Heaven on Earth

From Santosh Hotel we trekked downwards through deep dense rain forests, piercing through canopy, wading through streams, sliding along valley, slipping on leaves, crossing fallen woods, jumping across boulders, bending along entangled bushes and reached ultimatum. Excitement galore as we reached culmination. That was pure "Heaven on Earth" in middle of dense rain forests of Kollur. The water was pristine, the weather was calm, the plunge was energetic and devoid of any human activity. Fortunately we did not encounter any snakes this time! It was tranquilizer to watch the waterfall thundering down to the deep pool with high energy. The attraction was none other than the beautiful 120 feet Arishinagundi Waterfalls. What a magnificent splendor to watch in middle of deep dense western ghats. Every sweat drop is worth to reach this place. The only sound we could hear was from waterfall and chirping birds. Western ghats are home to many such splendid treasures. Due to absence of civilization, there was not single waste nearby waterfall. We made it this time with help of wonderful guides. We had to climb down for 5kms through thick forests with profuse sweating. It was "Heaven on Earth" as we reached this magnificent sight. Our strain was eradicated after bathing in ice cold water.

Do hear grand orchestral music from Soundlift "Heaven on Earth" on this occassion and feel the passion of western ghats.

SoundLift - Heaven on Earth: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwICEe6q5Zo

Linked to Skywatch Friday

Dr. Srivatsa Menon concert

03 Jan 2014,

After a day long stay in Yana, it is time to immerse myself in musical world. It has been long time since I attended carnatic concert. This was organized on eve of Sode Paryaya completion at Sri Krishna Math, Udupi. It was worth attending too! Sri Menon with his clear saahithya, bhakti and melodious tone, mesmerized the audience. It was equally supported by the accompanies providing full honesty to the concert.

Violin: Sri Ajitkumar
Mridangam: Sri Arun
Ghatam: Sri Krishnakumar

Here are some of the krithis sung during concert

The tuple represents Krithi-Raaga-Composer

1. Sarasuda (Varna) - Saaveri - Patnam Subramanya iyer
2. Rakshamam - GambheeraNattai - Swati Tirunal Maharaja
3. Saadinchene - Aarabhi - Tyagaraja (small neraval and swara prastaara)
4. Sangeetha Jnanamu - Dhanyaasi - Tyagaraja
5. Jnanamosagaraada - PoorviKalyani - Tyagaraja
6. Balagopala - Bhairavi - Mutthuswamy Deekshitar. (One of my favorites. Sung with enoromous devotion and bhaava. Made full honesty to Bhairavi). This was followed by dexterous tani avartanam which vibrated the soul of audience
7. Venkataachala Nilayam - Sindhubhairavi - Purandaradaasa
8. Jagadodharana - Kaapi (Hindustaani Kaapi?) - Purandaradaasa. Simply marvelous rendering :-).
9. Mangalam - Sourashtra+Madhyamaaavati - Tyagaraja

Last Note: Usually artists object the presence of big cameras. Hence I did not dare to open my DSLR :). Took the picture with normal phone.

Last Sunset of 2013

These were Sunset shots snapped during our descent of Kuduremukh western ghats on last day of English Year. Do not mis-interpret it as last sunset on earth. If that was case, I would not been able to write this post anyways ;-). As our car was coasting down the ghats, this show off by nature caught my eyes. How can I miss such a mastery art of nature ;-). I got down from car to the creepy jungle and took some shots. To compose good shots, I did under-expose way down to  -3EV. That created beautiful silhoutte with bright Sun in background. I also took few deep breaths in middle of dense jungle and relished those pure air. That was really rejuvenating. It is soothing experiencing to breath air from western ghats. Whenever I visit western ghats, I drink those pure water from streams and take deep breaths in the serene environment. The intimidating sound out of jungle made me immediately hop into car and resume journey :D. Also there are myriad of monkeys  to disturb your peace :D. Hope you enjoy the Sunset pictures taken on last day of English year.

Speaking of Last Sunset, do hear beautiful music by Simon O Shine "Last Sunset". An intelligent young musician from Poland who is master in uplifting orchestral music. I admire him for his great work "Your Distant World" which was quite popular when it was released.

Simon O Shine "Last Sunset":  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwUPrLY4DZQ

Last Note:

There is some hidden information without which we could not have seen such beautiful sunset. The car tyre got punctured near Kuduremukh :D. The horrendous road from kuduremukh to Horanaadu, ripped off the tyre's skin causing the puncture. We realized it after traveling for few kms (which is typical feature of tubeless tyres).  Fortunately it was in middle of grassland not the forests. We were unaware as how to replace the tyre but my father read manual carefully with which we could replace tyre in 30 minutes. Even though my contribution was less as compared to father and uncle, I learned to replace the tyre with jack and spanner :-). This delay enabled us  to enjoy the beautiful Sunset along kuduremukh western ghats. I was really happy to learn replace the tyre as well enjoy beautiful sunset :-).

The Driver's Cabin - A Nostalgia

This picture was shot during bus journey from Sangama to Mekedaatu. The bus had Udupi registration. Must have been bought from one of transport providers of Udupi. The same dilapidated bus :-) with no rails along window. It has the old TATA 1510 chassis. The cockpit looked flabby :D with minimal parts in working condition (especially the basic elements ;-)]. Not sure if it really requires head lamp :-). The maximum gear transmission it would have seen may be upto 3! It requires quite good experience for shifting such gears ;-).

SUPER LUXURY CABIN ;-)

Band of Colorful Moon

These shots were taken during bright full moon day of Raksha bandhan. Just casual shot. After noticing the moon, I was tempted to grab some pictures of the bright shining energitic moon. Consequently pulled my camera, mounted the tele lens and started snapping the moon. What are those colors then? They were taken with varying white balances ;-). That creamed moon with vivid colors ;-). My primary intention was to learn how white balances work. I am still amateur photographer and needs lot of practice to strengthen my skills. This is one such practice carried out to learn a concept. Hope you enjoyed the picture. You can additionaly splice moons with a string to transform it to rakhi ;-).

COLORFUL MOON SEQUENCE!

The colors represent daylight, shadow, tungsten and cloudy white balances correspondingly. So what is WB? It is amount of color temperature shift required to retain white object as white in picture :-). What is color temperature? Back to physics :-). It is the color emitted by black body at particular temperature. If you recall concept of black body radiation, more the temperature, higher is the frequency emitted by the body [how? please read Neil Bohr's atomic model ;-)]. So at high temperature, the color is violet while at lower ones its red (visible range). Similarly when you increase color temperature of picture, the photo turns violet and red as you lower it. White Balance is amount of shift involved in balancing the color temperature. So lower the white balance, more bluish the color while red on other side of temperature. Both WB and CT are measured in in Kelvin

ಚಾಮುಂಡಿ ಎಕ್ಸ್-ಪ್ರೆಸ್ ರೈಲಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಮೂರು ಘಂಟೆ

ಇದು ಕೂಡ ನನ್ನ ಹಳೆಯ ಬರಹ. ಸುಮಾರು ನಾಲ್ಕು ವರ್ಷದ ನಂತರ ಇಲ್ಲಿ ಸೇರಿಸಿದ್ದೇನೆ. ರೈಲಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಸಾಕಷ್ಟು ಅನುಭವಗಳಾಗಿವೆ.  ಅದರಲ್ಲಿ ಇದು ಕೂಡ ಒಂದು. ರೈತರ ಕಷ್ಟಗಳನ್ನು ಕಂಡಾಗ ಬೇಸರವಾಗುತ್ತದೆ. ಅದಕ್ಕೆ ಈ ಅನುಭವವನ್ನು ಗೀಚುವ ಮನಸ್ಸಾಯಿತು.

