70 % Cocoa!!!!!!!!!

That's the cover from which a piece of dark chocolate I ate came from. It looks characteristically dark with some golden highlights here and there. Although I've tasted some dark chocolate before, nothing comes even close to this!!!

The first sign that something's different about this came as I was trying to open the packing. A small, semi-circular piece has to been torn off one of the corners before it can be opened. Inside, there was a slim bar of dark chocolate surgically divided into 2 columns having 5 considerable sized pieces each, covered in a wonderfully textured silver foil. It was all so beautifuuly done, I almost didn't feel like tearing it open.

Almost. As I ripped open the foil, as aesthetically as possible, one single piece of chocolate peeked out. It wasn't as black as I expected it to be. Actually, it wasn't black at all. It was brown!!! It looked a lot like good old Diary Milk, except for the brand name on the chocolate.

But looks can be exceptionally deceptive. As soon as i broke one piece off and put it in my mouth, I realised 3 things-
1) The piece is too big
2) That was the most bitter piece of chocolate I have ever tasted!!

3) I got so high so soon that I don't remember what the other thing was.....

God bless the Pre-Columbian-Mesoamerican Maya for introducing to the world the greatest eatable west of the Dosa Line!! Wonder how a Chocolate Dosa would taste???

Shutter Speed: 1/6 s
Exposure Program: M
Aperture: f/6.3
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 200 mm (325 mm in 35mm equivalent)

Cactus

This was one of two cactuses (or cacti) we found near one of the places we took a breather inside Vandaloor Zoo. Think they were planted there for purely aesthetic purposes as it neither provides shade nor a place to lean on for the weary. This is a colour shot by the way.

Shutter Speed: 1/4000 s

Exposure Program: Manual

Aperture: f/6.3

ISO: 1600

Focal Length: 200 mm (325 mm in 35 mm equivalent)

For more pictures taken at the zoo, check out my flickr account.

Red On Green

That's the stamen of a hibiscus flower found somewhere on the huge grounds of the Arignar Anna Zoological Park, more colloquially known as Vandaloor Zoo. Went there today with a bunch of friends from college. Strangely, this was the only flower on the plant. I was always under the impression that hibiscuses (or is it hibisci) bloom in multiples. Maybe the others got plucked...

Shutter Speed: 1/800 s

Exposure Program: Manual

Aperture: f/6.3

ISO: 1600

Focal Length: 200 mm (325 mm in 35 mm equivalent)

For more pictures, checl out my flickr account.

Power Cuts Aren't All That Bad......

Shot this during one of those beautifully timed powercuts, at around 7 pm on a tuesday, when you're just lounging around after having read the newspaper twice and are bored out of your mind. It is a string of beads made by drying and rolling the stem of the tulsi plant backlit by a couple of lamps lit up everyday for as far as i can remember. There a lot of gods, semi-gods, demi-gods etc. in the Hindu pantheon. Wonder what the exact number is...............

Shutter Speed: 1/13 s

Exposure Program: Manual

Aperture: f/6.3

ISO: 1600

Focal Length: 200 mm (325 mm in 35 mm equivalent)