Life experiences...

Light & Photograhly - Focusing

2012-01-22T07:35:00.000-08:00

I havent been able to spend time to learn all the tricks of professional photography, but definitely learnt a few basics. I would like to share the simplest trick of all Focusing....

Tip 1:Focusing
Where you focus while clicking your picture matters most if your camera is on manual setting. This is specially true on DSLR (I do not know if any one of you still use SLRs, I guess they are obsolete) camera's.

If you focus on light source(the brighter part of the picture), your camera captures more light but will not capture the finer details as in this Photo.

On the other hand If you focus on darker parts of your frame(In this case i focused on the darker bulb holder) you get to capture fine details along with nice colors.

On the other hand if the camera is on auto mode, based on camera model, it uses some algorithms to find the best possible focus/setting (But these pictures generally do not turnout to be as good as they can be).

Conclusion : Learning these tricks will help you captures some great pictres even in the very ordinary setup.

Want to learn more?

Rebuilding New Orleans 2011

2011-10-14T10:21:00.000-07:00

Post Katrina, Flood damaged numerous homes in New Orleans. Some people never returned to the city but some were determined to stay here against all odds. Many of these home belong to seniors who lived here for a long time and do not have any means of fixing their damaged homes.

Rebuilding New Orleans is an NGO which helps the new orleans comunity rebuild many home that were damaged by Katrina hurricane. Chevron partnered with this NGO to help the community. I shared my last year's blog post on Rebuilding New orleans with my collegues and almost all of them joined me this year.

Even though i had hectic business travels back to back this week I didnt miss this event. As always it was loads of fun and a great learning experience.

Backyard Photography

2011-09-28T17:14:00.000-07:00

These days my favorite time pass is to walk with Rishab and my new Canon T3i exploring nature. We are never disappointed and we either meet some cat, some bugs or something else.

Rishab gets to learn and see something new and i get to show him and i get some great snaps along with something to fill his blog :)

Feeding ducks at fairwiew, Mandeville- LA

2011-08-07T08:51:00.000-07:00

This is just about half a mile from my home. We come here some times in the evenings to feed birds and turtles. Ducks and geese do not hesitate to pick from our hands and Rishab likes it a lot.

I havent been adding anything to this site but has been updating Rishab's blog regularly.

LSU Campus @ Baton Rouge, LA

2011-04-16T08:00:00.000-07:00

We visited LSU (Louisiana State University) Campus today. It was one of the best maintained campus that i have seen so far.

Beautiful LSU Campus @ Baton Rouge

Apart from beautiful surroundings, they have a live tiger which is their official mascot. Read all about that on Rishab's blog

Rebuilding together - New orleans

2010-10-08T14:11:00.000-07:00

Chevron's XYZ network is working with Rebuilding together NGO to rebuild houses that were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. Katrina was a category 5 (speeds up to 175 miles per hour) and killed close to 2000 people and left thousands homeless.
Before....
After...

I have never done any painting or labor work in my life before. India has labour that does all such work for a very affordable price, so i never had to work on any such tasks. Now was a chance to learn that and it was fun.

Our assignment was to continue working on an unfinished house. I learnt painting and also to cut plywood accurately to fit them on the exterior walls. Check out the photos above.

Although its quite a physical work, contributing like this once in a while makes us feel good that you are doing something for the society. The homeless family will remember.
Chevron also donated a large sum to rebuilding together foundation.

Canadian geese in Covington Louisiana

2010-07-05T18:46:00.000-07:00

We see lot of Canadian Geese in Covington.
Canadian Geese start nesting during spring time. Our office has few small ponds and few Geese nest here. Canadian Geese defend their nests very aggressively from humans dogs and any other animals.

This pond is one of the many ponds in Covington, Louisiana

Many employees jog along these ponds and since some of these Geese were nesting in our office premises, there were some incidents where these Geese chased any one who wanted to jog or walk around these ponds. Our nature friendly Management issued a notice to block all walkways that lead to the nesting area to avoid any further and posted signboards to educate everyone and also sent out a notice to all employees.

I remember we had nominated an employee as a egg monitor and use to check the health of eggs. They even tried to have a live web camera fitted so that everyone could watch them live. Because of firewall and other issues that idea was dropped. But it feels good to be working with an organization that is sensitive to nature.

Related Article: Swans in Stratford Canada.

Mardi Gras - 2010

2010-02-19T05:49:00.000-08:00

Yet another Mardi Gras season. This year we attended Mardi Gras in New orleans, Slidell, Mandeville & Covington. Undoubtedly New orleans hosts the biggest Mardi gras parades.

We attended Endemiyon in Mid-city. Indeed, its at much larger scale compared to Covington or Madeville. Whole new orleans gets filled with flood of cars during Mardi Gras. We attended following parades this year.

Eve in Madeville

Olympia in Covington

Dionysus of Slidell

Orpheus in Mandeville

Endymion in Mid-City

Lions in Covington

As always its a wonderful time to be in Louisiana during Mardi Gras season. Dont miss it if you happen to be in Southern part of America during February.

Who dat -Saints day

2010-01-21T19:07:00.000-08:00

Today we had Saints day.

