When I am gone...

"That be not told of my death,

Or made to grieve in account of me,

& that I be not buried in consecrated ground,

& that no sexton be asked to toll the bell,

& that nobody is wished to see my dead body,

& that no mourners follow my funeral,

& that no flowers be painted on my grave,

& that no man remembers my name,

To this I put my name, for I have lived my life to full."

- Thomas Hardy

Height at Night

Finally after quite a long time, I went for a hike. 'Skandagiri' is a hill some 70 kms from Bangalore on NH-7 Highway. It's famous for night climbing in moonlight. 

We of course, depended more on torches than crescent moon. This place is also known for colorful sunrises. As per Murphy's law, all that could go wrong, went wrong. One of our bikes got punctured, we did loose the way in night, climbed back & then had to climb again. Well, to put in a nutshell, of the 14 people in my group who climbed; each one of them was a zombie, by the time we climbed down. 

However, it was worth the effort. Here are some pictures I managed to take:-

Bangalore Skyline before sunrise, as seen from the top of Skandagiri. The shot is a long exposure of 20 seconds on my tripod(struggled quite a lot to carry that to top).

The hill in front atop the clouds is Nandi Hills. The shot has been taken just after sunrise. Because of the speeding clouds here, Nandi Hills is visible like the pupil of a blinking eye.

Took this shot at the top. The boulder lies at the edge. Gives a good reference scale of the sizes. 'Kudos' to the morons who were standing near the edge to get themselves photographed. 

The Rising of Mankind...

"I heard a thousand blended notes,

while in a grove I sat reclined,

In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts 

Bring sad thoughts to the mind. 

To her fair works did Nature link
The human soul that through me ran; 
And much it grieved my heart to think 
What Man has made of Man."

- William Wordsworth

Peace

"I do sit there with you,

alone, with sunshine on your face,

& your smile on mine,

forgetting all the worries in world,

& I for the first time feel the peace."

One of the few photographs which my friend really likes.

The Old Man & The Mountains

"The clouds will but pass,

and the sun will shine again.

The winds will but calm down,

and the breeze will then flow again.

But the mountains will still be there,

and so will the rocks be. 

A little weathered may be, 

a little old definitely.

Some of them will change as the clouds & the sun,

but I will definitely be the same, waiting.

Not for the ones who change but who are still there,

a little old, a little worn off, but still the same."

P.S - Dedicated  to my friend Sid, who understands what I write, or at least seems to!