Books books books

The Smile of Murugan: Michael Wood

It might look like a nice bollywood flick movie after "Quick Gun Murugan", but it is more mock bollywood or tollywood. Michael Wood, a journalist for BBC usually makes documentaries for BBC. His visit to South India, has been a great voyage. He has written this experiences and situations he faced, his trip to different places like Rameshwaram, Tiruchendur, Cape Comorin, Suchidram, Courtallam, Srivilliputtur, Tiruparankundram, Madurai, Palani, Kumbakonam, Tanjore, Suryanarcoil, Thirunallaru, Chidambaram, Thiruchandur and last but not the least Chennai, then Madras. He did mock the Tamil cinema a little with his neutral views, it is hilarious.

The humorous incidents that happened on the way, the video bus and many other such instances made me laugh my guts out. It was totally entertaining book, though the description and story telling is slow. I just love the way he describes a situation. He was at Thiruchandur and in front of lord Murugan, son of lord Shiva. There was a aarthi taking place and old guy and his grandson seated near him. The old guy burst into tears looking at the aarthi. He was so impressed by the smile of the Murugan statue that he named the book after it. Documentaries are always slow but it depends on who it is described, in which Wood has taken it into an different orbit.

Having been to these places and seen things, now hearing it from a different prospective from a guy who is totally tangent to these places feels really great. I never saw so many things which are really humorous and now I really feel I should visit all these places again.

Go Kiss The World: Subroto Bagchi

I got this book in the airport for dirt price of just 120 bucks, the actually cost was about 400. I did not realize the hidden part which I would go on to find out some days later. The author of the book is Subroto Bagchi, I never knew him. I found out that, he was one of the hands with Azim Premji in building the now Wipro. The story has been divided into three stages.

His dying mom has inspired this story I would say. He comes to India to see his ailing mom. The last words his mother spoke to him were "Go kiss the world". Lot of anecdotes. Bagchi attributes the fighting ways he developed to take on the world to his parents. He explains his life starting his childhood and then the way he struggled as a youngster in this demanding job world. Lot of job changes before he finally the come into the Wipro cloud and not the least his own company "MindTree Ltd". For a fantastic review on this book, please read the below link. The catch of 120 bucks was that, there were 25 pages missing. :( :(
Personally I did not like this book very much, though I like the way he has come up from struggling situations. Read on your own risk.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/life/2008/06/20/stories/2008062050030200.htm


The Man Who Knew Infinity: The life of the genius Ramanujam

Genius people are a different breed they say. Truly, after reading this book, I feel they are born with extraordinary talents that no one can inherit otherwise. I was really taken aback by the amount of research the author, (not an Indian) has put into in writing such an extraordinary book. The amount of data he has collected is exemplary . I really liked the way, he has separated the book into parts.

He explains Ramanujam's first days at school and the way he tried so hard to clear subjects at college. His childhood friends and all his college friends eclipse every now and then in the back ground of the story. The author Robert Kanigel must be credited by the way he has built the story line in his words. Throws light into the incredible genius who has been completely lost now a days. The notebooks Ramanujam maintained wherein he noted down all his formulas and statements was the invaluable basket of totally different dimension in mathematics which only he could have done.

In those days, they used to communicate using letters. The letters form the story line. After initial struggle to get recognition for his notebooks, Ramanujam wrote and wrote to all well know Mathematicians of England. Nobody could understand his mathematics ways. Finally Hardy, the mathematician from Trinity replied him. Asking him for proofs for all his formulas. This started what one could say the deciphering of one of the greatest mathematician of 19th century, if not the best.

Letter after letter the formulaes poured in; some Hardy could easily identify, some he had no idea. Finally he would call Ramanujam to England, for which Ramanujam being a very religious person would accept after great thinking. Going to England is what changed Ramanujam's world altogether and eventually brought about his death after he was back to India.

