Blacked White - Part 2

Well, a friend of mine will be very happy to read the third blog of the month, even I don't know suddenly why I am so much into putting things in to words, trying to see things from different perspective, but I guess it is a positive change and I continue writing ...

Back in 2012, I published a collection of my black and white photos which are very close to my heart and also expressed my love for the black and white tone.So here is the second collection which is very special. 
All the below snaps were clicked in Nuremberg, Germany.


                                                             Dad, I want a better look ...

It reminds me so much of my childhood days when my parents asked me to sit on their shoulders to have a better looks

                                                                    

                                                                     Spread the smile... 

The guitarist

This guy was playing an amazing guitar in the altstadt Nuremberg. Luckily I was able to get this pic with the perfect pose

What's going on there?

Expressions..

Just love everyone's expression in this image... each one has a diff expression on his face

The basket of happiness

well, at the first look, I found it a bit strange to see the way this lady was carrying her baby..

The survival

Really sad to see that a physically fit person has to do this to survive...Definitely its better than begging, but still when you have strength, when you have life then you can surely do better

The joker

I observed this Joker for quite a while. He was not able to sell these balloons with diff shapes and that's the pain which I saw on his face. I was happy to see that in spite of his own pain, he was able to bring smile on faces pf plenty of kids....

Kids surely have some hidden power which helps you forget your sufferings, your pain.... The moment I saw this cute kid, it brought smile on my face :)

Each of the above snap has a special meaning and a message... some of them I tried to explain, rest you can define :) :)

A well of Wishes....

Today I was going through a Facebook wall of a friend. One message on her wall got my attention and after reading the message I was just amazed to realize that how we can connect our virtues, our qualities with components of nature, particles of this universe.

“Ret bhi na jaane kitni pyassi he…. Uski pyas na samundar ka paani bhuja paata he aur nahi hi baarish ka paani”

The status was so simple yet beautiful. When we put a human being in place of Sand and wishes as the thirst then we realize the depth of this message . Our wishes are just like the thirst of sand. Just like it, our wishes are unlimited. Once we achieve something, we already starts thinking about the next milestones. We buy a bike today and start thinking about how to buy a car. There are plenty of such people out there who are never satisfied with what they have or what they have achieved.

I am not saying that it is wrong to strive for something more. But should there be a limit to it? I know it is necessary to be thirsty to keep the pace with the society, to achieve new heights in life. But don’t you feel that it kills the joy of the success, thirst to fulfill the never ending wish makes you tired.

No one has seen the bottom of the well of wishes. No one know how deep he/she will have to go to in that well to reach the level of satisfaction, but the question still remains open is “whether we should define the limits to our wishes or we should stay thirsty, stay foolish and just follow the route to fulfill one wish after the other..?”

- jAI...

Why do I ??

When you have knack of something, often your mind will be full of various questions.....

1. How can I do it in a better way?

2. What will make the outcome unique?

3. How better can I serve my interests?

etc... 

But along with these, other thousand voices will join and ask you "Why you are doing this?", "there are thousand other guys in the market who can perform it in a much better way than you" ?

The society in which we live, these questions will often be raised and sometime you will be in dilemma of how to answer them...I have been asked so many times "Why do you do photography? "

This blog is an answer to all those people who asked me this question "Why do you... ?"

Photography for me is more than just capturing an image. It is my way to preserve  joy, emotions, feelings and a moment to cherish it for a life time. I do photography because it gives me a pleasure of living that time again which has passed already. I like to spend the important moments of my life to save the more valuable moments of my life... of others' life..... Photography helps me in finding beauty in small-small things whether it is a flower or a bird.. it helps me to define a meaning of each moment....I do not care if the photos which I capture are unique or I do not care if a similar photo has been already captured by someone else... All I know is it is my way to keep that moment, that picture somewhere safe so that I can live it again.....

That's why I do photography....

Back on the ground

It's been more than a year since last I grabbed that racket. Well I am talking about Squash. Finally after such a long break, today I went to Sportland to play Squash with my Adidas colleagues. Believe me, it was amazing to be back on the ground. I am happy that I didn't loose the touch yet. I was able to win 4 out 5 games...  :) :)

Life in Germany has been good so far and I know it will remain that way, as I am doing what I like.... Work in office is good. Luckily I got a chance to work in HANA which is basically the new technology introduced by SAP. The bad thing is once it is completely accepted in the market, then I will have to forget the technology on which I have been working from the last 5 years. Anyway will think about it later on...

