Super singer 2008 - My favorites

Airtel super singer has been such an obsession. Thursdays through Sunday feels very different when this program is not relayed. I have been following it quite regularly and the obsession doesnt get justified without a blog post! Just adding my favorites from the show so far, see if you like them



Not a great fan of Ragini. But here along with Ravi it was quite a performance!



Missed this on the show, but thanks to youtube! Vijay truly rocked!



Wished Renu believed in herself. If someone can create magic, its she



Just a 'Wow' to that. Ravi's ego is easily visible generally. When he can get rid of it and enjoy singing, the outcome is like this!

Other performances I did not have patience to search little deeper on Youtube, but worth mentioning are - Ajeesh's 'Amma enrazhaikkadha' and Prasanna performance on disco round.

Irrespective of who wins the show, the memories it created is unbelieveable. To hear one the voices for yuvan will be interesting

Smiles,
Vinayak

Does this Xpress Impress?

A phone review, As posted by me as envyram on Mouthshut.com

First, let us get into a bit of history. My first mobile phone was Samsung and it had an amazing additional feature which not many models had – an alarm clock. Now, seven years after, mobile phone manufacturers are basking in on the mobile phone addiction that people have got into. They realize that the man and the mobile phone are inseperable, and they add every feature which someone would want into this amazing gadget called mobile phone (I am wondering why it is still called that).

Nokia's 5800 Xpress music is such a wonder when it come to features. You name it and this phone has got it. Starting from a large 3.2” touch screen, it has a 3.2 MP camera, 2 LOUD speakers, GPS, Maps, Radio, Web browsing, WAP and phew an alarm clock as well!! Only it doesnt calculate my average sleep cycle based on how I set the alarm clock and the number of 'snooze' I make before getting up and I cant take the phone with me when I go for bath!

Getting on to serious business, first most attractive feature of 5800 is its big clear 65 million color screen. With a high-quality Asin wallpaper, it got the drool out from few guys. I must admit here that the drool had nothing to do with Asin. The screen is very visible in even brightest of sunlights. The touch itself is not as exceptional as an Iphone or as unresponsive as a buffalo's skin, but lies somwhere in between. The little vibrations when you touch, is interesting. The phone also features a full-fledged web browser that supports flash (to let you see animations and video sites like Youtube). Large screen with uninterrupted browsing makes it quite an experience. But the phone picks up a lot of finger prints damaging its beauty.

The phone also does justice to what it is called – Xpress music. The phone comes with and 8GB external memory card and some pre-loaded songs. When you add songs, it quickly refreshes the library. Just couple of touches gets you into the music player and you get going. The loudspeaker output is a little distorted at highest volume, but when you want to play a song for friends you can sure make them hear it.

As I said, the phone has most features you would expect from a high-end phone. There is a lot of Nokia-ness in the phone as well. So if you are just upgrading to a better phone amongst Nokia, you should get going in no time. Other external aspects like plugging in the SIM like a memory card, a normal head phone jack (to which you can connect any headphone and not necessarily Nokia's), accessories like cool mobile-case, a stand(!) and the ear-phones are all impressive. The 3.2 mega pixel camera is nice and has a flash powerful enough to make people blink when you click. The Phone is little big for today's standars, but is not heavy or bulky.

Every mobile manufacturer, these days, is pushed to include Iphone-ish features. Nokia is no exception. The accelerometer (I'm 90% sure that is what it is called) works reasonably well i.e. your images, applications get tilted to landscape and potrait as you tilt your phone. When you are browsing images, you can just slide you fingers and .... wait ... wait .... you get the images. In Nokia the Symbian sluggishness in inevitable, but I should say, it was not as bad as I thought.

While the phone has many features that will make you excited, it has a few that can certainly annoy. The camera is strategically placed so that your index finger doesnt miss the camera lens whenever you hold the phone. I cannot call this the most annoying for the fact that you will get used to it i.e. touching the lens. I had a Motorola A1200 before this one. It was a small phone with loads of features. Best of them was user friendliness. This is one aspect Nokia is far behind. For instance, in my motorola I had this @ symbol on the QWERTY keyboard. It is just a small thing, but was of immense use when I used to type email addresses. In Nokia, I have to switch the keyboard to see the symbol. I use to have a right-mouse-click kind of option on my motorola. In Nokia it is all menu driven. Surprisingly, I found a 'Copy' pop-up appearing when I selected a text in the email application. But that is not found in all applications. Also, few applications open on single touch and few others on double touch. Small things like these add up to show that Nokia has a long way to go when it comes to consistency in user interface.

