Ghumakkar's Diary

So, I couldn’t make to Bisons’ first ride today. All very thanks to an upset stomach, and a bad food course I had near weekend. Nevertheless, I had a small ride of few 10s kilometers last Sunday that not only helped me to scratch the ride’itch but also gave an opportunity to get some fresh pictures for this Smiley Saturdays section. To get more of fresh pictures, I would be posting alternate Saturdays from now on; or if get plenty of Smile, it would be on every other Saturday! :) This guy is Moin. He takes care of the mazars at a hill near Mumbra ; and lives there in a hut-sort of establishment made up of steel sheets, more or less like the one we generally see in Mumbai slums. With my camera, he thought me being someone from Newspapers. When cleared, he as shy enough to give me a pose to snap. Then what he gave me should be called as a Divine Smile , that I wish everybody should be blessed with. Though it was certainly posed for a click, I felt the serenity and genuin...

What’s the highest intensity of itch you have ever tolerated? Well, it actually depends on the person; some just can’t survive it a day, others have mastered the art of living with it forever. I had this itch of riding for last few weeks. After multi-unsuccessful attempts to ride on a Sunday with friends, last Sunday was the ultimately the savior. All I need a little scratch, if not a long ride. I had had a plan to visit the Global Vipassana Pagoda at Gorai. While preparing for the ride, I remembered a picturesque spot about which Abhimanyu , my unofficial photography guru, told. This spot is somewhere near Mumbra. So, I decided to first visit this place, have some snaps and then ride back/ahead towards Gorai for some 50km a side ride. It certainly was an unplanned plan; and I was really happy to be on such a subtle ride. View Larger Map I started at about 11:30 and took Belapur-Thane Highway, and at Kolwa, took the NH 4 towards Mumbra. On the way I gave lift to a roa...

With a week that I would love to count as one of the weeks I never lived, I really have been thinking to start posting Smiles every alternate week. Things that should not have happened in my Mumbai last week, coupled with a week’s life that I had, posting a smile was certainly a distant thought for me. In addition to all these adversaries, inability to get on to a ride was another factor restricting me to post the scheduled smile. But as the week approached its end, as the life in the Metro start breathing again, with a state of no-relief I checked my blogger stats and found a constant number of visitors visiting my page, that too without a lot social-networking efforts . In fact on the brighter side of tunnel my page also earned its first Google PageRank . That surely brought a smile, howsoever faint though, on my face . This week I’m again posting my niece’s smile. Especial about this one is its simplicity . I took these snaps way back in 2006 with my first digital camera, it...

With each passing week, the itch of a good ride is getting more severe. Alas, when the Mumbai Monsoon is at its best, I have nowhere to go! Blame it to poor-lazy me’being, no partner to ride with or whatever, truth is that I’m dying for a good rain-ride! So when there are no rides, there’s no ride-tale either. Smiles appear to be the only savior for my blog-writing. But, difficult is to accept the fact that the wish to Click a new Smile and post it on Saturday is still to realize ; all I’m able to post are the smile from my database. Today, I’m posting my roommates smile that I clicked at Malshej Ghat last year. It was done on Canon Powesrshot A3100 without flash and of course on Auto settings. My roommate, a naturally artificial pose at Malshej As the week is ending, I'm waiting for the next to bring some surprise ride....surprises are what I really love! Be it a ride, or a Smile! :)

With another No-ride week in this sexy Mumbaiya Monsoon, I am actually started feeling some rust over my shoulders. No ride means no trip stories, and also no new photograph. Last month I was able to publish more than my regular quota of posts because of this new series . It not only provided me a reason to post regularly, but also to get on the streets for photographs too; feeding both of my novice hobbies. Faking a smile is the worst thing I feel to do, but isn’t it one of the most sought after emotional mask we the poor people need. This time I’m posting an artificial smile, a smile that has been fried to get into the perfect taste (shape).  Tasty Potato-Smileys at Nichole's Cafe, RCP I clicked this picture through the 5MP lens of Motorola Defy, and edited for brightness, contrast etc on Photoshop. Order and shot were both on my colleague Abhishek Mukherjee's suggestion.

Interestingly, I’m publishing this post on the time when probably the whole World is riding on the wave of Google+; and, rather entertainingly I am well included in this World! Months back, a realization occurred to me when an email popped up into my Inbox. To: Punit Subject: orkut - Mr X. has left you a new Scrap! Body: Mr X.: You have received a scrap from your friend Mr X. “Hapy Bday dear” View your scrapbook l view mr X.’s profile -           Stop sending my emails -           Change my email options -           Help Center I was something , in some state that can’t be actually described by terms like amazed, shocked, shattered, sad etc. I wasn’t ready to understand what’s happening? Mr. X has been a very close mate, amongst my best friends, for last 5years; and on my best day what I received from him was just a Scrap, not even an SMS, call wou...