Kishor Krishnamoorthi’s WebsiteKishor a.k.a Mjuboy’s Blog

Fatik and I went back to school a couple of days and it was an entertaining experience, to say the least. Strolling back through the newly renovated parking lot brought back an instant flood of memories of us lazing around there after school hours discussing all wordly matters (which, to us then, was food and petty school politics).

We met all our old school teachers and as we told them our tales of success (getting a job, becoming President, etc), I saw a rare smile on their faces. And then I realized that, as teachers, this is all they have. Watchiing their old students growing up to become successful members of society is perhaps the proudest feeling that they can get.

It’s been 3 years since we passed out from school and as a result, we were less recognized among our juniors. Only a couple of years ago, a large contingent of people would’ve stopped to meet us, but that day, we were lucky enough to have a dozen or so odd people meet us over the course of the evening.

A lot has changed in school since we left. CCTVs and prison-like grills greet us at every corner. An increased sense of discipline is instantly visible (as we were the only ones throwing stones at the Tamarind tree). The location of classrooms has been shuffled around. New leaders, new rules. C’est la vie.

We definitely missed school. The delicious lunch. Learning about economics and girls. Running away from Emmanuel. Jumping the wall. I’ve definitely learnt more outside the classroom than inside it. It has made us who we are today.

But that essential HPS atmosphere still remained. A sense of power and prestige. The feeling of elation and pride as one marches pasts those glorious buildings. After all, how many schools can boast of having a plane and a battle tank inside their campus? HPS Forever.

If you enjoyed this post, please make sure you subscribe to my site via RSS or Email!

We started a bonfire in our backyard last night to burn dried plants and weeds. The bonfire had been on the books for a few months now and yesterday, we finally thought we should get down to it before it starts raining again.

Fire is such a mystical phenomenon. It brings the most refined of us back to our Neanderthal instincts. We stood there, mystified by its beauty, by its ethereal dancing flame, by its magical property to produce heat. We threw wood, cardboard, Ouzo and every inflammable object we could find into it. We scoured the house looking for any old bits of cardboard and wood lying around. We discovered that Dominoes pizza boxes burn green and wood was by the far the only material that kept burning forever. The crude but beautiful fire made me feel like a man, as we stood around it, topless watching the flame burn higher and higher.

As the flame settled itself into a rhythm, we sat around with a couple of pints talking about life and its mysterious ways, we spoke about things we normally never talk about, revealed secrets to each other, we bonded. We felt like cavemen sitting about a fire making ourselves warm in the chill of the night but we loved it so much. It was an experience unlike any other. It was an experience of manliness, bonding and becoming friends all over again.

It was not anything extravagant, it cost us nothing except a couple of drinks and some matchsticks but I can honestly say that it was one of the most pleasant nights of my life.

Time flew and before we realized it, we had been sitting there for three hours and it was nearly midnight. Watching the flame burn, rise and fall turned out be a surprisingly captivating activity, its funny how the smartest of brains still continue to be confounded by one of nature’s simple elements. The embers slowly kindled before we finally decided to call it a day and put the fire out by creatively pissing on it.

If you enjoyed this post, please make sure you subscribe to my site via RSS or Email!

Earlier today, a good friend of mine told me “Kishor, you know what your problem is? You are too determined and have too much ambition.” Last week, my housemate told me “Kishor, if you ever got asked in an interview what your one bad habit is, I think you should say that you are too helpful.” A couple of weeks ago, I kept thinking to myself, I’m too much of a laid back Hyderabadi, I need to do more work.

What am I? Who am I? What do I want? I do not know. Days carry on like a mad rollercoaster and I just hang on for dear life. Sometimes life seems pointless, and at other times, I never want it to end. Spend too much time thinking about it and you end up falling into its trap. Dont think, do. Dont ponder, act. Dont deliberate, react. Such is life.

The minimal faith I have in democracy has let me down once again with the recent news of a hung parliament in England and after our ‘Union Conference’ today, touted to be the biggest democratic gathering of students, was attended by 46 people. It is tragic that the common man is bothered with nothing except what goes on inside the 4 wall of his house. While this make him a very easy person to deal with, it also makes him a passive member of society, not actively contributing. But hey, I dont blame him! Its hard enough to keep up with our own life, let alone others!

