That was it...

That was it…

Her forehead was dripping with sweat. Shirt was already wet with it. As she looked up the other side to see him wiping his face with his sleeve similarly sweat drenched, she picked up the shuttlecock that lay near her feet. Slowly… judging… his speed, strength and remaining stamina. She shifted to the right court and blew on the right palm, holding the racquet, then on the shuttle… right leg slightly bent at the knee and behind the left one. Swung her racqueted right arm while simultaneously releasing the shuttle from her left hand fingers, the racquet making contact with the shuttle with a clean sound, but misjudged.

Even as she was coming to terms with misjudged flight, He was ready for anything. As he leapt high his knees bent, body straightened and then arched backwards with his outstretched arm reaching out for the shuttle. Wrist finishing off the near perfect smash… She cringed at the sight of the shuttle shooting straight at her, but managed to get her left foot to move forward. Not wanting to lose her vantage position, she let her right leg stretched as far as possible behind her, with her head down yet looking at the shuttle… The racquet head in the outstretched right hand managed to make contact with the shuttle before it smashed to the ground. One touch was enough to get the shuttle very close to the net on the right. As she recovered, she saw him through the corner of her eye… deftly … lest she lost sight of the shuttle. Anticipation brought him closer to the service line and with a free movement of the wrist; he flicked the shuttle towards the baseline. Never letting his sight away from the shuttle, he stood his ground, legs apart, slightly bent, waiting for a weak return…

Her early recovery held her at a small advantage. She deftly took two long steps back… her back arched as she took a glance at his ready form… on the left court. She... from her left court and strong grip on the racquet made a firm contact with the shuttle and flicked… enough for the momentum to stop till it dropped just beyond the net before the service line… And she thought she had him in a spot… forgetting he held an advantage of being closer to the service line. His eyes gleamed as he stretched out to hit a flat swift return. But he misjudged her reflexes. She was off in a flash towards the right court with a full stretch and hit straight and flat towards his right court.

His eyes almost popped out as he smashed the shuttle back…

She felt the sweat on her neck, forehead, back and stomach and had a flashing glimpse of his face gleaming with triumph. But she had to go for it. As she took a great stride and bent her left leg forward, right leg stretched straight behind her, her body stretched forward, almost doubling up, stomach touching the thigh, arm stretched and head down. Her racquet managed to reach the shuttle. The power of the previous shot rebounding the shuttle back.

But she watched in despair as it hit the hem of the net... and fell back in her court... she held her sweat drenched hair and forehead...
He smiled... hopped towards the shuttle and picked it up and said... 'chal... Love all'

That was it...

she had just lost the toss...

Ode to a sunny day

Savannah morning
Originally uploaded by DraconianRain

The best thing I have heard in many many months.
From his solo project - BackStratBlues, Warren Mendonsa has some super new compositions.
I went into a state of transcendent listening to 'An ode to a sunny day'. 10 minutes of sheer bliss.
http://www.myspace.com/blackstratblues

Hey, I put some new shoes on and suddenly everything's right

Hey, I put some new shoes on and suddenly everything's right
Originally uploaded by DraconianRain

These fresh sparkling white shoes arrived today!
a month and half ago, we had to renew our subscription for 'India Today'. at this point I have to explain that I love reading... from books to magazines to interesting web articles to comics... anything...
So, I selected the best offer - a 5 year subscription, with a free pair of shoes! All i had to do was rush to the nearest adidas dealer, check my shoe size, fill up and send the form... and wait 8-10 weeks...
And viola! I have new shoes!!
I'll inaugurate these at badminton tomorrow... my old ones have almost worn themselves out! ;)

Vague conversations - one fine September evening with friends in Pune...

Disclaimer: Although I admit that this conversation is not entirely fictional, it is highly exaggerated. The characters mentioned in the conversation are all real, and in fact I know them well… In fact, I am one of them. And most importantly, the events and conversation described in the following are not to be taken seriously… until proved otherwise…

Happy reading…

Cast of Characters:

Ankur (protagonist)

Aditya (protagonist)

Vikarant (friend)

Sameer (super enthusiastic friend)

Sourabh (well… friend…)

Meghana (the customary dumb girl)

Location:

Kollage café, off law college road

Situation:

Café moderately crowded. Slowly the group gathers, general pleasantries in the form of abuses doing the rounds as usual…

Sameer (almost barking at Ankur) : where’s your partner?