ಏಪ್ರಿಲ್ ೧೨, ೨೦೦೯,

ಬೆಂಗಳೂರಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮ ಇದ್ದರಿಂದ ಸಂಜೆ ಹೊರಡುವ ಬದಲು ಬೆಳಿಗ್ಗೆ ೬:೪೫ಕ್ಕಿರುವ ಮೈಸೂರು-ಬೆಂಗಳೂರು ಚಾಮುಂಡಿ ಎಕ್ಸ್ಪ್ರೆಸ್ಸ್ ರೈಲು ಹತ್ತಿದೆ. ಹಿಂದಿನ ದಿನವೇ ಚೀಟಿ ತೆಗೆದುಕೊಂಡಿದ್ದರಿಂದ ಸೀದಾ ರೈಲು ಹತ್ತಿದೆ. ಮೊದಮೊದಲಿಗೆ ಜನ ಇಲ್ಲದಿದ್ದರೂ ನಂತರ ರೈಲು ತುಂಬಿಹೋಯಿತು. ನನ್ನ ಎದುರು ಒಬ್ಬ ೪೦ ವರುಷದ ವ್ಯಕ್ತಿಯೊಬ್ಬರು ಕುಳಿತಿದ್ದರು. ಇನ್ನೆನು ರೈಲು ಹೊರಡಬೇಕೆನ್ನುವಷ್ಟರಲ್ಲಿ ಯಾರೊ ಒಬ್ಬರು ಬಂದು ಮುಂದಿನ ಆಸನದಲ್ಲಿ ಕುಳಿತಿದ್ದ ವ್ಯಕ್ತಿಯನ್ನು "ಇದು ರಿಸೆರ್ವ್ಡ್ ಸೀಟ್, ನೀವು ಏಳಿ" ಎಂದರು. ಆ ವ್ಯಕ್ತಿಗೆ ಸಿಕ್ಕಾಪಟ್ಟೆ ಕೋಪ ಬಂತು. "ಅಲ್ಲಯ್ಯ ಸುಮಾರ್ ವರ್ಷದಿಂದ ಇದೇ ರೈಲಲ್ಲಿ ಹೋಗ್ತಾ ಇದೀನಿ, ನೀನು ರಿಸೆರ್ವ್ಡ್ ಅಂತ ಜಗಳಕ್ಕೆ ಇಳಿತಿಯಲ್ಲಾ. ರಿಸೆರ್ವ್ಡ್ ಬೋಗಿ ಕಡೆಗಿರೋದು. ಬೇಕಾದರೆ ಟಿಟಿಇ ವಿಚಾರಿಸು" ಎಂದು ಜೋರು ಮಾಡಿದನು. ಸರಿ ರಿಸರ್ವ್ಡ್ ಚೀಟಿ ಇದ್ದವನು ಹೊರಕ್ಕೆ ಹೋಗಿ ಟಿಟಿಇ ವಿಚಾರಿಸಿದಾಗ, ರಿಸೆರ್ವ್ಡ್ ಬೋಗಿ ಬೇರೆ ಎಂದು ಹೇಳಿದನು. ಇದು ಮುಂದಿದ್ದ ವ್ಯಕ್ತಿಗೂ ತಿಳಿಯಿತು. ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ಹೊತ್ತಿನ ನಂತರ ಅಲ್ಲಿದ್ದವರಲ್ಲಿ "ಸುಮಾರು ವರ್ಷದಿಂದ ಇದೇ ರೈಲ್ನಾಗೆ ಹೋಗ್ತಿವ್ನಿ. ಅಲ್ಲಾ ರಿಸೆರ್ವ್ಡ್ ಅಂತ ಜಗಳಕ್ಕೆ ಇಳಿತಾರೆ. ನಾವು ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ಕಮ್ಮಿ ಒದೋರ್ತರ ಕಂಡ್ರು ಜಾಸ್ತಿ ದುಡ್ ಕೊಟ್ಟು ಹೋಗೊರ್ಗೆ ಈತರ ಮೋಸ ಮಾಡಲ್ಲ. ಇವ್ರು ಬಿಹಾರದ ಕಡೆ ಮಂದಿನ ನೋಡ್ಲಿ. ಅಲ್ಲಿ ರಿಸೆರ್ವ್ಡ್ ಅಂತ ಇದ್ರು ಅಲ್ಲಿನ್ ಜನ ದಬಾಯ್ಸಿ ಸುಮ್ನೆ ಆಚಿಕ್ಕೆ ಕಳಿಸ್ತಾರೆ" ಎಂದು ತನ್ನ ಬೇಸರ ವ್ಯಕ್ತಪಡಿಸಿದನು. ಹಾರ್ನ್ ಮಾಡುತ್ತಾ ನಿಗದಿತ ಸಮಯಕ್ಕೆ ರೈಲು ಹೊರಡಿತು.

ಪಾಂಡವಪುರದಲ್ಲಿ ಈ ರೈಲಿಗೆ ನಿಲುಗಡೆಯಿದೆ. ಅಲ್ಲಿಯೊಬ್ಬರು ರೈತರು ರೈಲನ್ನು ಹತ್ತಿದರು. ನಮ್ಮ ಬಳಿ ಆಸನ ಇದ್ದರಿಂದ ಅಲ್ಲಿಯೇ ಕುಳಿತುಕೊಂಡರು. ಅವರು ಕೆಂಗೇರಿಗೆ ಹೋಗುವವರು. ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ಸಮಯದ ನಂತರ ಮುಂದಿರುವ ವ್ಯಕ್ತಿ ಆ ರೈತರ ಬಳಿ ಮಾತಿಗೆ (ಸೌಹಾರ್ದ) ಇಳಿದನು.

ವ್ಯಕ್ತಿ: ಎಲ್ಲಿ ಗೌಡ್ರೇ ನಿಮ್ ಊರು, ಏನ್ ಮಾಡ್ಕೊಂಡಿದ್ದಿರಾ? (ಮಾತ್ರೆ ನುಂಗುತ್ತಾ)
ರೈತ: ಪಾಂಡವಪುರ ಪಕ್ಕ ಕಣಪ್ಪ. ನೋಡ್ದಾಗ ತಿಳಿಯಕ್ಕಿಲ್ವ ರೈತ ಅಂತ (ಬಿಳಿ ಶಾಲು, ಬಿಳಿ ಪಂಚೆ). ಅದೇನಪ್ಪ ನೀರಿಲ್ದೆ ಮಾತ್ರೆ ನುಂಗ್ತಾ ಇದಿಯಲ್ಲ?

ಲಗ್ಗೇಜ್ ರ್ಯಾಕ್ ನಿಂದ ನೀರಿನ ಬಾಟಲ್ ಎತ್ತುತ್ತಾ

ವ್ಯಕ್ತಿ: ಇಲ್ಲ ಗೌಡ್ರೇ ತಂದಿದ್ದೀನಿ ನೋಡಿ
ರೈತ: ಬಹಳ ಬುದ್ಧಿವಂತ ಕಣಪ್ಪ ನೀನು.

ಬಿಸಿ ಬಿಸಿ ಮಸಾಲೆ ದೋಸೆ, ರೈಸ್ ಬಾತ್, ಇಡ್ಲಿ-ವಡ, ಕೇಳಿತು ರೈಲಿನಲ್ಲಿ ತಿಂಡಿ ಮಾರುವವನ ಧ್ವನಿ. ಇತ್ತೀಚಿಗೆ ನಡೆದ ಕೆಲವು ಘಟನೆಗಳಿಂದಾಗಿ ಸಮವಸ್ತ್ರ ಇಲ್ಲದವರ ಬಳಿ ಪ್ರಯಾಣಿಕರು ತಿಂಡಿ ತೆಗೆದುಕೊಳ್ಳುವುದಿಲ್ಲ. ಅಕ್ಕ ಬಿಸಿ-ಬಿಸಿ ರುಚಿಯಾದ ದೋಸೆ ಮಾಡಿಕೊಟ್ಟಿದ್ದರಿಂದ ನಾನೇನು ತೆಗೆದುಕೊಳ್ಳಲಿಲ್ಲ.

ವ್ಯಕ್ತಿ: ಒಂದು ಮಸಾಲೆ ದೋಸೆ ಕೊಡಯ್ಯ. ಎಷ್ಟಪ್ಪ
ದೋಸೆ ಮಾರುವವ: ತಗೊಳ್ಳಿ ಸಾರ್. ಹತ್ತು ರುಪಾಯಿ

ಮಸಾಲ ದೋಸೆ ಪೊಟ್ಟಣ ತೆರೆಯುತ್ತ ಗೌಡರತ್ತ ಮುಖ ಮಾಡಿದನು.

