Through my lenses

Babies in our home!

2009-09-28T22:05:00.008+05:30

What a great way to re-start this blog. We have had a baby in our home and these set of pictures are of those babies. We have not yet named them, suggestions welcome although we do not know their gender however :)

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the mother...

Her two eggs... this place is the left corner of our balcony, under a old table.

The eggs have hatched. It took roughly 2-3 weeks for the egg to hatch. The mother pigeon would sit on the eggs day and night. I have checked at odd hour like 2am and the mother pigeon was there, incubating her eggs.

Another view of the baby pigeons...

One of the baby got hurt when lot of pigeons flew into our balcony one afternoon. It was about 4-5 feet away from its nest and was struggling to get back. the mother was either unable or unwilling to help it. I pushed it inside and it seems to have recovered well as the next photos will indicate...

The babies have become older. They have shed their yellow color and are taking on their normal grey color. They are no longer looking as cute as before...

By this time, the mother pigeon has started to leave the babies alone for quite extended periods...

We had to take the table away, but that does not seem to have affected the babies.

Ready to take on the world! One of the babies appears smaller than the other. I wonder if it is the injured one? Anyways, its almost a month since the eggs were laid. Do not know how long before they will fly out, but should not be more than 8-10 days i would guess. Here's wishing them all the best!

Lohgad

2007-12-29T22:33:00.001+05:30

The below photos were taken from my Nokia N73 phone, so they are not as great looking as some of my previous pictures. The first 4-5 pictures are of Karla caves and the next set of Lohgad fort (and the path from Karla caves to Lohgad fort)

London - IV

2007-11-25T12:49:00.000+05:30

Final set of London photos...

Still in the Kensington park area and now closer to the palace.

This is the oval lake just outside the palace...

Above 3 photos are of the palace. It's not a palace in the typical sense. But small buildings and lots of gardens... Very much the way I like things!

Aha... ICICI Bank in London!

The National Museum - an overwhelming structure. Didn't have time to go in ;(

Coz I had to get to Harrods

No, this is not some museum. Its a departmental store, a very high end luxury one at that... YOu only get the most luxurious brands here. Starting price for as simple a thing a bed linen was a few hundred pounds. And it is a huge story - 6/7 floors if i recollect properly. Just sit back and enjoy the luxury...

Incidentally, I happen to see the former Pakistani PM Nawaz Sharif here. Was checking out some cutlery. We made eye contact, he kinda felt that somebody recognised him. And then we went back to checking his cutlery and I went back to continue my amazement of this amazing store.

The son of the owner of this store was Dodi Al Fayed who was involved in a relationship with Princess Diana. Both of them died in a fatal car crash in Paris a few years back

My final week in London and I hadn't yet gone to London Eye. So I leave early from office a weekday and head there in the evening (that is the best time to go there i was told, bracing the cold) and I was not disappointed. Check out the snaps yourself.

London Eye was built by British Airways and is the world's largest structure of its kind. And the view from the top is simply breathtaking as you can see from below...

Big Ben

Going higher...

...and higher

and higher....

At the top...

Well, this concludes my London Album. As I said at the start, I really enjoyed living and working in this city. I had absolutely no problems during my stay inspite of the fact that this was my first time overseas...

I look forward to going back again to London as and when an opportunity arises...

London - III

2007-11-25T12:24:00.000+05:30

Visit to Regents Park. One upon a time it was a hunting ground (yes, in middle of London) but now its a park. Unfortunately I happen to go there in the middle of winter but in summer time I am told this park blooms with all kinds of flowers - next time!

Its a huge park, walk around half its circumference took me around 40 min...

Area near my office at night... (yes even this City does not sleep)

There is history littered everywhere in the city. This is just on my way to office

Another view of London Tower Bridge

Kensington Park

Albert Memorial

Albert hall...

The next few snaps are of Princess Diana's memorial at Kensington park. Its a water flow structure - no statues, nothing flashy or gaudy but very understated, subtle - just like her

Next I move onto Kensington Palace which is unlike a typical palace...

Londpn - II

2007-11-25T09:25:00.001+05:30

London - I

2007-11-25T08:50:00.000+05:30

Wimbledon

2007-07-17T10:44:00.000+05:30

My trip to Wimbledon on a wet saturday. From what I knew about wimbledon and it being a host of major tennis event globally, I had an image of the town as a modern, developed town and it was everything but. I shall come to it at the end...

First snap, as you can see it is a very dark and there is lots of rain around. There are guided tours every hour/two of the complex and for my round, there were just 2 visitors - yours truly and a middle aged lady from somewhere in the US.

The two trophies...

There are two 'show'/'stadium' courts at Wimbledon, the No.1 court and the Centre court. Above you see two photos of the no.1 court.

This is the place where during the 'Championship' they put up the large screen and crowds gather eating the wimbledon famous strawberry cream! Wouldn't I just love to be there during the tournament... One day...!

The side courts - there are 19 in all and a couple for the members...

Yours truly giving a press briefing after a tough 5 set victory against Roger Federer! This is incidently the press briefing room where the players appear for post match interviews.

The famed Centre Court

Another view of the Centre Court, to the right is the 'Royal Box', obviously empty.

A panoramic pic of the Wimbledon complex.

The last 2 snaps give a sense of how rustic this place actually it. Wimbledon is very close to the woods (forest). In fact so close that during off season, the guys run an electric fence around both the show courts as otherwise foxes enter the complex and ruin the court.

Though it was raining and very cold, it was an afternoon spent well spent.

The Lord's

2007-06-17T18:26:00.000+05:30

My visit to Lord's was on a chilly slightly rainy Sunday mid February of last year. There are guided tours of the stadium at a fee of £7 and I had signed up for one of those. Not surprisingly, more than half of the touring party that day was of people of Indian origin (about 10 odd in 15-18 total).

We have the Harris Trophy cricket tournament (U-19 i think), this is a memorial for that Mr. Harris after whom the trophy gets its name. He was the governor of Mumbai and apparently a big supporter of Indians playing cricket. He wanted a Team India even before independence.

As we enter the pavilion. The photo you see is actually of Mr. Lord's after whom the ground gets its name (there is also a photo inside but that area is barred to photography). The irony is that this Mr. Lord's never played the game. He was the manager of a team that played on this ground (he developed and maintained the ground) and as a mark of respect, the ground gets his name.

