Republic Day daredevils on Royal Enfield

Silhouette

Silhouette is the technique of photographing people, objects or landscape elements against the light. If done correctly we can achieve the subject as a shadow (silhouette).

Today while I was coming back from office, myself and other colleagues were waiting for the arrival of bus to go back to our Cuddalore town. The Sun was about to settle down at 5.15 p.m. and it was just bright giving me just a few minutes to make out my camera and do this shot. Though the Sun was giving us luck of shining for a few more minutes, we were unlucky that our bus to Cuddalore had just then pacing towards us.

Packed up my camera and pushed off into the crowded bus and started our journey back to home. 

Felt contended to have done a satisfactory shot after a long time on my Point & Shoot camera.

Camera used: FujiFilm JZ300 (Point & Shoot)

My Royal Enfield

Thats the Royal Enfield bullet 350 I bought on 7 Jan 2012. Its a 1990 workhorse, had an enchanting engine beat and proper RTO & Insurance records. Being welcomed home with tradition. Long way to go with it. So far finished completing the RTO & Insurance formalities and now its getting the refits at the mechanic shop. Many plans in mind for long tours on the road. Should be an awesome time riding this legend on the roads in the days to come!

Fruits

Got to click this at a road side fruitshop while waiting for the town bus to my office.
Place: Thavalakuppam, Pondicherry
Camera: FujiFilm JZ300 (P&S)

TiECON CHENNAI 2011

An opportunity to hear from the eminent business leaders on what really is the success and  what is the real pain they underwent in making the achievements in their business. Alas they are making the Indian Economy moving up on the right path. Thats whatz TiECON Chennai in a nutshell for me.

TiECON Chennai is a premier event happening in namma Chennai at the Chennai Convention Centre on 24 Nov 2011. That's tomo. 

Yours truly is proud to be part of this mega event. I am part of the Social Media Journalists covering this event. 

Last year it had been an interesting moments at the TiECON Chennai 2010 event with clicking some interesting photographs. 

Click below for my prev. yr event

Write up is here  

My photography at the event

The journey to the tomo's event starts today. Catching up the train to Chennai. Leaving Cuddalore by this afternoon, reaching my Chennai home at Nanganallur by dusk. If you are coming to TiECON tomo, please buzz me at 9944945559, Let's catch up.

If you are willing to bikepool or carpool me.. Let catch up tomo!

Stay tuned for the photographs.

Tirupathi Pilgrim trip

Our Tirupathi pilgrim trip started by Pondy to Tirupathi passenger train on 18 Nov'11. I started off from my Cuddalore at 1.00 p.m. and caught the train at the Villupuram rail station. We, a group of 5, reached Tirupathi at 11.00 p.m. Took rest at the Railway waiting hall. Got up by 3.00 a.m. Took bath and then started off in an auto rickshaw to Alamel Mangapuram by 4.30 a.m. Lucky to have Suprabatha darshan of the diety. By 6.00 a.m. we started off in an auto rickshaw to Alipiri, the starting point of the foot path to Tirumala. Finished our walk up the hill by 1.00 p.m. Had the free lunch provided by the Devasom and deposited our luggage in the locker. Had bath and proceeded to the Vaikuntam Q Complex by 4.00 p.m. We waited for some 3.5 hours and our queue to be opened. Had darshan of the Lord Venkateshwara by 9.00 p.m. and came out by 9.30 p.m. Bought the Rs.100 token for 4 additional laddus and then went for the queue to get the laddus. By 10.00 p.m. we completed our pilgrimage of the Lord. Came back to the amenities hall, had food and vacated our locker. It was now 11.00 p.m. Caught the bus downhill and came to the Tirupathi Rail Station by 12.30 p.m. The train from Tirupathi-Pondy starts by 4.00 a.m. The train was found parked. We hoped of taking some precious sleep on the train. So, we bought the tickets and boarded the train. The train has 8 coaches and we went into each and every compartment to get a seat to sleep on. But ill luck for us, each and every seat has already been occupied by the people. Atlast there were only two seats vacant on the whole of the train. We managed to sleep on it and we found other three upper berths meant for keeping the baggages. We climbed and laid ourselves to rest by 2.00 a.m. Got into deep slumber and we never knew when the train started off from the Tirupathi Rail Station. At around 7.30 a.m. we awoke when the train was halting at the Arakonam Rail Junction. Got down from the sleeping board and finished the morning routine. The train started off after a 40 minute hiatus. We reached the Villupuram rail station by 1.00 p.m. Then caught the bus to Cuddalore. Reached home by 2.30 p.m.
On the whole it was a journey  little over 48 hours. Such is the quickest of my Tirupathi trips in my life time.