Ankur simply nods.

Aditya arrives last, straight faced… sits next to Ankur. He is congratulated as he passed some of his CA exam

As usual, what Vikrant wants is not available that day, so he settles for French toast, Meghana orders toast and omelette and Ankur asks for egg curry and roti… Sourabh ate elsewhere some awesome Lebanese food, and doesn’t want anything. Sameer asks for coffee

Food arrives.

Start eating… Ankur and Aditya sharing the food … talking continues…

Topics shift from Sourabh’s site to Vikrant’s Solapur visit. We wonder if Gangu is going to join us, but none us seem sure.

For a brief second, everyone is silent… everyone is looking at the food… suddenly:

Sameer (Lifting his head and looking at Aditya): Did you tell at home?

Aditya (Looking bleak…): Yes… Dad told me to do whatever I want to do…

Sameer (with a gleam in his eye): really?

Aditya (extremely animated): Over the dinner table… everything was peaceful… suddenly my dad asked me about it… and I Looked at my mom who knew (Looking towards an imaginary mom with eyes wide open, towards where Sourabh was sitting…) and she said that she told dad about it… And I said that it was true. So he told me to do whatever I wanted to do, and go to hell if I wanted to… so he’s not at all happy… but at least he knows…

Sameer (turning towards Ankur): And what about you…? Did you tell at your place?

Ankur (with a little sly smile) : they have an idea… My brother accidentally discovered it while I was conversing with him… Later during dinner… my dad asked if it was true… and I told him it wasn’t and he told me that I am not admitting now and must remember that…

Sameer (with a semi shocked expression): so now what are you going to tell your family? And when?

Ankur (Nodding slightly): dad’s birthday is approaching… plus I plan hand over the finished office to him that day, so he might be pleased enough to listen to me…

Vikarant and Meghana continue eating and listening adeptly to the conversation…

Sameer (inquisitively, almost at the edge of his seat): the date? Have you decided?

Ankur: mid October probably…

Sameer (jerking his head): that’s great!

Vikrant: (Looking at Aditya almost as if waking up from slumber): Doesn’t Aabha support you at it?

Aditya (desperately): she does… a lot… but it’s not like her support matters… since she went away…

Sourabh (weird expression, looking at no body in particular): Ankur, you should introduce Aditya to your family on your dad’s birthday…

Meghana (bad timing as usual): Congrats you two…

Ankur: well at least it’s more or less out now… We should start our preparations…

Aditya (looking at Ankur): When should we go to Pali…?

Ankur (sly smile, nodding…): Lesee…

At this point, the café is no longer crowded… its almost time to go home. The last few cups of coffee and lemon juice arrive and the bill is paid… The conversation shifts from topic to topic… about Sourabh’s current site, to his experiments with recycling plastic bags to Vikarant’s fiancé who is as much a vegetarian as he is a Non vegetarian… and to cycles and which cycle to take for long trips: geared or un-geared, road bike, mountain bike or a hybrid…

At this point, let me explain that Ankur and Aditya are cycling comrades who are planning a bike trip from Pune to Kanyakumari, and their respective families are very much against it… I realised that for any one not knowing this, this conversation might sound poles apart from what we understand it as. Ankur and Aditya are NOT homosexuals and even though they both are struggling to find love from members of the opposite sex, they are gaily planning out the long cycling trip in the hopes of finding their true selves and true loves…

May they succeed in all their endeavours…

Let me show you a trick... I'll make everyone disappear

OOOOOH! BUNNY BUNNY!

Originally uploaded by Aline Jasper

This is a cute bunny indeed!
by Aline Jasper via Flickr!

Ay vocal pe dhellay daal… dhellay

“[Ladies and gentlemen… Khadki junction blues… ]”

[clap clap]

“Aye Gokul CLAP NA!“

“Haa…” [clap clap] “Woof!”