First snap of the ground and it felt strange. It felt really strange. I just couldn't believe that I was actually standing in the Lord's - the home of cricket. The emotional high was amazing.

Above 3 pictures are taken from the visitor's pavilion balcony. Yeah its the same place from where Dada (aka Saurav Ganguly) took of his shirt post winning the Natwest trophy a few years back and also the same balcony from where Kapil Dev lifted the Prudential World Cup in 1983.

These are the visitor's records at Lord's. Every century and every 5 wicket haul gets mentioned here. The strange thing is amongst the bowlers there is no mention of Mr. Warne and amongst the batsmen there is no mention of Mr. Lara or Mr. Tendulkar. These 3 gentlemen do not seem to enjoy playing at Lord's apparently.

The visitor's dressing room and the massage table at the center.

This is the path the teams take to reach the ground. On the left we have the home team's dressing room and on the right we have the visiting team's. This is a no photograph area, but me just like the other Indians kept clicking dodging our guide!

Now we move onto the museum. This ball killed this sparrow while it was being delivered (i.e. after it left the bowler's hand and before it reached the batsman). The ball was bowled by one Mr. Jehangir Khan - father of Imran Khan.

This is the newspaper obituary (which was a sarcastic way of mocking England's pathetic performance against the aussies) which created the legend of the 'Ashes'

And this is the original Ashes urn.

Few of the trophies, one on the left is the Prudential Cup.

Few more cricketing artifacts

Now we head track side! It was such a amazing feeling to be walking so close to a cricket ground and that too Lord's of all places. The only other cricket ground i have been this close is the Dadoji Kondeo Stadium at Thane. Most of you have not heard of it (and that in itself tells something) and those of you who have, would relate to the contrast effect. My heart is beating real fast.

The second last picture above is the new media center built just in time for the 1999 World cup. We are heading there now.

But before, this is a small ground just adjacent. This is where MCC members play cricket.

The above two snaps are taken from the media center. The view down from the media center is simply amazing. You see the entire ground and more. You are straight behind the stumps. Only problem is that the media center is very cramped.

View of stuff within the media center.

The story of how the Ashes were born. Read it, it is fascinating...

One final shot from the outside. You can see the media center in the right. This was a very very satisfying trip. Just like every Hindu has to visit Kashi once in his life time, ever cricket fan has to visit the 'home of cricket' once in his life time. I have completed my duty and it is thrilling. Even as I write this I can feel the rush of blood as I recollect that day. It was worth it...

Amsterdam

2007-05-28T11:29:00.000+05:30

My first destination in 'Continental Europe'. Actually contrary to what most people would believe, there was no specific reason to choose Amsterdam as my first destination (yeah I am serious). I had got my visa from the Dutch embassy (i actually wanted to get it from Germany but due to the football worldcup, the processing time there was long and dutch embassy was the quickest in processing time).

I took the cheap route of reaching Amsterdam, a 1hr train journey to Harwich International, a 4hr ferry from there too Hook of Holland and a 1.5hr train journey from there to Amsterdam. I was especially excited as this was going to be my first ferry ride of any significance (and what a ride it was!).

The weather forecast was for fine weather and the ship was big (with a casino, eating place, bar, puppet show, movie theater, shopping etc - see photos towards the end) and I wanted to explore it.

However as the journey started, it all started going haywire. The wind picked up and tide came up to 3mtrs high. Dishes started falling down, people unable to walk. Gradually I could see the crew carrying polythene bags up and down the aisle (yeah, people were throwing up), there was a girl who was sitting in the next row to me and she started crying. A stewardess came to console her and I could hear her say, the tide is just 3mtrs, we can be safe even if went to 4.5mtrs (yeah that was some relief!). I had a window seat and with the waves, I was actually able to anticipate the ferry swerving this way and that - it was at the sametime a very thrilling and very fearful experience. I was scared, very scared. Just an example of how bad things were, I had gone to the loo to relieve myself, and given the was the ferry was swerving, I could not do the job and had to comeback and hold tight!

Anyways, I landed on shore and reached Amsterdam and was staying at the Inner Amsterdam Hostel (my first brush with 'hostelling').

The hostel was near the Amsterdam Concert center.

...as well as near the Van Gogh Museum

A nice building, i think it is the University - again near my hostel.

Now, this is the real Amsterdam - canals. There are these canals all over the place. Actually a large part of the country is below the sea level - creepies!

The Dutch version of Madam Tussuad's (The Tussuad's Group which owns these museums was recently sold for GBP1bn!). I did not go in the UK version nor this version - just too expensive and not worth the money to see wax statues....

This is the Palace...

This is the famous Diamond Center. Amsterdam is a major diamond cutting and polishing center.

A 'buggy', the horse is really cute

Cheese and lots of it... my god, I have never seen so many varieties of cheese in my life. All I have been used to do until now was to go to a shop and ask for cheese and I got it. Here the shopkeeper would have shot back, which cheese?!

Tulips... again lots of variety. One of the reasons (a very small reason) for coming to Amsterdam (Holland) was to see tulips in real life. The first known economic bubble to mankind happened over Tulips during early 17th century in Holland. Must say, the flowers are especially beautiful. I actually wanted to carry a few back to london (my boss of those days really loved flowers) but I was told, you cannot carry them through customs... :(

An old lighthouse setup in 1600s

This is where all the canals converge - this is in the middle of the national capital

Another tulip!

Main Amsterdam railway station - Amsterdam Centraal

And trams station just outside...

This was really fascinating. What you see above is a three storey Bicycle stand (yeah) and it was all full...

Just outside the station, lots of old buildings and another canal...

Inside the railway station - notice the 'sleepers' on the track they are wooden!

Above couple of snaps are of Rotterdam taken from within the train. Rotterdam is Europe's largest port.

Back to Hook of Holland, time to take the return ferry.

This is the train which brought us here - yeah double decker!

This is the Hook of Holland railway station. A very rustic town indeed from the looks of it...

