Picturejockey http://www.picturejockey.com/ Life through the eyes of my camera. Updated daily, this site has the images that try to see ordinary things in a little extraordinary way en-us navinh@gmail.com 2005-07-12T11:59:23+05:30 hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 Soaking in the rain http://www.picturejockey.com/pblog/2009/7/crow-rain.html <img src="http://www.picturejockey.com/pblog/2009/7/t/crow-rain.jpg">I have never been able to figure out the reason behind this but I have seen crows sitting at the highest possible place on a tree when it pours. They are not very keen on getting wet as can be seen by the body language of this crow but still instead of finding shade, they find the highest branch of a tree or the roof top of buildings. Is this some sort of a dare?

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]]> http://www.picturejockey.com/pblog/2009/7/crow-rain.html photo blog gallery photography 2009-07-03T12:47:00+05:30 This is it - RIP Michael Jackson http://www.picturejockey.com/pblog/2009/7/michael-jackson.html <img src="http://www.picturejockey.com/pblog/2009/7/t/michael-jackson.jpg">On 26th June, I don't know why I mentioned the name of Michael Jackson and my colleague told me very casually that he has died. I had to ask him to repeat it to understand we were both talking about the same person and then I did a search on Google before I finally accepted that Michael Jackson has died.

There are news about him in the papers till today but I guess this shouldn't surprise anyone, we never let such celebrities to stay out of news for long. Even now there are a lot of people who think Elvis is alive or he was abducted by aliens; a few days ago I read the news about a book on Jimi Hendrix that claimed he was killed by his manager. I waited till today to post this to ensure that he is really dead and all of this is not a publicity gimmick.

A lot has been written about him since his death so I don't want to write anything more. He is dead but like most celebrities he is more alive today than he ever was.

Strange coincidence

When I read the news of Michael Jackson's death in the paper, what struck me is the fact that he shares his birthday with my childhood friend Nitesh and he died on my birthday last month.

This is a sketch of Michael Jackson I made way back in 1988.

]]> http://www.picturejockey.com/pblog/2009/7/michael-jackson.html photo blog gallery photography 2009-07-02T15:16:00+05:30 So far...so close http://www.picturejockey.com/pblog/2009/6/tuborg-twin-5.html <img src="http://www.picturejockey.com/pblog/2009/6/t/tuborg-twin-5.jpg">Most of the pictures I post on this blog are 4X3 unless it is a panoramic shot. When I have taken a lot of images of something, I work with the process of elimination, First I select the best from the similar looking images, then I start selecting the best looking among them and start posting them on Picturejockey and when I feel I have posted enough here, I post the rest on Flickr. So while I was optimising the short listed images, I saw this one and this was about to go in the rejects list till I decided to crops it like this. What is your take on this irregular size?

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]]> http://www.picturejockey.com/pblog/2009/6/tuborg-twin-5.html photo blog gallery photography 2009-06-30T17:42:00+05:30 Tuborg Green http://www.picturejockey.com/pblog/2009/6/tuborg-beer-2.html <img src="http://www.picturejockey.com/pblog/2009/6/t/tuborg-beer-2.jpg">The bottle is green, the reflection is also green and the beer is called green. I am wondering if the colour of the beer can also be made green and I am sure it can be. When the colour of a cola can be made different without changing the taste, beer shouldn't be any different. I am wondering about the acceptability of the same. Will you drink beer that is green?

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]]> http://www.picturejockey.com/pblog/2009/6/tuborg-beer-2.html photo blog gallery photography 2009-06-29T12:14:00+05:30 Older. Hopefully wiser too http://www.picturejockey.com/pblog/2009/6/tuborg-beer-5a.html <img src="http://www.picturejockey.com/pblog/2009/6/t/tuborg-beer-5a.jpg">Yesterday I finished yet another year of my life. I choose to stay at home. It sounds a little childish to take a leave on your birthday but I was not in a mood to go through the sub-human routine of train and rickshaw. Manu, on the other hand, went to school. I felt it was unfair to send him school on his and mine birthday while I myself stay at home so I have decided that if the conditions remain the same next year too, I will go to office and to avoid the free full body massaged in the train, I will travel in a cab.

