mostly photos.. and hardly frequent..

Blackpool trip

2007-05-20T13:15:00.000-07:00

This one was for the Bank holiday weekend in the first weekend of 2007. Plan was to visit Blackpool, a la Atlantic City if not LV of UK. One of the places where you find a lot of theme parks and casinos to spend your money on. This was to be followed by beautiful Snowdonia Mountain ranges in Wales.

05 May, 2007

This was supposed to be one of the busiest weekends and all motorways going out of London were supposed to have been flooded with over 5 million vehicles moving out of London. THe forecast had started close to a week ahead of time. Still we took chance to start at 10am from home. Luckily, the forecast was very similar to the weather forecast, we get sometimes in India. Though there were a lot of vehicles on road, there was no hurry and we arrived at Blackpool at 3pm in the evening.

Hot Ice This one took us high up at a very high speed and drop you suddenly, so much that you just lose touch of your seat. It was OK, but Wonderla was better on a similar ride.

Pepsi - big one This is supposed to be the steepest fall in Europe's rides. Couple of my nerves between the neck and upper back got intertwined I think. But it was worth it. Amaayyyzziiiinnnnggg ride and couple of photos on the ride.

InFusion This was the best I enjoyed the most. The seat doesn't have a leg rest and it turns you up and down quite a few times. This was

IRN-BRU - This was a plain straight ride with one full swing, goes in one direction and come back in reverse.

Space invasion 2 Lesser I say about this, the better. We waited for 45 mins for this ride and turned out to be a damp squib.

Valhalla This was a simulation of some dark tunnels and dungeons with bhoots and some dark, wet coal mines.. the boat goes around these things and fire at some places and ice in some. Kinda nice.. and different.

There was this mystery place, which had a lot of things like the crystal ball and funny mirrors. It had a room, where we sat on a jhoola and it started rotating round and round on its axis. It was actually the room which was turning around this jhoola, but it did give us an illusion as if our jhoola was rotating. whoa!!!

Airplane Simple and good way to end the rides. This reminded me of the roller costers we had in our melas and habbas.

We went to Liverpool to sleep.

scotland trip - day 3

2007-04-20T05:40:00.002-07:00

08-apr-2007

We knew this was going to be a long day since we wanted to reach London this day itself and we were close to 500 miles away from London. So we started early, went north towards Stirling to see the castle. This was some sort of an excavation from which they got the castle out, so many of the things in the castle are still unpolished and some of the things are unexplained. There were dungeons showing the brutality which could have taken place there, not without a proof, like the bones which were found during the excavation.
Not too impressed, we exercised the cameras a bit and headed towards the main attraction of the day, the Edinburgh castle. Another beautiful drive, and we were there.

This was worth the price with the nice museums about the kings, queens and soldiers. The cathedral and the canons were there as usual and the museum had the jewel-studded crown and the swords which was used by the king of Scotland.

Narrow streets of Edinburgh..

It was close to 3:30 and we were all hungry. Luckily we found an Indian restaurant there, which was opened there in 1947. After hogging for a good couple of hours, we started driving towards London. I tend to compare US and UK and for once, I had to raise UK's hand when it came to motorways. They were better than GSP or 270 in NJ, more smoother and well maintained. For the first time in my life, I hit 120mph.

Thought Picasso would fail me, but it didn't. It was a pleasure, very similar to the roller-coaster rides that we were used to in childhood. The best part and the one good thing we did was to enter into London in the middle of the night. The roads were empty and we could reach the destination without having to go through the traffic.

End of another memorable trip..

scotland trip - day 2

2007-04-20T05:40:00.001-07:00

Day 2, 07-apr-2007

After having a continental breakfast in a mini castle- mini museum like house, we went to Historic Quay (read the second word like key). It was supposed to have been used in one of the wars Brits fought. I forgot the war though. I'm bad in memory as well as history.. :P..

There was one more beach we found, a dirty one this time. There were a few fishermen taking a break on their weekend, lazing in the sun with thier dog singing and playing guitar. It was a view worth watching. These westerners enjoy their life to full. It would look good as a sepia. :)

We were to head towards Edinborough, which was again quite a drive away. So there was no stopping for lunch. But JRA had sandwich plans and Subway was inside the car. Yummmyyyyyyyyy... What more could one ask for? Burp Burp.. This drive did not have any motorways and it was all either a short term dual carriage one or a two way lanes, which meant we couldn't hit the best of speeds. But we did enjoy the drive with beautiful country sides with small yellow flowers at places in the field.

Forgot to mention the RJing which KLP and JKM did. JKM bought a FM transmitter and that served as a good entertainment tool. We could enjoy over 12GB of MP3 in his iPod without having a MP3 player in the car. It was a mix of classics, Tamil/kannada dummutaKa and some English Dhinchak Dhikchik. Boleto fultu timepass kya?

On the way to Edinburgh, we saw Bamburgh castle. It was a nice one just next to the sea. View was good, breeze was cool and beach was clean. I did like this castle since they had preserved most of the artifacts which the king used to use. The road which lead to this place was also very country like and it was just like going to one of your relative's place who stay in a village. Tried to stitch the view from this castle. Try clicking and you may find a bigger than usual photo.

Before that, these castles are nothing but huge houses the kings built for themselves. Sometimes palatial and sometimes ordinary. If we preserve some of the old homes in our villages, with a huge hebbagilu, chaavaDi, aDuge mane and bachhalu outside the house with a baavi, even we can start a castle business in India. Since they are deep in the jungles or villages, we can make a good road leading there and charge 50-60Rs. What say?

Some photos again and we were on our way to Holy Island. This is supposed to be the place where Christianity came to UK from eastern Europe. The speciality of this place is that this becomes an island only after 4-4:40pm everyday. This is a naturally created island and the road was just built so people could get there. We stayed there from about 3:45pm to 5pm and we could see the entire road get submerged under water. It was a sight to watch, something which I would have missed, had I taken an organised tour or a standard Scotland package.

Next was Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. First thing that struck me was 'This is better than London'.. :D.. My personal opinion. No offence meant. But the city layout and architecture resembles in many ways NYC, which still remains a hot favorite of mine.

We then walked to a place called hollyrood, which is a hill and more of a trekking place. It was quite dark and the hike was not lit as well. So we planned to get back after covering half way. We did get some nice pics of Edinburgh.

And this is Edinburgh castle at night. More about it a bit later.

Our destination was a BnB in Falkirk, the historic place where the Brits were beaten by the Scots (or the other way round.. ;D..). This was JKM's contribution.

scotland trip - day 1

2007-04-20T05:39:00.000-07:00

4 days of easter weekend combined with Bank holidays gave us enough reasons to plan for a longer trip. JS was flying down from US and LP, JKM also joined. Scotland it was to be.. We got a red Citroen Picasso this time. Not too impressed with it. Though the power was good at times, I felt it was too light for its size. Here's the crew and the ship.

06-apr-2007, Friday

We started by 10am and headed towards Cambridge. It was a nice drive,, though a bit crowded on M25. Reached there by around 11am and started walking around the city. We found King's college very attractive with its Victorian architecture and majestic stature. The lawns and park gave some nice photographs too.

We did cross the river which has given the city its name.. the Cam river. The entire university is interspersed with the city such that you never know whether you are in the city or in the university.

Some narrow gullies reminded me of Udupi and India in general. Since it was a holiday we were not allowed into any of these buildings. But the city itself was beautiful enough for a good timepass.

We headed out and had a nice lunch by the roadside. Thanks to JRA for the delicious Puliyogare and Chitranna.

Our next destination was Redcar, which was quite a drive away and we planned to see the North easter coast of England, which was supposedly one of the most beautiful drives one could have.

This was proved right by Scarborough and its neighbours, all the way till Redcar. The roads were very close to the coast and the curvy roads made for a fun drive. We shouted like kids in a roller coaster ride when we hit a downhill.

On the way to Scarborough we had to go through Tyne Tunnel, which was an underwater tunnel under the river Tyne. This was one of the longest tunnels I've seen. Couldn't enjoy a high speed in the tunnel due to traffic.

We reached Scarborough at around 7 in the evening and hit directly to the beach.

Roamed around on the beach for sometime and headed towards Redcar where our acco had been arranged. We crashed after a long tiring day of fun. Here's a pic of our Redcar. ;).. hahaha..

Picasso was giving some problems. It would automatically slide to the left of the lane. Not a good sign if we are to hit 120mph on the motorways. Anyways. There was no looking back now.

Bristol Bath and Cardiff trip..

2007-04-14T12:57:00.000-07:00

After a 5 month long work-work-work schedule, I set out for a trip, thanks to JA and AP. We were to drive since taking a train was a less exciting. It was the first time in UK for me. Though driving in India and US is not different, first time is always first time and my fears were reinstated by 3-4 honks I got as soon as I decorated the UK roads. I recovered soon. :).

Since its a travelogue and I love the cars, here's a mention of our other companion. Peugeot 307. A small car by size but no small from the response it gave. It was spacious and is kinda similar to apna Santro and Getz. I could reach 90 without any rumblings of the engine. But could not go beyond that.

Getting out of London was the toughest part and I couldn't read maps while driving. AP guided us, but after some discovery (read roaming around), we found ourselves out of London and on M25. M stands for motorway which is supposed to be the 3 lane expressway. This was at places reminding of namm Hosur Roadu. Got stuck at a point for 15-30 mins. Lets get to the interesting part now.

Day 1: Stonehenge, Bath

Our first destination was stonehenge, the world famous Windows wall paper, which shows some 4-5 stones standing in a circle and couple of them lying on top of the others. Here it is.

Nothing great about these stones. They are neither natural nor a miracle of nature. They are just famous because hype and Windows has made them so. It was cold and windy there. But bright. We finished the rituals of photos and food there and started towards Bath. The drive was amazing with beautiful country side on a bright day with speedometer reading close to 90mph.

Bath has a bit of history and was supposed to be the fashion capital of UK at some point of time. It has a lot of Roman baths and quite a bit of history.

We reached Bath at around 4:30pm. We were late to do any sightseeing that day. Trying to find a good accommodation (we hadn't booked for any accommodation anywhere), we roamed around the city a bit. Bath is very similar to namma Madikeri when it comes to narrow winding roads and tiled roofs and cold weather and rich people. We lost our way and to take a U turn, we jumped into a golf course. A good samaritan there, guided us back into the city and showed us where to find a good BnB. If you happen to go there like us, make sure you find your way to Charlotte Street. You'll find many of them on that road and people are courteous enough to welcome you even without any reservations.

Day 2: Bath, Bristol

Next morning, we set out to discover Bath. Since everything is in a walking distance, we just roamed around and hit Roman Bath first. It was a historic one and had lots of types of baths to cater to all seasons of the year and all age groups. There was a bit of engineering involved with different baths for various seasons and age groups. There were rooms built to get the body close to the hot water temperature. I hope the fumes are visible in the picture shown belolw.

Here's one more showing the place from where the hot water enters the bath.

Then we visited the Bath Abbey, a cathedral and a majestic architectural beauty.The very symmetry was baffling. The glass paintings, though didn't make much sense to me, gave a classy look to the interiors.

As I mentioned earlier, Bath was once a fashion capital of England and it would be incomplete without a costume museum. It had the costumes of all periods from 1900's to 2000's. The portion under repairs also had some Roman and greek costumes. But it remained Greek and Roman to our eyes since we could not see it.. :P..

Bath is also the place where the famous author Jane Austen worked. There was a Jane Austen Museum which showcased her life and works.

'Circus' sounded like a circus, but is actually a roundabout with a buildings built around it. It had a huge tree in the middle.

