Books and dancing

I've been on a sci-fi streak lately. I have read two great science fiction books and may pick up another one, since it seems to be the one genre which hasn't disappointed me lately. The last regular fiction work that I liked was the City of Thieves. After that both The Martian and Ready Player One turned out to be great books which I had never even heard about.

It's the fifth year of me dancing now and it is getting harder to keep track of why I am doing what I am doing and what to do next. Miami Salsa Congress just got canceled and now I need to see what to do next.

30

Turned thirty a month ago. Maybe it is time to make some changes. But before thinking about what to do next, I may have to sit back and think about how different I am from when I was twenty. Sometimes it is hard to think back 10 years and even though I might remember all the events that transpired, I am not very sure I still remember the person I was.

One thing that was definitely different was that I was blogging. Blogging a lot more. The days in college gave me enough amusing things to blog about or at least start. I used to find topics to write about easier at the least. There were phases in my college life too, but with that would hold true for most of my batch mates as well, and probably has to do with changing times and the age in which many find themselves.

I do not remember what was going through my head in the intervening couple of years where I went from Bangalore to Hyderabad. There were several interesting characters in my life who I fear I will forget to give the importance they deserve later in my life. I believe the main changes happened during the phase where I was hanging out with my new Hyderabad buddy a lot. I would consider that the second phase of my 20s. That phase lasted through meeting Carol and of course getting married. The person I am now would not have agreed to getting married, nor would have committed to relationship this fast.

Coming to the US did not do much to change me much in the first two years. The marriage thing blew over quick enough, and I was free. Maybe when I have time I will fill in the gaps in the years.

The past month was a whirlwind with preparations for congresses, supposed trips to Dubai, the birthday celebrations for the 30th and the two year anniversary with Kristen. I wish I had a day or two to sit somewhere and ponder over this past decade, but I highly doubt whether that would happen. I cannot remember the last time I had a weekend of doing nothing.

Another Thanksgiving

It's almost the end of my fourth year in the US, and this time I decided not to go to any of the Thanksgiving parties that I was graciously invited to by my friends. Growing up in a culture where this mostly American holiday has no cultural significance meant that I harbor no particular sentiments towards missing the turkey feast. My girlfriend tells me quite often that this is her favorite holiday and was pretty excited to go back home to her family and get back to her mom's cooking, even if it were only for a day or two. A couple of my good friends did invite me over to their family Thanksgiving dinners, but I was not sure how I felt about crashing an intimate family dinner, and that too a Latin family one at that. However, I have crashed a Thanksgiving dinner before, when my roommate at that time invited me over to her's, and I did have an amazing time. And last year, we did our dinner, with our very own dance studio surrogate family, which was indeed very cozy and heartwarming. So I felt I have had my share of good experiences, and could do with some time off from my never ending events and partying life.

It is not very frequently that I get so much free time these days. In fact, most of my days, weeks and months seem to flow into the next seamlessly via a tight schedule of work, gym, kickboxing, teaching, practicing and performing. This has been going on for over three years now, and when I look back at it, even though with a lot of happy times and very little regret, it does feel hard to distinguish between any particular periods. Don't get me wrong. Plenty of things have changed in my life during those periods, and my life from where it was four years ago, when I got to the US, is vastly different from where it is now. I was talking to a friend of mine who has moved away from the city, about how much life can change and how much one could experience in just a few years. She is turning twenty three now and was worrying about not having enough time until she turned thirty, which seems to a lot of people like the end of time or end of our lives as we know it. I am an year away from it and was forced to think back at where all I have been from 23 to 29. I have certainly gone through at least three different life transformations in that period, and this post is definitely not the avenue for exploring those phases, periods and life events. Maybe in another post before I get too old to remember it all.

Talking to another very dear friend from home reminded me of certain other phases in my life, and her persuasion has resulted in this blog. I was telling her that my life is usually so public on social media that I barely need a blog to express anything anyway. But, it is hardly true. Even though I do in fact like and enjoy to a certain degree, the level of image crafting possible on Facebook, I miss the extent of ideas and the clarity with which they can be expressed, possible through writing. Reading a few of the books that I have been reading lately has also taken me back to those simpler days where I was very interested in improving my writing and took immense pleasure in writing about the most mundane of things in the most mundane of posts. These days I get pleasure from perfecting body movement and slick patterns. Oh, how things have changed!  

Some random shots

The past weekend was truly hectic. It was a whirlwind of partying at Havana club, getting my car fixed, the 9th anniversary social at the studio, pool party at the Hilton, Fast and Furious 6, barbecue at Victors and a lot of pictures in between. These are a few shots from the weekend -

This is Kayden. He said he knew he was cute, and got a lot of things because he was cute. He was very happy to pose for me.

 This is Malena. She danced salsa while in her mom's womb, and came into the world a pre-made salsera. Everytime I shoot her, she makes sure that she gets into her perfect dancer pose, even when lying down. She will be a heart breaker in a few years.

Daniel had set up his lights at the studio for the social, and I got a few pictures too with the black back drop. This reminds me that I still need to start using my back drops and lights. I got Erica to pose for me here.

