Surreal Sun!

It will not be false to call sunsets/sunrises as surreal! You actually feel dream like to see sunsets or sunrises. Me and darshit have always tried to catch the various poses of sun in the sky. Sunsets when sun tries to shy away from us.. leaving red/orange hues in the sky.. or sun rises where sun gets up and shakes hand with us when most of us are fast asleep! I am just trying to place all such pictures at one place.

SunSet @ Big Sur, California


SunSet @ Poovar Island, Kerala


SunSet @ Kovalam Beach, Kerala.


Sunset @ Israel


Sunrise @ Yosemite, US


SunSet @ Yercaud, TN


Sunrise @ Grand Canyon


Sunrise @ Munnar, Kerala


Sunrise @ Nandi Hills, Bangalore


Sunset @ Laguna Beach, LA


Sunset @ Pfiffer Beach, Big Sur



Isn't it just surreal?! Sunsets or Sunrises have always fascinated us.. We have always found a new shade in the sunsets/sunrises at different places. Each photo is unique though it is the same phenomena of sunrise or sunset!

I would keep adding more and more such splendid photos as we visit more and more places! Stay tuned.... Read more...

Confessions of a Car racer!

Are you human? If you are.. you will definitely ponder over after reading this blog! I am that common man who is observing the society changing with times and also changing with it! And this article just shows what I saw and feels what I felt.

I came to Bangalore 5 years back. I instantly fell in love with this city.. so green and peaceful. If I can say it was peaceful 5 years back.. I am sure most of you who are born and brought up here would completely agree with me that it was heaven even earlier than that. As days passed, I had already decided to settle here and so started searching for a job. My first stay was in kormangala and I was so fascinated with the place as we had a big garden just 2 minutes away from our house and the surrounding greenery just added to the aura. Mornings used to be little sunnier with slight haziness in the air due to mist. I used to observe so many elderly people and some younger (self-motivated) people passing by my house to go to the nearby garden to jog. And adding to the cheer.. used to pass a lariwala who could hardly understand my language.. shouting ‘suppo’… again adding to the greenery by selling green vegetables:) Ah! What a start of the day…! Everything just used to seamlessly gel with the surrounding. What else you needed to call this city a green paradise!

Then as days… months.. passed, I got busy with my job. It used to be fun going to office in the pleasant weather, listening to music, chatting with friends, playing games and sometimes even catching a cat nap in the office bus. Gradually I got so busy with the work, friends and family that forgot to enjoy those small things which had made me stay in Bangalore!!! Then one day my mum forced me to buy a car.. it’s true that I did not wanted to buy a car myself! But my mum was really fond of seeing me driving the car. So.. I bought a car. And here I was.. driving to office in my car. I started liking the idea of going to office in car as it gave real flexibility. Also I slowly discovered that I was good at driving when I started beating other cars in the race!! Yes you heard it right… race. I always felt that Bangalore was never built with the idea of making it an Indian silicon valley.. but was more of an old man’s paradise. The roads are not the F1 tracks.. they are the normal Indian roads with potholes. Racing on such roads is riskier many times! But then who thinks so much.. when you have steering in your hands and the josh to fly.. who looks back? Just race.. race and race! Oh god.. I was so much enjoying the rides on the roads. And then there was no looking back.. I never went back to my office bus!


I continued with my routine until one day I realized. Me and my mum always used to go out shopping together. That day also we both were going to shop as usual. She had developed some leg pain and was not able to walk so confidently. I suddenly realized that she needed my support. Being with her, we both were just about to cross the road when a rash car driver at its top speed almost brushed her aside! She did not fall.. I was there. I could not say a single word but just stood there in shock. I could not believe that any person cannot stop for a second to allow a limping person cross the road! I believe you do not need to experience everything in this world to correct what you are doing wrong. Even I used to read of road rage incidents… a lady being physically hit by a driver because she overtook the bus in Delhi.. I still remember this incident. I cursed myself. How could not I see things going wrong around me? BECAUSE I had become a part of it!!!!! Things changed after that…
I started noticing things around me which were not visible to me when I was busy racing!

I see old people (somebody’s parents) struggling to cross roads just because nobody is ready to waste their single minute by allowing them to cross!!

I see a small kid on his way to school on bicycle brushed to the extreme corner of the footpath by a speeding car and then again being honked by another car just waiting behind his bicycle to throw him off the road!

