Random Thoughts and a photogenic world

I LEGO N.Y. - Abstract City Blog - NYTimes.com

2009-02-04T22:37:00.000-08:00

I LEGO N.Y. - Abstract City Blog - NYTimes.com

2007-04-21T00:26:00.000-07:00

having spoken against usage of flash.. i found the following links interesting on usage of flash..

http://digital-photography-school.com/blog/shooting-with-an-in-camera-flash/

http://digital-photography-school.com/blog/slow-sync-flash/

peace at last..

2006-11-01T11:39:00.000-08:00

In every waking moment there is restlessness,
but for the moment the song sounds complete
and the rustle of the leaves brushes lightly,
while the sound of music is replete

so sweet yet strange melodies sound
or my love for music is re- found
since my speakers and mind music abound
that even radio makes my heart go round

to be cont'd

Eye for a bargain...

2006-10-17T12:16:00.001-07:00

Eye for a bargain...

living life king size never kinda made sense... always looking for a bargain seems to be the order with most of people I know.. Though the degrees vary, i know people doing all sorts of crazy things to save a buck here and another there... from exploiting tax laws to avoid having to pay taxes, to going to corners of the city to save money, to getting down a few blocks and walking to save the tariff of bus from going into next zone..always looking for arbitrage opportunities, I think I have seen em all.. Not to be outdone, I too decided to save money and order for Home theatre speakers from Amazon, and have a friend get them from US for me, involving a host of friends and intermediaries in the process of acquiring... so finally I might be able to successfully pull it off if I get the Polk Audio speakers I finally placed an order for... sometimes I wonder if its all worth the effort, but immediately am consoled with the thought that I derived immense satisfaction from the hunt for bargain, and see I saved such a ton of money - but i miss the costs incurred - giving up time to play another game of TT, listen to music for a year, shifting into an apartment a year earlier -- The eye for bargain seems to have a blindspot for the effort put in.. and i start thinking again about the opportunity costs...
and the whole cycle of fun and pondering over the bargain commences once again in my head...
i guess i just need more work

Run for the city

2006-09-19T11:01:00.000-07:00

Just ran my first run for Bangalore today - it was an event organized by Times of India group as a wakeup call for citizens of Bangalore to rise and run to show their irritation at the way things in the city were being mismanaged...
The actual marathon and the half marathon were from early in the morning, and for the masses, TOI had scheduled a run at 10..
Getting there we could see festivities in the air - red caps, company logos on Tees, different companies using this event for their own publicity - the mood was clearly filled with excitement..
People were walking, jogging, running and some were there for the participation

I am sure that the Run for the city achieved its goal, displaying that Bangaloreans were conscious citizens - their turnouts was a proof enough. However, some disturbing observations - people running for the city didnt refrain from littering the city with their cereal bar wrappers, empty mineral water bottles, and other garbage items. Some even resorted to throwing water at each other - though not being able to contain their excitement and often landing up with spilling water on the other co-runners. This was saddening to see that the very people who were running for the city were not willing to give up their habits of throwing litter everywhere, with garbage, and human waste. Any thoughts on what could be a motivator for getting such people to use bins and toilets in lieu of city walls?

kickass theory

2006-09-13T09:37:00.000-07:00

'Kickass' seems to be the new lingo in schools, colleges, and everywhere you hear..
Everything which used to be either "Awesome!!", or "superb" or "fabulous", or "rocks", has now officially turned 'kickass'
Makes me wonder if there is a difference in the adjectives,
also, is there a central place where some really cool people lie and come up with the word of the period ?
where does this lingo originates and how does it spread?
who decides if it will be successfully used or if it will be junked
wish I had some kickass theory to explain it :)

conspiracy theory

2006-08-23T11:00:00.000-07:00

not sure if the heaven's have been conspiring against me
but could there be any other rational explanation to the following set of events which happened in such synchrony, that the best musician would be humbled...

situation - assignment due on Saturday morning, and a project report due Friday evening

friday night, at 1030pm the project report gets done,
i get a call, informing that internet at home has been restored, and I can go home, instead of staying back in office to complete the assignment.
I immediately post the work in progress to myself, so that i can continue from where i left it.
I reach home, only to realize that I had left my laptop at the institute
I get ready to go to the institute when i remember that i had given the bike for service just a day before
i decide to wake up early, go to institute and complete the assignment. Accordingly, i put an alarm for 4:00 am on 18th, when today is 17th night.
i get up the next day wondering why the alarm didnt go off, only to realize that i had been playing with the cell the previous night, and had reset the watch, only to set it once again to the correct time, but having forgotten to change AM to PM - and so when i got up the next day morning, my watch ws still 12 hours behind

all in a day - Almighty, you do work in strange manners

yaadien

2006-08-23T10:03:00.000-07:00

kal teri yaad din bhar aati rahi

na koi hadsa, na koi aisi khushi
jisme shaamil karna ki ho chaahat,
na koi puraane gile shikve
jinke bhulaane se zehan ko mile raahat
kal teri yaad din bhar aati rahi
yunhee din bhar teri yaad satati rahi

teri yaadon mei kyun hai basaa
mere jeevan ka saara nashaa
unH chand lamhoN mei hai kyun fasaa
mere dil ka chain, aur durdashaa
un chand lamhoN ke sahaare kya kategi
mere tanhaa zindagi ki har ghari

par jab bhi teri yaad aayi
jeene ki khoyee tamanaa khil uthi
to fir kyon buraa maanu
ki kal teri yaad din bhar aati rahi
is tanhayee ke aalam mein bhi
murjhaye gulon ko khilati rahi

