Gorillapod to the rescue

Wifey told me “You know how it is when you go to the theatre and miss out the start”

I said “Yes”

“Well that is what you did with my dance. You missed recording the start”

“But dear you know how I was multitasking on that day. Dashing down a flight of steps and then operating the camera is not an easy task”

Well let me start at the beginning.

Clicking pictures at weddings is fun and you tend to get some interesting shots if it’s a fun wedding. But when it comes to capturing the same on video it’s a different challenge.

Had the opportunity to capture a wedding held in Goa. On the day of the Sangeet there was a lot of dancing and I had to take care of the music part (co-ordinate with the DJ) as well as capture the action on video. I thought I will somehow manage both by telling the DJ exactly when to start the music and side by side roll the camera. But at the venue I found that the DJ was actually sitting two floors above the dance floor. Now this was a tricky situation and I was wondering how to do both. To compound the problem I was supposed to shake a leg with wifey for a particular song. I don’t think anyone faced a situation where you had to be behind the camera as well as face the camera.  After racking my brain I came with a solution - the Gorillapod in my camera bag. It’s a smaller version of a tripod but the legs are flexible. It comes in handy when you want your hands free.

You can practically wrap it around anything, a railing or a tree trunk or around your rear view mirror.

At the venue, the closest place that I could find to fasten it was the railing around the stage.

For the first two songs I managed to get the action that way, but soon realised that climbing up and down the ladder (to reach the DJ) was eating into the actual shooting time. So finally I carried the camera up with me and did the shooting from top. Now this was something like a top view of the complete action which did not do justice to the performers.  I was hoping someone would take some decent shots from the front which I could mix with mine to get a reasonably respectable compilation.

Luckily for me, Ms Siddhi came to my rescue. She said she would send me whatever she has captured.

After a lot of splicing, joining, overlaying music etc, I came up with this short video.

I have added only 3 songs here in this video. This shows how one can splice and mix the inputs from two cameras effectively. I have retained the original soundtrack, so that the crowd’s reactions and cheering is not lost.

        A special mention about Martin’s entry. One moment he was standing there sipping beer and before I could zoom out he leapt on the stage. Very agile and quick I must say. Being Spanish, doing the Senorita song must have been easy for him.  

There are only three more songs in which I have some footage from Ms Siddhi. The rest of the song and dance will be with the “view from the top”

So if anyone else (who attended the wedding) has canned some shots, do send them across via We Transfer so that I can add them in the next volumes.  Happy viewing.

Reis Magos (Part-II)

I had seen Mario’s work in many magazines and books, but the ones displayed here is something a Mario fan should not miss. I went about practically clicking each and every caricature, sometimes laughing aloud at the humor depicted so wonderfully in the cartoons. These are from his dairies before he became famous as a cartoonist. His detailing of the finer points in the everyday life of a Goan is remarkable. He started getting into trouble at school for sketching catholic priests in his cartoons.

The sermon from the pulpit with generous showers. (the pulpit is no more functional but you can still see them in the old churches)

He was probably one of the first Indian cartoonists to use crow quill.

 In one of his interviews to Gauri Gharpure, he mentioned “What is life just sitting at the desk? You must travel a lot when you are young. That is very important.”

He is one guy who did not have any formal education in this field but his knowledge of anatomy was great and that was the reason why his cartoons always stood out.

His Miss Nimbupani and Miss Fonseca were a regular feature in some of the magazines of yesteryear. 

His drawings now adorn many places, one of them being the Goa railway station (Madgaon)

 I had clicked one of his creations in Hotel Mondegar (in Mumbai) about 7 years ago and uploaded on Flickr.

Coming back to the ones in the Fort, a detailed description of him at the entrance:

These are drawings of a typical bachelor’s room (both male and female)

If you just look at a part of it (any part) you will find all those little things that are bound to be there in a bachelor’s apartment.

Then we have the city types and the village types:

The emigrant is from Bombay and hence Bomboicar

If you look at the body stance of each of the characters in the picture below you will understand what I mean by “knowledge of anatomy” 

And the language of Mr Johnson and Mr Bandorkar.

Mr Johnson: “A trifle more elegance in the rhythmical motions of your lower limbs Bandorkar”

Mr Bandorkar: “Arey? Vat you saying man, why phor such much language?”

He is one of those Indians who got all the three national awards: Padmashree, Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan.

A self portrait:  

What I have put up here is just about 10% of the pictures that I clicked. So ye Mario fans don’t miss this place.

A typical adieu by Amul

The first part of this can be seen here.
http://joezachs.blogspot.in/2013/02/reis-magos-part-i.html

Reis Magos (Part-I)

For a long time, I had been thinking of writing about Mario Miranda and his work, but some how I kept postponing it for some reason or the other.

Now I have the perfect reason to write and that is the historic Fort - Reis Magos in Goa.

Visited this place last month and I must say I am really impressed. It is a perfect example of how a place can be restored with out loosing its identity.  Thanks to Gerard da Cunha, who has done a wonderful job in bringing the place alive. In the first instance you may get the impression that he has done nothing, and that exactly is the highlight of the restoration – to maintain its original identity. In his own words “old monuments are just like corpse but unless you use a building you cannot maintain it. We can reclaim our heritage and earn from it”

The income from the entry tickets may not be substantial but think of the tourists that come from all over the world helping in the economy of the state.

Old materials and old methodology of restoration has been used to give the fort its air of authenticity.

I was also impressed by the staff present at every point, quietly doing their work. After you buy your entry ticket, there is a small vehicle which takes you up to the main gate (as its a steep climb)

Just before the main door of the fort there is this banyan tree. Its interesting to read the history of the tree.