I see a old man driving his old scooter and being honked and yelled by auto-drivers, cab wallahs and the so-called educated civilized citizens to move aside otherwise they are even ready to hit him down!

I see the poor man who is going on his cycle with his entire family on it (4 people on a single cycle)… trying to drop his children to school, wife to work and trying hard to reach his workplace on time.. being pushed to the edges of footpath by the cars and left to wait till all the impatient drives pass by!

I see and cannot hide the tears when an ambulance is stuck in traffic trying hard to make way and when the traffic opens, I see humans.. cannot believe my eyes but I see… we humans rushing ahead of the ambulance and sometimes blocking its way! Have we stopped valuing life just because it’s not ours?!

I have now made a point. I now see and I now do my best to bring the change that I can bring. I know everyone of us can. I have seen.. We.. yes we drive so perfectly without breaking any rule on US roads.. but drive so careless on Indian roads. We praise foreign countries for the perfect traffic system but forget to do our little to make Indian traffic system perfect.. My heart aches when people say India ka kuch nahi ho sakta.. Is this country not yours? Is that old man crossing the road can never be your parent? Is that kid on bicycle can never be your kid? God forbid.. but the person in ambulance..??? It’s never late to realize. We do not need to experience everything in this world to correct what we are doing wrong. I can say with surety because I was one of you. I know we all are humans.. we just need to ponder a little over those little things which we forget to see.. which I forget to see. But no… no more! I wish… I hope.. and I am sure you all will agree with me. And we all will now not only see but also do our little to improve ourselves. Read more...

Color Splash!

Painting is something which connects me to my inner self...! The fulfillment that I get on completing a painting is just beyond words.

I am showing here two of my paintings which I like a lot.


1) A kind gesture

A colorful gesture which blends to form a painting and depicts the beauty in brush strokes!



2) A sketchy imagination

It shows an imagination of a lover who wants to find his love in a haunted palace!

Read more...

First Trip to United States!

My first trip to United States came as a surprise (not so pleasant) to me as I had to travel from office just a month after my marriage and that too for 3 months!!!

Taking the change in our stride, we (me and darshit) both started to plan on how to get the best out of this time. And to our amazement it turned out to be an unexpected welcome family break! Yes you heard it right.. a family get-to-gather in US!!


Me and my colleagues flew to US and stayed in Oakwood Appartments at Palo Alto, California. I must say that it is one of the best service appartments in US. Oakwood has its chain in India as well.

It is definitely a comfortable stay for longer duration.




Our stay at oakwood was funfilled. Every day after office hours, we used to gather at my appartment to prepare something edible! After 3 months of great struggle, I must say that Srini definitely learnt chopping onions and oven cooked rice and Sharath the so called round chappatis!! What? You dont belive me?!! Wait I can show you...















hahahaha... See we have a proof too! And this was the final outcome.. Doesn't it look yummy?!!




Initially we had manageable work but as days passed, I got involved in some work and had to spend some sleepless nights too :P



But things changed as my brother co-incidentally had to come to Palo Alto, California for a business trip around the same time and... the height of co-incidence was that his office was just a wall away from mine!

This was the best arrangement that I could ever plan of. Darshit joined us immediately a day after my brother landed in US. And then what to say - We three had fantabulous time together!!

The good part of the trip was the places we all visited. And the best part was my trip with darshit to all the beautiful places nearby. I will list them with the most liked place first.

1) Big Sur and Point Reyes



Big Sure Coast runs about 12 miles between the Santa Lucia moutains alongside Pacific Ocean.This coastline just gives a breathtaking view all along.......


Point Reyes Light Station is a lighthouse in the Gulf of Farallones on Point Reyes in Marin County and it gives a 270 degree view of the ocean!! You become a very minor speck sticking to the top of the lighthouse and speechless to see the beauty around. You become aware that how much small atom you are in this vast vast universe.!!!!



And we all were completely mesmerized by the nature surrounding us in its full bloom!!

2) Grand Canyon and the sky walk

Do I need to introduce you to this place? Nat Geo has rated this place as the No. 1 tourist place in the world. And I completely agree with Nat Geo.