Last but not the least, the battery life is quite impressive for a smart-phone. After all of my fidgeting as soon as I bought the phone, the battery laster for 2 days. That included couple of hours of music, few clicks is the dark getting the flash to work and I had hardly put the phone down (so the screen would have been lit for at least some hours). When I dont hear to much of music and when the camera is mostly off, I re-charge once in 3 days. I found that impressive.

Oh, did I mention I can make calls, receive calls and send sms using this phone! On a final note, if you are used to smart phones and have seen and used one before, this phone does not have anything much different to offer. But the most important things is, it has it all, and comes for just 19K while the Samsung Omnias and Blackberry storms and the Iphones cost you a fortune. If you can live with Nokia's usual sluggishness, and if you are getting your first touch smart-phone, you should feel nothing short of excited.

Regards,

Envyram

(p.s. Thanks for reading a lengthy review, if you have come this far)

Rewind 2008

I should admit I am not really sentimental about New year and stuff. But, 2008 was an extraordinary year for me and so couldn't help myself from not writing this one. 

I spent most of the first 4 months in a state of desperation. I wanted to get back home and spend some time with my parents and sister. My manager finally agreed that I can go back home (I was in UK, btw). Booked my tickets for 5th May and year 2008 was such a roller coaster from there on.

In general, it has been an exasperating year in both personal and professional life. As I mentioned earlier, had to spend most of my time convincing (euphemism for "fight") my manager, for a release from the project. If that is not exasperating enough, the later half of 2008 had loads of health troubles in store for family and friends (closest ones).  I also failed terribly attempting to switch my career.

Amongst all these, there were moments that I cannot forget. The best of the lot:

Moment of triumph:

I cleared the driving test in UK, and in first attempt. People say to get a driving licence in UK is one of the toughest things. But there were things tougher than that - training yourself for the driving test. My instructor Alan said, "My clients say that taking a driving test in UK is a lot easier than driving with me". How true! It was such a relief that I would not have to drive under the supervision of Alan again!

Lake District trip

It was a trip for a lifetime. 2 Cars, 8 of us and loads of fun. First time I felt the freedom of driving in Motorways after getting the licence. That was the smallest part of the fun. We stayed in a beautiful cottage with amazing facilities. The places we visited were just so amazing and the frequency match among 8 guys was incredible.

From Lake District

The moment of horror!

I should not have taken our crippled Rover (it had a head-gasket issue) out that day. I was about to travel back home the next day, and it was a big risk taking out a dying car out on road without insurance (which I had cancelled). The car stopped in the middle of London road and there was heavy traffic. Me and Stephen (my friend) were pushing the car up the slope for around 20-25 minutes and holding up traffic. How lucky we were that the police did not come (1) It was a crime to drive without Insurance, (2) If I was held up in UK, my VISA was about to expire in another 5 days!!

That was the biggest risk of my lifetime. We then had to scrap the car

Happiest moment

I landed in Chennai and reached home. First thing I did after refreshing myself was to take my bike and visit my Sister. That was the first time I was seeing her after her marriage and it had been an year since. I realized how much I had missed her.

Will I see that girl again?

When you take your handkerchief out of your pocket, your keys can fall quite often. But not quite often you hear a "excuse me" to find a beautiful girl running towards you from behind and hand the keys over to you. I am not speaking about a dream I had; it was all real. And only in movies, after such a sequence a hero gets to see a heroine again.  

Cricket retires

Can still remember how sad I felt when Anil Kumble retired. More on my earlier post:

http://unintelligiblescribblings.blogspot.com/2008/11/why-cricket-is-life.html

These are the ones that comes to my mind immediately when I think of 2008.

Tough times I spoke about earlier came to an end early in December 2008. And, I decided on a few things to-do that I have always wanted to do. These are not my new year resolutions, new year is just a coincidence! Next post on my to-dos

Smiles,

Vinayak

His impact outside offstump!

