Random clicks at home - PramsPhotography #132

Clicked at the home garden in Pune, when I noticed the butterfly doing rounds near the curry leaves plant. Clicking butterfly is not an easy job as anyone can agree. I too took few clicks to get this shot.

On the day Super Moon danced in the sky, I dedicated some time to click the Super Moon. There were couple of Tata Sky antennas on terrace. From in between them, the super moon is clicked and hence this click is resulted. 

Jasmine tree is a common plantation in homes in Andhra Pradesh, especially in villages. First click above is of the same, of two of its lean branches growing strong. The next picture is of the coconut tree and the nests formed by birds. So brilliant the way the nests have been formed. a life-skill of them! Another common scene in villages is keeping the raw food items in sun light to avoid formation of any kind of insects or smell. The third click is of a kind of 'dal' as its called.  

Coconut scrapper has a head as shown above. Its a very useful tool to have at home, especially in southern households where the coconut power is used in almost every dish. 

Some random clicks of (i) Flower vase (ii) dress (iii) sunrise (iv) clock and (v) sunrise. They have been clicked on different days. 

My aunt painted the above on a glass. This picture was clicked when I saw the painting displayed in their show case,  in their home. Glass painting is one art I have always wanted to learn but never did! 

#2012 #2015 #2017 Clicks at home, at different places, Pune, Andhra Pradesh, India

The Life That Happens In Mind!

Life happens anyway

One may or mayn't struggle

One may or mayn't conquer

One may or mayn't understand

One may or mayn't perceive

Life happens anyway

Life happens anyway

One may or mayn't love

One may or mayn't give

One may or mayn't enjoy

One may or mayn't rejoice

Life happens anyway

There is a huge difference between life happening anyway and life happening consciously. While in the former case it's not perceived enough, in the later case it's never ignored. Time runs. Time rules. Time sets. Time happens. This anyway happens and keep happening time to time. What we do with time, and within time often decide the way we live our lives. 

The natural process of life happens physically. The life that we think as 'life' often happens in mind. In that life that happens in mind, there is always one protagonist and that is the person himself or herself. Rest of the people, incidents, coincidences, all other creatures, situations and everything else is just there as if to set the surroundings in a certain way. At least, it feels so from within. All of us understand that this happens; few of us realize its happening and very few of us work about it and change the course of the happenings. 

Happiness or sadness, whichever is the felling that is prevailing  in a given moment, that keeps prevailing until either the things settle themselves or until we try and set the things in a desired way. Instead of this, can the joy be felt all the time, just because we are alive in a given moment? Yes, it can absolutely be. But as long as the life happens in mind and as long as we cannot see things the way they are supposed to be seen, joy cannot be felt about the obvious facts of life; rather, the joy is felt only when the life happens the way we want. 

From a third person's perspective...

Seeing things not the way they seem but the way they need to be seen is a life-skill. It's a fundamental skill that each one of us must learn. That can happen when we try to see the life that's happening around in a third person's perspective. When we own the happenings, we get to attach with the happenings. And when we look at them in a third person's perspective, we give ourselves some time and leisure to think peacefully. Naturally, we see a lot of things in a better way and can then put things in a helpful perspective. 

There is everyone too...

As said earlier, in the life that happens in mind there is always one protagonist and that's one himself or herself. When this simple fact is not just understood but realized, its not difficult to understand that there is everyone else too and everyone have their fair share in everything that happens around. It's not just oneself but many people and situations are connected together to let anything happen. When the due respect is given to those who are also involved, we tend to see things very differently. We tend to see things from different perspectives. That solves half of the problems arise due to the life happening in one's mind. 

Destiny, as we call...

It's up to one's belief if destiny to be believed. There are two ways in which it can be believed. One, that destiny is up there and two, destiny is created by oneself. When one believes that destiny is up there, handling the life that happens in mind is a bit simple, rather less harmful since one tends to accept things faster, even though the initial settling time is there. In the second case, when one believes that the destiny is created by oneself, it becomes tricky to handle the life that happens in mind. Because there is no where one can look, not up, not down but just look within. Looking within is the helpful tool in this situation rather than looking at people around or making the situation guilty. Neither of which helps. 

Well, there may be so many ways, personalized ways, to handle the life that happens in mind. One must own and follow the self ways chosen and believed. Generalization might help to an extent but personalized ways help the most to handle the life that happens in mind. 

Movie: Rangasthalam

Director: Sukumar

First and foremost, the decision to make a film like Rangasthalam itself is a daring one, considering the commercialization-stuck Tollywood film industry. Movies like Rangasthalam are not made for the fans but for the passion of the film makers. Movies like Rangasthalam are not made for heroes or heroins but for the protagonists of both the genders. Movies like Rangasthalam are not made for the name-sake but for the pride of making good movies. Hats off to the cast and crew for this attempt. 

Undoubtedly, this is the career-best performance of both Ramcharan and Samantha. While the village set is the prime attraction of the movie, the performances of these two protagonists have aided in taking the story to the masses. Every character of the  movie is portrayed in such a beautiful and seemingly effortless way. But one can understand how much of home-work must have been done by the director and his team to portray in such a way. Not an in-depth story but the story has every element needed, which has been wonderfully exploited by the makers. Full credit to the director, Sukumar and his team. Music is just too good and apt to the plot. Devisree Prasad has done an excellent job. Cinematography is awesome and the set is superbly designed and executed. 