Post lunch we drove towards Bristol. Our destination there was Zoo and the clifton bridge. It was a short drive and we reached quickly and got into the zoo. Zoo was well maintained with glass enclosures for the inmates. It keeps it clean and prevented visitors from disturbing the inmates. The variety of animals was not too great. There was a lion, gorilla, lots of insects, lizards, penguins and birds and lots more.

Clifton bridge is a suspension bridge at a very high altitude, could be around 200m above ground. The cliff gave a nice view of the city.

We spent sometime at the top of the hill and took a short walk there. We wanted to see the city centre in Bristol so went to the millenium centre.

Took a walk about the city and then started towards Cardiff, which is in Wales. This was about 45 mins drive. Reached Cardiff by around 8pm and after some roaming around, found a street which had lots of hotels. We got into a hotel whose owner was just about to turn off the calling bell when we went and was planning not to take any guests for the weekend, since he had a busy week and was expecting a busy week ahead. Phew… Can we find this mentality in India?

Day 3: Cardiff

Cardiff is famous for its castle. There is a guided tour of the castle and a small protected piece of fort in front of it. Guided tour was nice and it gave a clear picture of the lavishness with which the Bute family built the castle. They went to a trip to gulf (read it the arabian countries. It’s the Mangalore slang to call it gulf. No. Its not Mallu. Mallu is ghelffu.. ;).. No offence meant.) and designed a room with architecture of gulf, with walls and ceiling with gold. Guide was good with usual sense of humor.

The protected fort I was talking about is just in the front yard of this castle. Apparently, it was built by some Romans. It was the usual architecure where this fort is surrounded by water body and I expect there would have been some crocodiles in them in those days. It had about 50 steps to climb and there was a quadrangle and a room on it. There was also a well, small one very similar to the ones we would find in India.

Our next destination was Mermaid Quay (pronounced as Mermaid key) which is nothing but the Bay area. It has been developed into an area with art and science museums, some old building, some new buildings and a few art centres. We spent some time in the Bay area, went into the art centre. A band was playing nice foot tapping music with lots of saxophones and similar instruments. To end it, we just grabbed a cup of large Starbucks coffee and started driving back to London.

One contrast I find between India and here is that people or the govt. here creates something with nothing (by nothing I mean no substance or a USP behind it) in it and hypes it (with all the free audio tour) and people like us visit it paying anywhere between 5-10£. India has many such places like Hampi, Badami which has a lot of history, are arhitectural and scientific wonders. But they are left there to rot like a drunkards hangout or a haunted place. And the worst part is though we know they are wonders, we don’t visit them.

Woman.. part 3

2007-02-06T13:00:00.000-08:00

Can't resist but expressing a touchy topic. Its touchy because I've taken the beating many a times whenever I've started this. The italics in the previous sentence is because everytime its been the case that I get the beating before I finish my sentence. Its such a topic which makes women defensive and offensive at the same time. Judgement is out before even taking me through trials. If there is a jury, its worse.. :D. But since its my blog, I shall exercise full freedom. Afterall, thats what I'm writing about here. Beatings welcome only online.. :). End of crap. Story starts.

Asked many women a simple question, 'why do some women wear revealing cloths even when it is damn cold?'.. the only answer I got was 'Let them wear anything they want. Why are you bothered?'. Though my question remains unanswered (and I'm not too keen on getting an answer either.. :P), what makes me wonder is how can the answers from 6-7 different women - different in terms of generation, background, upbringing and enviornment - be the same? Either they follow some sort of religion to support a woman no matter what, or they are just absolutely right.

I'm not blaming. I believe freedom is something everyone loves. So it is not specific to a woman or a man. Even a child hates it when someone tries to disturb him or her when he/she is involved in something interesting. It is not new either. I'm reading 'The story of my experiments with truth'. Even Kasturba was like that even at the age of 13. When Bapu used to boss around trying to restrict her to the confines of home, she would revolt and go about wherever she liked. The point is not about exercising freedom. Its about the attitude one throws while one senses that she is being taken for granted or that she is losing that 'personal space'. For her, this is one of those things which money can't buy, which a woman treasures more than anything else.

Of west and the concept of vegetarianism..

2007-01-30T12:12:00.000-08:00

After spending 26 years in India, one has a picture of vegetarianism. The picture looks something like

Not bringing in meat into the house, let alone kitchen

Meat includes anything starting from fish, chicken all the way upto beef and pork

If it is a hotel, it means keeping the kitchens and/or dishes separate
Separation in terms of eating places. Sitting away from the places where meat is being consumed. I must say this statement is outdated.

Then I went to US for a short visit. :). Here's the story.

My roomie had clearly told that 'cheese burger' (though the name has no part of non-vegetarian item) will have 'beef' in between the harmless looking bread pieces; when ordering food in McDonalds or burger king, make sure you tell 'no meat', 'no fish', 'no chicken', 'no egg' and 'no mushroom' (the last 2 are my own preferences.. no arguments whether they are non-veg or veg).

Inspite of these, on my first visit to McDonalds, I repeated the above sentence without fault and in one breath. I could find the lady behind the counter make a face (as if saying 'which galaxy are you from?') and say 'You dont even eat chicken?' .. phew..

And in my office cafeteria, I asked for a veggie burger. The guy (without changing the gloves which served non-veg before me) just brought a chicken burger and replaced the chicken part with lettuce and handed it over to me. I didn't have a choice but to pay him and throw the burger.

Later on, my US manager mentioned that the concept of vegetarianism was nothing but not eating meat. This was by choice and not by religion. By default, they are non-vegetarians and hence preparation doesn't matter to them (They eat only bread anyways.. :P..). Only the followers of Buddhism were supposed to follow such strict practices of food preparation.

Forward 3 years.. around the same time, but slightly easter than US, in UK this time. I went to Subway to have a sub to satiate the paapi peth. The lady in front of me took a sub with Tuna and some onions. Next was me.

Her - :) Hello.. what're you having?
Me - :) A veggie delite.
Her - :) 6 inch or a foot?
Me - :) 6 inch
Her - :) Which bread?
Me - :) Italian

At this point, I was planning to break the turns and ask 'can you please change the gloves please?'. But she didn't give me a chance.

Her - :) You want me to change the gloves?
Me - Yes please... :D..
Her: :)

Looks like either the world is accepting the Indian concept of vegetarianism or it could just be a quality process which is doing the trick. Whatever it is, does help the old fashioned vegetarian.

Closing credits: Picture courtesy: Vinodhini.

Murphy's laws and..

2007-01-17T12:50:00.000-08:00

my experiences..

It rains the day I wash my vehicle. It always does.
Your subordinate falls sick when he is needed most.
- corollary: When you feel you'll fall sick, you know there will be lot of work.
When the bladder is about to burst, closest one has 'cleaning in progress' blocker.
When everyone praises you for something, you'll prove them wrong soon.
When things go as planned for the most awaited event, a stupid reason postpones it.
You sleep more and better, if you think you want to jog in the morning.

But the list seems endless. Its the same old feel.

Disclaimer and closing credits: GR triggered this blog.

times of India

2007-01-06T01:41:00.000-08:00

I feel my generation.. those born in the 70's have had to witness the maximum change in India, more than any other generation. (My father agrees. Not sure about his father though.. ;D..) . There have been so many changes over a period of 10 years that sometimes I find it hard to figure out which side of India I am in.. the one about 10 years ago or the one which just passed around 3 years ago or the one which is there right now. But the rules of open mind give some solace by just accepting changes as they are and me being what I am at that moment.

What changes am I talking about?

Lifestyle?

The overall lifestyle of people has changed. Blame it on mobile revolution, cable TV and boom of consumerism, we are far better than where we were 10 years ago. The pace which took my parents to get to a level of comfort in life took exponentially less time for me to reach there and beyond. For my juniors, much much lesser. Its not about money, but the mindset.

Mindset?

Comes in easy money, comes with it the liberation of thoughts. Blame it on IT/BPO revolution and American influence on philosophy, thoughts and urge for expression of those thoughts. From single track (which seems mostly due to around three and a half centuries of captivation), goal oriented restless one, Indian mind seems to have matured into a far more relaxed, looking-at-the-big-picture-of-life kind of a mind.. (phew.. :)..). Its not all about mind, but freedom.

Freedom?

The very picture of freedom has changed. Blame it on educated analytical mind, internet, and the haute couture of being different and individualistic opinionism (makes sense?). Freedom meant responsibility. It meant to be one-in-the-crowd. This crowd could mean a family, a community, a city or the country. An unwritten code of conduct was followed. Crowd meant more to the individual, than himself or herself. This has changed today. It means freedom to be yourself. It means voicing your opinion and not be obliged to be one-in-the-crowd. It means being assertive enough not to follow the crowd if that is not where one wants to go. Its not all about freedom, but started with family.

Family?

Joint families were common around 30 years ago. They still exist, but are exceptions than common. Blame it on population explosion, globalization and industrialization. The joint families broke into nuclear families. The next thing is what I call unclear families. Unclear yet? Its not all about family, but woman.

Woman?

Woman has changed. Blame it on financial freedom and woman's liberation. The family used to be woman centric with man earning the bread and the lady managing the home. This has changed with both man and the lady working both at home and outside. Then there is the next one, where there is no marriage(or a Gandharva Vivaha?), rather the commitment to relationship/family. Unclear family is just relative to the nuclear family as I described earlier.

Huh.. I've hit the end of tunnel for today. I don't find the need for a conclusion of this topic since this is just an observation and not meant to conclude anything. No judgments to be made nor a statement. On a weekend I would rather save those grey cells than burn them. mmm.. Did I succeed?

Norwich trip

2007-01-01T02:21:00.000-08:00

We started without any concrete plans. We just knew there was a dinosaur park and a famous shopping mall called Forum.

We landed in the train station and there was no information centre. We just started walking on the path we could see. We walked for about 5 mins, we could not see anything happening and thought we might have lost our way. We hopped into a petrol pump and asked for directions. Luckily we were on the right track. We had burger at Burger King (of late, this has been the only savior of we vegetarians in our trips) in Castle mall. Due to new years eve, there were deals all over the place.

We went to Forum mall and the first thing we saw was ice skating. All of us just jumped after some convinving of each other. I was especially skeptical after my first time this February. But this time it was better. I could move a bit. Three times, I felt I was getting the hang of it. I fell at all those instances.. :D. Next winter should be better. Thanks to Vijay for this picture.

We roamed around some more in the malls and got late for the Norwich castle. We just had a photo session outside it to mark our attendance.

We just managed to get back home and lie around till the midnight to wish ourselves a Happy new year.

Woman.. part 2

2006-12-27T13:29:00.000-08:00

When she trusts you, she will trust you more than you trust yourself. She can help you find and bring out those aspects of yourself, which even you didn't know. Amazing teacher at that. Has clear cut ideas about what is right and wrong. She can be smooth enough to let go of your bad side and when she gets tough, she can be so stubborn, you'll remember the Sankrit shloka 'vajraadapi kathoraani mrudooni kusumaadapi'.

Though she looks stubborn from outside, she will be very smooth from the inside and more often than not, series of bad experiences would have made her so skeptical that she tries to force herself to suppress her true innocent self.

Innocence, gut feel and emotional thinking (and most men try to separate thoughts and emotions. There are good and bad things about everything, but this one is totally one sided about woman.. so..) are her forte. No wonder they can be so close to the kids and kids love their company. God made them like that.

Same goes for the cases where the result of your ruthless, logical, well thought out plans can go bust under a simplest emotional thought from that woman you love, may be mother, daughter or friend. She would have learnt you like the back of her hand and can predict what you think and how you act, even though she hasn't faced that situation before with you. With simplest words, she would have touched the kid deep within you.. effortlessly.

London Trip

2006-12-25T14:09:00.000-08:00

Two months in the same place with weekends at home cleaning, lying and lazing around, I badly needed a break. Christmas break just got what I wanted.

