In print, over the moon

And so, after few years of running around with the camera and freelancing stints for few online magazine, I get few of my shots printed in a magazine, which actually has a print edition :D. It feels good to see your clicks in a publication, especially when its for the first time. It all happened thanks to the fireflies all night concert that I attended(and clicked) some weeks back. The guys at the score music magazine saw some of the pics which I uploaded in my facebook photography page(http://www.facebook.com/myopiclensesphotography -yeah, cheap marketing:P) and contacted me asking for the pics. The only condition being I should send unpublished pics. Thankfully, I hadn't uploaded my whole collection and was able to supply them with enough pics. And last week, they mailed me the magazine with the pics adorning 2 pages. You can also read the magazine online at highonscore.com. They got a really good interface where you can flip the pages and read in fullscreen. BTW, Skip to page 40 :D

screenshot of the page(yea, all shots r mine :P )

The magazine

Here are some of the published and unpublished shots from fireflies music festival. The fireflies fest was an all night affair starting at 7 PM on a saturday evening and going on till 8 AM on sunday morning. The stage was set under a banyan tree inside the fireflies ashram, a peaceful place about 40 kms from Bangalore city. 5000 people sat jampacked in the amphitheatre while a few hundred more lounged around in bedsheets in the outside lawn. Fireflies is an annual affair and it truely is India's version of the legendary woodstock festival. This year, we had a whole array of bands and artists spanning various genres. It was where I discovered the band yodhaka which fuses sanskrit lyrics,carnatic slide guitar,acoustic guitars and some great percussion. Swarathma were there with their brand of folk rock. Moonarra added flavour with visual representation of their music in the form of 3 brilliant dancers. The highlight of the night was when Thermal and a quarter sang a cover of the beatles' classic 'Hey jude'. The whole crowd sang along the end chorus at 3 O clock in the morning. A truely goosebump moment that was! Other notable performances of the night were something relevant, spinifex, bicycle days etc.

Here are some published and unpublished pics from that great night

Yodhaka

Something relevant

Thermal And A Quarter(TAAQ)

Spinifex

Bicycle Days

Moonarra

your crusader Praveen

Idukki in Rain-II

The second day of the Idukki trip started with a round table conference munching biscuits and drinking tea, at a place overlooking a vast valley. Blue sky was on view, so were white clouds floating over the greenery. Right when we started our journey for the day, the rain clouds came on view. Infact, this was a story which repeated all through the trip, rain while riding and those occasional dry spells when we got down at some place. The breakfast was also the same on the two days, that typical mouth watering kerala combination of appam and egg curry, the only difference being one was super good and the second one was not that good.

the round table conference(chaaya kudichittu biscuit thinnano biscuit thinnitto chaaya kudikkano)

laughter from the heart

nalacharitham aattakatha

With the idukki dam tragedy behind us(open only on onam/christmad), we reached kulamaavu dam, over which the main road passes. The dam was covered in mist, with only the starting point visible from a distance. As I got down to click with the car parked on top of the dam, I heard the whistle blowing from behind. It seems you are not supposed to get down on top of the dam and the guards were getting ready to prosecute us. We sped on and the next hour was spent looking for a kallu shaap(toddy shop) which serves (SLURP!!!) kappa(tapioca) and beef(yea, take that you anti-beef idiots!). As our luck would have it, either we stopped at a toddy shop with no food or a hotel with no toddy. On a downhill path, one of us spotted a toddy shop board. Sudden break, reverse. The shop owner came outside and began guiding us to the 'parking lot'- "aaa poratte, porattee...(come on, come on)". Slowly we parked, opened our doors, took a look at the shop, closed the doors and left without a word. The look on the face of the shop owner and the drinkers inside was priceless. The reason for leaving? Nothing! :P Another feature of the winding roads was the jewellery and textile shop ADs placed right at the hairpin bend. Some of them were indeed good enough to stop one's breath, like the one featuring malayalam actress Bhavana in an yet unseen poses![winks] And then there was this jewellery called "kandirikkal jewellers"[roughly translated as 'sit and watch' jewellers]! Sit and watch what?, that is the million dollar question.

