Shilpa+JayaPrakash wedding

Shilpa and JayaPrakash were one of the lovers whose love story i enjoy watching in the hindi bollywood cinema. Its was really lovely and interesting to know about these cute lovers and there love story.

Each love story is unique in its own way . Shilpa and JP were the best-est of friends from the time of college, where they first met each other and soon they were part of the cool friends gang. They became close and shilpa was always good in study and ready to help friends like JP. She has been his life saver in college times. They shared dreams, had fun , motivated like any other friends but who were  also destined to fall in love with each other , even though they tried hard not to believe they are made for each other. But as its said "Marriages and love are made in heaven" not matter what you do or think you love is always going to find its way. 

There was some twist in there love story , but the main villains were they themselves , it took some time to realize and accept that they have fallen in love with each other.

Prewedding Shoot @Chennai , they wanted to capture the special memories of places they have spent there times as friends and as lovers. How could i have said no this couple. You see i was destined to capture this love story.

LEENA+RAHUL: Pre-wedding shoot

Recently clicked a lovely couple Leena and Rahul for their pre-wedding. I think half of a photographer's job is done if the couple have a great chemistry. Seemed like a match made in heaven !

Kashyap+ Ranu: A Pre-wedding Shoot

A drive to Nandi station near Nandi Hills for a photoshoot could be an interesting location I aways thought. Kashyap and Ranu, readily agreed to travel early morning to nandi station for the pre-wedding shoot. The two love birds had known each other for sometime and like goofing around with each other. It was quite fun at the photoshoot. Later in the evening a few shots were taken at cubbon park.

Deepa + Sukhi Bangalore wedding

After many years being together, Deepa and Sukhi decided to embark on the journey of marriage and I was glad to capture them being together just as they began their wedding story! 

A TRIP TO BHUTAN

A two-week trip to Bhutan covering six different cities was a very memorable trip for me and my wife Divya. She had been planning for this trip for about 5 months prior to the travel, mostly booking the hotels,  researching about various locations and festivals.   It was indeed a very memorable trip and we cherished every day of our trip. Bhutan- the land of happiness is wonderful place to unwind your stresses and a visual treat to the eyes.

As a photographer, I sensed an immense opportunity to capture beautiful landscapes and people during its festivals.  

Day 1

We took a morning flight from Bangalore to Bagdora (west bengal) and took a cab to Phuentsholing- the border town of Bhutan. 

At Phuentsholling, we stayed in a hotel named Sinchula for 2500/-.  for a night.  The streets and road almost looked like any other place in india.  

Day 2

We started from Phuentsholing for Thimphu by 11 am in the morning after completing our permit formalities.We hired a taxi from the taxi stand which is at a walkable distance from the hotel sinchula. There are shared taxis also available which cost around 600 INR per head. I guess Photographers may prefer private taxi and have the leisure of stopping by for clicking pictures whenever they want to. So we decided it would be worth going by the private car, we can capture lot of things we want. The driver was really nice and his name was Joseph and probably the first Bhutanese we encountered in our trip with whom we talked. As we discussed, he was curious to know to about Bangalore... people, weather,culture,etc. 

Since Bhutan is located within valleys , a traveler should be prepared for road rides with lots of turnings and its consequences. Definitely carry medicines if you have motion sickness.  Divya had difficulty for sometime and moreover it started raining and the weather was cloudy so couldn't click many pictures as I was expecting to but nevertheless we had just started to explore Bhutan. You could feel the temperature changing after 60km. Phuentsholing was more like India, the average temperature is around 25 c.  Divya checked in Google that day and found that Thimphu was 5-6 c that day. Divya and I were hoping for cold weather as we had packed a lot of warm clothes. You will realize it during the journey it started to rain as we moved ti higher altitude similar to Bangalore :-). To our delight, Bhutanese seems to be really good fans of bollywood, hundi songs. We were surprised by the really good hindi song collections of the driver. He made our journey really comfortable. Old classic songs which i use to hear in my house during childhood in radio , tape recorder.  Nice songs , valleys and temperature moving down as we move up in the valley.... Old songs makes you so nostalgic. What a wonderful start of the journey.
We were super excited and couldn't believe we were in Bhutan finally after planning for this travel....Divya really felt glad that we chose Bhutan as our first foreign country visit.

