Surprise... OW!

Fun in the sun, eh?!

 

So then, I haven't appeared here in a long time now. Quite a few things have changed in this time though. I bought a new laptop, got Photoshop CS5 and recently rekindled my photography but ... I am still loyal to my awesomely sexy Nokia 6233. I am decidedly changing the licenses on some of my photographs, comes along with studying a little bit of copyright. Just a little bit though. For instance, this photograph is clearly All Rights Reserved.

Oh! I took this today around 3 pm. I walked out of the library and I saw this kid sleeping in the sun on a gunny sack. I think he might belong to one of the constuction workers. He was really asleep. I mean asleep. I was close enough to risk waking him up, but luckily he didn't. Oh joy! I finally got my revival snap.

I also took this picture some time ago...

And as you can see, the license to apply to this would be the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 India license (as given in the footer of my blog).
Now that I'm back... expect more snaps... soon.

Subject City Beckons!

I want to buy this place

I'm back in my subject city, a.k.a. Patiala. I'm back three whole weeks before semester starts. Why? Well, lets see. I was pretty much jobless at home. I decided to breathe some life back into my dear old blog. I don't think I had lost my interest in photography, it was more like I got involved in the race to decorate my C.V. Aah, the joy of just walking around the city with my phone and waiting to find that next picture... Its hard to put in words. Today, I did just that. Yes sirs and madames, I went photo hunting today!! After being unable to find a decent subject, I decided to walk back to my hostel and on the way was this building. The first time I saw this building was in August, 2008 and the first thought in my head was that I wanted to own it. I don't really know what is it about this building, I just want to own it. One day, I'll return to Patiala and buy this place. I surely will.
Why did I come back three weeks before semester begins? This was just the place where I had to be. There was just someone I had to be with. I was jobless at home, I have work here. Pursuits, both academic and personal, fill my days. Among other things, I tried to click a bird taking a bath but the critter just flew away. And yes, I still lust after that Nikon D90.

Technorati Tags: patiala,photography,building,evening

Freedom ?! One illusion or many ?

Freedom?! Is it what I have on my side of the bars ?

Yesterday was a rather eventful day. I got myself vaccinated against a rather mumps outbreak on campus, saw a rather good movie (Luck By Chance) with friends and took this awesome picture. This photo was Ms B’s idea. Now before babbling about freedom, how about some guesses as to what is beyond those bars ? I will reveal it later, either in updates or comments, but if you are really into spoilers then do click on the link.

Now it’s time to elaborate on freedom. Year 2009, we live in a so-called free world. But then again, I ask the oft repeated question: “Are we truly free ?” In just one day I realized that I am not. A tiny little virus can compromise my freedom, I had to have a needle puncture my skin and deliver some alien fluid in my body so that I could be safe. I could not watch the movie in peace because a couple of lovebirds were *doing* things to each other right in front of me (“Helping each other” – as one of my friends said). There are so many things I want to do, but I can’t because I don’t have the freedom or social sanction to do it. But I realised one thing at the theater. The couple in front were being “free”, but it made the people around them uncomfortable. I guess freedom is totally relative, eh?

We are all bound and gagged by the people around us, the places we live in and the families we are born into. Just as the person next to you inhibits your freedom, you do the same for that person as well. Just because of your presence he has to behave in a certain manner, talk in a certain manner etc. Ironical, isn’t it ? A world of people who are desirous of freedom are in truth the ones who are each other’s captors. Sometimes, humanity is just twisted!!

Technorati Tags: humans,photography,india,life,door,windows,freedom

The Tree In My Dreams

The Tree In My Dreams - this image might hurt your eyes, click on it to view a bigger size.

This picture isn't exactly that of the tree in my dreams but it does come close. This picture was taken around 2:30 pm a couple of days ago. It was just after it had stopped raining. Mr A, Ms S and I were headed towards a certain cafe/restaurant where we regularly hang out. To get to that place we have to cross a railway crossing. Now, what happened was that the train stopped halfway through the crossing. Now, as we were on a rickshaw we were totally stuck. I got down and this tree really intrigued me. So, I whipped out my phone and took a couple of pictures.