Between I visited International Motor show held at Frankfurt. It was just superb . All the leading Car brands were there. Met Abhiram for the first time... He is a friend of Vinod. But didn't feel like I was meeting him for the first time... He was just perfect as host ..

Anyway time to go to bed now.... its been quite long time since I wrote something... 

But good night for now with a promise to bring something worth reading here soon :)

D - Day.....

Well, I am not talking about some specific date decided by FBI or any other agency to take down some big terrorist group J J. It is actually bigger than that. It is my Birthday. Yes, exactly 28 years before, I was bornJ.

When I look in to the past and collect the memories of my birthday, they were actually quite eventful. I used to get call from friends, relatives at 00:00 on my birthday. It was like everyone joined the race and want to be the first one to wish me. It was amazing fun. First remember birth dates of friends, stay awake till late night to wish them. These days all these have been completely changed. FB and whats app have replaced the calls. People don’t remember birth dates as FB has offered a feature which reminds the birth dates of friends and relatives. It has made life easy but don’t you feel that it was a different kind of feeling to remember the birth dates and wish them. I feel so. It actually makes birthdays special.

Anyway, the start of my birthday was quite good. Few relatives and friends were actually waiting to tick the clock to 00:00 in India to wish me. To my surprise, many of my friends actually remembered my birth date even when I have hidden it on FB. Believe me, it made my day.  My friend Advait realized that it was my birthday next day around 11.00 p.m. so he could not arrange a cake and asked me to cut a muffin. Well I loved it also …. I guess cake size never matters… but feelings does…

I gifted myself a headphones from Beats by Dr. Dre. 

I also joined a gym :) :) …. I also made a resolution that I will visit each and every amazing place in the world and click the pictures to capture the moment for the life time :) :)

So far… it has been an amazing day…. Lets see how it goes J J

Welcome the life :)

Life is full of uncertainty.confused??Don't worry, by the time you finish reading this, you will understand what exactly I am talking about.

That day when I woke up, I didn't know why but I felt “something is going to happen today and my life is going to change”...everything was just so beautiful that morning. Well generally I hate to go to office so early, but I was so much energised that day that I boarded the first bus to office. When I was lost in my thoughts, I got a call from one of my very close friend. She told me about her friend who was going through a rough phase and asked me to take care of her as she was in Pune. I didn't know her friend that well, but I had met her twice or thrice during the training in Mysore. I told my friend not to worry and asked her to inform her friend to meet me in food court. Generally I go to FC with my gujju friends, but that day they were all coming late (it was Monday, so generally everyone comes to office around 11).I was just entering the food court and then I saw her. The only word that came to my mind was “beautiful”.  I just couldn't take my eyes of her. It was not that I was seeing her for the first time, but there was something this time which was working like a magic. I was spell bound by her beauty. I wanted to dive in the ocean of her beautiful grey eyes. Her hair, her sharp features were just so perfect that even a poet wouldn't be able to describe it in words.... all of a sudden, it was not the gravity that was holding me to the planet, it was her. I was so much lost that I didn't even realise when she came to me. She asked me “hey, are you ok? You are standing here like a statue from the last ten minutes”. All I could manage was just to smile. She smiled and said “Let’s go..”.

By that time, I already knew that I was in love with her. I would do anything, be anything just to keep that smile on her face. After seeing conditions of my friends, I was so sure that I will never fall in love, but the moment I saw her I forgot everything. I knew that it was her who would either complete me or completely destroy me...

When I saw her smile, I realised why this morning was so special, why I came to office so early that day, why I got a call from my friend to meet her. This was bound to happen. Life has its own ways to surprise you. It has its own ways to fill a life to your moments. It arranges everything on its own to make your life special...

So keep smiling and be open to surprise. You never know what will be there in a store for you :) :)

wohh... i am still a kid :)

Well, I know the title is bit confusing...

When I was a child, I always use to wear would on one or the other part of my body....Sometimes on knees, sometimes on hand and sometime on face.... well the reasons were different all the time...Sometimes fights with other contributed to it and sometime a great fall from bicycle or my old sunny zip.. I know you all might be wondering why I am  telling you all these. 

Today I went out with my friends for a skate ride. Advait and Mahesh were on bike while I was skate..... Initially everything went fine until I reached the a slop. I was suddenly on the highest speed on skate and due to uneven stones on the footpath in a second I found myself kissing the floor. I was fortunate enough to save my head and shoulder up to some extent. But my knees had a major injuries. I saw bloods flowing out of the wounds and I was like its okay. But when I saw other people who actually were worried seen the blood, it made me realize how big the injury was. Two girls and one aunty was very kind to give the paper napkins to clean up the wound a bit.. I was still not feeling pain, but the worry on other people's face made me bit worried.

