Port, Hole, Whole Boat Peephole, British Virgin Islands

Port, Hole, Whole Boat Peephole, Virgin Islands.
Sounds So Sinful For So Heavenly A Place



The Baths at Virgin Gorda, in the Virgin Islands, are just an out of the world experience to visit and see.

Getting from the top of the hill to the rock formations, with convoluted steep climbs down through jutting rocks with rising water, narrow paths and scary little landings, enhance the thrill. You walk on planks to where pirates of yesteryear probably walked the plank. But now the scene is serene, and of peace and security.

The sky and sea look satin smooth while the rocks are textured and the light plays games to show rocky shades of olive and mocha on the sides.

You fall in love with it, especially when you see this view, like a port hole of the planet, a peep hole onto a world of boating, yachting, fun and frolic.

Being able to frame the whole catamaran in this triangular opening on what must be volcanic rocks spewed out of earth millennia ago, even with an old pocket Nikon Coolpix S6, was a fun and the picture came out very nice.

A must see place.

© 2008-2010 IMRAN
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Why? Why Now? Why Me? But, Still So Blessed

You all know how positive a person I am. But it is becoming so difficult every day.

Everything of any significance that I NEEDED to happen or fall into place correctly this week, singly or in total, went wrong or led into brick walls. Non-stop. But, I continued to laugh it off, and continued to plug away as I have for the last nearly 2 nightmare years.

But, it just does not stop. The surreally bad week ended just now with my lifeline iPhone 3GS falling out of my pocket (when the earphone cable snagged a chair & yanked it out), falling face down, on tiled floor and being smashed to pieces :-( .

This was just unbelievable bad luck and bad timing because it is the only phone and net connection I had. And, due to the real difficult time in my life, I can't afford to replace it right now.

"Why? Why now? Why me?" were the words of the song "Suzanna, I'm Crazy Loving You" that came to my mind (and the expression on my face, I am sure).

But, as I was walking home from where it happened, devastated at the new challenges that poses, the way things are rapidly crashing, and as all I built over 21 years vanishes before my eyes, the feeling of despair for the unnecessary and unfair loss, I considered how blessed I am.

I am so blessed --- in the dream life I have had, still have now with being alive, healthy & able, and the amazing life that lies ahead, once these worst days are over. God willing. So, Thank You, God, for all the blessings.

Your prayers in these toughest days of my life are appreciated.

400 Sunsets Fly By. Farewell, Father

Four Hundred Sunsets Fly By. Farewell, Father - IMRAN™, originally uploaded by ImranAnwar.

Time eternally flows on and on.
Taking with it beloved people,
Favorite places, precious lives.
Leaving in its turbulent wake,
Memories, smiles, seas of tears.
Savor and never ever forget,
Love, smiles, time, joy we get,
Before they fly forever, forever.

How fast 400 days went since I lost you, my beloved father. Yet, each felt like a century of sorrow. A lifetime of smiles and blessings you gave.

Now you and Ami have flown together, to heaven, forever. As tears roll down my face, I promise, I will not forget and will pray and love you both to my dying day, Abu.

Farewell, Father.

No processing was done to this image's colors. See bird more clearly slightly larger

18 Years Of A Million Tears. Mother's Memory 2/2

18 Years Of A Million Tears. Mother's Memory 2/2 - IMRAN™, uploaded by ImranAnwar.

2/2. The saddest day of my life, 18 years and a million tears ago.

I flew out of JFK the night of February 1, 1992, headed to Pakistan - where it was already 2/2/1992. I was going to see my beloved parents in Lahore. But, I was en route via Karachi. My Mom had insisted I stop there to condole the death of a relative and a friend's father there, the previous week.

The powerful PIA Boeing 747 jet engines hurtled me over the North Atlantic, erasing 600 miles per hour between my mother and me. But, there was an invisible infinite eternal distance of space and time growing silently, a cosmic chasm that no known power in the universe could shorten.

As the plane was flying towards Europe, life was flying away. As the aircraft was coming in for a landing, unknown to me, my mother's soul was taking off into the heavens beyond this world.