Being a brahmin he was very religious and did not eat any meat and non-vegetarian food. It was very difficult for him to live and eat there. World war I playing a major role in food deprivation in England which made him fall ill and be in hospital for more than a year. It was very difficult time for him as he was not used to the cold of England. He did publish lot of papers along with Hardy helped him decipher his note books and make meaning out of the jargons in it. The book has so many formulas and also explains some of it. It is a must read for those who want to be mathematicians.

The latter part of the book is very touching especially when he gets his fellowship at Trinity. For an Indian and especially for a guy from Tamil nadu, I have lot of pride in the fact that a person from near my home town could do such a thing. Great mathematicians are not made, they are born......
This is one of the best books I have read so far.

Healthy heart

Healthier lifestyle means a lot to an Indian today. I went jogging this Sunday, and most of them are standing at the pav bhaji stall and looking at me as if what they are doing is awesome, and what I am doing is show off. The look says it all, they are so surprised to see someone go jogging.

The attitude of Indians today is more of laziness and less exercise. When I go by cycle, everyone is really taken aback by the amount I sweat. One humorous incident that happened was, once when I went cycling to office, the door man asked me if it was raining outside. I was covered ofcourse with some sweat.

When I had been to Israel, just a stroll in the beach side or any park, you will know the amount of effort they put in to keep themselves fit. They go jogging, cycling with all the gears. I developed a small tummy with the food I had there. I was really embarrassed to be among such a fit young crowd. I could not see a fat guy. It was so rare. Everyone was slim and fit. I consider myself a little fit than the normal Indian crowd. Even I was made to eat mud. The ladies on the other hand, not all are fit. But they try their level best to stay fit.

That kind of an attitude has to be imbibed in the Indian lot. Most of them neglect health, even I am included in that. They don't take workout or a jog very seriously. The office going lot have time to blame. But they can infact make time during the weekends, or may be wake very early in the morning for a jog or a walk. Heart is one valuable asset that we posses, the more we keep it active, the more it will give back.

If you allow the heart to go for a sleepy lazy lifestyle, then it will stop cooperating with you. One day it will stop all of a sudden, only to fill the eyes of your family in tears. If not for you, take up exercise for your family's sake. I am not a genius in this, but I know if we can exercise the heart for atleast 4 times a week, you can save those precious tears.

It is a challenge I have taken up. I don't know how much I can do justice to it. The lazy Indian lot, should get a kick on their back and get going. India has the most number of heart problem cases. This should change for good. I hope people will eventually show some heart to care for their heart!! :) :)

Yahooo

It was like years that I had accessed my yahoo account. I had left it to rot, literally. My teenage and probably most of my college days and my first job searching days, is when I used yahoo. I used to check mails very often, almost every day. The net connection then was not great, and yahoo had a bulky mail account, which took several minutes to load and login. Five years ago, yahoo had more than an influence on me. We even created yahoo groups during college days where we could keep in touch forever(it seemed).

Then came the Google bubble, the orkut bubble and now finally the facebook bubble. Not to say the farmville bubble coupled with many other attractive timepass games with facebook. Twitter is looming large on one side. With all these taking middle seat, yahoo has been completely pushed of its place once it had. May be it is still not that intriguing as others. But it does bring me back after all these years the nostalgia of yesteryear.

Coming back to Yahoo, the site has not changed a lot over the years. The thought of logging into it brings back memories of my college days. How I used to wait for a reply from someone..... How I used to mail......The language I used to write a mail. The broken vocab of an immature adult. I am still immature (that is what some think, I am neutral). The sent mails gives me an complete idea of how clumsy I was. As you learn from your mistakes now, the clumsiness has been refined now.

I had around about 2000 mails waiting for me; 90% was spam. I learned that the job sites I had registered were still sending me mails for 0-2 years experience. When I started, I took up a call center job and worked for a US process. It felt like heaven during the training session. My first job; I got the offer through some job-site and ofcourse Yahoo mail. When I started working, my sleep cycle and the repetitive job played a huge role, in me quitting it.

