An afternoon at the Gorge

It’s been a while, a month to be exact, since I even thought about updating the blog. Am I getting disinterested? God, no! Just that “pressure” has been getting to me.

[For those who are interested, I have to calculate the local pressure in a spherically symmetric atomistic system that is both heterogenous and in thermal non-equilibrium; and, the freaking math does not add up. If you have got a clue, do let me know.]

Anyway, I happened to visit a nearby gorge in a short afternoon stroll with the Photo Club last weekend. I haven’t been there before in spite of living close by for over 2 years. What a shame! Here are the pics.

A "hermit" meditating near the mini-falls. No kidding! He was practicing some new-age meditation technique, shouting his lungs out.

No doubt that was the last thing we expected to see; at least I haven't seen such randomness before in my 2 years here.

Location: Poestenkill Gorge Park, Troy, NY

Anyway, March is here and hopefully I'll keep y'all posted more often.  Cheers and until next time.

Jugaad Ka Desh

This happens only in India, rather, wonly yin yindia.

Location: Mumbai

jugaad n. an improvised or jury-rigged solution; inventiveness, ingenuity, cleverness.

Kodachadri - A photo journey

Hello folks. I’m finally back after a long hiatus. My Jan 7th promise didn't hold up. Couldn't help it. Let's just say it was a combination of dry eyes and general laziness. After ending 2011 with the LASIK procedure and welcoming 2012  with a glasses free life, all I hope for now is that the Mayans didn’t know something we don't.

Anyway, now back in Troy suffering through a depressingly mild winter and perennially planning to start a final sprint towards graduation, here’s my long overdue photo gallery of my India trip. Starting this new session of postings with the drive and hike up the enchanting Kodachadri located roughly 20kms from Mookambika Temple.

One other thing, I won’t be posting every Sunday like clockwork anymore. However, I’ll update the blog as frequently as possible.

Driving up the narrow winding road from Kollur. It is possible to hike the entire 20km stretch, something I might have done if I were not with family.

The drive up - I would have kicked myself if I had left my camera back at the hotel.

The drive up - I would have kicked myself if I had left my camera back at the hotel.

The drive up - I would have kicked myself if I had left my camera back at the hotel.

The drive up - I would have kicked myself if I had left my camera back at the hotel.

The final stretch - Hiking up to the Sarvajna Peetam (roughly translated, site of all knowledge) at the top.

The final stretch - Hiking up to the Sarvajna Peetam (roughly translated, site of all knowledge) at the top.

The final stretch - Hiking up to the Sarvajna Peetam (roughly translated, site of all knowledge) at the top.

Sarvajna Peetam. After seeing how US’s short history has been well maintained, polished and kept sparkling new in Virginia and DC, I was left wondering if it was that we were not really interested in preserving our history in a manner that attracted tourists or was it that the old, beaten down site added to the allure of our long and rich history.

Mookambika from atop the hill.

If you guys get a chance do visit the place. You don't have to be religious; it's just a beautiful sight.

Cheers and until next time.

A spiced-up irony

A couple of days back I boarded Spice Jet for the first time in my life. As the plane taxied before take-off I did what I always do. I opened the in-flight magazine at a random page. This is what I saw and I couldn’t help but chuckle. Maran saab is going to be mighty pissed; someone’s surely losing his/her job.

Irony is a dish best served spiced.
Maran saab, do ask your editor if this was intentional.

Wishing everyone a happy new year. I will be doing LASIK tomorrow; that is, unless I chicken out in the morning. Hopefully I can welcome 2012 with a glasses-free life. Unfortunately that also means that my laptop will be locked up for the next one week. So next update won't be till at least Jan 7th.

Until then folks.

Cheers.

Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring

Growing up near the equator I had never really experienced the true meaning of change. To me then, any change was like the process of evolution; it took time. Nature is so complex that it would have a slow response to change, always; or so I thought. Then, Troy happened and I finally got to see four full seasons. Here are a few campus shots capturing the same. 

Middle of spring

 Towards the end of summer

 Fall colors at their peak

Last winter was one of the roughest we have had

This contrast shows nature at its best. Pity we are exploiting it at a level that may possibly bring upon us nature’s full fury. Have we crossed the tipping point? Will we go the dinosaurs’ way?

Straight out of LOST

Here, are a couple of photos taken along the golf rink ocean course in Half Moon Bay, California. I must confess, I haven’t seen any episode of LOST, but the title of this post was how my uncle described the above scene to me. I wouldn’t be surprised at all, since the presence of those pillars on a beach is indeed mysterious. Searching on the internet I could find no answers. What are they? What purpose were they sought to serve? For once, Google failed me.

I asked my uncle. The pillars formed the foundation of a building, the construction of which was stopped due to stability concerns. The Pacific is indeed rough and the site was prone to extreme erosion of rocks, as is obvious now. The construction was stalled, the pillars remained and now constitute the main attraction on a beach that I guess is hardly popular with casual tourists, given the failure of Google to find any answers.

Here are a few more photos from the beach.

