Sunday, April 17, 2011

Beijing Unplugged Part II

This is a continuation to my previous post, My Camera Speaks – Beijing Unplugged!! . In that post, I put up the snaps of those 7 places, that Beijing is known for in the tourist circuit; The Great Wall, The Olympic Stadium, Tiananmen, Summer Palace, Temple of Heaven, Forbidden City & The Monument of Heroes. This post covers some lesser known areas and some beautiful images that I loved personally.

… the beautifully lantern lit local Beijing Food Street. They serve all kinds of things in there, from the famous Beijing Roasted Duck to the starfish in the below picture to crazy snakes & scorpions…DSCF6117DSCF6129

… parts of the Summer Palace islanded by Kunming Lake. The beautiful bridge, known as Seven Arch Bridge is portrayed again in the below picture…DSCF6990 DSCF7238

… the 798 Art District; a peaceful area immersed in art, colors & sculptures. The lady being sketched & the fully scaled stone model of BMW just gives you the taste of the place… DSCF7500DSCF7473DSCF7523 

… Peking University. It is to China, what Harvard is to America. Due to lack of time, I couldn’t find the main buildings in a vast campus but this Pagoda and the snaps around the lake are all beautiful…DSCF7935DSCF7890

… like any other mega city, vehicles in Beijing highways flowed just as easily as the blood through our veins…DSCF7794

  … the 2008 Olympic Torch which stood witness for those 16 days of the celebrations of world sports & games…DSCF7780

Share your thoughts if you liked the pictures. Check out my collection in Facebook, C.l.i.c.k.e.D .

Saturday, April 16, 2011

My Camera Speaks – Beijing Unplugged!!

Beijing; the capital of the 2nd most powerful nation in the world, and the 6 amazing days I spent there will not be forgotten any time soon.

This is a blog which explains the story of my 7 day trip to Beijing in 7 simple photographs. Photographs of the seven epic monuments & structures that defines Beijing. The Great Wall of China; the National Stadium which hosted 2008 Olympic games, a.k.a the Bird’s Nest; Tiananmen Square; the Summer Palace; the Forbidden City; the Temple of Heaven & the Monument of People’s Heroes at Tiananmen.

… the Badaling section of the Great Wall of China…

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… National Stadium Beijing, a.k.a the Birds Nest…

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… Tiananmen…

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… Summer Palace…

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… Forbidden City…

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… Temple of Heaven…

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… Monument of the People’s Heroes at Tiananmen…

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Share your thoughts if you liked the pictures. Check out my collection in Facebook, C.l.i.c.k.e.D .

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Sunset & Lake… A perfect cocktail!

There are not many things that soothes your mind as the sight of a setting sun. Nature had presented itself before me as a perfectly lit studio; all I had to do was capture them. The gentle breeze, the beautiful ‘n still lake, several smiling faces, I couldn’t have asked for a better treat!

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…click here to check out my favorite clicks in an album named C.l.i.c.k.e.D in my facebook profile…

…leave a comment behind if you liked these…

Monday, April 4, 2011

A Photographic Journey!

This one is a slideshow made out of some photographs I've clicked and the slideshow was made by Bindiya Mathew. Thanks a lot! :)


My Passion Photography Slideshow: Naveen’s trip from Kochi (Cochin), Kerala, India to 2 cities China and was created by TripAdvisor. See another China slideshow. Create your own stunning free slideshow from your travel photos.

Sunday, April 3, 2011

A night I’ll always cherish. World Champions!!

My mother used to talk often, and even did a few days ago about how she watched India winning the 1983 Cricket World Cup. I wondered what is it that’s so special about this victory; that made this memory so fresh in the hearts of someone who is not even the biggest fan of cricket. I found my answer several hours ago, when I watched the same scenes she had watched 28 years ago, the same passion and the same emotions, and I can surely say that those moments of glory shall remain afresh in me for the years to come, probably the length of my life.

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It took 28 years and 7 editions of the tournament for India to clinch back the World Champion title, but this time around, they’ve done it in some style. They had the expectations of a billion home fans and had to cross all of the toughest challenges to reach the Zenith: Bangladesh – their nemesis 4 years ago, England, South Africa, West Indies, Australia & Pakistan before the dream final against Srilanka. They fumbled in a few, but there was always ominous signs of improvement and the way they peaked their game to the top gear was splendid, ensuring there was enough fuel left in the belly to last the length of 6 testing weeks.

The Srilankan journey to Mumbai was much more easier, much lesser hyped and much lower pressurized and it was evident in their showing in the finals as they were never really able to push India up to the extremes of pressures normally associated with high scoring World Cup final chases. In fact, knock out matches against Australia & Pakistan had a lot more excitement and anticipation surrounding them for the kind of cricketing and political rivalry that existed, while an India-Srilanka fixture seemed to happen almost every second day in a week.

The Moment of Glory!

