ECR ADVENTURE!!!

The mood was dropping down to a new low cos noone was interested in the first place.Only me n rahul were jumping up and down about this trip.The prodigal Roommate MR.RAJU was not in a mood to get up from his bed.He was in two minds all the time about it i suppose.Then came the model rahul... exactly asi had suspected after the fixed time.After deciding up,v both started alone for the ride.The Santro zoomed off ... leaving the Chennai city to trail behind far... on the ECR...Jus then i got the Message from Anu about my cd's n she had called me GOOD at the camera...that was some motivation for the day... right when i wanted.Don know how it happens all the time...but it happens with her.But ....

I had bought KISNA the day before.All the songs were not good.But some of them were in the ok range.Anyways i bought it...so it ought to be nice.But the title song.. kept reminding me of my personal life... the state it is in now... walking on a wall wihtout knowing which side is safe to jump.Listening to it... i tried to concentrate on the matter at hand.The mission had to go well.Never mind who were coming or not coming.So i tried to concentrate and bring in some ideas and tricks to work upon my Canon EOS.Sadly i had bought it very early and then Digital EOS was costing a fortune in the standards of a College Student.

Doing the thinking on one side and talking to my model of the day rahul,we were racing thro the road at blistering speed.the guy was in the shoes of Schumacher... watching the tachometer rather than the road... occasionally shouting 100...110...120...130... i was a bit terrified about it cos u never know when u would encounter a person crossing that road from the small lanes not visible from the speeding car to the sides.

Soon we stopped at MAyAJAAL,jus to have a sneek peak at the CCA Cup of my company..the finals were going on.It was the worst mistake i can do on a bright sunny day..that too with a mood set for working out on the coastal region as a shutterbug!!! they were playing something...called cricket.couldnot recognize it for a long time... The whole batting team except the 2 batsmen was standing right next to the pitch..CHEERIN UP THE batswomen!!!Girls are girls!!!i pulled rahul out of the place as soon as we got in and went back to the car to continue our trip back on the SCENIC ECR!!!

I was framing the shots in my overworked brain which could think nothing much other than COBOL n JCL's.It was too slow process by any standards.i jus could not get back from the hibernation.i had handled the EOS 300 before this in Goa...some 8 months back.By the time we had crossed Mahabalipuram and then got into much scenic ECR passing thro the paddy fields and small villages.The environment had suddenly gone rustic and this was doing some good for the thinking of the shots.

Soon we had crossed Kalpakkam with the Reactors passing out in the window.We had come more than what we wanted to so decided to turn back.I had figured it out that beyond that point the road is gonna be the same.There were no beaches for atleast some 20 - 30 kms and after that we would be in Pondicherry.That would be useless as almost all the beaches on this marina stretch looked alike.

So i decided to start of with a shot in front of the marker with the distance of various places on that road.I was positioning my camera to get an auto shot of both of us below the board when rahul suddenly jumped.He had locked the car with the keys inside.The worst thing was he was doind it for the second time.First was atleast in the civilised area nearby Hyundai showroom came to the rescue for 160 bucks.But now we were stranded in the middle of no where.we saw a couple of shops nearby.Rahul went to ask abt the mechanic and got the info that there was one some 4 kms back near the bridge... he started joggin back towards the bridge while i was standing there guarding the car...helplessly watching my mobile on the dash!!!!

Then i crossed the road took a shot of a serene pathway with coconut trees lining up on both sides.Then when i was crossing the road i noticed a small snake trying to cross the road.But before it crossed half of it,a speeding truck went over it.I dint c the remains of the snake after that.Probably the hot rubber tyres took it with them...When i was searching on the road for the caucus of the poor snake,a huge truck was coming towards me.i jumped to the side of the road to get nito safety.But the truck slowed down and stopped some 2 feet b4 me... Rahul had got the help from some truck driver..nice guy actually...he got into action trying to break the windows of the santro with a screwdriver.I dint like that idea of it.

i started walking towards that shop where rahul ahd got info about the mechanic shop.I suddenly saw a welding shop and the first thing that came into my mind was the metal ruler.I went in and asked the owner for a scale,borrowed it and went back to the car.The truck driver was still trying hard to pull down the glass.Then using his expertise in picking car's rahul made a clean hit on the first time and voila!!! opened the car...i was a bit relieved.Then we turned back after returning the ruler in the shop.