After watching this movie, its natural if one says that more movies like Rangasthalam must be made for the sake of Telugu film industry. Its easier said than done and every film maker knows this. Practically, making more such movies is not an easy challenge to accomplish. Still, there is nothing wrong with the wish. Hoping to see some more path-breaking movies from the Tolloywood film industry. 

Consistency that matters - The eleven times champion: Rafael Nadal

Champions be like the players who perform consistently over the years. Rafael Nadal is one such true champion who has won, as we all know by now, the French Open eleven times in his fourteen outings at the tournament. Not an easy feet but he has made it look so simple over these years. Especially this year, he dominated every opponent like never happened in the recent times. Every player who looked extremely competitive in the earlier match was reduced to a casual-player in the match against Rafa; and that credit entirely goes to the Spaniard. Such was the level of his game, this time round. 

Couple of come backs have moved me the most in the recent times. One is of Roger Federer and the other is of Rafael Nadal. Both of them were in the back seat in terms of their performance at the grand slams for couple of years. Young players took off in their own style. As like anyone else, I too thought that was it for both these players. Unexpectedly, both of them came back stronger; stronger than ever probably. So much to the amusement of  their fans and the entire Tennis fraternity, they have been performing their best, especially Federer. His decision to stay away from the French open didn't surprise me. It was an important decision taken at an important stage of his career, I think. An absolutely bold one too. Hoping to see his come back strong in the coming grass-season. 

Rafael Nadal might participate in the Wimbledon and the US open, the grass and hard court slams respectively. It will be interesting to watch him performing in these two grand slams. He does not seem to have an edge over his contemporaries, as of now. However, looking at the way players often rise in the game, during comebacks, we cannot comment as of now. Its always better to look forward to welcome a positive performance rather than analyzing the chances of winning of any players based on his previous outings. 

I personally will look forward to watch Nadal performing his best and probably winning the remaining two slams of the year. There is going to be huge competition, no doubt on that. Yet, competition is always there. Determination to perform well has prevailed on many occasions! Congratulating Rafa for the eleventh French Open title and wishing him all the best for the rest of the season. 

The beauty of chess board - PramsPhotography #131

#2017 Pimpri-Chinchwad, Maharashtra, India

The game that I'd love to play even when you wake me up from a deep sleep is 'chess'. Its something that I kept playing at every age and stage of my life. Sometimes with family, sometimes with friends and sometimes in competitions. It had been a long lasting wish of mine to own a wooden chess board. When I visited USA couple of years back, I found one. I bought the same. Above pictures are clicked using the same, just as to focus my lens on the game that I have always loved. 

The festival of lights - PramsPhotography #130

#2017 Diwali celebration at home, Inkollu, Andhra Pradesh, India

Deepawali festival, famously knows as the festival of lights in India, gives wonderful memories every year in an unique way. It all depends on how we celebrate; yet the festival itself motivates quite a lot of people to celebrate it in all different types of lights. Lights of crackers, lights of diyas and lights of candles in some cases. The above pictures were clicked when we celebrated Deepawali at my home last year in October. Enjoyed the time clicking the glittering diyas. 

Forming opinions... Take Home #665

Forget sharing opinions, we are no one to even form opinions in the first place on certain matters, especially the personal matters of others. The moment we realize this, opinions suddenly turn into acceptable possibilities, rather acceptable realities.  

Do what you can... Take Home #664

When you know what cannot be done, do what you can! 

Accepting people ... Take Home #663

Understanding people is difficult and accepting people the way they are is furthermore challenging! 

The unbeated Janjira fort - PramsPhotography #129

#2017 Janjira Fort, Maharashtra, India

Before knowing the history of the fort we casually planned a trip there. Then we just knew that the fort was in the sea. After visiting the fort and after getting to know about the fort's construction, the times of the king who initiated the construction and the fact that the fort had been unbeaten till the  very end, it felt so proud to had visited the Janjira fort. Every bit of the fort's construction displays the intelligence used. Main attraction being the drinking water well right at the center of the fort. I understood that the fort was built on an island and in that island when dig through, in those days they could find drinkable water. Its also said that there would have been something mixed in the well for the water to turn good; there was no proof to it. Well, many a things happened in history have no proofs; so as this!

The journey to Lavasa - PramsPhotography #128

#2015 #2017 Lavasa, Maharashtra, India

Lavasa is one of those destinations that might bore you after a few visits but the journey to Lavasa is something that might take time before boring you. Journey to Lavasa in any season is refreshing. The ghat section and the steep curves keep teasing you irrespective of the number  of visits you do. In rainy season and especially in peak season when the traffic is huge, the journey is worth doing at least once. For drive enthusiasts, it feels really awesome. 

The Raigad fort - PramsPhotography #127

#2017 @Raigad Fort, Maharashtra, India

After roaming around a lot across Maharashtra and especially after visiting a few forts of the 'Chatrapati' Shivaji Maharaj, I've developed a great liking towards the realm of Shivaji. Raigad fort is a significant fort of the Shivaji times. Coronation happened here and his statue stands tall in the middle of the fort. 

Another attraction at the fort is the rope way, which takes the visitors up and down the hill. I learnt that trekkers do one way trekking and choose the rope way for the rest of the part. We chose to take the rope way both the directions. Its one of the steepest rope ways I've seen so far. Some of  the pictures above may reveal the angle the container travels. Amazing views around and I enjoyed every second of the journey with the lens.