Living Raptor

If I was in the team which design the movie Jurassic park, I would have definitely used this creature as a model to design the Velociraptors (Raptors).I took this picture in Kandy, near a farm in Digana area,many thanks to my friend Ruchira for showing me this guy.Look at its vivid skin, golden scales placed just like a knights amour on top, velvet like skin underneath,if you zoom in to its brown eyes it will make you shiver (thanks to my new 18X Panasonic camera) .Look at its ear and the pattern of the perfectly placed scales, truly Jurassic isn't it, fascinating too.This creature has a bad reputation in Srilanka, not for its viciousness but as a result of a myth. It says that if bitten by one the only cure is to find sand from the seas and stars from the skies. Unfortunately,It never bites, so the myth continued to exist for centuries. I have never seen the beauty of this creature until now, maybe because of the same reason of believing the myth when I was a kid. By the way this is one of my best photographs.Recently I have started 3D modeling again, Something to do with my new job, I might even design my own velociraptor using this picture, stay tuned.

Living Raptor, originally uploaded by poojitha.

Back To Childhood

Finally I could capture this beautiful place in my camera, this is one of the place I grew up, one of my adventure spots, a place made my child hood so beautiful.only known by the locals near Gampola area.When I was a small kid I used to swim in this river, longest river in Sri Lanka called mahaveli. My parents used to punish us for going to swim in this treacherous waters. It didn't stop us , because we loved adventure and the beauty of the place. Some times we walked along the small canal parallel to the river until we reach the starting point of the canal. As you see in the picture its a breath taking place, the river flaws across wast swath of stones creating many waterfalls and natural swimming pools. Once we took a large vehicle tube filled with air and did some improvised rafting session, it was brilliant.Some places are really dangerous, specially the deep holes created in the stones by millions of years of continuous grinding by sand, some are even inter connected.The place was same as 18 years ago. King fishers, Fishing eagles, Humming Birds all were there, singing to make the scene more serene. The place is difficult to reach, not because of any geographical challenge,because of thousands of blood sucking leeches around. Take lots of salt water, and apply them on your feet to evade them. This was the place I found the beautiful deadly flower called Niyagala, and a Sri lankas rarest fish called Bulathhapaya.

deadly flower-Niyagala, originally uploaded by poojitha.

Mahaweli River, originally uploaded by poojitha.

Emptiness

Emptiness, The story below might give you a very good idea about the emptiness around you. We live in a world that thrive on materialism. According to Buddhism the whole universe is in constant change, from galaxies,planets,moons to the smallest atom.It was happening for the past billions of years and it will happen until the eternity. Only thing we can be sure about the future is that we are going to die, every day is one step towards death, what do we have? Only this moment as a reality to be happy, to enjoy, to love. Are we using the only moment we have? Is there any thing permanent? not at all, our body and mind changes from moment to moment, its impossible to identify a permanent self called you and me. Its just like a river, constant change of water which makes an illusion of a river. enjoy the story.

"There was once a man who swept roads for a living. One morning he was sitting down with a friend and said 'You know I've had this broom for 17 years, this broom is my best and oldest companion'. The friend was amazed, '17 Years? That's a long time!'. The road sweeper explained, 'Yes it is! I've only changed the handle 8 times and the brush 5 times.'."

4D Movies,Live Sharks & 3D memories in Singapore

Before writing anything about Sri Lanka, I think I should write some thing about the experience I had in Singapore. I only had 3 days to explore Singapore, not much when you are traveling with a wife keen on shopping. The first thing I noticed about Singapore was that its orderliness and planning. Everything in the city, from air port to the furthest tourist’s attraction is clearly marked. After hectic shopping in little India & China town in the first day I convinced my wife to visit Sentosa Island. The Island is made to have fun. We decided to visit the island using a cable car which flies over the buildings and the harbor, it was a unique experience. There was a movie called a 4D Movie. The difference between 3D and a 4D movie is that the viewers can actually feel the environment effects in the movie apart from making the movie three dimensional, for an example when the birds started flying around my head I could actually feel the wind striking on my face, a guy was thrown in to the water making a huge splash and real water was all over us. It was a fascinating experience. Then we visited the under water world where we could see live sharks and other large fishes face to face. A huge glass tube which runs through the huge tank gives visitors a unique angle to observe sea creatures. Then we reached the dolphin lagoon eagerly expecting to see some dolphins in action. But we were unlucky; the show was cancelled due to bad weather. Even though , one dolphin came so close to us raised its head out of the water to have a closer look, it hanged around us for quite some time, may be it too was disappointed. The best thing I could buy there was the 3D model of me & my wife made inside a glass cube, a real memory of us frozen in time. I don’t know how they do it; maybe using a laser (forgot to ask). They took our picture in 2 angles, then they recreated a 3D model of us inside a glass cube, fascinating thing, lucky to get something like that done before I get really old. The next best thing I bought was the big LCD TV (so let’s play games baby). I think I made a good deal there, the same TV was double the price in Sri Lanka.

Liquid Drops Can Go Up Hill

Sometimes if you think out of the box you can do things that were impossible in nature, like making a droplet of a liquid climb up a surface, the trick could be performed if you vibrate the surface 30 to 200 times a second depending on the liquid type.

Mathmatician Jens Eggers from Bristol University explains it like this:

"As the shaking plate rises the drop is compressed, while it bulges upward as the plate falls. If the shaking is vigorous enough to overcome the surface tension experienced as the drop is compressed, the drop will tend to lean forward, producing a net force which drives the drop uphill."

It's Time To Leave

I still remember the day I land on Seychelles, just married, starting a new life, on entirely different country. I was nervous at first, and then when I got off from the plane which landed on Mahe, the big island on the picture near the horizon, I was delighted, just because of the beauty of nature. A mountains near the sea, it was a whole new scenario for me. From that day all I wanted to do was to climb those mountains and visit the islands. The smallest island in the middle is called “round island”, claims to have a hidden treasure. The island next to it is called Long Island; it was the state prison until recently. “St Ann” the big Island on the bottom right, and lovely beaches on Surf Island stand near the Long Island”. I visited all of those islands and had a wonderful time in Seychelles, but its time to leave now. I may never return back, but this beautiful place, unmarked dot on the world map, changed my life for ever. I will always remember the adventures, like in Birds Island, Trois ferres, Max Cuschons and many others. I’m counting days to come back to Sri Lanka now, very anxious, it’s been close to 3 years now. It’s too a paradise, an island gifted with natural beauty & resources. The only difference is that some of its inhabitants busy converting it to a hell. Come to think of it, there is no other place than the place you were born, what ever the situation is. It’s the only place that you can be truly YOU, it’s the place that completes your identity; which makes you what you are. Tomorrow I'm leaving Seychelles. I will be staying in Singapore for three days before reaching sri lanka. Hope that I could blog something while I'm in Singapore, lot of places to visit.