“Ay vocal pe dhellay daal… dhellay”

“EeEe… uuuhHhho… [Falsetto] Eenaaff eenaff eenaff” …

“Can you uh… raise my bass please on the monitor I can [murmur]”…

“shall we go…?”

“Chalo… I’m ready”

“Ok… I think we’re ready to go…”

“So lets play now”… “lets play”

[sachin tendulkar voice] “go get it… “

Funky Guitar riff…

An awesome start to a Khadki junction blues song aptly names as Headrush Pink Rojez soundcheck!

PS: I’m a fan!

One of the many gems from Pune, this Funk rock and fusion band... check out their album - Bopodi Love affair... and songs like Contemplate, Gentle rain, Sausy finger chips (jain) and Journey to funkeshwar!

completely trippy!

The spoils of the wall

More than a year ago, I ambitiously printed a 40"x30" photo of Menavali ghat, Wai, that I had clicked a few months before that.
Last month, got it mounted.
Yesterday, I fixed up the hooks to it.
Today, I was supposed to go out of town... so I left it for later.
Then... the phone rang...
my bus got canceled, so they put us in another bus which meant I was home for another 3 hours. So I marked the correct distance on the wall, drilled holes in it (with a manual driller, mind you.) Plugged it with screws and VOILA...
Now, its on the wall!
Today was the day where i was to finish the ill fated task that I had set out to do last year...
Now to finish packing...

flipped view of things

I play badminton but they say, it runs the knees. I cycle but they say, that too ruins the knees.
so, I have been going for yoga sessions for a month and a half now. Its pretty intensive. And every time, I come back home with my muscles nicely stretched and relaxed, and my bones in their correct place.
Today, i flipped when I was told to do the Shirshasan, and quite literally too.
As I rested on my neck and arms, and tried touching my back to the wall, I felt all my blood freeze. What the hell was I doing here? Wasn't I better off cycling and playing badminton? Would my neck bones crack while I tried to rest my body weight on my neck and head? would I fall off sideways and break a few bones once I lifted my legs towards to wall? Heck... would I even be able to completely lift my legs in the air on to the wall?
Jump one, halfway... jump two - right leg touched the wall behind...
Jump 3- I was up, legs and back straight against the wall, all my incredible burden resting on my frenzied little head losing all sense of orientation and direction. I thought that it was supposed to feel good with all the blood rushing to the brain... provided there’s enough of it… the brain I mean.

Since my legs were up and free, I was almost floating, save my neck muscles that were still feeling the stress.

I came down feeling my neck and shoulders and arms and fingers and my feet disappearing… I felt doped for a second… in a good way.

You may fly with your feet raised high above the ground… but always keep your head firmly planted on the ground.

Guaranteed to give you an phenomenal high… even if for just a second!

the 35mm Hexomniscope project - I

It all started last year, when I discovered Photojojo - a new online photography newsletter, and subscribed to it. Filled up with fun snippets about photography, DIY and photographers and etc, I discovered - more than a year later – An article about pinhole photography.

That led me to a website where they showcased all sorts of bizarre pinhole cameras, which in turn led me to the HEXOMNISCOPE!

From their website:

"The long awaited very rare limited quantity all metal Hexomnisope pinhole camera which has 6 pinholes and 6 individually operated shutters around its circumference to make 6 overlapping 60 degree images onto 120 film. Shutters can be turned on and off independently, but have a single release. 4 complete images of 6 pinholes each can be made on a roll of 120 film. Pinhole diameter is 0.0055 inch for an f stop of f180. All handmade. A very sophisticated design by Matt Abelson. Made to perfection! You will be amazed at the craftsmanship of this absolutely wonderful new camera. It is approximately 5 inches high and 5 inches in diameter. Weighs almost 3 pounds. 120 film winds around inside cylinder. The Hexomniscope is only available from the Pinhole Resource. Comes with an instruction CD giving clear instructions for use and exposure guide. Designed and made by Abelson Scope Works."