We stopped around after 70 km there was indian canteen run by Indian Army, some biharis..surprise:). Divya didn't feel like eating due to her motion sickness but I had rice and some curry. It was  manageable if you are really hungry :-) 

Finally, we reached Thimphu -the Capital city of Bhutan in 5 hours from Phuentsholling. We checked into hotel Norbuling, which I think is a little expensive but very comfortable.This hotel is newly built n had received really good reviews in trip adviser. Although Thimphu is a small city one can stay in one of the many hotels near the main market. Its strange that most of the double bed rooms in hotels across Bhutan have two single beds in the "double bedroom".  In the chilly and drizzled filled evening, we went out for a walk across the city.

Thimphu is a beautiful city where there is no traffic signal lights-only capital city in the world which can take pride for that. The buildings have all similar architecture and design as mandated by government/kings advisory board. This makes the city- landscape look very pretty and symbolic of the Bhutanese culture and tradition.  We spotted the magnificent taj hotel where we were greeted by a cute fluffy dog, that kept following us for sometime. We had a lovely dinner at a restaurant, the combination of noodles and druk bear was amazing.  

Day 3

We went sight seeing early morning around  Thimphu.  The day was pleasant and sunny unlike the day before.  We booked a cab for Rs. 1500 (indian currency is acceptable and valued the same as bhutan currency) for the day.  We first stopped by the Thimpu Dzong

and then headed towards Changangkha Monastery. It was amusing to see the kids having fun and enacting WWE fights.  

After spending one hour and half, we went to Motithang Takin Preserve for a shot walk to see the takin-Bhutan's national animal.  We could spot a few takins only from a distance.  We happened to meet a kid and mother there strolling around the park.  We spent about 45 min and headed  towards the Buddha Point (Kuensel Phodrang). On the way, we stopped briefly on a hilltop that hosted thousands of colorful prayer flags.  

From the windy hilltop one could see the city of Thimphu in between the valleys.  We met a family, who explained us the rituals of putting up prayer flags that helps spread the blessings around.  It was a heavenly place and one could just feel the soothing wind and multicolored flags fluttering all over. There were couple of fluffy stray dogs that gave us company.  The ambiance blew me completely and we spent some more time than we had planned to.  The driver took us to a small shop we we tried koka noodles for the first time.  It was spicy and watery like noddle soup and somehow we managed to have it.  

After that we headed towards the Buddha point that has a giant golden Buddha's statue. The construction of this sightseeing point was still on. The sight of the valley surround the city is breathtaking. We spent couple of hours there and the driver later dropped us near Thimpu Chorten.  We found many bhutanese praying there and it felt they are at complete peace with themselves. It was almost evening and we went back to our hotel by walk which was about 4-5 kms.  

Day 4

Earlier morning, we went to the Tourist Office for extending our stay permit (Indians need to renew the permit for additional week). The Government offices has boards instructing Bhutanese to be in their traditional attire. The lady attending us asked us to come back after an hour.  In the meanwhile, we found out a restaurant serving Indian breakfast, we had Aaloo poori there.  The permit papers were done on time and we checked out from Hotel Norbuling. We were advised to take a shared taxi to Lobesa near Punakha. The fare is reasonable about Rs.200 per person, and the 3 hours journey is pretty comfortable .

 On the way,  is Dochula Pass which has interesting monuments including multiple chortems.  

We reached Lobesa (Punakha district) just after mid-day and checked into Hotel Lobesa. We were greeted by the friendly hotel staff and Hotel Owner Mr. Passang.  We checked into our room which had beautiful views of the valleys.  Since we had planned for two days stay, we chilled out and went out in the evening for dinner.  