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]]> http://www.picturejockey.com/pblog/2009/6/tuborg-beer-5a.html photo blog gallery photography 2009-06-26T15:16:00+05:30 Tuborg beer http://www.picturejockey.com/pblog/2009/6/tuborg-beer.html <img src="http://www.picturejockey.com/pblog/2009/6/t/tuborg-beer.jpg">Here is another shot of Tuborg Beer. A little conventional shot as far as I am concerned but still good enough. There are some other shots too that you will see in the coming days.

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]]> http://www.picturejockey.com/pblog/2009/6/tuborg-beer.html photo blog gallery photography 2009-06-24T13:57:00+05:30 To open a beer bottle http://www.picturejockey.com/pblog/2009/6/tuborg.html <img src="http://www.picturejockey.com/pblog/2009/6/t/tuborg.jpg">Yesterday some of you wondered what a bottle of beer was doing with a write up on reservation in schools. In the past I have written about things that are not related to the image but this time you have noticed it because the text and the image were so different.

Coming back to the bottle of Tuborg that you are likely to see for the rest of the week, let me tell you about one area where India made no progress till 2009. For years beer in other countries is available with twist-to-open caps. In India we have bottle caps that require a bottle opener. You don't want to know your parents that you are drinking beer and the pubs and bars are usually beyond reach so as a part of growing up in India, you are drinking beer while you usually don't have access to a bottle opener. As a result we have invented all sorts of bottle openers that range from your teeth to your "kada" to the lock of your car door.

Tuborg is the first beer bottle in India that can be opened without any opener; just pull the tab and its open. It is too late for me, I guess teenagers of today will be thankful for it...or maybe, at that age, the experience of drinking beer is not complete without using your teeth to open a bottle.

Check back tommorow for another shot of the bottle.

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]]> http://www.picturejockey.com/pblog/2009/6/tuborg.html photo blog gallery photography 2009-06-23T16:53:00+05:30 Reservation for SSC kids http://www.picturejockey.com/pblog/2009/6/tuborg-bottle.html <img src="http://www.picturejockey.com/pblog/2009/6/t/tuborg-bottle.jpg">The government has announced a 90% reservation in Junior College (class 10) for SSC students. This means getting admission for kids from ICES, CBSE and other boards has become very difficult. Manu's school is affiliated to ICSE board so 11 years down the line, life is going to get tough for us. I hope I will not be in Bombay after 11 years but my hopes and wishes mean nothing. If they did, I would be out of here a very long time ago.

Till this morning I disliked people like Raj and Bal Thackeray. After reading this news, I feel it won't be inappropriate if I vote for them in the coming elections. The Congress government has taken this step keeping in mind the elections. Both Raj Thackeray and Congress are oppressing one part of the community at least Raj is not trying to disguise his dislike by trying to dress his actions as public benefit like Congress is.

Just like most kids study with the objective of passing an exam and not really to gain knowledge, the political parties make policies with the objective of winning elections and not for the good of people. Earlier it was all hidden but now it is in open. It is appalling that we don't find this mentality appalling.

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]]> http://www.picturejockey.com/pblog/2009/6/tuborg-bottle.html photo blog gallery photography 2009-06-22T11:43:00+05:30 The slowest in the Group http://www.picturejockey.com/pblog/2009/6/sleeping-buffalo.html <img src="http://www.picturejockey.com/pblog/2009/6/t/sleeping-buffalo.jpg">If you walk in a group, you can walk only as fast as the slowest member in that group. This may be great if you happen to be the slowest one but frustrating if you are among the faster ones. This system ensures that the entire group is penalized for the mistakes of a few.

Can you recall the last time you were dragged down because of the slow walkers?

]]> http://www.picturejockey.com/pblog/2009/6/sleeping-buffalo.html photo blog gallery photography 2009-06-19T16:25:00+05:30 Bees on sunflower http://www.picturejockey.com/pblog/2009/6/sunflower-bee.html <img src="http://www.picturejockey.com/pblog/2009/6/t/sunflower-bee.jpg">I saw a lot of sunflowers on my way to Chandigarh from Nangal and at one place we decided to stop to take some pictures. While taking the pictures I realised there were bees there as well. I wanted to stop for longer but was scared of the bees. A few days before this I had seen a program on National Geographic about bees. Someone had introduced African bees in North America and while the native bees would chase you for a 100m if they feel threatened, the African bees were a lot more aggressive and would chase you for more than a kilometer.

