A Day trip to BAPS, Atlanta

I Visited BAPS Atlanta over the weekend. The temple is known to be the largest hindu temple outside of india. I was taken aback by the sheer scale of it, and the beautiful work of creating, and then maintaining this place.

Traveling through the busiest airport in the world- Few Tips

I moved to US, and settled in Alpharetta. Alpharetta is a city around 30-40 miles from downtown Atlanta. Thats my primary & major Place of reference, and its airport, my travel hub. I travel a lot, so obviously I have to use the airport a lot and this means going through a lot.

You may already be aware, and if not, let me tell you. Atlanta is the busiest airport in the world. 

While that is awesome to know and feel when you frequent that place, it can be a major hassle in itself. Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson airport has 6 concourses in itself, and requires you to take some time when catching a flight, and more some when in a hurry. Over a period of time, i have surely gotten better at using the airport for faster ingress/egress.

Photographers paradise: Belur- Temples which speak -Part 2

I am hoping if you getting directly to this page, you may want to check on the part 1 of the photo series here. 

Here are some additional photos from the trip as part two. The intricate detail work is not just on the outside walls of the temples, but it follows and gets even more detailed towards the inside. The interiors of these temples must be at least 15 degree cooler than the outside if not more.  A shot i took of the interior of the main temple at Belur.

Photographers paradise: Belur- Temples which speak -Part 1

During June this year 2014, we took a family trip to Belur and Halebedu Temples. While the Belur and halebedu temples are not too far from Bangalore, these have not been covered by us earlier. For some reason or the other they keep getting delayed.

One of the prime reason has been that i have also envisioned to take 2-3 days off, and then make a good long trip of this whole belt covering Hassan, Belur, Halebedu, Shravanbela Gola, Shringeri, hornadu and then chikmaglur and its tea estates. Somethings take time and while I have always wanted to do it, Hasnt happened yet.

This trip was unique since my mom was visiting us and this would be an opportunity to show her these places too. The travel To Belur and halebedu temples was actually quite good. the roads on Hassan side are excellent and not much of traffic as you leave bangalore. No complaints there. We had a comfortable & luxury hotel booking already done, so that part was taken care too.

Visiting temples was an experience which was surreal. I didnt give the title to this post just to say something fancy. The title shares my emotions and how i felt about these temples. 

From outside, the temples are in middle of a village and you can really fathom if such a place is going to show up. though if you are like me and a traveller to parts of india, then this wont be a surprise either. Especially down south this is very common where a temple is surrounded by a village, and small shops. in-fact in most cases, the incoming visitors and travellers start driving livelihood of lot of these villages. 

At the belur temple, we spent an easy afternoon of 3 hours and took it easy. There was so much to soak in here. 

I would strongly recommend everyone to take the guides there. The guides which i have seen there are govt. officials and they have good insight into the history and current researching and finding work being carried out by the govt. which makes it very interesting to hear from them.

Secondly, there are so many minute details, which you cant see by yourself. When they point out those to you, that is when first you are shocked & then surprised and finally can only appreciate the artists work, creative & effort.

Another very interesting aspect of the carvings in stone is the creativity & imagination part. Lots of the characters are imaginary work of art too. 

Without too much talking, i will leave you to view next 3 photos from the Temple of belur. These are really the temples which speak to you. every bit of it, tells a tale if you have time to absorb & listen.

How to get around from Newark Airport to New York Penn/Amtrak stations?

At the NewYork Penn station, as the boarding gate for my Acela was going to be announced. 

Recently, for a business trip i had to move around Newark and New York areas, both using Air plane and trains. I was also traveling to Providence post my work at Newark, and hence the commute and transits were inevitable.

Happy Diwali- 2014

Happy Diwali to All. The festival of lights, concluded yesterday. Its one of the best time of the year for us, indians. Colors, lights, Food, Shopping, Gifts, getting together of families, and lots of fun. This Diwali, after more than a decade, i spent away from Family, but rather than falling down, or feeling sad, i tried to make the best out of it. My Wife sent me some Diwali related articles, which helped me do a pseudo Pooja based on my knowledge. I also prepared a nice Kheer and it was a nice feeling. Sharing couple of photos from the event last night. We didnt burst crackers, since there are restrictions in US, and there is lack of clarity in terms of what can be done, and what cant be. Hope you have fun as well.