Once again, I apologize for the delay in updating the blog; was busy the whole weekend with a cricket tournament we were organizing for fundraising as part of the Troy/Albany chapter of AID. And, then earlier tonight, we had the last league match of the intramural soccer tournament at RPI; which, we won 9-0. Had to gloat :)

Cheers and until next time.

If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe.

The title of the post is a quote attributed to Carl Sagan. Creating the universe may be impossible, save for the schizophrenic few, but we can always do the next best thing - marvel at the mysteries of the universe before us and indulge in some apple picking in an orchard nearby. Ya, you can use them to make pies, if you want to, but if you are like me and find cooking a chore, then the marveling part alone should entice you. Yet, it took me two years to take a bite.

Apple picking is an activity that is highly popular here, in the northeastern United States. Every Fall, orchards are open to public and consumers can pick their own apples from the sprawling fields. Yes, this is essentially a method of purchasing apples, given that you pay pay per pound in most places, but, it is widely seen as a social activity and a popular dating ritual.

A popular fall pastime, maybe, but for the last two seasons whenever I received club emails talking about apple picking trips, I never understood the fuss; they are just apples for heaven’s sake. How can apples be anyone’s idea of a time well spent. Yes, apples have touched the lives of many - from Norse mythology to the Newtonian legend, from the Garden of Eden to Steve Jobs’ legacy; but, apple picking? Are you kidding me? I would rather struggle up a mountain than dance around trees.

But I must admit I was wrong. This time, when RPI’s photography club sent their email out, I thought I would check what the fuss was all about, if only to get away from my godforsaken thesis. With a camera in hand and the changing fall colors in the background, the orchard really is a paradise. Here are a few pics from yesterday afternoon. They don’t do full justice to the serenity of a pristine, clean and picturesque landscape.

Would I go again? Just to clarify. I would still rather struggle up a mountain than go apple picking.  But, for a bored afternoon, an apple orchard is a great place to be with your camera in tow. Moreover, the sky was gloomy yesterday. I would like to capture the landscape under blue skies.

Until next time.

Cheers.

Does this ring a bell?

I can afford to procrastinate no more. The deadline is fast approaching. Earlier, each time stared at the blank screen of my would-be thesis, I would end up working on a new blog post. Not this time. This weekend, I finally managed to finish a major chunk of my candidacy report. On the flip side, though, I haven’t got time to work on this week’s post. So it’s a short one this time, just one photograph in fact.

Does this photograph ring a bell? It’s an easy one. Think LA. Think Movies. Shoot away in the comments box. I’ll update the post with the answer on Thursday.

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Apologies for the delay. Today was one of the rare day’s when I felt good about my research and wanted to fully utilize it. Now, the photograph; the answer is already down there among the comments.

It is the aqueduct immortalized by Terminator 2. Watch it again here. One final thing, remember the place where the truck jumps into the canal. The above pic was shot from roughly the same location.

New Orleans Slideshow

New Orleans, Louisiana

Dec 31st 2010 - Jan 3rd 2011

It’s been close to ten months now since the NOLA trip. A lot has transpired over that period - a few ski trips, hikes and a leap of faith. Yet, those three days in New Orleans are still fresh in my mind. No doubt this post is long overdue. The trip was decided on a whim, and with minimal planning I set off from the dull university town of Troy in the wee mornings of 31st December 2010.

New Orleans was catastrophically impacted by Hurricane Katrina which has been described as “the worst engineering disaster in the world since Chernobyl”. Though many of the residents had evacuated by the time the hurricane approached at the end of August 2005, and flood walls and levees had been constructed by the US Army Engineer Corps, the flood protection system failed catastrophically resulting in countless deaths. Many are still unaccounted for.

The damage to the city can still be seen. But as society is known to do, the city recovered and is still very much a party town. The city ‘takes almost any occasion for an excuse for a parade, a party, and live music, and in New Orleans most events often have a touch of Mardi Gras year round’. Like they say, “New Orleanians are either planning a party, enjoying one or recovering from one” [Source]. That makes NOLA a great place to welcome the New Year.

New Orleans is a vibrant city, colorful and a true melting pot. Here’s a slideshow of some of the pictures I took. The background score was made while fiddling around with Apple’s Garage Band. If it sounds, in part, to anything you have heard before, blame Apple :)

This was my first attempt at something like this. It took longer than my usual posts but working on it helped me perk up after a rough week. Do let me know what you think and if it’s a good idea or not to make travelogues in this form.

Cheers and have a wonderful week.

Photo Gallery: Into the wild

In the August of 2009, I had been on a safari to the Selous Game Reserve in central Tanzania. I had then written about the trip in detail. The posts can be found at the following links.

Part 1: The long drive to Selous (pronounced “Seloo”)

Part 2: The Boat Trip

Part 3: Jungle Safari

However, many of my photographs from that trip as well as all my travels since had been languishing in my hard drive. I finally spent some time, this weekend, to sort all of them out and to upload the best ones both at the Interstate 42 Facebook page and in my Flickr photo stream. You can follow the links and enjoy the photos.

This week’s post is a subset of the above collection; an “Into the Wild” photo gallery.