ವ್ಯಕ್ತಿ:  ನೋಡಿ ಗೌಡ್ರೆ. ಎಷ್ಟು ಕಮ್ಮಿ ಚಟ್ನಿ ಹಾಕವ್ನೇ. (ದೋಸೆ ಮಾರುವವನ ಬಳಿ) ಏನಯ್ಯಾ ಚಟ್ನಿನೇ ಇಲ್ವಲ್ಲಯ್ಯಾ?
ದೋಸೆ ಮಾರುವವ: ಗಟ್ಟಿ ಚಟ್ನಿ ಸಾರ್. ಹತ್ತು ರುಪಾಯ್ಗೆ ಅಷ್ಟೆ ಬರೋದು
ವ್ಯಕ್ತಿ: ನೋಡಿ ಗೌಡ್ರೆ ಇವ್ರೂ ಹಿಂಗಾಡ್ತಾರೆ

ದೋಸೆ ತಿಂದ ನಂತರ...

ವ್ಯಕ್ತಿ: ಏನ್ ಗೌಡ್ರೇ, ಯಡಿಯೂರಪ್ಪನವ್ರು ನಿಮ್ಗೆ ಫ್ರೀಯಾಗಿ ಕರೆಂಟ್ ಕೊಟ್ಟವ್ರೆ. ಖರ್ಚ್ ತುಂಬಾ ಇಳಿದಿರ್ಬೇಕಲ್ವ
ರೈತ: ಹೆಸ್ರಿಗೆ ಮಾತ್ರ ಬಿಟ್ಟಿ ಕಣಪ್ಪ. ಯಾವಗ್ ನೋಡಿದ್ರೂ ಸಿಂಗಲ್ ಫೇಸ್. ನೀನೆ ಹೇಳು ಗದ್ದೆ ಮೋಟಾರ್ಗೆ ಸಿಂಗಲ್ ಫೇಸ್ ಸಾಕಾಯ್ತದ. ಮೂರು ಫೇಸ್ ಸರಿ ಮಾಡ್ಸೋಕೆ ಕರೆಂಟ್ನವ್ರಿಗೆ ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ಕೊಡ್ಲಿಲ್ಲಾಂದ್ರೆ ಏನ್ ಕೆಲ್ಸನೂ ಆಗಲ್ಲ ಕಣಪ್ಪ. ಪುಣ್ಯಕ್ಕೆ ಕಾಲುವೆ ನೀರು ಇದ್ಯಲ್ಲ ಅದ್ರಿಂದ ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ಸುಧಾರ್ಸ್ಕೊತೀವಿ. ಈ ರೈತರ ಪಾಡು ನಿಂಗೆ ತಿಳಿಯಾಕ್ಕಿಲ್ಲ

ವ್ಯಕ್ತಿ: ಹೌದಾ ಗೌಡ್ರೆ!! ಅಂದ ಹಾಗೆ ನಿಮ್ದೆಷ್ಟು ಜಮೀನ್ ಅಯ್ತೆ. ಏನ್ ಬೆಳೆಸ್ತೀರಾ
ರೈತ: ಮೂರು ಎಕ್ರೆ ಕಣಪ್ಪಾ. ಭತ್ತ ಬೆಳಿತೀವಿ

ವ್ಯಕ್ತಿ: ಒಳ್ಳೆ ಬೆಳೆ ಬರುತ್ತಾ ಹೇಗೆ? ಈಗೀಗ ಅಕ್ಕಿ ಕೂಡ ಬಾಳ ಕಾಸ್ಲಿಯಾಗೈತೆ ಅಲ್ವಾ, ತುಂಬಾ ಸಂಪಾದನೆಯಾಗುತ್ತನ್ನಿ
ರೈತ: ಹಾಗೇನೂ ಇಲ್ಲ ಕಣಪ್ಪ. ಕಾಸ್ ಮಾಡೋರು ದಲ್ಲಾಳಿಗಳು ಮಾತ್ರ. ನಮ್ಗೆ ಇನ್ನು ಅದೇ ಹಳೇ ರೇಟೆ ಹೇಳ್ತಾರೆ. ಗದ್ದೆ ಮಾಡೋದು ಸುಲ್ಭ ಅನ್ಕೊಡಿದ್ದಿಯಾ. ಮೊನ್ನೆ ನಮ್ ಭತ್ತಕ್ಕೆ ಸುಳಿ ರೋಗ ಬಂದಿತ್ತು. ಈತರ ರೋಗ ಬಂದ್ರೆ ನಮ್ ಬೆಳೆ ಎಲ್ಲಿ ನಿಲ್ತಾವೆ ಹೇಳು. ಗದ್ದೆ ಕೆಲ್ಸ ಮಾಡೋಕೆ ಜನ ಸಿಗ್ಬೇಕಲ್ಲ

ವ್ಯಕ್ತಿ: ನೀವು ರೈತ್ರು ಅದೇನೊ ಕೆಮಿಕಲ್ ಎಲ್ಲಾ ಹಾಕಿ ನಾವು ತಿನ್ನೊರಿಗೂ ಕಾಯ್ಲೆ ಬರಿಸ್ತೀರಾ ಅಲ್ವಾ. ಮುಂಚೆ ಕೆಮಿಕಲ್ ಬದ್ಲು ಬೇವಿನ್ ನೀರು ಬಳಸ್ತಾ ಇದ್ರು
ರೈತ: ಮೊನ್ನೆ ಸುಳಿ ರ‍ೋಗ ಬಂದಾಗ ನಾವು ಕೃಷಿ ಇಲಾಖೆಯವ್ರನ್ನು ಕೇಳ್ದ್ವಿ. ಅವ್ರು ಯಾವ್ದೊ ಹೊಸ ಗೊಬ್ರ ತೋರ್ಸಿದ್ರು. ಎರಡು ಸಲ ಹಾಕುದ್ರೂನೂ ರೋಗನೇ ಇಳಿತಾ ಇಲ್ಲ. ಅದಾದ್ ಮ್ಯಾಕೆ ನೀವ್ ಹೇಳುದ್ರಲ್ಲ ಅದನ್ನೇ ಬಳಸ್ದೆ. ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ದಿನ್ದಲ್ಲೇ ರ‍ೋಗ ಮಾಯ್ವಾಯ್ತು

ವ್ಯಕ್ತಿ: ಅಲ್ಲಾ ಗೌಡ್ರೆ, ಕೆಲ್ಸಕ್ಕೆ ಆಳು ಯಾಕೆ ಈಗ ಮೆಶಿನ್ ಬಂದಿದ್ಯಲ್ಲಾ
ರೈತ: ಹೂ ಕಣಪ್ಪಾ ಬಂದಿದೆ. ಅದಕ್ಕೂ ಕರ್ಚಿದೆ. ಭತ್ತ ಕಟಾವು ಮಾಡೊವಾಗ ಭತ್ತ ಏನೋ ಬೇಗ ಸಿಗುತ್ತೆ ಆದ್ರೆ ಅದ್ರ ಹುಲ್ಲು ಎಲ್ಲಾ ಪುಡಿಯಾಗುತ್ತಪ್ಪಾ. ಸುಮ್ನೆ ದಂಡ ಆಗುತ್ತೆ.

