To Matheran (part II) : The broom seller and the cold drink stall

The broom seller

This woman was carrying that huge load of brooms on her head and a child in a sling. Her older kid walked alongside. They both were bare feet. The train track is treacherous on the feet - even with shoes on - with all the stones. She stopped by the cold drink stall for a rest. I guess buying a cold drink was out of question, but the company of people was better than sitting alone. Such is Irony. Such is life.

We have had limbu or kokum sherbat at this stall for a few years now. He had started with just a table in a clearing next to the tracks. Slowly the place has transformed into a nice clean joint where people rest. The journey from Dasturi to the market takes about 45 minutes of pleasant walking. One can follow the road or one can hop onto the tracks and follow them from Aman Lodge station. Just before the stall, the track passes near the edge of the valley and you have a fantastic view of Garbett point.

After the 26th July 2005 rains much of this side was washed away and the tracks had hung in empty air. I had crossed them in the night in the following November without knowing about the landslides. It had been scary to see them in the daylight when we were returning. Now the tracks have been restored and also the train service. But all along the tracks at regular intervals they have put up advertising poles which are very ugly and are an eyesore. But I guess it was an attempt to collect money for the tracks as well as for the village.



The cold drink stall at "Stop and Rest Point"

To Matheran (part I)

Break of dawn, Goregaon.

So we were on our way to Matheran again. After more than a year. Batata, me and Percy. We left at 6:30 in the morning, only half an hour later than planned. It was one of those rare occasions when I get to see a day break in the city.

The ride to Panvel was uneventful and pleasant. Batata was waiting for us at Shri Datta Snacks. We waited among the hordes of weekend travelers for our chance at one of the few tables to eat. The missal here is hot and spicy. Tea after the missal is like liquid chili on the tongue.

We left, making way for Chowk fata and then further on to Karjat. The road is in bad shape now. We took a short contemplation break at the base of the Matheran ghats where the roads forks. The ghat climb is exciting and refreshing. As we go up and up the surrounding countryside unfolds magically. The air develops a nip and you can smell the forest and its wildflowers. At Dasturi while parking Batata met with one of the employees of their school - the same dude we had shamelessly gotten our dinner from in the past. Because of him we could take advantage of the exemption of tourist tax and parking fees for people who have houses there.

There were lots of people on the way, this being Sunday morning. We had a chitter chatter walk to the market.


Pylons and Mudflats on the Thane creek.

Ghanshyam Sports

Ghanshyam Sports, Ruia Naka


I finally got my Panasonic LX3!! 24mm f2. :) I have waited for this one since it launched late 2008! It was not available in India at all till a couple of months back and then too only a piece or so. I wanted a black one, but got a silver one. But only one piece was available so I took it - what's in looks, anyway?

The firmware was 1.0 so first thing updated it to the latest 2.1. Handling etc. are fantastic. I am really impressed with this one. The low light performance has been really crazy. I could not shoot night scenes like these except with my dslr+fast prime and at high ISO's.

Lets see where it takes me ...

Cloudy Afternoon

Top of the Khandala ghat.

On the way to Mahabaleshwar. Over the last couple of year I have traveled this road at regular intervals for a regular purpose. Mahabaleshwar with a few close friends. We have seen all there is to see there, per say. But still we find a nice peace in the now familiar surrounds. The Chinese gadi-walla, Bahadur, knows us. The Anarkali staff know us. We know the MTDC bugs and mosquitoes and monkeys and dogs. Good fun.

Being Boring

Life in a Window. Devrukh

Inspired by a post by enbiem I looked up a song I used to listen when much younger - "Being Boring" by the Pet Shop Boys. (who, BTW, I was introduced to, by Alok Tiwari). Being Boring has never been more relevant then ... now().

BEING BORING - Pet Shop Boys

I came across a cache of old photos
And invitations to teenage parties
"Dress in white" one said, with quotations
From someone's wife, a famous writer
In the nineteen-twenties
When you're young you find inspiration
In anyone who's ever gone
And opened up a closing door

She said: "We were never feeling bored

'Cause we were never being boring
We had too much time to find for ourselves
And we were never being boring
We dressed up and fought, then thought: "Make amends"
And we were never holding back or worried that
Time would come to an end

When I went I left from the station
With a haversack and some trepidation
Someone said: "If you're not careful
You'll have nothing left and nothing to care for
In the nineteen-seventies"
But I sat back and looking forward
My shoes were high and I had scored
I'd bolted through a closing door
I would never find myself feeling bored

'Cause we were never being boring
We had too much time to find for ourselves
And we were never being boring
We dressed up and fought, then thought: "Make amends"
And we were never holding back or worried that
Time would come to an end
We were always hoping that, looking back
You could always rely on a friend

Now I sit with different faces
In rented rooms and foreign places
All the people I was kissing
Some are here and some are missing
In the nineteen-nineties
I never dreamt that I would get to be
The creature that I always meant to be
But I thought in spite of dreams
You'd be sitting somewhere here with me

'Cause we were never being boring
We had too much time to find for ourselves
And we were never being boring
We dressed up and fought, then thought: "Make amends"
And we were never holding back or worried that
Time would come to an end
We were always hoping that, looking back
You could always rely on a friend

And we were never being boring
We had too much time to find for ourselves
And we were never being boring
We dressed up and fought, then thought: "Make amends"
And we were never being boring
We were never being bored
'Cause we were never being boring
We were never being bored

Bhairavgad, Malshej

The beautiful dyke of Bhairavgad in the Malshej.