"On the off side, first there is God and then there is Ganguly", said Rahul Dravid. I am not quoting it here to begin my  review like a school essay, but to begin with the best thing anyone has ever said about Sourav Ganguly, the prince of  Calcutta. That is the thing he should be the first known for - his elegant batting. Over 7000 test runs and over 11000 ODI  runs is a phenomenal achievement. But, Ganguly's legacy is much more than that.

There are only two kinds of cricket fans - Dada lovers and Dada haters. But when it comes to his retirement, people are of  only one kind - the saddened ones. He would let the ball through his legs for a boundary and would also take a stunning  backward running catch. He would look silly against every short ball and would also come back to score a mesmerizing century;  He made me write '5 good reasons to drop Ganguly' in one of my earliest review and now he makes me write that he will be  missed. Such is his personality. He is easily the most indeterministic and pulsating personality to have played for India.

There are many things one could speak of Ganguly - his batting, his leadership abilities, his contributions to Indian  Cricket, etc. But what stands apart in Ganguly is his incredible inability to flinch. Right from the fast bowlers to the  media, everyone has kept bowling bouncers at him; and everytime they threw him away, he only came back to make stronger  statements, not just at the press conferences but with also his performance. 

What stands apart in Ganguly is his incredible inability to flinch

Pre-Ganguly era of Indian cricketers were tacticians, but were known to be fragile. Ganguly showed the Indian team how to  play the sport with fire. India has had equally passionate, popular and angry men like Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev. But no  one could rub off their attitude on to the other players as Ganguly did. When he was ecstatic, the entire team was ecstatic.  When he was down in mood, again, the entire team was down. His influence was immense. In a sense, he was a true leader. 

It was nice to see Ganguly finish on a winning note. It was a terrific and great gesture when Dhoni asked Ganguly to captain  the side for some 5 overs in the final test. And to see Sourav, wearing coolers and dictating the field, commanding was such  a sight. A sight that would make every Sourav fan nostalgic and delighted. That final few moments will remain in my heart  forever. On records, he is the best captain for India so far and would remain that way, for his impact is a lot more than  just record wins. He created that spark, that infectious 'attitude' which intimidated even the strongest of oppositions. He  will be remembered for his perosnality, he will be remember for being 'Dada'.

Why Cricket is life

My friend had forwarded me an article from Cricinfo:
http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/376791.html
Everyword is such a truth in that it reflects perfectly the state of mind of the 20-25 year olds around. It was a sensational read and a nostalgic one

I was shell shocked when Kumble announced his retirement. There was a turbulance that I could not explain to myself. I was speaking with my friends and colleagues that it felt really sad to see Kumble leave; This day when I saw Ganguly for the last time playing for India, the feelings got a lot worse. I would have cried if it wasnt for the "grown-up" cover on me. True, if it wasnt for cricket and MY generation of cricketers, the child in me would have gone. I cannot explain what I would feel when I see Dravid, my favorite cricket, go. Just the anticipation of it is terrible
Whoever said that cricket is a religion, I realize now that has not said it to make a quotable quote; but it is just ground truth. Cricket has been everything in life. Cricket on streets, cricket with soft ball, cricket with cork ball, cricket with cricket ball, cricket with a stick and plastic ball inside home, and book cricket. Probably movies came close to such a passion, but when Rajinikanth and Kamal Hassan got older, it did not matter. It would not matter if they do not act anymore as well.

I have not seen India's struggle for independence against the British. But if I can draw an analogy to Cricket, the Sachin-Sourav-Dravid-Laxman-Kumble era was that, an period of cricketing struggle to make India a strong team. Just Sachin, Dravid and Laxman are still around. But it is obvious that they are just clinging on. When they leave, India might become a dominant cricketing team we have always dreamt off all these years. But without them it is hard to cherish that dream-come-true.

India has found Dhoni to lead Indian cricket. Transitions have happened even during the Sachin-Sourav-Dravid-Laxman-Kumble days. But this, is a clear mark of a new Cricketing era. When these oldies are retiring one after the other, the child in me is slowly dying. Cricket might still be fascinating; but it is not the Cricket I have known, I have seen and I have grown with.

