Animation

I love animation. The closest explanation I see for this, I like imaginations and here you can make all your imaginations real. Uploading here some of my favourite animation characters. 

Rapunzel [ Tangled ]

Rukia [Bleach]

Katara [The Last Airbender]

Kanakapura Trip [Cycle Diaries]

This time we went towards Kanakapura its approx 55 km from Jayadeva flyover, Bangalore. Throughout, the road was very good. Its a fun ride while going, down slope most of the time and early morning cool temperature. The surroundings are beautiful. Many ponds and greenery all around. One of the best part of cycling in southern India is you get tender coconuts everywhere, really great refreshment. Overall we covered more than 100 kms. While coming back it was bit exhaustive due to sun light and long upward slopes. The trip duration was approx 7.5 hours including all the refreshment breaks.

 Paddy fields n coconut trees

 Abhi n Me

Officially we reached Kanakapura

Varma n Me

Some Ted talks I liked

Few Ted talks I watched recently, and liked

"How to make work life balance work" - Totally agree !

"Keep your goals to yourself" - Particularly in my B.Tech days I used to be in dilemma whether to disclose my plans to everyone. It wasn't because I was reluctant to share but it was because I was concerned for their completion. I am really happy to see a scientific explanation for this behaviour.

"How to tie your shoes" - Interesting :-)

"Try something new for 30 days" - 30 days seems a too long a duration for this. I suggest start with 7 days or so. I agree with the idea though.

Chitradurga

Its been more than a year when I made a trip to chitradurga for attending a friend's marriage but the memories are still afresh. Chitradurga fort is wonderful place to visit, do hire a guide whenevr u get a chance to visit this place, there are some famous stories about that fort and chitradurga dynasty. You may refer wiki if you wanna know more about the place. I am narrating few incidents from the function I attended.

1) I enjoy stories and I do visualize well, but the story and the visualization may not go on the same track. I always find it difficult keeping track of characters if someone is narrating a story with multiple characters. Same thing happens when someone tells me about their relatives. My friend introduced me to his uncle, I remember some time back my friend saying that his uncle is a famous classical dance teacher in Chitradurga. Uncle was bit short, dark and had heavy personality. I was wondering for some time, with that weight how can one be a good classical dance teacher. Then thought many famous choreographers are fat like Saroj Khan etc. so that should be fine. Some time later I asked my friend, I am really impressed by uncle, with that weight how is he managing dancing ? Everyone broke out laughing. After some time my friend told that he is some other uncle and the uncle u met is a Police Inspector in Chitradurga. Later I met the other uncle, I felt very light weight after seeing the light weight uncle, now he can do the dancing.

2) My friend's elder brother recently got married and I attended that function as well. Though that was a Love Marriage, an interesting one. Bhaiyya is kannada and Bhabhi is from Taiwan. I don't know how they met, how they fell in love etc. I  used to wonder even if the family members accept the girl, how she is gonna fit in Indian Kannada family ? In india the role of Badi Bahu (eldest daughter in law) is bit more important. Today here is my friend's marriage, what made me surprise and totally impressed is how Aunty (friend's Mom) handled the whole function. Bhabhi participated in all major roles wherever required with proper dress code (different types of silk saries). I totally remember the scene on the stage when Bhabhi was getting introduced to all the relatives by Aunty. "The point I would like to mention is, its not only important to accept someone in your family, its more important how you represent them in front of others"

3) I met my friend's Grand Mother. She was around 85 years of age. She had some trouble with knee pains (thats quite obvious with old age), and also needed support of a person while using stairs. She was able to understand common hindi and was also able to ask typical questions in Hindi. Knowing Hindi after being from a traditional Kannada family was appreciable. I don't think she interacted with any Hindi people in her young age, it was only after interacting with her grand children and their friends. This clearly shows her eagerness to learn and adapt to new things. And here I am its more than 4 years in Bangalore and I can't speak few Kannada sentences properly :-)

She asked a question to one of my newly married friend's wife by making some hand gestures and pointing towards stomach. I thought she must be asking, did u guys had lunch ? and I was about to respond before that my friend's wife said after 2 years, then I thought this is definitely not about food :-) Grand Mother started arguing 2 years is too late I want a kid in one year and their conversation went on.