After coming home, we cleaned the wounds with savlon and applied the cream, but the blood kept flowing so I decide to visit the doctor first time in Germany. I was bit tensed to visit doctor, not because of the fear of injection but because of the language issue. But yeh somehow I managed it. Well frankly speaking, the doctors were more worried. They were like check this and that. If it is a fracture or not. Do you have pain here or not?? and all sort of questions were fired. I was surprised to see that there was a team of 5 (doctors and Nurses) who were attending me.... Well I can say the first visit of the doctor in Germany was bit scary. 

Well these wounds reminded me of my childhood. When I used to returned to home with wounds, mummy was the who got most worried. I am damn sure if she will come to know about this she will still feel same. I am glad that I am in germnay...

I  feel like I am still that kid.....or may be a grown up Kid ;)

blEssEd I Am tO hAvE yOU....

I strongly feel that some people are blessed with the ability to make the atmosphere lively..when i am around such people, it feels like just to stay with them... I feel full of life...

Yesterday a friend invited me for a dinner... We are kind of friends who don’t meet each other that often, but still we share a special bonding.. At least i think so ;). When I found my name in her list of close friends, I was bit surprised but very happy.  she named me “mega pixel” ... I kinda like that name...well actually what i want to say is we dont meet that quite often, but when we catch up, we end up talking for hours... N same happened yesterday.. We talked about almost all aspects of life... People, friends, work, frustration etc.... First of all let me tell you she is a wonderful host... U wont feel as a guest even for a moment..well let me come to the main topic, she is kind of a person with whom you would love to wander around.. Catch up for a coffee... Not because she is girl n she can talk for hours but because she has a knack to see positive side of everything and so whenever you are with her, you will feel like she is passing the positive energy to you...she can turn a sad situation into a happy occasion... Whenever i am with her I start seeing life with a totally different angle and i feel that everything is now falling in to correct sequence and place.. I feel so lively with her... I have mentioned her quite a lot now in my blogs…n there is a reason behind actually. I was inspired by her.. Her blogs, the way of seeing things everything I found very inspring and encouraging. I told her the same thing yesterday as well…. I hope she didn’t feel that I was buttering………

I consider myself lucky to have such few friends who are blessed with this special quality... Pandu, Popat, Thakur, time table ( i haven’t wrote the name intentionally), bakshi are some of my friends who  has this thing to make things light.. They can make u laugh...smile... N most important lively... Whenever they are around you will feel this is the life i am looking for... Full of fun, laughter, positive attitude and love...

I feel lucky or lets say blessed to have such friends...

Keep rocking guys...

-jai

Is it bad to be selfish?

I was taught that most of the decisions which we take in our daily life affect one or the other person directly or indirectly. Sometimes our decision proves to be wrong and there is a possibility that it may hurt our friends, relatives or colleagues personally or professionally and that’s why we need to give proper thought and time to it.

I have taken this lesson or lets say teaching very seriously throughout my life…. There are occasions when I had to go against my will as the thing which I wanted to do and what I needed was affecting my friends or family. Till date I was feeling very happy that I had given very less chance to other people to get hurt. It has helped me earned respect from my friends , family and my colleagues. They have faith that whatever my actions will be, it will be good for all.

But the incidents which has happened in the last few months in my life made me think whether I should actually think about others or not. The decisions which I have taken in the last few months have definitely  saved me hurting  N number of persons, but I couldn’t stand for something which I wanted the most in life…I lost something which was worth dying.

 What if the decision which you are making is hurting you only….what if you have to suffer for the rest of the life because of it… Now I really wonder about the funda of the life…is it really bad to be selfish sometime? Should we always consider others when taking decisions? What one should do when he knows that his one action or decision which is best for him will have impact on others life??

I am trying really hard to figure out answers to these questions….do let me know if u already have one….

Blacked white...

Well I know, the title is bit confusing..it does not mean anything special..but i thought it is the best suitable title for my post..


I don't know why but the day I started photography, Black and White images have always attracted me...May be its the effect of history attached with Germany...Or I don't know, but all I can say is I love my collection of Black and white snaps than the color ones..


Here it goes...


1. I walk a long way...

 @ Bamberg ( 9th April 2011)

2. I will be there to enlighten you..

 @ Regensburg (7th May 2011)

3. I will support you forever....

@Berlin (24th July 2011)

4. I will stand to tell the history..

@Berlin (24th July 2011)

5.Paused

@Munich (2nd Oct 2011)

6. Flow...

 @ Venice (25th Dec 2011)

7. Resistance...

@ Venice (25th Dec 2011)

I don't know why I keep the title for this snap as "Resistance"... But felt its the best one..As water resist the boat, obstacles keep resisting us on a path to success..but we keep going....life keeps moving....

