Newborn Sibling

A newly born leaf joins the others in a tree in my mother's collection.

From the set Kotmale - September, 2006.

From the Roots

Taken during a Shilpa Sayura event at Kandiyapitawewa village in South Eastern Sri Lanka.

From the set Kandiyapitawewa - June, 2007.

Twins

The Orchid House at the Botanical Gardens in Peradeniya has a rich collection.

From the set Botanical Gardens, Peradeniya - September, 2007.

Swimming Tusker Kid

We were about to cross the dam of Udawalawe Reservoir, when this young tusker got into the water and swam all the way to the other side. Well, we hope it did make to the other side, or came back when we were gone.

Suchetha's has a video of this on YouTube.

From the set FOSS-ed on Wheels, Buttala - October, 2006.

Into the Waters

For some of us, water wading was a great start for a beautiful camping day. This is our friend Deepthi in his Jeep Wrangler.

From the set 4x4 Camp, Habarana - March, 2007.

Morning Bloom

At the Rafter's Retreat in Kitulgala, where we had a FOSS Community event called "Geekout".

From the set Geekout - August, 2006.

Live Fractal

Structures and patterns in this tree at various scales reminds me of fractals.

The photograph is slightly blurry, because it was taken from within a fast moving Land Rover.

From the set Yala National Park - March, 2006.

The Leech Stream

Pundaluoya flowing by the city in Kotmale with the same name. The original name "kundalu-oya" (kundalu = leech, oya = stream) has somehow distorted over time to "Pundaluoya".

From the set Going home - October, 2005.

Croton

Although this plant and lookalikes such as Codiaeum Variegatum are commonly called "Croton", the genus with that name looks entirely different.

From the set Random - August, 2006.

Sun Just Left

Taken during an evening walk along Pundaluoya - Nuwara-Eiya road.

From the set Kotmale - April, 2007.

Blue on Blue

Cloudless blue sky provided a matching background for this kingfisher who looks relaxed, yet watchful.

From the set Ampara - December, 2006.

Sthupa by the River

The Kalu River flowing past the Sthupa near the famous Boa tree in Kaluthara.

This sthupa is special because it is hollow and houses a smaller sthupa surrounded by ample space for pilgrims.

From the set Kalutara - April, 2007.

Still Waters

This pond is at the Buddhangala temple / meditation range in Ampara.

From the set Ampara - December, 2006.

Future Tea Bags

These leaves will be eventually plucked to produce some of the finest beverage products in the world with the label "Ceylon Tea".

From the set Kotmale - September, 2006.

Where Land Meets Water

Albesia trees at the edge of Kotmale reservoir on a bright and sunny midday.

From the set Kotmale - January, 2007.

New Life

Baby branches and leaves coming out of a pruned tree in our garden.

From the set Kotmale - September, 2006.

Lunch Time

I was about to photograph the flower, shutter half pressed, when the bee came in for a quick lunch!

From the set Kotmale - January, 2007.

The Old Bridge

Generations have used this now invalid footbridge over the Kotmale Oya, a sub branch of Mahaweli River. I have seen several who are "brave" enough to use it, and save some walking to the next nearest crossing. ;-)

From the set Kotmale - September, 2006.

Rainforest

No, this is not a rainforest! It is a man-made Turpentine plantation between Pundaluoya and Nuwara-Eliya.

From the set Nuwara Eliya / Kotmale - April, 2007.

Heaven's View of Earth

I was starting to have my breakfast on the way to Hyderabad when I saw these clouds illuminated by the rays of rising sun. So this was shot with the camera in one hand, and obviously food in the other. ;-)

From the set Hyderabad - November, 2006.

Ages of Life in Colour

This "Dothulu" tree has its seeds going through five different stages of life, and in different colors. Six if you count the ones which are about to come out!

Sunset Through the Trees

Sunset seen from the top of "North Pundaluoya" mountain, about 6000ft above sea level.

From the set Kotmale - February, 2007.

A River Runs Through It

River Thames flowing past Westminster on a bright and sunny summer afternoon.

From the set UK - August, 2007.

Sunset Over the Lake

Sunset over the lake at Yudanganawa in Buttala. This is the view from an island, not very far from the shore.

From the set FOSS-ed on Wheels, Buttala - October, 2006.

Handloomed

A model demonstrating a handloomed Sri Lankan saree.

There is a slight blur, probably due to my Canon S3 IS operating at the maximum zoom (432mm equivalent for 35mm) under relatively low light.

From the set National Heros Musical Show - December, 2006.

Lonely Tree

My uncle lived in an SLBC circuit bungalow to the right side of this place in Ambewela, and the grass fields beyond is where we used to play Cricket. The broadcasting station has now been converted to a youth training center.

If my memory is correct, the same tree appeared during the "name list display" of "Durganthaya" by Dharmasena Pathiraja, a TV show based on Wuthering Heights. The camera angle was different and a silhouette.

From the set Nuwara Eliya / Kotmale - October, 2006.

Thirsty

Water level of Kotmale Reservoir was too low for a long time this year, and this was a spectacular outcome of it.

