Friday, December 23, 2011

Couldnt help posting this..


Rajni facts... for all rajni lovers...

Rajnikanth makes onions cry

Rajnikanth can delete the Recycle Bin.

Ghosts are actually caused by Rajanikanth killing people faster than
Death can process them.

Rajnikanth can build a snowman..... out of rain.

Rajnikanth can strangle you with a cordless phone.

Rajnikanth can drown a fish.

When Rajnikanth enters a room, he doesn't turn the lights on, he
turns the dark off.

When Rajnikanth looks in a mirror the mirror shatters, because not
even glass is stupid enough to get in between Rajanikanth and
Rajnikanth.

Brett Favre can throw a football over 50 yards.
Rajanikanth can throw Brett Favre even further.

Rajanikanth does not know where you live, but he knows where you will die.

Bullets dodge Rajanikanth.

A Handicap parking sign does not signify that this spot is for
handicapped people. It is actually in fact a warning, that the spot
belongs to Rajanikanth and that you will be handicapped if you park
there.

Rajanikanth' calendar goes straight from March 31st to April 2nd, no
one fools Rajanikanth.

Rajanikanth can do a wheelie on a unicycle.

Once a cobra bit Rajanikanth' leg. After five days of excruciating
pain, the cobra died.

Rajanikanth can kill two stones with one bird.

Rajanikanth was once on Celebrity Wheel of Fortune and was the first
to spin. The next 29 minutes of the show consisted of everyone
standing around awkwardly, waiting for the wheel to stop.

Leading hand sanitizers claim they can kill 99.9 percent of germs.
Rajanikanth can kill 100 percent of whatever he wants.

There is no such thing as global warming. Rajanikanth was cold, so he
turned the sun up.

Rajanikanth has a deep and abiding respect for human life… unless it
gets in his way.

It takes Rajanikanth 20 minutes to watch 60 Minutes.

Rajanikanth once shot down a German fighter plane with his finger, by
yelling, "Bang!"

In an average living room there are 1,242 objects Rajanikanth could
use to kill you, including the room itself.

Behind every successful man, there is a woman. Behind every dead man,
there is Rajanikanth.

Rajanikanth got his drivers license at the age of 16 Seconds.

With the rising cost of gasoline, Rajanikanth is beginning to worry
about his drinking habit.

The square root of Rajanikanth is pain. Do not try to square
Rajanikanth, the result is death.

When you say "no one's perfect", Rajanikanth takes this as a personal insult.

Outer space exists because its afraid to be on the same planet with Rajnikanth.

Rajnikanth has counted infinity--twice.

Rajnikanth doesn't wear a watch, HE decides what time it is.

The Bermuda Triangle used to be the Bermuda Square, until Rajnikanth
kicked one of the corners off.

Rajnikanth once are an entire bottle of sleeping pills. They made him blink.

Where there is a will, there is a way. Where there is Rajnikanth,
there is no other way!

Rajnikanth can eat just one Lay's potato chip.

Rajnikanth can slam a revolving door.

When Rajnikanth falls in water, Rajnikanth doesn't get wet. Water gets
Rajnikanth.

Rajnikanth can divide by zero.

The grass is always greener on the other side, unless Rajnikanth has
been there. In that case the grass is most likely soaked in blood and
tears.

Rajnikanth is the only man to ever defeat a brick wall in a game of tennis.

Rajnikanth ordered a Big Mac at Burger King, and got one.

Rajnikanth frequently donates blood to the Red Cross. Just never his own.

Rajnikanth's tears cure cancer. Too bad he has never cried.

If paper beats rock, rock beats scissors, and scissors beats paper,
what beats all 3 at the same time?

Answer: Rajnikanth


If you want a list of Rajnikanth's enemies, just check the extinct species list.

Most people put their pants on one leg at a time, Rajnikanth does both
legs at once.

Rajnikanth does not use spell check. If he happens to misspell a word,
Oxford will simply change the actual spelling of it.

There are two kinds of people in this world:
1) those who are dead
2) those who have yet to meet Rajnikanth

Music listens to Rajnikanth.







Monday, December 19, 2011

50 Years of Goa Liberation

Something which I havent been kept track off, for a long time. Its a mere coincidence that I am in Goa now, during the 50th anniversary of Goa Liberation. To come to think of it, it was the day, when finally all the europeans finally left the country. Even though the english held most of the Indian subcontinent, it was the portuguese who had come first and left the last. Its due to this long existence of Portuguese for over 450 years that , even today you find such a strong flavour of these heritage here in Goa. The architecture, the food habbits and even the government operations have a flavour in it. Goa was the first UT/State which had the mandatory rule that every wedding should be registered first.