ವ್ಯಕ್ತಿ: ನಿಮ್ಗೆ ಭತ್ತ ಸಿಕ್ರೆ ಸಾಕಲ್ವ ಹುಲ್ಲು ಯಾಕೆ
ರೈತ: ಏಏಏ.. ಅಷ್ಟು ಗೊತ್ತಿಲ್ವೇನ್ಲಾ. ಒಣಗಿದ ಹುಲ್ಲುಗಳು ನಮ್ ಹಸುಗಳಿಗೆ ಆಹಾರ ಕಣ್ಲಾ. ಅದ್ರಲ್ಲೂ ಒಂದು ಗದ್ದೆ ಹುಲ್ನಿಂದ ೨೦೦೦ ರುಪಾಯಿ ಆದಾಯ ಕೂಡ ಬರುತ್ತೆ

ವ್ಯಕ್ತಿ: ಹೌದಾ ಗೌಡ್ರೆ. ಕೂಲಿ ಎಷ್ಟ್ ಕೊಡ್ಬೆಕಾಯ್ತದೆ
ರೈತ: ಕೂಲಿ ೬ ಜನ ಬೇಕಾಯ್ತದೆ. ಅವ್ರಿಗೆ ಕಟಾವು ಮಾಡಕ್ಕೆ ಒಬ್ಬೊಬ್ರಿಗೆ ೧೦೦೦ ಹಿಡಿಯುತ್ತೆ ಕಣಪ್ಪಾ

ವ್ಯಕ್ತಿ: ನೀವೆ ಕಟಾವು ಮಾಡ್ಬಹುದಲ್ಲಾ?
ರೈತ: ೩ ಎಕ್ರೆ ಕಟಾವು ಮಾಡೋದು ಸುಲ್ಭ ಅನ್ಕೊಡಿದ್ದೀಯಾ. ಅದ್ರಲ್ಲೂ ಮಧ್ಯ ಮಳೆ-ಗಿಳೆ ಬಂದ್ರೆ ಬೆಳೆನೂ ಹೊಂಟೋಯ್ತದೆ ಗೊತ್ತಾ

ವ್ಯಕ್ತಿ: ಮಳೆ ಬಂದ್ರೆ ಮುಂದಿನ ದಿನ ಒಣಗಕ್ಕ ಬಿಟ್ರೆ ಆಯ್ತಲ್ವಾ?
ರೈತ: ಒಂದ್ಸಲ ನೀರ್ ಬಿದ್ರೆ ಮುಗ್ದೋಯ್ತು ಕಣಪ್ಪ. ಇನ್ನು ಅದು ಬರಿ ಮೇವಿಗೆ ಹುಲ್ಲು ಅಷ್ಟೇ (ಬೇಸರದಿಂದ)

ವ್ಯಕ್ತಿ: ಒಂದ್ಸಲ ಬೆಳೆ ತೆಗುದ್ರೆ ಎಷ್ಟು ಇಳುವರಿ ಬರುತ್ತೆ ನಿಂಗೆ
ರೈತ: ಒಂದ್ಸಲಕ್ಕೆ ೪೦ ಮೂಟೆ ಬರುತ್ತೆ ಕಣಪ್ಪ ಅದು ಯಾವ ರೋಗ ಬರ್ದೇ ಇದ್ರೆ. ಒಂದು ಮೂಟೆ ೭೦ ಕೆ.ಜಿ ಲೆಕ್ಕ. ಅದ್ರಲ್ಲೂ ಕೂಲಿ ಕರ್ಚೆ ಜಾಸ್ತಿ

ಅಷ್ಟೊತ್ತಿಗಾಗಲೆ ಮಂಡ್ಯ ಬಂದಿತ್ತು. ಇಬ್ಬರಿಗೂ ನಿದ್ದೆ ಬರುತ್ತಿತ್ತೇನೊ, ನಿದ್ರಾದೇವಿಗೆ ಶರಣಾದರು. ರೈಲು ಬಹಳ ವಿಳಂಬವಾಗಿತ್ತು. ದ್ವಿಪಥ ಕಾಮಗಾರಿ ಮಂದಗತಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಸಾಗುತ್ತಿರುವುದರಿಂದ ಹಲವೆಡೆ ಕ್ರಾಸಿಂಗ್ ತೊಂದರೆ. ಎಲ್ಲಾ ಕಡೆ ಇವನೇ ನಿಲ್ಲಿಸುತ್ತಿದ್ದ. ಬ್ಯಾಟರಾಯನಹಳ್ಳಿ, ಹನಕೆರೆ, ಶೆಟ್ಟಿಹಳ್ಳಿ ಹೀಗೆ ಮೂರು ಬಾರಿ ಹತ್ತು ನಿಮಿಷ ಕ್ರಾಸಿಂಗ್. ಒಟ್ಟು ೩೦ ನಿಮಿಷ ಸಮಯ ವ್ಯರ್ಥ. ಎಲ್ಲರೂ ತಲೆಕೆರೆದುಕೊಳ್ಳುತ್ತಿದ್ದರು. ರೈಲು ಕೂಡ ಬಹಳ ರಶ್ ಇತ್ತು. ಮೈಸೂರಿನಿಂದ-ಮದ್ದೂರು ವರೆಗಿನ ಪ್ರಯಾಣ ಬಹಳ ಸಂತಸ ನೀಡಿತ್ತು. ಸಣ್ಣ ಕಾಲುವೆಗಳು, ಭತ್ತದ, ತೆಂಗಿನ, ಕಬ್ಬಿನ ತೋಟ, ಆಗಾಗ ಸಿಗುತ್ತಿದ್ದ ಮಾವಿನ ತೋಟಗಳು ಮನಸ್ಸಿಗೆ ಉಲ್ಲಾಸ ನೀಡುತ್ತವೆ. ರಾಮನಗರದ ನಂತರ ಸಂಪೂರ್ಣ ಡಬಲ್ ಟ್ರಾಕ್. ರಾಮನಗರ-ಚನ್ನಪಟ್ಟಣ ಮಾರ್ಗದಲ್ಲಿ ತುಸು ವೇಗವಾಗಿಯೆ ಕಾಮಗಾರಿಗಳು ನಡೆಯುತ್ತಿವೆ. ಬ್ರಿಡ್ಜ್ಗಳು, ಟ್ರ್ಯಾಕ್ ಗಳನ್ನು ಬೇಗನೆ ಮುಗಿಸಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ಕೆಲವು ಕಡೆ ಎತ್ತರದ ಪ್ರದೇಶದಲ್ಲಿ ಮಣ್ಣು ತೆಗೆಯುವ ಕಾಮಗಾರಿ ನಡೆಯುತ್ತಿದೆ. ರಾಮನಗರದ ನಂತರ ರೈಲು ತುಸು ವೇಗವಾಗಿ ಹೋಗಬಹುದು ಎಂದುಕೊಂಡರೆ ಸಿಂಗಲ್ ಟ್ರಾಕ್ ಗಿಂತ ನಿಧಾನವಾಗಿ ಚಲಿಸುತ್ತಿತ್ತು. ಹೊಸ ಟ್ರಾಕ್ ಅಲ್ಲವೇ ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ಸೆಟ್ ಆಗಲಿ ಅಂತ ತಿಳಿದುಕೊಳ್ಳಬೇಡಿ. ಇದೇ ಟ್ರಾಕ್ ನಲ್ಲಿ ಮೈಸೂರು-ಚೆನ್ನೈ ಶತಾಬ್ಧಿ ಘಂಟೆಗೆ ನೂರು ಕಿ.ಮೀ ವೇಗದಲ್ಲಿ ಚಲಿಸುತ್ತದೆ. ರಾಮನಗರದ ನಂತರ ಮತ್ತೆ ಇಬ್ಬರು ಮಾತಿಗೆ ಇಳಿದರು.

ವ್ಯಕ್ತಿ: ಅಲ್ಲ ಗೌಡ್ರೇ ಭತ್ತ ಬೆಳೆಯೊಕ್ಕಿಂತ ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ತೆಂಗಿನ್ ತೋಟನು ಮಾಡ್ಬಹುದಲ್ವಾ?
ರೈತ: ಅದ್ರಾಗೂ ಕಷ್ಟ ಇದೆ ಕಣಪ್ಪಾ. ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ವರ್ಶದ್ ಹಿಂದೆ ನುಸಿ ರೋಗ ಹಿಡ್ದಿದ್ದು ನೆನ್ಪಿಲ್ವಾ. ಆವಾಗಿಂದ ಮರಕ್ಕೆ ೨೦ ಕಾಯಿ ಬಿಟ್ರೆ ಹೆಚ್ಚು. ಅದ್ಕಿಂತ ಮುಂಚೆ ೫೦ ಕಾಯಿನಾದ್ರು ಬರೋದು

