Qutb Sunday!

Dec the 13th, 2009 : It starts today!

Whats “It“?

A purposeless mission taken up by an eccentric(slightly ) soul : To visit the Qutb Complex every other Sunday and record history-and-nature visually!

Warning : This eccentric soul (ES from here) is a psycho obsessed with the Qutb and what she calls her “photography skills”. Net result : Toooooooooooooooo many pictures of the Qutb Complex from umpteen angles to be presented on this blog over the next couple of years.

Disclaimer : The ES is not responsible for any trauma resulting from seeing pictures of the same damn place again and again and again.. and again!

Note : The photos presented in this section are by no means a complete set of beautiful(??) pictures that can be taken of the structures at the QC. This is JUST the tip of the ice-berg!

To the post now, after all those points to be noted..

This seems to be a popular angle to take in the minar’s beauty. . Lots of people love it. . So does our ES

Brick is beautiful!

The ES is EXTREMELY jealous of the little birdie.. The brat has easy access to such a nice little spot to enjoy the panaroma from!

Black-and-White does have its charm

Now an unusual angle. . Which for once doesnt lead all eyes to just the Qutb! phew!

Yes Yes. . Thats the ES!

The view from the Alai Darwaza. . Whoa! The ASI definitely does a good job at maintaining this place.

Alai Darwaza

What can be better than having a doorway like that one to flaunt and a window like this one to relax on?

Quwwat al-Islam Mosque

With some history done, move on to see nature merging with history..

Now THAT is what is called contrast!!

Mr. Squirrel too has a vantage point. .Not fair!

So the ES does have company to enjoy the early morning sun with

A closer shot of ES’s little friend

Mr.Squirrel

The ES’s little trip does seem to be fun though almost pointless. The “almost” is there for a reason. A super-hungry ES tasted the Andhra-Upma-Pesarattu at Govardhan (after waiting a good half hour for the folks’ kitchen to warm up to the first, really-early customer on this lazy sunday ). Just perfect to end the morning with. Actually, good enough for “Sunday Early Morning – bicycle – Qutb – photography – Pesarattu – Lab – Blog” to become a routine

Tagged!

Pradeep (possibly the first/only person who says he follows my blog ) had tagged me to do a “Brands” post loooooooooooooooooooooooooong back!! I should apologize for the Indian-Railways kind of delay in the post arriving. . I was not really in the mood to blog about anything in the past few weeks.

So, here goes. . What “Brands” does my mind see the moment I think of the word? Lets see..

1. Dove : Though I have known of the supposedly special soaps from Dove for years, its only in the past year or so that I have really turned to use Dove products. I should confess that I AM developing a loyalty towards the brand
2. Uniball : Crazy-expensive, not-really-practical but colorful pens! Dont know why I am crazy about them. . I just cant fight the urge to buy a color I do not have the moment I spot one, even if I have just enough money to buy it!
3. Fab India : While I am not really the brand-person when it comes to clothes, this has become kind of a constant source of what goes into my ward-robe these days.
4. Indian Airlines & BSNL : I am this unreasonable public-sector-services freak. Though most people only have complaints to talk about these giants, I have always loved them. Missing BSNL especially!
5. Nestle : The brand I loved and trusted as a child! We used to go to this Nestle warehouse sort of place of a friend, where all the products used to be stored before it went to their shop. Fighting with mom for chocolates, maggi, kulfi-mix etc etc etc was real exciting.
6. Gandhi : Not really a product, but the clan is definitely a brand – not just in India, but world-wide! Indira-to-Sonia, Sanjay-to-Rahul, these people – with their “leadership”, intelligence and the lack of it, prudence and the lack of it, honesty and the lack of it, have made India & Indian politics damn interesting. Especially Indira. . Love this “Only man in her cabinet” for all her perfections & imperfections!

However hard I think, I cant think of any other brand that pops-up impromptu in my mind. . I mean, without looking around or thinking of things I currently own. So, I wrap up here.