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Dhoni paused for several seconds after hitting that monstrous six and I am sure that would be the most peaceful couple of seconds of complete blankness, he might ever get to experience in his life. What that pause also did was it separated the night into two completely contrasting halves. The most complete batsmen of modern day cricket have just been assured a winners medallion; after 21 years, 453 matches and over 18000 runs! A man who was almost dropped from the team for poor form and fitness an year ago has just played the tournament of his life, with the Player of Tournament trophy sure to be in his kitty. A man who leaked 15 runs, 8 years ago, in a similar final in the very first over, has just lead what was described 6 weeks ago as a bunch of totally clueless bowlers to the helm of the world.

Dhoni soon returned back to his senses and he was no longer the witty captain cool of team India, tears came rolling down and there was no stopping emotions. Yuvraj Singh had promised to gift the world cup to Sachin Tendulkar and he rightly did so. This was a gift to Sachin Tendulkar from the players unlike all the previous years when Sachin gifted glory and happiness to his team mates and the billion followers.

Those victory laps that followed, those tears of glory running down the cheeks, those short hand interviews and that amazing presentation ceremony will all remain in the hearts of all our lifetimes; and from today I can share the experience & happiness of watching your nation win the world cup to the generations ahead just like my mother did.

Missed Ganguly in the field though. Wished to see him in the ground in the moments of glory!! He would've loved to hold that cup as much as anyone else! He must be mighty proud of Yuvi, Zak & Bhaji, 3 youngsters who got his backing in 2001 to beat the world in 2011!

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Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Battle of the Rivals – India v Australia

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I'd wanted to write an article about Sachin Tendulkar when the master blaster scored the first ever ODI 200 in history, last year; but then, an exam kept me from doing that. I'd also wanted to write an article on the eve 1st match of this World Cup; but then a bad fever and infected throat had me rest in the hospital instead. Now on the day of the what is called the business end of the tournament, the first quarter finals, nothing will and nothing can stop me from coming up with this piece of writing on a sport that i love, that flows through my veins, that flows through the veins of over a billion people, Cricket!

Ever since that historical test match at Kolkata against Australia in 2001, the outlook of Indian cricket team had taken a U-turn around the world. Under the inspired captaincy of Sourav Ganguly and magical performances by Laxman, Dravid & Harbhajan India thrashed the then "Invincible" Australian side from almost impossible scenarios and even went on to win the series. The 2003 Indian tour to Down Under saw India winning a test match in Australia after ages, once again choreographed by Dravid & Laxman. A final resistance from Steve Waugh in his final international innings saved the test for Aussies and the series was drawn at 1-1. Since then, huge waves of anticipation followed every single India-Australia fixture and also produced some of the most finest & exciting performances of the last decade.

Today we are one day to go for yet another India-Australia contest and probably the most important one since the 2003 finals at Johannesburg. The core of Indian team remains the same even today, but Australia is no longer the might they used to be.
  • Zaheer Khan will be daring to go against the Australian openers again, wanting to make up for his ill-fated opening over 8 years ago.
  • Sachin Tendulkar will want to make his 100th international ton against his favorite opposition in a match that will take him closer to his only remaining dream, the World Cup.
  • Sehwag will be looking forward to relish the big stage yet again, wanting to bat for the length of the innings and thus single-handedly take the match away with his blade.
  • Yuvraj will want to continue his excellent showings with both bat & ball in his rebirth, a couple more of good performances and the Player of Series trophy could be in his showcase!
  • Harbhajan will want to lead the spin trio from front, hunting the kangaroos down just like the way they did over a month ago at the warm-ups!
The above five couldn't stop an Australian team when it mattered 8 years ago, and they wouldn't want to repeat those mistakes again.

Enough said, Australia have always been my favorite team outside India and Ponting the captain is placed shoulder-to-shoulder with my icon Ganguly. I know its funny, but I often compared his autocracy in the field to the then President of USA, George W Bush. Its a shame that this game ain't happening at Mumbai with the World Cup all but up for the grabs. On any other day, against any other opposition Ponting, Lee & Clarke would've been the players I would've loved to see smiling, but not tomorrow. Come tomorrow evening, the Kangaroos will enter into the bulls ring surrounded by over 50,000 cheering fans, taking on the mighty tigers of India. Over a billion viewers will want to see the raised willow of a smiling Sachin & joyous celebration of Zaheer & Co in the field. Go India, Go!!!
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Wednesday, February 2, 2011

~A Spring Evening~

An evening with cloudless skies, a setting sun and a pretty breeze oozing around; the place looked at its amazing best! These are some of the photos I captured in a warm spring evening at XuanWu Lake Park, Nanjing after some months of  ruthless winter.

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…this is the Nanjing Greenland Financial Center, tallest building in city & 7th tallest in the world…

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… The Nanjing Skyline…

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I hope you have enjoyed these photographs of mine, and leave comments to let me know how you felt.

24th December

24 th December 2017 was a day that changed many a lives that I know of. I was in the middle of a nearly 3200 kilometre train journ...