After that, I got my second job, I had forgotten about yahoo. I started using gmail and was very happy with the speed at which it operated. Gmail and then into Blogger, I never looked back. Now facebook and twitter, the years have just galloped yahoo. No wonder yahoo as a company is not doing good. Even the new advts of yahoo, did not give that much zeal to get back. But now all of a sudden like as if, I am out of a coma, I logged in. The most important thing was that I still remembered my password. :) :)

As the trend goes, yahoo has been hit very badly by its competitors. The new CEO of Yahoo, is getting things online, giving it a "Everthing starts with You" motto. Yahoo is the same after so many years. God knows, if it will come of age and come back again. I updated all the job sites. Lets see if I get another job. :) :)

Rest In Peace

It is difficult when someone suddenly goes missing from your friends circle. Very difficult to comprehend that he will not be coming back. Tears fill my eyes, when I think of him. My throat goes dry, when I hear his voice still reaching my ears. I can hear him call my name out.

Being close to a person, leaves a big remark behind; when you lose them. His smile and his words have lightened up my day a lot of times!! Tears coming from eyes, just exemplifies that fact that how he influenced someone who just happen to travel with him at some part of his life.

Its been a tough time for me. I have not lost someone so close before in my life. It takes time to sink in, I guess. I still cannot grasp the gravity of the situation. Mentally disturbing, hope to recover soon. :) :)

May his soul rest in peace. I will remember him and his voice for a long time to come!!

Content Life

Thiruvanmayiur felt like a really quiet place. With the Thayagaraya nagar beach adjacent to the suburb, the cool winds from the sea made sure that this place remained at its pleasant best. The roads were made of thar unlike the concrete roads of mumbai. The trees on both sides of the streets made an arch like shape, which seems like as if they are welcoming you.

The rainy season was on the way, but not yet started. There was a cyclone, which was to pass the Chennai city during the weekend I was there. Did not affect my stay a lot though. The share auto's helped me reach places without buring a hole into my pocket. The climate so soothing as compared to Mumbai, made me think twice to leave the city.

I just love this arch formed by the trees!! amazing....


The end of this street is the Thiruvanmayiur beach!!

I went to places like Adayar, Mylapore, Guindy, Madipakkam, Meenambakam, Tirusulam, Triplicane, Besant Nagar, Shoulinganallur and T-Nagar. I walked almost 5-6 kms on the beach from Besant nagar beach to Thiruvanmayiur beach. Went to Marina beach in the night, got some CDs at a local store, visited some temples. The Parthasarathy temple in Triplicane, the Padmanabhaswamy temple at Adayar was another gem of a spectacle; like an icing on the cake of my trip.

The share auto!!

The town bus
Inside the bus

I forgot to mention two main places, one is Kalakshetra in Besant nagar and the another one is the Vani Mahal at T-Nagar. The later was a drama done by "Crazy" Mohan. It was damn hilarious. Made in both English and Tamil. Kalakshetra is something out of the world. As soon as you get into it, you get lost in the music and dance rendering there. Carnatic music and also the dance style which is very much the jewel of Tamil nadu, Bharathanatiyam. I so more than 4-5 foreigners learning it. Totally amazing atmosphere where in you can literally breath music. I saw some classes there also got a chance to talk with the art teacher there. This is one place I will not forget.

Evening time it was wonderful to see school kids return home. Amazingly quite streets, with only the sound of roaring engines of cars and bikes. The temples with religious songs, buzzing buses, cute kids, quiet a site. From coconut cycle to the the onion vehicle everything felt different about this place.

Something that hit me more than anything was an incidence that happened on the share auto. My cousin had a 500 ruppee note and could not get change. We just got down of the share auto and I had the change, just 20 was the fare. Just to get lower denominations of 500, my cousin asked the auto driver for change. What the auto driver said, shook as for a second or two. He said, I would have gone home if I had 500 rupees and still not be driving auto.

