Trip report to Little Rann of Kutchchh

This week has been a very happening week. I had the opportunity to visit the areas around the Little Rann of Kutch in Gujarat. This place is very close to the Arabian sea and a natural gulf here makes the place a bio-diversity hotspot. u can see sea and a semi-desert very close to each other in a very interesting juxtaposition...

One of the places here is Surajbari...

On either side of the National highway, one would see the salt pans and dried coastal mudflats until the expanse of vision. The salt pan workers, or the Agariyas work here in the nights to avoid the scorching sun. On a moonlit night, the light reflects from the salt and it feels as if the Agariyas are working on water. I had heard a lot of talk about this place...And when I reached this place, I was dumbfounded to Spot-billed Pelicans, Black headed Ibis, Spoon bills, Sandpipers, geese, storks, Painted storks and last but not the least- the pretty Flamingoes...

And at one place, they were all together...Getting close to the flamingoes with a 70-200 mm lens was a mighy difficult task and after loads of trails I gave up...How I missed a 500 mm lens atleast...but as they say, "soon"...


Some shots from the birding at Surajbari as follows:

Painted Storks busy doing what they do best- Fishin ;-)


Lesser Flamingoes:


Some shots of the action on one of the salt pans would come here after I process them:

Some more:








Watching spoonbills feed was a treat for sure...We should name them water sweepers ;-)

After a great day, as I boarded the flight from Ahmedabad to Bangalore, Sun was playing hide and seek with the clouds...some shots from 20,000 fts above the ground...




And one last sunset from Little Rann of Kutchchh:


Hope u liked the shots...pls feel free to leave ur comments for improvement...

Bangalore Habba

Habba literally denotes festival in Kannada – the local State language of Karnataka. The Bengaluru Habba aims to provide valuable and aesthetic entertainment.

This is what the Habba website mentions-"When the Artistes’ Foundation for Arts (AFFA) was created in 2002, it was with a dream to return performing art to its audiences. For five years, every December, AFFA has been constantly reiterating this commitment through the Bengaluru Habba. Be it in the pure form of classical performance or the modern and popular version of the art, the Habba has always been about celebrating the stage and its many facets, cutting across all boundaries."


This year Bangalore Habba was organised from February 15th to February 23rd, 2009
As part of the Bangalore Photograph Club, I got a chance to shoot the 21st evening shows...

There were two parts to the evening- First one was the Percussion Music Ensemble by Dr. Suma Sudhindra, Annor Anantha Krishna Sharma and team. The finale to the evening had in store for us Anoushka Shankar. Need I say more about her...

There was an incidental short-circuit fire as well but that was under control...

Some shots from the evening:

The Stage:











Now some from Anoushka's show:






Hope u liked them...

More details on the Bangalore Habba can be found here:http://www.bengaluruhabba.co.in/2008/
More details on Anoushka can be found here: http://www.bengaluruhabba.co.in/2008/anoushka_shankar

getting tagged on Flickr

For sometime now, I had been tagged on Flickr by Sneha, Ashutosh, Ram...And once you are tagged, you need to write 16 random things about yourself and then tag 16 others :) Nice game of rediscovering oneself and getting to know others...but I never understood -why the number 16.


Anyway, I was busy contributing to the increasing revenues of the various airlines by travelling to multiple places. I write this from the hotel room at Kutchh district of Gujarat,India where I am currently travelling...Hope to come back with some shots..lets see..Umm lets see 16 things about me in no order of priority...

16. Whenever I see all those shampoo ads on TV, I feel that it is a criminal wastage of time because I have very little hair on my scalp...So I have started to learn to multi-process during the ads...

15. I love travelling and am currently in Gujarat...There are still many states in India which I would love to travel to- JnK, Punjab, HP, All the NE states post WB, MP, AnN Islands, Lakshadweep...I think rest all the states I have covered some time/ mode or other...

14. As an extension to the above, I would love to travel the world and mingle with new cultures...

13. I am more of a water lover...So I prefer beaches rather than hills...I don't mind the snow or the sands...

12. Paan is one thing that I love...I have already done some research on paan... Will upload it on my blog soon. (hope my boss doesn't read this- he would drown me with more work when he sees that I could make time to research on Paan !!)

11. I am a complete non-vegetarian when it comes to food or jokes but I also love the veggies items ;-)

10. These days I am into Yoga and Cycling...Both are stamina boosters and stress busters...

9. My life's 'Why' Part : "When you discover what you will be in your life, set out to do it as if God Almighty called you at this particular moment in history to do it. Don't just set out to do a good job. Set out to do such a good job that the living, the dead or the unborn couldn't do it any better...Sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will have to pause and say: 'Here lived a great street sweeper who swept his job well.' ..............Be the best of whatever you are" (Dr. Martin Luther King Jr)

8. And now the 'How' part- "My dear fellow, who will let you?" "That's not the point. The point is, who will stop me?" (Ayn Rand)

7. I love to dress up neatly for all occasions...What with men having so limited avenues to dress up...

6. I love the sweet smell of first blossoms of mango during spring, the musky fragrance that comes from the earth when the first drops of rain fall on it, the faint milky smell that used to come from my new-born angel. Net net, I love all the smells that nature has to offer...

7. May sound different, but I am one person who searches for pleasure in pain for I believe that " For everything you have missed, you have gained something else; And for everything that you gain, you lose something else. It is about your outlook towards life. You can either regret or rejoice."

6. There was thins dialogue in one James Bond movie- " There is so much to do, where is the time to sleep"...Well I completely disagree...There is so much to sleep who has the time to do...;-)

5. I love horses, accipiters, Bengal tigers and dolphins.

4. I love my country/ culture and the mixed hues that come with it as a baggage...so beware if u take a potshot...If I am there, I will argue :-)

3. I love my parents.

2. I love Tanwee, my wife and Sonakshi, my little angel

1. I love myself

Well these are the points that I put on Flickr...and it felt good to think 16 things about myself after a long time...