TERRACE OF FLOWERS

Capturing flowers in my Cam has always been interesting. It became more delightful when i captured the beautiful flowers in my  terrace garden. Thanks to my Mom's hardwork; we have a lot of colorful flowers on our terrace garden this year. Here are some specially for my Blog's collection.

First BOUQUET..... First SALARY

OMG!!! I had forgotten to call up the florist.

I wanted to surprise her  early in the morning.

14th Sept 2011; a date i had been waiting since long.

I wanted to buy her something special with my 'Own Salary'

It was her B'day and i had to make it really special.

'HER'......A special person in everybody's life.

' MOTHER' - The best 6 letter word for everyone of us!!!

While all these thoughts were flashing across my mind;Just dial came to my rescue.I quickly dialed the numbers of some of the florists mentioned in their SMS.Alas! nobody picked up my call. I started browsing various sites to be able to place an order online.Even before i could finish selecting the gift that i wanted to give Mom;i got a call from one of the popular florists in the city.Without wasting any further time;i placed an order with them with a promise of having the gift delivered before lunch.This gift was as special to me as my Mom's B'day. The reason was simple.I had plans of celebrating her B'day with my first salary and i could see it coming true.At around 1.00P.M; i was informed that the Bouquet had been delivered.Later that evening;the delivery boy came to my office for the payment and i was totally impressed with their service.Needless to say,the first thing i did after reaching home was to capture the beautiful bouquet in my iPhone.Incidentally;it happened to be the first Pic shot with my iPhone too. It was a  day full of too many 'FIRSTS' and  certainly made sense to have it on my blog.

ADVENTURE...HERE I COME..YET AGAIN !!!

It was the month of May and I was getting terribly bored of waiting for my joining date of an IT company. Having come from Pune a month back; I was missing all my activities there that kept me on my toes all day long. Little did I know that Hyderabad; the city of opportunities had a lot to offer on weekends as well. While browsing through various clubs in the city; I came across GHAC; a not for profit organization that kept me engaged from the very first click on their site.

 The concept of Meetups seemed very interesting and different. In fact, some of the places mentioned there sounded exciting as I was hearing them for the first time. After scrolling through all the Meetups, I decided to join in for a trek at Ammuguda on 5^th June 2011.My name went up in the waiting list for this meetup as I was a little late in my confirmation. I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to make it to the confirmed list or not. It was the morning of June 3^rd and the first mail in my inbox read ‘Your status has been moved to confirmed.’ WOW….The day had indeed begun well and I was certainly not complaining. 

On the morning of the trek, I woke up very early and made my way to the venue right on time. Ammuguda being close to my house seemed convenient for a first time trek in Hyderabad. Minutes after my reaching the trek spot, the other trekkers started coming in. After a brief round of introductions, I began my much awaited trek .From rock climbing to chimney climbing to sliding down the rocks; I had started loving the rocks. Never ever had I experienced so many techniques of adventure with the rocks. It was certainly a worthwhile experience. The enthusiastic shutterbugs ensured not to miss on any moment and kept their cameras ready throughout.

 After 2 hours of trekking, it was time to go back but with a promise to stay in touch and attend more meetups .I had met all these people for the first time yet it didn’t take any time to build a rapport with them. Together we all had spent our Sunday morning in something that each one of us was passionate about. The one word that had bonded all of us was ‘Adventure’. ‘Meetup, was started in USA on the 9^th September 2001.Today on the same date, I feel very proud to be associated with all such organizations which are definitely making their presence in the city. I wait for the weekends not because I’ll get to sleep more but for a new adventure waiting for me. There is excitement in some experiences and GHAC ensures you carry back home a lot of it whenever you go in for their Meetup. In short,

Live the life you love.

Love the life you live.

ZINDAGI NA MILEGI DOBARA

Have you ever screamed your lungs out  while in mid air?

Have you ever experienced the thrill of Bungee Junmping?

How about Paragliding or River Rafting?

Try them atleast once in your lifetime.

Kyonki......'ZINDAGI NA MILEGI DOBARA'.

I have always loved the word adventure..,,from reading about it in Newspapers and magazines to hearing it from others to experiencing it myself. There's some risk,some fear and some hesitation but the sheer joy of having experienced it is beyond words.For some activities like Bungee Jumping and Sky Diving, its always advisable to try them abroad.Until the trip is planned,how about indulging in some adventures back home. I  read an interesting article last week on the adventure sports available in India. Although the list is short,i was happy to have tried some of them.Here are some 'To-do's' for all you adventurers.

1. SKIING IN GULMARG

  

• Gulmarg ,considered to be Asia's best destination for skiing.
• Boasts of world's highest ski lift at 3979 mts.

         I tried my hands at skiing almost 5 years back. The experience still lingers fresh in my mind.

       

Ready to Ski....

                                          

 2. PARAGLIDING AT KARLA,MAHARASHTRA

•   Having stayed close to this place for 2 years, i came to know about this only a month back.
•   The real enjoyment is when you are experienced enough to fly solo.
•   This place does offer tandem joyrides with the instructor costing about Rs 2000.

  

                                       

3. PARASAILING IN  GOA

• Parasailing is an activity in which a person is attached to a boat and glides through the air behind it. It is sometimes referred to as parascending as well.
• Goa has a host of water sports and although you are in air for a very short time,trying this would still be recommended.       

PARASAILING AT GOA

PARASAILING AT ALIBAUG

                                               

                                           

4 . SCUBA DIVING IN GOA

• Self Contained Uunderwater Breathing Apparatus is 'SCUBA'
• Scuba divers carry their own source of breathing gas.
• Imagine the excitement of coming face to face with all varieties of underwater marine life.
• If are lucky u might just spot a Dolphin.

