Talakona - More than just a Falls

The Talakona waterfall is in Chittoor District of Andhra pradesh in India. With a 270 feet (82 m)-fall, Talakona is the highest waterfall in the Andhra pradesh state. It is located 36 kilometres (22 mi) from Piler,49 kilometres (30 mi) from Tirupathi, 220 kilometres (140 mi) from Chennai, and 105 kilometres (65 mi) from Chittoor and 250 kilometres (160 mi) from Banglore.

(Shot with 10-22 mm Canon lens @ 10mm on a crop sensor camera)

Thanks to my friends at office, we left on a saturday morning, and motored (slowly) and reached the green wet thalakona forest by lunchtime. Talakona does not have many shops, so if you want to buy anything, do it 23 kms before.

There are no mobile towers in that place, so you can’t be reached while you’re there (Best place to be if you’re one of the most sought one by your Boss!!!). Surprisingly the government guest house accommodation was neat and clean. The food has to be consumed at a local eatery (it is better that you don't actually see the preparation) and also can be ordered for room service (preferred).
Caution: The place is full of aggressive monkeys.

After finishing half stomach of lunch (made a lot of compromises), went to the Falls. Afterdropping from the van, had to walk about 1 km in the concrete path (mostly easy one for all ages) to reach the falls.

It wasn’t kind of Kutralam falls but a decent one. So lower down your expectations, if any.

The Falls was just perfect. It was said by the localities that the falls would have water almost throughout the year, the peak season being August & September. The most driest period is April & May..

Most of the areas of water falls (at lower level) were accessible for everyone (including Ladies) except a few.

Mostly famous for its waterfalls, Talakona has the most wholesome and serene atmosphere. The waterfalls is located amidst beauty and greenery. The water of the Talakona is enriched with herbs and people believe that it has healing properties.



I am told that trekking can be arranged there. Would’ve been wonderful had we taken one. Most of the time our team was very busy with the pets they’ve brought and hence couldn’t go to any place other than falls. Came to know (very late..!) that the spot has a beautiful Canopy walk and even has some kind of boating and swimming pool (!!!). Missed it!

Left the place around Noon time on Sunday and reached Chennai by 6.30 p.m. Overall it was a nice experience. If next time I go there (with family) I would prefer to pack my food too.

The contact for Room reservations at Talakona:-
For Hut houses :- 9490609117, 9491135641 – Mr. Gangoji / Mr. Raganna
For Concrete houses: - 08584-272425 – Mr. Murali Krishna.

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Mumbai – the city that never sleeps

This year we went to Mumbai on summer vacation (27.05.11 to 05.06.11). The presence of my wife’s aunt in Mumbai made our stay comfortable. In fact we have been trying to visit them ever since we married in 2003 and finally we could make in 2011 only. At least we made it now.

Although I’ve travelled to many cities on official work, I haven’t visited Mumbai even once. But the in the first visit itself, I got a lot familiarized with Mumbai (I think so!!!). We went to many places in Mumbai in the scorching Sun but the buzzing Mumbai always kept me interested in each and every moment. Be the train journey, Ferry journey, Car journey in the rain, shopping at Chembur, activities at Gate way of India, The Mahalakshmi temple zone, Marine drive – everything was eventful and has left its own marks in me.

The ferry trip was the most enjoying one – especially for my 6 year old Son. It was more than an hour drive to Elephanta caves from Gateway of India. The Sea breeze and hot Sun made the life a little difficult. However the experience of Sea drive made up to it. The gigantic ships and Fast steamer boats were kept the travel interesting.

All the pictures of the Gateway of India, I saw in the past had lots of Doves in it. I was preparing for some special photographs of doves but what in the end it was disappointing that not a single dove was present there. Not sure why – but it is a loss for photo hobbyists like me.

The best was reserved at Marine drive – after 7.00 p.m. Being in west coast, it took long for sun set but once the street lights were on, the Marine drive looked fabulous. In fact its special name “The Queen Necklace” vindicates its beauty at night.
I didn’t have tripod to capture the glory – however with the help of hand rails, I did some sequence of shots and stitch them to form a panoramic shot. Really it was amazing to watch the place in night.

When finally we finished the tour after 6 days at Mumbai, we were full of pleasant memories. I understand why Mumbaikers love Mumbai despite being congested and huge. Somehow in the first visit itself I got some inner affiliation with Mumbai life.

I made an album out of the photos which is given here for your pleasure.



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Hello happy Cricket fans!!! When India was taking on Pakistan at World cup Semi-Final at Mohali on 30 March 2011, the entire India was glued to the television sets. The emotions were very high ranging from nervousness, pressure, agony, ecstasy, anguish, desperation, worry, despondency, hope, etc.

Pakistan went ahead and declared national holiday. In India, although some of the corporate declared holiday but many of them were still functioning with a big screen set up in the middle of the office. Those poor fellows who didn’t receive such a courtesy, declared holiday for themselves!!!

Chennai too was not far behind. On the match hours, the streets were completely BLANK!!!! The shops were empty; buses were empty; malls were empty; theatres were empty; streets were empty; why even the TASMAC was not having their regular sales!!!!