Edited: 07 Feb 2010

New orleans Saints are NFL Champions. Saints won the by 31 - 17 against Colts.
Whole of Bourbon street is crowded with Saints fans in festive mood. This Mardi gras is going to be very special and crazy.

We all cheered for Saints with Saints shirts.

Eating Alligator

2009-09-29T19:25:00.000-07:00

Tried this at Don's seafood when i was on a official trip to Lafayette.

Driving experiences in Louisiana - USA

2009-04-25T14:49:00.000-07:00

Driving in USA was much different from driving in Canada But mostly that earlier experience made me feel more confident about my driving.

Getting driving license from Louisiana (where i am living now) was hassle free. With our indian driving experience lets us get american driving license easily. All we have to do is first clear a written test and then take a drive test. thats it we get a license with no restrictions.

Previous driving experience in any country counts specially international driving permit. Indian or any other country driving license will also do.

Canada and US driving rules are mostly same. Biggest difference is all the numbers are in miles in USA and Canada and most of the world uses Kilometers.
Its cautiously driving for a few days is whats important and eventually you will get used to it.

A recent scary incident.

Recently tried my hand on a 12 seater van while driving to Miami. At first it all seemed same as a car, real trouble started when i was overtaking a huge lorry at 70+ miles an hour speed. It could be just one of the defective van steering that we hired or may be all of them are like that. You need to constantly keep adjusting the steering wheel to keep it accurately on the road where you want. I was overtaking the lorry in on a bent road and hardly had enough room to. Van was shaking and i was literally scared & scared everyone to before taking good control of it. Also it always rained when i drove, which made it all more difficult to drive.

You can checkout this van and all other cars i drove on my wikipedia page of My & the cars i drove But soon i was one of the very confident drivers who drove that van in the night at 75+ miles constantly for hours together crossing 4 US states Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. Diving had never been so pleasurable, I love US highways.

Crossing worlds longest bridge - Lake Pontchartrain Causeway

2009-04-24T15:33:00.000-07:00

Lake Pontchartrain Causeway is the longest bridge in the world. Its built on lake Pontchartrain thats between New Orleans(South shore) and covington(North shore).

Some facts

spanning 23.9 miles from Metairie on the South Shore.

Speed limit 70 miles per hour.

We did not notice the first time we crossed it in the midnight. But now its a feast to the eyes every time we cross it. At the same time its a bridge where we have to drive very carefully as only 2 high speed lanes are the on each side.

Mardi gras 2009 @ Slidell, Metairie, Covington, Mandeville, New Orleans - Louisiana

2009-03-04T17:36:00.000-08:00

Although Mardi gras is celebrated worldwide in various forms, Louisiana is famous (and notorious!!) for Mardi gras carnival.

Fun part of this carnival is lots of beads, soft toys, plastic glasses are thrown from the floats. Families with kids await eagerly for this carnival and come prepared with huge bags and ladders. Kids sit on those ladders along the roads(path of the floats). They catch everything thrown at them and almost fill multiple bags of beads and other stuff collected.

This take place for almost two weeks and almost everyday some part of Louisiana will have some mardi gras celebration.
We attended Mardi gras in Slidell, Mandeville and Metairie.

Bubbles at Gymboree on Inika's birthday.

2009-02-24T09:53:00.000-08:00

Rishab attended Inika's birthday in Gymboree at Mandeville. As a part of games organized, bubbles were blown all over the place.

All games were for kids below 5 years and they had a blast.

Life changes

2008-12-11T18:34:00.000-08:00

Life changes dramatically with the entry of our kid(s). Mine isnt different, Rishab changed the way we look at every minute thing in our life.

I have been maintaining his blog regularly, but haven't been updating my own.

Stamps of 2007

2008-01-03T16:40:00.000-08:00

Wow yet another year with amazing memories. Best way to remember these events is by making stamps of important events. Since most part of 2007 was spent in Canada, almost all the stamps of 2007 are of Canada.

Driving in Canada

Driving at 120KMS speed on the highways was exciting and memorable event. Read all about my experience of driving in Canada

Created Kannada-Greetings.com

One of the most important task that i did during my stay in canada was the contribution to kannada lanugage on Internet - A Kannada greetings website. Lots of people use it now, 2500+ hits a day sometime.

CN Tower
visited CN Tower on June 30 read the full details of CN Tower travel experience

Niagara falls
visited most beautiful water fallsNiagara Falls A must visit place on the world map. Dont forget to read my reivew of the niagara falls travel experience

Fall Season
Fall season is the most brightly lit colorful season of the year. We were all excitied to be a part of it.

Chilling Winter
Winter was the exact opposite of fall season. It was the most difficult time of the year. We had to spend almost all the time at home.

Dont forget to see my previous year 2006 stamps

Hot air balloons in London, ON

2007-12-22T04:15:00.000-08:00

Brief about Hot air balloons
Hot air balloon is one of the oldest technology to carry humans in air dating back to 1783. It consists of a bag that holds the heated air, and a basket and heating sources are carried along with passengers/pilot. They can also come in a variety of shapes and sizes.