Todays news papers were flooded with information as to what had happened during the Operation Vijay, which gave Goa the liberation after such a long ruling by the Portuguese.
Here are a few links which might be of interest to you.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goa_liberation_movement




Monday, November 14, 2011

Chevrolet Beat Electric

Chevrolet Beat Electric car - Road Show -
This happened to be a road show here in Bangalore,  in Taj West End. Here are a few of the photos - And some specs -


From For Press



From For Press



From For Press



From For Press



From For Press



From For Press



From For Press



From For Press



From For Press


Though they didnt give any information as to when this car would be launched or the price(not even an approx one), they claimed it would travel for 130 kms for one charge. That does sound like a good mileage that too for a renowned brand from GM like Chevy. And yes, the vehicle was absolutely silent.

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Saturday, November 05, 2011

Pyramid Valley - Bangalore

This was the Second attempt to make it to the Pyramid Valley. The first attempt was a complete disaster, more so, because we had reached all the way there and it was raining like no tomorrow:). And it was just a day after my car had got a servicing done, which means my umbrella was missing from the car. We waited for a long time there in the parking lot and finally gave up and came back.

This time fully equipped, ie with two umbrella's. The weather was pleasant and quite cloudy. It was a holiday here and hence there were a lot of people who had come there, unlike the previous time, where our's was the only car in the parking lot.

This place is approx 17 kms from the NICE road junction on the Kanakapura road, and this place is just 1.5kms off the Kanakpura road. There are enough signposts on the road to lead you correctly to this place.  Over all it took me 1.5 hours to reach there from my place approx 40kms in all.

Here are some of the photographs




The Entrance to the Pyramid





Buddha Statue at the entrance










This was at the time of us leaving, when the dark clouds started again and then there was a very heavy downpour.


I am not really sure of what this is, but I guess they are the guess houses who would like to stay there for sometime.

Overall I did like this place, for the serenity and the calmness. Inside the Pyramid is a great experience and excellent place for meditation. Once we sat there for meditation, our thoughts actually were blocked. I had heard from my colleagues who had gone there earlier, that it gets quite hot inside, but it was not the case for me, which could also be attributed to the cloudy weather. Again , inside the Pyramid, there is a King's Chamber which is a structure inside, and is at a height of 34 metres. That place apparently has more energy for meditation, but due to the structure being at a height, its a lot warmer out there.

There is also a nice book shop, which has the other books also which we find in the 'Landmark's and flipcart's of the world. What I really liked is that, there was no place, for which we had to pay anything. There were no boards asking for a donation, nor any hundi boxes to indicate. Only the brochure's has a message that donation can be done and there is an tax exemption.
I can definitely say that the first impression of this place was very positive. Highly recommend for a weekend visit. 3 hours would be the travel time, and around 1.5 hours can be comfortably spent there.

Other information to this place can be found here [http://pyramidvalley.org/home.htm]

I hate flipkart!

I simply hate this site now. Its been over a month now, and there is not a single day that I dont visit this site. Everyday I check the various lenses for my canon slr and some how manage to push it away. This freaking site has all the valid reasons as to why I should buy it from here and not somewhere else. And the delivery is again excellent.  Having said all this, its so freaking difficult to look at the lovely D90's and 550D's or 60D's or the camera world and just managing enough strength to control yourself.

Looks like I would end up buying a lens here, if not a camera from this , and the day doesn't seem to be looking too far :)

The Newspaper looks lighter now..

Finally after a long time the newspaper have come to their regular size, or rather the number of pages. With the festival season coming in, not sure if these advertisers make the money, but the newspaper surely make a hell of a lot. I really wonder sometimes as to what do these newspaper really exist for, and more I think of it, it assures me that its just the ads. Nevertheless, its we who are paying for everything and now, more number of pages only means more number of trees cut :(

For the past few months, having an hectic life and really didn't find any relaxed moment, or rather even come close to it. Then a day comes, it just doesn't matter whats happening around you and you just want to run away from everything. Probably had reached quite close to that and now hopefully should get back to a normal routine, hoping , I didn't make this comment a bit too early.

The only relaxation these days have been reading the books before going to sleep and I must say that I have finished quite a number of books as they have been the only stress reliever all the time. And those of you, who are regular to my blog, would know that, I normally write the reviews for the books. But no, this time, no time and patience for writing, only managed to get enough energy for reading and just enough so that I can get a peaceful amount of sleep.

