Monday, August 17, 2009

Above the Clouds

I've been on aeroplanes 3 times before, back when I was relatively young: 10th class times. I think now, that I always was excited about flying, but I cant remember what I felt when I flew those 3 times. Thus it is that when I boarded Jet Lite airplane yesterday I felt as if I was doing it for the first time. And thus it's an experience to recount! :)

I was at my uncle's place in Vizag, near the beach. Plane departure was at 1.25pm. I finished my bath at 12.15, quite leisurely. But my uncle panicked me and made me think I was gonna lose the flight. So we went on the bike across highway roads with sparse traffic. That ride was fun. Saw lots of factories, trees, industrial stuff and ofcourse, felt the wind on my face :) Took photos too.. I was sitting pillion and I extended my arm to take a self pic, and drew it back just in time b4 a lorry whooshed past :)


I reached the air-station (aerodrome?) and I went inside the entrance gate. As soon as I entered I was breathtaken looking at the huuuuuuge empty hall. I wanted to take a pic but I as a bit tense so I crossed over, got my boarding pass (ticket) and was told to wait till furthur announcements. Phew! I was safe! not gonna miss my flight! :) So I became calm (and being calm allowed happy excitement to creep up :) ) I went and sat on one of the empty chairs (there was a girl opp to me, she looked ok :P but I didnt stare :) ), checked the boarding pass once, and immediately got up and went to the only shop there. It had books, toys, chocolates, handicraft stuff, etc. I spent 10 mins looking fondly at all that stuff (didnt want to spend money buying them :) ) and when I looked enuf, I went back to sitting at the same old place. The girl was stil there so I felt uncomfy, but anyway I just sat for a few mins. I cudnt sit, though, so I started walking about just like that. I flicked a glance at the police and then the thot occured to me, "oops, what if they think I am upto smthing suspicious?". All the other passengers were sitting quietly, or maybe a few were talking but I didnt see them. For me, I was a bit restless :)
So I went to the bathroom, just like that :P Luckily 10 mins later the boarding call came and we hurried off to the security check.

I was worried they wont let my camera into the flight deck with me :( Cuz I already had planned to take a thousand pics on the plane( which I did! :D ) and there were rumors cameras werent allowed. Ofcourse, I need a window seat for that too; I had asked the lady behind the counter "can I get a window seat?" when i got my boarding pass. she didn say anything so I wasnt sure if I got a window seat :( I thot I cud exchange it with sm1 on the plane. So so, we stood in line, got our bags passed thru the Xray scanner. I lingered there a bit too, trying to see how the xray of my bag looked like; if I cud a camera shaped hightlight in the image :D . I think I did, not sure... anyway I rushed on to the next counter... for bodycheck ;) :P

After that there was another set of chairs where we had to... surprise surprise! just sit and die till the plane comes! -_- Again I was pacing the whole place around but didnt get the guts to take out my camera incase they told me to put it back in.. I wasnt gonna risk that, cuz I HAD to take pics inside the plane! of the air , the clouds, the terrain! :D Ofcourse, being a guy, I had thots in my head (fleeting thots, wasnt really serious :P ) of some girl sitting beside me :P :D So I looked around for prospective girls i'd like on my side :P ... there were only 4 or 5 girls of my age in the whole 100 or so that were gathered.. none of them looked too good, but ah, thats ok :P I wudnt mind.

After walking around aimlessly 3 times, I came and sat. That girl I saw first was again opp to me (hah! :P ) but still me no guts to look eye to eye :P There was this kinda hot guy beside me too. our eyes met :P I didnt want to keep staring at him, but I did keep looking at him now and then :) :P He looked stylish. anyway..... near departure time i saw newcomers on the far side of the hall (ppl kept coming na) and there i spotted a gudlooking girl!! best in the hall! but she was with her family, so i didnt spare her another glance. I went and peed 2 times :P my restlessness had increased. I cudnt just sit there!! I wanted to run! to jump, shout and take pics! :(
I took out my book and started drawing stuff to whileaway the joblessness.... well,, I drew 2 stupid pics and I felt no imagination coming in so I packed. Finally when the boarding call came, ppl went to the exit gate (gate to the airfield) and were packed off into buses, which went to the flgiht, standing a bit away. I saw the whole procedure, and since I wanted to take pic of the plane, I purposefully held back to the last batch to get into the buses, so i'd get free space in the bus to take pics ;) I felt clever doing that :D And heres the result of the planning: the plane pic! see the reflection of ppl: I took the pic thru the window na.


