Monday, November 22, 2010

Signature Spider (Argiope anasuja)

This is my first wildlife photograph that came with very nice details. I found it on the way to Nelliampathi in Kerala. The details of the spider is given below.

In North America, Argiope aurantia is commonly known as the "black and yellow garden spider", "corn spider" or "writing spider," because of the similarity of the web stabilimenta to writing.
In England, Argiope bruennichi, where it is found only on the southern coast, and in other parts of Europe, including Germany, is also known as the wasp spider. The East Asian species Argiope amoena is known in Japan as kogane-gumo. In Australia, Argiope keyserlingi and A. aetherea are known as St. Andrew's Cross spiders, for their habit of resting in the web with legs outstretched in the shape of an X, the cross of St. Andrew. The large white zigzag in the centre of its web is called the stabilimentum or web decoration.
In the Philippines, it is known as "gagambang ekis", which translates to "X spider".

The average orb web is practically invisible, and it is easy to blunder into one and end up covered with a sticky web. The very easily visible pattern of banded silk made by Argiope is pure white, and some species make an "X" form, or a zigzag type of web (often with a hollow center). The spider then aligns one pair of its legs with each of the four lines in the hollow "X," making a complete "X" of white lines with a very eye-catching spider colored bright yellow on a field of black or variegated red white and yellow stripes forming its center. The white patterns are called stabilimentum and reflect UV light. They have been shown to play a role in attracting prey to the web, and possibly to prevent its destruction by large animals. Their centers of their large webs are often just under 1 meter above the ground, so they are too low for anything much larger than a rabbit to walk under. The overtness of the spider and its web thus has been speculated to prevent larger creatures from accidentally destroying the web and possibly crushing the spider underfoot.

Details from Wikipedia : Argiope (spider)

Friday, October 29, 2010

Ee manohara theerathu varummo......


House + Boat :), originally uploaded by Neo-grapher.

I was always dreaming about Kerala when I was living in Bangalore. One more photograph to all my friends at Bangalore, to feel what they miss........

It was a misty morning, I decided to ride along the coastal area... A stretch from Chellanam to FortKochi. I stopped almost 15-20 times on the 20KM drive. I was enjoying every bit of it.

Need your comments on the photo.

Thursday, October 07, 2010

Mazhakaalam (Rainy Season)


Farmers in rain, originally uploaded by Neo-grapher.

Its raining continuously in Kerala. Last year when I heard about this news, I was in Bangalore. I missed this season a lot, since 2005. I love to roam around in the rain , love to ride a bicycle. Yesterday I went home fully drenched in the rain(enjoyed every second of my ride).

The season which irritates someone , but someone enjoy each drop of the rain. Some work hard in rain , as shown in the above photograph. This photograph was taken recently when I went to Valparai. The workers from the tea plantations were still working. I think they enjoy the rain along with the work.

Waiting for 10-10-10 . Planning to go out for a photoshoot. Let it be completely raining on this Sunday... :)

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Touching story from my inbox...

A woman came home from work late, tired and irritated, to find her 5-year
old son waiting for her at the door.

SON: 'Mummy, may I ask you a question?'

MUM: 'Yeah sure, what it is?' replied the woman.

SON: 'Mummy, how much do you make an hour?'

MUM: 'That's none of your business. Why do you ask such a thing?' the woman
said angrily.

SON: 'I just want to know. Please tell me, how much do you make an hour?'

MUM: 'If you must know, I make R 50 an hour.'

SON: 'Oh,' the little boy replied, with his head down.

SON: 'Mummy, may I please borrow R25?'

The mother was furious, 'If the only reason you asked that is so you can
borrow some money to buy a silly toy or some other nonsense, then you march
yourself straight to your room and go to bed. Think about why you are being
so selfish. I don't work hard everyday for such childish frivolities.'

The little boy quietly went to his room and shut the door..

The woman sat down and started to get even angrier about the little boy's
questions. How dare he ask such questions only to get some money?

After about an hour or so, the woman had calmed down , and started to think:


Maybe there was something he really needed to buy with that R25.00 and she
really didn't ask for money very often The woman went to the door of the
little boy's room and opened the door.

'Are you asleep, son?' She asked.

'No Mummy, I'm awake,' replied the boy.

'I've been thinking, maybe I was too hard o n you earlier' said the woman.
'It's been a long day and I took out my aggravation on you. Here's the R25
you asked for.'

The little boy sat straight up, smiling. 'Oh, thank you Mummy!' he yelled.
Then, reaching under his pillow he pulled out some crumpled up bills.

The woman saw that the boy already had money, started to get angry again.

The little boy slowly counted out his money, and then looked up at his
mother.

'Why do you want more money if you already have some?' the mother grumbled.

'Because I didn't have enough, but now I do,' the little boy replied.

