battle ground

The speed limit is too low on this road

Our Lady of Ecstasy

I picked a bigger weapon

I asked for just one thing when my parents decided that they were going to Dubai last week. They called me and told me today that they had bought it. If all goes well I shall have a brand new camera in my hands by tomorrow, a Sony DSC-H5. Needless to say, I am quite excited.

It should take me a few days to discover it, but I hope that after then, these pages will come alive with pictures that i want to take rather than pictures I have to settle for, as was the case with my old camera.

Here are a few specs on the camera, which I am particularly excited about:
Megapixel: 7.2 MP
Lens Type: Carl Zeiss® Vario-Tessar®
Zoom: 12X Optical, 2X Precision Digital, 48X Total
Color LCD: 3.0" 230K TFT Clear Photo LCD Screen2
Burst Mode: 5 Shots at 1.1 fps (7.2MP JPEG fine)
Still Image Modes: JPEG (Fine/Standard), Burst, Multi-Burst
Scene Modes: Twilight, Twilight Portrait, Portrait, Landscape, Beach, High-speed shutter, High Sensitivity
Color Mode(s): Natural, Vivid, Sepia, Black & White

Boom Boom

fishin' for cigarettes

Green eyes

Honey you are a rock
Upon which I stand
And I came here to talk
I hope you understand
The green eyes, yeah the spotlight, shines upon you
And how could, anybody, deny you
I came here with a load
And it feels so much lighter now I met you
And honey you should know
That I could never go on without you
Green eyes

Honey you are the sea
Upon which I float
And I came here to talk
I think you should know

The green eyes, you're the one that I wanted to find
And anyone who tried to deny you, must be out of their mind
Because I came here with a load
And it feels so much lighter since I met you
Honey you should know
That I could never go on without you
Green eyes, green eyes
Oh oh oh oh

Honey you are a rock
Upon which I stand

-- lyrics generously donated by Coldplay

Oh Huzoor....

Personally, I think this is some of my best work on Photoshop to date. This picture was taken on a small fishing boat off the coast of Karachi. This is possibly my oldest friend and (wierdly connected to me) cousin, lets call him Y. Y and I have been friends since I was 3 years old and he was just being born. It was great to see him again in Karachi of all places. He's like me in many ways, the most glaring of our differences are on the outside ie. he's a ladies man due to his good looks and I.. well I'm just a sad nerd who puts pictures of good looking friends on his blog.

ps: Y's picture reminds of a seriously sick hindi song called "Tera Suroor". Check it out if you can.

Parisien memories glide in my mind's eye

jaune

Along a cozy little side street in Honfleur (also in Normandy), where the sun reaches for a just few hours everyday, this yellow pizzeria complete with its yellow-accented furnishings, provides a bright contrast all day. We couldn't eat here because fresh fish was calling my name, but it definitely looked enticing.

The fish that I did end up having was awesome though, thanks for asking.

snapping away, mid-intersection

Urban Sprawl

Le Mont St. Michel

A picture of Le Mont St. Michel as we got close to it in our car. I had my first crepe experience here, it wasn't that good. Subsequent crepes were far better. I nearly bought a musket here, but I decided not to in the end- a very good decsion in retrospect, because I ended up staying in Paris two more days than I was supposed to.

All in all , a beautiful castle, gorgeous architecture within its walls but there were a hell of a lot of tourists. This was our last stop in Normandy before we doubled back to Paris and its silken streets.

By the edge of La Manche

On my second day in France, Mag and I left for a roadtrip to Normandy. Starting in this town, Etretat, we snaked our way through the coastal regions while visiting places such as the American Cemetery of World War II, the Canadian Cemetery, a few small towns along the way and returned to Paris a few days later.

Etretat is a picturesque town boasting beautiful shops, a cafe every few steps and a striking coastline surrounded by rolling hills. As my first stop in Normandy, it set me up for a trip filled with beautiful sights and treasures lurking around every corner.

ps: Just in case you are wondering, La Manche is the French term for the English Channel, which seperates England from mainland Europe.

So.. Huzeifah, are you ticklish?

What did I say, lights up like a million light bulbs.

Ok, story time. Huzeifa loves automobiles (especially his dad's motorcycle). To him, they are Boom Boom! Huzeifah, what do do you want to do? Boom Boom! whenever he sees his mother getting ready, putting her burqah on.. its cause for mass aprtment wide celebrations, with Huzeifah running circles (Tawaf) shouting at the top of his lungs.. Boom Boom Boom Boom!!!

Huzeifah had the pleasure of going on Umrah when he was still a small baby, and when he came back everyone started calling him Haji (usually a term for people who have performed Hajj, but in this case an exception was made for a 6 month old baby)... so his name to himself is Haji. Hence, celebrations about Boom Boom! go as thus, " Haji Boom Boom!!! Haji Boom Boom!!"... as in haji's going on a "boom boom".

He's damn cute I tell you. I wanted to kidnap him and put him on the BIG Boom Boom at the airport (which would knock his socks off) and bring him to Qatar with me. But we're too much alike you know, it would have never worked. Sigh.

HAJI BOOM BOOM !!!!

Dragonfly

Photoshopped by me. :-)

I wrote about this dragonfly about a month ago, on my other blog:

"On a different note, I saw a dragonfly in our apartment building yesterday; colourful, full of life and prone to resting after buzzing around. I had my camera on me, so I whipped it out - of course, that was when my batteries gave out. I ran into my house, grabbed charged-up batteries and walked out to take some more pics. The dragonfly was not on my floor anymore. I pressed the elevator call button and waited to see if perhaps it had made its way into the elevator, the doors clicked open, nothing. Then, just as the doors slowly closed again, I saw it. Smashed, cleanly on the elevator's tiled floor. It looked like it had been sitting still when someone just decided to stomp on it. People suck sometimes."

Dated Feb 16/2006

Galaxy Bounce -- steppin' up the game.

Many thanx and enuff props to my boi, Eye. He's been pomising me a picture for so long, and yesterday it finally arrived in my email box, inconspicuously wrapped but seriously sickening. I am astounded, this looks awesome. Thank you, Eye!

World War III

Every drop is for sale.
Every drop is scarce.
Everyone needs it,
Everyone will fight for it.

"Cash rules everything around me..
Move!" --- Mos Def

beyond raging waves

Two hours west of Karachi, after passing some polluted and downtrodden areas, you will come across the most serene, the most beautiful strip of coastline you have ever seen. Far from the perfection of Bahamas or Bali, these beaches look like unattended perfection- forming a beautiful and uncharcteristic outline to a country subjugated by its poverty, its noise and its pollution. Far from the hustle and bustle of Pakistan's largest city, you will find yourself on a beach near Hawks Bay, just staring off into the sea, aborbing its calmness which seems a million light years away from anything you have breathed in months.

A few weeks later, your friend Natalie will photoshop the picture for you and you'll wonder if you should print it and have it framed.

Ahhh.. you do love me!!

A BIG Thank You to Anjum for pointing out thats he had left some comments but they had not kshown up here because I had a moderated setting on my comments section. well, that moderation issue is now solved and suffice to say, go crazy.

I've responded to all your comments now, go back and check.

and Thank you.