While coming back from the marriage I was wondering, at age 85, with knee pains and dependency on others what makes her smile most of the time. I don't know what are all ingredients she use to get that, one must be "Sense of Humour"

Book Watch

 

No need to tell anything about Sudha Murty, particularly to IIScians. If you don't know, you should know. This book is about her experiences and observations about life while interacting with different people she came across. This may interest people who try to see and understand perspective of different persons towards life. The best part what I liked is, few chapters of the book present point of view of some very unique persons which you and me would have never known otherwise. For e.g. Tribes persons in Orissa who still think Queen Victoria rules India, How Gujarat Earth Quake helped Beggars of Mumbai settling down etc.

Few Random quotes from it:

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- Have our lives become so busy that grief has become proportionate to the usefulness of the loved one we have lost ?

- Isn't it sad that in a society where Durga is worshipped and women are called Shakthi, our sisters are burned like brinjals without any mercy ?

- In life nothing can be equated with health. Good health is the greatest asset. Money can buy medicine and comfort, but not happiness.

“Write to be understood, speak to be heard, read to grow...” Lawrence Clark Powell

Came across this quote while reading some blog, One should definitely write more often. But you become more conscious when you write something publicly. Its always much easier when you write something for yourself, you can also put lot more detail in it. I have always been hesitant to express myself, believe me no one can understand me in few meetings, so basically I am not an open book (I realised it some time back :-)). I don't know how this phenomenon holds for others I am not a good face reader either. But one thing that I am realising if you express yourself well it makes the world much simpler, How ? That's a complex theory, I am not getting into that now. So overall I am trying to be more expressive in putting my observations, perspectives, thoughts etc.

Went to home last week Bangalore-to-Vizianagaram its around 20 hours journey one way. My laptop's company didn't sustain long as I was in 3 tier coach and couldn't do much to refuel it. I am not a book worm, don't find much interest in playing su-doku etc. so needed something to kill time. I like interacting with people, knowing about them, their environment, experiences etc. Listing here conversations with 2 of my acquaintances in the train.

Met a lady who stays in Africa (Cameroon) with her family. Her husband is an accountant and 2 daughters were studying in 1st and 4th standard. She was in India for about 2 months vacation of their kids. I am a good and curious listener so most of the talking part was from her side. 

Me  : Tell something about Africa ? 

She :  In Africa its bit unsafe but still Cameroon is at safer side as compared to other countries in Africa. We hardly go out, there is not much of a social life. We are visiting almost all relatives in India as this is the only time we travel. In Africa they think Indians and Chinese are very rich, so we need to be bit cautious.

Me : Are there many indians ?

She : Not many in Cameroon, there are quite a few Chinese and they are very brave too. Even Chinese ladies take care of the shops.

Me : Which school the kids go ?

She : There is a good Anglo-Indian school bit expensive though. 2nd language is French as Cameroon was part of French colonisation. The worst part of school is the children have to study the history of Africa and it's causing some difficulty.

Me  : Do the kids have some close friends in school ?

She : No we don't encourage that.

Me  : What are all Indian TV channels you get there ?

She : Zee TV and few other Hindi channels.

Overall she was trying to convey Africa is not so bad place to live but it was difficult to understand it that way. I can't forget her innocent remark on safety in India "As gold prices are going so high, and with rising chain snatching incidents, India may also become like Africa", for a moment I was not sure how to respond.

Africa doesn't seem that easy going place (except South Africa). Bit unsafe, no proper infrastructure, for them Indians and Chinese are rich hmmmmmm.

One of my roommate recently been to California, Dubai and Nigeria. No need to describe his experience with Dubai and US. His experience with Nigeria was also not that good. Though he was point of attraction for them :-) One interesting point he mentioned about Nigeria that Public transport is 2 Wheeler, you take the lift and pay the money, The roads are so bad 4 wheelers take lots of time to reach even few Kms. This is just for information, I don't recommend taking 2 Wheeler public transport there :-)

My second acquaintance a student studying in M S Ramaiah college, Bangalore was narrating his experiences. He was from Dhanbad, Jharkhand. The description of jharkhand was scary. 

Me : Did things change in jharkhand after separation from Bihar ?

He : An overbridge is not completed in Dhanbad even after 8 years because twice the chief engineers were murdered. 

Me : What goes on middle class people's mind ?

He : The mafia don't do anything to middle class people. They only ask money from rich people.