With the exams only a couple of weeks away and our Big British Fete only a week away, there is no lack of things to do but somehow I seem to lack the drive to revise. The motivation has gone for lunch, and hopefully it’ll be back soon. On the other hand, I’m always itching to take up a new photo project. I’m working on ‘Project Untitled’ with a friend, pondering a new portraiture project and considering another project about England.

After going through this set of photos of the Vietnam War, I have once again been inspired to become a photo journalist. Those photos definitely touched a soft spot and have sparked up my love for capturing human emotions on film. Travel the world to conflict areas, risk your life for that perfect shot, witness conditions that you would normally never set foot in, smuggle out film by whatever means possible, it would be worth it all to change the lives of millions with one heart touching photograph. And even if you never manage to get that photograph that would the world will know, you’ve still had a bloody good time doing what you love. And you can even tell your grandchildren stories of all the crazy scenes you experienced.

But enough of the ramblings, as Shaggy sang, life is one big party when you’re still young…..

If you enjoyed this post, please make sure you subscribe to my site via RSS or Email!

The Canon 5D Mark II.

A camera that completely changed the digital SLR game.

When I first wrote about it around a year and half ago, I would’ve given up everything I owned for it. Today, I would still do the same. However, Canon decided that they would lend me the camera without me having to give up my possessions.

After my Round Table Meeting with Canon in December, I was lent the Canon 5D Mark II for 3 whole weeks, most of which would be spent at home in India. I got the camera literally 12 hours before my plane left and the moment I held it in my hands, I fell in love with it.

Every photograph looked stunning, every video looked brilliant, I could sing praises about it for hours at end. One thing is for certain, this is not going to be a technical review of the camera. If you want a technical review, head over to DPReview’s 40 page review. This is going to be a summary of a personal experience with the camera, a brief narrative of what I loved about the camera, what I didnt like and how it fit into my life.

The camera didnt handle particularly different from my 40D except for the fact that it was considerably heavier. The button layout felt very similar as did the menu. The viewfinder was absolutely fantastic, the joy of full frame is really something else. The high-res screen was a much needed upgrade and was gorgeous to look at, although it was a battery drainer. The High ISO capability was outstanding, and being able to take photos lit with nothing but a LED from a crappy phone and make it look like strobes was definitely fun. We shot plenty of videos at dusk, making full use of the sensor and the bokeh with a 50mm f/1.8.

One of my minor complaints with the camera was the autofocusing which didnt seem to have much improvement over my 40D. It proved quite annoying when trying to autofocus in the dark since ultimately it wasnt the ISO that prevented me from taking a photo but rather the focusing. Hopefully Canon are working to sort this out soon, and I’ve heard the 7D has a better autofocus system.

It wasnt only I who fell in love with the camera, it was pretty much everyone who laid their eyes on it. A couple of my friends in India were considering not letting me leave for England so that we wouldn’t have to return the camera. We made the most of it in the 3 weeks I had it and secretly hoped that Canon would let me keep it forever.

During my last day with the camera, I made a small project titled ‘A Day in my Life’ wherein I took photos of my daily activities right from the time I woke up till I went to bed over the course of 16 hours. It was great fun, especially while trying to find an artistic angle for things that would normally be deemed as boring and then attempting to use the tripod and setting the camera to the perfect position. You can see all the 30 photos here.

I got quite attached to the camera and was gutted when I had to return it. I’m back to my loyal 40D now but n eedless to say, the Canon 5D Mark II will definitely be my next investment.

Update – Canon Camera Buzz has been kind of enough to link to my project, check out their post here!

If you enjoyed this post, please make sure you subscribe to my site via RSS or Email!

“Lets dance ah?”, asked Ranjith as we stood on the dance floor of the Emerald Room.Without hesitation, I eagerly shouted over the din of the music “Okay mama!”.

And thus began our tirade into 2010, a fresh decade promising new opportunities to explore, new lessons to learn, new girls to befriend and old friends to reminisce with.