Day 5

After breakfast, Mr Passang suggested we take a walk to Chimi Lakhang- a temple of Mad monk 'lama kunley' at a nearby village.  

As per legends, this mad saint had unorthodox methods of teaching with sexual overtones and the belief that the phallus (erect penis) drives away demons and can bless couples with child.

Almost every house had depiction of phalluses, there were shops selling paintings and wooden phalluses that are considered sacred.  When we visited the temple, the monk actually blessed us with a giant phallus by touching gently on our forehead.  

We spent some time relaxing out side the temple and enjoyed watching kids playing football.  Thereafter, we headed towards Punakha to visit the Pungtang Dechen Photrang Dzong, the administrative and religious center that was celebrating one of the many festivals during that season.

As we approached the Dzong, the view was brilliant with the rivers Mo Chu flowing on both sides of the Dzong.  

I spent sometime clicking the majestic Dzong there and the lovely people who had come from nearby places wearing bright colored traditional bhutanese dresses.  

I was super excited to click and spent some more time taking pictures of kids playing. People were all in a festive mood and bhutanese spirit was high.  We decided to enter the Dzong and enjoy the folk dances enacting various mythological tales with various fascinating characters.  

We also went around the Dzong towards a hanging bridge and found monks betting on rolling dice and other card games along the river side near the suspended bridge.  

Day 6

We departed from Lobesa to our next destination- a small town of Trongsa about 200kms away. We had booked a taxi for 4500 INR and reached Trongsa in about 4-5 hours time. Booking a ticket in Bus in advance is a much cheaper option for travellers on a budget while travelling between various cities in Bhutan especially between Thimphu and Bhumtang. 

There were pretty Amazing views with valleys n villages and rivers... Like heaven. Bhutanese know and understand Hindi. They seem to influenced by Indian television shows and cinema. Don't be surprised by there good taste for Hindi old classic songs. Till now we have enjoy our ride in shared and reserved taxi with kumar sanu Songs. Even Bhutanese songs are good to hear.

We passed through PALELA pass it's about 10000 above sea level. The valley and roads were covered with pristine white snow as we were passing by. It's was our first experience to feel the snow fall.  The temperature dipped to sub-zero degree. Divya was quite excited and we wanted to put up our blessed prayer flags bought from Chimi Lakhang temple.  We tied our flag near bunch of flags. We played with Snow and even our driver Sonam gave some poses with snow. We started again after about 10 mins break at the PALELA pass.

We were marveling at the thought that most Bhutanese never experience pollution or dirty water.  We didn't hesitate drinking water from the small waterfall goemba you might see on the roadside. Goemba is the small white and red coloured small structure you will find every 5 km on the street of valley... They will have bells inside which never stops rotating on there own and that's because it rotated by the current of water stream and you can drink coming out if it.  

Bhutan had been secluded from rest of world for a long time and I guess they didn't miss out much either.  In the course of our Journey we had the chance to talk to couple of monks and native people who had been to India and confirmed that they are really happy with their lives, on the contrary, Indian TV soap operas and bollywood music is something that is a negative influence in their lifestyle.  

We took a suja tea break after crossing one of the biggest charpel.  Most of the homes or resident will have 'bhukhari' a wooden log heater to warn the house. Suja is the local tea .. Which is make with leaves boiled in water with some butter and salt. It taste somewhat like a soup. But Divya and I found it tasty enough.

Finally, we reached Trongsa at about 1 pm. We checked in Tashi ninja guest house.  The receptionist didn't remember our booking which Divya made booking directly by contacting through email... She gave us twin sharing again ... We didn't mind as we didn't have much energy to find other hotel. Trongsa is a very small village with some resident cum bars and must visit sites. The Balcony of the hotel had a beautiful view of the Trongsa Dzong. We decided to visit it next morning.

