Shadows of Time - Schatten der Zeit - 2004

I am not sure how I got to know of this movie but I had this and when I saw it I was simply mesmerised by its production values.

The film is a love story of how 2 poor children who become friends in adverse situation go on to grow up and how their lives turn out.

The one thing that I remember from the film is its astounding cinematography.

Not to be missed for its technical values.

Shadows Of Time

The Way Home - Korea

The Way Home is a simple story told simply and realistacally.

The line is "What if a kid born and brought up in city comes to live in a village" ...

The film tells the story of how a kid is being brought to live in his grand mothers home and his interactions with his grandmother.

His grandmother is very old and cannot talk and hence there is not much of dialogues in the film. But the film conveys the message.

Its a Wonderful life - 1946 - USA

Its a wonderful life is a feel good family film fit for viewing with kids and family.No wonder it got released in 1946. But dont underestimate for a timepass movie.

Its a well written movie with a good story and nice moments.

The Basic premise of the movies is this " If you are given a chance to see the world where you wont be there, what it will be like?" otherwise stated as "How life would be if you had not met some of the persons in your life".

The book "Five people you meet in heaven" also works on a similar story.

Batman Begins - USA

I have been having plans for sometime to see the recently released Batman film , The Dark Knight which is creating box office records world wide. Hence I wanted to see the prequel, Batman Begins.

Batman Begins tells the story of Batman from the beginning. The story starts with Bruce Wayne (Character of Batman) losing his parents in Gotham City and growing up to revenge his parents death. But circumstances force him to get into the thick of criminals in Gotham city and he decides to fight criminals in Gotham city. For this he takes the help of Morgan Freeman a sort of scientist and leads 2 lives as batman and the rich playboy.

How he fights the corruption and criminals in Gotham city has been told in a riveting manner.

A Must see and make it a point to see this film before seeing The Dark Knight.

Amelie

Amelie is a poignant french film about a cute little girl who grows up to be a innocent lady.

The story is Amelie one day decides that her life's goal is to help others and make them happy. What she does to achive this is the film. and it depicts it in a very moving manner.

One of the best french films I have seen.

Kandahar

I have heard a lot about the Iranian director Mohsen Makhmalbaf. Recently he came to chennai to check out the Color correction facilities available in chennai. I was glad to hear that a great director like him has come to chennai for his films. Hence I wanted to see any of his film this weekend and got hold of Kandahar, which I wanted to see for a long time.

If not for anything , It would show Afghanistan as it is in reality.

The movie is told through the eyes of a Afghani woman settled in Canada who wishes to see her sister in afghanistan. The film is all about how she travels to Kandahar.
The film is rich in its depiction of landscape and the people.

A Must see.

Nilgiris Trekking - 2008 - Day 6

Have a look at the previous posts in this series.

Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day - 4 - Trek To Murugamalai
Day - 4 - Main Trek
Day - 5

We are onto the last day of our Nilgiris 2008 trek and the agenda of the last day is to leave after breakfast:-)

The team that stayed till the last :




From left, Edwins father,Saravanan,Mega,Prasanna,Camp Leader,Edwin,Sethu and Kathiravan.

After succesfully completing my first trek with YHAI, I am happy that I got to know them atleast now and have set a goal of 1 trek per year.
For those who dont know about YHAI , here is a brief description .

A little about YHAI:

YHAI stands for Youth Hostel Association of India. Its a Government funded organisation operating in a No-Profit, No-Loss basis.
The Youth Hostel movement was started in Germany and has since then spread to various countries.
The goal of it is to enable Youth to travel more in a cheap way.

In India, it comes under the control of the central Govt and is being run in a good manner.
Most of the Indian states have a state branch and organise State level treks.
In some cases, they organise National level treks also.


Advantages of trekking with YHAI :

1. Its Cheap.
2. Its safe, unless you do something stupid.
3. They cover the whole of India.
4. You need not run around for getting permissions.
5. Becoming a Lifetime Member is dirt cheap costing only 1700 Rs.

The YHAI main website :

http://www.yhaindia.org/

And become a member at

http://www.yhaindia.org/Transaction/Memebership/RegistrationDetail.aspx

Happy Trekking ...

Nilgiris Trekking - 2008 - Day 5

Date: 1 May 2008

Please have a look at the previous 4 Days Trek Photos and experiences.

Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day - 4 - Trek To Murugamalai
Day - 4 - Main Trek

Todays agenda is start from Pykara and reach Singara Basecamp near Mudumalai by evening.



Wild buffaloes :
We came across a set of Buffaloes which though domesticated was clearly not happy with us in their place and were giving us a stern face.



Wild Boar:

From the beginning of the trek, we were told that we would have chances of seeing wild animals in 5th day when we were near to Mudumalai and so everyone was on the lookout for anything that moved amidst the bushes.

By Chance I was at the front of the group and had the time to look properly when the guide showed us a animal. I zoomed in and took a photo. It turned out to be a wild boar. Even though It was just a wild boar and my photo of it was not that much good, I was able to convince the 4 kids who had come to the trek, that I was a Photographer from National Geographic. Even though they would not believe me, the situation of me being the only one to capture the first sighting of a animal in the trek helped and they decided I was indeed a Wildlife Photographer :-).