You have this huge.. grand canyon with colorado river running approx 6000 feet down! Its just abysmally huge....! And its just SPECTACULAR especially when you walk on that glass (sky walk) and can see 6000 feet below your feet...... Got scared and jumped? Dont worry.. all those walking on the sky walk were just doing that.. hahahaha...

3) Six Flags, theme park

Six flags is one of the world's largest chains of amusement and theme parks. And after spending one day at six flag, I became more aware of my life.. hehehe.



But I gave a good pat on my back after I realized that I survived one of the most dangerous rides of California called Medusa not only by enjoying the ride but enjoying it from the front most seat!!! Bravo!




4) Camping at Yosemite National Park

Yosemite National Park, one of the first wilderness parks in the U.S., is best known for its waterfalls. But within its 1170 square miles, deep valleys, grand meadows, ancient giant sequoias, vast wilderness and captivating wildlife also exist. Situated in California's Sierra Nevada mountain range, Yosemite's peaks soar to above 13,000 feet above sea level.



The enchanting view of the seamless nature thriving so silently makes you feel a part of it.



I felt a strange oneness with everything in Yosemite and so was exuding happiness after reaching very close to the Yosemite Falls! Really an experience which can only be felt.


5) Las Vegas, Nevada.

The name Las Vegas throws a picture of Casino and gamblers in front of us. The city thrives on gambling but then there is much more it too.

You have choreographed fountain to the worlds most dangerous rides there.

The best part was that we stayed in Stratosphere hotel which holds the most dangerous ride on its terrace and is also the tallest point in Vegas!


The best casino in Vegas is Bellagio which is also famous for its Fountain dance. The others are MGM, Excalibur, Luxor, Caesar's palace, Mandalay Bay, Flamingo (the first casino in Vegas).




Here you find a other side of yours.. enjoying gambling, roaming on the strip in the night and just let yourself get mesmerized with the man made beauty!

6) Universal Studios, Los Angeles

Universal Studios is located in the heart of Hollywood. We (me and Darshit) just enjoyed this place thoroughly. The rides here are such a fun. If I had to compare the rides of Six Flags with Universal Studios, I would say that Six Flags rides are 20% fun and 80% thrill while here its otherwise. So, if you enjoy the fun on rides, this is a perfect place for you.



Moreover it has a tour to all the famous studios in hollywood and its the only time you get to just sit and relax.. because for the rest of the time, you spend screeming with joy on rides!!




7) Lake Tahoe

Lake Tahoe is the largest alpine lake in North America and is the second deepest lake in United States.

We all were very excited to visit Lake Tahoe and to our amazement when we reached there, it snowed heavily!! That was the best thing that could have happened. We enjoyed the snow in summer! And this gave us the opportunity to do ice skating!




8) Mystery Spot, SantaCruz.

Its still a mystery. Its fun to see yourself standing slant and not straight! There is some gravity locha (mystery) there...!

But at the end.. its fun to see such weird things which do not fall within your understanding.

9) Los Angeles.

We went to Rhodeo drive in Beverly hills. Probably the most famous star-studded shopping street in the world!! The area is real posh.. is there any word even more superlative? Here we saw those real beauties which I havent seen in India.. Oh come on.. I am talking about cars.... Lambhorgini.... uuuhhh.. speeding through the roads breaking all the speed limits! I was almost gaping at those cars! Whoa what a drive!

Also went to LA downtown and some places nearby like Laguna Beach. It is heard that Laguna Beach has some of the most beautiful beaches in Southern California. And I am in complete complaince with it :)


10) San Fransisco

We drove through the Golden Gate bridge in awe! It has an awe inspiring view as you can see that it is a man made wonder! And all you can do is to bow down and appreciate!

I should not forget to mention the crooked street in SF! Its is really really crooked and you need to have a first hand experience of driving on SF roads before trying the crooked street.

Also I kind of believe that even other roads are not so less crooked in SF downtown!

11) Stanford University

Its one of those coveted universities which spans 8,180-acre. And you can just find yourself lost on each step you take!











Also I feel we can not appreciate any beauty with empty stomach. Therefore I am listing few of those restaurants whose food taste I still remember.

Info on some restaurants which I really liked

1. Chat Palace - The only restaurant with authentic indian food. Must try the masala bhindi

2. Chipotle - It has very tasty mexican food. A must try.

3. Stinking Rose - It has garlic everywhere and in everything. A must try for its unique theme and extremely yummy food. Read more...