My cousin told me something that jolted me to reality of situation. He said, the auto driver has his limit. He is happy with the 500 rupees he has and is not greedy for more. Only software engineers like us, slog it out and still find ourselves unhappy when we get the pay check. Many might say, the auto driver does not think of a better life or he does not dream more or may be even better standard of living. Well I feel he is content with what he has. Some day when we find out the reality of this, we can be contempt. :) :) I still feel I am underpaid :P

Mistakes from the past

The guilt of doing something wrong in the past, does hurt us sometimes in the present. It is something which had gone wrong, that you could have repaired well now as compared to then. As someone reminds you of those things, you start remembering it. Everything passes in front of you like a flash. You forget the things on hand. Just that brief amount of time of thought can spoil your whole day sometimes.

The past is more powerful than it looks like. The past carries vital experience that can be used in the present. Something similar happening can be tackled well with the experience we had before. But it also has its ugly face, which can turn the tide in today's context of things. It will spoil your mood, make you nervous or may be make you feel irritated on yourself.

Courtesy: Picture taken from google search!!

Yes, it depends from person to person. Some people don't even remember things, some don't like remembering things. Some people just chuck it. For me I tend to get bogged down by things like this. My mood changes and I totally feel miserable. Guilt of doing bad in something in the past, hurts me.

I have tired lot of things to keep me busy during such an outburst of thoughts and not give food for it. But somehow, I find myself pondering at darkest canopy of room. Getting lost in the thoughts and giving no heed to what was happening in front of me. Me being a Pisces, getting moody was by nature.

Last week, I had one such days again. Remembering some old friend, with whom I have no contact now. The way we went different ways, was not satisfying. I could have done much better to keep in touch with that person, inspite of having a not so good relationship. I finally broke the jinx of guilt. I told myself that, I am a human being and I am allowed to make mistakes. No one is perfect. Gone are those days. Feeling guilty about it, will not resolve anything today.

I changed the way I felt about the whole thing. I felt great about leaving things behind, especially the guilt feeling. I did a mistake, but I can forgive myself even though my friend could not. I felt better within. I am a changed man now. :) :) What an idea sirji!! :) :)

Sambar made in India, vegetables from Israel

I was really lonely for almost most of the past month. Really alone, did not know what to do and whom to get to. It was getting a little cranky, I was slowly but surely loosing it. My job was boring, so doing something nice and worthwhile was the order of the day. Obviously, it had to make me feel good from within.

I could read a book, see some movies, but all this was not getting that inside bliss I was looking for. I was in an alien country, with no one to look for, doing things on my own. I tried cooking for a change, it did some wonders to my attitude and soothing my cranky mind. It was a totally different subject for me. I never thought cooking could relieve my pressures. It surely did.

Now I was back home, but was still alone. As parents were on vacation, I had to do something to keep me going, as I was loosing it fast for the last week or two. I did call friends, but it did not make me feel great. I fell back to cooking like I was doing in Israel. I had bought some onions and potatoes when I was there, which I never used. I could not throw them away when I was packing to come back. So brought it with me.

Vegetables from Israel:


Potato cutting, This is hardwork !!


Now I remembered the vegetables and included them for my sambar. Some potato cut into pieces and cooked with oil, chilli powder, pepper, garlic-paste, jeera, some masala powder and lastly haldi powder with salt. And like magic, Aloo-jeera is done. (Microwave cooking only, do try this at home)


The attention now turns towards dal and rice, which is so easy if you have a cooker. So for dal it is 4 whistles and for rice 2 whistles. This is pretty easy. Cooker 1 for Dal, Cooker 2 for rice. Put exact amount of water, otherwise the dal cooker will over-flow and form a yellow water deposit on the cover of the cooker like you see in the picture.

Now, tamrid water preparation for the sambar. It is tricky to clean tamrid. After that, cut onions I don't have a picture of onions as I was crying (when you cut onions you have to cry). Frying pan to fry the onions till they turn brownish. Now take a big vessel add the onions and tamrid water. You will have to squeeze the tamrid to get the juice. Then the dal, then the magic mom prepared Sambar powder. When you put it, the smell of the whole atmosphere changes.

It is a fairly simple procedure, but something to get my mind into away from the things happening around me. Finally I bought some curd to finish my small lunch. The sambar and the Aloo jeera subji tasted like bliss. It was cooked just fine, just perfect. My stomach is full and it feels great to get that drowsy feeling after you had your lunch on a sunday.