Our plans for New Year’s Eve were uncertain until a few hours before the start of the night. Having managed to get our hands on passes for Taj Krishna, a classy 5* hotel in the city, the night began with our sober and impatient selves waiting in line for entry into the nightclub. After what seemed like eternity, we were inside. And with wristbands for unlimited drinks, it was the beginning of a night whose madness knew no bounds.

We finished the first few drinks rather quickly in our eagerness to start partying and as the alcohol kicked in, everyone’s face was plastered with broad grins. Time flew, drinks flowed, glasses became empty and soon the countdown to 2010 began. As the clock struck 12, a roar could be heard from the dance floor as the DJ wished everyone a happy new year.

The situation in our group was a bit different to the crowd. Kalyan was laughing uncontrollably. Naveen was hugging a random white man and refused to let go of him. Upendra was doing his traditional dance and smiling away to glory. Vivek was the happiest man around since it was his birthday as well. Ranjith was ordering more drinks. Nakul was in the bathroom. Tharun was nowhere to be seen. Rama was cursing the world and her ancestors loudly. But this was only the beginning.

It didnt take long for us to get bored of Ahala (the first nightclub) so we moved to the adjacent nightclub (Emerald Room) which was bigger but also very crowded. We came across some “interesting sights” as we walked around the place and bumped into a lot of known faces, all of whom we hugged and wished happy new year.

By around 2:30AM, a select group of us were still ready to party more but a few others of our group had passed out completely. So after much deliberation, the decision was made to drive them to our friend’s house which was base camp for the night. Unfortunately, his house was on the 4th floor and the building didnt have a lift, which meant we had to lift three drunken bodies up 4 flights of stairs. Fun times.

And then came the hunger. The crazy yearning for food. So six of got into 2 cars and drove to Y2K, the only restaurant which would be open at 3 in the morning and got ourselves some Biryani, the staple food of Hyderabadis. And now that the hunger was satisfied, the thirst for thrill was next. One of our designated driver’s was convieniently sleepy, I took up the challenge of driving one car. And we were off to Novotel which was on the other end of the city, and we didnt we even know why we were going there. We sat by the pool at Novotel for 15 minutes before getting bored and back to base camp it was. It was nearly 6 in the morning and as much as we wanted to stay awake for the breakfast in Taj Krishna at 7, our bodies got the better of us and we fell asleep in the cars itself. Another glorious night of the most random things had come to an end.

If you enjoyed this post, please make sure you subscribe to my site via RSS or Email!

In approximately an hour, I’ll be catching a train to Agra for a week’s trip to Agra, Jaipur and Jaisalmer. While the initial objective of this trip is to show my friend from England, Josh Wall, around the country, its a convenient excuse for me to fulfill my travel addiction.

As with my trip to Europe a few months ago, this will be an exclusive film trip with one SLR  camera, two lenses, fifteen rolls of film, and tons of shutter buggery. I’ve carefully laid out the trip itinerary after a decent bit of research, perhaps more research than I do for my usual essay. Hopefully, the effort should pay off and you will see a complete record of the trip on this space in a week!

If you enjoyed this post, please make sure you subscribe to my site via RSS or Email!

Its been nearly 2 years since I started my 365 Day Project. It was a life changing project for me, it improved my photography skills and the difference between the first and last photo of the project was vast.

And here comes the next version of the project, the 365 Day Portrait Project.

One portrait every day for a year. A different person everyday. Three Hundred and Sixty Five Portraits.

Like the previous project, this one too was spawned from boredom and a lack of things to do. I was initially reluctant to take up this project since managing to find a new person everyday is tougher than it sounds, I really hope I dont stop it halfway through and only time will tell whether this project is destined for success. I plan to kick the project off in Delhi, where I will be spending the next week with some friends. Admittedly, I wont find a lack of people for the initial few weeks but as time goes by, I may have to start photographing my driver, his brother, his brother’s wife, his brother’s wife’s father, so on and so forth. But I wont let that stop me and I will take on this project with full enthusiasm!

UPDATE – You can the find the photos from this project in this set which is updated daily!

If you enjoyed this post, please make sure you subscribe to my site via RSS or Email!

