A new incarnation for "Life through a lens"

Last night, I set up a blog on my custom domain. Just trying out wordpress....visit my latest blog with a different look and feel. I will be customizing this over the next few months. I intend to use the new blog to continue posting.

Moments meander around Gwalior Fort

I visited Gwalior Fort again. It has been overcast and rainy the past few days but the Sun decided to shine again today, maybe, to mark the occasion of World Tourism Day. With Dada and Bobby, I drove up to Fort from Urwai Ghati instead of my usual hike up from the Gwalior Gate of the Fort. I had brought photos of Kushwahji and others that I had taken on my previous trips to the Fort and they felt happy on receiving the photos.


Man Mandir has undergone a fantastic cleanup. The blackened walls in the inside chambers have been cleaned and very few bats remain. The dark stairways leading to even darker circular dungeons now have lights as well to guide the tourists. This is where the Mughal emperor, Aurangzeb had imprisoned his brother Murad and had him executed. I took some long exposures of the dungeons and Jauhar kund.

After photographing the colorful tiles of Man Mandir Palace and visiting the chambers in Man Singh Palace, we went to see some older monuments in the Fort.

Some things never change: the desire of us mortals to leave our name etched in stone for generations to see. I have been to so many beautiful monuments and places that have inspired misguided lovers and mortals to etch their names on the walls thereby disfiguring those for others. Sometimes, all this reminds me of 'Ozymandias' by PB Shelley or even of that beautiful song by Kansas - 'Dust in the wind' (esp the lines - "all we are is dust in the wind").


This particular graffiti looked fresh and brought to mind my surprise at seeing graffiti on Eiffel Tower in Paris. Now I really digress but I must tell you this; still cracks me up on my stupidity. Having heard so much about the graffiti and the messages for Jim Morrison on his grave, I had gone to Cimetiere du Pere-Lachaise in Paris. It started raining and finally I saw a mausoleum with people around and graffiti on the walls proclaiming how Jim is loved and lives on etc. It easily seemed the most popular tomb around and I photographed it and the music lovers from all angles. I am about to head out when I see an American tourist taking a picture of his boys in front of a comparatively small grave behind the tomb. Wondering whose grave it was, I check out the tombstone. Lo and behold! It was Jim Morrison's! Having gone all the way to the cemetery, I had almost missed out the grave that I wanted to see. You can imagine how foolish I must have felt.

Anyways, back to Gwalior Fort: I sought out some of my favorite views of Vikram Mandir, ShahJahan Mahal and Karan Mahal.




I keep returning, hoping to find better, more dramatic light. Still have not found what I am looking for but hope remains. I am sure I will be back again, to relive the moments I have spent with near and dear ones while walking, playing around the monuments in the Fort. The clock keeps ticking as this very moment passes us by. 'Dust in the wind', indeed!

Calm in the Ripples

I saw this solitary swimmer floating in a pool surrounded by ripples in the water.

It reminded of the countless hours spent swimming in the Beldih club pool in Jamshedpur, India. When it rained, other folks would go inside the club building. Most of the times, I would be the solitary swimmer in the pool.

Have you ever had a swim when it is raining? Imagine yourself in a pool as raindrops fall, one after the other, on your face, as the body floats in the blue waters. I always felt a strange exhilaration, calm, at peace with myself.

A day at San Francisco Carnaval

'Was an overcast day for the San Francisco Carnaval parade in mission district this year. After the parade, I went to the street festival on Harrison St. I have not been doing any street photography for quite some time. I have always liked meeting and photographing strangers on the streets. The photos in this post incorporate the colorful murals along Harrison.

Gwalior Fort

I visited the Scindia School after what seems like ages. The drive up to the fort via the steep Urwai ghati brought back memories of the days spent at the school. The old houses (our hostels) still look the same with the trees that seem as young as ever. I remember hurling my hockey stick at the tamarind tree in front of Jeevaji house for some juicy imlis. Sometimes, the stick would get entangled in the old limbs of the trees only to be rescued by the forceful strike of another stick borrowed from a housemate. And then, we would rush to the games fields with pockets full of the loot, content. Ah, those beautiful moments remain as fresh in my memories...

We visited Astachal with the statue of Mahatma Gandhi, the young eucalyptus tree and remembered looking at the old ramparts of the fort in the background as the sun went down over the hills beyond the fort walls. I remembered Mr Chatterjee with reverberations of his voice as he sang - "surya ast ho gaya..gagan mast ho gaya...pag pag hum gaate chalein...aha gaate...aha gaate" (The sun has gone down...the sky is rosy and ecstastic..we are singing with every step..."). It looked just the same but there were no boys, no roll-call and no school astachal this evening.



Also, I finally got to see the light and sound show in the vicinity of the beautiful Man-mandir built by Raja Man Singh. As the deep voice of Amitabh Bachchan started the narration of the chequered history of this famous fortress at Gwalior, multicolored lights spot-lighted the historical buildings around the area one by one as the sound-bytes changed.
A mild winter breeze blew as I sat on the edge of the wall, trying to keep my camera steady and wishing I had brought my tripod with me. I was under the impression that photography with-or-without flash was not allowed. The lights of the Gwalior city below, twinkling like stars, winked telling me that I will be back again.

Yuyi's Carnaval Portrait featured on San Francisco Arts Commission website

It was a pleasant surprise to see my photograph of Yuyi featured on the website of San Francisco Arts Commission.

Maybe one day, I will get a grant to pursue my photography projects too. :)

Mirror, mirror on the wall...

Mirror conjures dreams
dreams mirror the inner self
the simple, muddled, lucid dreams...



I see you...
looking at me in my dreams
Mirror, mirror on the wall
am I dreaming after all?