A study of the Thirds...

These are some of the pictures from our visit to Dunbar. Dunbar is in the outskirts of Edinburgh. It is famous for its "National Airplane Museum" which houses one of the two remaining Concords in the world the other being displayed at Heathrow airport. Unfortunately, we could not visit the museum.

Lot of pictures were taken, In fact out of the 7 people in our group, 4 people had digital cameras. Me, Nishta and Chilam were not carrying any. I took some odd shots from Abhi's & Srini's cameras. However none of the 2 I used were Nikons, with which I am really comfortable. So I never bothered about the results much. However some of the odd pictures were pretty good. I will load them some time.

The following pictures, were shot from Srini's camera. All of them (except for the first one) are good example for 'Rule of thirds'. I had to crop most of the pictures to look like this, but I loved the results.

                                             Watch out, there's a thief about

I love this picture for no other reason other than its simple composition. I know there are lots of things wrong with this picture, but I still love the composition. In case you still haven't noticed there is a car(red & blue) on either side of the board in the background.

                                                              All alone

I love this picture for its dull back-ground element but colorful contrast. The yellow surfboard catches the eye in the picture. Also see, that most of the body of the surfer is not visible, this also helps the surfboard to retain the attention of the viewer.

                                                           Back to the shore

This picture again has striking contrast. The colorful surfboards again catch the eye. Also notice the way the two subjects are placed in the picture, both of them occupying points of intersection in the thirds layout.

                                   All the King's men and all the King's horses

This picture though not exactly correct as per the 'Thirds rule' ,follows it to quite an extent. The sharp focus on the horse and the rider makes the picture stand out. The receding wave in front of the horse makes this picture a Fav of mine.

                                                Standing on the edge

I like this picture only for one thing, for its effect. The picture gives a sense of height and hollowness. Even though, it looks like I am standing on the edge of some cliff, I am not. This picture is just near the rocky shore, and just below my feet small waves are keeping the rocks wet.

                                              Blending in the background

In this picture, I am siting on the edge of a 200 feet drop. However the elements of the picture have blended in so well together that it seems that I am sitting on flat ground. Again, including only the backside of the subject in the picture helps in reducing the depth of field.

                                                            The elements

I like this picture because it shows all the elements in one frame. The rocks, the green moss and grass, the clear sea and the endless horizion compliment each other.

                                                   The ancient mariner

This photograph is special because it follows the rule of thirds perfectly. The only flaw with this picture is the small island is visible partially in the picture, otherwise I find it absolutely perfect in every sense. The boat attracts the viewers eye without any fail.

My School memoirs I

I guess the most wonderful memories of every person is of his childhood school days. The days when the sole reason to be waked up early in the morning is rush through, to be ready for school in time. The days when the top agenda in parents plan is to get the innocent child ready for the new world. These are the days when the little ones are pushed to school, which they go to with reluctant hearts; when the little ones march in their smart uniforms, and the young ones are thinking diligently of excuses for not completing their homework.

Of course not all of those sweet looking children are innocent, some of them are Calvin models. No wonder Parents are Calvin phobic. I for one, was not like Calvin, at least in this aspect. As long as I can remember, I always loved school. School, for me meant a place where I could escape the strict disciplinarian environment of my home.

I was always a good student, mostly in the top 10% of the class. I did my homework regularly, learnt my lessons, did well in tests, respected both my elders & teachers. Academically my teachers never got a chance to complain.

However that didn’t mean I was a docile kid. I was a born prankster ad mischievousness epitomized. Bursting crackers, picking up fights, bunking classes, breaking glass windows, deflating cycle tyre; you name it I was in it.

Today after almost 8 years, when I look back, I am amazed to see the fella I was. The sweet & sour memories of the school days are one of my most treasured ones. In the following posts I am going to describe some of the incidents of my school life. These incidents are not in chronic-al order. I am just going to write them as I do remember them.

My best friend in those days and my certain accomplice in crimes those days was Jai. We came to know each other in 6th standard. He & me used to be poles apart, personality wise. He was more of a vocal person, a care free and sporty person. I on the other hand used to be more of a silent kind and the least interested in sports. He was the master planer and I used to be the rough, not so intelligent field man for the execution of his schemes.

Teachers used to love us both. To be frank, they used to love him more than me. But every teacher, till 10th standard was worried about our famous friendship. We had been a part of so many wise missions that our combination used to make everybody wary.

We used to do everything together. Picking up fights, Bunking classes, running across play grounds. Jai was especially good in mathematics. In fact that was the only subject where he could beat me without trying. In other subjects, of course, he never tried. Never a diligent student, he would always be formulating new ways of cheating in exams.

Both of us were afraid of Sanskrit. I still remember the way around he invented for not putting effort in the subject. We didn't knew many ways of cheating in those days. What he did was ingenious & brilliant. In fact, I can still say with utmost faith, that if he had put the same efforts in studying the “Kriyas” of “Pathe-Patha-Pathanti”; he would have easily scored more.