So I want one, but priced at a little over $1500, and as my story usually goes, I don’t have the necessary spare parts to buy it … So following my usual story and script, I think of making it to my own silly specifications.

The hexomniscope is developed for 120 format film. I've used that format only once, so decided to make a 35mm film paper version for the same.

The f stop of a pinhole is calculated by determining the size of the hole and the focal length (distance from the pinhole to the film). So a camera with a 0.5 mm diameter pinhole, and a 50 mm focal length would have an f-stop of 50/0.5, or f/100. Others are even higher, up to f/360. It all depends on the size of the hole.

From that and this - http://www.mrpinhole.com/calcpinh.php; I get :

IF and only IF:

focal length = 40 mm

pinhole dia = 0.25 mm,

THEN and only THEN:

f stop is f/160

if ISO = 100, 35 mm film

image dia = 76.8 mm

angle of view = 40

Similarly:

focal length = 25 mm

pinhole dia = 0.25 mm,

f stop is f/100

if ISO = 100, 35 mm film

image dia = 48 mm

angle of view = 70

Damn pinhole!

My hexomniscope will look a little different, since its for 35 mm film. It will be shorter. Around 5 cms in height.

The only other time I have tried pinhole is with my dSLR and a pinhole disc in place of the lens. Works wonders! Now hoping this works wonders too…

punk is not ded

punk is not ded
Originally uploaded by DraconianRain

yet another new idea! to draw my own graphic novel... sounds fun, eh... maybe revive that whole Pop art stuff with the protagonist as a guitar scratching, sarcastic atheist architect who goes around vowing to destroy every single ugly, high energy consuming building in town... how cool?
Not much I suppose...

The very essence of 'Indianness...'

As one thing leads to another…
Yesterday afternoon at home, I felt like channel surfing. And as my fingers flickered over the now unfamiliar remote control… I stopped to watch the Music channels. The two most popular ones – M tv and Channel [V]… Its really been a while since I heard some nice new music on these music channels.
M tv hardly plays music these days, it seems… Their obsession with Roadies knows no bounds…
So I switched over to Channel [V]. And during the break, I saw an amazing advertisement. It was a public service message.

It showed Indian, and their stuff- sofas, TVs, fake flower bouquets, tables, chairs, computers, Car seats, credit cards and almost everything else … all covered in plastic…
Then this little Indian guy goes to a little Indian Mobile shop staring at stuff there, and the big Indian shopkeeper barks at him asking what he wanted… and he asks for a typically Indian mobile cover…
At the end of the advertisement, there’s a message – ‘Be Indian, use protection’
… How cool?!

The advertisement was in no way exaggerating. The other day, I spilled some water on my keyboard, so disconnected it and let it dry. Later, I reconnected it and googled for some more info on what could be done.
I was browsing through an American forum where everyone was discussing what they did when they dropped Coffee or beer on the keyboard. (Do they ever drink water?) They mentioned waterproof keyboards and new keyboards. As I read along… some guy wrote: ‘If you just keep the plastic that the keyboard comes in - on it, it’s the cheapest waterproofing you have!’ … And the first thing that came to my mind was – This guy must be Indian!’
And… he was!

the revival of the Brownie Hawkeye project

This time, photo scans with sprocket holes intact. The very reason why i revived this project was because I could finally get decently scanned images with the sprockets intact. And since the brownie is a medium format point and shoot, it exposes the part of 35mm film around the sprockets too. Unlike SLRs. This makes the picture most magical...

the results are never sharp in this project. And that is due to the following reasons.
1. The fixed shutter speed of the brownie (which is pretty slow)
2. the meniscus lens aberrations towards the edges, and I somehow never manage to load the 35mm film centrally through my homemade 35mm film adapter...

The results are as follows:









All this scanning was possible because of a unique tubular contraption that keeps negatives in place and enables me to take pictures of the same through my digital camera. Obtaining the digital positive is the final stage of the process.

This is another shuttlebox attachment for my 400D with one end holding the negative and the other end open to fix on the lens. Ideally, this tube is to be held with the negative exposed to a bright source of white light, and the open end on the lens. The length of the tube will depend upon the minimum focus length of the lens in use.