                                         

5. SNORKELING IN ANDAMAN

• Snorkeling is where you wear the little mask with a hose that sticks out of the water so you can breathe.
• The Andaman Islands are surrounded by rich, unspoiled coral reefs with fascination underwater marine life, and snorkeling is an easy way to see them.

                                                  

                                              

6.YAK SKIING IN MANALI

• Recommended by TIME magazine,this is a dangerous yet crazy sport.
• A rope connects the skier waiting downhill to the yak waiting uphill through a pulley.The skier shakes a bucket of nuts at full speed and must put it down immediately,as the Yak charges towards the nuts at full speed,pulling the skier uphill amidst shouts of joy from both the yak and the skier.
• An experience would make certainly make the above understanding clear.

                                       

7. WHITE WATER RAFTING AT DEVPRAYAG

• The river Ganges offers the best rafting routes in the country.
• The initial stage from Devprayag to Kaudiyala is serene where you can click pictures and enjoy an almost unnatural calm.
• Strap your seat belts tight after this for an experience of a kind that makes you feel like you are in a huge,pretty nature's toilet bowl being flushed down gently.

                                          

8.GLIDING AT PUNE

• Gliding is the simplest form of flying and yet exceptionally different when compared to any other.
• Gliding involves flying in small fixed wing aircrafts called 'gliders' or 'glider planes', which are also known as 'sailplanes' in some parts of the world. Gliders fly without the power of engines. All you can hear inside the aircraft cockpit is the sound of the wind.
• Once launched (with the aid of a winch), pilots fly using warm upgoing air currents called 'thermals' to rise to greater heights. This process of gaining height using thermals is known as 'soaring'. Once gliders gain height, they can travel or glide to a location away from the take-off location.
• I was lucky enough to have experienced this in April this year. Seeing my excitement,the pilot ensured that i stayed in the air for extra 5 mins when compared to the regular 7-8 mins ride.
• If you are in or arnd  Pune,this one's a try for sure. 

                                     

Time  for Take off

                                 


These are major attractions that i could dig into as of now. Nevertheless,will keep my blog updated with more of any such exciting and must try adventures in India soon.

 Guys...start planning .Its now time for some  'THRILLS' and 'SHRILLS' of life.

DISCLAIMER...Some of the information and pics  has been sourced from Google as well as a magazine.

                                

BACHPAN

While arranging my room today,i found a poem that i had written in class 2 on the occasion of  Republic Day.It was displayed in the classroom the next day.As a child small gestures like this made you feel very proud.For Sometime atleast,u would be the center of every teacher's appreciation.
 Whether it is  finding an old letter from a friend or fitting into your class 10th Jeans,the excitement is beyond explanation.Here's my poem that i had kept carefully for so long.

THE VIRTUAL YOU

I remember checking my mails just once a day when Facebook, Twitter and Youtube were not launched. Today I can’t resist myself from checking my FB updates atleast thrice a day. The social Networking fever seems to have gripped us all tightly. I read about Orkut in a newspaper 5 years back and decided to try it out. It seemed fun initially but little did anyone know that a 25 year old guy would bring in a huge virtual revolution as its competitor. Mark Zuckerberg certainly deserved to  be  ‘Time ‘Magazine’s “Person of the year’ for introducing the world to a whole new and fun way of Networking.

    ‘Are u there on FB’? Cool, I’ll add u then, were the common sentences one can hear these days. From college canteens to movie halls to Parties, it was all there. For some it was just another social networking site which helped them to connect to their old friends.For most  others FB became an addiction. Status updates atleast twice a day became very common. Girls changing their profile pictures just to grab attention became the order of the day. There were people who wanted to go the extra edge and decided to become very open about their personal lives. All this  seemed fine initially as most of them wanted to increase their virtual popularity. Thanks to FB’s weird applications like….’Friends matrix’ and ‘who screwed my exams’? , It’s become irritating to log onto  it these days.How would u feel if a 25-26 year  old person uses this application, tags a lot of friends and expects them to comment  or at least ‘like it’. I get surprised to see people thanking each other for having included their name in some silly application generated photograph. If one person tries out such meaningless applications, then the others necessarily have to do it. They cannot see themselves lagging in any way. Perhaps the word, ‘Herd Mentality’ fits in better. Youngsters these days are more concerned about making their virtual impression strong. The Virtual self is losing out to the ‘real self’.

 During my graduation days (3 years back), the craze of  updating every little detail of one's  life was very less.The scene is totally reversed now. These days, from passing an exam to getting a driving license;  joining a gym to shopping; joining a company to training ; first salary to even resignation, it’s there for everybody. Most of the people I know get their pics clicked only to be uploaded in FB later. Their status updates are only for others reactions. In short, they are living only for FB.

Personally, I am not too much of a FB fan but love seeing seeing some pages on photography,Books and craft. To me it’s also  a medium to showcase snapshots of my hobbies. It’s a place where I can connect to almost anyone (both personally and professionally).Its a place where i like to be...only for few minutes a day.

       There is a very thin line between a habit and addiction.Stop pampering the Virtual self so much.

                

THE BLISS OF NATURE

Thanks to my exams and packing and travelling to Kolkata and Hyderabad , i wasn't able to come online too frequently.Once u start blogging actively,it somehow becomes a part of  your daily routine.'Therez never a wrong time to do the right thing' and now i hope to make this blog of mine active than ever before.I promise you loadz of pictures,some handmade craft creations, my holiday experiences and a lot more...right here..on this blog.

I had always been interested in photography..( posing for pictures kinds) but its only in the last 2 years that my interest to capture everything from' nature' to' people' to' just about anything 'increased.

Here's a glimpse of some of my  captured delights.