We started from Ipswich to London at 7am. Due to Christmas season, there were no trains directly from Ipswich to London. So the rail company had arranged for buses to Colchester and from there, we were to take the train. Whatever the hassles, we landed in London Liverpool street station by 9am.

Our first destination was East Ham, the mini Asia in London. Two months since I had eaten idli and dosa. :).. And this was the destination to seek for to bring back to life, those idli-dosa sensitive taste buds. Tube took us to East Ham.

But before jumping on to the food, we wanted to visit the Mahalaxmi temple there. We paid a short visit to the temple. I was glad to see the shrine in front of the temple, similar to the ones you see in India. It was well air conditioned and sound proof so the mantras could not make it outside the walls.

After the temple, we just strolled on the streets of East Ham. It was a nice mix of shops ranging from India, Srilanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan. It was the morning and the front of some of the shops were cleaned with water and the smell of agarbathhis from the shops, for a moment, took me back to Bangalore's Gandhi Bajaar and Mangalore's car street.. :)..

After some asking around, we found the world famous Saravana Bhavan. Rest is history. Here is the proof.. ;D

After this, our destination was Canary Wharf. This is a business district cum shopping complex. Some of the beautiful architectural works of our modern times, including stones and glass was here for our cameras to devour. We just did some window shopping and then left for London Eye.

London Eye is nothing but a giant wheel, whose spokes end with a small glass compartment. When it rotates, one gets a beautiful glimpse of most of the city. It was a majestic view of the city with Thames dividing it. Here's how the London Eye looks like..

Here's how the eye looks like..

Here's how London looks from the eye..

Just before we got into the London Eye, we saw Big Ben, a clock tower and a nice looking historic building. More of it here.

Trafalgar square was next. This is a memorial of the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. Another architectural beauty with some typical European structures like the fountain and the statues with water jets oozing out of their mouth. Please excuse those connoisseurs of architecture for I write as I see it. The only bad thing that had happened in the entire day was to happen here, with me. The battery of my camera died. But as I had written earlier, this gave some rest to my otherwise restless mind.

Our next destination was Tower Bridge, the same bridge which makes an appearence in most of Hindi movies these days.. be it Salaam-e-ishq, bhaagam bhaag or K3G. It was 4pm when we went there and it was all dark. So we got a nice well lit view of this monument. This is the first time I found a exhibition hall on the spans of a bridge. Though I did not get into the hall, the very idea left me bewildered. As all the other places, we satisfied our cameras here.

After this, we headed back home, with tired bodies and refreshed minds. We thanked God for making it a lovely day. The previous two days were especially foggy and it had even snowed. We couldn't get a better day than this.

Some more pics of this place.

2006-12-25T05:01:00.000-08:00

Woman.. part 1

2006-12-22T14:56:00.000-08:00

Likes to be loved.. if loved, likes to be owned, but never.. (you know the significance of red letter words?.. :)..) possessed... and expects freedom while being captured in love.. if either the love or the freedom loses its balance, expect trouble... a very bad one at that...

Sometimes curious about past.. doing something to relive those past moments.. sometimes concerned about future.. doing something to ensure that dream can be lived in future.. sometimes completely in the present.. living every moment.. and taking everyone together..

Full of drive and energy.. wants to live and live well. Does every effort to improve the situation..

Smoothens the enviornment.. I mean if left to men, it will either be work, gizmos or some lifeless substance.. A woman usually starts talking something which has no context or reference or any subject... which adds a nice filler.. I'm not being sarcastic here.. trust me.. :).. just adds life to the whole atmosphere..

Can bring stability to life of people around or make it completely haywire..

Disclaimer: This is just a high level view of the author's 26 years experience of interactions with women. This is not to generalize or particularize the experiences to any particular person. Expect more in the coming days.

Some days are just bad..

2006-12-10T02:56:00.000-08:00

There's absolutely no control over them. Just have to bear them till the end. No other go.

One such just passed by..

Started with a rain while starting to office.

The office was just another bag worms with issues running like the animals in Jumanji as if I had broken a rule. Pressure, calls and more of them went on till the evening, hardly finding time for a few morsels. Spare the details since I've decided this blog will not be tooo big.

Thought it was all over. Had to take stock of personal issues. Some roadblocks there too. Little heartburns here and there and some halted endeavors. Nothing went well for 9-10 hours.

Came back home and was expecting some cheerful faces and enthusiasm. But the day is not just over yet. Postponed releases and release of people postponed indefinitely, was all I could hear.

Just went to sleep after going through all these. But the best thing to learn was that the days like these are once in a while to come. Not everyday is like this, where nothing goes well for anyone anywhere. If such days dont occur once in a while, we will never be able to cherish the good days.. End of the day, best thing to do is to let go of all good and bad feelings from the mind and sleep like a kid, knowing at the back of the mind that tomorrow will be better.

innocence revisited..

2006-12-01T12:03:00.000-08:00

Sometime back, I had written about innocence once or twice. But somehow I tend to get more and more of this to blog about.. Some definitions of innocence..

Trying without fear of failure...

Devoting your entire attention to something which needs attention..
however small or insignificant in the bigger picture..

Having an opinion.. planning for it.. and acting on the same..
no self doubts anywhere..

Living every moment of your life.. wherever you are.. and however the conditions..

Last but not the least.. having fun in everything you do..

England part 2

2006-11-25T12:47:00.000-08:00

I tend to compare India, US and UK. I think I should stop doing it. People are what they are due to what their history is and background is. They think in some way because they are conditioned to. Afterall, beauty (anything for that matter) lies in the eyes of the beholder..

This place is sleepy at times.. It isn't as clean as it looks. But the roads and pavements are done in a standard way across the city, which gives it a character of its own. One thing I liked about it is that the curb edges are not too sharp or high. This makes it easier for bigger cards to use some space of the pavement.

Traffic rules are followed strictly by everyone. Pedestrians get the first preference. There are small cars like Santro and Wagon R here. Right hand drive. Is it so much like India or does US wants to be just different from others?.. Oops.. I started again.. :)

Nights.. as good as anywhere else. Somehow, I'm not able to caste it as good or bad.. :).. This is what it is.. good at times and bad at times.. As I said before this is how I see it.. :D

Apne ko thank you bolne ka hai...

2006-11-17T13:29:00.000-08:00

I landed in London and in the airport finished my formalities with the medical officer and the immigration officer. Collected my baggage and started. Came to the guest house and was arranging my stuff, I find that my work permit - the document which authorizes you to work in UK, and which is the sole reason of me being here - is lost somewhere. :(..

I call up London Heathrow airport lost and found department, but no one lifts the phone for 15 mins.. :(..

I initiate the process for asking for a new workpermit. My employer was kind enough to start applying for the same without a second word.

But two days later, I get an email from my employer that my work permit has been found!!! .. whoa... sigh... yeah!!!

I get it after a few days and I find this cute little note in the package along with my work permit..

Truely, you are on your way to build a safe, just and tolerant society!!.. Thank you mamu.. :)

Steve Jobs - A school of thought towards life.

2006-11-05T03:28:00.000-08:00

Read this speech which Steve Jobs gave to the Stanford University graduates of 2005 on their graduation day. An inspiring one indeed. Whoever said businessmen should separate thoughts and emotions. This has been taken from http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html

'You've got to find what you love,' Jobs says

This is the text of the Commencement address by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, delivered on June 12, 2005.

I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories.

The first story is about connecting the dots.

I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?

It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.

And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.

It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:

Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.

None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, its likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.

Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

My second story is about love and loss.

I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.

I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.

I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.

I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.

My third story is about death.

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.

I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now.

This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope its the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.

Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Thank you all very much.

Audio of this speech can be found at:

http://www.wiredatom.com/jobs_stanford_speech/

England as I see..

2006-10-31T11:42:00.000-08:00

Some pictures of the suburban England..

Tiled roofs and old fashioned houses...

Houses seemingly deserted... but streets crowded with houses...

Srilanka on track

2006-10-29T04:38:00.000-08:00

As namma bengaLoorina antara rashtreetya vimAna nildANa (international airport) comes up, I had the opportunity to travel in Srilankan airlines recently. Found somethings of Srilankan airlines and the international airport at Colombo really impressive. Here are some of the things that caught my eye.

First the Airlines,

Good service.
Smiling crew - Both in the flight as well as at the baggage checkin area. Professional to the core. Full of courtesy and elan.
Young Crew (any resemblance to namma airlines is intentional.. :P..)
Stick to their culture. The females wear the traditional Lankan dresses. I think men should also follow suite. A decent white shirt with a Panche should not be too much to ask for. Even Indian carriers should follow it. Kingfisher for example.. errrrr... ;)
Though they seem to have second hand flights (the ones I used were strikingly similar to the Indian Airlines and the Air France flights), they've maintained it well.
Good vegetarian food from the subcontinent.. (I'm partial here. But doesn't harm anyone. West has only a 'special meals' concept.. :)..)
There was no chaos in boarding. Well planned and executed boarding. Usually, people are highly restless and create havoc.
Timeliness
At least the flights I used, stuck to the schedules to the T.
Baggage!!
Most important thing for any traveler. I was allowed to carry 30KGs as against the standard 20KGs.
I got the baggage undamaged, even after a change over at Colombo and this being a through checkin. Keep it up!

Now the Bandaranayake International airport at Colombo

International standards
Could hardly get a glimpse of the bays for parking. But whatever I saw, was very nicely laid out. But I guess its not as great as the CDG.
The floors are all granite and neatly kept. The feel is very much similar to the malls we find in Bangalore.
Long walkways to the terminals and large waiting rooms on both sides of it.
The walkways have escalator-like converyor belts at places to ease out the long walks with the baggage.
Good ergonomic seats all over.
Waiting rooms large enough to hold
Big terminal indicators with black background and yellow alphabets/numbers.
Plasma screens indicating the schedule of flights. Do we see the TV like programming in India? This is the next level of it.
This is highly accessible and there are wheel chairs all over.
TVs with international programming, like VH1 were being played. Not a big deal, but still.
Airport crew
There is an Airport crew, not just the Airline crew, for help. All females clad in red sarees and men in strict blue and white uniforms. All speaking English and more than proactive and courteous. Any 'where-am-I' kind of expression on your face will be greeted and prompted for help. Isn't that proactive?
Airport crew has these small 4 wheeler vehicles to move around in the airport. These are very silent and smooth vehicles. Way to
go!!

Overall a nice experience!! hmm. The penchant among the Lankans to uphold thier heritage and culture while adapting to the flat globalised world, was most conspicuous. Looking at all the developed countries, I think this pride among people is the one which creates a unique, respectable image in the world. A "must-have" characteristic for any developing country.. in my honest opinion.

Way to go Lanka!!.. Ayubowan!! (A greeting in Simhalese meaning 'may you live long')

scary story..

2006-10-27T15:30:00.000-07:00

I returned home at 9:30 pm on a Friday, after walking for 10 mins on deserted streets, trying to avoid the drunken kids (yes.. thats how they looked) and pub goers. I open the door and switch on the path way light. House is deserted too. Nobody is in yet. I'm the least workaholic in this house I guess.. :(..

I climb the stairs and open my room and find some food items. Hungry, I take it towards the kitchen in the ground floor.

Screech.. screech.. dab .. click.. I hear some sounds in the first floor.. I think 'OK may be the next door neighbor's house. With houses so closeby, what else to expect?'.. I continue with the heating up stuff.

I remembered that I had to get the spoon from my bag, so I climb the stairs again, open the room and push the door behind me.

Screech Screech dab click... the rest room door this time. I peep out of the half open door and I can see the light trying to squeeze out of the door. 'May be I didn't observe. Guys must have left it on. Let me turn it off when I go back'. I continue with searching for the spoon in the already messed up baggage. I found it ultimately!!! I put my hand to rescue the poor spoon..