The best one was later turned into an HDR photograph and then it was treated to some Photoshop. What you see is the final result. You can actually see a part of the train reflected in the puddle and a part of it in the background. Now, continuing the story, we were getting late. So, Mr A and I had this idea. We climbed through the train, which was effectively dead for all means and purposes, and jumped to the other side. The best part was that as soon as we had crossed through the train, it started moving again. We made it in time to meet another one of our friends, Mr AS.

UPDATE - This photo of mine got featured on A Photo A Day From Planet Earth! YAY!

Technorati Tags: photography,india,trees,nature,water,photos,nokia,train,cellphone

Random Smoking Bunny

Smoking Bunny - Smoking is injurious to health!

STATUTORY WARNING - SMOKING IS INJURIOUS TO HEALTH , ESPECIALLY FOR CUTE BUNNIES.

This, my friends, is a smoking bunny. Well, its not actually a cigarette in it's mouth but a piece of rolled up paper. Why?! Well I don't smoke so I wouldn't be likely to have a cigarette on me, especially during class. Yeah, I took this in class today. The bunny here features on Ms SM's pencil bag. I just had this crazy brainwave and I rolled up a piece of paper and stuck it between the bunny and the desk and I even got the ears into position. And wallah! Lo and behold. I had my smoking bunny.

It was an excellent model. Of course there was a lot of luminance noise in the image because it was taken from a cell-phone, so I had to use a lot of Photoshop on it. I'm pretty pleased with the end result though.

Now the main question – Why did I take this picture ? Just felt like it. As my room-mate keeps on saying, “In the heat of the moment.”

Technorati Tags: india,animals,photography,bunnies,funny,message,nokia,camera

Of Sleeping Machines and Slapstick Movies

The Sleeping Machine - they are human machines after all!

This here is the picture of a rickshaw-wala or rickshaw puller (as called in correct English), who’s sleeping on his rickshaw. Snuggling comfortably (NOT!) in the arms of Morpheus under the clear blue sky. The man here is one of the hundred odd rickshaw-walas found in Patiala. Oh wait, I’m forgetting something. Some people reading this might not even know what a rickshaw is. It’s basically a gigantic tricycle with a huge carriage kind of thingy in the back. People sit in it and this fellow pedals them to wherever they want to go. Did I hear someone say cruel ?! If you did, then all I can say back to you is: “Welcome to India”.

Rickshaws are the quintessential transport system in every city/town/wannabe town in India. These rickshaw-walas have to literally slog to earn whatever it is that they earn. They carry people around from place to place and when I say people, I mean PEOPLE. I’ve seen 5 people stuffed in that little carriage thingy and the poor fellow having to carry them around. I didn’t have my phone with me then so I couldn’t take a snap. Oh and just because they do all this manual labour doesn’t mean that they don’t cheat. They are some of the worst cheats you will ever meet.

I took this picture when I was myself on a rickshaw to watch a movie today. I saw “Chandni Chowk To China” and all I can say is that if you want to watch this movie, then please remember to leave your brain behind at home. It’s the most senseless movie you will ever see in your life. But hey, you will definitely laugh on the movie and as Mr N so rightly pronounced, “Laugh at the idea that somebody was stupid enough to think that people would laugh when seeing this movie!”  Among other things, my friends want me to write a post about them. I guess I will and I’ll give each of them a picture that describes them best. I’m also working on a Photoshop tutorial for giving borders and stuff to your photos. Will finish it and have it online soon enough.

Technorati Tags: india,photography,street,life,society,photos,movies,review

A Pot Full of Relief

Vase ?! – Taken at the Saras Fair in December.
The 14th of January was an incredible day. It was exhilarating day. The results of my 1st semester’s end-term exams were finally disclosed and I had done rather well. My first semester is officially over people and I got 75% aggregate. What’s my GPA ? No idea, my university follows a percentage system instead of GPA. God knows why!

Among other things, Mr. A and I left our bags in the library and well the library closed at 5 pm and our stuff got locked inside. What followed was a series of queries and questioning as to why there was no extra key to the library with anyone on campus. Besides, why should a National Law School's library close at 5pm. The kids here have to study, you know. So anyways, the matter ultimately reached the VC, he called up the librarian and made him come back to the univ and open the library so that we could take our bags.