Not the way Mr. Dhoni

As posted by me as envyram @ mouthshut.com

Dhoni has this incredible gift as a captain - to make things happen. He made it happen yet again on 3rd day of the final test match between India and Australia. From a position of 189/2 at close of play yesterday, Australian side just managed few more but lost 8 wickets on day three to finish at 355 all out. I just happened to read this comment from an reader at Cricinfo "Dhoni can walk on water". That summed it up

However, it takes us back to couple of cliches ... the cliches of debates and the cliches of Cricket .

The Cliche of debates - Does the end justify means?

There is no answer to this in general, but when it comes to sports it does have an answer. Sports is all about playing the game "fair". When you do not give a chance for the opponent to win, you have not been fair. As a cricket fan, I do not mind seeing India end up losing in a quest for victory; A victory in a fair way. Now, even if India happens to go on to win, I am not too sure if I would be entirely proud. There would be that lingering bitterness of not having played fair cricket.

Indian writers have been equivocal about Dhoni's tactics. They have also criticized Australia for not taking the game ahead! We have not been fair to them on field, let us be fair to them atleast off the field! The boring day's cricket can be attributed to none other than Dhoni.

Few even claim that India was not negative, but only Defensive! Such a thin line between the two. Whatever the terms used, it was evident that Cricket was played as it should not be

The Cliche of Cricket - How to make test matches interesting?

One of the funniest remarks I have heard with respect to test cricket is the comment by Richie Benaud. When Geoff Boycott said "Test matches are boring", Richie replied,"Well ... who made it boring?!". The state of test cricket is not discussed only recently after the advent of T20, but it has remained since the days of 1950s when anything bowled at Boycs was well ... left.

Those looking for the answer for - how to make test cricket better, would have found the answer today. It was such a boring days cricket to see bowlers bowl wide of offstump and batsman not using their bat. Any rule ICC brings to halt an 8-1 field or anything the governing body tries to do will not make test cricket interesting. It is up to the players to play for a win and make cricket intersting.

Dhoni's defensiveness could have been justified if the bowlers had bowled at the stumps and still managed to keep the runs in check; trying to choke the runs is OK as long as it is done the right way.

It is so strange to see such a defensive tactic from Dhoni, who was at his aggressive best in the 320 run massacre of Australia at Mohali. Those who justify the tactics are definitely the ones who did not watch the match, but just the score. Those who would have seen would know, the tactics used by India today is not good for both the spectators and for the spirit of Cricket

Copyrights, Piracy et al

At office we all (team members) had to do a presentation. When it was my turn, I presented this ... just thought could share it here



When you find time, please check (just few slides) and let me know your comments

Smiles,
Vinayak

The concept of my dream

Friends, this is an official announcement, think of a press-release alike :)

I have always dreamt to be an entreprenuer. When (and if) I become one, I would be having a corporate with social responsibility (CSR). I thought, instead why not create a corporate for social responsibility. What was just a thought has become a little more serious at this stage:

www.responsibleindiandrivers.com/

You might find nothing there and it is still in a conceptual stage, but almost there to become an existing entity. To just start off with things, I have invested a tiny Rs.500 by registering the domain.

What it aims to do?

• Make people sensible road users

Thats it. Yes, thats it to start with.

While, there are n number of non-profit organizations creating awareness, doing charitable activities, etc., most of them lose steam because of various reasons:

• Requires volunteers (there are not many around, and those around not always around)
• Funds: Most of them work on donations. Shortage of funds becomes inevitable after some stage
• Clarity in objective: Many charitable start-ups do not specialize. While the effort to contribute in everyway is commendable, they become victims of their own over-enthusiasm and doing-everythings

I am keen to set up something that works by itself. Creates money for itself, without donations. Creates new opportunities to explore. 

Why Driving?

1. There are many organizations for other social activities - charity, the keep city clean greens, children educations etc. While I would love to do these too, I wanted to do something that is a just a tad different
2. I see it creating the new opportunities later, even for activities as above

Why this blog post?

I should not be doing only thinking and only talking. I am committing myself here to get to action. I am not alone in this. Doing this along with my friends who have been a part of, well ME. Might require all your help as well, to spread the word. Not now, but when it takes a reasonable shape. Also, requesting here your comments and any new ideas I can pick up to implement as a part of 'responsible Indian drivers'.

More updates to follow, pretty soon ...

