New York City Cruise Tour

On my recent trip to New York, I embarked on the Circle Line cruise tour, with my colleagues. 

The tour started from Pier 83, which was located at West 42nd Street and 12th Avenue in Manhattan.

Circle line tours are quite popular as we could see tourists from all over the world flocked together on the cruise to get a glimpse of NYC, Manhattan and Brooklyn downtown in the summer afternoon. On top of it one gets to see the famous attractions like World Trade Center, New Empire State Building and of course, the most sought-after woman in the USA - Statue of Liberty. What more could you ask for?

So the hour-long trip started at around 4.30 pm in a beautiful sunny afternoon in May. The weather was pleasant with just a little hint of cold and the sun was not too bright - a perfect combination to click some good landscape photos.

The tour was specifically designed to quench the thirst of the hardcore tourist souls. Through the Hudson river, the cruise went on to pass by the famous architectures and provided enough time for all to be enthralled and click a piece of memory to take back. It also circled around the Liberty Island and went underneath the numerous over-the-water bridges in New York, Manhattan and Brooklyn area - most popular one being the Brooklyn Bridge obviously. For the ones attentive to minute details, a live commentary was arranged by the cruise authorities to present the historical facts and figures. 

It was a lazy afternoon, to be indulged into all sorts of activities, of which sailing and fishing were the prominent ones that I could notice. People were in no hurry, as they seemed to have left behind all their worries. Even the Seagulls seemed to be too relaxed. Undoubtedly an ambiance to soak in and enjoy.

The breath of fresh air, clubbed with a pint of beer was truly invigorating and probably many of us longed for the tour to not end soon, but all the good things do unfortunately. 

And so did the tour.

But happy and content enough, we proceeded for our next event of the evening, the team dinner, but that's for another post.

Snaps below.

Bridge:

Skyline 1:

Skyline 2:

Skyline 3:

Skyline 4:

Skyline 5:

The Approach:

The Statue of Liberty:

The Sun is always shining upon the lady:

The close up of the lady:

The Farewell:

The Macroism

A Macro is generally a magnified version of anything, usually tiny.

Off late I have been experimenting on this particular genre of  photography (the summer heat was also too much to go out). To see the little objects being enlarged is really interesting.

One needs particular equipments to click macro photographs such as extension tubes, macro lenses, reversed ring lens adapters, macro glass filters or dioptre filters etc.

Macro lenses always produce superior images and provide more ease of use compared to any other equipments but they are costlier as well and hence may not be affordable to all. The other options, however, with practice and patience, produce amazing results. I, myself have used an extension tube and a reversal ring for all my clicks.

When using an extension tube or a reversal ring, since usually there are no electrical connection between the lens and camera body, the shooting has to be done manually using manual focusing techniques. Also the Aperture becomes the lowest (f00) with perhaps the shallowest depth of field and can not be controlled because of no direct connectivity between the lens and the camera.

One needs to get too close to the object while shooting. It is advisable to use a tripod or a gorillapod as the slightest movement of the camera would mean losing the object in focus and readjust the camera. In case of a live object, the pain of shooting also gets magnified along with the object. But generally the results should complement the perseverance.

I reiterate (and emphasize) that a lot of practice and patience are required if you don't use a dedicated macro lens for clicking Macros. Even for Macro lenses, practice is a must as for good results, you have to invest time.

Specifications of the equipments that I have used:

Camera Body: Canon EOS 1100D
Lens: Canon EF-S Kit Lens (18 - 55 mm IS II) [For better results 50 mm prime lens is recommended]
Extension Tube: Diameter - 58 mm and Length - 49 mm (Make: Fotodiox)
Reversal Ring Lens Adapter: Diameter - 58 mm (Make: JJC)

All the photos were shot in RAW mode and post processed using Canon's proprietary Digital Photo Professional software.

Here are some of the results from my experiments, with the EXIF details (for all cases shooting was done with manual mode using manual focusing technique):

The Cell:

The head of one AAA battery.
Shutter Speed: 1/40
Metering Mode: Evaluative Metering
ISO: 100
White Balance: Auto


The Chivas Regal:

Water droplets formation on a chilled bottle of the famous scotch.
Shutter Speed: 1/30
Metering Mode: Evaluative Metering
ISO: 400
White Balance: Auto



The Circuit:

My Android phone's SIM Card slot.
Shutter Speed: 1/30
Metering Mode: Evaluative Metering
ISO: 200
White Balance: Auto



The Cumin Seeds:

Cumin seeds from the kitchen.
Shutter Speed: 1/30
Metering Mode: Evaluative Metering
ISO: 200
White Balance: Auto



The Charger:

iPhone Charging Port.
Shutter Speed: 1/25
Metering Mode: Evaluative Metering
ISO: 400
White Balance: Auto



The Jack:

Standard 0.5 mm Jack of headphones/speakers.
Shutter Speed: 1/20
Metering Mode: Evaluative Metering
ISO: 400
White Balance: Auto



The Macro:

The picture says it all.
Shutter Speed: 1/20
Metering Mode: Evaluative Metering
ISO: 400
White Balance: Auto



The Queen:

The Queen of Hearts from a deck of cards.
Shutter Speed: 1/25
Metering Mode: Evaluative Metering
ISO: 400
White Balance: Auto



The Screen:

This is how our computer screens look like.
Shutter Speed: 1/20
Metering Mode: Evaluative Metering
ISO: 400
White Balance: Auto



The Cube:

Suger cubes from the Kitchen.
Shutter Speed: 1/20
Metering Mode: Evaluative Metering
ISO: 400
White Balance: Auto



The Match Sticks:

Ready to burn in the fire of life..hutter Speed: 1/25
Metering Mode: Evaluative Metering
ISO: 400
White Balance: Auto



The Mosquito:

The house mosquito.
Shutter Speed: 1/40
Metering Mode: Evaluative Metering
ISO: 125
White Balance: Auto



Windows:

Windows 7 Tag from my Laptop.
Shutter Speed: 1.6
Metering Mode: Evaluative Metering
ISO: 200
White Balance: Auto



That's all for today. Will come back with another episode with the Macros.

A Short Drive to Purandar Fort (Once Again)

Recently I had been to Purandar Fort (yes, for the fourth time) just to de-stress. 

This fort was one of my favorite destinations over weekends because of its close proximity to the city and the nature alike – which is really a rare occurrence. I just really love the way the roads wound up to the top through the trees and quaint nature.

I had already been to this area thrice before, I would not go into the details of the journey, once again. The previous logs are found at the links below:

2011 Log

2012 Log

2015 Log

This time, we noticed quite a few changes around the fort:

• The infrastructure of the whole area was maintained quite well as it is nowadays mostly being used as a training academy of the army.

• Security was really really tight. Everywhere there were guards with arms to guide the tourists and threaten the miscreants.

• Camera was not allowed to the top anymore. You have to submit your phones or cameras to the security personnel.

• The roads were being cleaned, renovated and widened. 

• There were well designated parking areas.

• Thorough checking at the entry gate.

I have tried to add some narratives for each one of these pictures below, though there are not many photographs this time.

The Ruins of the Past

Remnants of the early Army settlements on Purandar Fort (in the year 1665, the famous Purandar Treaty was signed here between Chhatrapati Shivaji and Rajput ruler Jai Singh I, a commender of the Mughal Empire).

See the scriptures on the wall at the left. Sad to see that our lack of awareness and callous attitude are slowly destroying our own heritage and culture.




The Deserted

The entrance of the early settlements in Purandar Fort. Not maintained at all.



The Church

When the Britishers took over the charges of this fort, they built a few churches inside the premises of the fort-city.



The View

A cliched view from the top. How beautiful our country is! The urban beauty is in full display.


That's all folks!!

A Short Drive to Purandar Ghat via Saswad

There goes a saying – an idle brain is a devil’s workshop. Well, this might not be true everywhere, for an idle brain on a lazy Sunday morning produced a brilliant idea, which led to the creation of this post.

We were sipping on our morning cup of tea and brooding over the fact there was nothing to look forward to for the rest of the day. Then, like a sudden strike of the lightning, it occurred to me that we could really seize this opportunity by embarking on a short trip. The better half readily fell for it and it was up to me to find out a destination close to the nature and which is not far away. We decided on Purandar Ghat – which is on the way to Purandar Fort, famous for the Purandar Treaty from the History – as it is close (around 50 Kms only) and we can be back within 4-5 hours and primarily because the route was known. We never intended to visit the fort; all we planned was to be in close proximity with the nature and some good opportunities for a few random clicks.

It was easier said than done – having an infant at home always poses new challenges – and we could only start at around 11 in the morning.

The road that we followed could be found below (no help from GPS). Mostly when we crossed the overly busy Hadapsar Industrial Area, it was a smooth drive towards Saswad through Dive Ghat and beyond. From the diversion for Purandar Fort to the Purandar Village (located at the base of the Purandar Ghat) was a little challenging for hatchback and sedans, but once we were past the village, the actual beauty of the rustic nature unfolded and the roads were in much better shapes. It was easier negotiating the hair-pin bends and the steep curves.

The plan was simple – go till the entrance of the Fort and then take a U-turn. All along the way towards the fort, it was lush green. The narrow tarred roads were winding up through the hillock, through thick vegetation. The purity of the air was easily noticeable. Chirping of the birds, the sound of the falling leaves and the gentle sound of the wind breezing constituted some otherworldly atmosphere. We stopped at many intervals, perhaps at every possible opportunity, sat, relaxed and then started once again, in a cyclic order.

When we felt that we were quite rejuvenated and had accumulated enough strength to fight the battle for a week, we turned back towards ‘home, sweet home’. We were back at Saswad by 2 pm where we had a small Maharashtrian lunch and then took leave. And by 3.30 pm.we reached home, reinvigorated and fresh.

A short but memorable and a crisp but enjoyable drive indeed.

Map of the Route:

Please see the link here.
  