This is our ferry - Stena Line. This time around the forecast was for rough weather with tide of around 3mtr (around the same what we had while coming, so all the shows were cancelled, the shops were closed etc). And as things turned out the weather was anything but rough, so they restarted the shows, opened the shop. People were walking freely up and down the deck. I even managed to venture out in the open at the back of the ship. So much for weather forecasting in advanced countries!

Above few snaps are from within the ferry. It was very plush indeed.

Finally I am back at Harwich International (in UK). Its Sunday evening and back to work tomorrow morning...

Hamburg

2007-04-28T09:53:00.000+05:30

I was in Hamburg for two days 17-18 March 2006. I was actually looking to travel to Venice or may be somewhere in Greece. But the flights were extremely expensive (upwards of GBP80 return, i got Hamburg for GBP30 return!). I was traveling my Ryan Air and when the flight started its descent we could see the ground and it was all covered in snow. Immediately I started cursing myself - experience at Glasgow was fresh. However, some of the co-passengers told me that the snow was old and since Hamburg is used to snow (it hardly snows in Glasgow and so the city was caught off-guard) and thus roads etc should be clear. Next was immigration.

I have been to 3 different countries over past few weeks (aside of UK) over successive weekends and immigration would inevitably take a 'closer' look at me. All the things that would flag suspicion would be present - adult male traveling alone with a backpack just for a weekend, mustache, from India, not looking very 'rich'. Hamburg was no exception and in addition my Visa was set to expire next day (when i was returning). So after taking the hostel address where I was staying, taking my passport and return ticket photocopy I was allowed to enter!

Next up was finding my way to the hostel. Fortunately the hostel had given directions of how to reach from the airport and so I was hoping it would be pretty straightforward. However as it turned out, I had landed at Lubeck airport which is way outside the city (Since I was travelling by Ryan Air - a low cost airline). The directions were from the main city airport which was much closer. Anyways, I manage to find my way to the hostel.

This is my third hostel and this was the best (A&O City Hotel & Hostels). Very clean, very friendly staff and not too expensive - around Euro 20 a day with bfast. I had a 6 bed room however, there was no one else, so I had the room for myself!

After getting refreshed, I head out...

First snap in Hamburg, just outside the hostel. The hostel was located near the tube station - Hammer Kirsche. Was surprised to learn that Hamburg is actually the second largest city in Germany (after Berlin). Would I thought that that honor would go to either Munich or Frankfurt etc.

The Hamburg port. Hamburg is the second largest port in Europe (after Rotterdam). Hamburg is very cold and although it is in Germany and germany is to the south of UK (or so I felt), Hamburg is actually to the north of London. So I had actually traveling East but slightly north!

A light house, again a few hundred years old!

What you see in front is a floating dock. It completely submerges under water, goes under a ship (or a ship comes over it) and it resurfaces along with the ship. The ship can then be subjected to repairs etc.

I had taken a boat ride through the harbor. As it turned out there was a restaurant down and everyone was having food and beer. Maybe they were local people, but I was more interested in seeing around, so I went up onto the deck (in the open, and yeah the chill wind on the port was hurting but then the thrill of this experience compensated!).

A sense of how large the port really is. You see these huge cranes over and over again, and all of them are automated. No people around!

This part (along with the one just around the Hamburg lake) is one of the most expensive places in the city. What a view the guys staying here get...

Another view of the port and its cranes. Interestingly, I did not see a single 'Indian' ship in the port - either here or at Dover (when I was going to France) or at Harwich (when I was going to Amsterdam) - but I saw plenty of Chinese and Korean ships.

This is the main Hamburg bus stop. Again what strikes is that there are no people, there are no inquiry counters. Every deck has an electronic screen which shows the timing and place of the next bus. In the main building there is a touch screen kiosk where you can get all the information you need.

This is the famous hamburg lake in the city center. Just to illustrate how cold it was, parts of the lake were actually frozen. there were ducks walking over it!

The road alongside, no this is not evening - this is afternoon, but the sky was dull.

Another view of the lake.

This is on day 2 and this is the museum ship 'Rickmers' It is more than 100yrs old and has seen pretty much everything. Its well maintained and is good time spent.

The tall bulding in the distance (with the cross) is the American church. Do not remember exactly, but I think this is the oldest American church in Germany(!?)

The Hamburg railway station - covered with snow.

Railway station from inside, finally some glimpse of chaos (mumbai ishtyle!)

India is going global and Bollywood has already. A Zee dealer in Hamburg and John Abraham poster in Hamburg. My guess is this is the 'Asian' part of the city as I saw quite a few asians around here and some Asian shops also.

A nice fountain on the streets. Now I am just roaming around here and there...

The famous German 'bullet trains' which travel a few times the speed of Indian trains. Actually these are not the exact bullet trains, these are just normal trains which run pretty much on similar tracks, but the engines are powerful and the number of coaches is half what we have on our trains.

A highway but very orderly traffic.

The U Bahn - backbone of local transportation (metro if you are an indian, tube if you are a British). Translated into English U Bahn means 'underground railway'

That's it. I return from here go to the hostel, collect my bag, head to lubeck and take off to London Gatwick.

One quick point, I was taking Ryan Air again and the flight was supposed to take off at 8pm or so. Ryan air being a low cost airline relies on faster turnaround of its planes, so the plane comes to lubeck at around 7.30, people descend, it gets cleaned, people board at around 8 and the plane takes off at around 8.15. Phew... No wonder while all airlines world over are making losses, Ryan Air (along with Southwest Airlines in the US) continues to grow @ 20% plus ever year.

Edinburgh - II

2007-03-31T22:14:00.000+05:30

Welcome to Edinburgh castle...!
As I went through the castle, two things were very apparent to me. Firstly the amount of care these guys have taken to preserve this and make it more 'relatable' from a tourist perspective. So you have boards at all the places that state what this particular place is all about, you have guided tours, you have audio equipment etc. Secondly, the amount of pride the Scott's take in this.
Wish we could inculcate even part of that - and stop giving the crap about being a poor nation. Its more about mindset/attitude

View of the city from the castle - notice the greenery, the lack of tall buildings and north sea in the distance.

