(Fog)ged...

It was long since, I last went to Nandi Hills, one of the most tranquil locations, situated about 60 kms. from Bangalore city. Since Oct'2nd was going to be a leave from work, some of my friends who are die-hard shutterbugs had planned for a visit to this place, early in the morning. One of my friends, Sd took the initiative of driving four others, to this place by 4AM. For Sd, this is not something new, when he was in the US for his post graduation about ten years ago, he used to drive all the desis to the University from the airport, when they came to the campus for the first time. Even though Sd today manages his own industrial establishment and is a proud father of two kids, the long drive bug is still ingrained in his blood. That's why people say, old habits can't die the easy way.



We were all fortunate that the weather was just the way as we had anticipated. Dense fog embraced the entire atmosphere and there was absolutely zero visibility. Clouds were swimming past our vehicle as we ascended the terrain, gazing the tips of the trees. The wild flowers and the leaves had flexed under the weight of the water droplets. It was as if, the elements of the nature had just returned from a 'sauna' bath.

The term 'sauna' bath reminds me of my days in the Finnish city of Helsinki, where I used to stay in a place just by the side of a lake in Espoo. To the best of my knowledge, the concept of 'sauna' bath has its roots in Finnish culture. I used to walk across the woods daily in the midst of fog, murkiness in the air to reach my work destination. I had voluntarily, declined to the car that was offered to me, so that I could walk thorough the woods.

No more digression and lets get back to Nandi Hills.



The beauty of going to this place early morning is that, one can expect the unexpected role-plays that nature can perform. At one point, the clouds were just above us, thinning and thickening, providing a shifting mysterious view of the landscape. Trust me there were moments when the camera lens was set for a shot but then the clouds, traveled and the entire composition was distorted.



And then hardly, we had crossed 200 meters and the time gap would be about 20 minutes that we got to see first rays of the sun kissing the macrocosm. This is what is called 'equality', equal distribution of rays to one and all, birds, animals, human beings, and come to think of it, anything and everything.



Don't you think that these days, in our day-to-day lives, confidence and optimism have given way to fear, uncertainty and gloom? Am, I making a confused and an empty statement here?

Let's take the example of how the global financial market was severely wounded in the last ten days. Just as these two individuals are gulped by the clouds and their presence from the perspective of visibility is one of blurred outlines, similarly Wall Street giants such as Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch and few others got lost in the financial market haze.



I promised that I won't digress from the topic but I did....... and agree, agree, agree that's my bad.

One sincere request to all the visitors to Nandi Hills. Keep this place neat and clean and don't make a mess out of beer bottles, plastic bottles and polythene bags. Isn't it nice that when you reach there, you can literally feel few words through the human senses: freshness, unflappability, zero-pollution (both noise and environment), tranquility and ................. pressing click-click button for the next photograph?



Keep reading and remain connected.

(All the pics were shot between 5 A.M. and 7 A.M.)