Once we got down from the bus, I wanted sm1 to take my pic infront of the plane, but as usual i'm a gutless scaredycat, so I didnt ask any1 :( I went up the staris, and in! (YAAYY I'm In The PLANE!! :D) I asked the guy who checked our tickets if i cud get a window seat, and he said "u have a window seat" (YAAYY felt great! :D ). There was a cute and beautiful airhostess inside, welcoming us all :P :D woow! how nice. but I cudnt stare, so I had to let go of that too :( :P

Then I walked in, slowly, cuz the guys infront were blocking the path. It was so narrow and constricted. The plane was very small in length too. Seat 20F was mine. I was at row 29. I walked one row per minute.. I was trying to see who were sitting in row 20... maybe some girl? /) :P but i cudnt see anything yet. suddenly the blockage ahead of me cleared and i went up , and I saw row 20.....my heart stopped for a moment. It was that "best girl" who had come with her family. She and her dad were sitting on 20E and 20D respectively, and they looked up as I came and stood there. Ah..I looked at her too.. she was even better looking close up :P :D I wish I cud say that we looked at each and other and some mysterious metal story went on between our minds thru meaningful eye contact (like it happens in novels) but my mind was blank :P i just looked, and pointed at the empty seat beyond her "thats mine" .. dad and daughter came out into the aisle and let me go. I sat... there was a possibility the dad came sat next to me now.. and i was a little apprehensive of that, but a sec later i was excited, it was the girl who sat next to me after all! hahhahha :P

and NOW the story starts :D ( I know I write too much, and write unnecesary facts. but... *shrug :) ) I looked sideways and saw the girl once... overall it was a salmar kameez kinda dress. green veltey pant (wow) a top with heavy embroidery, and a semi-transparent sleev (wow again :P ) . She wore glasses, had red lips :P she kinda looked like this gult actress :D
Anyway b4 u all think I'm a pervert :P, i gave all this description cuz I didnt look at her for the next 40 mins!! Wondering why? Cuz I WAS ON A FRIKKIN PLANE MAN!!!!!! FLYING! :D
I didnt even look at the airhostesses as they were explaning that shit on how to fasten seatbelts and wear air masks incase an electric storm hits the plane and transports u to venus! :P
I immediately looked out thru the window. I cud see most of the right wing, and the empty airfield. I took out my cam, kinda kept it hidden incase the airhostesses tell me its not allowed :| ) I took some pics. And the the engine started!! "whhoooooooooooo".. tiny flaps on the wing raised, the plane moved! it took a U turn, went to the end of the runway, took a U turn again and stopped for a minute.... The tense pause b4 it accelerated and flew away!! I cud feel the same tension in me! As if I was the one crouching and about to spring out and run! :D . I had my camera out, taking pics and videos wildly :D . the plane gave the starting sound (i cant spell it :( but its the "vrum vrum" sound u get when u rev bikes and cars; only, the plane sound is so awesome! u hear it in the movies :D ) I wanted to take a video of the plane taking off, so i started recording. It moved, fastter and faster, it accelerated quickly! I knew the moment was coming!! AAAAAAAAAAHHHhhhhhhhhh......it was an orgasm :P heehheh.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNVWR8jvItI

I was concentrating on the lcd screen of the camera a bit, so i didnt fully look at the real scene. i'll do that next time. but anyway, it was awesome! the takeoff... the ground leaving u , things getting smaller, farther and u rising up, up!! :D this orgasm lasts only a few seconds too :( cuz after the plane steadies itself in the air, it doesnt accelerate, so u get no feel! :( . But still the view is awesome.. I kept clicking pics, and in the few moments i had to spare, I looked down at the real scene.. It was all breathtaking.. more so than the girls i saw in the hall :P Infact, I had forgotten there was a girl sitting beside me :) ..... I pressed my face to the window glass, trying to look further and further ahead, behind, up or down, anything!...



