I...

I
It’s fascinated me
As a child
I
It will trouble me
Till I die
Is it
The superficial me?
Much of which
I can’t even see
Or, is it
The within of me?
That’s always been
A mystery to me
Is it
The mind?
That hardly ever
Listens to me
Or, is it
The thoughts?
From where do they
Come to me?
I
Really confuses me
---

I took a stroll

Newstead Park at dusk

Down the avenues I used to walk
Before I took a snooze
One that turned too long
I took a stroll

Spoke to me through my skin
The cool breeze so invigorating
Whispered me, the autumn’s back
Oh, I love her, and the spring

Among the last rays, yellow and pale
Like piles of hay over a misty field
Barred my feet stepping any further
The mountains westward, they glittered

Drizzled down the dusk, so did memories
Juggling emotion as I sauntered home
Through the leaves on the hedge
That danced in the autumn breeze

PS. The above picture of the Newstead Park was not the scenery I that made me write these verses, but the sight of mountains to the northwest of Brisbane seen from a hilly area in Clayfield. I unfortunately did not have a camera with me to capture it, and it lasted only a few minutes before the sun dipped behind the mountains.

Rottnest Island - Bathurst Lighthouse

Bathurst Lighthouse

The instinctive urge to deviate from the actions of a regular tourist and seek the paths less travelled, is how a travelling photographer captures sights and moments that would have otherwise stayed hidden from the whole world. With this however, comes free an element of risk of getting in to unforeseen troubles. Still, more often than not, it is worth it.

It took just over a half an hour for the ferry to arrive at the Island Jetty from the Fremantle docks. First thing I did after landing was to visit the information centre. I had to know what the main attractions on the island are and what the suggested tracks are for tourists before I could try out more adventurous ones. I grabbed a map and set out to hike.

Rottnest Island - the land of quokka

Rottnest Island, viewed from The Bathurst Lighthouse

The first European explorers who stopped at this island in the Indian ocean located off the coast of Fremantle, observed that the place was infested with rats, so they named it "Rattenest", which in Dutch means "rat's nest"[1]. What they didn't know then was that there were hardly any rats living on the island, and the animal they mistook for a rat was, in fact, a marsupial called "quokka".

Vineyards of Swan Valley

An English philosopher by the name Francis Bacon once said, ‘age appears to be best in four things; old wood best to burn, old wine to drink, old friends to trust, and old authors to read’.

Well, I have been writing for quite some time now. Doesn’t that make me an old author, the best kind to read? No, not exactly? Never mind. Anyway, at least trust me, this old friend of yours, I’m going to write about something special today. And, what’s more, it’s about wine! (You can burn an old wood later while doing a barbecue, if you really want that as well)

Food for thought....

It is said that, 'a picture tells a thousand words'. Let's see if it true.

I have been posting lengthy articles lately, and I could not help wondering whether I bore you out reading them. So, let me entertain you with something slightly different. [i.e., if it is entertaining at all :)...]

I tried creating some art with a few pictures that I shot recently. In each of them, I wanted to bring out a meaning.

What kind of thoughts do they bring you? Do they have anything to do with the titles I have given? (I'm sorry if the titles confine your view, try not to let them)

Title: Abduction

Title: Who am I, what am I, what is 'I' ?

Title: War entertains... (Are you not entertained?)

Title: Powerless

Couple of last words;

My view on the photograph "Who am I, what am I, what is 'I' ?"

Have you watched the movie 'The Matrix'. In it, the world the people perceive as the reality is in fact an environment digitally created. They say 'the truth is stranger than fiction'. Think about it, 'The Matrix' movie is a fiction. So then, what about the truth?

My view on the photograph "War entertains... (Are you not entertained?)"

Have you watched the movie, 'The Gladiator'. Can you remember General Maximus asking the crowd, after swiftly dispatching another gladiator inside an arena, 'Are you not entertained? Is this not why you are here?'. What kind of things do you feel about war, especially when you have something to do with one of the sides fighting it.

Beauty and ugliness

With a peak that rises more than 2010m[1] above sea level, Namunukula mountain range is one of the well-known mountain ranges in Sri Lanka. It is the one you can make out in the above picture as the farthest layer of mountains.

Around four years back, I was able to capture this view of the landscape, which poses itself the prettiest during the last few minutes of the setting sun. Those were the days that I was first trying my hands on artistic photography. If you are wondering what made me post this old picture up here all of a sudden, well, there is a special reason. Sadly, that reason is not as pretty as the focal point of this picture. Thus, I will leave that story to the end.