ವ್ಯಕ್ತಿ: ನಿಮ್ಗೆ ಮರ ಹತ್ತೋಕೆ ಬರುತ್ತಾ?
ರೈತ: ಇಲ್ಲಪ್ಪಾ. ಅದಕ್ಕೂ ಕೂಲಿಯವ್ರನ್ನೇ ಕರಿಸ್ಬೇಕು. ಮರದಲ್ಲಿ ಕಾಯಿ ಎಷ್ಟಿದ್ರೇನು ಒಂದು ಮರಕ್ಕೆ ೧೦ ರುಪಾಯಿ ಕೊಡ್ಲಿಲ್ಲಾಂದ್ರೆ ಯಾವನೂ ಬರಕ್ಕಿಲ್ಲಾ

ವ್ಯಕ್ತಿ: ಹೌದಾ ಗೌಡ್ರೇ!! ಮತ್ತೆ ಕೆಲ್ವುರು ಕೆಲ್ಸಾನೇ ಇಲ್ಲಾಂತಾರಲ್ಲ
ರೈತ: ಅದೆಲ್ಲಾ ಹಳೆ ಕಾಲ ಕಣಪ್ಪ. ಈಗೆಲ್ಲ ಯಾರ್ ಬೇಸಾಯ ಮಾಡ್ತಾರೆ. ಎಲ್ಲ ಸಿಟಿ ಕಡೆಗೆ ಹೋಯ್ತಾವ್ರೆ. ಅದಿಕ್ಕೆ ಕೂಲಿಗ್ಳ ರೇಟ್ ಕೂಡ ಏರ್ಬಿಟ್ಟಿದೆ. ಹಿಂದಿನ ಕಾಲ್ದಲ್ಲಿ ಮದ್ವೆಗೆ ಬಂದೊವ್ರು ನಮ್ ಕಡೆಯವ್ರ ಅತ್ವಾ ಹೊರ್ಗಿಂದ ಬೇರೆ ಯಾರ ಅಂತ ನೋಡ್ತಿದ್ವಿ. ಈಗ್ ನೋಡಪ್ಪಾ ಮನೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮ್ ಅಯ್ತೆ ಬನ್ನಿ ಅಂತ ಹೇಳಿದ್ರೂ ಯಾವನೂ ಬರಲ್ಲ ಅಂತಾರೆ. ನಾವೆ ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ಕರ್ಚ್ ಮಾಡ್ಕೊಂದು ಫೋನ್ ಮಾಡ್ದ್ರೂನೂ ಯಾವನೂ ಬರಲ್ಲಾ ನೋಡು.

ವ್ಯಕ್ತಿ: ಅದು ಸರೀನೆ ಬಿಡಿ. ಎಳನೀರ್ ಮಾರೋರ್ಗೆ ಏನ್ ಲಾಭ ಅಲ್ವಾ. ಬೆಂಗ್ಳೂರ್ನಾಗೆ ಎಷ್ಟೊಂದು ಮಾರಾಟ ಆಯ್ತದಲ್ವಾ?
ರೈತ: ಇಲ್ಲ ಕಣಪ್ಪ. ನಾವು ಎಳನೀರು ಮಾರಿದ್ರೆ ನಮ್ಗೆ ಬರ‍ೊದು ಬರಿ ಮೂರು ರುಪಾಯಿ ಅಷ್ಟೆಯಾ. ಉಳ್ದಿದ್ದು ದಲ್ಲಾಳಿಗಳಿಗೆ. ನಾವು ಮಾರೋದು ೩ ರುಪಾಯಿ, ಅದನ್ನ ಕೊಂಡ್ಕೊಂಡೊವ್ನು ಮೈಸೂರ್ನಾಗೆ ೫ ರುಪಾಯಿಗೆ ಮಾರ್ತಾನೆ. ಗಾಡಿ ಚಾರ್ಜ್ ಕೂಡ ಇದ್ಯಲ್ಲ. ಬೆಂಗ್ಳೂರಿಗೆ ಹೋದಾಗ ೧೦ ರುಪಾಯಿ ಆಗತ್ತೆ. ಕೆಲ್ವು ಬೊಂಬಾಯಿಗೂ ಹೋಗ್ತಾವಂತೆ. ಅಲ್ಲಿ ೨೦ ರುಪಾಯಿಗೆ ಮಾರಾಟ ಅಂತೆ.

ಆಗ ಕೆಂಗೇರಿ ಬಂದಾಗಿತ್ತು. ರೈತ ಮಿತ್ರರು ಅಲ್ಲಿಯೇ ಇಳಿದರು. ಎಲ್ಲರಿಗೂ "ಬರ್ತೀನ್ ಕಣ್ರಪ್ಪಾ" ಅಂತ ಹೇಳಿ ಹೋದರು. ಬಹಳ ಇಷ್ಟವಾಗಿದ್ದು ಅವರ ನಯವಾದ ತಾಳ್ಮೆಯ ಉತ್ತರಗಳು. ಅದಕ್ಕೆ ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ಬರೆಯಬೇಕೆಂದೆನಿಸಿತು. ರೈಲಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಪ್ರಯಾಣಿಸುವಾಗ ಬಹಳಷ್ಟು ಅನುಭವವಾಗಿತ್ತು, ಆಗುತ್ತಿದೆ ಕೂಡ. ಇದೊಂದು ರೀತಿಯ ಅನುಭವ ಅಷ್ಟೆ. ರೈತರ ಮಾತುಗಳು ನನಗೆ ಹೊಸತಲ್ಲ. ನಮ್ಮ ಹಳ್ಳಿಯಲ್ಲೂ ಇದೇ ವಿಷಯ ಮಾತನಾಡುತ್ತಾರೆ. 

ಮುಕ್ಕಾಲು ಘಂಟೆ ತಡವಾಗಿ ಅಂದರೆ ೧೦:೧೫ಕ್ಕೆ ರೈಲು ಬೆಂಗಳೂರು ತಲುಪಿತು. ನಾನು ಇಳಿದುಕೊಂಡು ಸೇರಬೇಕಾದ ಸ್ಥಳ ತಲುಪಿದೆ.

Time to eat :D

From time to rest its now time to eat :-). Along our journey from Bangalore to Kaup, we had glimpse of everything from beautiful roads to nature and water spots all along. Also some humorous scenes too :-). After finishing tasty South Indian meals at Aditya hotel near Uppinangady , my eyes caught those cattle snatching hay from parked truck :-). There was huge haystack on parked mini truck and it was so much packed that lorry was almost invisible :D. The cows nearby truck started dragging hay towards their mouth and they enjoyed chewing them. The truck driver chased them away but the adamant cattle returned again wagging their tail :D. Who can miss the tasty treat ;-). Perhaps even truck driver would have realised later that there were only few of them and would not affect overall quantity! [infinity-x=infinity ;-)]. Enjoy the pictures ;-).

There is so much to eat, time to attack :-)

Hmmm. So yummy, let me pull some more :D

You had enough meals, now let me enjoy. Do not post this picture in News Paper :-)

I love such scenes and makes me happy too :D. Always be happy in life and enjoy such small things you come across :-). That will keep you always refreshed and healthy ;-).

Time to Rest

05 Oct 2013

My parents were here in Bangalore for 2 weeks and hence bit of break from kitchen ;-) It was time to drop them back to native village :-(. Never felt 2 weeks would pass so early :-(. Nevertheless, they love the native village than city life for obvious reasons. This Saturday, the return long drive from Bangalore to Kaup with too much luggage :D. Effectively we were 5 instead of 3 :-). This time, father drove from Nelamangala junction till Gundya forest gate. I had lot of room to grab videos and pictures :D. One of the battery drained and other battery almost half used ;-). This time there are drive videos along Shiraadi ghat too! Even though the roads were not good, it was delightful to watch sahyaadri ranges with tons of waterfalls and not to miss gundya river. For few kms, the river follows the highway too!

Around 12PM, we reached Gundya forest gate. Prior to that I had lot of photo shoot as mentioned above along shiraadi ghat! There was slight drizzle at shiraadi ghat and as we neared Mangalore, the clouds opened up with pounding rain. The road was almost invisible for some time. Overall it was smooth journey and we covered in 9hrs (including 90 minutes cumulative break).

Coming back, the dreadful national (notional?) highway along shiraadi ghat was more than compensated by captivating western ghats and gundya river. Father was tired driving and it was time to rest near by this beautiful gundya river and hence the title ;-). Here are two HDRs; one from western ghats and other Gundya river with western ghats at backdrop. Both are 5 exposure bracketed HDRs.