Diwali has arrived

Its the festival of Diwali arriving this week. So is the appetite growing for doing some long shutter photography.

Yesterday managed to click a couple of interesting photographs of the flying sparklers.

Exif: 

Shutter : 4 Sec

ISO: 100

Aperture: F/6.5

Camera: FujiFilm JZ300 Point & Shoot

Portraiture photography session in progress

As the portraiture photography session being done my kids was in progress, I managed to freeze the moments on my camera.

The subject in the photograph was being captured in different perspectives.

Need to dig out the pics from that mobile phone. There were lot of pics on the mobile phone which needs to be transferred to the computer.

My son Suriya's paint brush art # 2

Nowadays we often see our 7 year old son Surya tied up with the computer, using the paint brush tools and making out some interesting artworks on the computer.

I created a specific folder on the computer for storing his paint brush arts and set the screen saver to display his works whenever the computer is idle. Ofcourse this has made him motivated to do some more paintbrush art on the computer. Anyhow we are forced to coerce him to go out from the computer and play in the street so that he don't get addicted too much with the computer.

Here is one more nice piece of art which I fished out from his folder.

There has been a definite improvement in his strokes compared to his earlier art work which I posted here.

Tweetup - Royal Enfield Factory tour

I had the opportunity to go for a factory tour of the Royal Enfield factory situated at Tiruvottiyur in Chennai. 

This tour is called Tweetup which is specifically for the twitter fans of Royal Enfield. If you are there on Twitter, you may also become a fan of Royal Enfield and get the interactive Twitter updates of the Royal Enfield.

The tweetup was schedule at 2.30 p.m. on 11th June 2011, a Saturday.

My colleague Mohan Babu an avid bullet enthusiastic, joined with me for this tweet-up. For us, from Cuddalore, this 2 hour tweet-up would mean a total of 16 hour endeavor.  The day started for me at 4.00 a.m. with catching the Villupuram bus at 5.00 a.m. at the Cuddalore bus stand.

Reached my Father In Law’s house early and took some time there. Wife and children were there, so spent some time disturbing my wife out of her sleep while my kids are still in slumber. Remember, if she is in her parent’s house she usually gets off from her sleep much delayed. Quite usual for our ladies whenever they are with their mum and dad!!.

Spent some time there with taking a short nap myself and then having breakfast and left from there at 8.15 a.m. to the Villupuram railway station. Mohan Babu left Cuddalore by 7.30 a.m. and we planned to join together at Villupuram for the 9.15 a.m. Pallavan Superfast train.

9.00 a.m. : Reached the Villupuram Rail Station, bought the tickets for two of us, went to the platform where Mohan Babu joined me. Noel sir was also there and he is also going to Chennai by the same train but in the AC coach. So caught up with him chatting for quite some time on the platform.

Noel Sir is one of the senior most person; he has reckoned more than 3 decades of service in our organization MRF and he is now a consultant trainer. He is an inspiration for us in terms of punctuality. He has reached the railway station by 8.15 itself and waiting for the train. 

The Pallavan Superfast train arrived little late at about 9.25, and Noel Sir went to the AC coach and we went to the unreserved coach. Though we were optimistic of getting a seat to sit during this 3 hour journey till Egmore Rail Station, we were drawn aback by the fully packed Un-Reserved coaches of the Pallavan Superfast Train. After some hard efforts, we two managed to squeeze  into the coach. We managed to travel standing in the train for the first 2 hours of the journey. Luckily we got to sit after the train reached Chengalpet. 

Finally we arrived Egmore Rail Station at 12.30 p.m. We got to see off Noel Sir; bid him adieu and went to the Vasantha Bhavan hotel opposite to the railway station. Had lunch and then came back to the Egmore Rail Station to get the local EMU train to the Chennai Beach Rail Station. We were anew to this locality and was treading this route as advised by one of my friends with a vague mind. We were seeking to know of the bus routes and the distance ahead for us from the passerby. The experience was nice recalling myself of past memories of going on long tours without knowing the local knowledge. Finally we caught the right MTC bus and reached the Tiruvottiyur bus terminus. Then after a short walk of 5 minutes we got to the legendry Royal Enfield factory.