I guess tags are supposed to be passed on.. For lack of friends who would do any tag, leave alone this one, I tag Pradeep to do a photo-post on whatever seems inspiring (was about to say “on some historic site nearby”, but I guess its not fair) and given there is a 50-50 chance(may be lower, but there IS a chance!) of them doing it, I tag Balaji, Arun, Lavanya and Andy to do the same.

The Charm of “History – Unknown”

If its one thing to visit well known historic sites and know about the people and events behind it, its another to visit an obscure site with ancient ruins, whose history nobody knows about!

Is that a mughal-day gurkha post??

Can not decide - Does Sepia really suit the historical mood?

History behind Bars!!

It is particularly funny when these buildings are right amidst the busy city, in fact, scattered among modern buildings. I am talking about my first outing on my bicycle. . To the unnamed ancient structures nearest to IITD.

Nothing too special about them except their age – which too I guess, is unknown, for the ASI hasnt cared to put up a board or anything notifying it. These seem to be parts of some ancient fort or complex (possibly the Hauz Khas Tank or Siri Fort) which have stood the test of time and civilization when their neighbours have been razed down to make place for roads and apartments. No carvings, no exquisite domes, no astounding heights – nothing really interesting enough for a tourist in the conventional sense. BUT..

Being there gives a feeling of having an intimate chat with the past! No sexy-sleek-camera toting tourists interested in proving to the world that they had “been there and done it” by getting pictures of themselves clicked at the “right” spots with the “right” structures for backdrop!

With just a few birds for company (and a dog who objected to my company!), I probably painted the picture of a complete crazy-nerd with my adventure-gear (camera, tripod, ipod, huge water bottle, bag equipped with apples, sweets, thepla and Indira Gandhi’s political bio!) to amused on-lookers. But who says a crazy-nerd cannot have fun?

Here are the pictures of history well taken care of, but not really cared for!

Looks there there IS Life among the ruins!

There definitely is Love among these ruins

Why does the ray of morning sunlight seem to be a ray of hope to me?

Back at the hub of modern day technology (IITD ), my first successful attempt at capturing fellow-inmates!

Here is another IITian lost in thought!!

P.S : Women ask for directions! But Delhi men either say “I dont kno” or give wrong directions!!

I NEED a cycle …

NOW!!

How else do you expect me to travel 12km every morning in Delhi traffic??!!

Do I hear a “logical” question? That y I am not thinking of taking public transport or autorickshaw or even buy a vehicle for myself??

STOP thinking on those lines. It clearly shows that you do not know me! For your benefit, let me declare that I am slightly(?? friends will surely object ) eccentric and would never consider reasonable options!

That settled,  folks who actually know me are bound to bark “Why the hell do you need to travel 12km a day?? After all, you are one of those souls comfortably settled in campus, needing to ‘travel’ atmost 1/2km to your lab???”

Well. . remember I am “slightly” eccentric??

Coming to the point. . the 12km travel is what is needed to make early morning visits to the Qutb Minar from IITD!

Now, being a research scholar with a serious commitment to my QCA research and completing my PhD in a decent span of time, I cant afford to take out 3hrs each day just to visit the Qutb!! Get the point?

Dare to ask why exactly I need to visit the Qutb every damn day???

U really do? I warn that the answer is most unreasonable & is based on a crazy experience!

If you persist to read in spite of that warning, here goes..

Reason : Going all the way(arnd 6km) to the Qutb just after sunrise, all alone and seeing the beauty of the structures along with the enchanting morning sun and parrots and squirrels is P.U.R.E P.L.E.A.S.U.R.E!

How did I reach that conclusion??

By doing precisely that. . this morning!

What started as a trip to the hostel mess from my lab in a quest for downing something called breakfast, took a lot of unexpected,  sudden turns..

Like deciding to take a walk to the Ashram just outside the gate to enjoy the morning weather..

Then deciding, impromptu, to while away time (of course, by walking aimlessly!) till a nearby restaurant opens so that “Mission Breakfast” is accomplished..

Setting an innocent limit to the walk. . Till the junction where the routes to Saket and the Qutb Complex separate..

Feeling like walking a bit more. . Just for the heck of it. . and reaching the next junction..

Walking a bit further. . for no apparent reason..