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]]> http://www.picturejockey.com/pblog/2009/6/sunflower-bee.html photo blog gallery photography 2009-06-18T13:55:00+05:30 India out of T20 World Cup and Dhoni Captain uncool http://www.picturejockey.com/pblog/2009/6/bat-ball.html <img src="http://www.picturejockey.com/pblog/2009/6/t/bat-ball.jpg">Over the past few days, whenever I watched news, I felt I am listening to Manu and his friends. The voices were of mature men but the words were of kids only. Manu gets into this bragging session with his friends some time "My dad can finish the glass of milk in one sip" and things like this. While talking about the "Team India" the news anchors were also in the same "mine is bigger than yours" pissing contest. It was sickening to hear them go on and on and on like that about the "dhurandars" in Indian team. The Indian team is out of the World Cup and what can you expect from the TV anchors with the mentality of the little kids. The exit from the world cap has been a tragedy they can't seem to overcome. Dhoni is suddenly the villain who must be thrown out suddenly the anchors will realise that he is spending way too much time in ads and other activities. Suddenly they will feel the success has not gone down well with him. Suddenly they are feeling that he has been very careless and maybe doesn't have the desire to win anymore.

Being upset with him is one thing but giving him advise in another. Even people who can't tell their crack from a deep gully are talking about how he should have arranged the field, how he should have changed the batting order and which bowler he should have selected for which over. I also get a lot of advice from people who have no understanding of what I am doing. It is often frustrating but I can find consolation in the fact that those may be the end users of the solutions we create so maybe they have a valid point. In case of Dhoni, it must be real hard.

Manu's daddy is strongest but even he is lot more understanding when his Daddy lets him down.

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]]> http://www.picturejockey.com/pblog/2009/6/bat-ball.html photo blog gallery photography 2009-06-16T15:36:00+05:30 For we are young and free http://www.picturejockey.com/pblog/2009/6/sunflower.html <img src="http://www.picturejockey.com/pblog/2009/6/t/sunflower.jpg">I have fond memories if my 3 year stay in Melbourne and even today I often ask myself how my life would have been if I had stayed back.

Back then there was Pauline Hanson and her One Nation Party that wanted to drive out the Asians but almost everybody thought she was an idiot and she never gained the popularity in active politics she wanted. Now things are different. There have been so many attacks on Indian students that it defies the very foundation of a country like Australia. In my three years stay there I met people who when asked where you from would give an answer like "Scotland", "Lebanon", Greece" or Croatia or some other country. I never came across anyone who couldn't recall if he/she himself or their parents or grandparents have come from some other part of the world. In three years I met only one person who was actually a native Australian, more commonly known as Aboriginal.

How can anyone stake claim to a country in an environment like this is beyond my understanding. Don't forget that John Batman - the founder of Melbourne also arrived there is a boat

Maybe the people who attacked the Indian students need to come to Mumbai and learn a thing or two about peaceful coexistence from Raj Thackeray

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]]> http://www.picturejockey.com/pblog/2009/6/sunflower.html photo blog gallery photography 2009-06-15T11:46:00+05:30 In bloom http://www.picturejockey.com/pblog/2009/6/chrysanthemum.html <img src="http://www.picturejockey.com/pblog/2009/6/t/chrysanthemum.jpg">This is probably one on my quickest post means. By quickest I mean soonest after midnight. It is about 90 minutes past midnight and I am posting this picture. WTF am I doing up so late? Good Question.

This flower was at the garden at Nanaksar Gurudwara, the same place where I took this sunset shot. Garden reminds me of what happened in either Delhi or Punjab. Manu's definition of garden is the 10ftX12ft play area in our building. Mira took him to a sprawling park and after a while he asked "Mom, where is the garden?"

