The Golden Temple

Magical sight at 4:00 AM 

The Golden Temple, Amritsar

Cormorant basking in the sun

You think he is practicing balance?
Cormorant - Lal Bagh Lake, Bangalore

Grace

Gently cutting through the still waters like a hot knife on butter.

Cormorant, Lal Bagh Lake. 

A riot of colors - Sunset at 35000 ft

Flaming skies - shot at 35000 feet. Temperature -53 degrees below zero

A splash of green

Green always soothes the eye!

When time stands still

Still waters - frozen in time

Lalbagh - for old times sake

Angry old duck!

3G from TATA Docomo - 3G Life - I can't wait!

Ok. 3G is officially here.

Am I travelling that fast? I mean by default every creature on earth is accustomed to 1G.  Pilots go through 9G when they take some sharp turns with their after burners on fire. F1 drivers go through 5G. Imagine telling a girl, she weighs 5 times her normal weight? No wonder very few women take up Formula one racing!

Cutting back to the 3G revolution hitting India. This is not about how fast you are travelling, but how quickly data can be transferred to and from your handheld device.

        I am a geek, an internet addict and a photographer. This means I like to read a lot about tech devices, participate in discussions, get high on social networking, feel good when Google announces something new, drool over apple webcasts, watch videos on TED, photo blog, etc etc. To me, the internet is a way of life. I can’t remember the last time I watched TV! I watch IPL on Youtube and news on ibnlive.com. Twitter & Facebook help me have conversations with friends, with brands. Facebook has taken over my life so much that when my friend excitedly calls to announce that he got a promotion, my default reaction is “I Like”.

        I used to use a dial up connection at home for a long time. This was functional but it limited my internet use in terms of time and money. However it opened up the World Wide Web to me.  The flip side was that there was only so much I could do online. Most of my interaction with the web was text based and one way.

I got a broad band connection at home around 6 years back. Boy! Did it open up the internet for me. Suddenly I was photo blogging, sharing photos on Flickr, downloading movies on torrents, napster became my online music source, Web 2.0 opened up for me…Wikis, Orkut, Facebook, Flickr, Youtube…the net became “always on” & “unlimited” & “affordable”. Interestingly, I quietly switched from desktop to laptop in this phase.

        Now, with 3G coming in, I can’t help but feel déjà-vu. 3G is going to open up yet another new world to me, albeit on the mobile phone. My mobile phone is already smart. Smarter than me perhaps. 3G will only give it a nitro boost. Here again, I can see the switch from laptop to phone happening. 3G will enable huge amounts of data transfer very quickly…Phones will start having bigger flash cards (like hard disks). Battery technology will see the next big leap as phones suck in more & more power quickly. 

How will 3G Life from Tata Docomo change my life?

1. “Phone” will by default mean “Smart phone” to me. I can’t even fathom having a “sms and call only” phone anymore

2. Social networking will soon become “phone only” apps for me. I have already stopped using twitter and Facebook from my laptop. With video capability coming in, it would only be logical for me to use my smart phone  to network 

3. Content will become richer.  If a picture can speak a thousand words, imagine what a video can do! When I had a dial up I wud only send text based emails. When I got broadband I started sharing richer content in the form of pics  and now with 3G I would now share even richer content in the form of HD videos. 

4. Telephone conversations will never be the same. See and talk will become the default mode of conversation. Imagine your ailing grandmother in a hospital, able to see u and talk to you whilst u are several thousand miles away. 

5. Maps! I depend on Google Maps to go just about anywhere these days. Yes! It has made me dumber coz I don’t have to remember any landmarks. But with 3G, maps would become seamless. No more waiting for maps to download. Maps can get richer and more detailed with live streaming data and street views. Yum! 

6. Phone will now be the new TV. Imagine u are on the bus getting home from work and Sachin is on 399. Normally you wud be getting hyper, pressing the refresh button on CricInfo or listening to the radio. With 3G you can simply catch the action live online wherever u are, using nothing more than your phone. 

7. My library travels with me. More and more of my data will get stored in the cloud.  I see myself storing all my contacts, my calendar entries, notes, music library, videos, eBooks, etc on the cloud so that I can access them wherever I am from whatever device I have ..be it a laptop, iPad, phone, desktop ,etc. 