Diwali Muted

I was on a vacation to Rajasthan, the place of colours I would say. So many bright colours. I enjoyed my stay there. It was a real awesome tour. I was really unhappy that it came to an end. Diwali celebrations at Jaipur and Udaipur were going on in a way I could not explain. The markets were open till late nights. There was a mela at Udaipur were I went on a swing ride, which made my stomach muscles feel the acute pull. The zero-gravity feeling, made me release how the astronauts would have tackled such a pull. It was my first time with these rides.

Unlike this swing, the other ride I went was really cool. It felt like turning with my bike. It was fast though, very fast. Udaipur is a very small town, and is very quiet. The taxi driver (later) here in Israel I met, liked udaipur more than the buzzing streets of Jaipur. I liked Jaipur more than Udaipur though. The people here and the jalebi I tasted here is the best of its kind.

Celebrations at Jaipur:

Celebrations at Udaipur:


At home, it was like bombs every second. Diwali had come by then. I could not listen to the TV, which was set at more than the normal volume. The fire crackers bursting in random haphazard manner was not a welcome sound to the ears. But it was Diwali and that is how it should be. No other festival in the Indian calender gives such an outright delight when you just hear the name. I made it for Diwali to be with my parents from my vacation to Rajasthan.

I had to do some shopping for the day. Nothing brings joy more than buying new clothes, especially when you like them. It was just one day for me as I had to go abroad to Israel the next day. It was not great feeling; having to leave Diwali celebrations with family and friends and go to a destination where Diwali is so much at a distance like India.

Having finished it, I went off packing my bag and preparing things for the travel. I had a transit at Istanbul. The connecting flight at Istanbul was delayed(less sleep and delays like this makes you cranky). I finally reached my apartment at Tel Aviv. I put my bags down and just fell on my bed. I was dead exhausted. But I could feel the silence there in that apartment. Like nothing moved in life, nothing existed. It was dead silent, the only sound was me adjusting my body on the bed. Not a soul moved. Now that was totally different to my ears as it was nothing like Diwali. I just felt, I have just got the remote control of my life from somewhere and pressed the mute button. :) :)

Thats the bed I am talking about!! :) :)

I jog on

I am really not great at poetry, but I thought I should write this for sometime to come. I went jogging.

Inspired by the movie 300. Here goes.

"Into the narrow corridor of road I jog;
The traffic meets a bottleneck, where the horns sound like grunting hog;

I think about how good I did my job today; I jog;
I think about the girl who did not reply my sms; I still jog;

I look at the wet slippery roads, without slipping I jog......
I think about my next vacation, I jog;

I see a wide smile on the face of a guy who just crossed the road and almost cheated death; I jog;
I laugh at myself, of how stupid I have been in giving so much importance to people who took me for granted; I jog on;

I ponder, what next, what is going to hit me, I jog without an answer;
The pounding heart and suffocating breath stops my progress, I halt to gather my thoughts back;

Not bad for a start, very simple. I know it is not be termed as poetry. :) :)

Locked out!!

When I was in my 5th standard, I learnt a poem called "Leisure" written by William Henry Davies". The first line

"What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare."

Looking at work pressure for the past few weeks, I knew that I needed a break. So I joined some photography training sessions. When I came home, I had a suprise waiting for me. I had forgotten to take the keys. All of them at home were out.

I was straddled. I could not go inside. So I took some snaps here and there.....and went out site seeing, roaming here and there. The metro railway in mumbai has come a long way, the pillar are all up. The sun was setting. The reflection of the sun rays on the building looked so brilliant.


I have never seen such a beautiful evening ever. I was roaming with nothing on my mind. I had to take atleast 3 hours out, before my mom would be home with a key. I saw a tree which was so old bang in the middle, which I had never see before.


