Sajain's Photography

Namma Metro (Bangalore Metro)

2011-10-27T10:40:00.000-07:00

Couple of months back, I have deleted one of my Google album without knowing that they contain the photos I have uploaded in this blog and yes - it was a disaster. I lost the pictures in all my blog posts. I was really sad and I thought of leaving this blog at that point of time but once again I am back to my blog with Namma Metro (Bangalore Metro). The pictures in this page are taken using my Nokia 5233 mobile phone.

I went to take the Metro ride on the 3rd day after the inauguration. The crowd was unbelievable. I had to stand in the queue for 30-40 minutes to get into the station. More than that, parking was a real pain in MG road metro station area.

Queue in front of the ticket counter

But once I enter the station - wow, station and the facilities definitely met my expectations. It was an eye candy and super clean. The staffs are smart and work pretty well. Not as great as an airport but definitely comparable and far better than our railway or bus station. Ticket counters are very efficient and got the ticket (tokens) in few minutes. One token will be valid only for the next 30 minutes in the entry gates.

Entry gates

Place your token or smart card on top of the sensor to open the gate. At exit you need to drop your token in the slot and the exit gate opens. My token was not working in the exit gate. They had to manually open it. Still in test phase :-)

Inside the MG Road station

Inside the Byappanahalli station

One among the 100s of photographers in the station

Waiting for the train

Finally the train arrives

Hooo huge crowd, had to fight to get in

Well packed crowd inside the metro

The train was too crowded. They should restrict the number of people boarding into the train at a time. It was almost impossible to stand inside the train.

The door open and close automatically for 30 seconds in every station

Display showing next station

Station name and the side where the door is going to open is announced in every station. Time of next train (hopefully with in 10 minutes) is displayed in the platform as soon as a train leaves the station.

To our surprise, the train was stuck in the track in between Indiranagar and Halasuru for 10-15 minutes. The display shown this message during that time.

Bad luck, it was night, missed all the great scenes I could have in the train. I will take another ride in day time soon.

Chameleon

2010-07-10T09:27:00.000-07:00

Monkeys @ Thekkady

2010-02-08T02:46:00.000-08:00

Thekkady (Periyar National Park) is an important tourist attraction in Kerala (India).

Thekkady is famous for the evergreen forests and grasslands. This park is blessed with elephants, sambar, tigers etc. You can go for a boating through Periyar River into the forest and you will be able to see many wild animals. Due to lack of time I couldn’t go for the boating. I just went up to the entrance of the national park and there I found the monkeys whose photos are posted below.

Swan @ Kottayam Club

2010-02-05T00:10:00.000-08:00

Flowers @ Kumuly

2010-02-04T00:16:00.001-08:00

Dragonfly

2010-02-02T22:40:00.000-08:00

Kumily - A land blessed with nature

2009-12-29T02:25:00.000-08:00

Kumily is in the Idukki district of Kerala and very close to Kerala – Tamil Nadu border. Thekkady, Periyar Lake, Periyar Tiger Reserve and Vagamon are also very near from this place. Kumily is blessed with natural spices such as black pepper, cardamom, cinnamon and clove.

Cardamom plant

Worker collecting cardamom

Coffee seeds

Black pepper

Christmas Night @ MINS Church, Mekkadampu

2009-12-28T04:03:00.000-08:00

Sky

2009-12-16T03:23:00.001-08:00

Aperture Experiments with Flowers

2009-11-13T03:09:00.000-08:00

Diwali @ Bangalore (Crackers)

2009-10-23T02:39:00.000-07:00

It seems crackers are the most important ingredient for Diwali celebration in Bangalore, most of the families are spending thousands of rupees for crackers and the entire Bangalore will be blasting for 3-4days in Diwali time. Here even small children are allowed to play with it and I have to say, they are very much careful and responsible while using it. I don’t think I can find kids like this in Kerala, we will not allow kids even to touch the crackers ;). Here if you just get into the top of your apartment, you can see a mini Thrissur pooram.

I have taken these photos while the kids in my apartment busted their crackers.

Green Stick like Insect

2009-10-20T01:57:00.001-07:00

I captured these snaps from one of my family friend’s garden. It gave me very little time to take the snaps before it run away from my site because I went too close to it (bad bad 33-132mm lens). I do not know what it really is but anyway it looks like a green stick insect.

Fighting Lizards

2009-10-07T00:48:00.000-07:00

This might be the luckiest shot that I got so far in my life. I found these lizards fighting each other near my college hostel and rushed to take my camera and when I returned - for my luck - they were still there. I couldn't do much with my 4x semiprofessional point and shoot camera and with out letting them know about my presence but I could take 3 snaps before they left the place (may be because of my presence) and this is the best among those shots.

Bannerghatta National Park : Grand Safari

2009-04-15T01:12:00.001-07:00

Safaris - Tiger & Lion Safari and Grand Safari (including herbivores) at Bannerghatta national park is quite popular. Tiger & Lion Safari will take 30minutes and the Grand Safari will take about 1 hour.

I got the ticket for the Grand Safari in few minutes but there was a long queue for the safari. I spend almost 2hours in the queue (It was a Sunday - tickets are costlier on Sundays and Other Holidays).

Once I get in to the vehicle for the Grand Safari, I was lucky to get a side seat so that I can take better shots :). So the Safari begins...

First we saw different kinds of dears and few gaurs but none of them were in my side and the vehicle didn't stop in those areas. This is the only one dear which I find in my side and captured a snap even if the vehicle was moving. At this point I was little worried that the journey will be a waste if it is going to be like this. :(

Then we enter the bears area but some construction works was going on there and hence an electric fencing was there. But still I was able to capture some close shots of bears. They were eating watermelons at that time.