I guess I've started on a plan to make some money to buy a decent camera. Maybe a Nikon D60 if not a D90. And for that very purpose, I'm planning to put ads on my blog. I guess monetizing this blog will work rather, should work. And on the same day as the results were declared; I was busy helping out a senior, Mr M, with some urgent stuff that he needed for his internship at a reputed Law Firm. It involved a ton of whois searches on the internet and lots of secret calls made in class, even though cell-phones are banned in class.

I can already feel the work-load growing, I guess its time to seriously start working. Lots of stuff to do this semester. Oh! How could I forget to mention that Ms SS is currently in Delhi for a moot court competition. Best of luck to her and I really hope that her team does well.  Currently I’m not that inspired to click pictures, I guess its due to a low period of my creativity or lack of decent subjects. Damn! How could I forget the objective behind creating this blog. It was to make even the listless, lifeless and even mundane subjects interesting. Like the picture that I’ve put here today.

It was taken at the Saras fair in December. It is a culture fair where there are kiosks from every state of India, displaying some of their traditional art and craft. Yes, there was the typical cuisine of every state as well. There was this pot there, exquisitely designed and I took a snap. I edited it in Photoshop so that I can give the background a b/w feel and make the in color with a little dream-ish feel to it. Its not one of my better Photoshop works. I know that. But still, I must write about this.

PS – I was thinking about writing about my internship the next time. Have some good pictures of buildings and a little escapade story as well.

Technorati Tags: india,photography,photos,fair,pot,art,culture,college

A Broken Mirror and Other Tales

I stretched comfortably in my bed, scratched my head and looked at the wall clock that had been given to me during my fresher's. It said that the time was 10:30 am. I sat up, albeit very slowly. It was Sunday, people, and I had full rights to sleep till 10 in the morning. So anyways, there were many things to do in this Sunday. I had made plans with some of my friends to go to this temple and then have lunch with them. Now this temple is a Laxmi-Narayan temple that can be found quite close to our hostels.

Laxmi Narayan Temple - with some post-processing done in Photoshop

So this is the probably the best of the three pictures that I took of the temple. Other pictures include my friends so they are not going to be displayed on the WoRlD WiDe WeB. So, continuing the tale, we ran into a classmate of ours who was with her mother and they explained the mysterious appearance of the multitude of people from Kerela at a temple in Punjab. It so transpires that every year, on the second Sunday of January, all the people from Kerela, who reside at Patiala, gather at this particular temple and offer their prayers, conduct a puja and have a little buffet. So, we were introduced to the people who organized this annual community fest and were then later shown to the buffet area. Needless to say, the food was good and then we went to the temple, offered our prayers and then clicked some pictures and started walking back to the hostel.

So, Ms B, Ms G and Ms S were walking along with me to their hostel. Ms S was to my right and was chatting animatedly while walking. All of a sudden, a car passed by dangerously close to her and her elbow banged against the side mirror of the car. The mirror broke at the hinge and fell on the road with a loud clatter. Everyone was rather surprised when the asshole driving the car did not stop and went on driving like he was high or something. Okay, now two other things happened. Ms S said, 'Ha ha! I broke his mirror' and a couple of seconds later she grabbed her elbow and said, 'Ow, MY ELBOW!'
The second thing that happened was that a kid on a bicycle nicked the broken mirror just as I had the idea of keeping it as a souvenir. Well its not everyday that a car brushes against your elbow and ends up having its side mirror broken off the hinge! Don't worry though, Ms S is fine and does not have any injuries. I do doubt that its addled her brains though, she's been acting funny since that little incident.

Among other things: I helped get the hostel's wi-fi running by finding the source of the problem, I made a new profile picture in Photoshop, its a tribute to Dexter and well I've been nick-named dxtr so___ you get the point.

Dee Dee to Dexter: “Ooh ooh, what does this button do ?”