These snaps are as it was taken, I have not altered them. They look awesome don't they. Here is the banyan tree, so old as me I should say!! I found two Hotels side by side, one named Paarth and the other named Saarathi. Paarth is the name of "Arjuna" from Mahabaratha and "Saarathi" is the name of Krishna himself. Paarth being a bar and restaurant. Saarathi is a Veg restaurant. I guess Paarth has not learnt from Saarthi after all. :) :)


In the twilight I see a board that explains the situation a little. Traffic congestion is really the reason for the metro, but the irony is the building a metro needs space, which eventually causes traffic jam. :)


New stores like "Jumbo king" and Brownie point have come up. They never told me :( :(


I am still exploring around. After all being locked out, does have its advantages.

Liverpool

I could not get into blogging for sometime because of hectic work at office. Finally I got some time to blog about something great. I have been a supporter of Liverpool for a long time. Even though I am not a ardent follower like football followers are usually are. I do want my team to win.

Liverpool beat West Ham 3-2 ; a great news to rejoice. The thing which is more awesome is that one of friend had been to England. He got me a Liverpool jersey and some accessories. Check out the snaps!! :) I am so happy........

Victoria Terminus (Part 2)

Moving away from Bandra, you come to the khadi, which stinks like hell. It has been the same for almost 10 years that I have been there. As soon as you cross this khadi, you enter an over bridge road, which is like a tunnel.

Then comes the most famous place on Mumbai, from where slumdog millionaire was made, part of Dharavi comes on the left. Next stop “Mahim”, I really don’t know anything about this place. Next stop “Kings circle”, I don’t know why this name has not been changed yet. There is a big circle which has a park. It is flanked on one side by Matunga, a small south India I should say. The South Indian Education Society High School is situated very near to the station. Next stop “Wadala Road”.

It is actually a very busy station. The people, who want to go to Navi-Mumbai, have to catch a train from here. It is kind of a junction. The guy who was sitting in front of me was checking overseas jobs column on his paper. He tired calling some numbers but could not find a suitable answer from any, he kept trying. The rain picked up again. It is amazing what a small drizzle can do. It wets all the railway signals and electric trusses. People here and there were running for cover.

Next stop “Sewri”. Before the station came along, I could see big oil tankers and storage vessels so huge. The IndianOil vessel was one of them. The “Sewri” station was flanked little higher than the usually stations. On the left of the station towards CST, was a road where all the tanker lorries were running hammock. As the train left “Sewri” station, I saw something interesting, there were small tankers which were pulled by oxen. Suddenly the town scape turned into village scenery. I saw more than 50 oxen and the tankers just parked there for filling kerosene I guess.

Just outside Sewri, you can see those oil tankers. "IndiaOil"


Next stop “Cotton Green”, before we reached the station on the left is “Cotton Association of India”. It is full of mills and hence with cotton association, the name. The buildings before and after the station are more or less look like warehouses. Some of them look dilapidated, but some of them are still alive and kicking. Moving away from cotton to Iron, next stop “Reay road”. Know for its iron garages all around the station. I saw a naked kid playing with another kid who was fully dressed. Irony of India I should say!! :P

Dockyard Road as the name suggests it’s the place of docks. Next stop is “Sandhurst Road”, it is quiet an unique station as it is at a raised platform from the other stations. Iron pillars beneath hold the station up. It was completed in 1921 quiet a feat then. Reay road and Sandhurst road, are named after British governors many years ago. Next stop is Masjid. It is a very busy station and, there was a bridge demolition going on just the day before. It had been finished on time and the trains were allowed through in record time. Masjid like popular belief is not named after mosque but a synagogue. 200 year old Gate of Mercy Synagogue is present here. As there are wholesale markets here, the volume of people going here are really alarming. At a peak hour you stand there and you will be completely swept away.

Last stop VT, or now CST(Chatrapathi Shivaji Terminus). A one hour journey on the train never felt like it; when you are watching. I got a bag for my camera. I was home after 3 hours I commenced my journey. Mumbai Railways is truly faster than you think it is.

This is VT station, undergoing renovation!!

That is Queen Victoria at the top of the tower holding a torch!!

