Zenda

Ganpati ढोल, Indradhanu.

Bandga Curry Aagri style (बांगड्याचे कालवण)

Ingredients:
5 Bangda fish medium
8-10 garlic cloves
1 cup fresh grated coconut
6-8 Amsul (Kokum)
Kadipatta
2 Tablespoon Oil
8-10 red chillies
2 teaspoons whole dhana
2-3 teaspoons of aagri masala
salt

Procedure:
Soak red chillies and dhana in water for 30 mins
Grind the red chillies, dhana, 6 cloves of garlic with the fresh coconut.
Heat oil.
Add grated 2 cloves of garlic and saute till well done but not brown
Add ground mixture and saute for a couple of minutes
Add aagri masala and saute till the oil starts to seperate
Add the fish, amsul.  Add water to cover the fish and get desired consistency of the gravy.
Bring to boil and cook for a few minutes
Add salt to taste.

Valache bhirde (वालाचे भीर्डे)

Ingredients:
2 cups Vaal (Field Beans) (soaked and peeled)
1/2 cup ole khobre (fresh grated coconut)
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1 1/2 teaspoon lal tikhat (red chilli powder)
1/4 teaspoon halad (Turmeric)
4-8 amsul (Kolum)
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
2-3 teaspoon gul (Jaggery)
salt
fodni (tempering) material: jeera, mohori, hing, kadipatta
1 table spoon oil

Procedure:
Heat oil
Add mohori and let it crackle
Add hing, jeera kadipatta and stir
Add finely chopped onion and stir till slightly translucent (do not let it get brown)
Add vaal, lal tikhat, halad and garam masala. saute for a couple of minutes
Add warm water to fully cover the vaal (and a bit more) and bring to boil
Add ole khobre, gul and kokam and cook till vaal are cooked
Add salt to taste.


Based on recipe by Viraj's mom. Thanks Aunty.

Love

Happiness

Call of the mountain

You ask me why I dwell in the green mountain;
I smile and make no reply for my heart is free of care.
As the peach-blossom flows down stream and is gone into the unknown,
I have a world apart that is not among men.

- Li Bai

Though these Ladakh mountains in the painting are brown, the essence of the poem still stands. Li Bai touches a cord with his innocent words.

Read more about this ancient Chinese poet on Wikipedia

Woven

While life is yours, live joyously;
None can escape Death's searching eye:
When once this frame of ours they burn,
How shall it e'er again return?

~ Mādhava Vidyāraṇya

musing over the Charavaka philosophy.

Moonshine

The return journey was long. The travellers were tired. The baby traveller had braved the hours of drive well but was now nearing the end of her patience.  We stopped at a corner of the winding Pasarni Ghat. The traffic moved along twisting and turning on the side of the bare hills. The moon, shining in its full glory, gave us some food for thought.

Full moon over Wai. 

Waves of Happiness

Diveagar Beach


golden sunsets and serene beaches,
crispy mornings and the mountain reaches,
peaceful days dancing in the sea,
the long roads twisting and turning with glee.



Watching the sun go down near Arvi Beach


Arvi Beach

Hanging box

Got out the Minolta 50/1.4 out after a long while.

The Minolta 50/1.4 has been one of my favourite lenses. It's quite a story how I got hold of it. A couple of years earlier I had purchased the Minolta Dynax 5 for ₹19000/- (all my savings) odd from JJ Mehta & Sons. The 28-80 F3.5/6.3 lens on it was pretty decent but a faster lens with creamy bokeh was the dream. I had started hanging out on the online photography forums. One such was the Minolta forum.

There was a minor panic going on at that time as Minolta would probably shut shot and would never go digital. So a lot of the old photographers were jumping ship to Canon/Nikon. So there was a lot of old equipment for sale for reasonable prices. A photographer from Jackson, Minnesota USA had this 50/1.4 for sale for $100 + $10 US shipping. I did't have a credit card at that time so I think I used Rashmi's card to make the online payment via paypal and then reimbursed her. I had the lens shipped to Anthony in Texas. One of his friends traveled to India after about 6 months and got the lens to me.

But the wait was worth it: I instantly fell in love with this fantastic lens. The Naka photos, the Dombivili Fast photos were all shot with this lens on the film camera.

With the Sony A100 replacing my film camera this full frame lens was a little less used as it was about ~75mm on the corpped sensor, which I did not prefer.

It still sits on my shelf waiting for a full frame sensor...

Update 18-Nov-2020: I finally acquired a FF. A Sony A7R3 in Nov of last year. I also acquired a used LA-EA3 A-mount to EF-mount adapter. The Minolta 50 lives on.

Serious Observations of a Funny World

Of two cups

It is so sad that Microsoft killed the Lumia series of phones. I love my 1020 – the camera on it has a feel to it unlike any other. This one is edited with an app called 'black'.

The new babe

The Royal Enfield Himalayan.

Finally I went for an RE.  Because this is unlike any previous RE. Because they designed for a purpose.