Hemanth :

Hemanth is from mysore and had not come with his family. It was good to see that he has come to a trip this much far without his family members accompanying him.
He reads books and has read the kannada version of Pappillon. Till this time, I have never heard of that book. I would have to get it and read it.
And he has not seen Roja, the movie.




For most part of the day we trekked in the Route that was laid down by the Mysore rulers amidst the mountains.





Bokkapuram in the distant :



A good mountain to climb:

This mountain stood out amidst the surroundings and I wished that it would be bokkapuram, but sadly it wasnt and we did not visit tthis also.



The mountain we had crossed



Bokkapuram Temple:

This is the temple where Veerappan used to come for worship.



Masinagudi:



Singara Basecamp:

Singara, though not exactly mudumalai is some 5 kms from Mudumalai and we were warned that the previous day elephants had broken the windows in the basecamp. I am not sure about it though.

Deer at Singara:



Basecamp:

Nilgiris Trekking - 2008 - Day 4

We are on Day 4 of the Nilgiris Trekking Expedition 2008 and if you missed out the previous days, check out the following.


Nilgiris Trek 2008 - Day 1

Nilgiris Trek 2008 - Day 2

Nilgiris Trek 2008 - Day 3

Nilgiris Trek 2008 - Day 4 - Trek to Murugamalai

Terrace Estate:

Terrace Estate in front of Murugamalai.




Leaving behind Muruga malai

Below is the other side of Murugamalai and like every "other" face it looks tough to conqer.
I am sure that the side from which we climbed was much easy than the other side which is visible in the below photo.



Main Trek:

The trek for today is from Pandiar Hills to Pykara.



Me, Saravanan, Srini and Sharath.







Temple :

A temple amidst the clouds.



Kolam outside the temple:



TR Bazaar

TR Bazaar is the place where we meet civilisation during this day and acts a resting place midway.

The Loner and the Group:



Resting after a steep climb



Stream:









A Dragon Fly in flight:

Proof for the fact that Dragonfiles were the models for Helicopters.





At the end of the main trek for this day we reached our basecamp Pykara which is nearby the Pykara Dam and the Pykara waterfalls.

Pykara :

When we reached the entry point for the waterfalls we were stopped by the watchman and cautioned that entry was till 6.00 P.M and we cannot enter.
After haggling for sometime, we blurted out that we were part of the trekking and then his respose changed drastically. We were allowed in and he told us that we should have this comunicated this fact before itself. I am glad that I became a member of YHAI.



When we reached Pykara, we were repeatedly warned by the locals that the water here was not fit for bathing and we should restrain from doing so.
And the falls proved it with a toxic chemical smell.

At the end, this day we trekked less since it was mostly over the road, enjoyed the surroundings more.

Nilgiris Trekking - 2008 - Day 4 - Trek To Murugamalai

Please go thru the previous posts in this seris

Nilgiris Trek 2008 - Day 1

Nilgiris Trek 2008 - Day 2

Nilgiris Trek 2008 - Day 3

Nilgiris Trek - Day 4- Trek To Murugamalai.

Murugamalai is a mountain in Pandiar and can be treated as a individual trek in itself. While all others had went to this place the previous day evening, I didnot go at that time and today morning again a group of five of us climbed to the top. It was the first time for me and the second time for the rest.

The Place in all its grandeur

The place looks just cool with grass evenly spread across the whole of the mountain with very less trees giving it a distinct look that invited everyone who saw it.




The steps:

The way to this mountain is just a series of steps carved out of the sand.



On the way :



The Murugan Temple ;

At the top of the mountain is a Murugan Temple with a minimalistic structure. No wonder since at this height it would be difficult to carry all the stone needed to construct a temple.




From the top of the mountain all we get is a sheer spread of mountains below you and you can enjoy all that to the max possible.












How to reach this place :

From Ooty Bus Stand take the bus that goes to Ooty Terrace Estate and get down at the last bus stop.

Nilgiris Trekking - 2008 - Day 3

Please go thru the previous posts for Day 1 and Day2

Nilgiris Trek 2008 - Day 1

Nilgiris Trek 2008 - Day 2

We are into the third day of the trek and todays agenda was Starting from Mukuruthi Dam and reaching Pandiar Camp.

Start of the trek:

We had a group photo with the campleader before we started the trek.





Trekking amidst the clouds



Resting place :

This was a cool looking oasis amidst the hills and we had a nice rest here.






Edwin :

Edwin is one of the guys we met during the trek and he joined with us often since there were 5 of us more or less of the same age group and we all were speaking tamil. Every day after the trek is over when we had time to talk and discuss , edwin would tell us about all the movies he had seen and describe them in so good detail that you will want to see them. A



Lunch :

We came across a stream and we had our lunch here.




Pandiar Village:

Evening we reached the pandiar village and had nice tea here.




Pandiar Basecamp :



We reached the Pandiar basecamp around 4.30 and after having tea, others went for another trek to a nearby hill,Murugamalai while me and Sethu stayed behind to get some rest.

Now I notice that I have taken very less number of photos in this day, must be due to the reason that I felt tired and did not have the mindset to take many photos.