8. I dont have leaves to give you shade...but I will burn my self to give you heat..warmth....

@Bamberg (25th Feb 2012)

9. Lonely.....

@ Bamberg (25th Feb 2012)

These snaps are special...somewhere there is a special meaning attached to each one them..some of them which I can explain....n some to you will have to explore yourself..

Stay tuned to this .....Many more to come....

Till then, 

Cya...

Jai

Bring back the Kid......

Have you ever thought of getting inked?? Getting a Tattoo?? 


From the last 2-3 three years, I am planning to get a tattoo. But could not execute the plan. Sometimes because of the objection from the family members and sometimes due to the collision of my own thoughts..But this time, I was thinking about getting a tattoo bit seriously...So in search of the perfect tattoo for my self, I did a lot of research..Surf many websites, got consultation from many tattoo designers, but could not find one..perfect one..which I want..so In the end, I thought to design my own tattoo and get it inked.... So while travelling to home from office, I started to imagine a picture and then put it on the paper at night....Though I have not found the tattoo, I realised one thing...my love for drawing...When I was a Kid, I loved to draw... people, different shapes and specially landscapes....it used to make me so happy and alive when I was able to put the perfect shades and colours in the picture....Today when I draw a tattoo, I feel some type of happiness..i feel fresh and alive.....The time which I used to spend on facebook, now I spare it for drawing tattoos and landscapes....


In the Race with the life, we sacrifice or quit many things to reach our goals. These things can be anything... like an activity which we used to love, or things which we like to do...n in some case relationships also. We quit doing the things which we love...which makes us feel alive...which brings smile on your face......sometimes such small small hobbies works like a magic when you are stressed out or tensed....I feel it is better to spare time for such hobbies than sitting on facebook and surf to what people are doing ....


So find out such hobbies which you have quit and spare sometime for the things which you love...bring back the kid in yourself....feel alive and young....feel the happiness and spread the smiles...


- Jai

Back on track.....

Finally, I am back...on the track of the life…

Don’t think much, it was just a line..but yeah, I am here after almost four months. Many things happened during this time. There are so many things to write about, so many things to tell you, but to tell you frankly, I am not able to put them in to words at the moment.

Today I want to thank one of my friend… I always feel refreshed when I talk to her. She is always full of life… and the most important thing about her is her ability to see something special in each and everything. Sometimes I feel jealous of her when I see that she can find happiness even in a sip of a coffee…. Can you believe it? But that’s true. Whenever I read her blogs, it makes me think whether I am living life right way or not. I am enjoying my life or not. You know she doesn’t write anything special in her blog, like  “a way to live a life” …. Or any other guide like “the monk who sold his Ferrari” and etc…but the way she describe the things happening in her life and how she is able to make most of the moment is just amazing.. Sometimes, it really makes me think “is it really possible?”..

I want to thank her again, as again its her blog only which inspired me to again take a pen and write something…

Cya for now,

Jai

It All Ends ...

No, this blog is not about the last part of the Harry Potter franchise but yeh I wish that J.K.Rowling will again come back with such fantastic story. 

Anyway this blog is about “ENDs”. Yeah , we all know the things which have a start will come to an end one day. But the question that has been stuck in my mind since a long time now is “Why do we hate end so much?”.

Have you ever given a thought to this? I was in India for three weeks.  Cannot tell how quickly my vacation ended, but in the last week, I was not at all feeling well because my vacation is about end. The thought about the end of vacation has absorbed all the positive vibrations. I was wishing that my vacation will go on for one or two more weeks. (I know even if it was extended, I would have again felt the same during the last week).There are many such examples. End of a good movie, your fav TV serial, end of your career with your first employer (Of course when you switch to new company), End of a relationship…..the list is endless….

Why do we hate End so much?? Are we afraid of coming out of our comfort zone or we are afraid of the new challenges waiting for us?   

Well, I am trying to find out the answer to this question. Do tell me if you find one …..

There is lot to write. But for now this much is enough..;)

Straight from the Heart ...!!!

Straight from the Heart….!!!!

Has the thought ever knocked on the door of your mind that your life has become very dull and boring? Have you ever felt that all the colors have disappeared from your life??

Think once again….