Me : Why Bangalore ?

He : There are no proper colleges. Lots of students (that means lots of money) come to cities like Banaglore etc.

Me : But there is BITS Ranchi etc ?

He : Do you know how many seats are there ? And that also open for all states.

Me : How do u see Bangalore ?

He : When I first came I couldn't adjust here away from home, I thought I won't come back once I go to home. When I reached home I felt the difference, the facilities, infrastructure etc. Now it s been 4 years for me in Bangalore.

Me : How do u find Ramaiah College? Its pretty famous in Bangalore. 

He : you can find many Mercedes and BMWs in college campus. You can easily get drugs in bangalore. There are hell lot of ways to get spoilt. Fortunately I am away from these till now. My course work keeps me occupied.

Me : Do you know about IISc or Tata Institute ? Have u visited it anytime ?

He : Ya I have heard about it.

Me : Then do visit sometime, its beside your campus :-)

Oracle Photographs Exhibition

On the occasion of Independence Day, there was an exhibition of photographs in Oracle office.

 Two of my pics were also selected for it. 

My Pic 1 "Happy Feet"

My Pic 2 "Solitude"

The Savandurga Ride

This was 2nd ride organised by IISc Randonneurs , and It was my first 100km bicycle ride. The route they planned was just awesome, they must have put lots of effort in that, hats off to the organising committee. During the ride we came across many beautiful locations like Savan Durga, Manchanbele Dam, ISRO substation etc. but we didn't have time to capture them, because of deadline to finish the trip. Still posting few random pics.

Some points to take out from the trip

- We started at 6.00 AM, I came back at 2.00 PM

- Abhirama was riding slower than me :-) due to various reasons.

- Had some awesome Thatte Idli  at some Village in Magadi Road for breakfast.

- I felt we circled the Savandurga Monolith many a times, sometimes it was on my left, sometimes on right, sometimes straight and everywhere.

- Manchanbele Dam was beautiful and was surrounded by greenary. I recently visited a reservoir with all water dried up that wasn't so good.

- While coming back I drank 4 coconut water, I was searching for all energy sources thanks to Uday's chocolates that helped.

- There was a foreigner lady with us, she had a road bike and was riding really fast, very often overtaking us but every now and then she used to stop. We asked her once, is everything fine ? she replied - Ya everything is fine. I don't know the route thats why I have to follow you guys :-)

- It was like a mini Karnatka Darshan. We covered city, villages, farms, mountains,water bodies, state highway, tourist places etc.

 After crossing Manchanbele Dam, we took a break under this tree for some time.

 Thanks to Varma, his cycle was great

 ISRO substation

 

 These antenna's were huge

Big Banyan Tree

Random

Random 

Can you see the floor of these temporary huts ? They are at a certain height from ground.

Great Design. 

 zoom out...

zoom out... It seems a cool place to stay :-)

Getting ready for cultivation. 

The wood from these trees is used for support during building construction. 

The straighter they are, the better they are.

SFO [Picture Story]

Jan 2010

--------------

Golden Gate

 Pelican

 Bay Bridge

 Performers from England on the market streets

 Musicians at city market

  

 Don't disturb me

 Golden Gate

 Alcatraz Island (It was a high security Prison in past, surrounded by sharks n below zero degree chilled water)

Pacific Ocean

 Reflection of sun light during sunset

Another view of Pacific Ocean

  SFO city view from Golden Gate

You need decent background work, before city tour :-)

PS : I observed that most of the people don't like indirection in the blog,

[when I pasted the flickr link there were very few hits for flickr album].

I simply love these pics and now sharing them in a more direct way,

so that more people can enjoy :-)

Madiwala Lake

Pics n Video is from my Galaxy S :-)

Another beautiful Bangalore Lake

 

Park attached to lake

I went to this kid and inquired what was he eating, I also tried that fruit, It was sweet :-)

Hebbal Lake [Picture Story]

I liked the walking track !

 It was peaceful !

 Good place for Bird Watchers !

 Some small Island's are formed, which attract birds !

Nice place for Jogging !

 One of the oldest lakes in Bangalore !

Boat at lake !

 Good place for Exercise !

I have not clicked this pic :-)

Hang out with friends !

Just loved the lawn !

PS : Thanks to Chaitanya for some of the pics !