Footprints

The Sands of time..The unreasonable man never walks straight. The reasonable man adapts himself to the world, the unreasonable adapt the world to themselves-G.B.Shaw

River Princess

Meandering Mandovi...
The King meets the Queen. The Mandovi meanders the Divar Hillock. Divar or Paradise Island is an Island on a river [Mandovi].

Dusk and Sea

Sunset at Miramar Bay, Goa. Had to tweak the exposure and aperture to get the reflections right. But I will never be satisfied. The perfect sunsets are only seen by eyes and not fish eye lens.
It will be a long haul for the fishing boat chugging into unknown depths. The smoke captured by a zooming in sun and Casio 4000 Lens.

Fish Catch

Mackerels[Bangda]. They call it the poor man's fish. This photo makes it elegantly royal blooded. I was on a bird shooting trek to Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary, Cherao Island, Goa. Sunday Morning, I took the ferry boat to cross the Mandovi River from Ribandar to Cherao. Two fishermen returning with fresh catch gave me a National Geographic moment. When fish eyes [fish eye lens] meet they make for interesting visuals. The blood red color?? Well, thats my probing camera trick to see beneath the skin ;-)

Morning sun playing on fish scales.

Mandovi Bay Goa

It is winter. The sun gets gobbled by the haze. Leaves do peep! The low tide at Miramar Bay and the Acasia tree shade play with the evening sun.

It is a pleasure to view monuments at night. The cross at the top and Mother Mary glow in the dark.

Church of Mae De Deus, circa 1873

Lovely sight on New Year eve. The Gothic spirals of the 126 year old Church of Mae De Deus Saligao, Goa caught our attention as we were moving towards Arpora. This photo from Lovey is just Lovely! The white facades and the elegance of portuguese architecture combine with the dazzle of lights to give a feast for eyes. The church was deserted and there was a chill in the air. Lovey clicked his cybershot many times to capture that perfect brightness. He did succeed as seen from the photos. Goa is photogenic.

Panjim City

Panjim City,

This photograph was taken on New Year day. Lovey and myself went around Panjim like backpackers. The city was quiet due to the New Year hangover. On the foreground is the Adil Shah [The first Muslim conquerer of Goa before Portuguese rule]Palace. In the background is the Captain of Panjim Port jetty. The ocean research ship named Cappadocia is anchored at the jetty.

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The Myth of Mandovi
The river that charms me day in and day out

Kerala Mix-II

Series-II
This is the second in the series on growing social obsessions in Kerala. Gold and Alcohol are the late entrants into the mallu psyche. If all others are vices of materialistic nature, there is one virtue that no other Indian possesses. The gift of comedy. Humour comes easily to a malayalee. How and why? read on

Comedy: Mallu comedy actors take a bow!. Over 50% of malayalam movie actors are comedians.
This blog is going to make the Innocents [a funny name for a naughty comedian], Jayarams [one time mimicry artist turned super star], Dilip, and Lals [again a mimic turned director] proud. Every malayalee loves a hearty laugh, whether it comes from the slapstick comic movie scenes, or double entendre "skits" and "mimics parades". Make no mistake; mallu's are very particular about good comedy. Ask the all time favorite comedian of Malayalam cinema "Jagathi Sreekumar"[ His actual name is Sreekumar, Jagathi is the name of his home town, mallus have a special affection for place names, but all that in a later blog]. If you say this is common to all Indian cinemas, Kerala comedy has more to offer. Keralites love mimicking any TDH, including themselves. Mimicry artists have a special penchant to mock actors and politicians. Some superstar actors and politicians admit that some artists who mimic their mannerisms are better than themselves. A "mimics parade" [there is no march past, this parade is just a two hour program when various artists parade before the audience showcasing their vocal magic and funny histrionics] is a hit be it in birthday parties to Gulf entertainment shows. There was even a call to ban mimicing leaders and personalities which never found any takers in Kerala [Gulf Today, January 14 2004]. Some "mimics videos" [of Kalabhavan, Cochin variety] will find place with many a blockbuster Malayalam movie. The Malayalam film industry owes a lot to this comedy factory, though of late mimicry is loosing the spontaneity and situational comedy, made a cult classic by Jayaram, Late Sainudeen, and Harisri Asokan. Probe further, you will find numerous television shows that rake in TRP ratings by just showing a collage of comedy scenes from malaylam movies [Asianet Cinemala, Comedy time, Jagapoga]. These shows have TRP ratings at par with the weepy feminine soaps. Now, to beat the TV soaps loaded with sentiments is no mean achievement and that shows how popular humor is in mallu land. If you think director Priyadarsan is a genius, you are wrong. He was one. Today, all comedy movies made by him in Hindi and all blockbusters are frame by frame copies of hit malayalam comedy movies from the 80's and 90's.