Khud b khud ( Courtsey Punita)

2006-07-31T06:00:00.000-07:00

kabhi to mushkil hoti hai,
tamanna-e-dil samajhne mein,
aur chahat hoti hai,
kabhi samne khud-b-khud !

kabhi taalaab mein
ufan bhi nahin hota
kabhi uthne lagta hai
tufaan talayion mein khud-b-khud !

meri nigahon ke asar mein
farishte to tum ban gaye
par farishton ke safar bhi
dhalne lagte hain khud-b-khud !

Aashiyana banaya meine
badi majbooti aur pyar se
dolti duniya ke zami pe magar
ukhad jaate hain jadh khud-b-khud !

ittafaq se mile kahin
ittefaq se pyar hua
bhaagti duniya ke saath hi
bichadh bhi gaye khud-b-khud !

ek insaan, chehre kayi
har chehre mein vahi insaan
meine aayine mein jhaankar dekha hai
chehre badal gaye khud-b-khud !

tum chaahe mujhse milo ya
yun hi kahin duur raho
ye chaahat ki nadiyaan hai
behne lagi khud-b-khud !

rishton ko saraha bhi tha
phoolon se sambhala bhi tha
vakt ke thapadein khaakar magar
phool jhad jaate hain khud-b-khud

strings of poetry..

2006-07-31T05:57:00.000-07:00

Zindagi har mor par,
tujhse kyon samjhota karun?
Shauk jeene ka hai,
par itna bhi nahin

2006-05-11T10:34:00.000-07:00

Not sure if getting older has anything to do with it, or is it one of those cyclical periods where I enter into philosophical thoughts- but lately a lot of events have been occuring begging some logical explanations - and I cant seem to find no rational explanation. Being a sort of believer of no religion, other than acknowledging the presence of some bigger forces, I could be considered an athiest.
however, i sometimes wonder if there could be any explanation for any of the fOllowing (- something in the tune of 13th floor movie)

On one fine tuesday, I get a set three unfavorable news..
2 of which got reversed within the week.

Today, I planned to juggle 4 different schedules, managed to get leave from work early, and not planning on doing anything else apart from these tasks, but only to see that one by one, all of them failed to materialize/ or i couldnt attend them, leaving me to type this blog

hints to Purpose of my Life in VEIL class - a course I didnt take, but still get the messages from

and in the end, I almost lost this post because of some weird combination of keys I had pressed. HOwever, with the resolve to start all over again, when I started typing, I see the link to "recover post" - do u all see it? in which case I am not sure if some man thought of all the problems, and has already proposed some solution - which comes along with the problems, and only when u need it the most. After the episode, you become experienced, but for some event which is most likely not to repeat ever :)

"random thoughts and incorrigible ramblings " - would that be more apt title for my blog? i wonder sometimes..

happiness ?!?!?!

2006-03-02T07:58:00.000-08:00

An illusive concept or reality - This seemed to be a topic for interest during our last session on Advanced Market Research - and the discussion seemed to be based purely on the cliche'd statements that a person selling ready to serve food on the street on a mobile cart seemed so happy; people living in the most astute poverty had a smile on their face - while people relatively much better off never seem to be contented enough--
and as expected the discussion was not going anywhere...
but it did resurface the very same basic questions - what could be likely source of happiness, - not money, not power, now wealth, not the moments which make life, - I am not even sure what it could be..

I dont think any amount of discussions would get the answer - I wouldnt be happy if everyone knew what was the source of happiness - would make a very sad world -- and I am sure people would hate to lose another perfectly golden opportunity to profit from "making people happy" - the priests, the matchmakers, the spiritual gurus, the shrinks, the plastic surgeons, the complete marketing teams, the actors, the entertainment industry would all go out of business -- ( just realized what a big industry it is to make people happy)

So I guess its best to leave such things to concept of "eternal pursuit of happiness" -- and sleep over it..
till my next post - sleep drink and be merry (note its merry and not Happy)

Trek to Vaishno Devi...

2005-08-05T13:16:00.000-07:00

Trek to Vaishno Devi...

Jai Mata Di

Against all odds, I managed to make a trip to Vaishno Devi - finally being able to complete the 'trek' about which I had heard lots - those stories about having to pass through the cracks in the rocks, going through tunnels, and all. It was nothing less than divine- an out of the earth experience.
I was fascinated with the sheer beauty of the place - lush green forests, and some of the most beautiful peaks, with natural colors of Jammu making the whole place just picture perfect.