Screech screech dab click... Quickly I leave the spoon in the bag, trun around and look out the door of my room. Rest room door is open and light is switched off.. :(... But all the doors in the floor are closed and no light peeping out of these closed doors too ... phew... which means there is someone in this house, other than me........................

Reminds me of Ram Gopal Varma's Bhoot...

Then I decide, let me wait till the ones I can see return. They do, and I ask them do they also hear sounds like I did. 'Yes' came the answer. It is an recluse old woman, who avoids interactions with other beings on this planet...

First ever ticket..

2006-10-16T04:16:00.000-07:00

No.. this is not a movie ticket... this was the ticket I got for violating parking restrictions in US.. :)..
What a sense of achievement..

to think or not to think?

2006-09-26T06:35:00.000-07:00

if we are unsure about what event will happen but are sure that one of a few probable events will happen, how useful or useless is thinking about the course of action for each of those probable events?

Innocence...

2006-09-21T05:24:00.000-07:00

Is Bapu alive still?

2006-09-20T21:19:00.000-07:00

Read this.. only time can tell if Bapu is still alive. :).. If this works, then we won't need Oscars.. :D

http://in.rediff.com/news/2006/sep/21sharat.htm

"Purchasing" food

2006-09-11T04:19:00.000-07:00

Had to do some introspection when someone said 'we've purchased dinner'.. and 'I'll have to buy my lunch'... since I felt very uncomfortable hearing that.

When I have to go to some commercial outlet for having my breakfast/lunch/dinner, I prefer to say 'I'll have a biscuit pack' or 'I want to have my food' or 'I had my food in the hotel' or 'I've taken parcel of food. I'll have it at home'. I explicitly try to avoid the words 'purchase' and 'buy', when it comes to talking about the food I'm going to eat.

Guess the root cause was my belief that food, water and air are so basic amenities for human existance, that money is just a means to meet the end and thus, by no means should assume greater importance than the end. And when someone tries to flaunt that they have money and treat the basic amenities like food as something lower than the money they have, I find it irritating and somehow dont relate to the person. In general, I tend to give a negative mark for someone who is trying to be living because of money. I feel they can only exist.

It has happened many a times that though someone has money, he or she could not make it get them the food, for various reasons, like, may be an ATM not working or a bharat bandh or a strike or a curfew or a busy day full of meetings. Hence as a Hindi saying rightly goes 'daane daane pe likha hai.. khanevale ka naam', usage of these commercial words seem to indicate that the person has somewhere down the line, forgotten than we are indebted to the nature (as neutralists call) or God (for the traditionally religious) or luck (for those atheists) for giving us these.

Rumblings of a sensitive mind? conservative thinking? or just plain old-fashioned?.. :D.. Thats me..

Tips for light weight web browsing

2006-09-03T06:50:00.000-07:00

A web browser renders web pages . The web server leaves a cookie in the local machine to get the info about the user next time he logs on. Some cookies are also harmful in the sense they tend to give out information. Some cookies can be used by multiple web servers. So beware!

Browser saves visited pages in the cache by default. Next time, when the user tries to access this page, browser by default, tries to look for this page in the cache and load the same. If there has been a change in the page, user has to press either CTRL+R or F5 to refresh the page. Sometimes even this doesn't work and he has to clear the cache using the tools menu and load the page again .

The site info is saved in the browser history , so that it helps the user find what he browsed for in the past. If a limit to the number of sites is set , browser history gets cleared by itself depending on how frequently you use it.

So the tip is to clear the cache and cookies everytime you close the browser . History can remain there since you will be prompted for it next time if you want to go there.

Offline comments?

2006-09-03T05:59:00.000-07:00

PK and MK got another one on board in the form of SJ to provide offline comments for my blog.. :(.. Let me tell u.. this was the first time I got offline comments, and that too when talking face to face. Given the shy person I am (see that halo and prabhavaLi?.. :D...), this was a mixture of ..(oops.. hourglass shows up... :(..) of.. (searching.. please wait..) ... of ( searching with a PDP-11 processor after a weekend full of OFFICIAL work.. ).. of........... (at laaaast...) 25% embarassment , 50% surprise (these guys read my posts too?..) and 25% (mmm.. can't explain and can't tax my PDP 11 any more.. :D..)...

SJ was full of appreciation for my creativity.. :D.. Aaaawww thaaeeex... :)..
MK was at his usual senitive best, with only an unoffending smile on his face..
PK made a BIG comment saying my blog will not be updated in future.. Here you are!!.. :D..

Personally I think offline and online lives should be separate. Former being a derivative of the latter. What say people?

Beautiful Karnataka - western ghats

2006-08-27T02:01:00.000-07:00

Some pics from my recent trip to MalenaDu (western ghat belts in Karnataka)...

View of a hamlet called HosangaDi from the ghats on a misty day in rainy season...

One of those streams in the ghats..

Power transmission lines near Jog.. passing over sprawling acres of paddy fields..

Stepped paddy fields. Stepping prevents soil erosion due to rain. Dont ask me the beauty it adds to the picture.

Lonely tree in the paddy fields..

A railway track that seems to lead to infinity....

jogad gundi.. :)

2006-08-27T01:21:00.000-07:00

Some pics from a trip to Jog in mid Aug.

Zoomed into Raja...

zoomed into Rani and Roarer.. Rocket got lost behind the thick mist..

How they all fit together.. To see how they looked a few days before I went, see this...

This was the inspection bungalow on the falls' side.

Linganmakki dam after being drained of some water.. To see the overflowing dam, visit here ... Thanks to GJ for putting this together.

Couldn't resist the temptation of fog greenery and dark brown rocks... warning: objects in this pic are far bigger than they appear to be.. :)

Happiness...

2006-08-08T00:26:00.000-07:00

Some more popular demand...

2006-07-28T07:23:00.000-07:00

An old Kannada saying goes... "Bekkannu kankuLalliTTukonda haage"... for those verbal thinkers..

Bekku - Cat

kankuLa - arm pit

iTTuko - keep

haage - like

So adding up... "Like keeping a cat in your arm pits".. ever tried this? I mean, trying to hold an active cat in in your arm pits and trying to hold it there? Whats the feeling like?.. :).. The cat, though sits there, you can make out that it is trying to jump off..

This is usually told to explain a situation or a person who implicitly agrees to wholly agree with you but explicitly, disagrees in parts, may be to play safe or for fear of being taken for granted.. (well, thats all I can think of. :)..)

Blogged with Flock

Lazyness glorified... :)

2006-07-19T20:10:00.000-07:00

Due to popular demand.. some more on your way.. Here we go!.. Hail laziness

Please dont disturb me.. I'm feeling zzzzleeepppyyy.. zzzzz

Definition of happiness.. we belong to the lazy community!!!.. Can you afford sleep like this MAN?

Oye kaun hai? dikhta nahi apan so relai? apna fotu kal ke paper me ayega na?

I choose to be enchanted by the angel of slumber... thou shalt be ignored.. zzzzzz

New found love..

2006-07-03T20:48:00.000-07:00

Cats cats and cats.. the lazy ones..

Western ghats and rains... some pics

2006-07-03T20:20:00.000-07:00

Please excuse the clarity in some of them... They were taken from a camera phone. :(...

kannaDammana makkaLu.

2006-06-28T22:49:00.001-07:00

Place: A mobile service center in Bangalore.

Me: Hello, nann mobilalli virus ide. tannashTakke message kaLsoke try maaDatte. Swalpa noDteera? (Hello, my mobile has a virus. Tries to send message on its own. Can you please take a look?)

Guy: Oh is it? there is no virus in it. Pressing menu key doesn't show a folder.

Me: Houda?.. naanu memory cardanna format maaDideeni. aadroo aa message bartaane iratte. (Is it? I formatted the memory card. Still I find that message showing up).

Guy: Then there must be a problem in phone memory only. You'll have to format the phone memory.

Me: Houda? yeshTaagbahudu?

Guy: two hundred rupees.

Just then, another guy comes with a soiled dress and a mobile in his hand.

another guy: saar, ninne mobile koTTidnalla repaerige. aagidya?
Guy: yaavdappa? ade 1100na? innerd gante bittkondu baa. swalpa late aagatte.

nAne kannaDa mAtADuvAga avnige kannaDa gothhiddoo English yake mAtADida ? idanna kannaDadavra atithi sathkaarada parAkAshTe anlo? alla nanna mukhada mele barediruva Anglabhaasheya chaaye anlo? )

(What made him speak English with me when I myself started in Kannada? Should I call it the hights of accommodating behavior of KannaDigas? or should I take it as the shade of English written on my face?)

Fact from a recent UN study: Kannada stands at place 28 when it comes to the list of languages which are on the verge of getting extinct.

Pocono Mountains trip...

2006-06-18T20:48:00.000-07:00

This was done way back in June 2005. While browsing the photographs, found some of them.. so thought of sharing them. Pocono (pronounced Pokeno) mountains are a range of small mountains, with well laid roads through the woods. Thanks to Raja, Prameetha and Mukund for some of the photos. Comments about fotos just below them.. Shilpa, Prameetha, me and Raja are featured in this first foto. Mukund is behind the lens. Enjoy!

There are trails all along and you can stop the car, walk around, take pictures and even fish if u have the gear. One such thing above, though not complete with concrete trails. But we walked there and there is a trail now.. :D
There was a beautiful lake on the way, and a small deli (restaurant). It was some sort of live post card for us. Clean waters, green acres and blue skies... and not a electric pole in sight.. whoa..
One more from the same location.. this time with all of us..

There are camping sites and the place gives a real look and feel of being in the jungle, amidst nature. There are some private lakes and jungles too. There are lots of scenic spots along the way and you can chill out in the nature...

This one was on our way back, I guess on I-80. I hope the winding roads are visible in the blinding sun. This was just about a sunset time. Just love the greenery in NJ.
Another post card about 500-1000 ft above sea level... One of the most memorable pictures in my life.
We just stopped the car again near a creek and walked towards the wood. The waters are so clean you can even use it as a mirror.

One more of the trails. This time a top view...

This is all the pictures that I have. I wish I had the time to put all the pictures from my memory.. :P.. not that I have a photographic memory.

J'aime Audrey Tautou.. l'actrice

2006-05-25T23:51:00.000-07:00

It means I like Audrey Tautou, the actress.. in French.. It was the Oscar nominations for Amelie that for the first time, gave me a glimpse of this wonderful actress. The bell did ring, saying this is one talent heap. Hadn't got a chance to view her French movies but was lucky enough to watch da vinci code on the opening day. Somethings I like about her...

Smile

Innocence

The way she carries herself..

And last but not the least.. the way she brings out the child in her...Those eyes help her a lot, I'm sure.

The pics are a courtesy of Audrey Tautou fan club. Well, the pictures are equal to a thousand words so let me stop here. But before that...

When you value and respect your innocence, it shows. You may not get the best of expressions or comments from others. But you get to be yourself. In the long run, when you look back at life, you will surely feel proud to have walked along with someone whom God gave you when you were born and for having stood by someone who gave you a clear, unpolluted conscience. The best of all would surely be the fact that you would have treaded a new path which the world had written off.

I'm a Sylvester too.. :)

2006-05-21T06:42:00.000-07:00

Got another quiz on the same site and this time, I was to figure out what famous feline I am (Of late, I'm getting closer to cats a lot.. :)..). Results dont seem quite encouraging.. but the answers to the quiz will not change so let me take it with a pinch of salt.. :)

Which famous feline are you?

You're Sylvester. Inventive and industrious, you seem incapable of learning from experience. At least you're good-humored about it, and on the upside, you're never bored or boring. You're clearly quite goal-oriented and are always on the BRINK of success. However, a word to the wise: Sometimes the easy way's the best one to follow.