At almost all places of interest in Europe (that I have been) you have the option of taking a headset for a small fee which guides you as you go along that site. I never tried that - especially because its expensive. But here its very cold and since we are at a height, the wind is gusting and hence largely to protect myself from the cold I buy that headset - no more the cold air rushes into my ears. It's 3 pounds. Interestingly, the currency notes here are different. They do not have the photo of the queen on it.

As usual, every castle needs guns to protect itself. These are 7 here at base level of the castle, a few more at the top (including a monster of a gun)

This is main structure - housing the church, war memorial, royal residency etc

This is the 1'O clock gun. This gun is shot at 1pm every day and has historically been an indicator to time to local people and ships. Why 1'O clock you ask? Apparently, the Scottish people are stingy so if it was a 12'O clock gun you would need to fire 12 shots every day - which costs a lot more than if you fire 1 shot for 1'O clock. Hmm... I see some similarities between the Scotts and me!

On the right is the governor's residence

This gives a nice view of the castle from one of the taller spots on the castle. What you see immediately in front was a horse stable now converted into a small refreshment center, then you see the 1'O clock gun and to its right (not in the photo) are the seven guns captured in one of the photos above.

Here are the guns, face the city - ready to defend it

This is the oldest part of the castle and as you can see, its undergoing repairs.

A small church. I was told, this is the oldest structure still standing today in Edinburgh!

This is a monster of a gun. It's called 'Mons Meg' and was received as a gift from someone about 600 years back. It's firing range is more than a 2 miles. Look at the canon balls on the left. Phew...

And, somethings you would not find in India - a cemetery for the dogs of the guards.

This is interesting. There's a big story about the honors of the kingdom (Scotland) and how they were lost and re discovered. There's an entire section dedicated to these honors - the Sword, the Sword belt, the Scabbard and the Crown. These are legacy things that kings of Scotland have inherited and have been part of their royal regalia. But they were lost somehow and later on found by the famous poet Walter Scott. The (original) case in which they were found is shown above.

This structure hosts the official Scottish war memorial. Has entries of all Scots who died with date and their regiment etc. No photography allowed inside, but it was serene inside.

Time to head back and route towards the exit. The castle closes at 6pm and the guards literally escort us out.

Final parting shot - Its actually not that big by standards of Indian forts.

See the snow capped peaks in the distance, its that north and yes, its fricking cold

India buildings - though I do not know what this means...

National Library

National museum

Nothing significant of the building except that the lights (in the building together with fading sunlight) created a good color effect.

Notice also, all main structures are made of stone (old and new) - hardly any brick work.

By this time I had completely run out of batteries, the cold weather had taken its toll. But I simply had to take this photo - so i am hectically reversing the batteries, trying different combinations of batteries (i had 4), turning off the LCD display to get this final snap.

This is the head office of the Royal Bank of Scotland - you cannot read the plate but it reads "Incorporated by Royal Charter, AD 1727". Man this is old. Now you get a sense of how deep this place is seeped in history.

Edinburgh - I

2007-03-31T18:30:00.000+05:30

It's day 1 of my trip to Scotland and after checking in at my friend's place in Glasgow I head out to Edinburgh.

Edinburgh Waverley, the railway/metro station.

First snap outside the railway station. Its fricking cold and I have no idea what all to see in Edinburgh. I was hoping to cover Glasgow today and do Edinburgh tomorrow. But unfortunately, my friend had some work today and so I landed up here.

Luckily, like in most cities I have been to so far, there is a tourist centre just outside the main transport places where you get all info you need. So with a map in my hand I set out to explore Edinburgh...

What I figured out is that most sites in Edinburgh are on a single road, at one end of which is the Scottish Parliament and the palace at the other end is the castle. The road is called the Royal Mile (but it seemed more than a mile to me...!)

The national gallery... art, art and only art - and so 'NO ENTRY' for me!

All old stone buildings. You see I am standing on the side where I came out from the railway station and the road I referred to is on the other side (you can see the cross over bridge on the left).

The church, one of the older ones. Man all things in this part of the world are old... 200-300 years seems like new!

This is the road (the Royal Mile) I was referring to above. What you quickly realize is how narrow the road is and that is is not concrete or tar but stone.

I am at one end of the road. This is the palace in which queen stays whenever she is in Scotland. It's her official residence in Scotland. The palace is known as 'Palace of Holyroodhouse'

Just opposite to the palace is the Scottish parliament. There were rave reviews about this piece of construction but just a couple of days (or maybe a week) before my visit, something fell from the ceiling and all the parliamentarians had to be evacuated! So much for artistic construction, uh?

Another view of the palace.

There is a small hill just next to the palace and the parliament. One can actually climb it and is a good party spot...

Another view of the Scottish parliament.

This is a small museum. Entry was free so I decided to give it a try. The floor was wooden and made a lot of noise when I was walking. For a moment I was got conscious but then I noticed everyone made the same amount of noise when they walked, so it wasn't me alone. The museum was decent, lots of history of the city and how it was setup etc.

This is an interesting museum and certainly not something I had even heard of before. Museum of childhood and it shows how concept of childhood has changed over the years. So for a given age group it will have toys and how they have evolved over the years. Very fascinating indeed.

Scottish war memorial. A small one. The official one and far bigger one is inside the castle.

Next stop - other end of this road and to the castle. But first, lunch time and thankfully I had the company of Pizza hut here also. You see during my entire stay in London I had pretty much a weekend date with Pizza hut (whenever I was in town over weekends that is). Pizza hut was running a scheme where by you had unlimited buffet pizza for just GBP3.99. So I would go late afternoon (around 3) have a huge helping of pizza and that's it. My lunch and dinner was done - all for GBP3.99! (that's under 350 rupees - cheap even by Indian standards).

So I looted pizza hut in Edinburgh also and headed to the castle, which I was told is the most beautiful thing to see in Edinburgh.

Glasgow

2007-03-15T13:06:00.000+05:30

My second day of a weekend visit to Scotland. I was staying with my school, college and CA friend in Glasgow though i spent the first day in Edinburgh.

I come back on Saturday evening, have nice food cooked by my friend and his flatmate and go to bed in a king size bed - my friend graciously gives his room to me and he shared a bed (no pun intended with his flatmate).

I wake up reasonably early (7.30 is early by my standards) and go to the balcony and see this..

