Joy of capturing a good view

This was my 4th attempt to capture the San Francisco Beauty from an Island midway through the Bay Bridge called Treasure Island (Wondering at this point as to whether they found any treasure here or was this Island the setting for R.L.Stevenson's Treasure Island?? Gotta Wiki on this- There we go another Proper Noun used as a verb!!).

All my previous attempts were with a cheapo flimsy tripod of mine which was soo bad that a wind gust would have probably toppled it off. A reasonable wind certainly shook the tripod basically taking care that even though I did not hold the camera, there would be 'camera shake' involved. So much for using a tripod *rolls eyes*.
Anyway, so after buying the new tripod, I just had to try it one more time, especially since I was moving much farther away from the city to south bay and to commute to capture this image would be a total bore as it would require me to drive for 45mins or more maybe. So there we go, at around midnight, when the water in the bay was calm (and the fate finally deciding to give me a break and smile on me), I got this result. So pleased was I to see this result, that I just didnt want to return back at that time, I moved on to twin peaks, kept exploring for more shots and spent a night roaming around and get some more. So finally I am kinda happy with the result I was seeking. Also tagged along a friend so that it would appear as if I was showing him around and also I would have some company in the cold night. Looks like the stars were aligned perfectly that night, or maybe I should say the lights were aligned and the water still!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Eragon!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So yet another fantasy movie (Adapted from a book) is in the works, and soon to be released. As the title of the blog says.. its called Eragon. People who couldnt get enough of Lord of The Rings would definitely want to check this out. As far as the books go, definitely Lord of the Rings is the best among the most famous fantasies that I have read. Other than that I am not able to decide whether the next best is Harry Potter or Eragon(and Eldest- the second part of the series called Inheritance). While Potter series depicts dragons as evil, the main protagonist of Eragon is a Dragon.

For people who are interested here is a gist of what the three part story is all about (Yes Inheritance is a three part story but not a trilogy). I must remind folks that Lord of the Rings is a story told in three parts too and not a trilogy. Among the most famous trilogies are The Godfather, the original Star Wars (the three parts that were added much later is sometimes called prequel trilogy), Indiana Jones and Back to the Future series.

Harry Potter on the other hand is a Heptalogy ( a seven part story, although the stories are generally with the sole common link being good v/s evil). The only other possible Heptology that I recollect is Chronicles of Narnia.

Anyway (after my customary digression of the topic) so Dec 15th Eragon is releasing. The second part is called Eldest and the third part is unnamed as of now which would be the concluding part of the series. The wonderful thing about this novel series is that is written by a person called Christopher Paolini. Heard of him?? Evidently not!! Its no surprise that Tolkien is his inspiration and I think I should mention that he is just 23years old. Paolini created and wrote Eragon (published independently by his parents) at the age of 19. Heck I was struggling to get through my bachelors at that age and this kid writes a best seller.
Inheritance is set in a fantasy land (obviously!! what you were expecting England??) called Alagaësia. This land was inspired by the place where he lives-Paradise Valley (suffice to say this much, I think for more and probably accurate information, you would be better off reading wikipedia if interested. This way I probably wont be giving too much of plot away. So happy reading and viewing folks!!

Atra esterní ono thelduin/Mor'ranr lífa unin hjarta onr/Un du evarínya ono varda.