Images and the stories they tell

I met Katja (TJ) dancing at The Sanctuary. Misty, Mike and I were standing outside after dancing on a Friday at 2am. TJ was walking by saying a good night. Something made her turn back and come to us. The four of us stood there talking till 4am in the morning. TJ was a German engineer, dancer, traveller, photographer. She wanted to take a few dancing pictures of hers. So we went out one cold late November afternoon in the cold where TJ went on to put a very good performance of modelling in the cold in skimpy clothes in a water fountain. Just after this shot was taken, TJ took 6 months off of work and spent two months in Africa and 4 months in South America. With a single backpack.

Inna is the quintessential Russian woman in her 30s. She is beautiful, talented and one hell of a person. She manages to run 5 branches of her chiropractic business while taking care of her kids, travelling back and forth between Florida and Atlanta. She knows what she wants and how to get it, and smile while doing it all. this was during a Tuesday social. This is one of my favorite shots, just for her eyes (which are green btw) and her smile.

Lucy is a my salsa coach and a pro-salsa dancer. Somehow this is how I remember Lucy all the time now. Talk about the power of images. And talking of power, never even try to take a kick from Lucy! Olympic athletes would be envious of her quads.

Stephanie flies everywhere, but she is not an angel. We met at tango, and went to Baltimore for the tango festival. She is a strong woman who takes care of her two grown up kids. She is ready for anything and always has class.

Arun Vishnu is a genius. Under utilized, yet happy. He could be designing rocket components for Indian Space mission, yet he chooses to do audio systems for cars. He is the ultimate steady character, and is never too worried. He has saved and supported me on several occasions. He can fix anything you break. This was shot in Kerala on one of my visits back home. He humored me by going over this shot a few times and not looking too puzzled. I like the calm expression on his face.

Alissa's smile combined with her big, beautiful eyes would make any man's heart skip a beat. She is young and very smart. Even if she hasn't decided up on what to do with her International business and politics degree, I have a feeling that he is going to fit right in Washington. I can easily she her as working in United Nations.

Denisa is beautiful and knows it. She could wriggle her finger at the club and three guys would come to her just in case. And don't get me wrong, she's smart. I am sure her Engineering degree from Georgia Tech, which is one of the hardest schools to get into, will take her places. This was shot at Pensacola Beach, FL. Denisa had no problems modeling for me in the cold sea that day, when none of the others did not even want to touch the cold waters. She is my mambo dance partner.

 Damaris was a puzzling character. She somehow always managed to effuse a certain sense of a strong intelligence hidden behind her relaxed, easy going facade. It took some effort to get her to pose for these pictures, but once she did I got some very pretty shots. I had been telling her that I needed pictures of her tattoos and I got them just before she left the team.

Rosa is one of my oldest friends in Atlanta, as she was the one of the first friends I made through dance. I had just got my new flash when we were hanging out, and she humored me and posed for a few shots! 

Potter maniac

I had never been a big Harry Potter fan, and I remember coming across Pottermania for the first time and mistaking the whole series as a classic which I had never heard of. This was probably just after the second book or so. Then the whole phenomenon started becoming quite big and I ended up starting with the first book when I was in my first or second year of college. I was completely impressed with how a book could be so interesting to so many people of so many ages, and such varied reading interests and experiences. I went on to read the next couple of books and hit my plateau with the Azkaban one. This was in one way a good thing as it turns out, that book was and still is my favorite. I remember watching the movies and coming off not too impressed initially.

I did not try to follow-up with the later books for several years, and the general opinion that the Goblet and Phoenix were in fact quite lengthy and boring did not help either. I was watching most of the movie versions coming out though (missed Goblet when it came out). Now that I think back on it, it was all for the good. When I did watch those movies when it came out, I never did appreciate them, nor would have even if I had read the books.

I watched the Half-blood prince and remember vaguely liking it. However, I could not pick up the thread a year later when I watched the 'Deathly Hallows Part I'. Since the 'Deathly Hallows' was so confusing, I went back to watching the movies (on my iPod on a long flight to India). Again watching the movies somehow did not satisfy my appetite and my appetite was indeed growing quite fast. Now that its been quite a while that I have gotten back into reading, especially since I need to justify the expensive Kindle, I have once again gotten stuck with the thought of where to go with my reading. I ended up picking up from where I left it earlier with the Goblet, and at the same time picking up from the first movie.

Re-reading the books and re-watching the movies have really made me a Potter-maniac. Of both the books and the movies my favorite would be The Prisoner of Azkaban. The movie was especially good in my opinion, with the most visually appealing and smooth story telling. The worst in my opinion would be The goblet, with the movie neither visually appealing, nor telling the story well. The Half Blood Prince came close, with both the movie and book being appealing. The best characters in the movies in my opinion are Snape and Loona Lovegood. Emma Watson is amazing in most films in the series. The last three movies were deep, slow and smooth, not rushing ahead with the story and giving time for us to understand the characters. I cannot wait for the last part to come out. I am now a potter maniac.

Harry Potter might not be the coolest of movies to be a big fan of, but thats practically the only one we've got.

Its been a while since I bought my new camera, but this is the first worthwhile picture I have taken. I had a great time using my S3IS, but I guess I felt it was time to try something a little more challenging. I would have liked to get something with good video recording, but I guess this is good enough for now. I might have to get some good lenses for indoor photography, but thats all in the future, for another day, another post. Keep shooting(,) people (no pun intended!).