Victoria Terminus (part 1)

I had some work at CST (Chatrapathi Shivaji Terminus), which has been renamed from Victoria Terminus long time back. CST is where the terrorists attacked if you remember some months back. From Andheri we have a Harbour line that takes us directly to CST which is actually on the central line.

The ticket counter at Andheri station is really frustrating as the queue is very huge. It takes rather 15 mins to get a ticket for your journey, wherein you can miss trains in minutes here. Standing in the queue we get to see regular travellers buying coupon books, punching them, beggars sitting right at the entries with their small babies. Next was my turn and ton ta dan, comes a guy says, senior citizen; please buy me a ticket. I get tickets for him.


Then climb the staircases to reach platform number 7, where my CST train has not yet come. When I reach the platform, I am greeted by a very serious glance by a bloke who has an extraordinary belly, with big ear phone (like the kind you wear for computer, silver colour) some kind of “Dinchak” music. He looked at me as if he had the best ear phone on display, some Chinese company mal. I could have shown him my music player, but the charge of my mobile was very low. Damn!!

The timer at the station said 1:06 pm, scheduled departure of the train. The train arrived just on time. I specifically chose this train as it was lunch time. :P less crowd. People got down not many, people hopped in not many. With swine flu tremors going around, many not all, had a handkerchief to cover their nose and mouth. Got a window seat, cursed myself for not bring a book to read. But I changed my mind at the end of the journey as it was good I did not bring a book.

I have been to CST in the same route before, but never on a window seat. So I thought I will check the sites. Being a slow train it stops at all the stops. Breezed pass the signals and into the aroma of Parle factories. The smell of Parle G filled my nostrils. First stop “Vile Parle”. Big walls separated the train rails parameter and houses. The walls painted with ads of banyans (Lux) and other faltu ads.

The train strolled into “Santacruz”, this is the place where we have the Domestic Airport. But if you happen to go there, it would tell you “Chatrapati International Airport”. Just to confuse people. Next stop “Khar road”, posh localities and the lot of rich people stay here. I used to get down at this station during my college days. Nostalgia of those days got hold of my memory. Ashwariya Rai used to live here before she got married.

As you move away from “Khar road”, there is an over bridge, which makes the switch to harbour line. Nice view of the station and its rails and tracks. Just past it on the left is the “kabaristan”, where Muslims bury their bodies after death. It started to rain; still some work was going on here inspite of it. Just after that, one more over bridge and you come to Bandra terminus.

Bandra comes in a jiffy after Khar. Again posh to the core, it has amazing hotels and clubs. I had been to a buffet called “Global fusion”, amazing place that. I saw Katrina kaif and Salman khan once walking here once. Shahrukh Khan stays here……contd

Remembering the past

I was in my school, when I tasted my first Bhel puri. Down south we never had such dishes made. It is the speciality of Mumbai, a dish that very much belongs to Mumbai. It felt nice very nice.

I think it was my dad who first spotted this shop near Andheri Station. Once in a while we used to go there to have bhel puri. It tasted divine. I remember even during college days I used to stop by this shop to have it. The guy who prepared it was so fast in doing the procedure of mixing things that he could do more than 3 bhel puris in less than a minute. It was totally a spectacle to watch him perform this task with such speed and accuracy.

The Guy!!

After my college days; and through first job, I somehow lost touch to this place. I just could not find time to go and have this majestic piece of snack made with astounding timing and taste. Not that I did not have Bhel after that. I did have, but nothing like this place.



Few days back, when I was chatting with my friend, this place popped up. Without any hesitation, I told him that we should go to this place. It was almost 5 years that I had not been to this place. My dad used to bring home bhel often from this place. But I had never been to this place for a long time.

I made time one evening and went to this place which is no where in the way to my home or office. We finally reached the place and saw the same buzz of people queuing to buy it. The same guy was standing there with his two new subordinates at work, preparing bhel puri at the rate of knots. The Bhel tasted the same after so many years. It sure gave me a déjà-vu feeling rolling back all those years.