As before, my take on the output are in blue..

You're Sylvester. Inventive and industrious flattered I am, you seem incapable of learning from experience ???? . At least you're good-humored about it this could mostly correct, and on the upside, you're never bored or boring Not all will agree including me. Sometimes I can put you off. You're clearly quite goal-oriented and are always on the BRINK of success Does it mean I never succeed?. However, a word to the wise: Sometimes the easy way's the best one to follow The first part ruled me out anyways.. ;).. so let me not comment.

This type of quizzes, horoscopes, start signs, astrology etc... these are just like seeing a mirror. We always see what we want to see. Self discovery means looking more into yourself for answers rather than looking out.

I'm a Pegasus!!!

2006-05-21T05:59:00.000-07:00

While wandering about in the net on a lazy Sunday morning, I hit upon a site which would say what kind of a famous beast I am.. So I took the quiz and the results are:

What mythical beast are you?

You're a pegasus. You're very calm and loving. Something about you makes others want to get close to you, whether or not you feel the same way about them. You don't bond to others easily, but when you do it's long-lasting. Your alignment is *good*, but not so much that you can't have fun.

Now the analysis.... My thoughts are in blue

You're a pegasus. Thank you!!... Happy to be a hero. You're very calm true sometimes and loving only others can say :). Something about you makes others want to get close to you again, only others can say, whether or not you feel the same way about them I can't say untill the others say whether the first part is true. You don't bond to others easily true untill very recently, but when you do it's long-lasting was true untill very recently. Dont think this has changed much. Your alignment is *good* I know, but not so much that you can't have fun some people will surely agree.. :).

Did you ask who is Pegasus?

Beautiful place for beautiful minds

2006-05-17T19:52:00.000-07:00

My idea of a good outing on a bright weekend is to either go to a beach and walk on the shores... or spending some time at a calm and quiet tengina toTa (coconut palms?.. bad at English sometimes). I was kind of skeptical about this one.. but then had seen some photographs from my friend Sathya's camera. So started out with Mukund. As 'blog blog pe likha hai camerawale ka naam', my camera battery died at the right moment. So all thanks to Mukund for his fotos.

Princeton University has given to this world some famous figures like Einstein and John Nash.. and to me a wonderful and beautiful Saturday!! .. BTW, John Nash is the real life inspiration for the movie "A beautiful mind"

This one was on the way. Spring in South Jersey will be like this or better...

The day we went there, there was a free fair of sorts, with the entire road - a state highway (route 27 if that helps) was blocked for people to set shops and sell. It was a nice experience. Guess we had something similar on Kumara Krupa road in Bangalore sometime back. It was called Chitrasante.. with artists flocking that road with their paintings on both sides of the road and people were allowed walk freely. There were everything from kids stuff to goggles to eateries to juices and even a music band.. Here's a pic

Inside the campus, there were stalls from students of the university (I guess). Since it was evening when we went, most of the stalls were closed and very few were left out. One of them had Indian classical dance going on. It was such a wonderful sight to find Bharatanatyam getting its due in a foreign land when what goes on in college functions back home is just.. hmm.. let me focus on the good things in life.. :)

The architecture of this University campus is very much Victorian (Thanks Vani for the info..) and reminds you of a European City. I liked the way City and the university had gelled with each other. Fully spread out.. the space well utilised and well laid out... calm and quiet - well suited for both studying as well as for pensioners... And its Anirban in the middle and Mukund on the rightmost.

After walking around in the city and the university... and having pakoras and a nice desi chai in a restaurant, we planned to roam around in the car a bit and ventured slightly out of the city and what have you... There was a huuuuggeee ground with green grass everywhere and a small memorial of a freedom fighter in the center. It was a sight to watch. Ordered Mukund to click.. :)

Couldn't resist the temptation of clicking myself with a yellow Honda CBR. After all, this is part of my dream getaway on a bright sunny weekend.

being so-called-doDDa...

2006-05-08T15:56:00.000-07:00

sounds like 'Being John Malkovich' or 'being Cyrus?'... hmm.. well close to.. couple of blogs back, I had posted a cryptic (was it?... :P) blog thinking I just posted a very tough puzzle.. But that was not the case. It was cracked quite easily and quite fast too. I'd said in that I would "celebrate meeting TP face 2 face with the answer in a blog". Well, meeting face to face will take some more time, but thought I'll give out the answers anyways.

Just pool together the blocked letters from the paragraphs and that is his/her blogger page address. Example? the third paragraph has 'jusjotted' in blocks. So this person's blog is http://jusjotted.blogspot.com. Philip is actually my close friend's colleague. She had not introduced me to him. She had commented to this blog of his.. and me being a third timer in the US, thought it is better to share my experiences (read it as free advice..;)..) and get introduced in the process. He was the first to crack the code. Congrats dude!!.. No early bird prizes but.. ;)..

Second paragraph in that blog points to Jayavaradhan .. one more of my close friend's close friends. He was not new to me.. I had even given some anonymous comments.. which he had kinda figured out too. But I guess I was too obvious... unlike...

chitraaz where she didn't have any clues as to who I was. She was kind of venting out her anger/frustration (or whatever you call it.. the usual emotional outburst, the females find themselves in when they feel they are being deprived of their freedom..) against whom she referred to as doDDa. Here was one chance to make a friend or take someone off the guard by making an abrupt entry. So I commented as if I was doDDa and I had caught hold of her. That was the begining. Lot of blogs and comments later, I thought I'll disclose my identity and blogged about 'let us b-friends'.

She had not got an idea about what I was or who I was for quite sometime. Then some pro-male comments of mine made her decide I was a male (women never support men in some matters.. :(.. ). But someone who had seen my blogs informed her and so did the secret come to an end and an end to anonymity of being so-called-doDDa, exactly 2 months since it began. BTW.. Chitra and my close friend joined the same employer on the same day. Thats the reason why the photo was there linking all the three. Still guessing what I'm talking about?..

a million bucks or a sleep of 10 hrs?

2006-05-05T16:21:00.000-07:00

Today my answer for this question will be latter... How I wish I could sleep 10hrs continuously without any disturbance or light?... More importantly, the sleep should be relaxing.. the quality rather than the quantity.

Yesterday night I slept late, watching a movie called Frida. The movie was a nice one, about a free soul and her life. So just got engulfed under it. Slept just 5 hours after I slept and today I felt I was not a free soul. Whole body was under this influence of a nuisance... It is neither a pain nor a healthy feel.. as if I was tied by a rope for 2-3 days without any mobility.

Let me not talk about the state of mind.

Though I can carry on for 2-3 days like this, I know I'm going to crash somewhere down the line.

How can I come out of this? Is sleep the only option?

This salary asking business

2006-05-04T10:27:00.000-07:00

How does it help some people when they ask the salary and the perks of others? Why should they do it? Why humiliate some other person, just because they want to satisfy their itch?

Let us b-friends

2006-04-30T13:46:00.000-07:00

Disclaimer: Since the people and events mentioned in this blog are from my recent past, in most probabilities, you'll not understand whats written in this blog. With 'da Vinci code' scheduled to release on May 19, 2006 I'm getting 'fièvre de conservateur' (didn't get what I said?.. start reading the disclaimer again... :)..). So take a chance if you wish... :).

Life poses different propositions.. all these days people used to come across in some way or the other, for a purpose, either from my side or from their side. Some of them just fade away once their purpose is served (just like I fade away from their lives). But some of them hang on, return smiles, forward mails, meet up, invite for tasting something they prepare and so on...

Coming back to the topic of this post.. what is this b-friend? b-friend is blog friend, a friend who keeps in touch with you through his or your blogs. We used to hear of pen friends who would keep in touch by writing letters and then came e-friends who will keep in touch using e-mails.

I happened to bump into one of those bloggers who are good at expressing their thoughts and feelings and in a strong opinionated manner oozing with attitude.. (so unlike of me.. :(.. guess I'm getting old thats all... sigh...). So I just abruptly bumped into This person(TP henceforth. I want the anonymity to continue.. :)..)'s comment box, trying to impersonate someone TP was trying to criticise in the blog. Phat came a sportive reply and the chat (why am I not calling it blog?) went on and so did the comments and replies to the same. Somehow an image of mine was created through the blogz (calling girls 'gurlz' doesn't fascinate me much) and one day the comment box read "Hey.. you know what? I've started liking you".. phew!!!.. Some people can make out when you write your heart out and when you pretend. So there must be a reason behind writing that. But the point is eventhough we haven't met, there is an smoothness and feel-good feeling of friendship (find the meaning of sanskrit word 'Sneha' and you'll be surprised). And the disclaimer part is something I and TP share. ie, I used to do this even before I knew TP. Ask SP if you want.. :)...

Another of bloggers said ' j) Anonyomity is not a hindarance to bonding.'.. Life taught him that!!!.. how true... and TP also agreed... Guess it is true too. I know the live examples of people who have married without even seeing each other - some who have at least exchanged emails/letters, some who have not even done that, seeing each other on the wedding day!! - and leading a life of example for understanding and compassion.

Some silent (oops... not the purpose of this blog.. :P..) Person (SP {why not ssp?} from now on... can't rejist increasing the obscureness of this blog..) did not introduce me to one friend. But like TP, I figured a nice person was behind the blogs and thought of bumping in again.. but did not want to keep the shroud of mystery or anonymity. More so, felt he was in need of some help and thought of jotting some of my experiences. I'm yet to see a reply... but I'm sure I'll be replied.. (weird English hna?)

How can I post a blog without a picture? Well, I must thank the link which binds me to the three.

Did you say 'Which three?"... then its time to close this window or tab.. :).

Did you say 'Whats the link with the link in the above sentence and the picture you talk about?'

This pic itself is the link... (Dont place the mouse on the pic. There is no hyperlink. Just the pic.. :D..) Still can't figure out? Find someone who knows Kannada and if you know me, you'll figure out. If you figured somethings and are feeling kind of lost... then ask yourself 'Where am I' and you'll figure your way. Try to answer in the comments and leave me a mail or ur ID for the answer. Else, I'll celebrate meeting TP face 2 face with the answer in a blog. But I'm not sure when that will happen and dont expect it to happen too... Things are good as they are..

PS: If you figured who TP is, please dont disclose and be a spoil sport. :). If you think you are TP, then please drop a mail for verification. SP shall remain 'silent' as expected... I know I am not as good as Dan Brown in creating mysteries or codes.. but I have done it and given some - well many - hints too... I'm sure you'll find it either too easy to crack or too obscure to even challenge you. Let me know anyways..

New York International Auto show - part 4

2006-04-26T15:58:00.000-07:00

This post is about the luxury cars. Even the earlier ones like BMW and merc had luxury in them. But these are luxurious by demand and are custom made. Like this Bentley Arnage, this is made only on invitation. The engine is handmade in France and you can find the signature of the person who makes these engines on the engine. Their prices are not mentioned since the ones who look at them, dont buy it.. :). But when I last heard, this used to cost some 3-4 Crore Indian Rupees after duty and excise.

Limousine or Limo as they are popularly called have a different aura altogether. They have an entire world inside them, like the mini bar, shown in this figure. They also have TV, wireless internet, satellite radio and the latest that technology has to office.

Last but not the least, the Mercedes Maybach. This again is made by invitation and the customer's interests, hobbies, etc are studied in order to suit the car to their needs and tastes. Last heard, this card costed about 5.6Cr. Indian Rupees including tax and duties.

Thus ends my series on the New York International Auto show. Much awe-inspiring these cars were, they reflected the character of the countries or continents they came from, like the Japanese cars - trying to make the cars as small and fuel efficient as possible, like the European cars - trying to make the car powerful, elegant and yet affordable with a little effort, like the American cars - trying to make the cars as big and colorful as possible with comforts and luxuries.