Evening shots after heavy rains- Alpharetta

It rained heavily this afternoon. The temperature dropped a bit, and the evening sky turned beautifully colorful. I was just finishing something in the kitchen, when i could see some glow in the sky, lightening up the dark and wet streets. I came to the balcony, and magical sky colors were visible.
I didnt have an exciting vantage point, but whatever i had, didnt want to miss the opportunity. Took these photos, by metering on the sky and focusing on the trees in the dark shadows...
No post processing involved, except a bit of sharpening off my Nexus 7 device. Don't have access to a laptop right now.
How do you like it? did you capture anything this evening?

Park Bridge parkway: A morning Stroll

After many months, may be close to an year, i took my camera along with me on the morning walk.

my Canon 400d, and some cool lenses have just been travelling with me around, but not really getting to do much. due to this, i have also been thinking of selling my 70-200 F4 L lens which is in awesome shape. But its just a shame, seeing such wonderful piece of glass just sitting lone.

Anyway, Today was the day when the camera came out. the weather is little warm, but the morning was nice. Took couple of shots with the camera. I took my 50mm 1.8 lens along for this trip...happy with the outcome.  the green strip near the house was beautiful.

What do you think?
Also, do you know about any interesting places around Alpharetta for photography. I am very interested in nature, woods or any type of farm/ranch or  any fairs etc. Do drop me a word...

Enchanting Lightening

its always debatable, if the objects are beautiful, or the lightening makes them so, or the eye of the person who spots them. Nature has created all of these, and i believe each of these play their own role.
While on a walk this evening, sighted this beautiful spot with amazing light setup among few trees, and it looked amazing. What do you think?

Photo Scape from the beautiful Mumbai Terminal T2

In my multiple trips back and forth, I have used Mumbai as my entry and exit point to India. The newer terminal, T2 is a marvel and just makes me proud. The size, detail and amount of art which has been brought inside is amazing. if you are not in a hurry to exit, or coming in too late for your flight, you can really appreciate the beauty of this terminal. Leaving you with some photos from the terminal.

How do you like them? do tell me about it.

The way we are Seen. Conversations with a cab driver

This morning, I took a cab ride from Chesterfield Airport Rd. to the St. lambert's Airport. By now you would know that i was in St. Louis. 

My Cab driver, Ali, is a ethopian guy, and is the same guy who dropped me to the Hotel earlier on my arrival. He can just speak okish english but is a nice guy.

  

While we were driving i asked him, as to when did he come to live in the US, and the conversations began. He came in 93 here, and now lives here, and a successful owner of a taxi cab business. 

While, i didnt doubt anyones understanding or knowledge, i was startled by the knowledge he had on current affairs, his perception about US, and his knowledge, particularly about India. 

Some key points i want to share:

1. On topic of Indians being around the US, he mentioned that Patels are business minded and intelligent people. They dont like to work for anyone but for themselves. He also affirmed that Indians have huge number of motel owners in US. As an outsider, i didnt expect him to know or notice that about the Gujratis.

2. I exclaimed and told him about Gujrati community. I was surprised, when he asked me about Narendra modi and his election campaign. He was right, Modi also belongs to same community geographically- Gujrati.

3. He mentioned about Indians and their love for Honking. He says he has heard everywhere that Indians honk a lot. He wants to visit India, and check out how honking helps them get through. 

4. A major thing which he mentioned. In his english, he says 'Indian men like to rape women. I heard it on the radio". He knew about the rape fiascos, also about the death of girl in Delhi. He asked me if he visits india, where should he travel so that he and his family are safe. 

5. Another striking point, which i was surprised to hear. He says China, India are both growing powers and America makes big news of every mistake or issue which takes place in these countries. may be 20 years ago, when he arrived here, nobody cared, but now America is watching closely. 

This just reinforced my thinking, that its not the job what you do which makes you knowledgeable, or great. its what you do with and at your job, and how you invest your time and energy that makes that difference.

This also reaffirms, that world is watching us and everything which happens, sets an example- a good or bad one.