But, just to pen down the books I read in the recent past - atleast for my record


  1. I have a Dream - Rashmi Bansal  - Great book once again. must read for Rashmi's fan's and otherwise also
  2. Kane and Abel - Jeffrey Archer - One of the best of him 
  3. Life Is what you make it - Preeti Shenoy - Amazing book. Must read
  4. The Immortals of Meluha - Amish - Nice captivating story
  5. Don't Lose your Mind, lose your weight - Rujuta Diwekar - Great book on eating habits
Have started with 'The Secret of the Nagas', and the Steve Jobs way. I have a habit of reading several books, and each day would be reading a different book and I find it convenient that way.

Also had been to a couple of road trip's a short one to ooty and also to Pyramid valley which is approx 40 kms away from bangalore. Nice place for meditation though.

Another gadget that has made entry into my house is a wireless keyboard. Now, it came a a gift with one of the appliance that I had picked up for Diwali. Isn't it amazing that I am mentioning of the free gift rather than what I had bought. Yes, but this has a lot of value addition for me and 3 of my friends from college.
This Wireless keyboard happened to be our 8th Sem project, which didnt take it's best shape. We had all kind of problems with that and what we could manage can't be really called a prototype. 
Though a wireless keyboard is quite a handy tool, I never managed to go and buy it, as it would remind me of this episode of us, and somewhere, felt that only if we could manage it well. 
Nevertheless, this has made way into our home now. Still not started to use it though :) Manmeet, Vijey , hope you read this..


Thursday, October 06, 2011

An end of an Era - Steve Jobs Passes away

As these news are flashed across all the new channels and all the possible means in the internet, its definitely a sad day for all of us. Not that I have used an Apple product, but its just because of this company that has changed the way we live. We can't even dream today of using a computer or for that matter a cell phone without a mouse or a touchpad. The features we see in windows machines are mostly initially a part of the Mac.

I didn't know that Mac had such a huge user base , until one day when I was using Adobe photoshop on my windows system and little investigation revealed that, this amazing product was built only for Mac, and then later on had an adapted version for the windows. Hard to believe, but then that's the power of the this single man which has directly impacted our lives today.

Just can't imagine him not with us anymore. His famous speech at the Stanford University is a life changing speech. Can never get tired of hearing his awesome words.
Here is the post of the same -
http://www.prasadgovenkar.com/2007/03/steve-jobs-speech-at-stanford.html

Steve Jobs , the world will miss you. RIP !

Again, its quite an anti-climax, one day before then the new version of the iPhone was launched the stock price of Apple came down as people didn't find all that was expected in this version, and the very next day when Jobs passes away the stock prices climb up. I guess the sentiments do play a lot of value in the commercial market and possibly many people will buy Apple products more of an sentiment, rather than a requirement.





Saturday, October 01, 2011

Brand Ambassador for Force One - Amitabh Bachan

Was scrolling through the blogs of Amitabh Bachan and realised that He is the brand ambassador for the much awaited SUV, Force One.
Now I am able to relate the pricing of Mahindra XUV 500 to that  level. I can really see the SUV war heating up, between the Indian Manufacturers.

http://bigb.bigadda.com/?p=8556


Thursday, September 29, 2011

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Road Trip to Goa - Again

Another of my road trip to Goa, from Bangalore. This time while planning for the trip, I was contemplating either choosing a different route or probably stay over at night and split the journey across two days. But after a lot of analysis, especially the savings of time and money, it only made sense to finish it off like my previous trip's ie all in a day. (Start from home at 5am,  and reach home in Goa in approx 12 hours.)

This time, we actually made it a point to note down in a diary every one hour, how many km we had actually traveled and then looked at the average at the end. We also noted where we have the Kamath Upchar's so that anyone reading this can have it handy and plan appropriately, as we ourselves happened to forget the approx timelines as to when we would get the next.

Here was the approx plan -
Route --
Bangalore - Hubli  -                     NH4   - 400 Km - Travel time 6 hours
Hubli - Ankola(Hitting NH17)  -  SH63  - 150 Kms - Travel time 3 hours
Ankola - Margao -                      NH17 - 100 Km - Travel time 2 hours
Stoppages and breaks -                                                              1 hour.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                                 12 hours

Well, sounds well on paper. The previous day, we bought a lot of stuff, mainly eatables, and drinks for our journey. We had preferred coconut water in our last trip, and hence packed a little extra this time. Also a lot of biscuits and cakes added to it. What's most important during driving, especially on long drives is that one's stomach should be filled not necessarily full, and that ends up with lesser headaches, etc.