Oh and as of Monday, my most mysterious classmate has finally joined the univ. Yes, Ms S.M has finally started attending classes as of the 12th of Jan, 2009. And if, by any freakish chance of fate, Ms. S.M happens to be reading this then I'd like to welcome her to the univ and hope that she understands the system faster than we ever could. Damn its late, right now its 12:30 am and its taken me over two hours to prep the images and write this. Why? Well, we were having a little Lohri party. So it's good-night to all for now.

PS - Note to self - stop listening to ghajini songs.

Technorati Tags: punjab,india,photography,images,nokia,camera,college,friends,law school

Moments

The most awesome advantage about having a camera in your cellphone is that you always have a camera where-ever you go! So this automatically ensures that you do not miss that moment when you could have gotten that interesting shot. Here is one of my "in-the-moment" photos -

Muddy Splash, isn't it?

This picture was taken during my mid-semester exams and it was after one of the first rains that I experienced in Patiala. So, its just after the torrential shower and I had to go out to get some notes photocopied (yeah those were Ms G's notes). So I walk out of my room wearing my slippers and my shorts because the whole ground floor was flooded with ankle high water. I walk to the main gate and well I was left staring at the road! The water in the road was knee high! Apparently this place has no drains. I wonder which genius built this place. Anyways, so here I was staring in disbelief at the road and this SUV went about splashing a ton of water everywhere and I just took out my phone and snapped this pic!

There are many such photos that I have taken since the day I bought this phone, but they usually have my friends either in embarrasing situations or doing stupid things, and I'd rather not put it on the internet without their permission. But here are some more photos that needed the phone to be with me and well tell me how they are.

Sulking Monkey - dunno why, but she just refused to give me a decent pose?!

I went on a random, unplanned trip with my friends to this canal nearby and well in such a case you normally don't carry a camera with you. My phone came in handy again when this monkey jumped down from a tree. Well I tried to take a picture with her (it's ?)face in the photo, but I guess she (it ?) was very shy, downright sulky. Guess I had to woo her to pose with food or something, but the point is I had never come across modelling monkeys with attitude before. Oh well, first time for everything, eh?

The Flying Flag

Do tell me how the photos are!

Technorati Tags: india,flag,photo,mokey,animals,photography,nokia,phone

The journey back to the University

Made extensive use of Photoshop to get this "Old Photo" look. Click on the image for more info.

"... Its a thrilling tale and I wish to do it justice", said Albus Dumbledore to Harry Potter in the sixth book, The Half-Blood Prince. And starting off with that line must have gotten you wondering about the interesting-ness of my journey back to the university, but rest assured it wasn't that thrilling. In fact it was quite ordinary as journeys go, downright lame I might add, but I met some rather friendly co-passengers and had fun throughout. The point to be noted is that it was the second time that I was travelling in a train all on my own and this time I chose to ignore my grand-mother's warning about not talking to strangers. Yes, I actually stuck to it the last time and kept myself rather away from the other passengers. But I guess I decided to disobey her this time.

It was loads of fun just talking to them and spending time playing games. I actually learnt my first card game. Its a very interesting game called Bluff. Of course, there was a dark side. Every wannabe thrilling tale has a dark side! The dark side here was tons and tons of white, dense fog. Lately, the fog's been a menace causing trains and flights to be delayed and downright cancelled. Its never happened this extensively before. Its a never before seen problem and its a downright pain in the ass.

Bloody Fog

It was this stupid fog that delayed my train by about four hours. And even then it was quite a fun ride till New Delhi. I met some rather interesting and fun people, met some silent beauties and had a little hero moment of my own. Yeah, I kinda saved a baby from falling from the top berth. Caught the little girl just as she fell, I guess my reflexes were super charged just after having the shitty train food. Maybe that horrible tasting dal actually had some secret reflex chargers. Oh what the hell! I saved the baby, got my applause, had some fun and finally tumbled into my station. But the real fun started after I got into the bus to my final destination.

Yeah, I got into the wrong bus and I had to change busses midway. On top of that I ran-off without even buying a ticket. On the second bus, that I took from Rajpura to Patiala, things got interesting. A couple of drunks got into a fight. There was a lot of abusive language and some broken teeth. Finally managed to get down and got back to my hostel at around 11:45 pm. DESTINATION REACHED!