No, but I have felt that.From the last few days or say months my mind was occupied with all such questions,..my mind was so busy with these stupid thouhts that I was not even able to concentrate on my favourite timepass....photography..surfing..etc..

But my life has taken a turn now....I am happy...I am cheerful..n most imporant, now I am enjoying every moment of life...not because the work which I am doing right now is intersting nor that I have bought any new cool gadget or shoe...but because I found out the reasons....the answers for the above questions....

The reason was ...my boring routine....The day I arrived here in Germany...my life had become very monotonous...i was following the same routine.. Every monday to friday...same time table..wake up early in morning, prepare break fast (sometimes lunch also)...go to office..return home around 7 or 8...take dinner..watch some shows on lappi, face book n go to sleep..on weekends, shopping, bowling and eat lots of food...from the last 4-5 months I was following the same schedule...but now I said to my self that enough is enough... I have implemented many changes in my day to day life....i decided that I wont dance with the tick tick music of watch...but I will do whatever I want...ofcourse, no masti during work....but I will make most of from the rest of the time...now many things have changed....bad minton, bowling, exercises photography are also part of my daily life...sometimes I do what I have never planned...like for example I ironed all my clothes today n arranged my cu board...wow it looks cool...

So change your routine, wear your dancing shoe and go for party with the life….face your fear….come out of your comfort zone and do whatever your heart say…Try something which you have never thought of….do something which scares you to death…challenge the defeats and win the failures….

Of course this realization was not easy, but there is someone who actually helped me or you can say forced me to see how boring my life was… That person is also the source of inspiration for writing this blog…

Thanks a lot Lil for spreading the light in my life like miss sunshine J

Living the History @ Regensburg

Day started with a positive note that all of us reached Bahnof (Ok ok .. This is how Railway Station is called in Germany) to explore one more Unesco Heritage Site - Regeneburg. I was quite excited for this one day trip, as I have heard a lot about a superb church and city centre in this city and also becuase I will get a chance to click some wonderful monuments in the city.

I know that in Germany all the cities look like same. It feels like they decided on a template and implemented in all cities, but each city has something special attached with it...History...monuments.... or the culture.. and so do Regensburg...

Excellently preserved City Centre with Cathedral and Stone Bridge being the mail tourists spots is the main attraction of Regensburg..This city centre is known as the largest medieval City Centre in Germany. So after buying a coffee, we started our journey through the streets of this city centre...Believe me, it is really beautiful. The best thing I found is the Cathedral. It is said that it took almost 400 years to complete it. Below is some pics of the Cathedral,

Interior of the cathedral,

The streets were occupied by the tents from the very high car brands like WV, Mercedes and Porsche...lovely outdoor cafes and ice cream parlors...some pics of streets of city centre

Medieval stone bridge connects the residential area with the city centre..

Click of the city from stone bridge,

I really like the city.. The best part is that city was not damaged much during the world War 2, so still we can see the glimpse of the of Germany...

Thanks to all my friends for being such a wonderful company.. n making this trip a memorable one...

Cya,

Jai...

A Day in Geneva

Every single person who comes to Europe comes with a dream to visit the "Heaven On Earth - Swiss" and so do I. The day I put my step in Europe, I wanted to visit Switzerland. So I was desperately waiting for a long weekend when I will get a chance explore the beauty of Swiss.

And the dream came true on Easter Holidays. Along with friends I made a full proof plan to visit each and every place in Swiss, but well it is not possible.

On a day of good friday, we started our journey of a life on the road of Switzerland. As the distance was too long, we decided to take a first stop at Mummle See at Baden-Baden. It is one of the area near Black Forest. The place is so beautiful that once we thought to stay there and spend the holidays there, but then it was not possible. The lake was very beautiful, surrounded by lots n lots of tress.

After having the breakfast we headed to the sparkling city Geneva...

Geneva which is a home to the European head quarters of United nations has also welcomed people from all over the world to be a part of its culture. After spending more than in six months in a small town of Erlangen, Geneva has again reminded me the charm of the big city at its entrance only.

A path along side the lake was occupied by the tourists acorss the world, people selling foods and souveniers for survival.

Words will never be enough to explain the experience that we had that day. We all were stunned by the Jet d'Eau which was touching sky and then falling back to see like teaching a lesson that it does not matter how high u fly in the end you will have to land on the earth only.

After having the experience of a life time, hiding all the images of geneva in mind, we started ur journey to Interlaken, Swiss....but the charm of the city will never fade away...

I fell in love with the city in the first glance...

But I knew that still more was coming...the beauty of swiss was welcoming us with both its arms open...

......
Jai