Vanity thy gender is...

Traffic in Pune is generally quite lawless and people are willfully blind towards the basics of driving. On purpose. To get ahead. To save time. For what...? I don't know. To go where? I don't know... But that's a story for another day.

While driving home the other day, I encountered two helmetless lads in their early twenties with one of those typical hairstyle newly minted college kids have these days, riding a KTM bike with what I guessed was not a care in the world. They were cutting across traffic between lanes trying to snake their way between multiple rows of cars any concern for their their life and limbs. Yes, one does feel invincible in their twenties. But I was worried for them... Can't they see? They have eyes and two rear view mirrors, don't they? Yes, they do... but the angle of those rear view mirrors were completely wrong... and suspiciously familiar! 

I was instantly taken back to my time in Auroville in 2006. I lived some distance away from my workplace and so I had to rent a 50CC moped to ferry myself around the place. My friends from Pune - two cycle riding boys who worked in other nearby offices sometimes borrowed my bike to run errands. I come from the cantonment discipline, so I always adjust my rear view mirrors... so did these two... but not in the same way as I did. 

Everytime I got my bike back from them and sat on it, the only thing I would see in the rear view mirrors was... my own face. In both mirrors!

So these two boys had been checking out their face and hair in the mirror while riding their bikes. They were then the same age as those KTM riding boys were now... And the rear view mirrors... suspiciously in the same angle as when I got my moped back from the boys. 

And I thought... "Yea, that's why they can't see traffic... they're busy seeing themselves!"

And they say women are vain. 

Bare-feet.

This day last week, I went to the tekdi with Pooja after work to take a walk under lovely skies which changed form every five minutes!

It had rained, so the earth was wet and kept sticking to our sandals so much so that we couldn't walk properly. Walking barefoot was the only option. Mud caked sandals in hand, we started walking towards the Hanuman tekdi, with our feet covered with a thick sole of mud. We had a lovely walk to the Mandir and back!

 Beautiful day!

The Election Commission has a sense of humour

I voted today, and had them mark my middle finger with indelible ink.
Not just me, it was for everyone ...

The Election Commission has officially allowed me to show my finger to the ones who deserve it.


PS: I read that the reason for this unique practice is that some places in Maharashtra had nagar panchayat and gram panchayat elections recently and voters there had their left forefingers marked...

DASHED STAR TRAILS - FUN!!

I was really frustrated in the evening yesterday. Was discussing generally with Ashwin about things one could possibly do. And he suggested an hour long exposure ... And he's the lucky guy to have a remote release... I don't have one. Last time I tried a star trail, I had jammed the shutter button of the FM2 for 75 mins. That was easy since it was a manual camera. This is hard since it's digital... and all e electronics make me a nervous wreck! But hey, what the hell! It's my camera! I can do what I want with it! I had the idea of jamming the button with some tape and I tried that, but that wouldn't work, till Mr. topper - Ramit gave me the idea of Jamming the button with tape and a little folded piece of paper between the tape and the button. Risky, it is... and that I got to know only later ... But ignorance is bliss, and I was blissfully ignorant which resulted in this pic.
So I decided to charge my camera's battery fully. And I remembered a technique I had read about last year where could play around with star trails. If the lens is covered for a min or two ever five minutes during the entire period of exposure. This gives breaks in the light trail and the line appears dashed.
This was just the time to try it out! So I set out to my terrace with my camera, battery fully charged and lens cap and tripod and my music! So set up the cam and all, and set up the tape and the timer started... took off the lens cap and was walking around in circles on my terrace while it was exposing... 10 mins into the exp... i heard the dreadful sound... the tape gave away... and the pic didnt expose for as long as I wanted it to... But, i was on it again in no time. after a few failed attempts (5 of them) i finally got a good hold with the tape! and the star trail lasted for 49 mins 38 seconds. during the exposure, I was covering the lens with the lens cap every 5 mins for every 2 mins, and hence the dashed line!
There are a few irregularities in the trails due to lack of concentration towards the timings on my part, but it's ok... the first try...
The camera took about an hour for the noise reduction process for the image, and i was getting impatient... but when I saw the final image... I was pretty thrilled!!
I see two dust spots in the image, and can't help it because I play around with the cam so much. changing lenses... the new lens might not be totally dustproof... but the XTi's sensor vibration dust removal thingy helps... like it has so many times before...
I love my cam! And I love making new photos with it!