Art to Ghat - Story of a Weekend

Christopher McCandless: You're just living, man. You're just there, in that moment, in that special place and time. Maybe when I get back, I can write a book about my travels. - Into the Wild

And here I am, yet again. Writing another blog on an awesome experience I had recently. This time it was unique. It was totally random. By random I mean really random. The crazy random. After finishing up with an Art exhibition that was organized for one of our very talented employee, the seven of us were sitting in the living room talking and planning a short trip for the next day morning.

But first lets have a little flashback in this flashback story. While a few of us were planning to go on a trip on the weekend, suddenly an art exhibition was planned. It was a real success and a lot of people of the Auryn family turned up. There was music, art, food, photography and some singing. The best thing was that I heard WTK (Why this kolaveri...) in that party for the first time by an awesomely talented member of the Auryn family.

I still remember the painting in red and black that caught my eye as soon as it was setup for the exhibition. I don't think I'll be able to get it out of my head any sooner. Anyways the exhibition went fine and the way the paintings were explained by the artist reminded me of all the things "Dexter" (a famous TV character of the show named "Dexter" by Showtime) says about the darkness and the dark passenger inside him. The painting that I liked was named "Plight of a lover".

The exhibition was over, paintings were gone, most of the people were gone too and we were back to planning our next day trip. Then suddenly someone suggested that we could leave right then. Now there was no backing out. Naneghat was finalized as the destination and cab, jackets, torches and food took no time. It was past midnight when we left the apartment.

Now came the journey. The ghats at night give a very different feeling. Especially when you know that the paths you are travelling are not safe. Sitting at the backside, I could actually feel the trailing darkness that we were leaving behind us. Jungle on one side, valley on another, middle of the night, no lights at all, rocky paths, chilling cold. The only piece of land visible to our driver was illuminated by the headlights of his own vehicle. Apart from that, no one knew what all was part of that darkness.

After a sleepless night of travelling, we finally reached our destination. It was a dead end. It actually felt like as if we have left the society behind and have arrived at a place so beautiful, full of nature, dried golden grass, vast gorgeous valley, rising sun, clear blue sky and so on. We were already late. We missed the parting of clouds/fog which leads to the amazing view of valley. The dead end was actually like a door to the nature's own show. It lead to a V shaped passage between the hills and we started descending into it. There we met some people sitting in the caves on one side and warming themselves with the fire they made.

After sessions of climbing, resting and posing we headed back to Pune. The way back was so different. It was bright and felt safe. It wasn't scary. It wasn't cold. Yea but it was still rocky and the drive felt like a very slow roller coaster. It felt really nice. We still had the fresh memories of the views and a lot of amazing pictures in our cameras. We were back on the lonely road.

The journey was still not over. That last exciting bit was still there. The road we were on lead to an amazing winery named "Ivy". Exactly twelve hours before, who knew that we will be having lunch around 150 kms from pune, sitting in a winery, sipping red wine. That the first time I had wine, so I decided to do something which goes well with wine. As I believe that happiness is only real when shared, I decided to make a toast. A toast to the amazing times, wonderful friends and happiness.

Eye for a High

Nothing happens when you sit at home. You have to make something out of the precious time you have. Whats better than capturing some of the interesting moments out of that time and making some good photographs out of them. Good photographs are not taken, they are made. You have to be fully aware of what you see. Will that look good? Will it be of any interest to other people?

Initially when I started clicking photos by borrowing cameras from my friends or from my cyber-shot cellphone, I used to do it all the time. Most of the pictures didn't even appeal a little to me. But this is how it is. You need to click hundreds or thousands of pictures before you are even remotely close to that point. The point where every photo you take is either interesting or aesthetically beautiful. But once your pictures start appealing to you  and you can evaluate them objectively, believe me, there is no better feeling. The satisfaction that you get while looking at a gorgeous picture composed by you, cannot be described in words.

Photography actually becomes a part of your personality. The way you look at things around you changes. The view finder of your camera acts as your own window to a very beautiful world. The world where every smile is special, every flight of a bird means something, sunrises and sunsets are simply magnificent, every form of architecture is exquisite, every flower and every leaf is admirable. You appreciate the nature around you. When all this happens to you, you find yourself in a happier state. Instead of waiting for some really big event to make you very happy, you actually start admiring those little things that make you a little delighted.

“The important thing is not the camera but the eye.” – Alfred Eisenstaedt

Although the output quality of your picture depends on the camera you own, but the meaning of that picture completely depends on what you saw and how you composed it. First of all, try and appreciate the camera you have. Try and take the most out of it. After that, start looking for pictures that you never saw before. When you are looking from a view finder and you feel that you saw it before, shake it up and try to do something different. Push yourself harder. Probe deeper into what you see. Find that one interesting subject or one unique thing that you think no one else can see. Beauty can be seen in all things. 

Getting more and more into photography also makes you start looking forward to everything. Every vacation, outing, camping, travel, party, etc has a new meaning for you. No matter how many good photographs you have taken, you always hope for better. You don't stop till you find your favorite photograph and that is the one you are yet to capture. The wait for that one perfect shot adds a new meaning to your life. It gets into your head and into your heart. 

Imagination also plays quite an important role in photography. There is a difference between seeing beauty and actually composing it. 

“You cannot depend on your eyes if your imagination is out of focus” – Mark Twain