In those days we had to give quarterly exams. The answer sheet was a thin copy - book which every student would make for each subject. Now what Jai told me to do was to write answers of all the questions with pencil in the notebook, but not on the last pages. The answers were to be written on the pages which had been already used in the last test. This way you could just flip the pages back, see the answers, and then write the answers on the current page, all the while pretending that you are just checking your answers. The key to the scheme, as he told me was to always have a thoughtful expression on your face. We never studied for Sanskrit tests after that. And we never failed them.

As time passed, our friend ship grew deeper (Its good that we have not been together since the last 2 years, else they would have to formulate some new laws about black holes. Black holes are the deepest ones, you know.) By the time we came to 10th standard, we had grown mature and bold enough not to bunk classes. We just used to bunk the whole school day. Our fav hangout used to be a old bus stand, some 2 and a half Kms away from the school. We just used to sneak out of the main gate, hike to the bus stand and spend the whole day there, in scorching heat, but in peace.

After some time, teachers came to know of this. And finally a Guard was posted at each of the gates. Sneaking from the gates was out of question now. We were confined to the perimeter of the school boundaries now. But as Red says “Some birds are not meant to be caged, they have just too bright feathers for that”.

We were playing cricket in the hockey field that day. Real bats used to be a luxury those days, few could afford. We used to play with small stumps, made from the broken legs of the desks. No wonder, the school had to get lot of new furniture those days. The stumps were made of heavy “pharsis” (Pharsi is a thick slab of red stone used for paving the pathways.)

Anyway some body got angry, and threw the stump at the boundary wall. Nobody except me and Jai noticed that a brick had fallen loose from the wall. From that day onwards, all our free time used to be spent in the backside of football ground. Slowly, day after day, we made a hole in the wall there, taking out brick by brick. And after hard but determined work of 2 weeks, a hole big enough to allow a person to get out was there. I still wonder how we did that. Its good that neither of us two tried to make career in civil engineering.

My grand-mom was always doubt-full, if he was a bad influence on me. I am sure his Mom used to think the same of me. His Dad just adored me, the same way my Grand-dad adored him. I wonder who was a bad influence on whom.

We have come a long way since those school days, and we still are in touch. School days wouldn’t have been the same without Jai.

Running away!!!

The day before, some of my team members got confirmed; not going deeper into Company policies, it just means that they got a hike of 2-3K and a permanent employee status.

But most of them were not happy. Strangely enough they were referring to a hike of 3K as peanuts. What's even stranger is that the senior members of the team were encouraging the idiotic sentiments with comments like "Welcome to the club" & "Enjoy the peanuts".

I wonder how many months would it take for a person to eat peanuts worth 3K? I doubt if I can even eat so much of them! My dad actually told me one day that the salary which I draw, puts me automatically in the upper 20% of the Indian population on a financial scale. He also told me that a Colonel in Indian Army after working for 10 long years draws almost the same salary as I earn currently. I wonder what would my Dad say if he hears me analogize my current salary to peanuts.

Anyway my affection for peanuts is not a matter grave enough to draw out so much of concern. What bothers me is that I see the generation of India going too fast. Of course, Nobody loves to live in a slow lane. But I feel somewhere along the way, we really forgot what are we earning for? What is the actual value of money? And what are the things that really matter in Life?

Oh, I am not trying to undermine the importance of money. Rather I am trying to highlight it. The actual value of money lies in the knowledge how to spend it. To spend it for a purpose or a goal which is dear to you, and causes happiness in your heart. Without this knowledge the green crisp notes are no different than the toilet paper. (I humbly beg pardon of the RBI here, The quality of paper used in the currency is way different than that of the toilet tissues. Also just for the interest of trivia minded people, the paper used in currencies is such that it doesn't rot in water for quite a prolonged duration.)

Is having a cool look, designer clothes, expensive gadgets (half of whose functions you would never use in life, and the other half you would never have any use for), boozing like hell, being happy? I mean where else does a bachelor living alone, not supporting his family spend a amount of 25K? Or lets suppose that these guys are planning for future, and they are saving 10K a month, i.e, 1.2 lakhs per year which goes beyond a whooping steep figure of 5.9 crores on a 10% compound interest after a period of 35 years. What will you do with a sum of 6 crores at the age of 60? Beats me....I will never be able to figure out. I mean, yeah it's one of my dreams to own a red Ferrari Enzo which costs exactly 5.9 crores, but why the heck would I buy a Ferrari at the age of 60? I for one, will never understand the obsession for money, especially amongst the people who don't know what do they want to do with it.

Leaving aside the calculations, I feel trying to enjoy the current moment, the tiny seconds, the small minutes, the big minutes, the bigger hours and the gigantic years is more important than counting the greens. Come on guys, its a mile stone for you, you have got a raise. Try to figure out what the occasion is all about, besides the dumb money. You are a permanent employee of the company, you have completed a year in this firm, and also that your work is being appreciated by somebody....Does all this mean nothing?

"Money is only the means to happiness, not a promise to it."
When will we figure it out? Where are we running away to?

P.S - I don't like peanuts BTW.