Landing in Karachi, I was smiling and happy, when I disembarked, clueless about what tragedy had struck me but I was unaware of. I went to the airline counter to check the status of my connecting flight to Lahore that was supposed to be for a few days later.

I was flirting with the young lady checking my reservation, asking for a nice window seat. She looked at me in a puzzled manner that I did not understand then. As she quietly typed on the keyboard my curious eye made me read a telex message on her desk, facing her.

As I read the upside down text, my breath left me, my heart stopped. I felt the hand of death clutch my heart...

"Please give priority seating...
Passenger Imran Anwar needs to be on next flight....
Has to attend Mother's funeral."

That is how I found out that my mother had died, just over 50 years old.

Instead of seeing my Mom to open the bags of gifts I was carrying for her and everyone, I would barely get home in time to carry her body for burial. Instead of her pinching my cheeks as she loved to do, all I got to do was touch her cheek one final time, as I fell on my knees next to her. She seemed just to have fallen asleep.

18 years later today, to the day, not a day goes by when I do not shed a tear for my beloved mother. Tears roll down my cheeks as I write these words, and every time I relive that moment.

Ami, I will love you forever, even after I die.


© IMRAN
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Parasurfers Line Up Against Miami Sky(line)

Parasurfers Line Up Against Miami Sky(line) - IMRAN™, originally uploaded by ImranAnwar.

Matheson Hammock is a lovely park in the swank Coral Gables neighborhood of Miami, Florida. It is also a marina where I kept my yacht for about 2 years. On the other side of the marina, parasurfers' lines can fill the sky against the backdrop of the downtown Miami skyline with shades of blue that change hour by hour, day by day. Taken with a pocket Nikon S6.

Check out this interesting alignment of chutes.

© 2010 IMRAN
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loc: 25.68012,-80.256715

Flying By, Days Of Our Lives, Melting Into Sunsets

Flying By, Days Of Our Lives, Melting Into Sunsets - IMRAN™, originally uploaded by ImranAnwar.

This photo I took reminded me of this most moving picture I captured one year ago - when too I caught 2 birds flying away past a sunset, soon after I lost my beloved father.

You will appreciate that image, and sentiment, a lot when you click the link above to view it, especially if you cherish your parents.

This one was a reminder of how we fly by the moments that make up our lives and how the days of our lives melt into sunsets of yesterdays that, moments ago, were our todays. Dad is now gone over one year, Mom coming up on 18 years (b. 12/25/1942, d. 2/2/1992). Too soon. Too soon. Also check this stunning image of 2 birds in front of the sun.

Make the best of the time you have, as I too resolve to do so.

© 2010 IMRAN™
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Cruising Off Into The Sunset

Cruising Off Into The Sunset - IMRAN™, originally uploaded by ImranAnwar.

The lovely lines of a moatorboating cruiser sailing into the sunset, towards the falling red sun at Biscayne Bay, Miami, Florida.

The camera caught the red reflections on the water beautifully, making the waves look like a beverage of beautiful nature the soul can get drunk on.

Shot with a Nikon S1 pocket camera from my Sea Ray Sundancer 360 traveling South East towads the marina in Coral Gables.

© 2010 IMRAN™
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Like Godly GoldenEye, Red Yellow Molten Sun, Melt From Red Black Sky, Into Black Sea It Run

Like Godly GoldenEye, Red Yellow Molten Sun, Melt From Red Black Sky, Into Black Sea It Run - IMRAN™, originally uploaded by ImranAnwar.

Like Godly GoldenEye,
Red Yellow Molten Sun,
Melt From Red Black Sky,
Into Black Sea It Run


You will fall in love with this amazing image.

Playing with over and under-exposure as well as metering of the scene while trying to minimize my exposure to the cold wind at my beach, I was able to capture this moody shot.

It was taken with the Nikon D300 with NO editing or color changes or processing in Photoshop, except adding a frame and making it square as I do not do too many square photo uploads.

Words & Photos
© 2010 IMRAN™
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