2014 : Year in review

Looks like it'll be another quiet new year's eve for me. Either all my friends are doing the same, or I have no friends at all.

Might as well use this time to reflect on some highlights from 2014.

- The year started at the hills of Marredumilli in Andhra Pradesh, to light music, stories and a bonfire.

- The first two months, I did a lot of street photography and got some great street portraits, a lot of which I posted to a new blog. Some I printed in a flip book.

- Shifted music preference from commercial trance to ambient/downtempo/space.

- Eid. Good times.

- Goa. The second trip was a mixed bag. A couple of highlights: Curlies and getting bone-drenched at Baga beach.

- My camera collection grew to a sizable 110! Had to sell off a couple of gems though.

- After watching a viral video of a man giving random people 1000 rupee bills, I did the same to an old man at a nearby bus stop. He's been selling socks for 10 rupees a piece for over a decade now.

- Now I've pledged to support the community by way of donations and service. All thanks to Dad for this.

- After a long time in the supposed "comfort zone", I finally quit my job at Deloitte to take up a position at Bank of Am as Senior Software Engineer.

- It's too early to say if I made a good call. Initial impressions suggest otherwise.

- And oh, I also made my first international travel trip to the beautiful country of UAE. Dubai more than lived up to its reputation as a world class city.

Was also blown away by the culture and the state of law and order there.

It'll be 2015 in an hour from now. Here's wishing for new learning, new opportunities... and most important of all, more peace in the world.

Some sketches from 2014

Movie quotes: Whitnail & I

The following quote from the movie 'Whitnail & I' is one of my favourite scenes from a movie. My other favourite from Bladerunner also happens to be a monologue too. There's even rain!

My collection in one minute

Was passing time with the Minolta macro lens yesterday and did a quick photoshoot with my camera collection.

Below is a collage of just the range finders.

Retro Goodness! Sanyo Music Center

 

I recently acquired what I thought was a working record player. Because what's cooler than having a  retro record player at home!

Meet Sanyo Music Center. Complete with a record player, casette player and 3-band radio- all in one!

Sadly none of them work. The circuitry has gone kaput and it will need a trip to the able hands over at Mahboob Radio Service in Old city to get it working. 

The record player is a challenge as the Needle may need replacement and spares are VERY hard to find.

Fingers crossed.

Some more random sketches. Still working on curves!

Auto ride from an SJ4000!

Not all Teachers are the same!

This Teacher's day, I'll take the opportunity to wish those gurus who made my life better by being evil.

- The guy with the flute and the SLR. Rude, crude and the only teacher ever to have hit me (real hard), this teacher gets some credit for igniting my interest in photography. As a teacher though...well, he sucked.

- The one with the whistle around his neck. I don't know if all PT teachers are like this but I'm yet to see a more egoistic, outright obnoxious personality in a school. On the positive side, I did learn to go to school in time.

Most other teachers from my school are role models in their fields and need a full blog post. God bless them all!

Goa 2014

Another Goa trip...this time the experience was completely different!

Pics first....text I'll update later :-p