Unfathomable Forlorn

How do people look at you? How do people rate you? What happens when someone you think things of you better acts differently than you think they should have? Some don't care what others think about them. But some do care a lot. I should say, I am somewhere in between.

There are times when impressing someone will help you better. The ways to impress remains a major task to understand for many. For some it comes pretty naturally. These are the guys, people envy. They say sometimes impression cannot be created in a flash. It takes rather mammoth steps to devour and fathom the insurmountable task of impression. Time as it happens always, plays the vital role in climbing to some one's heart.That's the reason, may be finding a loved one is almost very difficult. The people we meet on everyday basis never get impressed with our looks. May be if you are dressed like a hippie they will notice you but never do they get impressed. The amount of time you spend with someone and frequency of meeting them plays a real vital role in creating an impression.

Everyone wants to create an impression somewhere or the other, they might not agree but that is all inbuilt and involuntary. Many would say, why do you do it to impress someone. "Do it for yourself, things will happen". Does that happen in today's world. Well not really. It is a nice advice to give, but to follow I doubt. After a careful needle and thread action to create a potential impression base, when the cracker jack tail end action comes, of someone expressing about yourself, it is always a surprise and gets a mickey out of all of the efforts put in.

Off late, such concerning circumstances have beaten the day light out of my solar sails. Things I thought would work out and thought people would understand me; like the "don't try to impress" way..... Now I feel, I should have tired impressing. But I guess, I was proved unimpressive with my "Do it for yourself way"..... Getting to know things about you from someone else and something which is not as per you expect it to be, is quiet an aghast feeling.

A new blog

I have started a new blog, just to learn how my photographs improve over the time. I am planning to update this blog with all the impromptu images I take with my new camera.

When you get bored of reading what I write, you can just go through this blog.

The link would be http://lanandsnaps.blogspot.com/

This new blog is dedicated for my photography!! :) :)

More DSLR snaps

Hey guys, these are some cool snaps I experimented. They can be better in the future!! :)

LAN's day out

What a day!! It was awesome, totally convincing. I could not have planned it more than this. I had registered for a workshop on Digital SLR camera working and basics of photography. I got up late in the morning. I thought of giving this workshop a slip. But I had already payed 500 bucks for it. It was at Atria mall. I had to travel almost an hour to reach there. Something urged me to go. I wanted to checkout the Canon lens on display there. It was a very big showroom.

I was late by 20 mins. The workshop session had just started and I got my goodie bag (Will get back to this one afterward). I was surprised to see so many people interested in the workshop. Almost 30-40 people had turned up on a Sunday(amazing). There were foreigners, slightly old uncles and aunties, young people. It was a mixture of ages. All were driven by only one word actually "Photoholic". I don't know if there is a work in English, but it sure is an invented word. All of them were either photographers are people who were very much interested in photography.

The lady instructor had command over the subject. She knew how to take the workshop and to what extent. I was delighted to learn the information she gave on lenses. The type of lenses, aperture, shutter speed, ISO and lot of other things which were very useful for me to decide on a lens to buy.

Every single person in that room, had brought a camera. I had not taken any, as I did not have a DSLR then. DSLR cameras have been on my mind for a long time. I did a lot of research regarding which camera to buy and had zeroed on one. Canon 1000D a digital SLR of which the price had dipped just a month ago. I did not take any snaps during the session. I was so indulged in the session that it never crossed my mind. The workshop was coordinated and done meticulously by Zoomin.com. Very professional I should say. The coffee and biscuits with it was icing on the cake.

After the workshop, on my way back home, I got down at Dadar and went to JJMehta and Sons store. It is a well known camera shop in Mumbai. I bought the Canon 1000D with one extra zoom lens. I started clicking some snaps at the shop and then came home and started clicking. I took some amazing shots. Now I will leave you to marvel these excellent shots. :) :)

Oh yeah the Goodies I got; check out the snap: (free magazines)


Check out the cool camera man!! :) :)


Some snaps from my camera: This is the best part :)

This snap was taken by the shop keeper. He did get a good smile out of me!! :)