Portrait of a simian

Browsing through all the potrait shots shot in the last 2 years, I came across this which I shot when I was climbing up the Seven Hills, Tirumala to the Lords Abode on Feb 14th 2004.

The monkeys out here are least afraid of humans, that gave me a chance to approach the monkey with ease and shoot it from 2 feet away with a Sony P-10 cybershot.

Vizag Times : Beach II

Rushikonda Beach

Sun Set from Simhachalam Temple

Vizag Times : Aruku Tribal Dance

Aruku Valley is 100Kms away from Visakhapatnam(Vizag).I along with my parents,mamayya and cousin vinod set out on a trip to Aruku Valley and Borra Caves. We booked for the AP Tourism Rail-cum-Road sightseeing.The train pulled out of the Vizag Station at around 8A.M. The guide gave an account of the days schedule. I munched the garama garam Idly Vada that were served in the train. An hour latter the train started it ascent, I was all set to capture the valley to its best, so I moved to the door and awaited for the greens. The train meandered through the hills and the tunnels.

My date with viridity took the blunt when the guide remarked that the best season to view the valley is in December and not on the onset of these summer months. With nothing much to do I need to figure out a subject and that was none other than her majesty the train itself. Bending to get the best of the shot while my father and mammayya holding me by my collar was the game of the day till we reached Aruku.

The train moved on towards kirandol as we logged onto a coach at Aruku railway station. The altitude was 900mts above sea level. Our first spot was a kind of Botanical Gardens with some tree top houses. Then we moved onto Tribal Museum which gave a modest insight into the tribals lives. My cousine tried some mis-chief with a doll and was caught on the wrong foot, I guess his blood pressure levels where all time high till he got the doll back in place. A hearty lunch at the AP Tourism Center was what we were blessed with. The after lunch session was marked by a Tribal Dance performed by some locals/tribals in the AP Tourism Center premises. I just went clicking and clicking till the visitors joined the dance.

It was 1.5/2 hours journey to Borra Caves. Enroute we hit the Gaali Konda View point. I tried a panoramic shot, it came out fine but with out the greenery the effect is lost, then we passed by some coffee plantations and hit the Borra Caves. Evening tea and snacks got some life to some poor souls. The return journey to vizag started in the bus and it was around 8:30PM when we were back home.

Vizag Times : Sagar Nagar

I and my cousin vinod set out on a road trip along the coast line. We started from Ramakirshna beach and went upto INS kalinga. This is for the first time that I been this far as INS kalinga in vizag.In retro I sense that these places never popped up on my travelling radar. The scorching heat was taking its toll on me, somehow we got ourselves going on and on. Two boats sailing caught my attention, and we were trying to get ahead of them on road and capture them.


Though I was aware that I didnt have a good lense to get that far, we went on for the very fun of it. At Sagarnagar we just got a decent entry point.I was trudging towards the sea as heavy wind was blowing towards me, thats when I took notice of the sand dunes formation. Said to myself "Here they go, let me try to make the best of this, I need not travel thousands of miles to a desert to get the best of the sand dunes".In no time I tried out umpteen variations . I asked my cousine to walk around from the sea front and I lowered to below zero level to get the composition here under. All in all it was a learning experience. One more step up the endless ladder.

FotoBuffs : I havent done the vignette correction to the snaps

Vizag Times : Borra Caves

Borra Caves, located 90 Kms to the ~North of Visakhapatnam(Vizag) in the Aruku Valley Region. These caves are more than a million year old. There are innumerable stalactites. The caves are some 900mts above the sea level.

All my childhood I been hearing about these caves but it took me 20 long years to make it to this awesome place. The caves are prefectly lit to give the desired visual impact. Since we reached Borra late in the evening around 1600Hrs, we hardly had an hour to go through the whole place, as after 1700Hrs or so they are going to power down.

A photographer can put his imagination to test. Though I throughly enjoyed my parents and mamajis company, they are so over protective of me and my cousin they went on cautioning, every stone we stepped and every rock we climbed. We felt so pampered time and again.

The funniest event of the day was when some visitors mis-judged me for a photographer who makes his living by shooting visitors at Borra.

These caves are so vast that its worth all the travel. Legend has it that this place was discovered by accident by a shepard who went in search of his cattle that fell through one of the cave holes. December tends to be the best season to visit this place as its lush green.

When I mailed these snaps to some of my friends. One of them came back asking : "where is this place Borra in India ? Kerala?".

If Andhra Pradesh does a better packaging of Vizag then for sure it can turn out as one of the top tourist destinations. For information on travel checkout at AP Tourism

Its been 12 years

Back in my schooling days I used to paint with all the passion in the world.I hardly won any painting competition but enjoyed it as much as a kindergarden kid would when he gets hands on his first crayon.

Last week when I was in Vizag, I came across a painting, hanging on the wall in my aunts house. It was one of those painting that I painted exactly 12 years from that day. It looked more like a collage.



Dated and Signed under : 23-26/03/93.

Vizag Times : Beach I

Kailashgiri View Point

At the Far End is Rushikonda, where my engineering college GITAM is situated. This road along the coastline was what we used to run along for 4 years. The road has been widened and it looks awesome. They have set up a rope way to Kailashgiri hill top. All of a sudden some how vizag looks much cleaner and beautiful to me. But the only thing that disgusts me is the illegitimate use and core dump of polythene covers.


RamaKrishna Beach

The Tsunami (on account of the earthquake around Sumatra region) had the positive effect along vizag coast. It has widened the shrinking beaches of vizag. Now the sea looks much calm than I ever noticed. At the far end in the above snap is the Dolphin Nose which happens to be the entry point to the inner harbor. Vizag seems to be reallying developing into a wonderful tourist destination. Had I stayed a week longer I would have made it to all the places around and captured the breathtaking views of vizag.