Whale spotting near Farallon Islands

"Date: 4th Oct. 1997; Time: 12pm - Noon; Place: Farallon Islands near San Francisco; The same place where we are about to go today", Carol was as precise as a laser pointer recounting the incident, "I can narrate this incident to you time and again; even in my dreams" Carol - a marin ecologist in the crew added, "Oct. to Dec. every year is a typical time when the great whites (Sharks) populate the Farallon Islands in great numbers to lay eggs. The region is popular for the whales too and that particular day we were on our usual trip to spot these giants (Whales) and others in the Sea."

"There are a very few places in the world where you can spot the giants. Waters near New Zealand is one of the whale hubs and so is the Pacific near San Francisco. Rarely the giants have been spotted near Egypt too. But this sporadic incident that occurred on that specific day near Farallon Islands rekindles the curiosity of the wild life and its mysteries. We, the whale watching crowd witnessed an unexpected, once in a blue moon event on that specific day and it has etched in my memory forever." Carol continued," As we were trying to spot the giant in the waters, some of the members spotted an unusual activity in the waters. Usually we spot the whale through their characteristic resounding breathe and at times splashes. The splash of the giants in the waters on this occasions though was unusually vehement, hugely resounding and outlandishly scary raising suspicions." Carol was excited,"What the hake was happening? Was there a fight going on in the waters? We had no clue. Attack by one giant on the other? One big fish smothering the other big fish? One mammal trying to demolish the existence of the other? We simply had no clue and we hurriedly reported the incident to the nearby biologists. The team arrived and the underwater cameras testified that the great killer whale has recently had the great white shark for breakfast. In a fight that lasted for about 20 minutes, the killer whale could successfully muffle the great white to whet its appetite. Soon the cameras could also video graph the killer whale merrily swimming in the nearby waters triumphantly."

When the videos were shown to an expert biologist; she could readily identify the giant in no time and yelled,"I know her. I know her so well. She is the one who usually resides near the Monterey Bey. What was she doing near the Farallons?" The news flashed on CNN the same day raising a plethora of questions. Is it a normal event unknown to mankind or an extremely rare one? Was the attack meticulously planned or was it just a spontaneous decision taken by the giant? What will be its repercussions on the Sea life?

The event was studied further it came to become a knowledge that this extremely rare attack was indeed meticulously planned by the giant and the repercussions were so huge that for the next few years the great whites absconded from the Farallon Islands and chose to remain in their hub near Hawaii. How the communication between the great white community takes place still remains a mystery and probably these mysteries are the ones that make science so interesting, so much more fascinating...

Although our Whale spotting trip to Farallon Islands was not this eventful, it was certainly memorable and very much enjoyable. Just to be in the vicinity of the giants is an exhilarating experience in itself. I would certainly recommend this trip to one and all visiting the US west coast. The pictures might whet your appetite further...

Breathing Gray Whale

Huge - A Huge mammal

Whale preparing for a deep dive

Going deep In...

Job Satisfaction Survey :-)

I really wonder what could be more (if I can really call?) stupid/illogical; mildly saying time consuming than Job Satisfaction Surveys. I also wonder "Who gains?" (a few HR firms?) or "Who looses?" in these time wastage games but then everything; good and not-so-good; have a purpose so the world is not going to change and there will be these surveys conducted every now and then. And then my (and many like me) expectations as an employee are also never going to change as well.

As an employee I (do and will) always desire*:
a) Salary of a CEO or equivalent;
b) Power of a president, prime minister or equivalent
c) Vacation/Travel time of a teacher or equivalent
d) Freedom of a freelance journalist/blogger or equivalent
+
f) Fame of a sports/movie star or equivalent
...
....
......

And as an employee I (am and will) always likely to get:
a) Salary of a teacher or equivalent
b) Power of a freelance Journalist/blogger --> You can write whatever but does anyone care? does it really impact?
c) Fame of an un-famed or de-famed politician --> Be unheard for most of the times. Worst still, become famous for all wrong reasons.
d) Freedom of of a CEO --> Freedom given with an unambiguous and non flexible goal to stretch the stock value to a new level all the time; not to forget the 24x7 commitment.

To me, as one of my colleagues had described JOB will always stand for "Just Obey Boss" with two universal set of rules:
Rule 1: Your boss is always right.
Rule 2: If your boss is wrong; refer to Rule 1.

