Photography is a passion for me. here , i am digitally freezing a moment of nature into eternity. Contrary to popular perception , it is not the sophistication or cost of the equipment that counts - but our creativity . No doubt , it is an art.
But sad to say , even the state-of-the art optical technology is not even enough to capture the glories of nature. I realised this aspect in 2003 while camping near Gomukh , Uttaranchal Himalayas which is the source of the River Ganges ( bhagirathi) , the legendary river around which the Indus civilization developed. Gomukh ( 4000 meters) is the snout of 20km long Gangotri glacier where the river gushes out to the earth. Got up at 4 am in the bone biting cold , wriggled out of the tent and Aloha ! - a mountain in front of me glittering with a golden glow , from the early sunlight . when sun light falls at an angle at fresh snow of the night , it shows that golden illumination and i rushed to the tent to take out Nikon F50 and clicked a few shots with my freezing numb fingers - but the photograph could never capture the aesthetics of the magnificent scene.
I have conducted many soul searching solo treks into the hidden Uttaranchal Himalayas , traversing glaciers and boulders after boulders into the salvation offered by the mystic heights of 5000 meters above sea level. Now I have retired the analogue Nikon and embraced the digital possibilities of 3CCD JVC Everio - my new companion.
But sad to say , even the state-of-the art optical technology is not even enough to capture the glories of nature. I realised this aspect in 2003 while camping near Gomukh , Uttaranchal Himalayas which is the source of the River Ganges ( bhagirathi) , the legendary river around which the Indus civilization developed. Gomukh ( 4000 meters) is the snout of 20km long Gangotri glacier where the river gushes out to the earth. Got up at 4 am in the bone biting cold , wriggled out of the tent and Aloha ! - a mountain in front of me glittering with a golden glow , from the early sunlight . when sun light falls at an angle at fresh snow of the night , it shows that golden illumination and i rushed to the tent to take out Nikon F50 and clicked a few shots with my freezing numb fingers - but the photograph could never capture the aesthetics of the magnificent scene.
I have conducted many soul searching solo treks into the hidden Uttaranchal Himalayas , traversing glaciers and boulders after boulders into the salvation offered by the mystic heights of 5000 meters above sea level. Now I have retired the analogue Nikon and embraced the digital possibilities of 3CCD JVC Everio - my new companion.
3 comments:
I wonder why you have not made many entries in the blog.
Back to the topic. I was planning to have a trip to Darjeeling, Eastern Himalayas, N. East etc. Right now, I am doing M.Tech at Indian Statistical Institute Kolkata. An very much elder friend of mine (say 60+), had pointed to this and his experiences has inspired me.
But you see, that wonder of India, even while its nature exist, spirit is going down. I feel the failure is basically, also to our stubborness in admitting "faults" of some of the oft glorified things. We do not wish to look deeper into the culture and try to define it as a monolith, while as you wrote I have always adored that diverse and dynamic spirit of our nation. The real wonder that india was. Like I had been reading about Buddhism and was quite enlightened and also shocked to find that "ritualistic brahminical revival" was as much brutal as extermination of jews and gypsies. I am trying to search and trace the remains of Buddhism and perhaps some insight into what actually happened.
I would like visit Tibet too, at some point of time and hear and experience from the people there.
i used to publish in forums. but , of late , not getting enough time. even did not get time to upload the photographs.
you might take the route = kolkotta - darj- bagdogra - kalimpong - sikkim. there are many trekking routes in Sikkim where you may need to hire tents - Goechala trek.
One of my prev attempts was to follow Shankaracharya's trail in Uttaranchal and how he killed Buddism.
you know there are cave monasteries deep inside Himalaya which is out of bounds for normal mortals. they have suble tests for access. May be you'll understand if you read Autobiography of a Yogi. when ever Hinduism is in peril - these masters from those monasteries or Shambala who live in cosmic proportions , make some powerful incarnations into the human zone - so Sankara's mission was to defend hindu ism against the assault of budha cult. in Badrinath - the idol was thrown by the budhists into teh Alaknanda river which Sanakaracharya recovered from Narad kund in the river and thus started the mission of Hindu renaissance. - all about 1200-2000 years back. If you visit Joshimath town , the entrance to Badrinath , you can still see the berri tree above the cave where he meditated and also the ashram - Jyothir math ( pl read Kakkanada's Himavanethedi - he mentions how a poor mendicant was manhandled by the upperclass sadhus from the math ). Sankara's death happened at Kedarnath temple and his tomb is behind the temple.
Have you visited the book shop - crosswords or is it crossroads ? - my favourite place.
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Congratulations on your inviting and informative blog.
I noticed you are interested in stocks as well. I have recently started a blog on PE investmens for small investors thru listed PE funds. To me, this subject has been of particular interest as I used to work for a FoF PE house which only allowed instituional to participate on PE performance.
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Simon
www.PPrivateEquity.com/
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