In the afternoon we planned to visit a nearby museum which was about 5 minutes walkable distance from the hotel.  The museum is a five storied tower which was actually a watch tower of the Trongsa town many years ago. We were so lucky to visit during off season as we were the only guest to visit the museum. We had the whole museum for ourselves to savor and am glad that we visited it. We were impressed that they even had a projector to showcase a film of the history of Bhutan, its tradition and culture. That was incredible experience watching a documentary film in a historic old building alone for 2 hours and we both were completely into the world of Bhutanese and there rich culture, Buddhism and spirituality. We were fascinated by the epic wheel of life,  500 years old clothes, Swords, boxes of ancient possessions  etc. This experience certainly was unforgettable and can influence anyone to have utmost respect for the Bhutanese culture. It definitely had a beautiful and amazing aura ,which left us speechless and made us reflect about our happiness and our way of life. This visit to the Trongsa Museum is strongly recommended.  Later in the day, we strolled around Trongsa as there is nothing much to do. Just observing the quiet surroundings and a few people around can be so relaxing.  

DAY 7

We started the day another day at Trongsa by visiting the majestic Trongsa Dzong.  There were hardly any tourist and we explored the the insides of the Dzong comfortably. After spending a couple of hours, we headed towards our next destination of Bhumtang- the central region of Bhutan. Somehow we managed to get a shared taxi this time.  It took us 2-3 hours by taxi to reach Bhumtang, the interiors of Bhutan seemed beautiful with lots of pine trees, and grasslands, the wooden fences beside roads, the landscapes were quite picturesque. We finally reached Bhumtang city market and then checked in at Kaila guest house.  It was a quiet evening and we had a good bhutanese dinner at this popular 'Sunny' restaurant where we got company  of a cute chubby kid. 

DAY 8

 We started at 9:30 am in the morning after having breakfast that included bread omlete and tea at hotel shorten n the market which costs us like 330/- We decided to trekk that day and visit the Lakhangs via trek.  We bought a trek route map from market the night before. 
On our way to the jakar dzong we came across a curious old lady who wanted to know about my camera and lenses. She was such a cute and amazing soul with a smiling face and bright eyes.  We thanked her for her kindness to invite us to her home and mentioned about her kids, one of whom is in india. She had built a small house just below the jakar high school and her name was Lema. We bid her good bye and continued with our trek.
We just walked few more steps and there was a goemba where an old lady again with old friends sitting and chanting mantra asked us to offer prayers around a goemba . It is said that in Bhutan you should take one round about the goemba wherever you find it. It's for good luck. The lady was very welcoming and we did wonder about such amazing people. She didn't hesitate to give us some pose for pictures.

Our plan included visiting Kujre Lakhang that is 7 km from main town of Bhumtang... After walking for about 2 hours we reached Jambey Lakhang. We thought of visiting the Kujre Lakhang that is located next to Jambey Lakhang separated by couple of kilometers. We found a small thatched structure like a hut in a middle of a field... We rested there for 15-20 mins and moved on.  The were other travelers walking by and probably wondering what are we upto. We also met a Bengali family from Kolkata- a lady and her retired farther who were also trekking towards Kujre Lakhang. We decided to walk together and discover the shortest route to the Lakhang. We sought help from a lady for the way to Lakhang and she was more than happy to guide us.  Despite the language barrier, the honest expressions and sign language is a great way to communicate I believe.  The bengali family were in a hurry and finished their temple visit quickly and left. We were the only one left as tourist once again. We were very busy taking pictures out side the Lakhang and quckly realized that a monk was about to lock the temple and leave for lunch probably.  We requested him to allow us inside for a brief moment and he was kind enough to oblige. Divya  had many questions for the monk regarding life of monks and Buddhism in general.
Divya: Can only boys become monks?
Monk: No anyone can become monks but they have separate school for girls and boys. And there is no limit for age as well.
Divya: How long you been monk?
Monk: it's been 7 yrs next month I will go to Mysore khushalnagar, India. I come here for vacation some time. I m a teacher right now.... But I think I still need to learn more I don't want to teach and learn so will go to Mysore. I travel by train in India. 