My friend tells me Glasgow is a place where you do not normally get snow. In fact this was the first snow of the season.

Look at those trees

This was my first full fledged view of snow fall. My set of emotions were similar to those of a kid when faced with a room full of choclates or Jerry (of Tom & Jerry fame) in a room full of cheese.
The only other view of snow I had was at Rohtang pass in India more than 15years back and in my refrigerator.

What the snow fall meant was that a) we couldn't go out to see anything in the city and b) there was a F1 grandprix in the afternoon, so I could watch it comfortably!

But we needed to cook something so had to go out to the supermarket to get something so we venture out.

Unfortunately, the streets were completely covered with snow and I was wearing my leather shoes. So I was kissing the ground on quite a few occasions.

A father takes time out to build an igloo with his kids - one lucky kid

The snow was about 6-7 inches deep.

Look at how the tree branches (devoid of any leaves due to the winter) are covered with snow. I find this snap especially beautiful.

Cant imagine this emergency car being able to function effectively today!

That's a nice blanket for the car. Dust/stain/scratch proof - guaranteed!

But the business in Glasgow is not done, I have to go back to see the city. In a few years time maybe...

Paris - III

2007-02-18T21:56:00.000+05:30

Second half of the day and we are at Concorde. The place where Queen Antoinette and King Louis were executed during the French Revolution.

The gold markings you see are real gold and it comes from various French victories in Egypt.

The 'Concorde' square. On the right is the entrance to the palace.

The french parliament.

Plaque which signifies this is the place where Queen Antoinette and King Louis with the exact dates of execution. Just realized the significance of the place I am standing at . Reading in history text books in school I never really thought one day I would be at that exact place. Phew...

View of 'Arc de Triomphe' from Concorde. This is the road we normally see in television. The road goes straight to La Defense, the commercial area of Paris.

2 Snaps of Notre Dame Cathedral. This is the 'zero km' mark in Paris. So all distances in Paris are from a stone near this cathedral.

Post Notre Dame we drop Naru off to the railway station as he takes his train back to . On the way we manage to eat Samosas at a Pakistani sweet shop and a 'Veg' sandwich at a Turkish meat shop (essentially we ask him to just take the bread, add a bit of cheese and cabbage and thats it).

The famous 'pyramid' of Louvre - one of the largest museums in the world. We were told that if you planned to spend 1 minute in front of each item on display, it would take one 3 months to fully finish off the museum.

The museum where 'Monalisa' is smiling peacefully and also the place where bulk of the action in the book 'Da Vinci Code' happens. Unfortunately it was due to close in an hour so we did not have too much time. But I did manage to take a glimpse of the Monalisa.

This might give a sense of how big the museum actually is. What you see above is just one of the three sides of the museum and that too partially. So the actual length of the museum (three sides together) is at least 4 times what you see here!

Just outside the Louvre, crossing the river.

One fascinating thing - there are islands within the river. So what we see above is an island within the river and we were told, one of the most expensive places in Paris.

Another view of the Notre Dame as we begin our journey back to pick up our bags and on to the bus station. We walked for about 1.5hrs from Louvre to pretty much up to Eiffel tower and didn't feel it at all. The weather was pleasant and all around we had new things to absorb.

Concorde in the evening.

This building above we are told, is what the 'White House' is based on. Only difference, the White House is 7 times bigger than this. Americans copying French???? Sounds very far fetched today...

Beautiful Paris roads in the evening.

This is the flame from the Statue of Liberty and is meant to be a symbol of French-American friendship(!?).

Also, below this is a tunnel and coming out of this tunnel, Princess Diana had the fatal car crash few years ago. So this site has also become the de facto memorial for her.

One last view of Eiffel Tower before we pack our bags. Paris was beautiful, very beautiful. I leave Paris with a promise to return again. Vaibhav heads to Düsseldorf and I am back to London. Almost forgot to collect some cash from him for my return journey. I am still cashless you see... :(

But this was one unforgetful trip not least because Paris is extremely beautiful. I ended with the thought (a la Arnold in the Terminator) 'I'll be back'

Paris - II

2007-02-18T21:46:00.000+05:30

Day 2 of our weekend trip to Paris and we start of with a visit (2nd time) to Arc de Triumph. Since this is the first sunday of the month, we get a free ride to its top, to the musuem and the view of Paris from Top.

As with most things in Paris, the musuem was all in French so all we could do was stare at the artifacts without appreciating the context. I get a feeling (post this and Louvre) that French do not want english speaking (and non-french speaking) people to appreciate their history. Such a shame, anyways...

What you see in the distance is La Defense, the commercial part of Paris (where we had gone last night). The other end of this road goes to Concorde.

Eiffel tower. Wish the sky could have been more clearer but this was early winter morning (not even 10am)

Another view of the road leading to La Defense

In the distance is Sacre Coeur. Now one realises that that (Sacre Coeur) is indeed the highest point of Paris

Memorial for all those who lost lives in the first world war. Arc de Triumph doubles up as a memorial for all martyrs (a la Amar Jawan Jyoti in India).

We now head to Eiffel Tower.

The queue to get to the top of Eiffel Tower was about 45min long. And while we stood there, guess what we were discussing? Financial planning. At the base of Eiffel tower (perhaps one of the more romantic places on the planet) three MESsengers were dicussing financial planning and that too in Hinglish! Obviously none of us had any great success in our respective love lives, at least not till that time! - things are unchanged with me since :(

The man after whom the tower is named - chief engineer of this construction.

There are three levels on Eiffel tower. The photo above is from the first level. Captures the river and one of 36 bridges (over that river) in the city of Paris. There are also islands in that river!

This is from the second level (taken from behind a glass window and hence the reflection).

Finally, we are right on top. There was some serious wind blowing.

In the centre above is the Arc de Triumph. Looks very small from top.

Paris landscape and almost half a dozen bridges.

Another view of Parisian landscape...

Notice the shadown of Eiffel Tower in the picture above

Finally the MEN in black, the three MESsengers on top of Eiffel tower.

WE WERE THERE!

Paris - I

2007-02-18T21:29:00.000+05:30

3-4 March 2006 was when I was in Paris with two of my school friends who were coming from Germany. One was coming from Dusseldorf and was going to meet up at the bus stop (yeah I travelled from London to Paris by bus - saved a lot of cash!) itself as both our buses were supposed to arrive at similar times. The other coming from Wurzburg was going to join us late afternoon at Eiffel Tower.

