I hate pigeons and retarded kids who keep throwing rice on the ground. Maybe if they ate the rice themselves then they wouldn't be so retarded, and then wouldn't proceed to do such deplorable acts.
Just saying
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Mountains, the wind and the grass!
Tuesday afternoons...sigh! Its been quite some days since I last wrote, and there has indeed been a fair bit of reflection and introspection, took a few photographs of course! Cath's friend had come over for a couple of days, so we decided on a little going away shindig, which started at 3 in the morning! A quick jaunt to Tiger Hill was filled with nothing but disappointment, but positivity has a way of rubbing off on everyone close by! Spent most of the time huddled in the car, while the rest of the cars started rushing in only after us, almost like they were waiting for the first bunch of fools to get there so they could justify the obvious daylight robbery they happily indulged in with great gusto.
That's about as much as we got done! It was only on our way back that things started to look up, the mountains cleared up, we stopped by the road, thoroughly thrilled at the thought that the rest of the tourists were covered in a thick cloud and had no idea what was going on down here!
After a little more of dilly dallying, decided to head back to catch some much needed sleep, which of course I couldn't get much of anyway! Later during the day we decided to grab some bikes and head off to Kalimpong! Well it was Loleygaon, but then again, the morning's optimism was still doing us good! And what a ride it was! I had a flat on the bridge across Teesta, I stopped in losing all hope, I look under the bridge and lo and behold! A garage directly under where I stood! One grease monkey fixed my tyre, and were off again. We reached our friend's resort after 6 hours of riding through rough terrain, random potholes, unfamiliar roads, wet weather and an utter lack of direction! And what a welcome it was at the resort! 4 leeches on each of our legs, mind bogglingly good food, copious amounts of alcohol and the weed, and then I eventually got stuck in a toilet where I had no idea how how I got in! Some fool turned the lights off and I had one of strangest experiences of my life!! After a lot of feeling around like a blind fuck, I eventually got out! After some more debauchery, and more sinful food, we finally managed to get some much needed sleep!
And what a sight I dragged myself out of bed for!
We finally managed to get out of the place after waiting for the rain to subside, and had another long ass ride through a warm clear moonlit night. I forgot all about my fatigue, and soaked in the wonderful night. and the photo to sum up the weekend my friends:
What is this sudden fascination I've developed over the past few days, its been driving the ones close to me nuts! Is it my last ditch effort to catch up to the years I lost holed up in the tea gardens? I really wouldn't know for sure, requires a little more introspection now!
After a little more of dilly dallying, decided to head back to catch some much needed sleep, which of course I couldn't get much of anyway! Later during the day we decided to grab some bikes and head off to Kalimpong! Well it was Loleygaon, but then again, the morning's optimism was still doing us good! And what a ride it was! I had a flat on the bridge across Teesta, I stopped in losing all hope, I look under the bridge and lo and behold! A garage directly under where I stood! One grease monkey fixed my tyre, and were off again. We reached our friend's resort after 6 hours of riding through rough terrain, random potholes, unfamiliar roads, wet weather and an utter lack of direction! And what a welcome it was at the resort! 4 leeches on each of our legs, mind bogglingly good food, copious amounts of alcohol and the weed, and then I eventually got stuck in a toilet where I had no idea how how I got in! Some fool turned the lights off and I had one of strangest experiences of my life!! After a lot of feeling around like a blind fuck, I eventually got out! After some more debauchery, and more sinful food, we finally managed to get some much needed sleep!
And what a sight I dragged myself out of bed for!
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
All in all, I don't feel like writing much
June's gone, September's here already
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
BUTBUT
In other news, I stole some music off my friend Ritesh from Gangtok, and I have to admit I'm a wee bit amused by them.
Freelance Whales and their album Weathervanes
Made in Heights and their album Aporia: In these streets
Google them, will ya?!
Freelance Whales and their album Weathervanes
Made in Heights and their album Aporia: In these streets
Google them, will ya?!
So I made it to the next blog!
So I made it to the next blog!
And what have I been upto? Created an array of things that went straight to the bin! I taught a little photography to a friend who was leaving, and she did quite a decent job on the first(and only!) day!
See?
Maybe I should dabble in teaching shit like this every now and then!
Among other things, I've been trying to get back some of that health I lost, which sadly is a lot! So I've been waking up at the crack of dawn for them morning walks, and I've begun to feel much better about myself, though it was only my second time today. I got a wee bit brave (or as some might say "stupid"!) and decided to speed up to a little jog. Bad idea. Quite an eye opener though, realized how close I was to the deep end!
When its clear, what a lovely sight it is. I was pleasantly surprised with the view, with a carpet of clouds below and the mountains rising above. I didn't have my camera with me the first day, the second day I decided not to take my camera, took my iPhone instead. The camera may appear a little too intrusive for such mornings, I don't know why I feel so. Also, its a bitch trying to walk/jog/crawl with a camera around my neck!
My only gripe with the whole scene is rather religious, or anti religious for that matter. The mall road around Observatory Hill is the venue of choice purely by habit, and there's a temple on top of this hill. A rather interesting temple it is too, obviously there's a lot to see when one's eyes aren't closed in prayer! But of late, thanks to this thing called 'Bolbum' or whatever else its called is wrecking havoc to an otherwise quiet morning. There is an offensive stream of bhajans being played at full tilt from on top of the hill, which is rather pointless and outright rude. Fundamentalists from other religious leanings are probably not very pleased at this sordid affair. I hope it ends soon though.
Anyway, story time!