Some photos of the event and the place where it was conducted:

Still wondering when will Indian cars make it to such International shows - Indian in the sense genuine Indian in which each and every nut and bolt is made in India. Hope I get to see that in my life time.

New York International Auto show - part 3

2006-04-25T19:15:00.000-07:00

Now the American cars!!!

The Americans like things big to HUGE So expect huge things. Americans also like a life of plenty. So expect fuel guzzlers.. ones which need plenty of money and fuel...

Here we start... recognize this ugly looking beast? He is Hummer.. a former Army vehicle (guess even now it is an army vehicle). So u can imagine the power. Costs just about $140,000/- and gas mileage? forget it. We can as well count the gas 'foot'age... hahaha

This is one of the most popular vehicles in the US for its sheer power and eliminator looks.

Whos next?... Meet the dodge challenger!!! Another hugie... probably 3-5 people can sit in a single seat and it is most likely to occupy the half of next guy's parking space also.. :). I'll stop talking about price and gas mileage from now on. That is soooo Indian.. ;)

Only front view will not give a good idea. Here is a side view too...

Lets have a back view also.. I somehow love this car and its color.. ;)

Dodge had a couple of Vipers also on display. These are not huge but hugely popular and powerful.

Here comes Chrysler Imperial. I like this car for its elegance and style. It is so huge and yet so elegant. A characteristic hardly seen in humans.. :).

How can I forget Ford? Mustang and a concept car were the highlights of Ford stall. Some photos here.

Forgot the name of this car, but looked really powerful. This is also from the Ford stable.

I know its getting tooooo big... but let me squeeze in a Jaguar... this will be the last...

errr.... a land rover too... :D

Let me stop here.. We'll see what luxury means in the next...

New York International Auto show - part 2

2006-04-24T16:22:00.000-07:00

This one will be for the European cars...

What else to start with but Ferrari? Lesser said the better.

The model next to the master was courteous enough to get me a picture of the engine too. So different than the others who just keep blabbering about the features of the car.

Then there were a collection of Porsche cars... Carrera GT was the one which was on display. Costs a hundred grand in US. Is it worth it? I heard someone telling 'After all this is the only life I will get. Why should I settle for something less? I want to enjoy my life fully.'. I remember a saying in Kannada.. 'saala maaDi tuppa tinnu'.. which means 'eat ghee even if it means taking loan'.

Let me not diverge from the topic. Big cars for larger than life lives. Here you are!!!

Then came the Merc, a.k.a Mercedes. I just barged into a CLS550. Couldn't resist the temptation to sit behind the wheels. But this one was way too low. Felt I was just clear of the ground. I personally like higher seats.

They had displayed lot of engines of these Mercs too. Not that I understood any of the mechanical stuff or could recognize the parts. But yes.. I did see the engine of a Merc man!!.. Want proof?.. :D...

Peoples' car!!!... translated word to word, will mean 2 intertwined Vs, Volks wagen...

I had always wanted to see how Beetle looks from the inside. For the genuine design and the compact nature insipired by one of nature's cutest children, this was very spacious from the inside and impressive dashboard. I figured out that if not for the 2 seater design, it wouldn't

have been a 'BEETLE'.. :). There were the latest models of Jetta and GT also on display. But I was a happy man already.

BMW!!!... 750i was an awe-inspiring machine. I stood in the queue to just get behind the wheels. There was this dial, which moves to get different options on the LCD screen - the GPS, rear view while reversing, FM radio, video and even night vision I suppose. There are buttons all the way to open the ash tray and toll holder too. The door closes by itself without the passenger having to pull it with a thud in order to ensure its locked well. I'll need one more blog to describe all the features. Watch some pictures now. Btw, it costs just 72K USD. Taxes extra I guess.. ;)

The sad part of this show was that there were only 3 bikes on show. 2 from BMW and one from Suzuki. The suzuki was a 6 cylinder one and BMWs 4 cylindered ones. Liked the BMW for power and looks.

I did miss the Audi and Volvo segments somehow. Will try to get some pics from somewhere and post them.

Thats it for this part. I think I have enough for two more posts. So watch this space!

New York International Auto show - part 1

2006-04-23T13:53:00.000-07:00

It was always a dream to visit one of the auto shows in my life. It came true yesteray, 22-apr-2006 in NYC, one of my favorite cities in the world. It was a bit gloomy in the morning and google said it is going to lightly drizzle. But the fact that it would end tomorrow just pushed me out of the house. Luckily we (myself and Anirban, my colleague) did not get drenched when we entered. This place was Jacobits convention centre in 34th street, 11th Ave. Official website is www.autoshowny.com

So we reached there at 1pm, thinking it is late. But that was not the case. We were quite right on time, in the sense we got to see whatever we wanted to see. All the latest cars, the concept cars like this one below from Toyota.

This is called "Fine 7". A very compact, yet a spacious car. The speciality of this car as I observed is that its rear wheels also can be turned. Imagine how easy it is to parallel park this car. Just stop the car right in front of your parking space. Turn to left (or right) both your front and rear wheels, and just reverse. You can even do a bumper to bumper to parking without wasting time to do a full turn, move 1 inch, then reverse the stearing wheel untill it stops and reverse and repeat the whole process untill you start sweating, coming out on the road with a phew.. Hats off to innovation, which decorates these Japs.

Want to see the interiors of this car? Well, here it is. I initially felt it looks very similar to an ultra luxury rest room with ivory handles for wash basin and clean white shining slabs of porcelain. This is a hybrid of a video gaming console and porcelain art. Were they trying to drive home the fact that future of car driving will be a kids' play? Well could be. Only time can tell that.

Notice the other speciality of this car? The seats, not sure if driver's too, can be turned on their axis. If you are going through a nice terrain or if you are angry with your hubby, just turn the seat to the other side and enjoy the beauty or trouble him with your nakhras.. :)...

God knows what else was in store in this car? There was no one explaining this when we were there. We also saw another concept car from Toyota. I call it a lounge car. Why? here's why.. T

The seats are all arranged in the form of a semicircle and the room window actually as two LCD screens which can be moved around as per the him of the user, all around its periphery. Driver's seat also can be turned and there are no gear panels anywhere near his stearing wheel. There is a small LCD screen near the wheels and I guess thats where the driver will have control over the vehicle, break, accelerate, reverse.. fly?.. :)...

This one is as big as Sienna or Innova in India or may be slightly bigger, but very elegant. Need to tell my manager to get this for my commute from Bannerghatta Road to Electronics City. I'm sure the honks will not be heard from inside.. :).

Mention of Japs and I dont mention Honda? That will be cheating. Though they did not have any concept cars (or I did not see them?.. i dont know).. They did exhibit their latest Acura. Never bothered to venture around Civics or CRVs.. :). I was in a fantasy world.

These were about the Japanese cars. More of the cars from Europe, Americas and the luxury ones later on. Watchout!

some of my dream houses.. as I shot them. .:)

2006-04-18T16:38:00.000-07:00

As I already said.. they are just dreams.. These were shot in Holmdel, NJ, USA. Some of them are not that clear. Please excuse. They were taken from a moving car.

fans??

2006-04-12T19:47:00.000-07:00

A great doyan of Kannada cinema passes away and the nameBangalore gets another tag to its image along with the IT capital and a true emerging metro, that of extreme destructive fanaticism. How much this tag will help in improving the image of Bangalore, along with the deeds of our politicians and bureaucrats? Only time can tell.

Coming to the word FAN.. It was derived from the word fanatic, which, according to merriam webster's dictionary is:

marked by excessive enthusiasm and often intense uncritical devotion

But is burning of vehicles, be it government, private or public termed as fanaticism? Were these people trying to show their respect to the departed soul? Is that the way? Would Dr. Rajkumar have loved if these people respected him like that when he was alive? For all the humility and humbleness he had, that doesn't seem to be the case, even his fans will agree. Then what happened?

Were these people trying to force the government to declare holiday the next day? Well, Govt. would have given the holiday anyways.

Were these people so much controlled by their own emotions such that the feeling that he is no more made them feel nothing should remain? Well, these people surely need some counselling.

Was it some sort of political gimmick? I can't rule it out.

Whatever the reason, I had to face some funny situations in the office. People who were having some good impression about Bangalore (apart from the traffic jams and cricket matches), were more than laughing at the fact that people can destroy their own buses, buses which their tax money feeds, if an actor dies of natural causes.

They were amazed at the fact that the entire state can stop working for a day if an actor of yester years dies of his old age. Calculate the number of man hours wasted without production to the nation.

One thing to learn from this incident and what Krishna has always told in Bhagavadgeetha:

sangAdajAyatE kAmo, kAmAt kroDoBijAyate...

kroDAt buDhinASo, buDhinASAt vinaSyate...

Trying my hand at a very vague/crude translation, it means:

Desire comes out of attachment.. and from desire (when it is not fulfilled) comes anger... anger kills the thoughts and thus ends everything.

Anything followed blindly without reason and with full of passion on an emotional bent of mind will lead to misery. Take for example the people who elect actors as politicians. Though they are good at acting, they need not be good in politics. I'm not talking about those few good actors who have been good politicians too.. but about the people who elect them. They need not be good social workers or politicians. But still they get to cash-in their popularity for something else.

We need to change. We haven't. If I go back in time to about 50 years, our mindset would still be the same I guess. We need to open up our minds. Let some fresh air in and then take responsibility for our actions and their consequences. This can be an endless blog. I can't change everything alone. I can only change myself and hope this one change will be infectious.

Some sweet memories associated with...

2006-04-09T11:38:00.000-07:00

... these photographs. These are the
photographs of Lucent Technologies'
facility in Holmdel, NJ, USA.

This was where I had dreamt to be when I was in the college, studying about all the innovations in the world of electronics and communications... the transistor,after which this water tank was designed, the waveguides, the Shannon's theorm, UMTS, Strowger switch, the telephone equipment, the movie camera and what not.

Then when I thought I was getting into some other company, then I got an impression that may be I was not made for that kind of work. May be I'm not that material. Then as fate would have it, I had to come here again, though through a different channel but not too far from what was being done here.

Was it some sort of dream come true? Well I thought so. A great place, a great university like ambience, huge expanse of land with lake, geese, birds, deers and last but not the least, the cherry trees which would blossom in Spring. I shall post the cherry blossom photos in some other post.

On my 3 visits here, I could also see snow for the first time in my life. That was a wonderful experience.

Friendly would be the only word which can express people who worked here with me. Want to post their photos too... but I would rather take their permission for doing so.

It is sad, but true that this will no longer be with Lucent anymore. How I wish even this dream of mine came true and what appears to be going south, actually springs up and gets back its losing glory, which is truely deserves.

All I can do is hope hope and hope for these things are too big for me to change. One should accept things are they are rather than the way one is. Isn't it?

Maturity in focus..

2006-04-09T10:50:00.000-07:00

The old, sober and the 'tried and tested' and not
so 'glamorous and colorful' has to be in
focus sometime or the other, especially
when men have to be differentiated
from the boys.

Kitchen is a lab of creativity...

2006-04-08T21:35:00.000-07:00

Disclaimer: This is a true story and the brands are purposefully kept confidential in order to prevent misuse of this page, advertantly or otherwise, for the publicity of any commercial food brand or otherwise.

Phew... #:-S... refer to yahoo messenger for the smiley.. :)

So here starts the story....

Back into bachelorhood and a lazy Saturday, made me and my roomie finalize on instant noodles for dinner. I was skeptical of this brand, but thought of taking a chance since it was still a Saturday. We did cook it, but figured out it had no taste or too many tastes. We put tomato sauce into already saucy stuff. Didn't work.