8. Mobile banking will become seamless and more widespread. It took a long time for people to get comfortable making transactions online. Now the next step would be to make payments from the mobile. Why carry a credit card / debit card when you can pay through your cell?

9.Online gaming. Being a gaming fan, I would happily use my phone to play network games. Maybe connect via Bluetooth onto my Play station or NFS on my laptop. No more games against the computer.

10. Phone as a modem will become default. Why buy a USB dongle when u can use your phone to get the same / if not better internet speeds at the same rates.

Well 4G is now around the corner. Till then latch on to your seat belt. Coz its actually you who is hurtling forward this time around!

3G from TATA DOCOMO - http://www.3glife.com/

Fatehpur

Akbar's victory city - Fatehpur Sikri

Tranquility

Rare greens at Ranthambore

Indian Roller

Lift off

Lapwing taking off

T28

We've got company!

Grumpy

A Dream

Driving through corbett in search of the elusive tiger ... 6 AM

Red Eyed

Beauty in color!

Juvenile Egret

The freshness that comes with new life

(Canon EOS 50D | 1/1000s at f/5.6 | ISO 640 | Focal Length : 200 mm)

Time for a dip

One of the 50 odd crocodiles that feed on the water birds in the park.

(Canon 50D,  175mm, f/5.6 at 1/800s , ISO 800)

Caught in flight

Black headed Ibis, Rangathittu Bird Sanctuary
Canon 50D, f/5.6 at 1/2500s, ISO 800, Focal length : 200 mm

The African Safari... well almost!

Doesnt it remind you of the Sarangeti?

Panthera Tigris - In Flesh and Blood

The color version - on public demand!

Where is the child in you?

Joyous, Innocent, Carefree

Spotted!

Juvenile Spotted Deer

Elephants @ Corbett

A herd of 29 wild elephants

Tiger Tiger burning bright...

Powerful yet beautiful

After 2 days of searching every nook and corner of the forest, after tracking 4 tiger pug marks through several hundred metres, after hearing numerous sambar deer alarm calls, we spotted the tiger. A tiger in the wild face to face... I cannot explain the excitement i felt. The most beautiful and powerful animal i have ever seen, standing majestically 10ft away, within striking distance. We saw her for a good 3 min before she gracefully disappeared into the wilderness.

Jim Corbet National Park officially claims to have 164 tigers.  My own experience in tracking the tiger along with some quick enquiries amongst the local guides told me that the actual figure is close to 50! 

Shocking but true!

Golden eye

Serpent eagle, Corbett National park

Men on a mission

Talk about charisma!

A walk in the park - Hauz Khauz, New Delhi

Paradise in the middle of Delhi

Refreshed!

Richness in Color 

Duck tales!

Can u believe this is Delhi ?

Hauz Khaus

Design, Hauz Khaus 

photo dedicted to bindu..without whom this cam wudnt have been possible!!

Cant stand the heat!

48 degrees Celsius, Haus Khaus, New Delhi

Golden rays

Dusk - NZP, Delhi

One step closer...

First shots from my SLR - National Zoological Park, New Delhi

(Canon 50D - 1/2500s , f/5.6 , ISO 800)

This is my first post after i got my SLR. Its a brand new Canon 50D. After waiting for 4 years , it feels nice to own one. Its surely one step closer towards realizing my dream!

Rising like the phoenix

Rising from the ashes - Life goes on!

The beauty thats called the GHNP

shining diamonds!

freshness at spring

green everywhere

melting snow

Looking out

Brahminy Starling

The Great Himalayan National Park

Water fall in the great himalayan national park

One of my best outdoor pics till date.

The magnificent Taj

A perfect example of symmetry in architecture!

Neemrana Fort

Stairway to heaven


A balcony with a view


Symmetry


One of the Grand hallways!


One hill, One fort - 10 floors

Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary

Sambar Deer - Pie

Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary

The national bird in all its glory!
The peacock, Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary, Rajasthan

Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary

Blue Jay aka Indian Roller aka Nilkant
Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary, Rajasthan

Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary

Spotted owlet

Bharatpur, Rajasthan