We were riding through a forest path when suddenly one among us had an idea-"a photo in this setting will look good!" We got out and was excited to see thick greenery stretching a bit downhill. We decided to 'explore'. We didn't walk much over the wet dry leaves when I had this sudden thought of there being leeches. The moment I mentioned it, Ajith, the army man and the 'bravest' of the lot, let out a scream..."athe, attaaa![yes, Leeeeech]". Within seconds everyone was on the road near the car. All of us except me had a good collection of atleast 2-3 leeches each. My collection was discovered much later inside the car and brave me let out this huge cry of horror!

kulamaavu dam covered in mist in the afternoon

the leech attack

The highlight of the day was the trip to 'Ilaveezhapoonchira'[valley without any leaves]. The leaves doesnt fall on this hills because there are no trees at the top. Just a lush green hilltop filled with grass(the one which cows eat). It is located very close to thodupuzha. On the idukki-thodupuzha road, you need to take a left turn after kaanjaar. The road winds up with sharp curves and steep slopes for about 9 km from the main road. Then you've to get down and walk for about 1.5 KMs if you don't have an off roader. Its a fun climb with the scenery all around and the light winds cooling you in between. There's a lone rest house near the hilltop. The hilltop is the closest you'll ever come to heaven! There are a hundred small and big hill locks stretching on all four sides. Watching the subdued sunset in the slight drizzle was a treat. This is an unmissable place for anyone going anywhere near idukki or thodupuzha.

the guest house near the hilltop at ilaveezhapoonchira

view from the top at Ilaveezhapoonchira

And then we started the group shots

Hence proved:An umbrella can hold four people

the walk back

Idukki in Rain-I

The easter weekend was a good excuse for a getaway to Idukki with college friends. The hill range district is the home of Kerala's major hydroelectric power stations. Narrow roads winding up through lush green tea estates are the hallmark of this place. And, the slight drizzle and the occasional heavy downpour all through the two days made the place look even more beautiful.

At Parunthumpara(eagle rock), we were given a crash course on the formation of rain clouds and the onset of rain. As we stood there on the top of parunthumpara, we could see clouds black forming on top of a hill far away. Before long, we could see the white sprays of rain falling on the hills. Later, we saw the rain spreading towards parunthumpara...and then, it was time to RUN!

view from parunthumpara. check the rain fall in the V-part of the hills.

the downpour

dark clouds and heavy rains(extreme left)

As we drove down further, we saw a mammoth tea estate. I got down to click as they went further with the car to explore. And, then I felt heavy droplets falling on top of me. I could see the car at the other side of the estate. All I could do was jump up and show gestures for them to come back. Then I saw an old man running up the hill through the plantations, with an umbrella. He happily provided me shade until the guys got back. He happened to be a worker at the planatations. Sometimes strangers help you in the most unexpected of ways...As I talked to him and then thanked him, I forgot the most important part, clicking him!

the tea estate where I met the old man

the long and winding roads...

Some more scenes from near the idukki dam. A fun fact about the idukki dam is that it opens to the public only during onam and christmas. At first I thought, the resort guy was joking when he told this. We learned it the hard way by driving all the way to the dam :P

somewhere on the roadside...

shot at 2PM in the afternoon :D

Who will end Endosulfan?

A baby with an abnormally large head, people with deformed faces and deformed limbs, kids walking in crutches, bleeding skins, braindead souls...No, these are not scenes from one of those thousands of hollywood movies depicting death and destruction. Nor are these scenes from an affected village near a nuclear plant. These are scenes that will greet you in many of the villages in Kasargod, a district in Kerala. And the culprit? Endosulfan, an aptly named insecticide which was sprayed over these villages to protect the cashew saplings planted by the plantation board. The spraying over a long period of time contaminated these villages(Muliyar,Padre,cheemeni,bovikanam etc.) to such an extent that there's none around who is not affected with one disease or the other. The variety of diseases is alarming-from simple body pain to cancer, epilepsy and cerebral palsy. Many of the new borns are mentally unstable or deformed at birth. The depth of the horror is such that women in these areas are resorting to abortions to prevent giving birth to stillborns and mentally retarted babies. Besides humans, the chemical also resulted in the death of fishes and other livestock. The poor villagers at first thought all this was caused due to the displeasure of the Gods. All this changed at the end of the 90s when a group of committed individuals like Dr.Mohana Kumar and farmer Sri Padre found out the real reason behind this, spraying of endosulfan in these areas over a period of two decades. This touching photojournalistic work by mathrubhumi photographer Madhuraj throws light on this huge tragedy.