The first stop on the way back was in the paddy fields... it was huge... stretching on both the sides.took some shots but not that great.The sunlight was too bright and spoiled the coloring...i adjusted the aperture but i don think i wud 've got it right.Then had a miscalculated shot when we both tried an auto shot in front of the camera.Man that is what i hate the most.Wasting snaps.Ive always had this mantra going on b4 taking a shot...do it to the perfection or never do it..but lost it already....

The next stop was on road leading into kalpakkam.Nice field this one.Was lucky enough with the flourescent green caterpillar on the green leaves.The toad was in a very mischievious mood yesterday.It was jumping to my left and right all the time... but not standing at one place.Probably it was a PALAYA PANJAANGAM type of toad... shy of the camera,i suppose.Then some shots of lonely trees and rahul the model went into the camera...before leaving from kalpakkam.

The next stop was on a bridge near mahabalipuram.I had noticed some white webby salt deposits on the way.Thought of taking some close up shots of those.So the biggest task was to do some rock climbing under the bridge.It was some 20 feet high.But no holdings at all.I was finding it a tough time to climb down with the camera.Then rahul deivised a way out of it.He went down using the path of some barren rocks and the pillars os the bridge as support.Then i followed suit holging the camera,closing the eyes and following rahul's instructions to find the holds while climbing down.Finally i made it.

The white spooky salt deposits were too good.I jus cant wait to c it in print.Then we had a few friends visting that place.A indian some lizard .. i forgot the name.. appeared out of nowhere and was standing guard of what it is supposed to be its nest.That was too good for my camera.I could not resist bending down too much.I was afraid i wud scare the little thing away.But it was standing there without moving a cm...i got my shot and left it in peace and went back... then had some fun shots near the dried up waterbody.and one over the bridge near the car and started back.

The next stop was on the beach somewhere in between kovalam and mamallapuram.Took some shots that i could think of.I liked one shot there.Want to c the result of that too.Then started back... i was driving for quite some distance.Rahul was holdng the wheels teaching me how to do some better driving for i never tried and improved my driving from the basic levels.Should improve it to the next level soon.

Then we went to the cricket stadium again.Rahul has this never say die spirit.Always tries to the max.I completely lost hope after the early morning show.This time it was the guys.Match was not that good.But i saw the jutting jaw girl there.She had played in some team today morning.I was wishing that Anu was there to get me an intro.Then msged her abt it... never expecting a reply.. as that is always the good old golden rule.All this walking on the beach n rock climbing had made both of us very hungry.We gobbled down the burgers at the new Marrybrown joint on the ECR and then went home directly.

I tried some shots from the terrace of my building.It has some beautiful arches and semi's that make a good subject for modern art kind of unclear photographs.Then roamed abt till evening there.Then tried some trick shots at 6... with the dusk on the background...then came down and msgd Anu by mistake.Then it started out as a conversation.Then i slept for quite sometime.Then got a message when i was about to crash into the dream world... feeling a bit happy icalled up Anu hoping tat she would be on her way back from TCo to Kilpauk.But no...that idiot had gone outsomewhere and came back...i was disappointed.But she was full of energy .. and something was strange about her yesterday.I like it a lot but.Deep probing questions of the things that i was not sure of in the first place.

Then went to sleep,had an impossible dream and got up.And after that never slept for the night.Doing the crazy stuff to put myself back into sleep,but ended up thinking about Anu and then after sometime about finishing off my roll soon.By the time i realised it was late to goto bed... time was 730... so had no choice other than getting ready for the office...the boring idiot box.. infront of which i am sitting till now for the past 8 hours!!!!ADIOS GUYS... see u soon with the snaps soon!!!