PlanetPills

A long awaited upgrade. Exciting times ahead.

Truly a spirituality arousing experience.

har

A view from the Kedarkantha peak. The trek is ordinarily done over 3 days with short stays at the 2 basecamps. But .xavier made us trek to the top and back, covering a distance of about 24km, while gaining an altitude of about 6000ft, at temperatures that reached below -10°C, all within 33hrs that included barely 4hr of sleep. I was forced to throw my understanding of the human physiology and the risk of pulmonary edema out of the window. I quickly realised this wasn't going to be a "beginner" level trek for me, as many others describe it.

Having made the climb through knee-deep snow while hauling my camera gear (about 12kg), this was one of the hardest activities I have managed to do (considering my inadequate fitness level), and one that left me with a complex mix of pride and humility. It was a whole new level of appreciation of the forces of nature. Like someone once said to me, "You don't climb a mountain, the mountain lets you climb it".

This experience unlocked the next level of the mind where i realised how much more the body is capable of if the mind wills it. All thanks to .xavier and the gang who motivated me to push through the resistance and venture way beyond what i thought was already out of my comfort zone.

The play between the light and shadows.
Shot near a high altitude village in Spiti that is known to be visited by the elusive Snow Leopard.

A small fraction of the second largest glacier of the Himalayas, the Bara Shigri glacier.

The rocky terrain at Chandratal.

One of the most remote human settlements I have ever witnessed. The hamlet called Mud is the starting point for many treks in the Pin Valley National Park, Himachal Pradesh.

Somewhere in the land walked by the elusive snow leopards in Spiti.

A road less traveled in the Spiti valley.

Monks chilling around the oldest continuously running monastery in the world at Tabo.

A quick stop on the Gramphu-Batal-Kaza highway, next to River Chandra, with one of the outlets of the mighty Bara Shigri glacier in the background.

Every Belgaumite's beloved backyard 😊❤️

Always a Minimalist. Love how this abstract shot turned out to be so aesthetic.

Another one from the amazing trek.

Shooting the Milkyway in my city's backyard - This has been on my mind for quite a long time. It took a lot of planning in terms of picking the right spot with as minimal light pollution as possible, a unobstructed view of the South-East horizon, clear skies, the right phase of the moon, appearance of the Galactic center, etc. With the Milkyway visible again in the Northern hemisphere since March, it was now time to put the plan into action. And it finally happened last night.

I had scouted the ideal location to shoot the Milkyway sometime last year and had been patiently waiting for March when the galactic center makes its appearance. The location was in the middle of nowhere and I was supposed to spend 3-4 hours in the dead of the night. It was a eeriely quiet place surrounded by the wilderness of the Western Ghats, on a new moon night. It was too quite. Unnerving. The moment I stopped the car, turned off the engine and headlamps, fear took over me. I realised I hadn’t thought this through. I did not want to step out of the car. I hadn’t considered this could be a problem during the planning. I remember always thinking I'd go on this mission alone with nothing to worry about. But thankfully, I wasnt alone. My friend chose to accompany me (For god knows what joy. No one chooses to join me on my stupid endevours usually!!!). So with 2 scared people giving eachother a sense of courage, we stepped out of the car.

After about an hour, when our eyes had adapted to the dark and the Galactic center was high enough over the horizon, we started to see a faint white patch spreading across the sky. It was the Milkyway visible to our naked eyes. It is something I still marvel at inspite of having seen it before. Until yesterday, all my shots of our galaxy had been from somewhere in the remoteness of the Himalayas. This was the first I shot the Milkyway in our own backyard.

I will have a couple of more good opportunities to catch the Milkyway until the monsoons arrive and wipe away any chance of seeing it again this year. Hope I get some good shots before that happens.

Simpler lives.

Andaman. Circa 2018.

Been a while since I visited this place last. Might plan a short trip soon.

Under the pier at Havelock.

The Standard (called “Carpe Diem” when we visited it), Maldives.

Somewhere in the Nubra Valley on our way to the northernmost village of India. We witnessed the rainbow, rainfall and a sandstorm in the distance, all within a matter of minutes.