A slice of life

The back side of Dindoshi. I have been trapped in a room with a window. I see life far below, jostling for breathing space. Life in the city. Tightly packed. On first thought one wonders why people choose this over the fresh air of their villages. But I guess the buzz of life and excitement of being amidst the multitudes here cannot compare to the boredom and lethargy of some remote spot.

I crave that for I have scarce had it. We all want what we have not. The dark lords of the city lure many here, with glamorous and exciting illusions, to be trapped willingly. Others, unwilling, see fleeting glimpses of various exits only to not be able to reach them or to be dragged back from the very brink.

We all are trapped. Only the brave and the blessed escape.

Pathanwadi etc.

Slums. Tightly packed 1,2,3 storied shacks. The hill is taken. A massive population has invaded. Up to 10 people sometimes live in tiny rooms of 60sqft with ceilings so low that you have to stoop when you stand up. The lanes reaching the remotest of remote living spaces are also the paths for the sewers and pipe carrying water to internet bandwidth. The irony is that in this sordid space, of top of these 'buildings', you will see satellite TV dishes galore.

Layers of the city

The concrete jungle and shanties on the encroached hills.

Stone quarries on the Mahape - Shil Phata road

Our short bike trip took us on the erstwhile scenic road towards the Kalyan. These low rolling hills surrounding Mumbai were very beautiful - until the time when the whole area became an industrial zone. Especially chemical industries. Now the industries too have moved to greener pastures, so to speak, leaving behind a stench in the air, a collection of old factories, ugly urbanized and heavily populated 'worker' towns and the remains of the rollings hills in the background.

Here large parts of the hill side are being eaten away to feed the construction demon created because of the new industries coming up amongst the old. The Parsic hills were the first to be eaten. Now all the other surrounding rolling hills.

Powai Lake past sunset.

Powai Lake past sunset

We were returning from the short bike trip to shil fata... accompanied by sundry drops of cold November rain. The sun had long set - when we were on the Airoli bridge - but the sky still held some light. So while passing the Powai lake, suddenly I took a U-turn and clicked these. About 30 minutes past sunset.

Vashi Bridge

I have been stuck at home for far too long. I want to go to Bhandardhara. I want to go to Devrukh. I want to go to Kaas. And I also want to go to Matheran. But none is happening.

I tried and tried to go for a day biking trip. zilch. not happened. Finally I got fed up and just left at 4pm on Sunday. Me and Percy on the Avenger. We went up to shil-phata and came back. It was better than ajibat nothing. :)

This is the Vashi bridge as seen from the Airoli bridge. Clicked with the old Minolta S414. The weather was heavily overcast. We got a few drops of cold rain on us most of our way back.

Cauliflower in white gravy

Today I thought I will make some bhaji without the usual masalas. I have been cooking with chilli power and 'kala' masal for the past week .. gavari, dodki, tondli, batata and their various mixes. So this one was totally experimental. I did not refer to any recipe for tips. :) I had a box of coconut milk, so I decided to do this white. It turned out pretty OK. 7.5/10 from percy and 7.5/10 from me. We finished 12 fulkas and the whole bhaji in between the 3 of us - the third being PR who also liked it and probably will give it a 8/10. Because he ate his second dinner. :P

250 gm cut cauliflower
1 finely chopped onion (ground will also do, in retrospect)
2 teaspoonful ginger garlic paste
6 black peppers
1 clove
2 kokum
4 green chillies
100ml coconut milk.
a pinch of hing and salt to taste.

procedure is pretty simple:
heat oil in kadai
add hing
add the pepper and clove and let them crackle
add onion and saute for a couple of minutes
add ginger garlic paste and saute for a couple of minutes
add the slit chillies and the kokum and saute for couple of minutes
add salt to taste
add the chopped cauliflower, mix and cook for a minute or so
add a little water, cover and cook for a 5-10 minutes till flower done
taste, if all ok then you can remove the chillies and kokum, else leave it. It should be on the spicier side as we are yet to add coconut milk which is sweetish and will blunt the heat of the chilly.
add the coconut milk and let it simmer for a few minutes.

done. :)

Late Diwali lights

Late Diwali lights, originally uploaded by quasi's mobile.

on Post Processing

This one is the original as it came out of my Olympus SW850.

For all the heads who believe that doing PP is bad. "this is as-is from the camera" they claim, with pride. There is nothing wrong with only in-camera as equally as there is nothing wrong with photographic PP.

Getting the composition and exposure right as much as possible in the camera is a good ploy. But the camera sensors (and films emulsions) have severe limitations in the way they capture light. They rarely, if ever capture the scene as the eye sees and the heart feels ... the post processing gives the image the feel .. the thing you felt when you clicked it. Post processing is the next 50% of image making - after the capture. You can do better PP in the digital darkroom then what PP the camera can do in-camera.



This was more like the mood that day. The dramatic clouds were overpowering, dominating the scene. The sun-burned grass and landscape was drab and desolate.