one of the victims of endosulfan(Kasargod,Kerala)

So, reading all that, what will you naturally expect? That this insecticide is already banned in India and the ones behind this behind bars? If you think so, its time to wake up and take in the reality of the new shining capitalist India. Right now, its banned only in Kerala and Karnataka, which the state govts did in their own capacity. But, at the same time there are some high profile govt agents batting for 'endosulfan'. Union minister for agriculture Mr.Sharad Pawar makes the expected appearance at the top of that shameful list of individuals. Few months back, he had told the Parliament that several states and farmers had written to him asking him not to ban endosulfan because it will affect their livelihood. But, earlier this month an RTI application by a journalist revealed that not a single state wrote to the centre against the ban. And the 6 letters recieved by the centre were all from organisations supporting endosulfan. This single incident reveals the vested interests at play here. The surprising thing in the whole episode is that its the govt owned Hindustan insecticides limited that manufactures Endosulfan in India. And, Pawar even made a statement blaming the lack of intelligence of the farmers, who 'doesn't know how to use the insecticide'. Remember, this is an insecticide banned in over 60 countries worldwide. Another high profile supporter of endosulfan is K.V.Thomas, minister of state for agriculture, who recieved a lot of flak for his speeches citing 'lack of evidence' against endosulfan. There's a big lobby at play behind the stage, including Pesticide Manufacturers and Formulators Association of India (PMFAI) and Endosulfan Manufactures & Formulators Welfare Association (EMFWA). They've spread this opinion that banning endosulfan will is against the interests of poor farmers in India as its the cheapest insecticide available in the market. They've cleverly suppressed the fact that there are cheaper alternatives available with none of these horrible side effects.

a man with deformed limbs, thanks to endosulfan

The Stockholm convention is an international treaty that aims to eliminate persistent organic pollutants(source-wikipedia), the ones which are resistant to environmental degradation. The latest meeting of this convention took place yesterday(April 25th). There's been calls from all over to the central govt to support the banning of endosulfan at stockholm. Kerala chief minister V.S.Achuthanandan went on a fast yesterday asking for the ban. The centre made its intentions clear at the outset with various ministers voicing opinions that it won't be banned all over the country. The point they made is the 'lack of scientific evidence' to prove that its endosulfan that caused the diseases in various parts of Kerala and Karnataka. And, this is at a time when there are more than 20 studies available worldwide on the ill effects of endosulfan. Even Jairam Ramesh(known for his occasionally tough stand to suppport the enviornment) washed his hands off. And as expected, at the stockholm convention yesterday, India opposed the banning of Endosulfan as a representative of the Asia pacafic region. The draft statement is availabale here. You can see statements like "Significant adverse health and environmental effects of Endosulfan is not established", "The fact that sustainable economic and social development andreadication of poverty are the first and overriding priorities of the developing country.Parties will be taken fully into account, giving due consderation to the need for protectionof human health and the environment.” Yes, our leaders have betrayed us again. India's plan was atleast to get the ban delayed, because the next stockholm convention takes place only in 2013. Our country's conduct in the world stage is beginning to look more like that of US these days, pandering to the whims and fancies of corporations and forgetting the common man.

For every Kalmadi and Raja arrested, we have 100 others like them still sitting firm in the ministerial chairs. Corruption doesnt mean just big money siphoned off in big scams. It also involves cases like these where there's a clear case of vested interests at play. Only this time, the devilishness of that self interest puts the life of thousands in jeopardy. As those kids walk on crutches, as the baby with that big overgrown head cries out in pain, as the adult man comes to terms with his kiddish intelligence, the greedy ilk does a death dance over their head with their own deafness and blindness to the plight of those suffering thousands. The brashness, the deafness and the cold bloodedness point to a rot in this system, which needs some serious cleaning, morally and literally.

What more proof they need to ban this? How many more deaths do we want? How many more should be deformed?