'Mummy, I have R50 now. Can I buy an hour of your time? Please come home
early tomorrow. I would like to have dinner with you.'

The mother was crushed. She put his arms around her little son, and she
begged for his forgiveness.

It's just a short reminder to all of you working so hard in life. We should
not let time slip through our fingers without having spent some time with
those who really matter to us, those close to our hearts. Do remember to
share that R50 worth of your time with someone you love.

If we die tomorrow, the company that we are working for could easily replace
us in a matter of hours. But the family & friends we leave behind will feel
the loss for the rest of their lives.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Gods own country - Kerala


Chellanam Seaside, originally uploaded by Neo-grapher.

Reached back to my own land. I spent 5 years at Bangalore. I won't say that bangalore is bad. Bangalore is awesome always. But this can be achieved only in Kerala. Also one thing which is not available in Bangalore - Beach and Seaside.........

I am enjoying the nature from the day I reached Kerala. This photo is for my friends in Bangalore. Enjoy the nature through my lens.

Tuesday, May 04, 2010

Enjoying in summer...


Enjoying in summer..., originally uploaded by Neo-grapher.

While travelling on the way to Somnathpura, we stopped on the way for water. Then my friends found some kids taking bath in the river beside. We went there to take photos , then the kids started to be very cooperative. They were showing different styles while jumping into the river. All were clicking different shots in different styles.
I was very sad that I cannot jump into the water. in our childhood , we used to be in ponds for long 2 hrs also. I lost everything for last 5 years. It was very hot on that day , I wish I could jump to the water. Again the electronics items came in mind. I can't do it with my camera , iPod and mobile phone in hand :D

There will be time when I could try all these things again ....... Hope so :)

Save each drop of water!!!!


Save each drop of water!!!!, originally uploaded by Neo-grapher.

This photo was selected for an exhibition @ Jaaga by the Bengaluru Infinite Team.

When I was roaming around Cubbon park, I saw this kid playing with the water which was over flowing from the tank over there. While taking the photo the kid was calling his father and was telling something in Kannada. I love to play with water drops but only when it rains. When Bangalore has shortage of water , I don't why the water is spilled over here..........................

Friday, April 30, 2010

How do you forget your child while travelling?

This incident happened today when I was having my coffee near to my house. When i was at the shop, I noticed a kid of age 6 or 7, was standing on the bus stop. She was weeping and looking at everyone who pass through the street. I watched for sometime and I was really afraid to go and ask what happened. You never know what will happen after that. Then she suddenly came to the shop and asked for 1 rupee coin. She is having 2Rs, in her hand. Then people and the guy at the shop started asking what happened to her. Even though I'm not good in Kannada, I understood that the kids parents missed her while getting into the bus. Then one of the guy asked her fathers number which he found switched off. Now he tried her mothers number and came to know her place and informed her to come there.

I wonder how do people miss their own kids while getting into a bus. They could have waited for the next bus. Hopefarm jn in whitefield, Bangalore is having lot of buses to all places in every minute. So next time when you go out , take care of your child. Nothing comes beyond that, anything can wait for your child. Always there won't be good people who helps. The people around her (excluding some people like me) was so helpful that they had made an effort to call her parents. Also think about her , what she would be thinking at that 10 - 20 mins time. She was crying over the phone. It can even make a scratch in your relationship with you kid. Please always be careful while you travel with your kids.

Monday, March 01, 2010

Night trek to SavanDurga

After a long time, we friends planned for an outing on last weekend. We have a lot of places around Bangalore. There were alot of suggestions. After some discussions we selected this place - SavanDurga. Savandurga is a hill 33 km west of Bangalore (Karnataka, India) off the Magadi road, in India. The hill is famous for a temple and is also believed to be among the largest monolith hills in the world. Once we selected the place, we prepared for the trek. We planned to start by 10:30PM, 26th Feb, 2010. As usual the planning started with 5 or 6 people, finally there were only three of them. The team was Praveen, Subhash and myself(Anoop Kumar).

Everything was prepared and we were ready for the trek. The cameras were all set with full battery charge, the tripod, water, energy bars, jackets, caps etc. But then came a schedule change due to my last minute conferance call. The call did not took much time but it took some of my time which I kept for packing. Once I packed my stuffs after the call, I had my quick dinner which I wished later that I was not supposed to take that.(I'll explain that later) Due to the last minute call the journey started by 11:00 PM from Praveens house. We started riding on Praveens Royal Enfield. There are so many routes to reach SavanDurga from HAL, Bangalore. We took the route that passed through Nice road and Magadi road. One of the other route is through mysore road and via big banyan tree. From HAL we went to BTM to meet Subhash who is the third member of the team. He was there on his Pulsar waiting for hardly one hour.