This is the day the nation took a break from regular miseries and enjoyed the victory!!!

On that extraordinary, uncommon, unusual evening, - between 6.30 p.m. and 8.00 p.m. - I took a visit along some of the EVER CROWDY streets of Chennai like Usman road, Ranganathan street, Panagal park, Mount road, Nungambakkam High road, Kodambakkam high road and captured the EMPTINESS!!!!

How many times have you seen at Ranaganathna street, Pothys, Saravana stores – with not more than 10% of space occupied by customers!!!! Even for them it must have been a lifetime experience!!!!

Relieve those moments in the photographs provided in the link below!!!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/31844039@N02/sets/72157626279403519/show/

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(Thanks to my Friend who inspired me to skip the high profile match and to go out to capture this occasion)

Super Moon

An auroral and unusually big SUPERMOON was seen lighting up the sky on 19.03.11, offering a visual treat to the enthusiastic sky-gazers. The moon was around 14% bigger and 30% brighter than the regular full moons. Yet to the casual observer, it may be hard to tell the difference.

On 19.03.11 the moon came closest to the Earth and lights up sky. The phenomenon occurred in 1955, 1974, 1992 and 2005. The moon was only 3,56,577 km away from the Earth. The average distance between the Earth and the moon is about 3,82,900 km.

The phenomenon, called lunar perigee or Supermoon, happens when the moon reaches its absolute closest point to Earth and this effect is most noticeable when it occurs at the same time as a full moon,

It was a grand occasion for a me to capture the moon. I tried fast (1/400 sec) as well as very slow (30 sec) exposures.


I was provided complete support by my son (5½ years old) who helped me in arranging the gears and stayed with me in the dark roof top till I complete the session. Hats off to his patience...!!!

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A Day at Sothupaarai falls

How many of us know about this place? It’s located near Periakulam, 20 kms before Theni while coming from Dindigul. In fact for me it’s a new spot despite belonging to Tamil Nadu. I was totally amazed at the serenity of the place. Amazing calmness!!!. I never thought I could see such a wonderful place when I embarked my trip a day before.

It’s not easy to enter inside if one doesn’t have influence since this place is under reserve forest range. This place houses the famous Sothupaarai dam and the falls is just located in the deep interiors of the upstream river. The falls is a tiny one however the place makes up for all the joy and peace one could ever get in an isolated place like this. Even during mid day sun the water was cool and flowing silky smooth. I also visited Vaigai dam in the evening and captured the beauty of flowing water from the damn.

This place gave me an opportunity to unleash my newly purchased 10-22mm wide angle lens. With the angle of coverage possible with the lens, I could capture the entire viewing range to my extreme delight which compensated the efforts I need to put for crawling on the rocks.

Definitely one more life time experience for me.
You can view more shots in my flickr ink:- http://www.flickr.com/photos/31844039@N02/sets/72157625982498141/

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Semmozhi Poonga, Chennai

It was a cold December Sunday afternoon when I took my Son and Wife to the newly opened SEMMOZHI POONGA. This is the place where the famous Woodlands Drive-Inn was located which is now being taken off.

The Garden is relatively small and not much of entertainment for Children. However as a Photo enthusiast, the place is another spectacle to capture. The greenery, Water fall, Pond, Bright colored flowers, Wooden Bridge, Stone Pillars are some which caught my Lens attention.

It’s an all new botanical garden established by the Horticulture Department of the Government of Tamilnadu, on 24th November 2010. The location of Semmozhi Poonga Chennai is near the Anna flyover, in the Cathedral Road-Anna Salai junction, just opposite to the American Consulate, on the erstwhile Drive-in Woodlands Hotel.

The total area of the botanical garden is more or less 20 acres, while the cost to set up this park was more than 80 million rupees. There are lots of biological specimens in the garden. More than 500 species of plants and 80 trees were already there while this park was being developed, and some of them are as aged as 100 years.

A very nice place for any Photo enthusiast to experiment long exposure, wide angle, Macro and many more.

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My dear Chennai

The week after Independence day was celebrated as "Madras Week" throughout Chennai. Never seen before levels of activities were happening all around. One such was a Photo competition organized by PSM to all the people of Chennai. The theme was "Beautiful Chennai".

I did enter in the contest and submitted by photograph. It was judged by Mr. Krishnan, the chief editor of The Hindu and my photograph was adjuded as the best one. My happiness had no boundaries. It was like a dream coming true. I remember last year when I was reading continuously the Internet for photo tips and other information regarding SLR and it's parts.

My prize winning photograph!!!

It's true that dedication will always pay you back!!!

Regardign the photograph, it was taken on a very early morning at Marina beach. I saw a perspective in the stones especially the way it was curving and at the end of it was leading to the light house. It was a challenging photograph due to the fact I lied flat on my stomach and had to slow down my speed to very minimum since the light was too low and also my maximum aperture was just f/3.5 only. I had to hold the camera very steady since the exposure involves lots of light sparkles.

At the post processing, I gave the photograph yellow filter to give the sepia effect in order to show the early morning effect. I am very happy for the appriciation received for the photograph.

Way to go!!!

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