Out of the Box...

Every city has that one place that feels like childhood, like memorable family winter evenings, favourite food memories, Numaish for many is like that, happiness wrapped in lights, noise, smell of popcorn in every 50 feet with new and interesting stalls every year to explore, what once used to be an industrial exhibition has evolved over time to cater all. For generations, it has been more than just an exhibition. It’s our very own Disneyland. A place where religion, status, age, or gender quietly disappear into the crowd. Where everyone walks the same dusty lanes, eats from the same food stalls, bargains at the same counters(yes, a street smart skill that gets sharpened), and goes home with the same tired legs and full hearts. Few places bring people together like Numaish does for Hyderabad. Every year record number of crowds. Originally meant to showcase industrial innovations and new products, the exhibition has slowly transformed. Today, it’s a vibrant carnival of shopping — clothe...

A place that brings a memory rush to everyone living around this place. In olden days, temples used to be the center for economic and cultural progress in important cities but for most Secunderabad people the station was the symbol of growth and progress and center to their world.                                        We could talk about any aspect of life and this place would have a contribution. My grandfather worked here since Nizams days where it was a major hub for economic activity, transport and military movement. My dad worked in a bank and also worked at a place called Rail Nilayam which along with Sanchalan Bhavan used to be the pillars of the SCR headquarters. It not only provided livelihood to many but was the pivotal link of Secunderabad to the future. Ever observed the different kind of markets that blossomed around Secunderabad Railway station in 5km radius - was it a co...

The  'experiential fine dine' place in Hyderabad.  Most of my messages/conversations are around food recommendations, asking for places to eat mentioning the occasion and when a message from those friends come saying How are you Arvind, my Restaurant Recommendation System mode is activated. So here I'm throwing out an open recommendation to the world - A fine dine place that has always had that wow factor that not many restaurants can replicate and is truly fit for a celebration.  It was my friends birthday and I tried the Vegetarian set menu - which is called 'Green Fables'. There are 3 specialty menus apart from the A'la carte menu. The Deccan Tales(Hyderabadi) and Indian Epics both predominantly non-vegetarian fares were tried by my friends.  The menu is well curated and rightly portioned. If you are a food enthusiast each dish has a local inspiration, an ingredient doing a crossover which sparks your curiosity to the infinite possibilities to innovate with ...

Devara - Part 1 Finally, the faithful audience of Jr.NTR get to see their hero as a solo lead in a movie after 6 long years (The last one had my name mentioned in it ;)). Very few people are as versatile as Jr.NTR with an exceptional command of language, great range in acting, an impeccable body language, enviable dancing skills and not to forget he is TFI royalty. If #Pushpa ruled the jungles, #Devara rules the sea and hills. ( A potential crossover idea maybe :D ) Devara - My expectation Vs My experience. Let me start off by saying - Devara is a big screen watch for the rich production and design values they have put in to create this world which makes it a pleasant to watch movie. The frames, the audio quality, the Vfx department have all done a good job and glad big budget movies are embracing technology to tell stories better. This one is being dubbed in multiple languages too but the most effective watch will be in Telugu. I love commercial cinema but I absolutely admire st...

Oppenheimer.(The movie)  Watched on July 21st,2023at Prasadz IMAX, Hyderabad  Cinemas in India are hugely for entertainment and many times the important human moments are traded for crowning glory moments. But for many storytellers cinemas present an excellent opportunity to narrate a perspective that makes us read about history, invest emotionally into the characters that we are transported to that world effortlessly. It takes immense amount of self confidence and meticulous planning to show that world which we do not perceive. That's where Christopher Nolan bhaiyya enters making the quietest moments the loudest ones. He has successfully made a generation read before going to watch his movies and  also re-watch it to understand it better He has made some of my favorite films and also the movies I did not want to watch one bit like Tenet. Oppenheimer - This movie is about the most significant invention which changed the course of future wars, meant to stop the great war...

Ahh! The world of bloggers! After a gap of nearly 2 years and 6+ kgs , I'm back!!! Heavier, stronger and kind of wiser to enter the world of blogging again ;) The internet has drastically improved the speeds of communication , information passing , entertainment etc but at the same time it has faded away a few of the basic things we all did well in our 90's and 2000's! Handwriting  ( I was so proud of my calligraphic skills where my strokes in cursive writing would be so smooth that those 'curves' would make any Hollywood actress jealous :D ) Now all I can do is choose fonts ( my handwriting variation) to watermark my pictures or write emails or  documents which are read by humans and bots. Out of the other things that has advanced to advanced stages of extinction is  our attention span!   I don't think anyone is willing to read beyond a smart punchline or not more than 140 characters thanks to Twitter ( A person with over 8K tweets and a winner of ...

So What's happening guys ? I'm still staying alive in the world of blogging with this post(My only post of 2010!!) :D 2010 was rough isn't it?( Earthquakes, floods, violence, Economy) - Still waiting for some things to happen fast for me( or rather have to make it happen!) Almost dying to go to India to visit family and friends. It's been a while and I almost have been dreaming about Hyderabad for the last 6 months. So here are some highlights of 2010. Its been an amazing year for me as a Photographer. Great works concluding as a researcher ( soon..soon to be told..) Learnt a lot of things by experimenting and travelling to many places. Thanks to the wonderful friends( whose phone calls I don't pick up, but still give them the best profile pictures :] ) with whom some great road trips have happened!! I had this wonderful opportunity of shooting a wedding at Boston and New Hampshire(Yes I was the trusted Photograph...