The only emancipation from this vicious cycle obviously is one's own enterprise and time needs to be opportune for the same. Well, eagerly waiting for such time...

I quite very well know that I am airing the opinion just before getting into another Job Hunt :-)
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* There was a Joke floating around on Internet encapsulating what can be termed as The Best and Worst Life. It summed up the best life comes with
a) An American salary
b) European House
c) Chinese Food
and d) An Indian wife.

and the most avoidable combination is:
a) An Indian Salary
b) Chinese House
c) European Food
and d) An American wife

Aerial Photography...

In Leuven-Belgium, you will encounter some guys who are crazy about "Aviation Photography". They travel all over the world to do nothing but the take closer and better pictures of airplanes, preferably fighter jets.

I love those pictures too and I also like "Aerial Photography", where you are in a cozy flight, sipping a glass of wine or munching on a mouth watering gourmet and let the shutter do the job. The sole necessary criterion for this kind of photography is the window seat and once you have it you have all the reasons to go berserk.

Here are some pictures from the recent Chicago - Brussels Journey, a journey that started with a marvelous dusk and ended up with an astounding dawn. Here are the glimpses...

Sunset Arial Photos

Dawn Arial Photos

Eco Terrorism in Valencia

Having been to an impressive Jardin Del Turia, a day earlier I was even more impressed to hear this inspiring story during the Walking Tour Of Valencia (A must-do guided tour by Johny from Liverpool).

Valencia has been an inspiring town with ancient and sound irrigation system since 1000AD and encircling river Turia used to act as a river protecting Valencia against the enemies. But, during the recent past since nobody was scared about an enemy invasion, the establishment in Valencia decided to turn around the riverbed to benefit the irrigation to the other parts of Spain and intended to build a huge motor way at the site of river bed. But, the residents of Valencia were against the motorway as they wanted to turn the riverbed into garden or anything equivalent leading to the development of a lot of clashes between the establishment and the residents.

Not paying heed to the residents, the establishment decided to move ahead with the plan and started the construction of the motorway. Bewildered residents were appalled but did not know how to protest against the establishment for a while. The momentum soon gathered pace and the residents used Eco Terrorism (may be a term coined by Johny) as a tool to stage their demands. What residents did was truly inspiring. They started coming to the river bed site in large numbers and kept on planting trees. The establishment resisted vehemently by uprooting the trees for a long while but the residents did not give up. Voluntarily they used to arrive at the site, sometimes during the wee hours during the night to plant trees and vanish. Residents were simply irresistible and soon the establishment was led to no option but to give up.

Today, the establishment not only proudly maintains the garden but also has extended it for the amusement of residents and tourists alike. The garden boasts a lot of football courts, athletic stadium, jogging tracks along with botanical garden on one end and an all time great City of Arts and Science on the other. Certainly all these are must visit places in Valencia...

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'll upload photos later; upon reaching Leuven.

The New Love...

I remember these moments quite vividly. Two years earlier, in 2008, she arrived from the shores across Atlantic and I was ecstatic to explore the world through her eyes. I was juvenile to the foray, a complete novice and she provided an enigmatic company to all the places I visited. I distinctively remember my first journey to Heidelberg, Rudhesheim and Frankfurt along the Rhine river and inspired since then I carried her all over Europe. Watching the world through her eyes, carefully holding her every now and then was an experience in itself and buoy! she provided some of the most astonishing views of all the most precious landscapes.

During the trip to the Canary Islands last Christmas though, the relationship accidentally turned around. Busy hunting the hearts along the serene beaches, I probably could not handle her with care for a moment and the fall inside the car resulted into misalignment that is far from being aligned till today. Somethings are too delicate and too difficult to repair; or rather better left un-repaired. I believe to have tried all I could and have been a zilch lucky so far...

Needless to say, some relationships die mysterious deaths and one has to move on and I am obeying just that rule as I am set out to explore California through My New Love, Tamron 18-250mm. The itinerary is tentatively set (Nappa Valley or a bike tour to Muirwoods, Whale watching cruise, Alcatraz tour along with Sanfrancisco) for the next 3 and a half days. She could be here any moment and I am eagerly waiting for her arrival in the Holiday Inn, SanFrancisco lobby. Let the new journey begin...