And spontaneously deciding to in fact walk to the mighty minar, and doing it!

Now, the atmosphere of the Qutb complex – with all the mysteries that known and unknown pieces of history bring along, the intricate art, the dominating structures – seemed all the more inspiring in the winter morning, when just a handful of tourists (paying a customary visit with no real curiosity ) are loitering around among a whole china-scale population of parrots, india-scale population of pigeons and say, US-scale population of squirrels. . not to forget a Pak-scale population of really frightening dogs! [that was a long sentence.  Read. .and re-read carefully ]

Add Ilayaraja’s awesome music constantly keeping elevating my already sky-high mood through my beloved Sennheiser PX100 headphones. The result => Me smiling @ everything around me, standing here and there and devouring the sight from all possible angles(mind you.. I did not have my camera with me!), singing (of course on mute!) the songs all the while. Consequence => The tourist crowd found another not-so-ancient attraction at the Qutb Complex – an obvious(??) lunatic who had possibly escaped from a mental asylum somewhere close by, or perhaps a crazy IITian as her sweatshirt suggests.

Walking all the way back to the aforementioned restaurant wondering how the emperors would have conceived the idea of building structures, what kind of politics would have lead to their “untimely” deaths, what other heritage sites did they plunder to be able to erect this one, what kind of architectures and carving styles have been used etc etc was a pleasure in itself. The Sambar Vadai & Filter coffee served at the restaurant did not excite one enough to overshadow the awe about mughal history.

To do justice to the mughals and the Qutb and my claim of being a history freak, I do not have any choice except to visit the place any number of times till all the facts about the place and its beauty sink in.. Do I?

So. . Back to the title. . To make this fancy feasible and reasonably less time consuming (put in “healthy” to that ). . I need a cycle! Got it??

You did?

Good.

I too got it. . The cycle. . Immediately after the filter coffee

Now, this proud owner of a smooooth bicycle is all enthu to explore the other heritage sites of Delhi over weekends. . AND subject them to my photographic “skills”. . AND blog about the trip!

Yoooooo Hooooooooo!

I am back to full-energy full-enthusiasm mode after months! Looks like my research is going to pick up speed too @ this rate

P.S

1.  I miss Tamil Nadu toooo much!! This stupid place doesnt have a single small shop selling steaming idlis & puris (okay.. @least rotis) @ 7.30am!! x-(

2. Found the mood to blog after a looooong time.  Will do Pradeep’s tag soon. Thanks Pradeep for visiting my blog and tagging me

The all-talented *IIT*-ians??

All with a small know-how-what of the education system in India understand the supposed greatness of IITs, IITians and how extremely brilliant and hardworking kids have to be to crack the JEE and enter the “temples of engineering education” in the nation.

If you havent realized this well enough, well, the IITians help you. . By wearing T-shirts and sweatshirts that read “I am what you dream to be”, “..because not everyone can get into IIT..”, “if INNOVATION needs a new name, WE volunteer” yada yada yada!

Well. . In that case, dont you expect some novelty from them?

No . .I’m not talking about the technical stuff here..

As an invigilator for a 1-hr examination, the only entertainment I have is : watch 60 pairs of eyeballs and see who is trying to copy from whom, and try to sabotage their plans as subtly as possible! (yes. .I cant help it. . I am sadistic that way!)

A look around the examination hall provides you with so many faces with so many expressions…

• concentrating
• writing effortlessly
• thinking hard
• “do not disturb : oblivious of the world around for the next one hr”
• “oh, time is flying, i’v to complete”
• “damn! y din i study?”
• “does the prof give grace marks just for attempting a question?”
• “when wd these 60 long minutes get over and when can I run out of this depressing hall?”
• “is it jus me who doesnt kno? does that fello really kno? how is he filling pages?”
• “he ditched me! he was supposed to put his paper at the correct angle! x-( “
• “who of the three fellas whose papers I can see is likely to write the correct answer?”
• “Qn#4, Qn#4, Qn#4, Qn#4, Qn#4..” (is trying telepathy on his neighbour to make him start answering Qn#4!)
• “shit! I shouldnt have sat here. . Not a single answer sheet is clearly visible from here! “
• “Why the hell does the stupid invigilator keep looking here?”
• “God! Please please please make the invigilator(s) turn away!”