Smiles,

Vinayak

Chennai Marathon - Unorganized crap

The race was about to begin at 6:30 at island grounds. I have run two half-marathons in my life but none in our own country. So was excited, really excited, to see a marathon happening and happening at such a large scale in Chennai. But this pleasant rainbow early Sunday morning was my only gain out of Chennai Marathon. Had to get to the place first, before participating. Beach road was blocked at Napier's bridge at around 5:45. Take diversion ->

We got around to the island grounds assuming the race would be from there (as it was mentioned everywhere including its website). We parked our bike there and when we came out, heard an announcement that the race started at the Secretariat! Oops, we had only some 5 minutes before the race.

We inquired if we can take the bike there and if a parking is available. We had to ask this only to a policeman as there were no volunteers around, in the parking area, and even on the stages set-up just outside the parking area. We took the policeman's word and started on our journey to the Secretariat! Take diversion ->
Not to see the finish line would be an awful feeling alright, but not to see the Start line is an awful feeling altogether on a different league
When we got the road directed by the policeman, there was another policeman blocking us. He just said, you cannot enter. I asked him, then how do I get to the Secretariat. He said, "That, I do not know!". More diversions and we ended up near Central. Another policeman said that all roads to Secretariat were blocked and no vehicles can enter! Now, I decided that I would place the bike in the same place (Island grounds) and walk. By the time I made up my mind, even the road to Island grounds was blocked! Take diversion ->

I quit and reached home. But, where were the volunteers??! I know I cannot believe policemen who might not have the correct information. But couldn't spot anyone who might direct me correctly. I agree that perfectly organizing such a grand event is a tall ask. But there should be some organizing at least, when they know the crowd will be massive.

Wycombe half marathon was my first and Silverstone was my better half (marathon) in terms of timing :) But both were in UK. I wanted Chennai to be my best. It did not happen. Not to see the finish line would be an awful feeling alright, but not to see the Start line is an awful feeling altogether on a different league. Hope those who made it to the Start line had good fun

(Some updates after I read/heard all the news: http://www.mouthshut.com/diary/djgdonou/Give-life-Chennai-Marathon-takes-away-a-life)

Mahi way

Been a long time since I have posted on Cricket ... but couldn't resist posting this one.

It has been such a joy to see India beat Srilanka. It has been funny and frustrating to watch Indian batsman crumble against 'Mendis the menace' in Asia cup and the test series, but Dhoni has shown the way to win even during the most difficult days.

Days have not been difficult only because of Mendis. India's batting form has, in general, dipped; Ishant Sharma, the one with thin frame but with abilty to produce those thick edges from batsmen, is sitting off with an injury; Sehwag, in ominous form, has been away with injury as well (OK, lemme include Sachin in the list as well, for the sake of his fans). To add to all this, India is playing away from home, and we all know even best of the sides can look silly on foreign lands.

Srilanka has its own share of woes as well. People may argue its Srilanka's bad form, plus the likes of Malinga, Maharoof missing has been advantageous to India. But compare these to India troubles I have mentioned above. Clearly, India were lesser favorties to win the series.

Though, the series win is a collective team effort, a major chunk of the credit goes to Dhoni. He has done the right thing by winning the toss and electing to bat first all 4 times :) . Kidding apart, he has led from the front - played a big role with the bat in each of India's wins. He is cool and practical and has an admirable ability to inspire. Indian team is still winning and losing and havent become indomitable yet. But there is a sharp change in attitude and the way they approach the game. This is so heartening to see. If I attribute this change to Dhoni, there would be no FAE (Fundamental attribution error) on my part.

From a just wild slogging batsman, Dhoni has clearly worked his way up and going strong. Way to go Mahi ...

India, Iphone, Tata Nano, deadlock et al !!

My RSS feed has been flooded with Iphone news and has not yet ceased even after month of its launch. First thing that comes to my mind is the number of Indians who might have been the 'workforce' and 'brains' behind a Safari browser or a chip that lies inside Iphone. What if we used all these people to build a product from India?

India has been known for its 'services' ,but more the services grows in India, there will be some other economy that will grow exponentially. For instance, let us say a software company wins a project from a Insurance company. The Insurance company will not invest in the software if it does not expect a huge return out of its investment. So, at least theoretically, we do a 'service' for other economies to grow.

