Photographer, blogger, traveller. Addicted to yoga.
Alumnus of College of Engineering, Thiruvananthapuram and Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai.
Born in /Kerala. Resident of Mumbai.
Green GrassAfter more than two months of rains in Mumbai and the rest of India, the wetlands of Vasai have fresh growth of grass. The fields are full of water which would recede in the coming months.
The sky was overcast when I took the shot. There was a slight drizzle and my Tamrac 5371 photo backpack shielded the camera from rain.
I set the aperture was at f/8 to get a good depth of field and sharpness. Focal length was 39 mm. See the photo on my flickr page.
Many parts of Vasai have vast open areas. Eighty percent of total rainfall is experienced during June to October. Average annual rainfall is 2000–2500 mm and humidity is 61-86%, making it a humid-perhumid zone. The driest days are in winter while the wettest days are experienced in July. As per the 2011 census, Vasai-Virar is the fifth largest city in Maharashtra.[
Electric Locomotive Ghaziabad WAP-5 #30017 Hauling August Kranti Rajadhani ExpressIndian Railways uses a class of electric locomotives called WAP-5. The WAP-5 series of locomotives haul the premium trains on Indian Railways like the Mumbai Rajdhani Express, Bhopal Shatabdi Express, Lucknow Shatabdi Express, Thiruvananthapuram Rajdhani, Prayagraj Express, etc. The Bhopal Shatabdi hauled by a WAP-5 travels at 150 km/h (93 mph) in the New Delhi – Agra Cantt section.
The first 10 locomotives were imported from ABB in Switzerland in 1995. They are supposed to be a variant of the Swiss Lok 2000 (Design Concept) and German DB Class 120 (Mechanical Chasis). Chittaranjan Locomotive Works (CLW) started production in 2000. It was designed to haul 18 coach passenger trains at 162 km/h (101 mph). It is the first 3-phase locomotive in India.
Other key features of the locomotive are the provision of taps from the main transformers for Head end power (HEP or Hotel Load), pantry loads, flexible gear coupling, wheel-mounted disc brakes, and a potential for speed enhancement to 225 km/h (140 mph). Braking systems include regenerative braking (160 kN), loco disc brakes, automatic train air brakes, and a charged spring parking brake. MU operation possible with a maximum of two locos. At trials, a WAP-5 has been tested up to 185 km/h (115 mph).
Around 60 of these locomotives have been put to service as of January 2013.
@ Wikipedia
Moonlit Light HouseKannur Light House in Kerala is near Payyambalam Beach, a few kilometers from Kannur town. It is adjacent to Government Guest House. The light house is still active and overlooks the Arabian Sea.
Cannanore is the old English name for Kannur town. The light house at Kannur is still often referred to as the Cannanore Light House.
I had to wait patiently till almost midnight for the moon to come up close to the light house. I used a one second exposure at f/4.0. ISO setting was at 800 and focal length was 21 mm.
I was not carrying a tripod, so I had to prop up my Canon EOS 550D camera against a window sill. The sky was cloudless with no haze or mist. So I was able to get a clear shot.
ChendakkaranA temple in Thalassery, Kerala is Ambalavattam Temple. It is owned by Ambalavattam family and is managed by a charitable trust.
I shot this image at the temple during a festival. The Chenda is mainly played in Hindu temple festivals and as an accompaniment in the religious art forms of Kerala. The Chenda is a cylindrical percussion instrument used widely in Kerala.
Panchari melam, comprising of instruments like chenda, ilathalam, kombu and kuzhal, is performed during virtually every temple festival in central Kerala. Another chenda melam which comes close to Panchari in popularity is Pandi Melam. Other chenda melams include chempata, adanta, anchatanta, chempha, dhruvam, navam, kalpam and ekadasam.
Click on the link to see an interesting image from Flickr by Ranjith Shenoy R: Rhythm of Kerala
Delhi has many historical monuments. One of them is Isa Khan’s Tomb.
Isa Khan was an Afghan noble in the court of Sher Shah Suri and later of his son Islam Shah Suri, both of the Sur dynasty. The tomb was built in Isa Khan’s lifetime in 1547-1548 AD, and is situated near Mughal Emperor Humayun’s Tomb which was later built between 1562-1571 AD.
The pillared mausoleum is topped by an inverted flower-shaped dome with smaller supporting domes. It was reopened to public in April this year after a two-year restoration work.
Slanting rays of the evening sun brings out fine details of the tomb. The photo was taken with a point and shoot camera, Sony DSC-W35. It goes to show that you do not need a high-end digital SLR to take good photos.