This picture was featured in incredible india g+ page. I am really honored to have my picture in their page :-). That was shared unknowingly among 200,000 followers of incredible india g+ page. Hope you will also enjoy the same.

CAPTIVATING GUNDYA RIVER WITH BEAUTIFUL WESTERN GHATS IN BACKDROP

THE WESTERN GHATS!

The shiraadi ghat road stretch is beautiful than Kuduremukh stretch due to many seasonal waterfalls and Gundya river. I am not debasing Kuduremukh ghats, only difference is that road along Kuduremukh ghats does not contain as many water spots as shiraadi ghat. Also do not miss magnificent train journey along Sakaleshpur-Subramanya railway track. One of the memorable journey you will ever have during monsoon season. Also water spots are more along railway stretch than highway ;-).

Finally one of the water spot! There were many but we stopped at only few places. Felt like taking bath but no time :-(.

ONE OF SEASONAL WATERFALL ALONG HIGHWAY

Two musics this time. 'Time to Rest' by Andy Blueman and the chill-down remix of same by Magdelayna. Both are very good but latter is slightly more soothing than original version. So rest yourself for 18 mins enjoying beautiful music but not more than that ;-).

1) Time to Rest (original mix) - Andy Blueman : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hf65BcRCBMU

2) Time To Rest (Magdelayna Chilled Remake) : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSQY3Pfz-C0

After small rest, it was time to drive for me before father could lose patience. Consequently drove all the way to our village from here.

So, why take pain of self driving? We have never felt it as pain ;-) It is really joyous to drive CRDi ;-). Apart from this, there are many reasons. It gives lot of flexibility to halt anywhere you wish. Secondly, we can fill in ample luggage compared to traveling by public transport. Last but not the least, traveling by car has proven to be far more cheaper than even Rajahamsa bus for 3 of us. If we include, luggage we had carried, the difference is even more. Only requirement is at-least two drivers are required. Many people have presumption that driving along ghats is cumbersome. But thats not case ;-). Once you experience driving along ghats, you will feel like driving repeatedly :-). Do not miss any chance if you have opportunity to drive along western ghats!

Savoring taste of Coastal Karnataka - The Gadbad Ice-cream :-)

Coastal Karnataka barely has any winter season (relatively). People will laugh at you if they see winter wear. There is no restricted season where you cannot have ice-creams. Throughout the year people enjoy ice creams very much. Many prominent ice-cream makers are from coastal Karnataka like Ideal and Nature. Among the ice cream varieties, prominent is the legacy and evergreen gadbad ice-cream. Gadbad in Konkani means 'erroneous'. It was started by the owner of Ideal ice-cream chain in Mangalore. It is believed that ice-cream was prepared without any idea and hence the name :-). Ideal ice cream also has the largest ice cream parlor in India housing around 300 visitors. Whenever I get an opportunity, I do visit Ideal ice cream parlor just to relish gadbad ice-cream :D. Nowadays they serve many varieties other than Gadbad. In Udupi, you can get good one in relocated and newly built Diana restaurant situated near Taluk office. Both of the restaurants serve tasty, soft and pure vegetarian gadbad ice cream.  The picture was taken during our visit to Diana restaurant around beginning of June just to have the ice cream. Don't miss the delicious treat if you visit either Mangalore or Udupi.

By the time I took the photo, it had already started melting. It was so much humid on that monsoon day. My father started making fun of me too that I will have Gadbad milk rather than ice cream :-).

TASTY AND DELICIOUS :D

A Monsoon walk around my village

21 July 2013

After having so much fun on Friday along the majestic Western ghats, I had equally bad day on Saturday. I am not stating the reason, however it was too bad :(. I got up with less enthusiasm on Sunday, savored nice tea made by mother. It was not so much raining too. Some intermittent rains only. However there was greenery all over. Both of our wells were full. I just went down the coconut plantation to see the monsoon streams. They were truly great to see which brought my mood up. I grabbed my camera and sleeping tripod walked all along the stream path. Also paddy fields were occupied by pond herons. The sound of peacock was soothing. The flying bees and butterflies added more glory to the monsoon weather.

Let me start off with landscapes of paddy fields and streams. We have planted paddy saplings on small area for festival purpose. Usually we borrow from other farmers the new paddy every-time for festivals. This time, mother wanted self grown one.

Small Paddy Field

The Monsoon Stream

Monsoon stream passing through canopy

There were lot of butterflies and bugs on flower. How can I miss those shots ;-). Here are few. The images were captured with tele-lens :D in macro mode. Hence not so deep. I want to buy a macro lens however requires permission from mother :-).

I Know humans like this but this is my share!

I am busy here, please move away

Shut off that flash please or else I will fly away!

Don't you have any work?

Later I walked a bit more towards one of the major streams where there was tiny waterfall. I am very much tempted to grab long exposure shots whenever I see gushing water. Lack of ND filter makes it difficult to grab such shots since images get over-exposed. However the overcast weather made some long exposure shots possible with a very high f stop. With f/36 and 1s shutter, I could expose the water properly with surroundings. So here is the milky way. The stability is because of tripod. Even father got excited after seeing it.

MILKY WAY!

Finally one more monsoon video. This time I have clubbed some of train journey videos along beautiful western ghats and clips of my village. Also full HD ;-). Enjoy the great monsoon landscape and glorious train journey through dense rain forest. I have not yet started train journey video editing. It may require a month to fully edit the videos due to old hardware. For sure it will be massive upload as earlier one(around 20-25 mins). Hope you will enjoy the short documentary. Feedback on video quality, perception, improvements or any other aspects are always welcome.

Music: Excerpt from 'A beautiful tomorrow' - A perfect trance music by imperfection. What a marvelous work by imperfection. Absolutely gorgeous melody!

Last Note:

Yesterday my father deliberately called me saying, it has been raining very heavily from past 2 days. Also on Friday, there was continuous rain for 3hours. I really felt jealous and sad :(. It does not rain so much when I am there. I will be travelling again after 2-3 weeks. Hope I will have great time with rain at that time. Beauty of this year's monsoon season is, it has not rested even for a single day. Every day we have atleast 2-3 spells of heavy showers!

Peacocks in my village

Finally I made first real use of new Tamaron 70-300mm VC USD lens. This time it helped to videograph peacock which came to our plantation. They run away if you go close to them. Hence tele lens is must. Peacocks are usual in our place only difference is I shot video of them for first time ;-). Last time they had entered our balcony and came so close but I did not have camera at that time. This time it is time to grab some. Usually villagers do not entertain peacocks since they spoil crops and plants. Even my mother got furious when one of male peacock was pulling leaf from green chilly plant :=D. Irony is that their habitat is being destroyed by human beings and they do not have anything called habitat. They are not actual culprit too! After sometime, they flew away seeing me coming closer. Anyhow watch and enjoy the short video. Subscribe to my channel for more interesting Full HD videos :-).

The video is edited and re-encoded to MP4(H.264) using KDENLIVE under Linux Mint 14 with 1080p, 25fps, 18000kbps video bitrate and 384kbps AAC audio. This time I used 2 pass encoding

ಅಣ್ಣಾ ಚಾ ಅಂಪುಣನಾ!