When does India become the India we dream of? From the little economics I know, I can see it happening only when India develops more 'products'. Tata Nano has been the only such product I am aware to have made the world look up. But that too for its cost-effectiveness or to put blatantly for being 'cheap'. Nevertheless, it could create news.

India is definitely capable of producing more products. There is no dearth for talent, we all know. But, a huge investment is often needed to conceptualize-and-develop a product. And if the product doesnt sell after all that? This is the risk Indian manufacturers or potential manufacturers cannot take. This is the reason why, I guess, most of the guys with money dont invest in Products. Not even software companies with such expertise doesnt venture into products.

So, we need money (i.e our economy to grow) to develop products. And we need to develop products for our economy to grow to that extent. A deadlock here, I guess. How do we get over this?!

If you want it, you gotto pay for it

If you would feel what I am going to say is silly, thats exactly the pathetic state I am about to discuss.

Piracy is one common thing in the world these days. It is so common that not many realize it is actually illegal. I am pretty sure you would not be shoplifting or picking pockets. Piracy is just as bad as these. So, you have now guessed what would follow ... some gyan like do not watch movies online, buy original music CDs and do not download songs illegally, do not crack software; only use originals, etc?? Not quite, but close ...

I just want to jot down what I do to help myself away from piracy:

1. I listen to songs online or on radio or from somewhere. If I like the songs, I buy original CDs and then copy to my Ipod or whatever. But I BUY.
2. I buy original software. I paid 5000 bucks for my OS on my laptop. I use only FREEWAREs like google products and affiliates - Firefox, Star Office, Thunderbird, etc. I do not even have the MS-Office, invariably pirated on most people's laptop/PCs.
3. I do not watch movies online/download. I go only to theater or buy original DVDs of the classics I like very much. If I am outside India and happen to miss a movie because of that, I can take it. I am not going to die just for not watching a movie

I might still breach the law somewhere without my knowledge. But I am trying to get there - a honest life.

Even my good friends do not bother about piracy and stuff. Some give it a damn, most of them do not realize the seriousness. I see links to movie sites, passwords for software hacks etc on my friends' blogs. For some reasons, I get really flustered when I see these. And again, I am not asking anyone to change or anything. I already feel stupid for have posted this, and might feel stupider if I ask people to stop piracy. I just had to vent my disappointments out ... and no other place is better than my blog which people rarely vist (including me)

Tragic end to the rolling mouse ...

Of all the gadgets I use, my favorite is the mouse; or at least used to be. I used to share my feelings to the mouse! The force of my mouse clicks, the force of my drag, my silly fidgeting of the little device all used to reveal my emotions!

The best feature of the mouse used to be the 'mouse ball'. You can dismantle it and play with the ball when you have had enough clicking to do on your PC. Half the time, the mouse would get struck and if you remove the ball, clean the wheels it used to run better. It was good time pass. Then this innocuous middle-click. Not many applications recognizes this button and you can keep clicking it - 1. To frustrate people 2. To make people believe you are working

Now, its all replaced with LED trackings and laser trackings. Then there is wireless mouse; size has shrunk; There is a wheel instead of middle click. And when it doesnt have a wire (and not resemble a mouse), how can we still call it a mouse. Gone are those days of mouse, makes me nostalgic!

Smiles,
Vinayak

Why people dont read my blog?

Not really tough to see why people dont read my blog ...

1) I dont update it quite often
2) All that I write is almost always unintelligible scribblings
3) I myself cant get my url right on first attempt: http://unintelligiblescribblings.blogspot.com (hope this is right!)

If you happen to read this, I am pretty sure you have landed here by mistake; misled by a horrible search engine or you are my dearest friend. Whatever category you fall, please click the ads link anywhere here. That would fetch me some money to buy you a gift ;) yes, you can trust me :)

Smiles,
Vinayak

I am a software professional ...

One way to ensure that a guy is in software is to check his addiction to email. This is what my 'today's fortune' on Orkut said:

Today's fortune: Your happiness is intertwined with your outlook on life

I never read this section, but when I did, I read it as:

Today's fortune: Your happiness is intertwined with your outlook file

Someone get me out of this software sh*t please!

