Kudithipudi.Org

May 14, 2011

Celebrating Ugadhi

Filed under: Family,Festivals,Food,Photography,Travel — Vinay @ 7:39 pm

Jhanvi and I visited India in April and were lucky to celebrate Ugadhi with our family back home. Ugadhi is the an important festival in South India and is essentially the celebration of the begenning of a new year (yep.. new year in April :) ). One of the specialities of Ugadhi in Andhra Pradesh is something called “Ugadhi Pachadi”. It is a mixture of 6 ingredients (Neem Flower, Jaggery, Red Pepper, Green Mango, Salt and Tamarind) which designate the different “tastes” of life (bitter, sweet, hot, salty, tangy etc).

I haven’t been able to celebrate Ugadhi with my family for more than 10 years. So it was a special occasion. And mom went all the way to make it even more memorable. Here are some pictures.

Hanging Mango Leaves

Garelu

Ugadhi Pachadi : Ingredients

Ugadhi Pachadi : Final

Thanking the divine ones

February 2, 2011

The great blizzard of 2011

Filed under: Photography — Vinay @ 9:07 am

I have been snowed in for the first time (in the 10 years that I have been in Chicago) :) . I woke up early and took some pictures. Here is one showing my car (nearly drowned in snow :) ) with snow around it for some prospective

Here’s another showing how much snow we had to dig through on the footpaths to walk around

More pictures at http://www.flickr.com/photos/kudithipudi/sets/72157625835243633/

January 26, 2011

Time does fly :)

Filed under: Family,Photography — Vinay @ 9:08 pm

Two pictures of my nephew one year apart. Now, I feel old :)

New lens and my mom..

Filed under: Photography — Vinay @ 9:23 am

Picture of my mom taken with my new toy (Canon 50mm F/1.8 lens). My mom is usually a shy person and this is probably the first time I saw her being comfortable in front of a camera.

I took a photography class recently and am finally enlightened to what a good lens can do :) .  Prior to the class, I was always of the opinion that a zoom lens is the way to go. But my instructor opened my eyes to the world of fixed (and expensive) lenses :) .

More pictures from this photo shoot at http://www.flickr.com/photos/kudithipudi/sets/72157625773287053/with/5385052525/

February 15, 2010

Fun day at work..

Filed under: Fun,Photography — Vinay @ 2:35 pm

A picture is worth a thousand words :)

January 4, 2010

Isn’t he a cutie?

Filed under: Family,Fun,Photography — Vinay @ 8:43 pm

My nephew.. Anish Paruchuri :)

December 4, 2009

Gone Fishin..

Filed under: Music,Photography — Vinay @ 11:38 am

Click on the image for some great music :)

This picture was taken on my recent trip to Costa Rica.

June 14, 2009

Places to visit : Letchworth State Park

Filed under: Fun,Photography,Travel — Vinay @ 3:10 am

If you are ever in the Rochester, NY area and have some time to kill, I highly recommend visiting the nearby Letchworth State Park. It is less than a hours drive from Rochester and is (as the brochure states) “the grand canyon of the east”. It covers an area of ~27K acres and has a varied landscape. You can enjoy a peaceful picnic in the lush green meadows, hike in the forest or get awed by a train running ~100 feet up in the air over a waterfall. The park was not crowded and is not as “commercialized” as the nearby world famous Niagara Falls. Here are some pictures from my recent trip to the park.

The falls with the train tracks

Second Waterfall

Train crossing the bridge

Drive into the park

June 8, 2009

Places to visit : Cruise on Michigan Lake

Filed under: Fun,Photography,Travel — Vinay @ 1:14 am

Some pseudocode first :)

  • If you live in Chicago
  • If you are looking for a place to have a small get together

{OR}

  • Take your significant other on a special date
  • Just trying to impress a girl/guy :)

{AND}

  • It is summer

Check out the private sail charters offered on Lake Michigan. Unlike the giant cruise boats that you can get onto, at the Navy Pier, these trips offer a more intimate and unique experience. The gaint cruise boats are for the tourists :) .

I got to take a trip on one of the sail boats this weekend. The Red Witch, name of the boat we sailed on, is a topsail schooner. Unfortunately, we were not able to raise the sails, since the owners were waiting on an updated “certification” for a new engine they installed this year. But we still got spend a couple of hours on the lake. We brought our own food and drinks, so it was like a picnic on the lake. You can get information on booking tickets with them at http://www.redwitch.com/.

Here are some pictures from the trip

[The Boat]

[The Crew]

[The Moon]

[The City]

February 13, 2009

HOW TO : Spice up your digital pictures..

Filed under: HOWTO,Photography,Web — Vinay @ 3:25 am
  • Go to http://www.befunky.com
  • Upload, grab a picture
  • Play with different options
  • Save, Print, Enjoy :)  (you can print the manipulated pictures on mugs, t-shirts, keychains, magnets etc..).

Here’s an example

ORIGINAL

AFTER PLAYING AROUND IN BEFUNKY

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