Red vented bulbul - My first bird shoot

This Sunday, I woke up to the 8'o'clock sun filling the room. I was at my aunt's place at Trichy. Coming out of the house in a sombre mood, I gazed at the hibiscus blooms in the corner of the garden. Chirp chirp ... and three or four red vented bulbuls perched on the tree opposite to their house. My aunt was swift in fetching my camera and we both started watching them . The drooping bunch of yellow flowers fluttered by the bulbuls hopping between the fragile branches.

Two of them flew and perched on the fence wall. Earlier when I spotted these birds few months ago at Auroville-Pondicherry, I loved their shiny eyes and their colour. Today I consider myself lucky shooting these birds on my new camera.



PS: I got my new dslr camera last week ...canon eos-550d

The lost 8th mile...

A stretch covered by tamarind trees on both side of the road, a canal accompanies you for a couple of kilometers and banana plantations on the other side of the canal. Such a place is the 8th-mile canal bridge on the Trichy-Karur road. What I like so much about this place is the early morning mist during non-summer season. The mist engulfs the moving water and is motionless compared to the water flow. The water surface seems to be a slate of green glass before it plunges another foot deep after the bridge. The way the mist touches the flowing water is a good sight to see, slightly swirling at the edges

Usually this place, the 8th-mile canal bridge goes un-noticed when you are on the wheels and as the name goes, the inundation canal bridge is on the 8th mile towards Trichy from Kulithalai, a small town on the banks of river Kaveri. The canal swells with water during the monsoon / winter season and goes completely dry in summer.

Though the road in this section of the highway is bumpy, I eagerly look forward driving this section in the early morning hours for the sight of the 8th mile canal bridge. Ten days ago, while driving down, I thought, I missed this place, but later got to know that the whole section is now newly laid bypassing this place as a part of road-widening-project. I felt really sad missing this place this time. But I vow that the next time, I shall take the previous intersection in the highway, see this place before proceeding on. The 8th-mile might be out of the current highway, but not from my memories.

Some of my previous photo shoots @ this place are listed
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ck_selvam/2162304184/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ck_selvam/2783479438/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ck_selvam/2161486461/

Train 0627

I was returning back from my native town. My train bound for Bangalore was scheduled at 10.35 pm, Tiruchirapalli junction (Trichy for short). This was a seasonal special train. At my aunt’s place I got to know that the train was late by 40 minutes. I reached the station at around 10.15 and punched the train number 0627 in the help-kiosk. It gave me a shock: the timetable said 0627 was bound for Chennai! Later I confirmed at the help counter that this was a special train. Suddenly, the speaker announcement said the train is routed to platform-2. I proceeded toward platform-2... in the next round announcement he said platform-4. Another train bound for Rameshwaram was arriving in platform-4. This caused the confusion: the passengers were in full chaos. Later in his Hindi accented English, he informed it to be platform-3. From then on, he kept sticking to platform-3. Boarding the train, I felt the tension vanishing and a ray of silence. It will be good, if they pay equal attention to special seasonal train announcements as well.