Then came the creativity part.. We put curd and Chutney puDi (for the uninitiated, this chutney pudi is nothing but the proverbial 'gun-powder' you find in Andhra style restaurants, but slightly better.. well the last part is opinionated.. so take it with a pinch of chutney powder.. ;)..) into it... and voila!!!!... here you are!!!... a new recipe... tayyaaaar... woh bhi do second mein... :). Do give it a try and let me know your comments. I'm sure you'll love it...

Now you know why the subject of this blog is what it is?...

Me too mummy...

2006-04-08T14:47:00.000-07:00

With a mummy box from the Metropolitan art museum NYC .

NYC metropolitan museum - post 1

2006-04-08T14:24:00.000-07:00

Had been to NYC Mets (as they call it) sometime back. Got the photos and thought of posting them. This was a nice museum with artefacts from all over the world, each continent had some contribution to it. And was it majestic? Following are some of the photo graphs. Thanks to Mukund for the photos.

Found some unusual moortis from India too. Above is a BIG ceilig from a Jain temple with whole lot of carvings. Excuse the slightly shaken picture since flashes were not allowed inside the museum and had to rely on Av mode and this position was kind of difficult to prevent my hands from shaking.

Above is a big wall painting from somewhere in Europe (I forgot the name of the country.. :)..) The colors add life to the wall. Getting some ideas for OUR home.. :).

Above is a pic of 'Temple of Dendur - the sackler king'. Visit wiki of the same here.

Will post some more from Picasa. Need to rotate the pics.

Untill then.. :)

To throw the old habits away

2006-03-30T03:29:00.000-08:00

Well, not all, but one. I've been nurturing this bad habit of asking unneccessary questions to people, especially friends, untill they get irritated. Some of them try to change the topic and some of them try to loosen their slippers.. well literally.

I thought this was not a good asset to have. Especially after colleagues in the office started attaching a 'why' to every sentence of mine. If I ask someone 'Whats your name?', then they would say 'Now the next question is "why is your name like that?"..'.. Guess this is something very serious and can turn me into a laughing stock going forth. Though Thomas Alva Edison was also like this, but he asked questions to himself and got the answers himself too. So now was the time to let go of this bad old habit of mine or never.

Yesterday I resolved not to ask such questions to my colleagues here. I decided, 'I dont know about tomorrow. But today I will not ask such questions to irritate people.' After going through Robin Sharma's blogs and podcasts I guess these ideas of self-improvement creep in by themselves. Anyways, coming to the result, though I did find that daemon lifting his head every now and then, I realised the same everytime he did and took control over the situation. Yesterday was good. But Robin says, do it for 21 days and it becomes a habit. I'm not sure if the same is true with quitting that habit too.. :). Anyways, well begun is half done. So I've won 50% of the battle.

To carry the camera or not?

2006-03-25T17:27:00.000-08:00

Camera is my all time favorite companion. A good friend. Everytime I use it, I learn new things. It is one of my precious possessions. Today I discovered some not so good side of having a camera. Not that this was a new discovery... but I realised it today.

Had to go to NYC museum and decided to leave the camera back as the website said photography is not allowed (which was not the case.. will post some of those pics sometime later) and luggage is not allowed in the cloak room and only coats are allowed.

Once I went there and spent time watching the artifacts from across the world, I realised at the back of my mind that I was a lot more relaxed today. Had I taken the camera, it would have made me restless. Anything beautiful (well, not everything... I would have a swollen cheek otherwise) and I would start clicking. After buying the digital camera, it is still worse, since I dont have to think twice.

Also, if you have a camera, then it will be an obligation, especially when u r in a team, you end up being a photographer. Not that you shouldn't be a team player, but you should enjoy as well right?

For all these negatives, camera is always a nice companion to have. No second thoughts about that. Just set your priorities right. Thats it.

tester's woes..

2006-03-23T07:22:00.000-08:00

developers know only of the code change

managers know only of delivery date

tester has to know what the customer wants. it is his responsibility

yedakumeri part 2

2006-03-18T20:54:00.000-08:00

After trekking for one hour, we got the first bridge. It was about 30-50 meters long and we could clearly see mosses formed on the wooden railings as well as the iron planks that were kept parallel to the rails for the walkers.

Had we slipped, we'd be at least 50ft below where we are now.. :(.. Was that scary?. We somehow gathered courage and started focusing mainly on the metal planks and taking smallest of steps. In about 10 minutes we were through. It was an achiement of sorts, something like the fear factor you see in AXN.. :).. Stare the fear in its eyes as you conquer the stunt. It was time for a photograph. We clicked each other and started again. On the way we found some real nice scenery.. colored in mist and drizzle.. Reminded me of the Manirathnam movie 'Tiruda Tiruda'..

After the first bridge we gained some confidence and started walking more confidently on the bridges. After about 3-4 bridges, I found Ananth's leg bleeding.. Yes, it was a leach on his ankle. We did expect this. You never knew untill you started bleeding. Such master suckers.. :).. Hope our doctors were equally talented. Even after plucking the leaches out, bleeding used to continue. Looks like they have some inbuilt chemical to prevent the blood from clotting.

In between bridges, we were also moving through the tunnels. They were pitch dark inside and one of them had a small opening to go out and view the beauty of the mountains. The tunnels were wet with rainwater and we made our way only by means of torch that we had taken. After sometime, one of the torches had a battery problem, so we held on to each other's back, with the torch man in the front. Reminded me of the childhood 'railbanDi aaTa'. In the longest of tunnels, 573 meters long, we could hear bats and smell them too. But none of them hit us. I remembered reading in one of those Zoology books or Childresn's knowledge Bank, that bats have a built in SONAR in them, which indicates of any obstacle in their way well in advance. SO much so that it you left a bat in a room, with ropes hanging every 2 feet, you wouldn't find a rope shaking
because the bat hit it while flying. They really don;t need light to see. No wonder they occupy the darkest of places.

When we were resting in Yedakumeri, I plucked out a fully grown leach from my ankle and threw it a couple of feet from my legs. It was not dead yet. So it had started looking for its way towards blood probably. It started lifting its head and hitting the ground, each time moving to a new position, as if to make a circle, with its feet in the centre of the circle. Once it pointed towards me, it stopped making that circle and started moving towards me!!!!. How in the earth did it know the direction of food? oh.. try to zoom in to my leg for a leach.. :). Leach sucks.. :)

The longest bridge (above) that we came across was about 250 mts long and the worst part was the wooden planks that support the rails were missing in many places!!!. The depth was almost 300 ft with water flowing in full swing. We could hear the roaring of water below. Adding to the thrill was a bird sitting somewhere in the deep jungle trees, which was making fun of us. It sounded like a whistle that the traffic police use to blow. Initially, it would start with a very low note and then increase the tempo as we started moving deep into the bridge. We had to virtually crawl on the rails for about 2-3 meters. It was also slippery.

GJ had another trip here and discovered that what we covered was one of those and had to be a lot more such bridges. phew...

We took just about 30 minutes to cross this one beast of a bridge. We rested for 15 minutes after this. Had some snacks, looked back at the milestone, tooksome pictures and started again. At about 12:30 in the noon, we came across a bridge and we could hear the water again. We came to the middle of the bridge and found a beautiful water falls on our left. It was amazing sight. In a hurry to reach there, I stepped over a mossy wooden plank and slipped!!. My left leg was under the bridge and the right one, above it, perpendicular to it.. :(. Luckily, nothing bad happened except for a few scratches.

After getting refreshed with some nature fresh water, we continued on the tracks and less than 15 minutes.. we were in the Yedakumeri station!!. Our destination for that day. But we found that the tracks were blocked due to land slides and as a result we changed plans. A Mallu friend there (remembered the joke about Mallu chai-ki-dukaan in north pole.. :).. But they are a great help anyways..) guided us climb the mountain and reach Kagigeri. From there we decided we will take a jeep to Sakleshpur bus stop and from there, a bus to Bangalore. Things went on smooth as expected and we were home on Saturday night at 11pm!!!.. Whole 24hours of sheer excitement and the next 7 days of sweet pain.. :). Do I feel those stones on the track on my feet still?

Memory of an old trek to Yedakumeri...

2006-03-18T20:30:00.000-08:00

I had written this travelogue about my trek to Yedakumeri .. the raiway track trek between Sakleshpura and Subramanya, which passes through a lot of tunnels and bridges. Thought of posting it now. Found some photos also in the mailbox somewhere.

This is the Donigal station from where our trek started. More of it later. Let me begin my narration first.. Thanks to Aravind for the photos...

We (Myself, my friend Aravind and his colleague Ananth) started from B'lore on 13-aug-2004, a Friday, to take advantage of the weekend. We boarded a KSRTC bus to Mangalore at 10:30pm from Majestic and landed in Donigal, in the midst of the picturesque Western Ghats at 4AM. We killed time till 5:30AM in the hotel (Buses/trucks plying between B'lore and M'lore stop there for a short break. So the hotel is open 24hrs. a day!!. The photo again...

We started walking towards Donigal Railway station which was 5 Km from the place where we had tea. Later on we found we could have skipped this walk had we dropped ourselves off at Marenahalli instead of Donigal. Anyways, it was fun to walk in the wee hours in slight drizzles. We reached Donigal Railway station at about 6:25AM. It was a very old railway station, abandoned long back. There is a Morse Code machine in the station master's room, a waiting
room, with a couple of broken benches and a signal room, which we didn't explore. We finished our nature calls and had a light breakfast - Chapathi + Jam that Aravind had brought. We started our trek (violating an order on a board in the station)

The Railway track was, for sure, deserted for a long long time as we could see the rusted iron at most of the places and the mud completely covering the tracks at other places. But the pieces of white rock that were kept to support the rails were still intact. There was no other go but to step over them, hurting out feet in the process. This was another of those experiences, which is unique to this trek.

Some of it in the next posting... This was just part 1....

2006-03-01T05:24:00.000-08:00

Bunny at Central park west. He was posing for me for a long time. If not for the blinder, it would have been better. Will try to remove it using GIMP.

Kids in action on the ice skate ground

2006-02-28T17:49:00.000-08:00

Hats off to their learning abilities..

ice skating experience

2006-02-28T17:30:00.000-08:00

Went to Central park west and found people ice skating.. Initially I thought why take risks in this foreign land without even having an insurance card? Then peer pressure mounted and bought their idea of doing it. It was not easy and needed a
child's learning ability to let go of the fear of falling. I fell down once, but that didn't improve the situation any better.

Basically I did not move much without the support of the side bars. Will need more practice of how to do it. Best was the time of childhood, where you could learn anything you wanted, just looking at people who did it and then develop your own style of doing things. Guess as we develop maturity in life, you tend to seek originality in everything, your own style right from the day one.. and so on. Need to get back to basics of learning.

This lady next to me in this pic is Prameetha, my colleague. Half the credit goes to her for me venturing into this business. So thanks to her. Will post one more blog with a kid's pic, which I liked. For now, this is it.. lot of philosophy.. enough.

life in the US as against that in India...

2006-02-23T22:46:00.000-08:00

Here you get hooked onto internet and you find interesting stuff like mailing your friends and chatting and thinking about your future. Its amazing how much time I spend in front of the laptop.. 8-10hrs in the office and another 3-5 hours at home. We find good online applications like radio, shopping sites and search engines.

Back in India, we have a home and people around. We hardly logon to the net. Also there are no applications which will interest you there for you to get hooked on... We use mobiles to listen to radios and friends are a phone call away so no use logging onto the net. Shopping can be done really than virtually. Anyways shipping from the US is going to take a looong looong time and money. And it doesn't make sense too. Right?

Ans what about work? Work will be hectic in both places, but there are more responsibilities I guess here in the US and as a result more work and more time in front of the PC.

Another reason is that in US,people dont get tired so much as in India, Bangalore to be specific. As a result, they find more time to be in front of the PC.