Let the pictures utter thousand more words:

Roads - Winding Up

View from the top - surely a cliched click

Still don't have the faintest idea of what it was

Friendly??

An Unplanned Road Trip to Lavasa via Panshet

My better half and her not-so-better half (yours truly) did not venture into any outing since long, mainly due to the new arrival in the family a few months back. The trips became from abundance to scarce and the parental blues started setting in. So it was high time we ventured into a completely unplanned road trip. We didn't even decide where to go or when to go. We just wanted to set out to long drive into the nature, we didn't really care about the destination much.

We thought of going to Lavasa, but wanted to embark on an off the beaten track to avoid the madding crowd. So we relied on the Google maps and it duly lived up to its reputation as we were able to find out a not-so-trodden road across Panshet and Varasgaon.

Our roadmaps are below:

Pune to Panshet(52 Kms):

Panshet to Lavasa (30 Kms):

Lavasa to Pune (72 Kms):

We were a little late to start (with an infant it was quite natural). We were on the road by 10 in the morning. The plan was to come back by 6.30 in the evening, so the 150 km odd drive would leave a really little or almost no time for stopovers. The traffic till Swargate didn't help boost our morale further. But as we soon as we hit Sinhagad Road, things started looking a bit more promising. Soon we passed by Khadakwasala, where we didn't care to stop. No offense to the beautiful lake but this was just in order to save some time.

The road to Panshet was full of greenery on both sides and sometimes through dense vegetation. But that was hardly any surprise for anybody who is familiar with the Western Ghats. We couldn't avoid the fresh air and alluring rustic serenity for long and henceforth couldn't prevent ourselves from stopping on numerous occasions. We inhaled a lot of pure oxygen which could keep us immune to the urban monotony for a few more days, until the nature beckons us again.

View of Panshet Lake

Breaking free

On the road........

The Panshet lake was a true companion and it went with us till we arrived Panshet. The road was not that good, but once we crossed Panshet, it became a horrible nightmare. In fact, horrible is a big understatement. It was narrow, untarred and full of potholes and loose pebbles.  Panshet to Varasgaon was merely around 6-7 kms but it took us more than half an hour just because of this dire condition of the road.

We passed by the Panshet and Varasgaon dams. Magnificent hills, covered with clouds at the top and greeneries all over, resulted into a deadly combination. A truly breathtaking view was composed by the nature itself. We were spellbound by the mesmerizing spectacle but each of the potholes brought us back into the harsh reality. My patience almost ran out, but somehow I still managed to keep my sanity intact, so did my most loyal companion, my wife. The rain came and go but couldn't bother us much, we already reached to the saturation level.

We reached Lavasa around 2 in the afternoon, at least an hour later than what I estimated. We parked the car in the designated area and stretched my legs. I really had to earn this break. We were starving, so we wasted no time in devouring what little we had with us.

We planned to roam around the colourful city, which one needs to and should do on foot. The promenade was beautiful and the city, not for nothing, boasts for its well-laid plans. The city, perhaps inspired by some European villages, was planned surrounding a lake in such a way that each and every building, every apartment or even every shop received a fair share of the lakeside view. Every nook and corner of the city was neat and clean. The only downside is that the construction for the city seemed to be completely stalled because of the legal issues and the verdict of the court. So the city apparently looked to be a little deserted.

Inside Lavasa

Roadside food joints

The rain played a complete spoilsport here. It started pouring cats and dogs. With the camera I was in no mood of getting drenched, so we had to wait. But it was fun nonetheless. I can't remember when we watched the rains together, hand in hand. The rain had its own effect, as we indulged ourselves into 'Selfies' and the phone memory kept on shrinking as the list grew.

Architecture..

Definitely European looking...

It was our time to take leave, so we drove back. Both of us felt rejuvenated and reinvigorated with freshly supplied energy and enthusiasm. In addition to the same, the road towards Pune from Lavasa via Dasve and Temghar dam - the more popular route (i.e. the road via Paud) - was an absolute joy to drive on, not only because of the picturesque marvels of the nature, but also the supreme human touch, evident from the well-maintained road. This is the joy which keeps us going through our daily chores. We managed to take a single halt on our way back to popular view point from the top, overlooking the Lavasa city and the waterbodies.

We started from Lavasa at around 3.30 pm. And almost in no time we were in Pune and then the traffic looked ominous as usual. But we managed our way back, zigzagging through the ocean of two and four wheelers. The hills and greeneries seemed a distant dream as if we were suddenly thrown into the bitterness of the real world that we need to cope up with.

We were back in the comfortable corners of the home just before 7 in the evening. All in all a great drive, we received more than what we imagined. I did hang in to drive for around 6.5 hours and through some really terrible terrains, which was of great satisfaction.

We assumed that we’d see a number of waterfalls on our way, but we did see not a single noteworthy one. And I am quite positive that we hadn’t missed any. The credit (or the discredit) must go to the scanty rains this year. Discounting this fact altogether, what we saw today was well enough to satiate us the parched souls – well, till the next trip!

Adios Amigos!!