And add these two when I am invigilating :

• “Why is she constantly staring at us? Should I smile back?”
• “Why is she obstructing my view??”

But I am very much disappointed. . My classmates, even at school, used to have better ways of copying. I mean, even 5th standard kids have as much common sense as to realize that you are bound to be noticed if you keep looking at others’ sheets all the time with your eyes popping out in desparation! And I bet, even 2nd standard kids know that exchanging answers verbally is a strict No-No if you dont plan to be caught! As far as my college days were concerned, people were experts at cheating at exams with none of the invigilators smelling anything even slightly fishy!

Instead of repeating myself about how being bookworms for the best years of their lives have affected the IITians’ common sense, I direct you to a previous post

But, thats just about the first years and a few characters who fancy appearing for the same paper again and again..

I think, the behavior pattern depends on which year of BTech the student is in :

• First year : Sincerely believes he/she can cheat to success even in papers like Computer Programming
• Second year : Knows that cheating isnt a great help, but tries nevertheless
• Third year : Is convinced that no one really knows the correct answer, and has stopped considering cheating
• Final year : Doesnt give a damn about exams and marks anymore. . Concentrate on project or placement yaar!
• Other years : Is either living in denial and keeps trying to cheat, or has given up all hopes and just sits through the hour gazing out of the window

(Replace ‘year’ by ’semester’ in the above list for Postgraduate students. . The speed of evolution in their case is attributed to their experience in UG!)

But I digress. . even if it was only fair to clarify that not all IITians behave as stupid as the post describes. .

The moral of the story :

I am not against cheating. Do it, if you can do it without getting caught. . neither at the exam hall, nor at the hands of the TA correcting your papers. But please apply some logic and knack in the deed. . for its an art!!

Note : Just to clarify things. . I’v never cheated at exams. All this is being said only from hear-say gyaan about the “art of cheating”

Joblessness and Craziness at an all time High!

The photography bhooooth had got into me for the past couple of days.. (just managed to shoo it off 2day! phew!)

More than the raw eccentricity found in abundance in me, it was the joblessness created by the department’s power cuts and network shutdowns that lead to this craziness! So, its not really fair to blame me for this. . Its the Electricity Board and the server that lead to this.

Night 1 :

What really can I do if the whole floor is enveloped by darkness.. AND.. the LAN is down? No MATLAB experiments, no Wiki site management, no reading papers, no checking if the camera-ready paper is in an acceptable format, no blog reading! Phew. . How my world is entwined with the thing called LAN!! (If you suggest that I could *think*, or finish writing that paper which I’v been writing for ages now, or jus go back to the hostel and sleep.. Folks. .Pls do remember that I dont understand such logic! )

Well. . Take the camera out, a few glassy things, break apart a glass-bead necklace, use the cell-phone’s smart flash light . . and go clicking

B-n-B : Buddha and the Beads

Sepia mutiny : Armed with aperture

Night 2 :

Come to lab. . No network connectivity yet :-/

Collect the essentials (read : all that used last night) and go to room..

Now, Debo’s Bday has been more perfect than I realized. . All those gifts and prettily wrapped chocolates mean. .

Yes. . I can click a few more crazy pictures

Well. . I see that using the correct intensity of flash DOES give nice shots

But when the Flash doesnt fetch some effects, a torch at hand is always useful

Day 3 :

Get up in the morning(yes. .for a change!), go to lab . .No network connectivity YET!! x-(

Go back to the hostel. . Use whatever object is in sight and continue the frenzied clicking!

How did I forget that piece of mirror last night?

Reflective surfaces are simply superb to play with

Pink and White : Always a pleasant combination

Night 3 :

After sleeping and clicking for 2 days/nights, try going to lab again..

Yeaaaah!! Though the power is oscillating between present and absent at a high frequency, somehow, I can connect to the world!!