Blame it on Devdas

It all started when I was chatting with a friend at about 12:30am and telling that I plan to go and have a shave for the next day and she was rightly perplexed.
Shave at 12:30???
Well in my defense my logic was that I was not getting any sleep and I might as well shave and sleep an extra 15minutes in the morning (who doesn’t love to sleep an extra 15mins in the morning?)
Her expected response was Oh God!!... in the native tongue of course (speaking of which, have you ever noticed how easy its for people to type in English yet when u read it, its totally in the native tongue. Not only is it easy to type, its also easy for the other person to read….but oh anyway, back to where we were!!).
Well so I went into the bathroom and stared at the half beard on my face (it certainly was much more than a simple stubble, it was a proper 6 day half beard-that’s what we can call it) at about 1am and very wide awake at that point. But somehow the thought of splashing my face with water at that wee hour wasn’t enticing (yaa like its Bips in Dhoom-2 calling me.. *rolls eyes*. Oh Btw don’t waste your time on Dhoom-2, its nothing more than a Captain’s movie. You might as well download and leer at the person u wish to leer).
So with that half beard I roll into my bed and try to sleep…. and for some reason I just couldn’t sleep at all. It was then I realized that since its already pretty late, there is a very great chance I would wake up late and was wondering whether to sport a bearded look. On that thought, I went about speculating the reaction from the people. Some would just ask the explanation for the beard but yet a majority of people’s reaction would be—love failure??
Oh what nonsense?? Can’t a guy just sport a beard for the heck of it or to change his look?? BLAME IT ALL ON DEVDAS.. that’s right the lovelorn drunkard who destroyed his life and brought a bad name for the beard.
At this juncture I was trying to think of the explanation as to why people would assume so. That would most likely be that there are not much famous personalities who sport a beard and walk around. Even Albert Einstein wore a proper shaved looks. Speaking of the man… he could not spare time to set his the now famous unkempt hair, but had enough time to shave his beard (which apparently takes more time no matter how bad your hair can be). So right now my two attempts to Google (trust the Google company to take its name and coin it as a verb and also get accepted in the dictionary. Orkut is another example… anyway before I digress.. I do have to agree I digress a lot. Well getting back) up some famous personalities with beard has resulted in pretty much a negative response.
Oh well I did remember Dr.Manmohan Singh, but he is a Sikh and almost ever Sikh sport one (again digress…. I guess it’s in the genes of the Sikhs to be able to grow a full beard!! How does the bloody testosterone in a Sikh know that it needs to have more hairy characteristics?). Also how bad was I to forget Abraham Lincoln. I am wondering if we should take a poll around the country of USA and ask them to name a famous person with a beard, it would be fun to see how many people can recall Abe Lincoln. Tom Cruise had a beard for a short while, but that was not consistent.
So anyway as u can see, that not many famous people with beard are/were around, which brings us back to….. why did the poor beard get such a bad name as to be associated with lovelorn poor men?? I guess we should go about and try to change that conception.

Need to add a Disclaimer that I am talking of a full beard, not goatee or French beard which got pretty famous. There are of course many more types- the Sideburns, Van Dyck, chinstrap and what not. Search Wikipedia (This is not yet a verb) for more answers.

devil or deep sea.....

So who would u rather have as a friend- a back stabber or a back bitcher..............

....................well with friends such as these who needs enemies right??????

The wonderful Flying experience.

OK So Finally after 3 years, I managed to visit India for 3 weeks (an interesting stat that I am boring people with is --I visited India in '03 for 3 months and after 3 years I visited India again for 3 weeks).

Anyway was looking forward after all this time away from the home country, departed on 14th Oct and reached Singapore uneventfully (actually a wonderful flight experience aboard the Singapore Airlines) on 16th Oct morning 1am. The next connecting flight via Singapore airlines would mean a 19hr halt in Singapore and I was not at all interested in staying for such a long time. So took the much earlier Indian Airlines out of Changi Airport (Singapore Intl Airport) scheduled to depart at 7:50am. Well it was scheduled to depart, while in reality it was "re-timed" to depart at 11:50am. A cool 4 hr delay with no explanation whatsoever. The only thing offered was a measly breakfast coupon with which you could obtain yourself a a small dessert or a simple bun.

Coming to the flight itself--
Sing-BLR.
This was the earliest flight out of Singapore to BLR (the other otion was to wait until 8pm in evening to catch a SA to BLR) wanted to reach early hence took this flight.
The flight was "re-timed" to a 4hour delay and no explanation whatsoever was given. Finally got on board only to find the seats broken and of course the AC in the flight being a complete non-AC. Food was pretty average (Singapore Airlines served a better Indian Food than this crappy airlines). Absolutely no IFE to speak of, not even a distance single TV. All you could do was sleep. This was near impossible as the plane was shaking uncontrollably, in all possible degrees of freedom (It felt like they were trying to rip your innards out). They lacked even the basic amenities such as making sure that all passengers had an air-sickness bag with them. The result- people puked all over the aisle (you would expect that with the plane shaking repeatedly violently).
I am a guy with mild air-sickness but too much air travel over the past 5months was what just about kept me from throwing up. I was sweating profusely though and at the end was just freverently praying for a touchdown in Bangalore.
Lastly they stewardesses went about sparying some sort of aerosol in the plane and an announcement was made that this is safe. It was utterly ridiculous and I had never seen this before in any flight. It smelt more like a room freshener. At the end of it all, I was simply glad to make it out of the plane in one piece and not throw up. Me being a citizen of India am ashamed at the kind of service the country's airlines industry offers.
All this after an incredible flight in Singapore airlines from SFO to Singapore.