I turned 19 on Wednesday. Yep, nineteen years of life have already passed by. Nineteen is  a strange age to be. Its the in-between age of youth and adult. Eighteen is always regarded as the “fun” age to be and all that jazz. Twenty is the big “no longer a teen” grown up age of responsibility and other things I dont want to talk about. And nineteen is stuck between these two biggies, not knowing what to do, and just hanging about trying to be cool and not “kewl”.

My birthday started off like every other day in the history of mankind. Dull and boring. Never did I expect for a single second that it would turn out the way it did. Lunch was good, with a surprise from two close friends, and tons of laughter. After reluctantly bidding farewell to them, it was back home to reading ‘The Economist’. The usual, the usual.

The fun kicked in after dinner. Another random surprise from some friends, with whom I ended up going on a second show movie at 11 at night, followed by some consumption of certain, lets say, beverages and then a trip to Charminar at 2 in the morning to have what is possibly the best Biryani and Chai I’ve ever had but I suspect that the beverages we consumed earlier may have enhanced the taste. And thats how my birthday ended. Riding shotgun on a Bullet on Necklace road. A very memorable birthday, something I probably will never forget and something I definitely want to do again!

If you enjoyed this post, please make sure you subscribe to my site via RSS or Email!

We went back to school today. The same good ol’ Hyderabad Public School which nurtured me for nine years of my life and was quite instrumental in making me the person I am today. It felt lovely to stroll through the campus, recalling old memories associated with each location as we walked along.

We met old teachers, current students who had grown a lot since we left school, the office bearers who still hung around, so on and so forth. We had a not-so-nice meeting with the new principal and a slight misunderstanding with the security guards but looking at the broader perspective of things, they were only minor annoyances in our otherwise joyous trip.

Coincidently, the new prefects for this academic year were being announced today just as we went there, and I can still recall the day we were announced as prefects. When I look back at the day, its funny how tense we were about something which appears relatively insignificant today. Life does move on in a strange yet graceful way.

In other news about my life, I’ve been managing to keep myself occupied, much thanks to ‘The Economist’ which is 100 pages of awesomeness around the world.

If you enjoyed this post, please make sure you subscribe to my site via RSS or Email!

Been just over a week since I’ve got home. The daily routine has mostly consisted of eat, read, watch TV, check teh interwebz with a considerable amount of sleep between these activities. Other stuff included were catching up with lots of friends which was quite nice, definitely good to see some old faces again, have some good meals at our old favourites, and the likes.

On a sadder note, the world has lost two things this week, both of which/whom I have respected. The first one is the legendary Kodak film, Kodachrome, a transparency film which has been manufactured for nearly 75 years before Kodak took the decision to stop production earlier this week. From the point of view of Kodak, it seems reasonable since it accounted for less than 1% of its sales and there is only one lab left in the world which has the capability to process this film since it is quite complex, and Dwayne’s Photo in Kansas has said that they will continue to process the film until late 2010. However, it will definitely be missed by many film enthusiasts including me, who revered the film like a god. It was the same film used to capture the world famous Afghan girl photo by Steve McCurry in 1984. And this momentous calls for Paul Simon’s classic song ‘Mama, dont take my Kodachrome away’.

The other loss was  a man, although some say otherwise, nevertheless, known as the ‘King of Pop’. I must admit his death came as quite a shock to me, I somehow took his existence for granted and regardless of all the controversies he has been in, I’m sure everyone agrees that he made some pretty damn awesome music. My playlist for today has simply been all of the King’s albums on shuffle. May his soul rest if peace.

On a more positive note, I got my exam results earlier this week and I somehow managed to scrape a 70.7% overall, which is a  1st Class and all I wanted. Next year will be tougher, with a 10,000 word dissertation and all, but it’ll be the test of my mettle to score a 1st Class next year too.

Watched Terminator: Salvation today, barely worth the visit. Just 2 hours of mindless violence and action wrapped around a weak excuse for a story. Christian Bale is a normally a good actor but he doesnt come close to Arnie as the classic Terminator, and Terminator 2 still remains my favourite of the series.

Also played Max Payne 2 today, such a beautiful game to play, I do hope Max Payne 3 doesnt turn out as a bad as it looks.

And thats all for now folks, more updates on life and the world soon!

If you enjoyed this post, please make sure you subscribe to my site via RSS or Email!