Vizag being a coastal city, there was lot of water to look at.. bays, pools inside the main land.. If that wasnt exciting, when the beach came, the huge open mass of water of the OCEAN lay below my eyes, it was sight, i tell u!! A grand sight!! wow! I cud see the waves hitting the sand, the blue-green shimmer at shallow areas near the beach, and the deep blue metallic tinge of the inner areas of the sea. I was still looking out with my eyes popped out, when a bonus was added. the plane was turning, it wasnt gonna go on the sea , it had to turn back to main land (to hyd) As it turned the sun reflected off the water, a whole sea of water! and what a shimmer it was! :D
my face pressed against the window so hard I heard the glass make a sound, maybe it was loose! :) ... maybe i cud break it and jump out of the plane! :D


Now the plane was going parallel to the shoreline.. and I had another unexpected sight. I noticed breakers, likes of rocks jutting into the sea from the beach. These r constructed near harbors and ports, to "break" the force of the waves. I was staying right infront of a breaker, my uncle's place was on the beach. Its the navy quarters, with 3 apartments side by side. As soon as I saw the curved breaker far below from the plane, I looked beyond it and presto! i spotted those 3 apartments!!! wow! I cud see my house from the plane!! :D


I guess we were still ascneding then... Cuz I didnt see many clouds yet. So now it was their turn to stop my breath :D and they did for 20 whole minutes! :D (ofcourse not literally.. i'll die if i held my breath for 20 mins :P ) First I saw clouds far off, just like u'd see them from ur rooftop. Then they got closer, WE got closer to them,,,, and i cud see the clooouuudsss!!! O_O again my face my pressed to the window, I only aware of the camera and my flabbergasted mind, nothing else (not even the girl!! :P ) I saw different kinds of clouds., Some were wisps, translucent, the ground visible thru them. Some where HUUUGE,, big big cotton puffs, pure white and stationed magestically in the sky,.. like palaces. It was islands of clouds amidst the sea of sky... For a moment it felt like earth and water was one plane, cloud and sky was another plane where ppl can actually live! (refer One Piece anime, where they actually make this concept true!! its awesome. ppl living on clouds :D ) For the first 15 mins this song was involuntarily playing in my head: " I cant believe it! I wont believe it! I've never seen an ass. like. that!" .. only, the "ass" refers to clouds in my case here :D :) After taking lots of pics of the clouds, I finally spared a moment to be aware of the rest of my body...... and realized that my legs were shaking! my toe was in touch with the ground, and my heel was rising up n down. Kinda like a reflex, on its own. I willed with my mind and stopped it... and as soon as i took my mind off it for taking pics, the leg started shaking again :D It felt funny. I was glad my body was as excited as my mind was! lol.
and one thing: I was sweating! i felt a drop of sweat trickle down my chest. Donno if it was cuz of the little sun rays hitting me thru the window, or cuz i was hyper :D


Again I got back to gazing at the clouds...i looked looked and looked, wondering if the girl, or sm1 else was seeing what I was doing :P At this point, i wasnt worried if the airhostess saw me with the camera.. it was ok i guess. At one point, I saw a valley of clouds! clouds forming a terrain, and a peak, and then dropping off,, just like a mountain! Another time, there was a whole sheet of clouds above us, an unbroken cover. I wished we rushed thru clouds instead of passing by them, and that was granted too!! 3 mins after i wished it, I saw a huuuge mass of cloud ahead, and we were heading right towards it!! aah, the wings will CUT thru the clouds.. it was what i had always imagined, dreamed of! :D and at this point this song: "I been waiting!! for a girl like u! for sm1 who cud makes my dreams come true! i been waitaiinng,.. for years and years whatever whatever" :P ... girl = flying :D . I used my super powers of imagination and removed the window, the wing and my own body from awareness... Thus it was that I by myself was going thru the clouds, in the sky and over the valleys!! yaayy!!! :D