From the set Kotmale, June, 2007.

It's Raining

Rain pouring down to somewhere far away, as seen from Nuwara-eliya - Thalawakele road.

From the set Nuwara Eliya / Kotmale - April, 2007.

Airborne

This is a common sight in the paddy field right in front our house.

From the set Kotmale - December, 2006.

Colours of Music

In my never ending quest to collect flutes, more flutes, and yet more flutes, I bumped into these colourful arrays of guitars hung at Murali Music Musical in Chennai.

From the set Chennai - November, 2006.

Last Rays of the Day

FOSS-ed on Wheels is an event organized by our Community to promote FOSS around the country. These journeys also provided us a lot of photography opportunities like this one in Yudanganawa, Buttala.

From the set FOSS-ed on Wheels, Buttala - October, 2006.

Niphredil

These are, rather were, flowers from my mother's collection.

I named this photo after Niphredil, a flower first bloomed in the forest of Neldoreth in Doriath to Lúthien when she was born.

From the set Kotmale - September, 2006.

Wathusudu

Wathusudu is a bright white flower found in Sri Lanka. It is sometimes used in literature to signify purity.

From the set Random - August, 2006.

Sunset and Love

Sunset at Panadura beach, captured with the VGA (640x480) camera in my now aging Nokia 6020.

From the set Beach - March, 2006.

Fisherman's Wharf

Boats on Fisherman's Wharf, Bay Area, San Fransisco, on a bright morning of the spring.

From the set San Fransisco - May, 2004.

Beautiful but Impermanent

Water droplets on rice leaves in a paddy field in Ampara.

This reminds me a poem from ලෝ වැඩ සඟරාව which delves on impermanence of life: පණ නම් තණ අග පිණි බිඳු වැන්නේ (life is [impermanent] like water droplets on grass).

From the set Ampara - December, 2006.

Swarnamaliye

This is a story about building "Ruwanwali Seya" in 3cd century B.C.: When King Dutugemunu found a suitable place to build the great shrine, there was a tree there which was home for a goddess named Swarnamali. The King and his subjects requested her to move away, promising to name the shrine after her.

This dance was for maestro Amaradeva's "ඔබේ නමින් සෑය බඳිමි විමානයෙන් බසිනු මැනවි" (we'll name the shrine after you, please move away from the house) song based on this story.

The photo was taken under low light conditions from far away in the audience.

From the set National Heros Musical Show - December, 2006.

Falling Down and Down

This is Pundaluoya, a sub branch of Mahaweli river which flows by the city/village with the same name, the very place where I grew up.

The river has been fed by several waterfalls by this stage, including Dunsinane.

The place we learned to swim, play and bathe in the river starts right after the last fall in the photo, but now that part of the river is very much deserted.

From the set Kotmale - January, 2007.

Lizard's Pose

When I leaned on the grass by the Gregory Lake at Nuwara Eliya to capture a photo of some yellow flowers against the sky, it turned out that I was not alone.

This lizard was posing nicely, and I thought its eyes were saying "please take a photo of me as well!", and I didn't want to ruin its expectations by photographing only the flowers!

From the set Nuwara Eliya 4x4 Lake Cross - April, 2007.

In Front of a Tusker

Unlike in other national parks in Sri Lanka, elephants in Yala are known to be friendlier. Perhaps the park is far away from human habitats, and there are almost no "confrontations" with villagers to create an anguish in them over human beings.

Therefore, whenever a regular Yala safari driver spots an animal, be it an elephant, a leopard or a bear, he drives towards it rather than getting away or keeping a safe distance! It took me a while to get used to this reaction, which is very much against conventional wisdom.

This is a frame from a video which I recorded from the front seat of an open top Land Rover, with few hopes of living to watch it afterwards. ;-)

From the set Yala National Park - March, 2006.

Lighting Game

This beautiful ceiling pattern is at a hotel next to the Moratuwa beach where Rumesh threw us a birthday party.

One Each

There are hundreds of pigeons around the Mecca Masjid at Hyderabad. This part of the roof structure has space for only one pigeon per piece, forcing them to be nicely lined up for sunbathing.

From the set Hyderabad - November, 2006.

Campsite in the Morning

This was at a Four Wheel Drive Club members camp in Habarana. The tent on the ground had been mounted on Nishantha's Nissan Patrol during the previous night. Hasthika and Jana, Nishantha's camping companions, are the other two.

From the set 4x4 Camp, Habarana - March, 2007.

Borders of Nature

First I must confess that I had no clue how the photo would come up while shooting what was "up" with my now-retired Canon A70. Recently I tried to take similar shots at the same location just past the Gymnasium and Swimming Pool at the University of Peradeniya, but timing and lighting was never this good.

Apart from the spectacular patterns of tree branches, it is interesting to see "borders", or gaps, between tree branches, and smaller borders between sub branches and so on.

From the set University of Peradeniya - October, 2005.

Sunset Colours

This was my first photoshoot after acquiring a Canon S3 IS. The beach at Panadura was crowded, and there was a long and patient wait before the sand was clear of footsteps.

From the set Random - August, 2006.