Now this is where things get really interesting. Me and Vaibhav meet up at the Gallieni International bus stop and we set out to reach our hostel. We got off at Pigalle station from the metro and that is when I realised that I had no wallet in my pocket - some one had picked my pocket enroute somewhere!

After the intial disbelief and searching of bags, I resigned myself to the fact. The next step was blocking the cards and registering a police complaint, just in case my insurance covered this theft. So we went to the police station.

The police were very helpful, they took down my complaint, handed me 'evidence' of filing of complaint - which was in french. Additionally they handed me something they called 'my rights under french law' - which again was in french. Finally, they gave me Amex number to that I could block my cards (they did not have #s for Visa/Master card). Now I call up the Amex number and it is answered in French, so we put the call on speaker phone and the policeman translates what the operator says in English and we finally manage my corporate card. Then going to a cafe, we manage to block my other credit cards. And this is when it really dawns upon me.

All I had with me was my passport, hostel booking and return ticket. No cash, no cards - I had absolutely no money on me. If my friend was not with me, I would have had to rush to the indian embassy and beg before them!

Aside, we also realised, that nearby Pigalle (where our hostel was) is the Red Light district of Paris. hmm...

Now for the photos...

First photo on French soil. I have not yet realised that my wallet has been picked, I realise that just a few steps ahead :(

Our first 'tourist' stop - Sacre Coeur, a big cathedral. This is the highest point of the city.

Made of marble, its white and brilliant. Curiously, there were people around here who would make your sketch for a few euros. And many of them came after me - they do not get to see a moustache every other day, so they all wanted to sketch a face with a moustache!

Roads around Sacre Coeur.

Arc de Triumph. This was built by Napolean post one of his victories and now doubles up as their martyr memorial (a la Amar Jawan Jyot in India). The detail carving on it is amazing.You can go to the top of this structure but it costs and we could do there for free tomorrow (being first Sunday of the month, so we would come back here tomorrow)

This is the road we normally see on television whenever we see a glimpse of Paris. The road is long and leads to Concorde and French Parliament on one end and the other leads to La Defense, the commercial area of Paris.

Finally, the most famous place in Paris - Eiffel Tower and our third friend from Wurzburg joins us.

Although it was just about 6pm or so, it was frickin cold. It was soo cold that I had to buy gloves and had to spend €20 for that. €20 thats almost 1000 rupees - frickin expensive gloves to beat the frickin cold...

We took a boat ride which takes us around the city in a hour long ride. It was frickin cold and the hands would just shiver whenever I would take them out of pocket to take a snap.

River Siene flows through the city and terminates into the English Channel. We were told there are 36 bridges on this river just in the city of paris.

Pictured above is the palace.

We get to the La Defense area. This is the commercial district of Paris. The Arc at La Defense - It is huge and white... (do not know why it was constructed or what purpose it serves. It isn't particularly beautiful either, but then again I didn't find the Monalisa particularly beautiful/worth admiring either)

The building pictured above is the headquarters of Arcelor - the Arcelor/Mittal take over battle had just begun at that time.

Eiffel Tower in full glory. With lights on, it really is a very very beautiful sight. Of all the things I have read/heard about its beauty, I do not think there is one word of exaggeration.

Another snap with light settings on the camera slightly tweaked to allow for less light to come in.

Yet another snap taken from very close. It really looks like its made up of gold.

On the top of every hour different color blinking lights in addition to normal yellow lights go on. Plus there is a laser ray from the very top. If the earlier snaps gave an impression the tower is made of gold, this gives an impression it is studded with different color gems.

Visit to Eiffel tower at night was one seriously unforgettable moment. What a way to round off the first day in Paris?

Mumbai - Pune Expressway - World class in India

2006-11-25T11:41:00.000+05:30

The Mumbai-Pune Expressway is a showcase of the 'New India' By most standards it is a world class piece of road and given the surroundings, it is also a very beautiful piece of road.

Sample this...

Above two photos are taken at Khopoli.

Above three photos are taken between Khopoli and Panvel. It was raining although we were in November!

Harihareshwar

2006-11-19T00:03:00.000+05:30

Harihareshwar is a very holy town for Hindus. It is also referred to as Dakshin Kashi (Southern Kashi - Kashi it should be noted is the holiest city for Hindus). It is situated a few hundred kms south of Mumbai and about 20kms from Srivardhan, its sister city. From my perspective more important than the religious significance of this place is the natural beauty that is on display enroute the 'pradakshina' round the temple - which unlike most temples runs round a mountain rather than around the temple itself.

A view of the Harihareshwar beach from the temple

The pradakshina route. The first part is a climb of the mountain, the second part climb down and the third and final part is the walk alongside the sea - this third part is the most dangerous as it is completely submerged during high tide.

Two different views of the coast from top of the pradakshina mountain. The real beauty starts from here

The journey downhill from the top of the hill and the first glimpse of what awaits us down there

Looking back up, we are now back at sea level

Look at what the sea has done to the rocks - its all porus

Closer look at the rock formations - the phots do not do justice to what one sees through the naked eye. The sight is simply overwhelming.

A small cave type formation in the rocks. Water constantly seeps here

This rock structure loosely resembles a camel. My cousin who comes here often tells me that this camel was atleast a couple of feet taller than this a few years back, poor creature it is equiped to deal with lack of water - but not plenty of water here!

Lets turn attention to the sea shore

The green and white algae on the surface makes it extremely slippery to walk - but the color adds to the beauty of the shore

What bright colour

Rock formations on the shore. The place is filled with things like these

Sunset at harihareshwar

View of the sea and sky post sunset

Last look at the temple and its backdrop before we head back to Srivardhan. Definately a place to come back to...

Srivardhan

2006-11-18T22:37:00.000+05:30

Srivardhan is a sleepy town a few hundred kms south of Mumbai. It is very beautiful as are most places in Konkan. It though has two unique things about it - one good and one ugly that make it stand apart from other town's in Konkan.

