Carnival kicked off here today at exactly 11:11 am. The streets were awash with people half drunk, dressed in the craziest and zaniest of costumes and by evening the same streets had been marked by puke and scarred by broken bottles with drunk people tottering and stumbling everywhere. The road outside my lab turned into one huge street party. This lovable madness will end next Tuesday. So it is only appropriate that I post a photo connected to Cologne’s crazy carnival. But this photo was not shot today, it is from my first carnival in Cologne back in 2004. The ‘supergirl’ was my labmate. Finally, as they say here, ‘Kölle Alaaf’!

March 2004, Bruges.

Bruges is a town in the Flanders region of Belgium. It is perhaps my favorite place among all the places I’ve seen in Europe so far. It is one of the best preserved medieval towns in Western Europe. It has become very touristy of late but if you leave the crowded city center and wander off into the quiet and narrow cobbled side streets you will be surrounded by centuries old houses. You will feel as if you have been magically transported into the Middle Ages! I’ve pleasant memories of walking through deserted streets with only my camera to keep me company, of taking part in a silent Easter eve procession in the night surrounded by locals holding huge candles and taking a ride on one of these boats through the lovely canals.

January 2007, Berlin.

January 2007, Edinburgh.

(The 2007 Photobloggies are open for nominations. If you like the photos I put up then you may consider nominating this photoblog here. Thank you for your support!)

December 2006. Somewhere between Munich and Füssen.

January 2005, Bangalore.

July 2006, Wurzburg.

This photo is my way of spoofing all the cheesy, campy, melodramatic and kitschy moments that most mainstream Telugu, Hindi (Bollywood) as well as other regional language films of India have made (in) famous. My thanks to everyone in the shot for quickly and graciously agreeing to pose in this ‘special’ manner. The next round of drinks is on me!

Berlin 2006.

Berlin, January 2007.

Vienna 2006.

For a long time I thought I had lost the negatives containing this photo but to my joy found them on a roll I had given for developing. The man on the right is from the Philippines and has lived in Vienna for the past 11 years. We got talking when I went to take a walk along the Danube while visiting Vienna while he had come there to while away the evening by listening to some music on his boom box. As our small talk began to end I surprised myself by asking him if he would let me take his photo. And I won’t foget his reaction. His face lit up with a big smile and he actually called his son (the guy on the left) to join him in the photo! I was somehow touched by his gesture. I wish there was some way of sending a print of this photo to him. I’m sure his face would brighten up in a similar fashion as before.