Sunset with "Green Flash"

Hiked to Torry Pines hill, on Saturday. Its just a mile walk.. but gains elevation pretty quickly.. Wide view of ocean from top of the hill is indeed marvelous.

I was just in time to see sunset. On west side, near horizon, there were few clouds and beautiful "red ball" was passing through it. Obviously there wasn't anything different than usual sunset, until I pointed my binocular. Binoculars revealed a totally different view of sunset. Because of clouds on the horizon, top part of the red sun had a "green tinge". The green tinge remained for 5-10 seconds and vanished.. Again, when sun passed through next layer of clouds, the green tinge reappeared on top part of sun above clouds.. Seemed like for every layer of clouds, green tinge appeared..

when I was a kid, I remember reading an article in physics magazine about: how a scientist caught a glimpse of violet color in the setting sun. To have a longer view of that "violet tinge" during sunset, he drove from mountain top, downslope, watching sun. Thus he saw the violet color for almost a minute. Obviously the article was pointing to highly improbable view.. means.. first of all its really difficult to see violet color in sunset because of our eye limitations (RGB sensors in retina) and additionally catching the glimpse for a minute and driving at the same time is hilarious :) ... but still... it made me realize that you can see different colors in sun other than typical red and yellow during sunset.. So out of curiosity, at that time, I also tried to see violet color in sunset from a nearby hill across my home in Pune, but I never saw any colors other than red and yellow.

..and today, unexpectedly, I saw green tinge in the sunset.. With naked eyes, I didn't see anything, but binocular revealed this green tinge. To confirm that it wasn't binoc optical aberration, simple google search revealed wealth of information.. People have not only seen green tinge, but they have witnessed "green flash" and "blue flash" ..

Indeed a "earthly" event to witness..

PS: Think before pointing your binocs to the Sun.. With normal Sun, it will surely damage your eyes, but I felt the brightness of Setting sun also, through binocs.. but "green tinge" sight was too beautiful to control myself :)

(Photo credit : Galax Lux, Mario Cogo)

Anza..

Last weekend, went for a hike in Anza Borrego Dessert State Park. Spring wildflowers are bloomed heavily since last one month.. it will probably go down in couple of weeks.. so.. visited the place on time..

Five of us went to Borrego Palm Canyon Hike.. We walked more than expected.. probably 5 miles round-trip. Though our initial objective was to see wildflowers, I guess our instincts (or stupidity :)) pushed us to hike more than browsing through wildflowers... still.. wildflowers were all over the trail.. Dessert Dandelions, Chuparosa, BeaverTail Cacti, Barrel cacti flowers.. bla bla.

The Oasis at the end of the palm canyon trail is fabulous.. its surprising to see a dense population of palms on a stream in the dessert.. must have been planted artificially 10-15 years back..probably.. who knows.. but nice place to sit and have some snacks..

On the return path of hike, at around 5pm, we faced heavy rain.. Obviously thunderstorms were estimated overnight, but I didn't expect that it will start so early... but.. it was fun.. first of all, after a long time, I went for a hike and that too in rain.. awesome .. infact its fun to see "Elephant running in the rain thru mountains.. Isn't it Shaan :) ?" surely something to remember by :) ..

On the return drive to SD, Anza mountains were full of snow.. while going to Anza, these mountains were lush green and on the way back the were as white as milk :) .. had a quick stop to have a snow ball fight !!

btw, Happy "Vernal Equinox" !!

Swarnim Rythms @ FIA 06

We "Swarnim Rythms" performed for Federation of India Association on 26th August 06 @ San Diego Neuro-Science. Here are the videos... Again, better late than never. Poor audio quality..

Sholay - Introduction Music
Parineeta - Piyu bole (Namita and Rishi)
Kalyug - Jiya dhadak (Rishi)
Anjaam - Badi Mushkil Hai (Pravin Tiwari)
Kashmir Ki Kali - Diwana Hua Badal (Namita and Rishi)

Harmonica and Tabla - Me
Keyboardist - Kamal
Guitarist - Hitesh and Ravi
Bongo - Pravin


Intro with Sholay - Me on Harmonica... intro @ 3:00



Badi Mushkil Hey - My Tabla @ 4:00



Jiya Dhadak Dhadak



Diwana Hua Baadal - Listen to Hitash bhai's guitar @ 0:30, 1:32 and 2:40



Piyu Bole - Totally crappy song... This was the first song of the show.. mike setting were not proper.. Instruments playing louder than singers and Bongo sound just ate up my tabla.. damn it !!

RangTarang 06

We performed for "Rang Tarang", Indian cultural show, in Qualcomm on May 06

Here is the video... I am uploading it way late, but still.. better late than never... I am not sure who has recorded this video, but it gives highlights of the whole Rang Tarang Show..

In the video, music group is from 1:24 to 6:48. The audio mixer got lil bit messed up, so drums didn't get recorded properly..so most of the songs sound empty..

My Tabla @ 2:36 @ 3:12 @ 4:10 (just missed) @ 6:36

Height of Creativity...

While reading my usual business blogs, I came across an article that showed how to use your surroundings to start a business.. The example that author mentioned is...