Also saw two of them fighting each other. There was not enough time to wait for a good pose and hence just clicked.

Next one was the lions park, found 3 of them and but got only two in snaps.

When we enter the tigers area one of tiger was walking towards us and I managed to get some cool shots of him. All of them in the vehicle were so excited. Found another tiger in a pond and there were many other tigers in the other side of the vehicle which I missed in my photos.

We were also able to see some white tigers but I was not able to get a good shot of them. But all together the trip was worthy.

There is also a zoo and museum in the national park but I was not able to visit it due to lack of time.

Bannerghatta National Park : Butterfly Park

2009-04-12T23:34:00.000-07:00

Bannerghatta national park is situated 22km south of Bangalore. This is one of the major tourist attractions of Bangalore. During my visit to the national park, I visited the butterfly park first because there will not be any butterfly activities after noon and I need to capture as many of them as possible.

I said butterfly park and I put the photo of two monkeys?! I saw them in the entrance of the butterfly park, just took a snap and posting here in the same order.

Once I entered in to the park, there were huge numbers of butterflies. And getting their photos is quite challenging. My camera got only 4x optical zoom and when I go anywhere near to them, they will just fly away. So at first I decided to capture this guy who will stand almost still and pose for me!

I took quite a lot of time to capture a good photo of this small guy. He is too fast and almost not sitting anywhere.

I was searching for butterflies and accidentally noticed this guy. But before I took a good snap he jumped away. Bad luck.

At first site, it is pretty difficult to identify them as butterflies...

And finally the great guy who took almost half of my time inside the park to get a snap. He is too fast and he will not come anywhere near to us. Always flying away from us and flying high. But after a long effort I was able to capture him too. I was very happy when I got his photo. I was worried that I will not be able to get him in my 4x optical zoom.

Again when I came out, the monkeys… But this time with a younger one. Clicked!!! And now to the Grand Safari.

Dying Bharathapuzha (Kerala, India)

2009-04-02T05:44:00.000-07:00

I went to see Bharathapuza during one of my visit to a friend’s home at Shornur. I knew that it was the second largest river in Kerala and I expected a huge river with plenty of water. Scenic beauty of the landscape along the Bharatapuzha is quite popular. But what I saw there was shocking. Now during the summer season more than half of the river will be dry (just like a Desert).

This river is extensively dammed (more than 6 dams I think). Taking huge amount of sand from the river for construction purposes is treated as one of the major reasons for it (don’t know why/how?) and hence taking sand from here is prohibited, but still...

This river is having a lot of cultural and religious importance. There are a number of temples in its banks. Also many ritual ceremonies are conducted in the river banks. If still the authorities are not capable enough to save this river then our future generation may say - there was a river called 'Bharathapuzha' existed here.

My little friend

2009-03-03T03:36:00.000-08:00

She is the granddaughter of our house owner (in my college days) and our (Saturns) cute little friend.

Pariyanampatta Pooram (Kerala, India)

2009-03-02T22:58:00.000-08:00

When I went to see the Pariyanampatta pooram, my main target was to take the photos of caparisoned elephants. But because of the huge crowd I was not able reach anywhere near to them. Even though, I missed the photos of elephants, I was able take the photos of some interesting cultural and ritual ceremonies.

If you are able to go to Palakkad during the festival season, make sure that you won’t miss the Pariyanampatta pooram.

On top of Nelliyampathi (Kerala, India)

2009-03-01T23:22:00.000-08:00

If you like heights and small trucking then it is a great place to go. You can enjoy the beauty of nature, tea estates, a small river and climb rocks and above all you will feel like you are on the top of the world. The view from the top covers significantly large area and it is very nice.

My friends at Varkala beach

2009-03-01T23:17:00.000-08:00

We got very less time at Varkala beach because it was not a planned journey. But the place seems to be good. I will go there once again and you can expect some good photos later in this blog.

During a Boat Journey

2009-02-27T02:52:00.000-08:00

I took this photo during a boat journey from Alapuzha to Kollam. It was a great journey and I will recommend for any one. Try this, instead of buses one time. It will be a great experience. You will have so many things to see, like the fishing men, people who collect sand and various other items from water, big fishes etc. and the ticket is much cheaper than the bus tickets.

From deep shallows the sand may reach higher, but never these men!...

Spider Under Bulb

2009-02-27T02:34:00.001-08:00

Spider under a bulb! It is like he is posing for the photo. This is one of my favorite shot.

Malampuzha Dam

2009-02-22T23:55:00.000-08:00

I took these photos during a trip to Malampuzha dam with my friends, it is an important dam in Kerala and also a nice location for a one day trip.

My Village

2009-02-22T23:45:00.000-08:00

It is always greenish and nice. I took this photo during one of my vacations.

Robotic Workshop

2008-12-24T05:02:00.000-08:00

I took these photos during a Robotic Workshop in my college (GEC Sreekrishnapuram).

Hmm he may not be impressive in photo but please see the video clip below. It is amazing!

My Grandfather

2008-12-23T07:56:00.001-08:00

This is my grandfather. I took this photo during one of my vacations which I spend with him a couple of years before.

Fishing Boat

2008-12-22T22:48:00.000-08:00

I have taken this picture from Baypoor beach in Kerala. In Baypoor beach we can walk into the sea about 1.5km and it is really a great experience. Baypoor is also a fishing harbor and famous for "Uru" - small ships constructed in a conventional manner.

I was able to get such a close shot with my 4x zoom camera because of the path which leads us in to the sea.