Amidst reading up and trying a few things with the simulator, write up the pending blog posts

P.S. Me suddenly thinks photography is more addicting than research. . Immediate gratification. What u folks say? :-/

Its D-day : Its Debo’s Birthday :)

Been busy & unavailable for a few days. Stop! Dont think “Oh, this girl is at it again! How many times should I tell her not to work too much?”…. Cos, I’v done nothing but have fun all the while!

It was debo’s birthday. . We partied in d hostel, ate out @ Chi kitchen and bar (sigh! no one bought wine for me even this time ), freaked out at Barista etc etc etc!

Everything was super-fun . . Even the horrible grassy-dumplings at Chi, cos it justified the Chicken gang being what it is. . . the “Chicken” gang

Most notably, got video evidence of the hilarious entertainment Debo provided at the Birthday bash . . Can black-mail her for anything with this video now

The pics of things symbolizing major event of the year are in this collage. . Cakes, chocolates, Food, Gift. . Umm. . Looks like Madam Debashree somehow manages to get associated with food all the time

P.S. : The super-cute ganesha was my bday gift 2 my dear roomie. . Though i’m wondering if it was a good idea. . She jus loved it. . BUT!!. .he’s inspiring us. . to sleeeep all day!

You’ve got mail

When your department e-mail id’s inbox suddenly seems to be upto the brim with messages. . Dont be too happy that people want to contact you or too anxious that you are being given more work..

Look Carefully..

Its just that too many people have lost too many  things – earphones, mobile phones, bags, laptops, glasses, wallet. .the list goes oooooooon!

Little do the poor folks know that most of us just select these mails and click “Mark as Read” or “Delete”!

RR #1

Legend : RR = “Raji’s Ramblings”

Category : “Philosophies of Life” (Self-proclaimed)

Type : Often long and Decidedly Boring for Anyone but me

Warning : Stop reading if you are not in the mood for philosophical stuff!

(This is a non-photography post . . a rare one by the way I am functioning these days!)

Its simply AMAZING. . When, after quite a number of gloomy days of trying to come to terms with reality, feeling blue and angry-cum-irritated with the way some ppl tr8 u or behave in general… days when even getting ur first paper accepted did not seem too energizing.. you suddenly feel full of life, enthusiasm and happiness for no particular reason (in spite of being in physical pain)

Accepting the reality of life with respect to what is happening with your life is an obvious first step. In fact, it happens whether or not you put conscious efforts towards it. . Just that it happens a wee bit sooner if you do

The other part. .the “people around you” part, is a different ball game altogether. Human relationships can be astonishingly simple or ridiculously complex. While a few people vibe too well with you right from Day 1, a few other people just dont seem to be made of compatible material! And there are people who oscillate between these categories as well. Somehow, irrespective of the many people whom you are so happy to have in your life, the handful who manage to irritate you leave you grumbling regularly. I know. .its completely unfair towards the former group. .but thats the way it is!

Even as you learn to accept people as they are and love them, there are always people who never seem to fall short of ways to irritate you. There are a few who never try to understand you and worse, never even realize that they are hurting you. However, they never fail to expect too much from you and complain whatever you do! Whether you see them every day or meet them only once in a while, the effect they have on your blood pressure and peace of mind is the same.

On analysis, I propose the following theory :

Just stop wondering why they behave or think the way they do, what can be done to change the dynamics of the relationship, and whether they would change at all! They are probably not going to change, and its no use changing yourself and feeling that all your efforts have been wasted. Even ceasing to love them is ok. .but do not start hating them. Be happy you have all those nice people and that life is going the way it is.

To put it slightly shorter..

Get involved with the people and things that make you feel nice. . And with the others, as they say it, be “thaamirai ilai mel neer pol”. . for the urban kind. .like water on plastic

[Yes. . I keep trying to find the “most stupidest” of ways to insert my photography into the most unlikely of contexts ]

Cheers

Raji

See a beautiful flower..

… Place it with whatever object is in reach and Click

TADA!

Neyar Viruppam Mudhalil : Andy's keychain

Next comes the innocent looking Anai-mugaththOn

A piece of glass with the right cuts makes for amazing light play