Firstly the first Peshwa (Peshwa = Prime Minister in Marathi) of Maratha Empire - Balaji Vishwanath comes from this town

Secondly, (and the ugly part) - the explosives (RDX) for the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts came to this place from Karachi (actually at a cost a few kms from the town - Shekhadi).

Now for the photos!

Just entering the 'village' side of the town and past the 'city' part of the town you have roads like this, narrow tar road covered on both sides by thick vegitation with sea on one side and hills on the other!

The place where we had stayed

Quick view of the hills from our hotel. This sight is not unique to Srivardhan, the entire Konkan is nothing but thin strip of land a stretching for a few hundred kms south of Mumbai and between the Sahyadri mountains and the Arabian sea.

Time to harvest the Kharif crop. Rice is the staple crop and diet of people in Konkan.

The above 3 photos are that of a typical 'vadi' in konkan. A 'vadi' is nothing but piece of land owned by a family on which you have various varieties of plants being grown. Now these 'vadi's' are the real wealth of Konkan. The typical plants one can expect to find are fruits - coconut, beetlenut, mango, jackfruit, pineapple and spices - pepper, chillies, cumin etc. Just a walk through one of these 'vadi's' is extremely refereshing - you hardly feel the sun even if you are walking at noon. Further many of these vadi's typically lead onto the sea, so after being tired of walking through it, you can relax on seashore.

One of the temple's in Srivardhan - Jeerneshvar or Lord Shankar

A typical village in Konkan. Notice the floor - it is made of cow dung - cowdung is an insecticide, and is also a cheap insulator helps keep floor temperature moderate.

The above photo was taken enroute to Divye Agar from Srivardhan and shows a beautiful coast and lush tree linings alongside.

Somewhere along this stretch of the shore (+/- few kms) is the infamous Shekhadi beach (as described above)

Srivardhan beach and sunset and a couple of views post sunset

The goddess of Srivardhan. Typically every village/town will have its own goddess.

What you see above is typically an example of blind faith prevalent even in this 21st century. The board above (this is in the temple mentioned above) claims that this goddess has the power to cure snake bites - all one has to do is bring the victim here and do some religious procedure and NO medical intervention is necessary. Without saying, I do not intend to test this if bitten by a cobra :)

Above 2 photos were taken during our return journey to Mumbai - somewhere just post Mhasala. I am not sure exactly. But the sight of the distant sea in the top and of the small pond in the bottom picture is amazing.

Janjira Fort - "Kille Janjira"

2006-11-14T23:30:00.000+05:30

A view of the Janjira fort from the top, courtesy Google Earth. This fort belonged to the 'Siddi' rulers - originally North African Muslims who came to India. Located a few hundred kilometers to the south of Mumbai this fort was never captured by the Marathas. The Maratha Empire (including their sea forts) extended to the south and north of this fort - but this fort remained out of their control. Finally it came into British hands in early 1800s when the Siddi state submitted under the system of subsidiary alliance and post indepence became part of Indian Union.

We approached this fort from the port of Dighi - the boat ride is about 30-40 mins.

Our first view from the boat.

A close-up and the grandeur of the fort is apparent.

The main entrance

Carvings on the walls adjoining the main entrance.

The fort has been standing in these waters for better part of 400 years now and all it has to show by way of structural damage (natural) is this - amazing!

The dilapitated palace structure

Look down the fort from near the palace structure. Palace structure is to the right and the main entrance is straight and left

View from top and one of the lakes

Another view from top and the second lake. The fort also has a well which has (believe it or not) sweet water bang in the middle of ocean!

This is at the sametime a beautiful photo and a sorry photo. Beautiful because it captures a large part of the fort in a single snap. Sorry because it also reflects the sorry state of the fort. This is a NATIONAL monument which means that it is to be protected and preserved - but there is hardly any protection. Around the fort there is nothing but wild shrubs. This is not how we ought to be treating our history.

The highest point of the fort, a canon and a magnificent view of the ocean

The structure seen in distance is a small fort built by the Marathas as a counter to this fort.

Looking towards the coast from top of the fort

View of the ships which carried us here from the coast

The three biggest canon's of the fort

A view of the 'buruj'. Even at high tide, the stone walls stand 40 feet tall! Again, there is hardly any structural damage due to the ocean water - and its been here for better part of 450 years!

A parting shot

The final shot. I leave hoping that there is something done about this fort. This fort is an undefeated fort. It has withstood numerous attacks from the Maratha's, the British and the Portugese - but it did not fall. Alas now its our neglect that could just prove its downfall and that would be a shame.

Business-Standard goof ups

2006-09-27T11:52:00.000+05:30

Business Standard is one of the leading business newspapers in India. I read it often and especially find its editorials interesting.

However, it often goofs up when it comes to the picture on its webpage and the caption under it. This inevitably happens at the time of market opening gets corrected within a reasonable amount of time (I have got mails from friends saying that by the time my mail used to reach them, BS would have corrected the error) but I get to it first!

So here are some of the BS goof ups - look at the image and caption below it

Curiously, all the goof ups that I have captured seem to happen when the markets have moved significantly! Time to run some correlations...

Regards

My Campus - MDI, Gurgaon

2006-09-20T13:40:00.000+05:30

...I spent two of the most important years of my life at MDI. Whenever I reflect back on those years, I become very nostalgic. Not only were the experiences that I gained there of immense value to me, but it was a very beautiful place. I cannot put on display my experiences, but I can give you a glimpse of how beautiful the place is. Here you go...

MDI from top, Google Earth. A quick rundown of the layout of the campus - Closest near right are the academic blocks. Further along the right next we have the NMP hostel, the tennis and badminton courts follow next and then followed by library and computer centre and finally the main reception.

On the left hand side you have the parking slots, followed by boys hostel (the U shaped structure), then the mess followed by ladies hostel. The vacant plot next is actuall now built up with a spanking new MDP block.

Now, a close up look at each of them individually!

The academic blocks 'Renaissance' where most of the lectures are held

Inside the Academic block. Lecture halls on both sides. The small water fall in the centre was named ' Viagra Falls' by we the students.