so, when the cloud was passing over the wing, i tried to take a video of that..i did. but the memory didnt last till the plane got out of the cloud! :( i had to delete some so i cud take more pics. but that "going thru the clouds" video cudnt be done :( maybe next time :)
as we neared hyd, i noticed rainy clouds increased in freq. dark clouds instead of the cotton balls i saw near vizag :D So it was that after 40 mins of travel, my excitement waned enuf for me to sit straight and lean back in the seat (until then my torso and nec was twisted right :) )
soft drinks and sandwiches were being sold and then i looked at the girl again. I thot of starting a conversation, but her dad was right beside her, and anyway i dont hav that much guts :P I dwelled on the subject for 5 mins.. whether to talk or not, but then again went back to clicking pics :) I took a video of the plane landing too.
sun shining, but hindered at places by the clouds! awesome na! :)


All in all, it was a 3100 bucks well spent! for the experience was awesome! When i got down at the airport in hyd, came out and saw the clouds, i said in my mind, "yeah!! I came from above u guys!! :D" On the bus journey back home (which lasted 30 mins) I was kinda regretting that I didnt talk to the girl... after all its so rare u get an opportunity to sit beside a girl, a good looking one at that :P .... nyway I reached home and wakwakwak

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Time Lapse photography

Did my first ever time lapse video 2 days ago!!
I was just strolling on the terrace, feeling the wind and gazing blankly at the wide sky and after half an hour of looking at the clouds go marching as a Sky Force Regiment from south to north I got the bright idea that I shud photograph them! So I ran down and got my digi cam and took 2 pics. Then I got the ever brighter idea that I shud take a video! I've seen a time lapse video of the stars at night, and it looks awesome!

This is that video:
http://www.doobybrain.com/2009/05/18/time-lapse-video-of-milky-way-galaxy-over-texas/

And so I got inspiration to do a similar video now. First, I started taking the vid standing on the terrace. After a minute of recording, I realized I cant keep standing and hold the camera stable for long and anyway to get a better view of the setting sun I needed to get to higher ground so I climbed atop the 12 foot water tank there :) (no I didntuse my spidey skills, I took advantage of the ladder there :D )
So I got up, crossed my legs, placed my hands on the thighs, held the cam in my right hand, held my right hand with my left hand (for stability; the cam shudnt move when we want a time lapse vid) and sat there like that for a WHOLE EIGHT MINUTES!! I guess my hands were as stable and strong as a surgeon's while doing an operation ;)
But still, the cam shook enuf to destroy the subtle cloud movements :(
Luckily there was an "anti-shake" effect in the video software I used to edit the video :) Looks much better now. And I added one of my fav music to it too, so ppl dont get bored looking at clouds for a whole minute :)
Enjoy!:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSecpaWeEKE

As a bonus, I also took a few pics of the birds :)




Thursday, June 4, 2009

Synti and the Lil Girl -- part 2 :D

and I met the girl again, today! when I went for running... the wind was so good that I went and slept on the grass for 10 mins before I ran I saw her coming while I was running........and today we talked too!
she started saying something in tamil again and I cudnt just keep nodding (feeling absurd inside) so I told her "I dont speak tamil...."
she said "I ..speak..little bit.. english..."

haha, so cool, she can atleast speak a lil! :)
I asked her name and number ............. class number shes in 1st class lol

and then she kinda ran along with me on the track... it was funny watching her run...such small legs, and shes so thin and she was laughing all the time ........ kinda made me remember myself After I finished running and was doing exercises, she came and said "flower . flower!!"
I was like....... "what, agaaiin?!! -_-
ah.......it isnt so easy to climb that branch, and I was already tired from running..... so I just kept looking at her for a minute hoping she'd understand, but again she said "climb, get down with flower"

ok ok....if u want it that badly! sigh! So I repeated yesterday's commando action but it was easier this time. gave her the flowers and started walking away, but she called me and stuck something on my hand...
what was it? it was a petal from the unopened bud of a gulmohar flower ... I dunno if u ever saw a gulmohar flower? but when u stick that elliptical kinda petal on the finger, it looks like sharp red nail coming out I loved it!!
u put petals on all five fingers and u can act like the dracula or a wolf or something.....long red fingernails lol

and I was walking away again, she said "butterfly!"
then I noticed a dark blue butterfly whooshing past me.
I looked at the girl again. she said "catch it!"
I was like, "whaT!!!! maan, butterflies??!! they arent as easy to catch as flowers!, u think i am a superman or something?!! "
ofcourse, I didnt say all that,,,, she wudnt hav understood, so I said, "nooo, if I catch butterfly, they will cry!"