We were really startled that he knew so much about india and Bangalore in particular. After good byes, we trekked uphill again another 4-5 kms to Thanbi Lakhang. We kept going and after an hour of trekk we really started feeling hungry.  It was sunny and tiredness was setting in. We passed by a school and clicked pictures of them. This was the most amazing adventure trek in the middle of forest with hardly any one around.  Eventually, our wish was granted when we spotted a small grocery store cum restaurant cum bar. We had Koka noodles and chilled druk  beer.  The beauty of Bhutam is that alcohol can be found everywhere. After relishing the lunch and feeling a bit high we visited the Thambi Lakhang. We reached there at the time of prayer.  We had the opportunity to chat with the head monk there as he could speak and understand Hindi. Monks have this amazing aura of calm expression, always at peace with a smile on face.  We spent sometime listening to the chants and feeling blessed.  Over whelmed by this experience we left the place.  As we trekked back it was getting late and we were 12-13 Kms away from the town into the woods. Divya and I were a little worried that it might get dark soon. We were hoping to get a taxi but we couldn't spot any vehicle.  We reached till kujre Lakhang. We decided to be more adventurous and took a different route across the river towards the airport hoping to get taxi there. But we were wrong :(. It started getting dark and we could hardly spot any people or houses.  It was almost dark and after walking for a while we saw a resident cum bar.  We asked for help and requested the restaurant owner to drop us till main market of Bhumtang. To our surprise, the bar owners wife came out and took her car out, she dropped us to the main market, and we thanked her for their great help. Bhutan can take pride in having an equal society in every terms between the genders. Ratio of Women population is infact more in Bhutan compared to men. From our experience, It felt completely safe in the evening. Everywhere in hotels one may find women as lobby girl and they don't hesitate to carry heavy bag, which is also because in most of the families there is equal share of physical work and responsibilities. Both Divya and me were very inspired by the Bhutanese women we came across.

After the adventurous trek and finally reaching the town , we headed straight to the "sunny" restaurant. Everything went good so far we thought but the evening dinner turned out to be the best when we met a monk who joined us at our table. His his name was tenzing and yes he also studied in Bangalore for  three years and decided to become a monk. He was a beginner n completed his studies 2-3 yrs till now ..  We had a good discussion regarding Buddhism, meditation, spirituality and life in general along with good food n wine. Monk tenzing had his food n tea and shared his experiences of his travel in india. We talked till 9 pm until the closing time of the restaurant but the restaurant owners didn't mind our discussions till late. We said good bye to each other n left for our guest house. What an amazing day.:) 

DAY 9

We decided to go to URA Valley about 40Kms from Bhumtang. 

Met an amazing couple. The guy was Sum how happy to see to tourist in his village. And since we were also alone it was a miracle to find someone who had quite a liking for indians. . Tenzing and his wife came to the temple after 4 months of there marriage and tenzing had visited bangaloreand he liked it. After living in India it takes sometime to believe that stranger actually wants to b friendly for no reason. The couple shared a lot of information about Lakhang... Tenzing translated everything the monk explained to us inside the Lakhang of Ura Valley. The couple took us to the kitchen area within the Lakhang.  People were so welcoming.They offered us the locally made alcohol in small bowl and it is believed that you should take drinks after taking a sip of it. Else you will get drunk for sure. Anyways we asked them to give just a little. I think it was our lucky day. Tenzing invited us to visit there home.  They took us around the little village ad to his mother-in-law's place. They made alcohol with butter and egg, a unique drink which I tried but it was really strong for Divya:) They took us to a nearby eatery where we had wine and emma dashti- Bhutanses rice and cheese chilly curry. I was so amazed to see people so humble and welcoming ...Evey country should learn compassion and humbleness from Bhutanese. This couple made our visit to Ura valley a memorable one. They were barely 21 years old but seemed much mature and wiser than their age. Finally we were drunk and feeling quite high and happy. I took some wonderful pics of the couple who were quite photogenic. We said goodbye and left. We took a different  route to Bumthang via chumey valley which is gain beautiful view in the evening. We reached town by 5:45 pm. It was cold. Had our tea in sunny restaurant . we were like regular customer in this restaurant. The resident is run by family the girls who prepare the food and live very simple life.  They actually don't bother even if there is no customer for a day. When we're reached in the evening the girls and other kids were chatting around bhukhari. Since we're already full we decided to skip dinner for the night and have tea instead. We sat near bhukhari and enjoyed our tea and chatted with kids.Again I clicked the 3 yr old cute kid there. In the meanwhile Divya was having a good time with a white cat and kids.  A lovely evening and we promised to visit Bhutan again and meet them. Left with really nice memories on our last day in Bumthang.
Next day we had to catch our bus by 6 am in the morning for Thimphu but we have to get down at Wangdue,  .