Dont feel like sleeping I guess.. finding more reasons...

TV programs in the US are a holy crap... But are better in India for Indians... Another reason...

But I personally feel spending time with loved ones is far more better and enriching and fullfilling than a PC which just makes our mind more and more mechanical day by day!!

What say?

of vegetarians and the smell of salmon fish

2006-02-20T18:47:00.000-08:00

This years trip has been kinda bad so far. I landed and it started snowing. I went to a birthday party; was offered 'lemonade'; after having couple of sips, I happened to read the bottom of the bottle, which said '5.2%ALC/VOL'.. :(... and then today... Just two weeks and I need to start counting my days I guess.

Being a strict vegetarian is a curse I feel, especially in this country, where 'vegetarian' means who doesn't eat meat.. end of it. There is no concept of a meatless kitchen and 'clean' vessels. Now the actual story begins...

It all started with GK... the culprit colleague of mine. He was fond of fish and MK.. and PK... did not prepare fish when he was here. From my experience with them last time, I think had he not been here, these people '_#$*MIGHT*$#_' have had it in restaurants outside. But once he moved out, these people felt they should do it at home and brag about it and push GK.. down the dark drains of unfullfilled desires. And thus made this Salmon fish into our refrigerator.

Being brought up in Mangalore, where breathing involves taking in some smell of drying fish, I thot it should be pretty cool. Chalega.. no probs.. let them cook and I shalt go through it all, bear it all and come out with flying col.. err.. smell.

But it was going to be tough. PK's cooking skills were to subdue me.. :(.. I felt I should spend more time in Mangalore smelling fishes for this one was one hell of a smell. People suggested I give up my false ego and get into my bedroom. I followed their advice as if trying to satisfy their request. But no.. Salmon followed me here too.. But luckily I had a can of deodorent!!!.. Whether it was my creative juices or survival inctinct, that can got emptied and wow.. what a relief!!! Even when I had worn it, it did not please me so much!!. phew.. some temporary relief.

Time passed and people said it was safe to come out.. and so I did. It was actually better than before and then I went to kitchen with a hungry stomach. Parathas were looking great and offering themselves to me.. Must congratulate MK.. the preparation / cooking was just great to look at. But that again smelt the same Salmon. Guess the smell particles liked this surface too.. grrrr.... had them and went for a walk in the cold winter at -2 degree centigrade. After the walk, it was better. felt like I'm back to life.. till then I was like a "FISH out of water"..

Even after coming back that smell still haunts me. Thinking of having onions and a mouth wash. But what can be done to belching?... No way out!!!.. This night is going to be loooonnnggg and smelly... hahahah...

But what was the good about all this?

A guy who doesn't go out for a walk even in the pleasant weather of Bangalore goes for a walk in -2 deg centigrade... Hail Salmon!!
Otherwise lazy guy, who thinks he can put up with any situation as long as he doesn't have to shift, thinks about his values and plans to look for a new house. Long live Salmon!!
One who brushes just once a day for the formality sake, brushes twice, thus improving dental health.. Credits page will have Salmon written in Bold italics..
A lazy blogger writes one of the biggest blogs he has ever typed... And the award goes to....????

inspirational links here...

2006-02-20T12:43:00.000-08:00

Robin's Blog: Blog Archive

Nice site to get inspirational quotes, blogs and podcasts from the author of 'The monk who sold his Ferrari'. Some of them seem very simple and down to earth too. Nice link.

Wecome to NJ winter!!

2006-02-19T13:35:00.000-08:00

One more of snowing photograph.. a photograph after it snowed actually. You see that cake like thing? It is actually snow of about over a foot thick. This time NJ welcomes me with this!!!.. It was a pleasant winter all along it seems. But I arrive and it starts snowing, and how!!

Observe that though the apartment people had this masonry, the ground is not visible yet.. There's much more snow that what can be seen. Did not find many snow-mans. Guess people are fed up of them.

And how do the trees look in winter?..

Snowing in NJ...

2006-02-19T13:31:00.000-08:00

Snowing outside my apartment in Edison NJ.

This is how weekends are in Nj.. :)

thought of the day!!

2006-02-15T18:47:00.000-08:00

My brother had given me a sweater when he came back from the US. It was a good one. I wore it to the office yesterday and everyone was all praises for it. What a concept right? Do something, for which you'll be praised, applauded.

Same is the case with a maid servant of ours. All the houses where she works, eveyone praises her for her dedication and hardworking nature.

Does it mean all those who are hardworking, get their due share of these undemanded appreciation? No. Surely not. The point is, these people put their hearts into thier work. They do the work without expecting either appreciation or criticism. They just do their job and thats it. They remove the thoughts of that job from their mind. But they keep track of what they are doing and they know very well what they are doing. This is what happens when you put your heart into it.

Got to spend one day putting your entire heart into it. Do everything wholeheartedly, consciously putting an effort in doing so.

My first ever new year eve party

2006-01-01T06:10:00.000-08:00

First new years eve party came after 27 years. It may be debatable if we Indians are treasuring more western cultures, sidelining Ugadi and putting the lime light on 31-dec. Anyways, these are the partying times and people need to change along with times. As my Sanksrit teacher used to say, 'Culture is like a flowing river. It should not be stopped or obstructed. It should be let to flow' but in the same breath, I also say we should not be commercialising things, take cue from how Christmas was celebrated this year.

Coming to the purpose of writing this journal, to describe the wonderful evening I had this new years eve.

I went to Joyee's place at 6pm. They were still preparing, Jyo cooking up some cake, Joyee and Hiresh putting colored ribbons to give it a professionally arranged party look. Myself and Jyo went to Shoppers stop for getting her dress. Then I went to 4th block to get couple of dandia cassettes.

By the time I came back, Jyothi had come and shortly, Jay also came. Things were slightly formal, due to a new silent entrant in the loud and talkative group. Sometime later Deb came and tings didn't change either. I asked my alter ego whether to stay or go instead of being a spoil sport. 'Do whatever you feel comfortable. Think if you are comfortable. If yes, stay. Else, go' came the answer. It was about 11:45 when Jum also came. We had dinner, with pooris and Biriyani. I took only Biriyani since my stomach was about to give way due to acidity.. I had had spicy masala dosa in an empty stomach.. grrr... I planned to leave after dinner and wishing everybody a happy new year...

By the time we finished dinner, it was close to the last minute of 2005 and we were ready to wish each other. We lit a candle in a bowl with water and some flowers. That was one of its kind I had never seen before. Joyee/Hiresh's brilliant idea. Above is a pic of that.. Isn't that great?.. Then came 2006 and we wished each other. I actually said bye to Joyee when they were planning to watch some fireworks. Something made me also join then on the terrace to watch some fireworks. Jum pointed out that I was actually doing a rethinking. We got to see some awesome fireworks. Took some photographs and came down..

By then I had actually forgotten about going back. After coming down, dandia sticks came out and I grabbed them.. :(... Whats going on? Didn't you plan to leave? I asked my alter ego again 'Am I doing the right thing by staying back?'... "It may not be safe to go back on a new year eve, and that too on a bike. If you are OK with going alone, fine. Else stay".. came the answer. This alter ego always leaves me with dilemma.. grrr... I also felt, anyways I have acidity, so even if I go home I will nto be able to sleep. Why not spend the night here and have some fun? I'll have to wait for 365 days to get this day again. "STAY IT IS"

Then started dandia, with some brilliant performances from women folk and also Hiresh. There were some comic and funny performances by rest of junta. All in all it was big fun. Dandia fever did not leave us even after we let go of the dandia sticks. We kept clapping as if we are hitting the sticks together...

Then Jum hurt himself and all had to take a break. Then we thought instead of dancing which Jum couldn't do, we will all sit and play some game. And Joyee was all ready with what was required. It was something like musical chairs with a pillow changing hands and when the music stopped, find the guy/girl holding it the victim. There were beggers, mujras, 'maar-daalas', twinkle twinkles, 'talents' and many more to keep people laughing for long. By the time this ended, pleople were really tired and some slow songs followed. Then Hiresh took out his flute and gave a short but sweet performance. This guy seems to be a music afficionado. Everyone tried his/her hands at playing 'Tujhe dekha to yeh jaana..'. By the time everyone finished, that song was demixed in my mind.

Jyothi prepared tasty tea at about 3am and it was refreshing due to ginger. I played some A.R.Rahman slow songs. Jyo got bored of them and asked for some fast numbers. After a short nap, she was back in action. Playing some tamil songs, asking for their meanings, creating her own meanings.

When Hiresh asked for some tea at 4:45am, I thought of taking a short break and took a small but refreshing nap. Had tea and started back home. Everyone was very tired, but very happy. Something I find when we reach our destination while trekking. It was no less than a trek.

riding the waves

2005-12-28T19:46:00.000-08:00

Yesterday our team had been to 'wonder la', a water sports resort. Rest of the things were fine with thrilling rides and zooming water sports. Here's a pic from the party. Me dancing in full zoom..

One thing that really got the attention of my thoughts was the water waves. You know what?

waves will come and go
If you dont keep your head above the wave, you will find water all over inside, eyes , ears, nose, throat.. you name it.
Riding the wave has a lot of thrill and fun. You find a sense of achievement within you after you do it.
Riding the waves is all about timing. Lift your feet just before the wave is close. Too early, you are lost. Too late, you wont be able to lift your feet.
If you ride the wave, it takes you with it. Else, it pushes you under it. You will move with it. But you'll be busy getting water out of your body. cough cough... :)
Have your underwear tight. Water has enough power to pull it down. Your neighbour may do it as well.. :).. You should ideally forget about it once you enter into water.
Closer you are to the shore, safer you are. Small and safe tides. But you choose what you want.
Last and the most important, there may not be a floor to hold you when the waves are not there. You should learn how to ride the wave when there is no ground support. Sounds scary hna?

Nice lessons for life... :)..

2005-08-11T18:44:00.000-07:00

Need this for Bangalore soon.

2005-08-11T18:41:00.000-07:00

With Chevy Impala. gr8 car!!

2005-08-11T18:36:00.000-07:00

Empire State Building

2005-08-11T18:34:00.000-07:00

An evening in Times Square, NYC.

2005-08-11T18:33:00.000-07:00

With Salma Hayek (on MY left.. ;)..) in Madam Tussaud's, NYC

2005-08-11T18:31:00.000-07:00

Street side musician

2005-07-04T17:08:00.000-07:00

Bushkill falls. This is all there is here.

2005-07-04T17:06:00.000-07:00

secure feeling...

2005-07-04T17:04:00.000-07:00

manhattan from liberty state park

2005-07-04T17:02:00.000-07:00

silhouette

2005-07-04T09:24:00.000-07:00

Yours faithfully

2005-07-04T09:22:00.000-07:00

taking my own picture without the camera in the frame.

2005-07-04T09:21:00.000-07:00

toll booth

2005-07-04T09:20:00.000-07:00

distant view of the transistor from the office

2005-07-04T09:19:00.000-07:00

Historic transistor like water tank of Bell labs office in Holmdel, NJ

2005-07-04T09:18:00.000-07:00

on the way to bushkill falls.

bushkill falls photos

2005-07-04T06:22:00.000-07:00

Need to view after rotating 90 deg to right. This is all there is in Bushkill and it has been hyped up as the Niagara of Pennsylvnia. Kutty falls compared to our Jog or even Irupu falls.

some photo stitching tools for linux.

2005-06-26T20:11:00.000-07:00

Haven't tried any of these. Just got the info from the net and sharing it.

http://bugbear.blackfish.org.uk/~bruno/panorama-tools/

http://hugin.sourceforge.net/

http://ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/03/28/0450231&mode=thread

panorama view of avenel apt

2005-06-26T19:45:00.000-07:00

took 5 photos and stitched them using the s/w that came with it.