The first sight that invited us was this board. There was a gate on the left side and we went into it. What caught our eyes were a line up of Royal Enfield bullets in Battle Green colour which were ready for dispatch. We were then told by the security personnel of another gate meant for visitors and we then walked past right side of this board. Finally reached the factory.

As planned, we two were nearly half hour ahead of the schedule. We were asked to wait at the reception area. 

Thats Mohan Babu my colleague and Shri Nidhi an avid travel blogger of Tata Nano Superdrive fame awaiting at the reception area.

At the reception area we got to grasp this nice book and flipped through the interesting stories around the legend called the Enfield Bullet which has an history of more than half century. The book costs Rs.1,500.

The antique V-Twin bullet. Clicked from insides of the book.

It was about 3.00 p.m. and we got invited by Mr.Praveen who gave us an interesting talk at the Conf. room in the second floor of the building.

Got to know from him that the Adventure Bike of the Royal Enfield which is now being conceptualized will be out into the market in another couple of years. The great thing about this adventure bike is that, you need not worry of the fuel price hikes; you need not worry about non-availability of fuel at demanding locations. If you get petrol, fill your bullet with it, if not? get diesel, if not? get kerosene. If not? get gasoline. If not? get vegetable oil. ...

This bike can be run in 6 different kinda fuel which suits your pocket and which is available easily for you. I direly need this bike!!

There were now 7 people in our tweetup and two more needed to join. So, Mr.Praveen was awaiting for the other two gentlemen. We then got two magazines one is a regular magazine "The Beat" which gives out catchy updates and stories behind the happenings around the enigma called Royal Enfield. The other one is the Trip Calendar for the year 2011. Royal Enfield conducts trips around interesting places with duration ranging from 1 day to 15 days. The God of all these trips is the Himalayan Odyssey which occurs every July.  I dream of getting into the next one as a photographer. Let all things work out for my good.

The much awaited factory came the next. We were advised on the Dos and Don’ts while visiting the factory shop floor. 

Generally speaking, its rarest of the rare cases where people outside of the business are permitted to visit a manufacturing facility.  But, Royal Enfield is a forerunner in throwing the red carpet to we the twitter freaks to glimpse the magnificent beasts while they are getting into shape right from the bolts and nuts to be flying, be it the dirtiest track to the world's highest roads.

These are the accessories which are to come out of the staples of RE. A well designed Tool Box, Rain Wear for the bullet riders formed part of them. RE is opening up for its riders to buy. The products are well designed and catchy.

Then we got to be clicked of a group photograph.

The march into the factory premises starts now...

We were then lead into the engine assembly area. Photography of the high tech machinery is forbidden. He got to enrich us about the steps taken in making of the engines. There is a production line in which the workers assemble the parts. As the engine travels in the assembly line, different parts are fixed into the engine. As a mistake proofing, only one type of engine is produced at a time. 

The engine which is fully built is taken off in a trolley and it is tuned. For this its fixed on a skeletal bullet and started. If the engine confirms to their spec, its okay ed and sent out. 

Then we were enthusiastic to click these curvy bullets on the shop floor.

But we got driven down of our pomp, when we heard from Mr.Praveen that these were the bullets that have failed in the quality tests and are awaiting for the re-exam.

Though many of us got to see so many videos of the handcrafting process of striping of the Bullet Tanks on the internet; I got to see this process in person there. It was awesomeness at its peak for me. Got much elated with the precision in which the person stroked the paint on the tank of the bullet. 

This is the paint shop 

This is an export model of bullet “Standard 500” the aesthetic design really ROCKS. It was hard time to leave off from this spot, since the chicky Std 500 make its pull. 

Another group photo with the Standard 500 Bullet rocking in the middle.

Then we were glimpsed of the process called chromium coating.

We were forbidden to click the assembly line from nearer distance. Got to click this at the border from where photography is permitted.

The finished bikes comes out of the assembly line.

 

What you see is the real test of the bullet at top speeds. Got to watch a bullet being ridden at an excess of 110 kmph.

After the bullets pass the dyno tes, they are then ridden on a test track.

The tweetup ended at 4.30 p.m. and we bid adieu to Mr.Praveen who took his effort and time in giving us a memorable life time experience of the legend called Royal Enfield.

The whole set of photographs are available at my FaceBook here.