5:30 AM - We started from our apartment, after heating up the food prepared the previous night for the journey and also a Thermos filled with tea, and two bottles of drinking water. Due to the metro construction, there are a lot of roads that lead to yeshwantpur, which are actually blocked. So we ended up spending a little more time to get there. Once we were on the flyover, it was an easy drive, with only a few trucks to dodge with every now and then. After around 50kms from yeshwantpur, we get the first Kamath Upchar. Please note, the entry to this place is not clearly seen, and most cars actually end up entering this place from the exit road, which is not very easy to cut it in. The restrooms available there, fleurs is maintained well compared to other places. So I prefer this place. This is one hotel there which is more like a darshini, where you stand and eat(self-service mode) and another which is more of a regular hotel. The tea there was good and just charges you up. The next Kamath upchar is only after 200 km from that place, or rather 300 km from Yeshwantpur. On the way, we did take some pictures from the car. The views of the Wind Mills are especially lovely and the closer you get to it, the better it looks. Though the view is not really comparable to the one on the way to Kanyakumari, but well worth it.







There is a Kamath Upchar just after the first one, but as mentioned above, I do prefer this one. Then there is also a Coffee day just after this one. So there is a choice in case you lose out on the first one, which I would try and avoid.

Some more of the pictures on the way -






This Institute is in Davangere. The only time I had any reference to this place was during my CET counselling.




The beautiful roads of NH4, along with the cloudy skies, just making the drive relaxing. The greenery surrounding this place simply adds to the color.










And then it starts to rain, making the drive even more better and interesting. Managed to get a couple of good shots.



Then on our road to Karwar from Hubli, though there were bouts of rains, it wasn't really bad. We drove at a constant rate, averaging around 65-70 kms per hour which was good. Which meant that we were covering 200 kms in approx 3 hours which is the rate that I wanted to achieve. Though the road here is winding at some places, it cannot be called bad from any angle. We stopped at one petrol bunk for fill up, and there we also had our packed lunch around 2:30.
At 3:30 we touched Ankola, on NH17. Though its not actually Ankola, its still around 5-7 kms towards the left from that T-junction. Again, there is another Kamath Upchar almost at that junction, and you would need to travel around 2 kms to get there.
From there its around 110 kms to Margao, which you can cover in around 2-2.5 hours depending on the weather and not really much on the traffic.

We returned back the following week, on a sunday morning. We started at 9 from home at Goa, considering the fact that, there is a mad traffic if we touch Bangalore around 6-7 in the evening. Its anyday better to reach a little late after the peak has subsided, and at the same time, we dont need to leave early in the morning from home.
On the return path, we first stopped at the Kamath Upchar at Ankola, which I had referred to in my last paragraph. From there we did a non-stop to Hubli and stopped just after getting on the NH4 highway. There is another Kamath Upchar out there. Unfortunately, it was jam-packed since we had reached there at prime lunchtime. So we decided to anyway, get into the parking lot and eat the packed lunch that we had carried with us, along with the not-so-hot tea.  Then as it started to get darker, we did keep eating the titbits that we had carried, and shifting the driving seat does help a lot. After around 200 km, towards Bangalore, we get the last Kamath Upchar we normally stop. (Though there is another after some 25 km and an A1 Plaza too).
The biggest bottle next on our entire journey was the toll booth at the entrance of the flyover near Nelamangala. It took around 20 min just to pay and come out. And then again it was pretty smooth and we had reached home in standard Bangalore timings. The return trip took us 12 hours 45 min to be exact, which was not bad considering we were entering Bangalore.

There are numerous toll booth's on the way, and each way would cost you around 200 on each side. considering the fact that, 2 toll booth's still are not yet ready. Once ready they will start to charge 35-40 each.
The NH 4 highway(till Hubli), is completely done now and one doesn't need to take detours and go on the wrong side of the road due to on-going constructions. It's just one straight smooth road and perfect driving pleasure.


Mausam - Bad Weather

Movie Review - Mausam
One line feedback - Avoid

If you still would want to watch this movie, then this should be one of the reasons-
  1. You  like to watch good photography.
  2. You like to participate in KBC and want to know  chronologically, the events which have happened over the past decade for the fastest finger first(Operation Blue star, Babri Masjid, Kargil War, 9/11,Gujrat Riots).
  3. You want to believe that bad luck does exist and one family can effected with all the major bad events which have occurred the whole decade across the world.(As mentioned above)
  4. You have a special interest in locks  which are built across the worlds. 
  5. You like to know and/or get nostalgic about the old telephone system and see they would get dialled and the listen to the good old ring tones.
  6. You want to see how to get a kick from riding a bicycle, and a good inspiration to start cycling again. Environment friendly reason off course.
Probably Pankaj Kapur wanted to create a serial of all the major events (man made disasters) and ended up putting everything into a movie and wanted to be displayed on a big screen. 