The backside of Academic block - place where the mess boys used to play cricket/soccer

Our dear Jha Ji - just behind the Academic block, the venue for a quick frooti or pattice or sandwich in the evenings or just in between lectures. One of our finance professors used this example at identifying good businesses. Jha Ji's business had one of the highest possible RoI, but it lacked scale, so he would say you need to identify business which have a high RoI but also the possibility of being able to deploy more and more capital and relatively high incremental RoI. If you get that, you have a multi-bagger in your hands!

Two photos (one from beside the road, one from top of Acad block) of the back road connecting the Academic block to the main reception - this road is beautiful, if only I had a girlfriend to walk alongside with!

Backside of the NMP hostel (Nalanda) taken from the top of Academic block

Our (in!?)famous golf course - which we saw seldom being used. There was a proposal at one time discussed within the student council to get a coach to teach golf - vehemently opposed by me. Some would like to jog or in winters study in the sun. The foreign students who would come here on exchange program would want to sunbathe here - if there were girls, then many guys would use the road alongside for their 'travelling' purpose!

Takshila - this was a new construction during our time (in fact construction started and completed during our stay). Meant to be the mess for participants at the Executive or Management development programs. It was simply amazing from inside (compared to our mess of course - we got to see it from inside during our placements). And of course another statue in front. The small hump in the lawn that you see just before the staue is titled 'Camels hump' - do not know the reason.

Takshila during night - an amazing sight!

The site of midnight badmintion/tennis/box cricket matches

The main reception, this is typically the place where guests/companies would come for their formal purposes - lectures, programs, placements etc. We had a gate near our hostel for our daily use.

The statue of Buddha inside the main reception - our director is quite fond of such statues! We also have a statue of Swami Vivekanand near the library

The computer centre - the venue for last minute rush during project submission deadlines and also the venue for 'surprise' quizzes by one Prof. B.S.Sahay!

The library - aptly names 'Gyan grih' or house of knowledge translated. A place I seldom visited - really! And of course another staue. Swami Vivekanand this time.

Nescafe - our daily 'Maggi' venue. I do not think cumulatively from now now till end of my life I will eat more Maggi than what I ate in my two years there. This place was most occupied busy post midnights - especially if it was someone's birthday. Just on the left of this we had our canteen where we got decent Sanwiches and Paratha's and of course for the smoking public their supply of cigarettes. Both places would be open till about 3am.

The only disturbing part of Nescafe was that it always would be manned by children - under 14 years of age at times. Many of us were fond of this one child who had come from Nepal here and used to slog for almost 18 hours a day for a paltry sum of 30-50 rupees a day with no schooling. Always thought we ought to have done something for these kids (we would of course give them some woollen clothes during winters) - but never actually took the initative. Sometime later that kid disappeared - never got to know where he went, guess somewhere similar to this - he continues to slog with no education far away from his parents. Life is unfair.

Our play ground - place for cricket and football matches. And of course the yoga classes during induction - who can forget that!

Our main hostel - aptly titled 'Change Masters' Our director would often refer to his students as 'Change Masters' who would go out into the corporate battle field and be masters at handling, initiating 'change'.

Inside our hostel - clothes being dried, it was tough in winters. But a hot water shower at 2 am and then sleep was my normal routine. Me being very fond of sleep, would inevitably miss the 8.30 class and at times even the 12.00 class. Distinctly remember missing a 12.00 class of CRM (Customer Relationship Management) and losing a quiz which the Prof would not allow me to rewrite inspite of such pretty ingenuous excuses. Scored a B in that paper - my worst showing of all papers.

My room, as usual in complete mess. I used to occupy the nearside and my room partner the far side. His side of the room was markedly better kept than mine - always!

It gets very foggy here during winter. These photos were taken at 9.30 in the morning and you can hardly see a thing. Distinctly remember when we were in our first year and we had reached our first break and almost every body was heading home. It was 24th Dec and everyone travelling by plane ended up spending their Christmas eve in a 5 star hotel as all flights were cancelled. I was in Centaur and that was my first visit to a 5 star hotel!

Our mess on 1st floor and ground floor. The food actually was not that bad - but eating same thing almost everyday or every third day does bring boredom.

The 'pigeon' holes - every person had his own box where he got quiz papers, notices, anwer scripts, grades etc. Similarly every prof has one where we submit our project reports etc.

Down town gurgaon from top of Academic block

A truly beautiful place isn't it - the campus?

Regards

Ganapati - 2005

2006-09-20T10:43:00.000+05:30

While I am in the 'Ganapati' mood, I thought I might as well post photos of Ganapati 2005. I also happened to have a photo of 'Work in Progress' - Idol making in progress.

Work in progress - preparation of idol making typically starts 3 weeks before the festival. The actual making of the idol does not take much time (as per my uncle he makes and remakes the idol depending on what 'pose' of Lord Ganesh he has in mind) - the biggest time being consumed for the drying of the idol as it is monsoon time during the festival.

the Lord at his place - just before the pooja

post the pooja - with his favourite 'red' flower offerings

'Hartalika' besides the Lord.

What you see on the left hand side is a model of our 'family' house in Pune. It was under construction last year.

Regards...

Ganapati - 2006

2006-09-18T13:01:00.000+05:30

It would be a fairly auspicous way to start this photoblog by posting photos of Lord Ganesh. These photos are of the Ganesh idol from our house and before the photos it is worth pointing a few things that make the way Ganapati festival is celebrated in our family unique - very unique.

Firstly, the idol has always been made by hand by someone from within the family. First it used to be my grandmother, but now in the nineties she finds it difficult so the responsibility has been taken over by my eldest uncle. This has been the practice unchanged for almost 4 decades!
Secondly, the idol is made out of 'shadu' clay which very quickly dissolves in water and the 'shadu' clay itself being from river banks, does not pollute the water in anyway.
Thirdly, since late 90s, we stopped doing visarjan in wells or public 'visarjan' places. We do 'visarjan' of the Ganesh idol in our home itself and once the idol dissolves in water, the water is put into plants. This ensures that we at least do not cause the silting of wells or lakes.
Finally, we do not use any polythene or thermocol for decorations. Only flowers, paper and other 'eco-friendly' products are used. Even the colors used in painting the idol, paper, cardboard etc are simple water colors.

Now the photos! Enjoi...

Ganapati bappa moraya... pudchya varshi lavkar ya...