Never again do I plan to set foot in this airlines, I dont mind shelling out extra dollars and waiting the extra time, but its a definite no-no into Indian Airlines.

A total experience (not in a good way though) for the last sector of the journey. Boy was I glad that I am flying Singapore airlines all the way on my return leg. That was an excellent journey!!

Ab Dilli Door Nahin!!

So eons after procrastination, eons after not bothering to even move a muscle to blog something, I recently hit upon an blog idea. The reason I didnt Blog?????

I dont know, maybe it was writer's block, maybe it was no motivation, or simply maybe I was just plain lazy!!! Bottom line, I just didnt do justice at all to this wonderful location.

This is an attempt to change it........................

What is this about???? As the title says, Delhi is not far now, yes, not far.... not in distant future, but a more closer forseeable one!!!

More than 3 years it has been.......

After Aug 22nnd, I never realised that it would have to wait this long, never realised that setting foot on our soil is going to an eon!!!

The day I got some of my best roommates, that was the last time I was in India.................

Last time until now, until this year.................. until this week!!

Finally its all changed..... Never knew the route to India the next time after Aug 2003 would take a de tour through Canada, through Vancouver but it has, this is how it had to happen!!!!!


I would just like to share with you all the good feeling, actually a more relieved feeling that my visa stamping is finally done, finally I can leave the country and return in peace, and finally I get to go to India again after this long break!!

October 5th thursday I got my visa in vancouver, a relatively uneventful one at that. He literally saw no document except my employment verification letter and all he asked me was whether I completed my studies in USA, and what is my current work about. That was it, a short very brief but a smooth ride and after that I was set free to go and enjoy the joyous beauty of Vancouver. That completed, I confirmed my ticket to travel to India. I am leaving on saturday the 14th October (yes coming saturday) and return 3 weeks after. Its going to be another short trip, but hopefully it will be a pleasant one this time.

Meanwhile, I guess its time I end this one, until next time, and hopefully this time too in the near forseeable future, I bid adieu to one and all!!!!!!!!!

The art of Photography

Yes so I havent been able to devote too much time here. But thats only because, my thoughts are elsewhere. Currently occupied with photography. Guess I have taken too many things on my plate with blogging and photography too.

While this space is on hold. Check http://www.flickr.com/photos/46531613@N00/

................and so the year ends!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thats it, its over.......... The fun year of 2005 is over...... 2006 is here, and with it brought the dreaded 1st jan, I hoped to delay as much as i could........ much as I tried though, the second needle would never stop, with it, it would take the minute needle a little ahead and with them the hour needle moved forward....... hours turned to days, days to weeks, weeks to month and slowly 6months rolled itself over......... it brought an end to the year................

What am I rambling about here??????? or am I??? Today, after a wonderful, incredibly happy 6months time. Parents boarded the flight of Cathay Pacific, bound to Singapore enroute to Bangalore which would take them back to where it all started from....... and to the place where i never wanted it to get..... they have returnd back to India!!!!

Returned back to India...... leaving with me a feeling of emptiness.... in the house, in the car, everywhere around!!!! It would take some time to get back to normalcy, until then a void has been created......!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But I am going to turn.. move ahead..... if necessary forge through.... I have got by tougher times, this would pass too... A silent resolve within myself that I shall see them again, in less than a year's time... I will make it happen.......I will see them again before the year ends........

................meanwhile I hope they have fun time in Singapore and reach bangalore safely! After all, they yearn for their siblings tooo...... Much as I miss them, they would miss me too!!! Going back to cheerful surroundings. would ease them... and its just a matter of fone call away!!!!

The year of 2005...........................one I will always cherish!!!! always.....always.......yes always!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!