Train to Udhampur

It was one of those days when you make the decisions in the spurt of moment.
Dr. Manish Singh suggested that we make this day worthwhile & make a trip to Udhampur by train.
Udahmpur is a small town nestled amidst the trikuta hills in the state of J&K & is 56kms by train from jammu with journey taking 1 hr 40 min.
Govt. of India took a bold step in deciding to extend the railway line to udhampur & ultimately to the summer capital of the sate, Srinagar. I wrote bold because the track would pass from a very hostile terrain & would require world-class engineering.

(mountainous terrain - a lonely hut)

The train started chugging in 2005 & this was my first but not the last trip on this train. I got my beloved D70 from home in the anticipation of great shots during the trip but all plans were foiled by the RPF Personnel.
To believe what has already been written about the picturesque journey it is, one really has to make this 11/2 hrs trip. The change of topography is breath taking & amazing. From the concrete jungle it’s sudden onslaught of lush green mountains (being monsoons) & the river Tawi flowing right besides you almost through out the whole journey.

(lush green cover)

(river tawi)

(river tawi - upstream)

(Acharya Shree Chander College of Medical Sciences & Hospital)

We soon passed right below ASCOMS, the hospital & college & soon after shot this small waterfall.

We spent whole of the journey in the door well & it was worth doing so. My advice to a person who loves landscapes: - Make sure that you spend whole of journey in the door well only.
On reaching udhampur station we found that it is surrounded by mountains on all the sides that were at that moment covered with clouds, a breath taking view to hold in your mind forever.

Udhampur is not of very big importance but is of extremely important from strategic point of view. No details please, I could find myself behind bars.

Return journey was also spent in the door well.

Something about the Train:- It has two engines on both the ends working in synchronization to make the ascent of almost 330m from jammu to udhampur.

Dr. Manish Singh, Dr. Devinder Pal Singh & Yours truly made the journey on 8th August, 2006.

colors, farben, colores, couleurs, colori

clouds, wolken, nubes, nuages, nubi

crack, sprung, grieta, fente, crepa

compare, vergleichen, comparar, confrontare

on top of the world

cloud cover

in the fog

monkey buisness

speeding

species 3

courtship

on my visit to ranganthettu (bird sanctuary) near bangalore. well the birds were cuddling and looked very pretty. shot at an aperture of f7.1 & exposure of 1/640 seconds.

hideeeeeee

sinful

sitting in barista & having the mouthful of the delicacy, thought of taking a photograph of what i'm eating. shot at f 5.6 & 1/125 seconds the photograph turned out to be really nice.

afternoon siesta on lazy sunday afternoon

will it, won't it.................

shot with the 105mm micro lens. aperture f10 & exposure 1/5 seconds.

silhouette

again at about 2 in the morning. aperture at 5.6 & exposure of 20 seconds. the road is awashed with light which is coming from the light bulb on the pillar of the opposite house. i think this photograph will be a prized possession of mine.

lonely at night

in the dead of the night at around 2 in the morning this was shot. with practically no light the aperture was wide open at 5.6 & the exposure time was 30 seconds.......

the bow

it's bath time

among the buds........

F1 set to rock……

On the 2nd Sunday of march the formula 1 circuit will again be set ablaze after the short or for some people long hiatus of the winter break. The babes standing right in front of the cars are the sight to behold & of course the accelerating heart beat with the lighting of the 5 red lights one by one & then the GREEN. The sweetest music of all to the ears is when the drivers rev up the engines. Who can be left untouched by this most glamorous sport of all.

The Ferraris, maclerans, Renaults, Hondas & all other are going to be there racing each other out on the Sunday afternoon.

With all new qualifying format, new engines & new rules, it would be a great thrill again to be in front of the tv (idiot box for some) for about two & half hours on Sunday & watch cars zoom by the cameras for the ultimate glory. (I cannot afford as of now to go to the racing venue.)
Last year Fernando alonso became the youngest world champion at the age of 24 years & has been dubbed as the rightful successor to the all time great Michael Schumacher but this year is going to be a different ball game all together for everybody. I’m not an expert of the game but I do know that this year is definitely be going to be different from the last & we might again be blessed enough to see the schumi’s magic again.

With racing season long, running into October it’s a long wait to see the champion both driver & constructor. But it’s one wait I never ever complain of. It’s going to be a promising & thrilling season.

"fire"

Are we all familiar with the global warming?? I’m sure whosoever is reading this blog would be.
Every year all over the world the forest fires burn a hole in the tiny little forests we are left with. Whether the fires are due to natural causes like lightening accompanied with the hot sweltering temperatures or the man made like the burning matchstick or most often than not the left over smoldering cigarette butt. These fires can sometimes be due to the handiwork of the pyromaniacs (people who have the compulsive disorder of burning fires).
So whatever be the reason behind these fires they definitely burn a hole in the earth’s lungs.

I have seen few of the fires myself & I can tell it’s living burning hell.

The above photo was shot in the month of June 2005 at 8 pm in the evening. It was shot in the shutter priority mode with the exposure of 10 seconds & aperture at f8.

"indian railways"
Ok the photo says for itself. “THE INDIAN RAILWAYS”.
World’s largest, biggest & for sure the heaviest employer. More than 1.6 million (16 lakhs) employees, largest number of passenger traffic in the world. It’s no small feet. We all travel by the Indian railways quite often, but have we ever thought about this organization? Give it a thought & let me know what you think.

vaishno devi


This is the photograph of the tracks both old & new shot by me from my rooftop. Weather being clear gave me the opportunity to shoot some good photos. Of all the photos this is the one I liked most. Shot at focal length of 300mm, aperture at f5.6 & exposure time of 30 seconds resulted in this magnificent photo. Hope you all like it.
For those who would like to go into the details of things like history, how to reach e.t.c. follow the link………..

http://maavaishnodevi.org/new1/index.html

A: f5.6, E: 1/5oos

A: f5.6. E: 1/200s

A: f5.6, E:1/100s



Didn’t feel like doing anything so thought of using my poor camera, went upstairs & shot some photographs of our beloved moon on different days. All the photos are shot with the 300 mm lens with the focal length of 300 mm and aperture f5.6 & various exposure time. Camera was on the tripod but using the exposure, which I used, tripod was not required but still, as I have made it a habit of using it so I used.
I was fascinated to see the clarity with which craters are visible & if I had a super zoom lens of 500mm or 1000mm the photos would have been mind-boggling. Seeing the results, my next investment would be a super zoom lens or a teleconverter.
In the full moon photos a spot is visible from which the lines are radiating out; what exactly is it, I’m not sure. Somebody out there might like to comment.

this photo was shot in the evening of the festival of the light "diwali".

the exposure was 2 seconds and was taken handheld, hence the effect.