The weather played its role in adding a certain surrealness to the whole place - when we started it was sunny and we had to stop to get caps - without realizing that

these caps would be very helpful in another couple of hours when rain would start poring in - Not withstanding the downpour and the fact that we were drenched completely, we carried on our ascent - braving the weather and egged on by echoes of 'Jai Mata Di' chants throughout the valley - thereby completing the sound and light show making it a memorable climb to the top. The icing on the cake was when we were able to attend the aarti in the evening and darshan once in the evening, and once again before departing.

Though we took the new route, which avoids the Ardhkuari, and Sanjhi Chat, the smell of horse dumplings was not missed much, and only came as a refresher on our way down, by when we were too tired to care too much...

A couple of interesting observations
- we met a few dhaki's playing the all famous bengal's dhak beat and charming everyone to get dancing and forget the tiredness of the climb

- noticed that pine trees display the effect of photo-kinethesis growing in only one direction

- you cant trek much on wet shoes, socks - there is the excuse of me backing out from the the climb to Bhairavs..

Jai Mata Di

For Snaps - Click Here

PS Jai Mata Di / Jai Mata ki is used in every way - to say hello, good-bye, "Thank You", and "No Thank You"

i need 48 hours in a day......

2005-07-26T08:35:00.000-07:00

24 doesnt seem enough anymore..
if i take out an avg of 5 minutes, from blogging( avg overed 6 months, and this being the 7th blog post i am writing - with some in draft form)
i am left with only 23 hours 55 minutes for the rest of the work

of which office work can surprise all physicists with its elasticity coefficient.
if that was not all, assignments and projects at school defy gravity - they keep on increasing..
and if thats not all.. i love giving myself more challenges - taking up extra projects as if i was sitting idle -
well has any one cracked the problem of slowing down time - give me a call - i could use some practical applicaiton of Einstien's pricinciples, and hopefully get more regular in the work..

energy and efficiency

2005-07-12T11:04:00.000-07:00

after a set of lectures on role efficacy, role based stress, and motivational theory, i am wondering if the frameworks are biased towards the task and challenge and are missing out on the human element on HR Management.

some people are inherently energetic- they radiate a spirit which influences everyone and starts working on them, and if my observations are anything to go by, these people do well in any given context.. they seem to be motivated throughout - and this makes me raise the question , what could be the reason behind such levels of energy ? i would like to believe its all got to do with positive attitude - but would that be just another outcome of the energy levels they have - does it all stem from some sort of self-confidence -- i wish there is an answer out there - which I could also adopt easily :-)

This blog-of-a-doubt stayed as a draft for over a long time, and I thought let me just pose the question to the experts out there and see if I can find some answers
--anyone?

2005-07-05T09:09:00.000-07:00

"RARE Events"
This photo was taken on a recent trip to Nandi hills - one of my few out-bounds - where i went for the drive and not for the trek - a rare event, and I took this picture of pple in it!! definitely another rare event... what made it even more rare was that I went with my college

once upon a time...

2005-07-04T11:01:00.000-07:00

i used to wait the whole day for going for aerobics, or go for yoga, and if possible go swimming in the pool, labor long hours at the TT table, and then go home tired, yet fresh - sweating, but feeling good - while now i just wonder how to finish work and get back to bed... if nothing else, i would spend all my time listening to the doors, and zepplins of the world, but now i glance at my music player gathering dust in one corner

sometimes i am lazy, and other times busy - but i hide from my workout and i wonder why. i hate the love handles becoming bigger, but all i do is write a blog about it..

i need a spirit check - and see if its still in me - or did it get bored and moved on ?

till i find it - or if i miss it too much
dazed and confused...

Patriotism... words with meanings

2005-04-07T06:49:00.000-07:00

I am not sure how many of us have heard of Naveen Jindal - His claim to fame - bringing about an amendment to the Indian Flag Code in 2002 - He took on the government, and after a decade long struggle, won us Indians a right to hoist the Indian Flag on any given day. Prior to that day, only certain govt. officials had the right to hoist the flag, while the citizens had to wait for either Independence Day, or the Republic Day or Mahatama Gandhi's birthday for the same honor.
But my point here was not to share a trivia, but wonder how many of us share the same patriotism, and ecstasy for something so trivial as the right to hoist our own flag - or identify with it with pride -- .
Caught in the egg-chicken dilemna, I try to rationalise what came before - the restrictive flag code which lead us to not use the flag, and thereby fail to associate with it, or the fear that not everyone will associate it and hence we need the restrictions... and what should be the extent to which usage of the emblem be allowed - rejecting Narain Karthikeyan, and Tendulkar from sporting it, while folks not bound by Indian laws do as they please ??

random thoughts...

2005-02-16T22:10:00.000-08:00

i am not sure is it the feeling of boredom, or an hyper brain with nothing constructive to do is making me write this blog. or is it the frustration of having to stay back and work on something when i really wanted to do was run away early for once -
which makes me wonder - how many of us are surviving without a hobby. how many of us consider it idle pursuits to indulge in walking, playing games, chatting, discussing, or even listen to the harmony of nature -if we can find it?
what drives us to do mundane jobs day in and day out ?
i dont know if i am going to find the answer or just be YACC ??

PS for the uninitiated, YACC - yet another C compiler - in other words - Just another brick in the wall