DAY 10

We took a early morning bus from at 6am to Wangdue.  The bus ride was for about 6-7 hours.  We checked in at Punatsangchhu cottages.  There isn't much to see as the Wangdue as the Wangdue Dzong was destroyed due to fire some years ago and was under repair.  We decided to visit Wangdue town which looked interesting in the evening from across the river.  After walking around the town, we spotted some indians and bhutanese kids playing with colors. We had not realized until then that it was Holi festival that day. It was amazing to see few kids playing holi and Divya couldn't hold herself and joined the bunch of little girls enjoying holi.  I didn't miss clicking them. 

DAY 11

We headed towards our last destination of PARO after a nice breakfast. It was a short journey and we made it in a few hours time. After checking in our hotel, we went to visit the Paro Dzong in the main city near the airport. We also visited the Museum there.  Clicked some good pictures of the paro valley there.  In the evening, we went around shopping in the market and had some amazing indian food.  

Day 12

Started early and we headed for a long trekk to the Tiger's Nest.   We had heard about it from friends and seemed to be a very popular place to see in Paro. The trekk for 4 hours is just a wonderful experience.  

Later in the day, we asked the driver Pema to take us to a nearby pass that was covered in snow and very windy.  We spent about an hour there and finally headed back to the Paro city market again for shopping in the evening prior to our hotel. It was very gratifying tour and we were dead tired as well. Finally, we started sensing that our tour is going to end. 

Day 13

We boarded the bus to Phuentsholing, thereafter took a cab to Bagdora where we boarded our Bangalore flight in the night.  The pollution and noise of our country jolted us back to reality and we quickly we felt nostalgic about our amazing journey into the kingdom of Bhutan. What a place! 

Where to stay

Our Tips for Getting the Right Accommodation For Your Budget:

Travel Tips

 The tickets can only be booked at Thimphu or through agents located in other towns.  Bus usually starts from 7 am in the morning from Thimphu and reaches Bumthang by 4-5 pm unless there are block on the road due to construction going on the Thimphu - punakha- Wangdue road.
Road block opening window timing after two hours drive from Lobesa
9 am- 9:30 am
12 am - 12:30 am
Yes that means if you have to wait 3 hours if you reach that place after 9:30am. Am not sure when this construction is going to stop. Please take care of these points n discuss with your cab driver.

Not much happy with kaila guest house overrated and expensive ..with very less facilities paid 2300/- per day with Wi-Fi, internet, 24 hour water n bhukhari in the room bhukhari is a heater which requires wooden logs to be burned all three time. So you will end up putting logs in it till you get nice sleep. I gave very less rating in trip advisor while i was writing the note for the day experience.

Amar + Praveena: Chennai wedding

It was a delight to click another wedding in Chennai. Amar & Praveena tied the knot at Iskcon temple. Here are a few moments that I was able to capture!

Manya + Madan: Bangalore wedding

A great couple, totally in love, about a week away from their D-Day.. and I clicked them in Cubbon Park and few other places near the the great banyan tree on mysore road..on a beautiful August morning....It was fun and exciting to shoot on the road with curious onlookers...