hints, allegations and things left unsaid...: Kaushu

hints, allegations and things left unsaid...

Kaushu

I visited Shivasamudram (writing as I see it spelled on the KSTDC map tacked on to my cubicle wall – feel free to correct me if I got it wrong) some two weeks ago. The drive, thanks to the monsoons and the resulting verdure, was one of the most beautiful drives I’ve had in recent times. Ok so I was being driven around in an old KSTDC bus - not quite most people’s idea of a “drive” - but still. The waterfalls; again thanks to the recent heavy rains, roared as water gushed down into the river (?) several feet below.

But a poetic (somewhat) description of the waterfall is not the point of this post. After all you don’t see a waterfall in the picture above. So I’ll stop beating around the bush and come to the real point. On a small hill facing the falls was a little viewing gallery that allowed us a closer look at the falls and a peek into the valley below. Just behind the gallery was a small shelter that for some reasons reminded me of a bus stop. The walls of the shelter were covered with graffiti; that on the face of a historical monument would be considered an act of vandalism; but which – given the monotonous, pale, brick wall background - I found, for want of a better word, exquisite. And there were several “layers” of it. Most of it was in English but a good deal in Kannada too. The content, as you would have probably guessed, was mostly predictable – a boy’s name followed by a girl’s name with a “heart” sign in between. At least one enterprising hotel owner had left his phone no. and address there for the weary traveler seeking shelter at the nth hour.

I was mesmerized with the bilingual graffiti alone and was quite content clicking it. But that was only till I saw “Kaushu” written on the wall in a rather prominent font. It then struck me that I was traveling with Kaushal. His pet name is not Kaushu – but surely it is the closest we could get to his name. So I requested him to stand next to the graffiti for a couple of shots. He consented. Of course given the lip-marks and hearts drawn around Kaushu, he would have had to do better than his usual genial smile.

The picture I’ve posted shows him posing in the meanest look that he could contrive for a few fleeting seconds. We shared a hearty laugh and moved on.

posted: 26.9.05

3 Comments

Kaushu! Nice :D

Umm, well - I guess a low-angle, low-lit, high-contrast gangsta style picture would have been nice. But can't help the light here, right?

By

sajith, at 27.9.05

That's mean?

By

G Shrivastava, at 27.9.05

Thanks Sajith!

The scope here was tremendous! But with limited light and my limited skills with camera forced me to leave it at this. (Had to use at least f/4.0 or the graffiti would have been obscured). May be one day in a moment of photoshop inspiration, I'll execute on my computer the shot I couldn't execute on field ;-).

Well this is the meanest he could get after much goading! Sigh. And Kaushu is cross with me for "It then struck me that I was traveling with Kaushal". "DUDE!? It *then* struck you???" he says :-). Right Kaushal?

By

Deepak, at 28.9.05