African Golden Weaver

Brooklyn Bridge is falling down

I am fast running out of ideas. This won’t do. I really want to keep this blog running, if at least to temporarily take my mind off my thesis. To do that I really need to travel more often. By travel I don’t mean taking an extended break and frolicking off into a different corner of the world, but just to get out of my lab more often and soak in the life on offer in and around the capital district area.

Darn it! Till my doctoral candidacy is done that’s not going to happen. Stuck in my lab my mind gradually going to bits, I guess today’s short post is just apt. Yes, Brooklyn Bridge is falling down; or rather it was, soon after it was opened in the May of 1883.

Picture taken on Christmas Day 2010. Christmas in the Big Apple, now that’s another story altogether. Ever since Kevin McCallister was lost in the City in 1992, I have wanted to retrace his steps. I should probably try and locate some of the lesser known spots in NYC that the movies have eternalized. KsK. 

Conquering America's First President

3rd September 2011

The forecast was for rain. With Mount Washington known for its erratic weather and super-strong winds, this is one piece of information never to be taken lightly. Yet, five hours into the drive from Troy, the night gradually turning into day, we were greeted by beautiful views with just intermittent spots of rain clouds. There was some occasional meek lightning trying to scare us, but more or less we were increasingly feeling confident that the weather wasn’t going to deteriorate on us so much that we would have to call-off the hike.

There were ten of us in three cars. Roughly half past six, as soon as we turned into the parking lot at Pinkham Notch visitors center it started to pour. It was coming down strong. Distant rumbles could be heard as well. It was a rancid welcome, no doubt. We were at roughly 2000 feet elevation. If it was bad down here then the summit (6288 feet) could be deadly, the ascent tricky and dangerous. We had a decision to make.

Top of the world, far from it; top of Maine, definitely so.

13th August 2011

4 a.m

We woke up early that day. In spite of the long, tiring drive the previous night, we didn’t have a choice in this matter. Climbing Mt. Katahdin and traversing Knife Edge was our only aim.

Katahdin is located in Baxter State Park and is the highest mountain in Maine. The most famous hike to the summit goes along Knife Edge, which traverses the ridge between Pamola Peak and Baxter Peak. The mountain has claimed 19 lives since 1963, mostly from exposure to bad weather and falls from the Knife Edge. For about 0.3 miles the trail is 3 feet wide, with a drop off on either side. Not surprising, the Knife Edge is closed during periods of high wind. [Courtesy Wiki]

Owing to the popularity, danger and availability of parking spots, the rangers place a restriction on the number of climbers, rather, the number of cars they let through to the trail head. There was one member in our group who had been here before and had to turn back because he was too late. This time neither he nor the others wanted to miss their chance. The drive was way too long to go back disappointed.

We were at the check post by 5 a.m. 11 of us, in 2 sedans and a minivan. There was already a long queue of cars ahead of us. The Roaring Brook trailhead had roughy 25 parking spots, most of which may have been reserved in advance. We were early, but were we early enough?

Taking a leap of faith

This picture was taken with my friend’s point and shoot a couple of months back. It was raining that morning and I left my camera back at the hotel. The clouds cleared by the time we reached the Bay Area. Lady Weather is so fickle.

Since the time of Icarus man has always wanted to soar like the birds. Thanks to the Wright brothers and countless more before and after them, we have come a long way. I, too, have had my fair share of opportunities to soar through the sky at speeds the birds can only dream of; albeit in huge metal cages. The thrill of flying, thus, has always eluded me. Never have I felt the full force of the wind against my face. Nor have I been able to pilot those beasts.

Considering the expense the latter might remain a dream. For the former, there is the next best thing. Not the metaphorical next best thing. I have never been down that road. Instead, it is time I took a leap of faith.

The Jungle Law

Photo taken at Selous Game Reserve, KsK 2009

I have heard

There is a law of the jungle

I have heard when the lion has eaten his fill

He never attacks

He goes to lie under dense shady trees

- Syeda Hameed

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...

Ye may kill for yourselves, and your mates, and your cubs as they need, and ye can;
But kill not for pleasure of killing, and seven times never kill Man!

If ye plunder his Kill from a weaker, devour not all in thy pride;
Pack-Right is the right of the meanest; so leave him the head and the hide.

The Kill of the Pack is the meat of the Pack. Ye must eat where it lies;
And no one may carry away of that meat to his lair, or he dies.

...

Now these are the Laws of the Jungle, and many and mighty are they;
But the head and the hoof of the Law and the haunch and the hump is — Obey!

- Rudyard Kipling

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Sure, the lion is king of the jungle, but airdrop him into Antarctica and he's just a penguin's bitch.

- Dennis Miller

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Extinction is the rule. Survival is the exception.

- Carl Sagan

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All living things contain a measure of madness that moves them in strange, sometimes inexplicable ways. This madness can be saving; it is part and parcel of the ability to adapt. Without it, no species would survive.

- Yann Martel (Life of Pi)

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Social law vs. Jungle law

One might say that there is an "ethics barrier " a speed above which ethics can no longer exit. After that point the only remaining goal is to survive the immediate moment.

- Pekka Himanen

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