so she gave up....phew! I ran a little more and came back to room --------- same as prev post. the above is 3 scraps I wrote to some1 ;)

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Synti saves the lil girl!!

oh what an adventure I had in the last 1 hour!!
I went to the stadium, ran around in circles for 10 mins, while all the time looking at the fish in the sky ..... yeahhh the clouds were spread all over the sky, from east to west, in the shape of a fish, with the eye being the Sun!!
Even if I had taken a camera, it wudnt hav captured such a big fish!! I need a bigger net (wide lens camera) to catch this one
So, after I had enuf running I spotted a tree and went, climbed up and sat on the branches ...... like a monkey. hehehhe
A little girl saw me and started jumping up and down "hey dad look theres something on that tree!!"
she was speaking in tamil so I cud only guess from sign language.........
anyway, I enjoyed her, her dad and mom gaping at me, and I got down after 5 mins .... Then again the lil girl (who, btw was very cute ....she must hav been in 2nd class I guess....) started chirping...... This time I had no idea what she was saying, but after a minute of her pointing at the tree and blabbering, I asked , "you want those flowers??" (that was a gulmohar tree, flame of the forest, heard of it? )
She seemed to nod, and I didnt mind climbing the tree again to get the flowers so I agreed! :D
But now I had to use my brain, not just my monkey skills :P
the red flowers were high up on the tips of branches, I cant go there cuz the twigs will break and that will lead to a 15 foot fall I guess ....
So I scanned the tree, (with my super amazing IIT brain ofcourse ) and found possible flowers which I can pluck with the assumption that I cant fly or simply web up a flower and pull it down
(and now comes the hard part.... I wish I had time to draw (again, using my super amazing drawing skills ) and show u what exactly I did, but I'll just try using my word skills :P )
there was one looong and thick branch extending away from the trunk, almost horizontally, and another branch a little higher than it, but going parallel to it. It was the 2nd branch which had flowers at the end of it. and this branch was shorter than the 1st one in length, so my plan was to reach as far on the 1st branch as I cud, without breaking it, and reaching up to the 2nd branch
u ever saw those commandos snaking along a horizontal rope? Their body is horizontal too, with hands holding the rope and legs criss-crossing farther along the rope... and then they move like earthworms, first sliding the hands, then the legs.... zub zub. zub zub..........thats what I did
the branch was going down as it went away from the tree so I was seeing the ground get closer to me, and the view was inverted.......hell I shud just draw it what a feeling it was...
When I reached the flowers, I left one hand and one leg on brach1 and pulled down Br2 with my other leg (cuz B2 was higher than B1, right?) and the using hand 2, I plucked flowers (hand 1 was desperately hanging onto B1)
I wish sm1 was there to take a photo of me! -_-
news paper material pose that was! (maybe i'll draw atleast this one scene....)
"super hero saves kitten stuck on tree and returns to old lady" = "super monkey iitan climbs tree & gives flowers to cute little girl" looolll

So, I got them flowers (yeah I plucked them, sorry for hurting those liiiiitle flowers ) gave them to the girl, and oooofff, mission accomplished!
I was bruised, my hands, clothes and legs were full of tree bark powder....... but I felt goooooooooooooood
I stayed around in the stadium to do some more exercises and when I was about to leave, I saw the girl again, she said "bye bye anna..... byeeeeeeeee"
(anna means 'bro' , u know? )
So I waved to her too and haaaaaaaahhh......back to room, sweet room !
(what a long story!) There, I guess that compensates for me not coming online again today .................. enjoy!!

----------- All that was written as a scrap(s) for a special some1 on orkut :)