This is one my favorite pictures, I took this sometime in March this year when I was working for my friend in Shillong. This was taken at Ganole River, a little below Tura, West Garo Hills. We were staying at the Soil Conservation guest house, and we were completely oblivious to one of the worst water crisis to ever hit Tura. How so? It appears so that our guest house had water coming from a reservoir that most of the city had no access to! So in the mornings, instead of sweeping the floors outside, the caretaker would calmly wash the place down with a rather large stream of water! While just a little below the hill, people were reduced to plotting ways to overthrow the P.H.E Minister! Anyway, a lot of water was being carted up from Ganole river, which already had a few revelers in the midst of their 'picnic'. You see, the A'achik people, or the Garos, love a good picnic, simply because there really isn't much else to do! And boy can they drink, I think there should be another term for what they do, because drinking is what you and I would do! Any meat cooked with a fistful of salt, a kilo of chillies and Sodium Bicarbonate, washed down with hard liquor hardly suited for the kind of climate prevalent, party time!
I always enjoyed my regular jaunts to Garo Hills, a beautiful part of this country, hot as fuck, and sadly scarred by violence and uncontrolled illegal mining of coal. I have driven over roads so bad the surface of the moon would appear to be a superhighway! I have quite a fair amount of fun memories of Garo Hills-which I shall divulge over time!
Until later.
And what have I been upto? Created an array of things that went straight to the bin! I taught a little photography to a friend who was leaving, and she did quite a decent job on the first(and only!) day!
See?
Among other things, I've been trying to get back some of that health I lost, which sadly is a lot! So I've been waking up at the crack of dawn for them morning walks, and I've begun to feel much better about myself, though it was only my second time today. I got a wee bit brave (or as some might say "stupid"!) and decided to speed up to a little jog. Bad idea. Quite an eye opener though, realized how close I was to the deep end!
When its clear, what a lovely sight it is. I was pleasantly surprised with the view, with a carpet of clouds below and the mountains rising above. I didn't have my camera with me the first day, the second day I decided not to take my camera, took my iPhone instead. The camera may appear a little too intrusive for such mornings, I don't know why I feel so. Also, its a bitch trying to walk/jog/crawl with a camera around my neck!
My only gripe with the whole scene is rather religious, or anti religious for that matter. The mall road around Observatory Hill is the venue of choice purely by habit, and there's a temple on top of this hill. A rather interesting temple it is too, obviously there's a lot to see when one's eyes aren't closed in prayer! But of late, thanks to this thing called 'Bolbum' or whatever else its called is wrecking havoc to an otherwise quiet morning. There is an offensive stream of bhajans being played at full tilt from on top of the hill, which is rather pointless and outright rude. Fundamentalists from other religious leanings are probably not very pleased at this sordid affair. I hope it ends soon though.
Anyway, story time!
I always enjoyed my regular jaunts to Garo Hills, a beautiful part of this country, hot as fuck, and sadly scarred by violence and uncontrolled illegal mining of coal. I have driven over roads so bad the surface of the moon would appear to be a superhighway! I have quite a fair amount of fun memories of Garo Hills-which I shall divulge over time!
Until later.
Thursday, August 9, 2012
Exhumation
Out of curiosity I decided to take a look at my blog, needless to say I had forgotten how to log in, but thanks to Google, I managed to! I didn't realize my last blog update was way back in 2007! Reading through I also realized that all the writing on it seemed like it was done by someone else altogether!
Maybe its time to look back and get a little check going on, who I was and who I am now! With youth came the fire and carelessness, I was brash and irreverent. And now, I'm older, somehow I feel a lot older as well! Boisterity and irreverence have given way to calm collect, my mind is a little dull, vision is just as bad as it always was but somehow I crave to see more. I finally made the move to digital photography earlier this year, yet somehow I always pine for that strip of film. I've become a fat fuck, I'm scared my complacence will get the better of me. I'm broke, but I have a job! No surprises there! I survived three excruciatingly long years in tea, a job I did not like from the very first day, and though I have little or no respect for the profession, I have to admit I learnt a lot of things about myself, and gained a whole new perspective on where I stand and how I do so.
I regained my love for trees, and snakes! I realized how much I valued my own company and the company of friends that mattered to me, with whom I could talk at length about anything I wanted or not say anything. I've found the joy of teaching myself things I never though I could, and the joy of rekindling my curiosity. I lost room for my humour and I found it again-oh joy!
And boy do I take photographs!
So in an effort to keep this blog up and running, I'll make a conscious (or otherwise!) effort to find that fool who wrote all the shit before! And I'll try and remember the stories behind the photographs I have taken over the days while I'm at it!
Maybe its time to look back and get a little check going on, who I was and who I am now! With youth came the fire and carelessness, I was brash and irreverent. And now, I'm older, somehow I feel a lot older as well! Boisterity and irreverence have given way to calm collect, my mind is a little dull, vision is just as bad as it always was but somehow I crave to see more. I finally made the move to digital photography earlier this year, yet somehow I always pine for that strip of film. I've become a fat fuck, I'm scared my complacence will get the better of me. I'm broke, but I have a job! No surprises there! I survived three excruciatingly long years in tea, a job I did not like from the very first day, and though I have little or no respect for the profession, I have to admit I learnt a lot of things about myself, and gained a whole new perspective on where I stand and how I do so.
I regained my love for trees, and snakes! I realized how much I valued my own company and the company of friends that mattered to me, with whom I could talk at length about anything I wanted or not say anything. I've found the joy of teaching myself things I never though I could, and the joy of rekindling my curiosity. I lost room for my humour and I found it again-oh joy!
And boy do I take photographs!
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| "Hurhurey Dara" Gangtok, July 2012 |
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