"AN INDIAN entrepreneur has given a new twist to the concept of low-cost airlines. The passengers boarding his Airbus 300 in Delhi do not expect to go anywhere because it never takes off. All they want is the chance to know what it is like to sit on a plane, listen to announcements and be waited on by stewardesses bustling up and down the aisle." "His company, Aeroplanet, now provides an on-the-ground in-flight experience to those who cannot afford to fly. The price is a mere 150 rupees (3.75 dollars) per head."

Take a look..

Initially I thought that it's a hoax.. but this guy and his company indeed exist. He is been featured in Time magzine also.

If you think about it, its really practical idea... Its educational, entertaining and probably a "life time" experience for poor people....

Surely its better than.. people here in America paying $30 for ridiculous experiences like Halloween haunted houses, where you are just walking around and volunteers trying to scare you, yelling "boo" at every step.

Hshhhh... Creativity !!

He Who Knows..

Just came across this Arabian Proverb... Its all magic of words..

He who knows not & knows not he knows not, he is a fool - shun him.
He who knows not & knows he knows not, he is simple - teach him.
He who knows & knows not he knows, he is asleep - awaken him.
He who knows & knows that he knows, he is wise - follow him.

Smokin' SD - WildFires..

Wildfire is not that unfamiliar term to San Diego, but I never realized that I will experience it so closely this time.

(Photo Credit: KPBS-Flickr)

On Sunday, because of high winds and dry weather, almost 10 fires started in San Diego county. The Witch Creek fire in Ramona, which started with just 100 acres on Sunday morning, spread across 13,000 acres till Sunday evening. While on Monday morning it burnt up to 140, 000 acres of land across northeast of SD. The speed at which it was spreading and moving towards SD city, was indeed scary. The winds were blowing at 60mph and humidity numbers were in single digit. The temperatures all over county were soaring to 90-100 deg fahrenheit, making weather conditions similar to AZ.

On Moday morning, when I woke up from a phone call from Qualcomm automated notification system, to report my "home" status.. I realized the urgency of the situation. My place in MiraMesa was surely safe, but mother nature was already showing its rage in Rancho Bernardo, around 20-25 miles fro my place, burning all houses and apartment complexes. Area of Poway (15 miles from my place) was already under mandatory evacuation.

(Photo Credit: Google - Map Data @2007)

I called couple of my friends in that area to find out the status and was glad to find out they were safe, but surely were scared to death of loosing their houses. One of my friends mentioned that last month his colleague has just moved to their new house in Rancho Bernanrdo. They had their house warming ceremony (VastuShanti) on Saturday evening and now received evacuation orders on Sunday night.. How cruel your fate can be... Hmmm.. God Delusion !!!

Mira mesa being safe, I decided to go out with couple of friends. Sky was full of black smoke-clouds. The smell of smoke was in the air and small flecks of ash were falling around.

We went to the evacuation center in Qualcomm stadium to find out if they need any help esp with "man power". Considering the requirement for relief work, I really didn't realize how I spent 8 hrs there, helping evacuees in sorting and distributing beddings. Considering the 2003 SD fire, people mentioned that relief work was really well organized. Infact at one point, the number of volunteers in the Qualcomm stadium were more than evacuees :) !!

When I was returning home at 9 pm, Moon looked like one in eclipsed state, red-yellowish in color. Generally in crystal clear weather, moon looks bright white as milk, but witch creek fire is surely acting as a "witch", causing moon to be disappeared.

After reaching home, when I turned on the TV, I was lil bit shocked with the news that the fire has spread a lot on west side of SD and mandatory evacuations has been issued at South DelMar and North Sorento Valley area, probably 10-15 blocks from me. Considering the wind conditions, if fire would have spread little bit more, then MiraMesa was the next one going to be under mandatory evacuations. With flaky electricity conditions, I packed all important docs and stuff. While sorting out some low-priority stuff, I realized that how difficult it is to pack my "5 years of stay in USA" just in couple of bags. It surely made me nervous at that point. What must be going through those minds, who were already under mandatory evacuations... and I can not imagine thoughts of those who have already lost their houses and belongings.... When you work as a volunteer, though you are doing your best, your state of mind can never reach at the same level as the evacuee, the pain they must be gong through.. and now I was about to switch the sides and that thought itself scared me a little. I really didn't want to end up in Qualcomm Stadium as an evacuee...

While trying to sleep at 2pm, I heard some people in my apartment complex moving their luggage in their cars, but I guess they were doing precautionary evacuation. No voluntary or mandatory evacuations were announced officially yet.

On Tuesday morning, I guess mother nature must have been heard the prayers, the winds were subsided to ~10mph. Witch Creek fire is not moving towards south, but still moving lil bit on north-west. Most of the fire is under control and not spreading much. By afternoon, most of evacuations on south side of the fire have been lifted areas.... still its only 10% contained !!

Its unbelievable how things can change in such a short time... On Saturday, I was relaxed and working on my guitar lessons, wondering how to play F chord smoothly.... and...... on Monday evening, I was worried that I probably will not be able take my guitar with me if mandatory evacuations happen.... Hshhhhh !!

Probably nothing happened to me specifically. I was never hit by the worst, but overall its a realization that "Life comes to you really fast, when you are busy doing other things" !!