Some other analysis which we managed to do during the course of watching this fast paced movie.

  • When Shahid went to throw a bomb on Tiger hill during the Kargil war, did he keep in mind that Hrithik was also on the same assignment but poor fellow was climbing all the way up. Didn't he think what would have happened to him ? There seems to be lack of logistics,and bad communication.
  • Shahid , (at the end of the movie) standing at the door or a train bogey, aka suicide scene in Jab We Met, he was holding the support with his one hand (while the other one is paralysed), and his ex-flame offers him tea. Was it a trick that she was playing as he could have lost balance and neither was kareena present there to save him...
Now if you can understand , what this movie can do to a sane person like me, you can decide pretty well where to spend your money for entertainment.

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Canon PhotoMarathon 2011

Had registered for this marathon couple of weeks back and sure enough got a call from the organisers and the followed up with an email about the registration details. Somehow, I didn't want to miss it out this year and though it was a sunday morning, I woke up on time to reach the venue on time. This time was a new venue and was next to the Mallya Hospital. Parking was a pain and had to find something couple of kms away.
The registration counter was quite fast and we had to sign a couple of documents and then we received the id card and a white t-shirt with the logos and we were all set for the marathon.

At 10 am sharp, the first theme was announced. There were in all 3 themes and each theme had to be completed in 1.5 hours. The first theme was 'Games People Play'. Though it was interesting topic but not easy to get one,especially on a sunday morning. And yeah, I did miss my zoom lenses, as they have caught up with fungus. I was armed only with my kit lens (18-55) and a prime lens of 50mm. Spend some 45 min in walking around that place, near the Mallya hospital, Kanteerva Stadium and then near the UB city. Didnt really find anything interesting for the theme except the tricks that people play near the traffic signals (which probably even I do). It was nice noticing that and took a lot of shots. 

Walking just you get a different view of the place and you can get to see a lot of details. I didn't know that there was a Harley-Davidson showroom in that part of town, though it's the right place for such kind of bikes, considering the number of expensive cars that I normally see in a very short spell of time. 
There was an interesting picture that I managed to take , in a house,a very style house with a lot of garden area and an auto-rickshaw parked inside. It did make a nice shot, considering, its exactly opposite the Harley-Davidson showroom.


Some of the shots which I had considered for the 1st theme are below.
From PhotoMarathon-2011

This Ambulance, which was empty, was trying to enter the one-way street from the wrong direction and a policeman standing there, didn't quite mind it. But I didnt manage to get the pic where the police and the ambulance were in the same frame. 

After submitting the 1st theme at 11;30, there was a Kannada film actress who had come for the event, Aindita Ray. She was asked some silly question's which she gave some weird answers. She also got a free canon dslr :( Everyone in the hall felt bad about it, as it was quite evident that she didnt know the value of that camera. She did pose with the camera and everyone took a lot of her pics. She also let out the next theme, which was even more trickier to even think of.
The theme was something like this, though I dont seem to remember the exact words. ' Instilling the values in the next generation'. This was a real tough one even to get close to it. There were a few schools around who were playing different games. We all went there to get some ideas. I didn't have much luck there too and went ahead. Finally managed to get something in the coffee day where I went to have a quick bite.

Later on after a lunch served by the organisers, the 3rd theme was unveiled, which was simple and could get lots of ideas. The theme was ' Thinking Green'. I did get a lot of photos for this and I submitted the one which I felt good at the last moment, though it might not be the best one.

Nevertheless,here are some of the photos. Though a very tiring day, with a lot of walking done in a single day, and that too trying to get creative, was not that easy. I guess thats the reason, its called a 'Marathon' and not just a contest. Hats off to Canon to have such an event held every year. They also had a Service center for canon's and they did a neat job of cleaning the sensor of my camera and also cleaned the lens. The lens looks much better now and the photos looking a lot crispier.

From PhotoMarathon-2011

A biker crossing over to the wrong side of the road

The Biere Club.

The Harley Davidson showroom

Arranging the coffin outside the Mallya Hospital

Correcting the time on the clock

Only we know, how easy or difficult it is to have such tariff plans :)


Half Full or Half Empty

Participants uploading the pictures 

Impressive caption at Mallya hospital

Thinking Green- The camels on busy bangalore roads. The petrol prices dont effect much on them

At the Coffee Day