It grew as a parasite on a coconut tree, eventually strangulating it. In 2008 the coconut tree caught fire. Without a core the banyan tree began to buckle and collapse. It was trimmed and held with steel ropes and a reinforced concrete column was cast in the hollow of the tree. The tree stabilized and the stays were removed in 2010.

Just as you enter you will notice a big hole in the roof. This was used to shoot (or throw hot oil) at the enemies who managed to reach that point

Inside the fort, time stands still and you are transported back by about three centuries.

I saw this canon which was mounted on carriages. These gun carriages were copied from the original that were found in Diu fort.

This was how it used to look before restoration.

There were originally 31 canons of which 7 are now left.

A close up of one of them shows some inscription, probably the date of manufacture and the insignia.

Reis Magos is the Portuguese name for the three wise men from the Bible.

The view from the top is magnificent with the Mandovi river in the forefront.

While we were going through the place there was this friendly parrot who was very interested in my friend’s camera.

I showed my camera to the parrot, but he did not even look at it. Nowadays even the birds know the difference between a DSLR and an ordinary camera.

 On the way out one has to go down a flight of steps (about 100+) and its real steep. Thankfully hand rails have been provided for safety.

Coming to the best part is an exhibition in the main hall and that brings us to one of my favourite cartoonist Mario Miranda.

More on this in part –II,  meanwhile a preview of the pictures that are coming in  part-II

Kumbalaghi Village Tour

Had been to Kerala for five days and one of the activities that I enjoyed was the Kumbalaghi Village tour.

It is run by a family with all the members of the family chipping in one way or the other.

I found it both interesting and educative. I mean I never knew that I could hold a live crab in the hand till they showed me how!

OK first things first. As soon as we arrived at the Kumbalaghi bridge, there was a guy who took us to this waiting boat which was to ferry us across.  Have traveled in a Vallom (boat) in Kerala earlier, but never expected to be ferried across seated on a nicely decorated chair in a Vallom. 

There were two oarsmen who did a good job with their poles.

There was a small predetermined halt inbetween where we were shown how toddy was tapped from the coconut tree. This tapping sound was very familiar to me in the early hours of dawn when everything is silent but this is the first time I did see it in close quarters.

You will be able to follow it in the attached video below. The guy was good enough to give us a taste of the toddy and I must say it was sweetish with a slight tang.

We proceeded to the Kallanchery island where we were welcomed with tender coconut water.

Climbing a coconut tree is not easy but this guy did it with ease using a ring around his ankles. The ring is made of natural stuff, either from the banana tree or the coconut tree strands.

Coconut tree is one tree where no part goes to waste. This was demonstrated by showing us how the husk was separated from the coconut shell with a “paara” (as known in the local language)

This husk is left to be soaked in water for about eight months after which it was beaten to extract the fibers.

 These strands were used to make a rope. The weaving of the rope is done by manually rotating two wheels. There are hooks on these wheels that rotate individually thus giving the required twist to the rope.

These thin ropes are again entwined to make them a thicker one. They are pulled taunt to remove the coils permanently. Here you can see some of the tourists trying their hand.

Earlier this was done by rolling the fibers between the palms of your  hand.

The coconut is grated and it can be used in the coconut based curries. There was a demonstration of how coconut milk was extracted.  

The palm of the leaf is used for making brooms, or it can be woven to be used for thatching roofs.
Here you can see John (one of the tourists) explaining how he uses these broom sticks as a substitute for Rawal Plug !!

These woven palm leaves fetches about Rs 6 per piece.
The ladies who demonstrated the weaving were 75 and 88 years old but their smile knocked off many years. 

Those big earrings (known as 'kunuku') were in fashion about a century ago and so is the white mundu and chatta. 

Then there was this lady who made intricate chains by weaving fine strands of the coconut husk with a needle.

No wonder the coconut tree is known as the Kalpavrikhsa

Coming to Crab farming, there are two types of crabs. The Green Crab (mud crab) and the Red Crab. The latter is very aggressive but it is usually the green ones that are cultivated.

This guy showed us how to hold a live crab in the hands so that we are safe from the pincers.

Shalu (the young lady who explained the process) said that these pincers can really chop off our fingers if they get a hold of it. They showed us how to tie a crab so that the pincers are rendered harmless, and this is how they are exported as the crabs can stay alive without food or water for more than a week.

Clam meat processing is another means of livelihood in this area and a demonstration was held to show how the meat was extracted from the shell.

The traditional method of fishing with the fish net was shown and our guy was lucky to get some medium sized fish.

I could see that some birds were not happy that their daily meal was taken away every time some tourists arrived.  

After displaying his catch our guy threw back the fish in the water, and our friend (the bird) looked happy and relaxed. Yes its the same bird...... they can elongate their necks real long.

We saw this coconut tree which was supported by another tree but on a closer look it gives the  impression that the coconut tree went through and through the other tree.

They had these Chinese nets too which was lifted to show us how they were operated. (it is usually operated at night for a good catch)

These small prawns comes under the delicious variety and fetches good value in the market.

Finally we were treated to a sumptuous lunch of sea food and that too right next to the river front with the cool breeze.

Truly God’s own country when it comes to nature.

I have captured most of it on video and managed to compress it to a six minute video which is attached below. Hope you enjoy it.

When Mr Martin (the one who runs the show) came to know that I write blogs he told me with a smile “I hope you will give some publicity to this place”

I thought, why not, after all many don’t know about this place and its ideal for those who make a trip to Kerala.