Technorati Tags: india,travel,train,fog,photos,photography,girl

A sunset, some ketchup and a bakra!

Street Sunset - click to view my flickr page and a larger version

Sunsets are always hailed as an artist's delight, one of the most beautiful sights to be seen in the world. Sunsets are also noted to be the most romantic of times. But known of this was in my mind when I took this picture. What was I doing? Well lets see...

I was on a rickshaw, heading to Tagore cinema to watch Golmaal Returns! I was on the rickshaw with friends and I think I had a sachet of tomato ketchup with me! Don't ask why? I guess I just like to carry useless stuff. Wait! I take back my words. That ketchup did come in handy. My rather evil mind decided to play a little trick on the rickshaw puller. See, I opened the packet and poured all the ketchup on the seat of the rickshaw puller when he wasn't looking! Yes, he did sit on it! Yes, the seat of his pants did become red! Yes, he must have gone home and wondered what the hell happened and if he bled from somewhere. My friends had a good laugh...

What! Don't look at me like that. I know I'm evil, sick and twisted sometimes. Oh, btw, five points to the person who guesses which square this picture was taken in.
UPDATE - No posts for the next couple of days. I'll be travelling back to the university. You can still check my updates on Twitter though!

Technorati Tags: funny,india,photo

Dude, did you hear? MIT is being outsourced to India!

MIT... outsourced?!! WTF!

"What the *censored*!"
Yeah, those wore the words that exploded out of my mouth when I saw this bus in front of me. I don't think anyone heard me though. It was probably because of the damn helmet! I was headed to receive my internship certificate and I found this on the road. Right in front of me, was a bright orange bus which had "MIT Bhubaneswar" featured on its posterior.
I kept on wondering for two minutes if the MIT had begun outsourcing itself or something. I mean, its not like we have some stunning blackjack card counters or something. So why was MIT here? The mystery was immediately cleared though. As soon as I overtook the bus, I read the words "MAHARAJA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY" gleaming on its anterior. Oh holy cow! I was seeing Asia in action. Welcome to knock-off land people.


The local MIT people should have a tagline - "What's in a name, brah!"

Technorati Tags: india,photo,photography,road,cellphone

Friends…

Friends at the Gurdwara

Friends... who doesn't need them? If you are that 1 person in the world who thinks he can do without them then the only thing I can tell you is "Get real". You just can't make do without them. Coming to me, I have some of the most fantastic people in this world for friends and I love them all. They have their quirks(Mr. A), their problems(Mr. V) and sometimes can be just plain stupid(Ms. R). But hey! Guess what, they are always there when I need them. Each is very different from the other, but each occupies a unique space in my life.

They worry when I become withdrawn and really perturbed with something. They know when to give me space and when to berate me. They know my quirks and tolerate all my stupidity. Always ready to give me that push when I lag behind, they are just awesome. Sometimes I'm totally insensitive, but they digest that as well. Life wouldn't be life without them.

Thanks for being there guys. Love you all . May 2009, be the best year of your life so far.

Technorati Tags: friends,new year,2009,india,photo,fun

The Masks of Men

Shiva's Mask - taken during the Saras Fair at Patiala

Have you ever looked at yourself in a mirror and wondered what you are ? A son, a sister, a mother, an uncle, a nephew, a friend, a spouse, a rival, a teacher... The list could go on for-ever and keep on growing for-ever. Are these all roles that we play or masks that we wear. The mask of a father, a daughter, a wife, a friend; or is it something more. Is this the purpose for our existence? To put on mask after mask until each and every one of those masks leaves an impression on our face, becomes a part of who we are.
Shakesphere said that -

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms.
And then the whining school-boy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon's mouth. And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lined,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slipper'd pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side,
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

Even he understood that man had to change roles. Put on a new mask to become something new, something different. Once in your life, just once, stand in front of a mirror and remove those masks. One at a time. Look at yourself for what you are. If you do that you will learn that you are nothing. You are an identity made by the people who are around you, who know you, who love you and who care about you.
Man after all, is nothing without his masks.

