A Step Away From Heaven

It was a few months ago a friend had come back from the Caribbean islands and was over cloud nine over it. For about a month he went Caribbean this Caribbean that and how Goa Indian beach paradise can never compare to it ever. His logic was all Indian tourists places have temples and other religious places…. And in his opinion religion corrupts….. Be it man or nature religion corrupts every thing near it. I am not a very religious person… but I didn’t agree with his opinion on religion but derogatory comment about India touched a nerve, and why should it not?? We are such a diverse country.. we have everything be it snow capped mountains of the Himalayas or the burning desert of Thar or rain forests or pristine beaches of Goa…. (Ok fine, that last part was over the top, but I love my country and every thing it has to offer so sue me!!).     

Anyways I wanted to show him he was wrong India has many beautiful places to offer that was just as beautiful as the Caribbean, If not more beautiful. So I invited him to come with me to my trip to Gokarna, a small beach town in Karnataka reaching here is quite easy it is connected to major cities of south by road and from Mumbai it is a stop on the Mumbai Mangalore route. But I prefer the road trip as the sights on the way while travelling by the roads in the Western Ghats are heavenly…..

So we left Mumbai by road early in the morning for Gokarna. Well the sights on the way once we crossed Goa and entered the Western Ghats the sights we saw finally shut him up about how any trip India can in no way compare to his trip to the Caribbean. It was late in the night or early in the morning (depending on how you read time) we reached Gokarna. We were dead tired and no hotel was open but we did have rooms booked at Namaste café. Sun rise was about 2 hours away and so we sat on the beach under the clear starry sky. It was beautiful!! The pitch black of the sky and our surroundings gave it a solitary effect but the starry sky and the breeze took away all our weariness. Later we saw the sun rise and were greeted with a sight of biblical proportion. That was when I told him in detail about the place…. It is named after a beach which is in the shape of the cow’s ear there are two temples on this beach which are very old and have their own unique story. The mention of temples I could see made him skeptical about visiting it. And it we sensed it in him when we visited it later in the day. But what he saw was very different, a very organized and clean atmosphere that is when I started ribbing him about his comment about religion, to which he grudgingly conceded that this was not what he expected. Later during the next 5 days we spent a day each on 3 beaches of kudlee beach, om beach and gokarna beah staying in shacks and trekked to paradise beach and half-moon beach. We learned that is also called the holy beaches as 3 of the 5 beaches have religious references.

 At the end of the trip we calculated the total expense of the trip and it cost the both of us Rs10,000, i.e. 5000 a head. After enough ribbing even he accepted that this trip to what I referred to a step below heaven was almost as much fun as his trip to the Caribbean. Then he asked be why did I call Gokarna as “a step below heaven.” To which my answer was

 “NEXT STOP ANDAMAN!!!!”

The Third Eye

Camera… My third of eye.  Yes its kind of dramatic, I know, but that is the best I can describe it. It is more than an eye really as with it I am able to capture the sights I see around me and am also able to share it with many people. For all the people who want to share what they see with their friends and loved ones, a DSLR camera is the gift no less important than the fire stolen by Prometheus from the heavens.

 “A camera is a camera. Why would one want to spend nearly a lakh to buy a camera when one can get one by spending only a fraction of that sum?” some people ask. Well there are cameras and “CAMERAS” a DSLR is the later, there is no way any one can get the clarity of a DSLR in any digital point and shoot cameras nor do the point and shoot provide its user the freedom to experiment and explore….. But the factor of price cant be ignored. The expensive price of a DSLR camera is the biggest hurdle that makes the people rethink weather to buy or not buy a SLR camera and makes them choose a digital point and shoot.

      

Well man is nothing if not innovative….. With the many recent break through in camera technology canon has introduced the EOS rebel series.  Gone are the days when one had to shell out nearly a lakh to get a reasonably good camera…. The new rebel series is loaded with features…. For the people who want to seriously pursue photography but don’t want to shell out a huge amount the rebel EOS T2i 550D is an excellent choice…. It has the same compact body as other half-frame cameras from canon which enables one to operate the different features of the camera with one hand leaving the other hand for the focusing lens and giving stability to the camera it is also pretty light weighing only 475g, it has ISO that ranges from 100-12800, shutter speed of 30-1/4000 sec, and maximum aperture of 3.5. When coupled with a 18-135 lens it makes a very versatile camera and lens pair. It has a continuous shoot facility of 3.7 frames per sec helping in taking pictures of a moving target. It has 18million colors but a sensor is that of a higher camera. The biggest advantage of this camera is its ability to brilliantly clear pictures at low light. Its not as expensive as previous cameras with same features. With it costing neatly Rs 40,000 it is still expensive but also affordable, it is a very good choice for those who want to learn photography and explore the sights around them….

So people with the camera with you walk out of the stereotype broaden your vision and dream…. see the world with your third eye and share….