Pablo Bartholomew & His Father

Pablo Bartholomew is an amazing photographer. And so is his dad - Richard.

Watch their online photography exhibition on:
http://www.pablobartholomew.com/index.php
http://www.bartholomew.tv/


Great stuff!!

Dekhi Zamane Ki Yaari...

The loneliness of old age. Look at every senior citizen's face.

The young, meanwhile are busy exploring life.

Dekhi Zamaane Ki Yaari, Bichade Sabhi Bari Bari...

Check out the brilliant opening sequence of Kagaz Ke Phool: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AV6NciXmG64

Wiping Off Poverty

Wish it could be so easy.

Wired Photo Contest -2

Poor Kenyan laborers at Rift Valley, Kenya. They earn about 100 shillings a day. 1 Dollar = 65 Shillings.

Wired - Photo Contest - 1

A Somalian laborer on top of a road contractor's truck near Isiolo town at Shaba, Kenya. Shukran means Thank You.

http://www.wired.com/culture/art/news/2008/06/submissions_summer#submit

Mumbai Rains

Looks like Photoshop effects have been used on these pictures. They are mumbai rains captured from my car windscreen.

An Rare Sight in Mumbai!

I saw one of these rare walls of a public compound minus the posters/graphitti, at Mahim Causeway.

Hope one day all public walls look like these.

Some you see, some you don't!

You can see Giraffes all over Kenya, even near the Nairobi airport. They are common, though its fun to watch them move elegantly against wide skies. Also the Giraffe has an intense gaze and it directly looks into your eyes. Its weird, but true.

But you don't see the lions, cheetahs and leopards often. They are rare - the 'big five' - as gujju travelers call them.

We saw a glimpse of a lioness at Masai Mara. She disappeared as silently as she appeared.

More about Giraffes and Lions later...

Ira painting on the camera

Lake Nakuru

Lake Nakuru is an awesome sight. The pelicans and flamingos are seen to be believed.

Kids at Nakuru National Park

They had come for a school picnic. Look at the sun shining on their foreheads!!

Blue Sky and Blue Collared

Kenya is about clouded blue skies.

It is also about blue collared hard working Kenyans who (mostly) work for Indians (the Angrez of Kenya).

You always see them walking or cycling against the wide skylines of this beautiful country.

Game Bajao!!

Had been to Kenya for a 15 day Safari.

Met some beautiful animals and people.

Will upload images soon.

Jesus in Dubai

This is how I saw Jesus in Dubai.

Rajni as the Economist

He knows economics and culture better than anybody else in the world.

He makes millions out of it every year.

I caught him sitting at a bookstore in Chennai airport.

The warning about cellphone goes well under Rajni's image. Imagine him saying it in his own inimitable way!!!

Roadside Models!

I saw them on Linking Road, Bandra. I went to click their pics.

The boy tells me, "Foto lena hai to paisa dena padega" (If you want to click my pic, you need to pay me)

I agree.

He poses.

I pay him Rs.10.

He says its too less!!!

He follows me till my car...then says a bye to me and proceeds to beg again.

He was selling chocolates which he has never tasted!!

I met him on my way home from a wedding reception at Worli Seaface.

It was 1.30 am. I was 4 wine glasses down.

He came near my car door and pleaded me to buy Cadbury chocolate bars. There were 2 bars and he wanted me to buy both so that he could go home and sleep.

I bought them.

My friend said this was a trick to loot unsuspecting people like me.

I asked him if he had tasted the chocolates. He said no. I offered one bar to him. He refused to take it.

I smiled at my friend and we drove away.

My New Leica C-Lux2

I was in Dubai for work last weekend.

Bought a Leica C-Lux 2 at half the price it is available in India.

It was my long cherished dream to own a Leica!

Will update with better pics (and stories) in days to come...

Nouns and Verbs

"Whenever you are in love with flowing things, moving things, you have a different vision of life. Modern man lives with asphalt roads, cement and concrete buildings. These are nouns, remember, these are not verbs. The skyscrapers don't go on growing; the road remains the same whether it is night or day, whether it is a full-moon night or a night absolutely dark. It doesn't manner to the asphalt road, it does not matter to the cement and concrete buildings.

Man has created a world of nouns and he has become encaged in his own world. He has forgotten the world of the trees, the world of the rivers, the world of the mountains and the stars. There they don't know of any nouns, they have not heard about nouns, they know only verbs." - OSHO

Osho

I never tried to encounter his philosophy. To me, he was the one who took Vinod Khanna away from Bollywood - at a time when I used to like watching him paired with Bachchan. Nothing more than that.

A few of my friends had read about him and used to tell me that his philosophy was about overdoing ones desires and make them stale. As you keep doing this with each one of your desires, one day you would achieve tranquility.

The other day, I casually picked up his autobiography at Danai's titled - Autobiography of a Spiritually Incorrect Mystic.

The book is unputdownable. A must read. No pretense of being a spiritual master's autobiography. I have read about 81 pages of the 300 page book. I realize that Osho is much more than what my friends told me about.

Osho was a destiny's child. Hence he could do what he did with so much of nonchalance and confidence and fearlessness.

His fearlessness is infectious, amusing, unbelievable, and somewhat scary to emulate. His childhood memoirs are humorous, his ability to question everything from religion, god, rituals, gurus, etc. are a pure joy to read. Though controversial, they are nonetheless extremely incisive and makes you think in a completely unexplored dimension of religion and spirituality.

Here's one that I liked:

"Religion needs a religious quality. A few qualities are missing. One of the most important is a sense of humor"

The book is all about such irreverence and more...