Technorati Tags: thought,man,photo,religion,india

The Other Choice...

Flora in Solitude

One evening while sitting on the lawn, I looked up and I saw this tree. It was a really picturesque scene, so I immediately whipped out my phone and snapped a picture, uploaded it on my laptop and then very effectively forgot about it. A full month later, after coming back home for my internship and semester break, I finally found this picture in my Lightroom library. There was only one thing to do... clean it up and put it on the internet. Well, that's two things.

Moreover it got me thinking about the choices that I've made in my life so far. I seriously do not know how or why, all I know is that it just did. A little bit of pondering helped me understand that throughout my life I've always wanted to be different from all my friends and peers. I have always been cautious of being stereotyped and maybe somehow it has always been the base of my choices. When all of my friends were wasting time in idle talk, I was bloggin', when they were busy focusing on academics I tried my hand at a dozen extra activities.

Maybe this desire to stand out and be different was the one which guided my career choice. My entire family is a family of engineers. All and I mean ALL of my cousins are engineers and I was the next lamb to be sacrificed. But I guess that inherent trait or quirk, whatever you might call me, urged me to resist. Maybe that is why I deviated from the path laid down so impeccably by my cousins. Maybe that is why I chose to stand out and become the first lawyer in over 5 generations in my family. I'm not a lawyer yet, there are five more years of grooming. In the heart of my mind, I believe that I made the right choice. Yes, the family was a bit unhappy initially, but hey - no sacrifice, no victory.
Cheers to life people. Have a good day! Oh and do comment on the photo!

Technorati Tags: nature,tree,photo,life,art

Look who's talking...

Should I be writing more? I always had this idea of starting a photolog but sadly could never get it to fruition. I guess there were many reasons behind it. First of all would be the lack of a decent digital camera(I bet you knew this was coming)! Well there is one camera that I'd really love to buy. It's the Nikon D90. But I will really have to wait till I can buy that camera... *nudge nudge**financial problems* But luckily I do have a Nokia 6233 which has a tolerable camera. I've taken tons of pics and collected the most interesting ones. And so I finally decided to start a photolog which features pictures taken from my cameraphone!! As usual I put my clicked pictures through the Lightroom and Photoshop combination and try to get it to look as good as it possibly can. I guess if I've said so much I might as well prattle a bit about my self.


Interests - Photoshop, Photography, Tech, Movies, Music, Video Games, Books(yeah I love reading books, not textbooks though!), Law(I'm in law school right now), Blogging(its an on again and off again thing)


Secret Childhood Dream - To become a superhero having the powers of Superman and Spiderman!   My Real Name - Sourabh Rath


Favourite Things in the world - Chocolate, Pizza, Friends, Warcraft 3, Photoshop, Colours, My Laptop and Bittorrent.

You can also find me on Twitter, Facebook, Deviant Art, last.fm and Flickr.

I've experimented with competitive gaming, singing, painting and have come close to participating in moot courts on two occasions.[:P] I've also experimented with speed walking and have a bit of credible firing practice. I used to be viciously sarcastic in everything I said but nowadays I've managed to get a hold on it. I'm a fanatic for some things , a la chocolate, a complete nihilist for some other things and totally indifferent towards some more things...

This notice was observed in a mall, I just had to take this picture. It was like some invisible, irresistible force compelled me to do this. Please don't prosecute me!!!

Right now I'm studying Law. I'm in my first year and am having fun so far. Have some really amazing friends and life couldn't be any better... Damn, I lied again! All right, my life could be waaaay better. But lets not get into that right now. Have a brother who's three years younger to me and two caring and loving parents, who sometimes care so much that it irritates me to no end.

Technorati Tags: photos,mall,nokia,about+me

Pony Parking

I was wandering on the streets of Patiala when I came across this rather interesting sight. A couple of stray , yes STRAY, horses were grazing right next a couple of cars in front of a hotel. The irony of the situation has not escaped me till this day. I guess its only in India where you will find stray horses and cows. But finding stray horses is quite common in Patiala. That was quite a horsey day for me as well. Oh well!

Technorati Tags: animals,photography,photos,india,patiala,street