Beauty ... love .. and me

There are many people who tirelessly say that beauty is not THE thing. It might not be, but it is hard to rule out the role of beauty in anybody's life. Eiffel tower is one such majestic beauties I have got lucky to watch. But , I am not here to write about that. When I visited Paris in December 2006, I saw another beauty in front of the Eiffel.

I have always been or tried to be a 'good guy'. But as soon as I saw this girl, I forgot all about the world wonder in front of me. I took candid means to capture a good snap of this beauty. It was like she went straight into my heart. I could hardly manage a decent picture. I cursed myself to have bought a cam with only 3X zoom. To my rescue came my senior colleague (along with whom I visited Paris). We captured a few with his camcorder. What happened to all the 'gentleman'ism inside me? Probably that is what beauty can do.

She was posing in front of another beauty, the Eiffel and what a sight! She was sitting on a wall and I blurted out, "Careful!" without my own conscience. If she wasn't there with a group of friend I might have tried, "Excuse me. You speak English? What are the chances that you are single and a stranger gets lucky?". Something I can never imagine myself doing. Is this what beauty can do?!

I mentioned about this girl to one of my best friends when I was back. She said laughingly, "she might be one of those smoking types .. ha ha". I couldn't accept that. I felt she should be a nice girl ... this hope and faith for a stranger! Is this what beauty can do?


And what do I do after a year since I saw this beautiful girl; write a blog post. Just a glimpse for you of her (deliberately blurred to follow netiquette). I know it is not good to have taken photos of her without her consent. But, did someone say All is fair in love(?) and war?! Can I be excused on that grounds? And finally, what are the chances that she sees this blog post and identifies "Hey thats me.." and sues me!

Wide angle

(Normal 35mm)

(Wide angle conversion)

Got a very very cheap deal on conversion lenses for my Panasonic dmc fz50. I got a 2X telephoto + .5X wide angle with 3 filters and little accessories.

Could not resist testing the wide angle immediately. It has its obvious advantages. You can see the difference in the snaps. Wide angle covers more ... But, I was utterly disappointed at the dark rings on the edges. These are the lens rim itself. When you are capturing a beautiful landscape you wouldnt want this. And cutting out these would only mean around .7X wide angle and .5x is no use. Also, I can zoom in a little while capturing and even that would not be .5x.

Not sure if I need to do anything special to avoid the blacked out edges. Or would it be like the camera can afford only up to .7x (the original provided by panasonic is only .7x). Or is the conversion lens defective? Some expert advise comments would be helpful. Thanks in advance!

-Vinayak

High-wycombe/Marlow the funny side

It is natural that we think, in a foreign land everything would be perfect. One instance that made me think, "Ellaam namma ooru mari dhaan". See the pic below ... the sign for library is straight pointing into railway station!














This pic is not clear. Saw a waterway nearby my office. When we got near, this is what it read (apart from those you can clearly read) "We are not responsible for loss of life or limbs"!! Aiyo, adhaan Danger nu solleeteengaley da ... idhu veraya.













First sign, I read before entering new office at marlow!!

Get the colors out, hail Picasa!

Naah ... it gets too tough handling a camera to get the true colours out. Look what Picasa has done it for me after I had taken the snap. Just amazing! Just had to know the technique ... which is nothing but click the button on Picasa!

When I tried to take a photo ...

After getting this new FZ50, I got hooked on to it. I saw a photo of a friend of mine with that moving effect of a bus on one of the London bridges. Reminded me of the photo I took during my parents visit and I had created the same effect, by chance, when I didn't know the shutter speed and all that. Now that I know and I have a cam, wanted to try creating that shot.

(From Joe's album ... See Joe's blog from the links)

Took my cam out on to the street and was experimenting. Couple of cars passed ... then I saw a car stopping by my side and the voice from inside asked "Why are you taking the picture of my vehicle?!". I was taken aback! I thought it was police and I had this apprehension already whether I can take snaps on roads and common traffic. Luckily it wasn't police. The guy who crossed turned all the way back to check what I was doing. "Dude I am just experimenting with my new cam!". He said, "It is illegal to take photo of a moving vehicle".

It just ended there. But, what nonsense! It is illegal to take picture of a moving vehicle ... ?? Is it OK to take a picture of non moving vehicle?? Anyways, I was just happy I did not get into any trouble.