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]]> http://www.picturejockey.com/pblog/2009/6/chrysanthemum.html photo blog gallery photography 2009-06-12T01:51:00+05:30 That's me http://www.picturejockey.com/pblog/2009/6/through-mirror.html <img src="http://www.picturejockey.com/pblog/2009/6/t/through-mirror.jpg">Today is going to be a very long day. Our agency is making a pitch. The work on it will go on till late night, then as a "show of interactive capabilities" we will be called to contribute to that pitch and we will work till 3 am. I will take a cab to reach home to a disappointed son who will not be talking to me in the morning. The rest of my team will stay overnight at the guest house or the office and will leave for home when the local trains start running again early tomorrow morning.

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]]> http://www.picturejockey.com/pblog/2009/6/through-mirror.html photo blog gallery photography 2009-06-11T12:25:00+05:30 Sunset at Nanaksar Gurudwara, Nangal, Punjab http://www.picturejockey.com/pblog/2009/6/christmas-tree-sunset.html <img src="http://www.picturejockey.com/pblog/2009/6/t/christmas-tree-sunset.jpg">Nangal is a town in Punjab famous for its Bhakra Dam. Apart from that dam, that place has religious importance too for Sikhs and it has quite a few Gurudwaras. This picture was taken at Nanaksar Gurudwara. It is a small gurudwara in very peaceful surrounding. Apart from this there is another gurudwara there called Babhor Sahib which is famous as a spot of meditation for Guru Gobind Singh. Not too far away from Nangal is Anandpur Sahib which is the place where Sikhism was founded and that also has a lot of gurudwaras with relevance to Sikh history.

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]]> http://www.picturejockey.com/pblog/2009/6/christmas-tree-sunset.html photo blog gallery photography 2009-06-10T13:06:00+05:30 Chubby Cheeks http://www.picturejockey.com/pblog/2009/6/purvi.html <img src="http://www.picturejockey.com/pblog/2009/6/t/purvi.jpg">What do you know about being helpless, about being free and yet not free enough? If I ask Mira this question the answer would be Purvi. She is my brother-in-law's daughter and the first time Mira saw her was when she was about 7 months old. I'd call myself free if I am able to share the joy and sorrow of people close to me now, not 6 months later.

]]> http://www.picturejockey.com/pblog/2009/6/purvi.html photo blog gallery photography 2009-06-09T16:16:00+05:30 Hi! I'm back http://www.picturejockey.com/pblog/2009/6/manu-photographer.html <img src="http://www.picturejockey.com/pblog/2009/6/t/manu-photographer.jpg">I have been absent for about a month now, not only from this blog but from internet altogether. I visited Delhi and Punjab in the second half of last month and have been quite busy ever since I have come back to focus on anything but work. To add to that, Picturejockey was attacked by a virus. I had to remove the online content and upload the clean offline content once again. I have not managed to upload everything but am in the process of doing so.

This image was taken on board Shatabdi Express from Chandigarh to Delhi. He has been asking for a camera and after we came back to Delhi, I gave him my old Nikon 4100. Now he wants a Nikon D-90.

If you are using Firefox browser. You may still see a warining about this site being unsafe. This site is clean now and you can click the "ignore warning" button at the bottom right.

]]> http://www.picturejockey.com/pblog/2009/6/manu-photographer.html photo blog gallery photography 2009-06-08T14:34:00+05:30 Dadasaheb Phalke Awards http://www.picturejockey.com/gallery/dadasaheb-phalke-award/introduction.html <img src="http://www.picturejockey.com/gallery/dadasaheb-phalke-award/t/sridevi-boney-kapoor.jpg"> <img src="http://www.picturejockey.com/gallery/dadasaheb-phalke-award/t/mahesh-bhatt-speaker.jpg"> <img src="http://www.picturejockey.com/gallery/dadasaheb-phalke-award/t/mahesh-himesh.jpg"> There is some virus on Picturejockey that was adding some scripts to the HTML files and the best way to get rid of the problem was to delete the entire online content. The site will be uploaded again once I ensure that the virus has been removed.

Till the time the site is back online, please enjoy the new image gallery of Dadasaheb Phalke Awards.

]]> http://www.picturejockey.com/gallery/dadasaheb-phalke-award/introduction.html photo blog gallery photography 2009-06-01T16:15:00+05:30