response. Selvam Anna was standing at the right side behind the vehicle holding it to stop moving, but his hard efforts proved futile. So the bike just pushed off from the parked position and its gushed forward. His daughter luckily took the little baby off from the vehicle.

Since the bike was moving forward, his son’s hand holding the accelerator was unknowingly revving it up. Selvam Anna was pulling the vehicle from moving and his son without his control was revving up the engines. So bad that, the scooter was pulling off the father son duo with it. The bike turned left then right and reached the other side our narrow street. It had travelled some 20 feet and pulled into the 1 feet wide drainage throwing the two people onto the wall on the side of the road.

Lucky there was not much injury. Selvam Anna got bruises on his leg and his son got little injured on his forehead. The bike had got some little scratches on mirror, side fairing and front shock absorbers.

Thank God.

Though some 2 hours have passed off, I am yet to recover from the shock of myself witnessing that gory incident. Luckily they escaped without any much injury.

If you are having a similar bike with an auto start, be aware that your curious siblings are smart enough to mimic your action. Keep the key of your bike away from the sight of your children.

Suriya's click

2010-06-05T21:39:00.001+05:30

My younger son Lokashyam
This pic was clicked by my elder son Suriya
Love his perfectness in framing the pic the right way
Remember that I told him only once on that subject.

A 180 Kms bike ride

2010-06-04T18:23:00.000+05:30

Brother's wedding is coming up on June 24 and its time to invite relatives and friends. We planned to give out invitations to relatives living bit away to our place Cuddalore.

So, started off the journey on bike with my wife last Sunday (30May'10) at 6.00 a.m.

When we entered the Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC), my speedo got a unique combination with all the digits getting a push. The road was free of any traffic and so I managed to click it as the bike was making little above 40 kmph, ofcourse the pic got little distorted.

Since clicking the speedo while the vehicle is still moving invited unpleasant reactions from my wife, I stopped the bike and clicked the fancy number on my speedo.

The trip was through Cuddalore -> Neyveli -> Vridhachalam -> Ulundurpet -> Periyasevalai -> Panruti -> Cuddalore and we clocked 180 kms.

It was too hot and the high temperature was giving us enough burnouts. My helmet was a respite for me and she managed with a cap and a hanky to cover her face to avoid the heat.

Riding those battered village roads were so much challenging, giving enough pain to the shoulders and my back. Any how we accomplished the work of giving out the invitations to the relatives.

Should I have gone by any other mode of transport, it definitely would have taken more than one day. The thrill quotient added to clocking the longest drive on my bike was hard to forget.

Love my 9 year old Splendor bike for her promising performance on my longest ever drive.

Photo series posts

2010-05-27T18:19:00.002+05:30

Thought of sharing some of my pics here in this blog. So, first in this series is here

thats my younger son Lokashyam
ofcourse, clicking the little ones is so tricky!!

Brother's betrothal

2010-04-22T22:11:00.005+05:30

My brother's betrothal happened last Sunday, the 18th of April '10 at Dindivanam

A few clicks there...