೧೪ ಏಪ್ರಿಲ್ ೨೦೧೩ 

ಬೆಳಿಗ್ಗೆ ಮಾಮೂಲು ಬಸ್ಸಿನವ ೮ನೇ ಮೈಲಿಗಿಂತ ಮುಂಚೆಯೆ ನನ್ನನ್ನು ಇಳಿಸಿದ. ಯಾವಾಗಲೂ ಕೋರಮಂಗಲದಲ್ಲಿ ಇಳಿಯುವವನು ಅದ್ಯಾಕೆ ಇಲ್ಲಿಳಿದ  ಎನ್ನುವುದು ಪರಿಚಯವಿರುವ ಕ್ಲೀನರಿಗೂ ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ಕಂಫ್ಯೂಸ್ ಆಯಿತು ಕೂಡ. ಅಲ್ಲೇ ಇಳಿದು ಯಾವುದೋ ಸಿಟಿ ಬಸ್ಸನ್ನು ಹತ್ತಿ ಕುಳಿತೆ.  ಮೆಜೆಸ್ಟಿಕ್ಕಿಗೆ ಒಂದು ಟಿಕೇಟ್ ಕೊಡಿ ಎಂದೆ. ಮೆಜೆಸ್ಟಿಕ್ ಹೋಗಲ್ಲ ಕಣ್ರಿ ಅಂತ ಕಂಡಕ್ಟರ್ ಜೋರು ಮಾಡಿದರು. ಅರೆ ನಾನೇಕೆ ಇಲ್ಲಿಳಿದು ಸಿಟಿ ಬಸ್ ಹತ್ತಿದೆ ಎಂಬುದು ಕೂಡ ತೋಚಲಿಲ್ಲ. ಬೆಳಿಗ್ಗೆ ನನಗೇನು ಆಗಿದೆ ಅಂತ ದಿಗಿಲಾಯಿತು. ಸರಿ ಮುಂದಿನ ಸ್ಟಾಪಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಇಳಿದೆ. ಇಳಿದ  ತಕ್ಷಣ ರಸ್ತೆ ಖಾಲಿಯಾಗಲು ಶುರುವಾಯಿತು. ಅರೆ ಒಂದು ಬಸ್ಸಿಲ್ಲ ಅಥವಾ ರಿಕ್ಷಾ ಕೂಡ ಇಲ್ಲ. ಅಯ್ಯಯ್ಯೋ ನನ್ನ ಇನ್ನೊಂದು ಬ್ಯಾಗ್ ಬಸ್ಸಲ್ಲೇ ಉಳಿದುಬಿಟ್ಟಿದೆ. ಮನೆಯ ಕೀ ಕೂಡ ಅದರಲ್ಲೇ ಇದೆ. ಇನ್ನೇನ್ನಪ್ಪಾ ಮಾಡೋದು ಅಂತ ಬಸ್ ಏಜೆಂಸಿಗೆ ಫೋನಾಯಿಸಿದೆ.  ಇನ್ನೇನು ಹಲೋ ಅನ್ನುವಷ್ಟರಲ್ಲಿ ಮೊಬೈಲ್ ಸ್ವಿಚ್ ಆಫ್ ಆಯಿತು. ನೋಡಿದರೆ ಚಾರ್ಜ್ ಢಮಾರ್. ಗಾಬರಿಯಿಂದ ಹಾಗೆ ನಡೆದಂತೆ ಯಾವುದೋ ಮುಷ್ಕರ ನಡೆಯುತ್ತಿದೆ ಎನ್ನುವಂತೆ ಭಾಸವಾಯಿತು. ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ನಡೆದು ಯಾವುದೋ ಗಲ್ಲಿಗೆ ಬಂದೆ. ಸುತ್ತ ಜನರು ನನ್ನನ್ನೇ ದುರುಗುಟ್ಟಿ ನೋಡುತ್ತಿದ್ದರು. ಹಾಗೇ ಮುಂದುವರೆಯುತ್ತಿದ್ದಂತೆ ಜನರ ಗುಂಪೊಂದು ನನ್ನ ಬಳಿಗೆ ವೇಗವಾಗಿ ಬರುತ್ತಿತ್ತು. ನನಗೆ ಅಲ್ಲೇ ಕತ್ತಲೆ ಕವಿದಂತಾಯಿತು. ಅಷ್ಟರಲ್ಲಿ ಯಾರೋ ಕೂಗಿ ಕೇಳಿದರು "ಅಣ್ಣಾ ಚಾ  ಅಂಪುಣನಾ" [ಚಾ ಮಾಡುವುದಾ] ಎಂದು. ನನಗೆ ಒಮ್ಮೆಲೇ ಬೆಳಕು ಆವರಿಸಿದಂತಾಗಿ ನಿದ್ದೆಯಿಂದ ಎದ್ದೆ. ಅಬ್ಬಬ್ಬಾ ಎಂತದು ಮಾರಾಯ್ರೇ ಅದು. ಯುಗಾದಿಯ ದಿನ ಹೀಗೆಯೇ :(. ಹುಸ್ಸಪ್ಪಾ ಕನಸಿನಲ್ಲೇ ಮುಗಿಯಿತಲ್ವಾ ಅಂತ ಸಮಯ ನೋಡಿದಾಗ ಘಂಟೆ ಏಳಾಗಿತ್ತು. ಇಷ್ಟು ತಡ, ಅದು ಹಬ್ಬದ ದಿನ. ಸರಿಹೋಯ್ತು ಅಂತ ನಿಟ್ಟುಸಿರುಬಿಡುತ್ತಾ ಚಾಪೆ ಮಡಚಿ ಮೆಟ್ಟಿಲಿನಿಂದ ಕೆಳಗಿಳಿದೆ. ಅಮ್ಮ ಕರೆಯದಿದ್ದರೆ ಇನ್ನು ಏನೇನು ಆಗುತ್ತಿತ್ತೋ ಎಣಿಸಲು ಆಗುತ್ತಿಲ್ಲ.

My first RTI and story

It has been around 1.5 years since I shifted my organization. The main burden is to get PF transferred. The people in new organization do provide PF transfer application which we can fill and they submit to Central PF organization. In our organization, the PF is maintained by trust and hence we could track our PF status every month.

It would generally take around 6 months to transfer PF from previous to current account [which may include initiation my current organization + previous organization + actual PF office work]. Mine was not transferred even after 8 months. Some people had got it transferred in 2-3 months time. I got frustrated very much.  Inevitably, I had to track down on the status. I consulted the trust guys and they communicated that it has been already sent to my previous organization for transfer. I confirmed from my previous organization too! A grievance was raised with PF office too but no luck. The status was not updated for many months. My previous account status was showing that the account had been cleared and cheque has been drafted to deposit to new account. I am not sure where did that cheque travel to or was it a dummy entry altogether. Even trust was helpless since PF office will not entertain mangling with personal account. Finally I had no choice other than applying RTI. I looked around Internet for the help. After many searches I came across beautiful article in Jaago Investor on applying RTI for PF.

After following the procedure mentioned in the article, it was time to post it to PF office. A week after, I received acknowledgement for the reception too! After a month of wait, I finally received reply to my grievance that PF amount has been settled and transferred to new account. It takes one or two months for the actual deposit. For most people it may not be so much cumbersome, however my bad luck had turned things really bad. It took almost 1.5 years to settle it down. If I had not applied RTI, things would have not moved at all. Yes, it is duty of office to do it, however things are never reliable. Finally I am happy that PF is transferred to my new account, however not sure if they have included the interest for delay in transfer (I have not received PF slips for many years).

I once again thank Jago Investor article for help: http://www.jagoinvestor.com/2012/03/rti-for-epf-withdrawal-or-transfer.html

A year of youtube activity

It has been one year since I have started uploading videos onto YouTube (Even though I joined around 5 years ago). Since then I have uploaded around 33 videos and more to come. Initial days I did not knew about video editing and HD. That is the reason initial videos have no wide screen capture [even if my camera supports it :-)]. Once I could realize this, it has been all HD widescreen except for few old videos. Since I started uploading, the channel has seen considerable views but not much. In-spite of less views, I will continue uploading many videos. All videos are captured by me with no duplicates and wherever required suitable credit has been given to the audio used.

All of my videos (barring initial 4) are created using KDENLIVE, free open source non linear Video Editor. It has got great capabilities and my experience so far has been excellent. I have not yet enabled Adsense in YouTube. I will definitely donate  to the open source project if I enable AdSense and earn some money :-).

