shashank uchil

Another year done and dusted. Here is a glimpse into what happened last year.
January

new year 2009 was celebrated at Alex and Kaki’s place.

satish was over for christmas, i took him to Frognerseteren

party at Ville and Riikka’s place where i tried the hoola-hoop for the very first time

got my book on Japan from Blurb
February

dinner at Guillaume and Claire’s place

went to the Black Comedy concert at the Inferno festival

had the Funcom christmas party at the Grand Hotel in Oslo, Abel took this one

ellen came over to talk and seeing villa do this she walked away

on my way back to work from a coffee break

went cross country skiing
March

had a party at my place

had a Grandiosa for the very first and most definitely the very last time
April

at one of the many ICA breaks at work where we USED to buy coke, ice cream, candy…you get the drift…some sugar

went for a walk around oslo

went to a flea market where i bought some nice russian shot glasses

shopped at this shop which has a lot of fancy stuff
May

was invited to some Internet free speech thingy…

got my book on Barcelona from Blurb

i saw this van couple of time to-fro work and finally one day found it parked outside work

Alex and Kaki got married and I was privileged to be the wedding photographer

the wedding was at VästerÃ¥s, which was my first trip to Sweden…over the course of the year i would goto Sweden two more time

went to Sognsvann with Riikka

and Villa…we got nearly lost because we took a left when the person meant HER LEFT…
June

we went to the beach…i learnt that wearing jeans to a beach is a mad bad thing to do

the view was fantastic

went to Ulf’s palce for dinner

torstein visted us from Bergen…in a few months i would visit torstein

had a barbecue at jussie’s place…Finnish mid-summers thingy

went to Maja’s moms summer cabin…which was the most cozy thing

went to a crowded beach which was not supposed to be crowded
July

i went to India for summer holidays…only problem being summer in europe = monsoon in india

someone very close to me got ill

my mom makes better food than your mom…

went to gorai beach

olve visited us for a week…by then end of the week he was very weak

i took him to curchgate

to national park

and to chowpatty

metup with friends

suri has been a friend of mine since 9th grade…thats 15 years, i must have been a superhero in my previous life to have a friend like him
August

dinner at Guillaume and Claire’s place

Riikkas birthday

went to Stockholm with Alex and Kaki

it is quite a nice city

very inspiring
September

did a road trip to Kristiansand

i saw some animals

passed through the most beautiful towns

attended sketchcrawl

i would be visiting villa in a few months in Helsinki

Did the yearly Oslo tradition of walking down Akerselva with frinds…the most healthy thing done in ages

the lighting was really good
October

went to Bergen to meet Torstein

and his family

the city was beautiful even with all the rain

formage party at Guillaume and Claire’s place

it was my birthday and i took these frames

of the couples

who came to the party

olve had his birthday few days later

got a haircut…my hairdresser has quit…and i dearly miss her
November

i read lots of books last year…most of them were by Rohinton Mistery

struggled with inspiration

helped Guillaume and Claire to pack…no more dinners…makes me sad

did a road trip to sweden with Alex and Kaki

got this frame which i love
December

nice lighting at the Funcom Christmas party, this time at Fugazi in Oslo

helped Ville and Riikka pack…no more craziness…no more delicious pizza…gah

i bought this painting by Riikka

went to Helsinki to help Villa and Riikka unpack

and celebrate New Years

it was very nice

the plane was delayed by an hour due to excess snow in Helsinki…very encouraging indeed. Luckily I had a malaysian/finnish lady for company

shopping for Taco’s

ville and riikka moved into a new apartment…the ceiling looks like this

as they had moved in just two days back there was a lot of stuff to be unpacked before the new years party

while ville fixed the ikea stuff

and riikka made tacos

i went around taking some brilliant photos…like this one

time for the delicious tacos

they have the most original view from their apartment


as the photo suggests…the new years celebrations had begun

despite trying all night to remember names…i failed

his name has something to do with suitcase

eevi recommends The National, Vampire Weekend, Iron and Wine




olli makes the best finnish swedish accent

the day after…

for reasons unknown…ville and i went for walk outside

bad idea as i froze my face

luckily there was a sauna in the apartment to warm up in


the next day we went to the museum of modern art, Kiasma

which looks like this on the inside

“Greetiinigs from Bunjabi XOXO Mr.Bombay”


the Parliament building as seen from the art gallery…
Helsinki has much more breathing space than both Oslo and Stockholm…this is a good shot of what i mean by breathing space




The church of doom had projections on it…we were lucky enough to watch the show before it ended

see the projector to the right…

down the escalator to the tube



6 am and the bottle of Sandeman

the next day…view from the Cultural history museum



more breathing space

crazy finns trying to be happy finns

on the way home…we find this

good to be in…as it was freezing outside

next day…need to print this one

waiting for the plane….

Having seen Helsinki during summer and winter i can say without doubt that its one of the more beautiful cities i have been to. Add to that the crazy finns and you have more than enough reason to go back…which i will for sure.