By then the time was around 11:30PM and ride through Bannerghatta road and somewhere near to Gottigere we joined the Nice road. Nice road, it is actually a nice road, evenif we had to pay toll charges for our motorcycles. The road was awesome, also it was very well maintained. This road connects all major roads in Bangalore, it is closed and do not have openings to each and every small roads in Bangalore. Then we reached Magadi road, which was also awesome. Eventhough it had curves m I enjoyed the ride over Magadi road. On this road we ride around 30KMs and the road meets the SH3 road where we need to take a left and travell on SH3 for around 12KM to reach SavanDurga. This road was quite difficult ride. Finally, we reached SavanDurga by 1:30AM.

When we reached there , we found no one around the temple. We parked our vehicle and turn around to see a lot of dogs around us. I was worried and afraid about the dogs. Then only Subhash explained that the dogs help the trekkers to find there way towards the tip of the mountain. Everyone who treks on SavanDurga will be lead by a pack of dogs. Initially, I did not believed but within some time I started believing the fact. The dogs were waiting for us on the way to start the trek. It was unbelievable about how they took care each among us. There was a short way between two shops, where the dogs were waiting for us to start. Through the short way the dogs lead us to the starting point of the trek. The mountain looks like it was easily accessible, but actually it was not. Atleast for me it was not that easy.

There are two facts which I studied by this trekking. Never ever go for trekking without having good sleep on the previous day. And other one is that we should take good food on the days before trekking. Due to some of my work, I haven't done both of these and I suffered a lot. We started the trekking and after few minutes, I lost all my energy and I started vomitting. But within 10-15 minutes, I recovered and we resumed our trekking.
It was a full moon day and we don't actually need a flashlight. On the mountain we have arrow markings with white paint. Follow the markings which shows the easiest way to reach the top of the mountain. There will be three levels, you will see a watch tower at first, then you will be seeing a wall on the way. And then there will be a "Mantapa". a building made of large pieces of rock. Once you reach there you could see a small temple on the top most point of the mountain. Few areas were very steep, but the other areas were easy to climb. Do not climb continuously, take enough time in between to rest according to your energy level. While we were resting, the dogs were waiting beside us to resume the trekking.

By around 3:30AM/, we reached on the top of the mountain. It was a very nice experiance. You can spots of light which comes from different places in Bangalore.The rattling sound of wind, the chilling atmosphere, the vast sky with a big white spot on it, all together it was mind blowing , relaxing and good weekend refreshment from the city life. I wish if I could live at a place like this. As we reached early, we had to wait for the sunrise. We planned to sleep in one of the mantapas. It was really warm inside. As we started sleeping the dogs were taking rest around us. But actually they were guarding us. If anything moves outside other than the wind, they will start barking and all will go out to check the source of the sound. Around 6:00AM we woke and slept outside on the rock for sometime. We need to feel the chillness of the mountain.

Around 6:30AM, we started seeing the sun. Now we started to setup pur cameras. We all had different tastes in photography. As Subhash and Praveen was more experianced than me, they were trying out different shots. And I was studying lot of techiniques from them. After that Praveen went for bird watching. Subhash abd I was taking some sunrise shots, and also we tried to take some silhouette's. Early morning was very nice to watch from there. We could see the Manchanabele reservoirs and different shapes of mountains, There were birds, clouds, a temple far below, trees, rock formations, all together it was a feast for our eyes and also to our cameras.

We had our breakfast on the top of the mountain and by 8:00 AM, we started climbing down from the mountain. Now also the dogs were following us. By now I had overcome my fear towards the dogs. Early morning, I had seen one of the dog sleeping beside our legs enjoying the warmth of one day boss. That was quite a scene. As it was easy to climb down, we were taking different portrait shots of ourselves. We reached down by 9:00AM. While climbing down, we saw a group who were stuck in between the rocks. They might have ignored the arrow markings. So if someone is interested in the future to trek on SavanDurga, please follow the arrow points or else take help from the local people. Once we reached down the mountain, it was so hot that we forgot all the chillness we felt overnight

We left SavanDurga by 9:30AM. We took the other way which I specified earlier, which passes through Manchanabele dam and big banyan tree. I preferred the magadi road because this one was totally destroyed in some places, till we reach big banyan tree. From here the roads were good and we reached Mysore road and then reached to Kengeri. From this spot, Subhash took the Nice road to reach his home easily. And Praveen and I , ride in middle of bangalore traffic on a saturday morning. Different type of honks, hot atmosphere and signals on the way. I closed my eyes and remembered my last night at SavanDurga mountain. Its just a dream if you live in Bangalore. So I opened my eyes and admitted that I need to get used with Bangalore, not SavanDurga.

We reached home by 12:30PM. We both had a great lunch at Hydrebadi Biriyani, HAL.Now both of us were totally tired. I went to my room and had a nice sleep for next 10HRS. Eventhough there was some health problems and body ache, overall the trekking was great for me. I have enjoyed a lot.