On this day, I am sharing 1080p video of my hometown kaup beach. This time there are clips with view from atop of light house. It is breath taking view from the top. The clips were shot with Canon EOS 550D with 18-55mm kit lens. I used 1080p, 25fps PAL encoding. The video was composed with 1080p, 25fps and h.264 encoding. Watch and enjoy. Please share if it is worth :-)

Severe traffic jam at shiraadi ghat near Sakaleshpur

This was taken during wee hours of Saturday morning 24-Nov-2012. Something familiar from past many years. Only difference was that I captured it for first time in camera. A truck accident took toll on the travelers on this way as the traffic remained stagnant for more than 3 hours. Even though huge trucks are not allowed during night, some sneak in after having understanding with security personnel and create such kind of havoc. It is difficult to clear the jam in such terrains and there are no emergency team here as of now. Even mobile network is inaccessible which creates more problem. Fortunately the incident happened somewhat near to Sakaleshpur so the traffic people could clear things at the earliest. It has been almost 5 years since the government officials kept on saying about concretion of shiraadi ghat road. However no progress has been made so far and not sure it will make any. It is believed that local contractors are major hurdle for improving the ghat road since it may block their maintenance money flow.

Unfortunately I did not see the news in newspapers at-least I see :(. The media which craves in to get garbage news out of mangalore never bothers to report such incidents. This would at-least help many people who suffer in such traffic jams. As somebody said world is full of contradictions :(.

The video was taken with canonSX210IS and edited using KDENLIVE under linux. Since it was dark, the video has come out bit noisier. Watch the short video. I create videos not only to show something but also to test my skills. Leave a comment if you have any improvement points.

Deepavali gift to myself

This deepavali I gifted a weird stuff [relatively ;)] to myself. It is quite unusual too. So what was it? I was scratching my head so much from many days that why my camera does not see like my eye. After so much R&D around net, I finally understood that I need a 50mm lens :D. The search was ON. First 50mm/f1.2 IS USM lens. I was shocked at its price and immediately went to 50mm/f1.4 IS USM lens. Its cost was also very high :(. The only option was 50mm/f1.8 EF II lens. It was relatively cheap than rest two. However the major drawback is no IS :(. The lack of IS could be felt sometimes. Nevertheless it is quite good for a beginner though. So I tested some captures and videos in my hometown and it came quite nice. I could achieve very nice shallow depth of field. The best thing about the lens is that it can maintain f/1.8 even at high shutter speeds. At nights it can grab more light so that you can capture very good image. I also captured some videos+images in beach side. I know it is not meant for landscape but still wanted to have a try ;). Overall it is good buy for money.

So here is the compilation of images and videos I took in my 50mm lens. All of them [Images+Videos] were taken in Manual Mode with lens in Manual Focus.

As every-time please comment on video so that I can improve further.

Music: Rank 1 - Airwave (Aaron static 2009 remix)

My first 1080p youtube upload

Here is first 1080p video uploaded by me to YouTube. This was first time I was uploading Full HD version to youtube. I was just testing the EOS 550D camera with 1080p/25fps movie mode. The initial part is blurred since lens was put in MF mode. So took some time to focus the subject properly. The subject is nothing special. It is usual scene of dogs playing on the road. In my case it's neighbor's dog and a street dog. The neighbor's dog was tied in front of house since it was raining on Sunday. A street dog came and started playing with the home dog. I captured some of their moments and uploaded to YouTube. The kids near by thought the dogs were fighting. After sometime both dogs got bored and the street dog went away.

It is near 2 minute video which was stored in MOV format. The original was around 620MB later reduced to 170MB using KDENLIVE. The video was converted to MP4 format with same H.264 encoding@12K bitrate and 384kbps audio.

Hope you will enjoy the video! Expect more 1080p videos in my YouTube channel :-). Share if you enjoyed it and comment if you have suggestions.

Watch my YouTube videos here: http://www.youtube.com/user/nakumar85/videos

Our table fan completes 40 years

Our table fan manufactured by Cinni recently completed 40 years and it is still operating young and energetic :). It was bought by my father during his first job. From then onwards it has not even seen a single repair. It does not mean that we use it rarely however it lasted long. Even today we use it daily.Only once the body was coated with black paint to prevent rust. Otherwise even now it's air circulation is like a jet. It has got four blades which is of old style and an antique style knob behind to facilitate rotation.

The only part which is not functioning is it's potentiometer. Due to this, fan has the highest speed irrespective of regulator position. We hope that the fan will still stay for very long time.

Wood Pecker drilling Tamarind tree

This was on someday at my hometown KAUP, we heard drilling sound. The sound was so powerful that we could hear it for many distance. I went curious about the sound. I thought that may be some house work was going on. However, the sound continued for long time past 6PM. Nobody works at that time.

My mother gave a clue that it might be wood pecker somewhere atop the tree drilling. Then I walked towards the tamarind tree nearby house where amplitude of sound was high. Aha! It was Mr.Wood Pecker which was making such huge sound. The quality of video is not so good but sound is really significant. It continued to make sound for many hours before resting for the day but I took only a minute of video. Amazed about its beak strength. Of-course it's standing position was just like a highly disciplined soldier.

Watch my other videos: http://www.youtube.com/user/nakumar85/videos

ಶ್ರೀರಾಮ-ನವಮಿಗೊಂದು ಹನುಮಂತನ ಸ್ಮರಣೆ

ರಾಮಾಯಣದಲ್ಲಿ ಹನುಮಂತನ ಪಾತ್ರ ಬಹಳ ಪ್ರಾಮುಖ್ಯತೆ ಪಡೆದಿದೆ. ಇದು ಎಲ್ಲರಿಗೂ ತಿಳಿದಿರುವ ವಿಚಾರ ಕೂಡ. ಶ್ರೀ ವಾದಿರಾಜರು ಹಾಡಿನ ಮೂಲಕ ಹನುಮಂತನ ಸ್ತುತಿ ಮಾಡಿ ಹೊಗಳಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ವಾದಿರಾಜರು ಹಾಡುಗಳು ಬಹಳ ವಿಸ್ತಾರವಾಗಿರುತ್ತವೆ. ಅವರ ಹನುಮಂತನ ಈ ಹಾಡು ಕೂಡ ಬಹಳ ವಿಸ್ತಾರವಾಗಿದೆ. ಈ ಹಾಡಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಪದ್ಯದ ಮೂಲಕ ವಾದಿರಾಜರು ಹನುಮಂತನ ಸಾಹಸಗಾಥೆಯನ್ನು ವಿವರಿಸಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ಹನುಮನು ಸಾಗರ ದಾಟಿದ್ದು, ಜಾನಕಿಗೆ ಮುದ್ರಿಕೆ ನೀಡಿ ತದನಂತರ ಲಂಕೆಯ ಸುಟ್ಟು ಮತ್ತೆ ವಾನರ ಸೇನೆಯ ಮೂಲಕ ರಾವಣನನ್ನು ವಧಿಸಿ, ರಾಮನ ಪಟ್ಟಾಭಿಷೇಕದವರೆಗೂ ಈ ಹಾಡಿನಲ್ಲಿ ವಿವರಣೆ ನೀಡಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ಈ ಹಾಡಿನ ಕೇಂದ್ರ ಬಿಂದು ಹನುಮಂತನೇ ಆಗಿದ್ದಾನೆ. ವಾದಿರಾಜರು ಸರಳ ಭಾಷೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಹನುಮಂತನ ಗುಣಗಾನ ಮಾಡಿದ್ದಾರೆ.

ಸಾಹಿತ್ಯದಷ್ಟೇ ಸೊಗಸಾಗಿ ಶ್ರೀ ವಿದ್ಯಾಭೂಷಣರು ಮಧ್ಯಮಾವತಿ ರಾಗದಲ್ಲಿ ಹಾಡಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ಸಾಹಿತ್ಯಕ್ಕೆ ಅನುಗುಣವಾಗಿ ರಾಗದ ಛಾಯೆಗಳನ್ನು ಅಳವಡಿಸಿಕೊಂಡಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ಸುಮಾರು ೧೭ ನಿಮಿಷದ ಈ ಹಾಡನ್ನು ಕೇಳಿ ಆನಂದಿಸಿ.

ಈ ಹಾಡಿನ ಸಾಹಿತ್ಯ ಹರಿದಾಸ ಸಂಪದದಲ್ಲಿದೆ: http://haridasa.sampada.net/ದಾಸಸಾಹಿತ್ಯ/ಎಷ್ಟು-ಸಾಹಸವಂತ-ನೀನೇ-ಬಲವಂತ/1887

ಹಾಡು ಕೃಪೆ: raaga.com

Yeshtu Sahasavanta