Solapur style mutton kheema balls | सोलापूर पद्धतीचे मटन खिम्याचे गोळे

During my school summer vacation I used to visit every year. My mausi used to make excellent 'kheemyache gole'. Those lazy summer vacations were about doing almost nothing - I used to hang out at my maushi's place and spent time with my elder sister. My mother and younger brother used to stay at my Aaji's place which was nearby. The afternoon's used to be super hot with the tar on top of the roads melting. Everyone used to just sleep off the heat. After 5pm it used to cool down and the town would come awake.

We saw at least a movie each year. Visited my Aajoba's garage to play in the oiled soil. We used to drink sugarcane juice at 'Poonekar Kamte' at Daffrin chowk. I used to go to the Kaljapur Maruti mandir with my Aaji. Sometime even to shop for groceries.

Sometime my cousins from Kolhapur used to also come down. Then it was a lot of activity. Aaji used to get a large basket of 'chokhi aamba' (small mangoes which we suck the juice out of) and all of us had a free hand. Then there was the ice-cream making activity. My youngest mama used to get the ice from the ice factory and then we used to put Aapus aamba and milk and sugar in the ice-cream maker and work it. It was a lot of fun and the ice-cream used to be awesome. We used to go the Park to eat pani poori and pav-chatni.

In the earlier years when I was younger my Aajoba had taken us on several drives to nearby places in one of the many cars he kept building at the garage.

This all happened till my grandparents were alive. My mother used to cry while leaving every year - as did my Aaji and Aajoba both. We used to head back in the Siddheshwar express which left at about 8:30pm. It reached Kurla at about 6am next morning. Then the auto ride to the campus ... and home!

By the time we got back the first rains would have turned the campus into a beautiful heavenly place.

NEX-3 and the Voigtlander Color Skopar 35 F2.5

I am still not over the fact that this beloved setup of mine is gone forever.

The Sony NEX-3 came out more than a decade (13 years!) ago. I was already a Sony digital user with Sony's first A100 DSLR from 2006. But the mirrorless usecase (and hence the future) was obvious to me so I sold my DSLR and got the Nex-3 with it's 18-55 kit lens.

The reason I came to Sony was that my friend Himanshu had a couple of Minolta lenses. So when I earned my first money and ran straight to the JJ Mehta camera shop we naturally gravitated towards the Minolta cameras. I got the Minolta Dynax 5. After a while Minolta got taken over by Konica and they rebranded as Konica-Minolta. After a while apparently Konica sold the camera division to Sony and Sony continued with the same Minolta A mount. Hence the Sony A100 with the A mount.

Coming back to this setup: the NEX-3 was a fantastic camera. Super light weight and compact - hardly larger than a serious point & shoot. But the lens was long and of average quality. So I went in search of used rangefinder lenses on the forums as the new E mount was adaptable to other mounts. I purchased this Voigtlander Color Skopar 35/2.5 lens from a stree photographer in New York city. This lens, even with the adapter, made the overall package exceptionally compact. People did not believe that it was an APS-C setup. The rendering of the lens was endearing and many of my best photos are clicked with it. I miss it.

Young and carefree

“Nowhere can man find a quieter or more untroubled retreat than in his own soul.”
Says the great Marcus Aurelius.

We are never as connected with our own soul as when we are young. The joys of those carefree times...

When I was in primary we lived at Tarkhad, a small village of about 50 houses. The road to my school passed through fields and small lanes in the interior of Vasai. During the monsoons I used to float a stick in the streams / gutters running next to the lanes. It was such great fun to follow the floating stick for as long as I could.

Serious Observations of a Funny World

Of old connections

The fools met again.

After the year-end blast at Mandwa, we decided to meet again. A central location (Lonavala) was chosen. Hurried plans. But good ones. The hotel was mostly empty. We booked two rooms — 3 each. It was a great night. We played music (mostly Hemant did) and we sang and we danced into the merry night.

The next morning every left for Mumbai and I headed back home. Nice time.

The solar system

The 5 year old is getting smarter by the day. 

The planets have characterstics. Mercury is small. Earth is blue green and has a moon. Mars is red and has 2 moons. Jupiter is large and has lots of moons and the red spot! Saturn has rings. She ran out of space for Nepture and Uranus so they are dipcted symbollically.

Experiments of the pen

I have taken to writing some random stuff. Use a fountain pen when possible. I acquired a great notebook which uses Tomoe river paper from Japan. This paper is wonderful with good quality inks. The sheen is nicely seen. There is no bleed. The ghosting is quite heavy with broader nibs so we can only use one side of the paper. I have got a few Krishna inks and using them with my Ranga or a TWSBI.

View from a balcony

Colours after a thunderstorm. 5 Sept 2020

Covid19 has changed lives. We have been confined to our homes since March. For some of us it has been easier than others — we have been confined to the comforts of our homes with fast internet and good food. For others it has been a hard struggle.

These are some of the images I saw from my balcony. The space was the same. But at different times nature painted very different canvases. Covid has made me realise the value of simple things which we took for granted. Even a cup of cutting chai is now only a dream.

Lockdown begins! 29 March 2020

Sunset with some early cloud buildup. 11 April 2020

Pre-monsoon showers. 31 May 2020

Glorious sunset. 4 June 2020

Sunset colours. 14 June 2020

Sunset colours. 24 June 2020

Crazy brilliant sunet. 28 June 2020

29 June 2020

Super clear!! 2 July 2020

Rainy evening. 6 July 2020

Beautiful colours north-west. 22 July 2020

Rain!! 16 August 2020

19 August 2020

Whiteout!! 5 September 2020

Beautiful Sunset.

Early rain (Sometime in May. clicked with the A6000)

Torna!! One of the super clear days. This is Torna at approx 315mm on the A6000.

On the same super clear day. This is he side of Sinhagad visible from our balcony.

Same day. This is the mandir on the tekdi on the north side.

Monsoon magic

The rolling Sahyadri foothills are heavenly in the monsoons. The lush green, the low dark heavy clouds and the cool drops of water falling on your face...

Pataleshwar Deepotsav

The Pataleshwar Temple (पाताळेश्वर मंदिर) which is located on the Junglee Maharaj Road in Pune is an ancient rock cut cave temple from the Rashtrakuta period. This magnificent Shiva temple is about 1300 years old.

Every year on the Tripurari Pournima (first full moon day after Diwali) a deepotsav (festival of lights) is celebrated at this temple.