One of the rare portrait pictures I've taken ever. I normally don't shoot portraits buts this one was very tempting. The couple are gardeners at a hill near Gangtok. While walking by, we saw the nursery and walked in to shoot some flowers. My friend started playing with two cute kids there, and when their parents came nearby, struck a conversation. I was holding a digicam borrowed from a friend which serves great for people photos(when you are not looking thru the viewfinder, people don't realize that you are aiming at them, and hence don't get concious). And when I found the right moment, I knew I had a shot.
Learning languages was(is) never my cup of tea(And so is the art of writing). Fortunately I haven't had any problem learning my mothertongue. Otherwise for that I woulda been- well, 'dumb'! ;) Even English didnot pose much of a problem but I did not go anywhere beyond that. Despite having studied it, Hindi never came to me fluently and it now gets used only in case of emergencies. An attempt to learn Sanskrit died almost as soon as I saw the complex tables of Vibhakti Pratyayas and stuff! Nevertheless, the list of languages I intend to learn is pretty big and gives me some headache. Here it is:
Spanish: It feels so cool, I just have to learn it
Protugese: Just in case I decide to spend a year in Brazil someday!
French and German: These are not as much a priority as the above but it helps to know. Just want to minimize the possiblity of feeling tongue tied in a remote place. And then there is this friend of mine who takes every chance to show off and bombard me in German. Think bout the fun in hitting back in Deutsche(did I spell it right?!) some day and give her a shock of her life! *grin*
Some ppl would tell me that going by the logic I want to learn French and German, I should also try my hands on Afrikaans, Swahili, Russian...
Flying birds are a real challenge to shoot, and so far I have not managed a single perfect shot. Along with the difficulties posed by the agility of a bird in flight, shooting these things tend to cost a lot. This is probably the best one I have managed so far.
It had been a long time I had gone swimming, must be more than a year or so. When I got into water around two months back, I was pretty shocked to realize that I can hardly swim for 100m without resting. The good part was that at least I could rest floating on the water without any problem. I think it is time I get back to the pool for some drill.
Swimming has been one of my childhood passions(in which I never excelled). My first swimming lessons came during summer holidays when I was in primary school. That was from my cousins who lived in remote village, a forest for all practical reasons where they had a river running close to the house.
After getting a bit comfortable with my swimming, I guess I got overconfident about my abilities. A couple of years later, in the peak of rainy season, one of my friends invited me for a swim in the nearby water canal of a reservoir. The canal was full and the water was flowing at max speed. I thought it does not sound feasible. But he took me along, and well experienced as he was, showed me how easily one can jum into the canal, happily float in the water and allow the currents to take you down, and gracefully come out at the next platform availble. I was not only impressed, but was also convinced that it was do-able. So tempted I was, took the plunge without care, and the next few moments were quite a thing I would not forget. My skills weren't good enough for the current and I could not even make an attempt to float on the water. Fortunately I did not panick. I kept going down and occasionally managed to get my head up, draw as much air as I can and then back at the mercy of the currents. I must have managed a 50 meters like that. While I kept a watch for the platform, I was not able to reach it, and kept drifting away. Then, alarmed, my friend's father, who was also around jumped in and pulled me out from the water and dragged me back to the bank. A few tense seconds later, we figured out I had not taken in much water and was pretty alright. And a silent minute or later, we all burst out laughing! My friend who was planning a few more jumps decided otherwise and we just walked back. And luckily, no body was reported of my stupidities and it was just forgotten without any more flames and firings. The incident went off easy but left behind a minor fear of water in me. I think I stayed away from water for around 2 years after that. But the lure was stronger than the fear and I was soon back, but still did not make it a point to get comfy with swimming skills. It is only two years back that I took it more seriously and went swimming for almost 4 months longs. Only then that I finally felt completely home at water, learned to float as long as I want and managed to swim more than a kilometer without pausing. And that followed by yet another long abstinence from water and now, realization of complacence building up. Now, knowing that I can't do more than a 100 meters means I should soon get back for some serious dip and set things right again...
I had been thinking of posting this for sometime but it never happened. It is late but better late than never. World's youngest and the bravest journalist turned 75 on this January 10th. And what an eventful life he has lead!