Balloon festival was going on in London On August 4 2007, Saturday. It was 1 hour drive for us from Stratford.

View Larger Map

It takes place in Harris Park at the forks of the Thames River during Simcoe Day(first Monday in August) weekend.
After having some food and roaming around the groud that had some amusement games, slowly the crowd started gathering and a few balloons started inflating.

First ones were a maple leaf and Canadian Flag hot air balloons. Crowd cheered with pride. There were other participating balloonist from USA. More than 20 balloons were launched from this location one after the other.

Then there was a diano which was inflated but never took off. It finally bent over the crowd and fell down. It was just an attraction for kids.

How and where do they land?
Each hot air balloon will have its vehicle on the ground that chases these balloons. they will have GPS

Official site :http://www.londonballoonfestival.com

Sumo wrestling in stratford

2007-08-26T18:04:00.000-07:00

Although sumo wrestling is played by professionals in Japan and other eastern countries, We dont need to be professionals to try out with special outfits for fun.
This one was organized in Stratford and found it when we were out for an evening walk.

Facts

Sumo wrestling is Japan's national game.

Rules -(1) The wrestler who either first touches the floor with something else than his sole (2) leaves the ring before his opponent, loses.

The fights usually last only a few seconds and in rare cases up to one minute or longer.

More details http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumo

This is a video footage of my wrestling with one of the participant.

Ontario place - Toronto

2007-08-14T16:23:00.000-07:00

Ontario Place is a multiple use entertainment and seasonal amusement park owned by the Province of Ontario. Located on the shore of Lake Ontario, just south of Exhibition Place, it is approximately 4 km west of downtown Toronto.

Opened in 1971, it consists of three artificially constructed, landscaped islands. Attractions are spread throughout the park

This was 148 kms drive for us. I have a backup driver now, so mostly sit and guide(not yet relax) ;)

Parents can enjoy water slides with their family, while kids are the stars with all the rides open for them. Even toddlers have a seperate area where they have their own mind games. In the evenings chinese lanterns are lit and it looks awesome.
Checkout this small video clip from ontario place, taken from digital camera

Facts related to Ontario place

March 17, 1969 - started construction of Ontario place

May 22, 1971 - Operational

$29,000,000 CAD - spent for ontario place development.

Ontario Department of Trade and Development owns this park.

park size: 360,000 m² (96 acres), 206,000 m² (51.4 acres) created by landfill

Open from Mid may till september 3rd each year.

Their official Ontario place website

Google satellite map of Ontario place.

To Conclude
We mostly enjoyed the water slides which were of a lil thrill, most other rides were simply for kids. This is the place for family to have fun together. A must visit for people with kids if you happen to visit Toronto.

CN Tower - Toronto

2007-06-30T15:18:00.000-07:00

History of CN Tower
The CN Tower, located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, is a communications and tourist tower standing 553.33m (1,815 ft 5 in) tall. Since its completion in 1976, it has been the world's tallest free-standing structure on land; however, its status as the world's tallest building is contentious. It is considered the signature icon of the city, attracting more than two million international visitors annually.

CN originally referred to Canadian National, the railway company that built the tower. Following the railway's decision to divest non-core freight railway assets, prior to the company's privatization in 1995, the CN Tower was transferred to the Canada Lands Company (CLC), a federal Crown corporation responsible for real estate development.

Comparing the heights of other tall structures with CN tower.

KVLY-TV mast is the tallest structure on earth with 628 meters located on Traill County, North Dakota, USA. This structure is supported by cables.

Petornius platform standing on water is taller than CN tower at 610 meters located in New orleans, USA.

Sears tower is the tallest sky scraper with antenna at 527 meters located in Chicago, USA.

Eiffel tower is merely 324 meters, but truely a master piece located in Paris, France.
If these facts interst you, read more about worlds tallest buildings and structures

Road to CN tower
It was a 150 Kms 2 hours drive for us. take a look at the satellite image of the CN Tower.

Glass floor
You can look down 342 m(1,122 ft) right below your feet. Many people experience acrophobia when they walk on this glass floor. It also has a cafe in this floor.
At 1150 feet height 360 restaurant takes a full rotation once every 72 minutes. You can take a look at the whole city in about an hours time sipping your coffe.

Skypod
Skypod at 447 m (1465 ft) is the highest observation deck in the world. On a clear day you can see up to 120 Kms, including outline of lake Ontario and mist rising from Niagara falls.
Skypod gives a spectacular view of the high rises of the city.
Visitors love to spend most of their time here.

Facts

CN Tower is world's tallest free-standing structure on land. Made a detailed study on this claim and CN tower isnt the tallest free structure on earth (as i was told) its Petornius platform standing on water.

CN Tower is alomost twice as tall as Eiffel tower is.

this building is used in various games like Simcity 3000, Ace combat 5

CN Tower experiences lightning strikes 40 to 50 times a year

CN Tower is listed in Guinnes world records as tallest free standing structure.

This is one of the most important tourist place in Canada.

Sony Cybershot DSC-N2 - Migration from 3 to 10 MP

2007-06-26T11:39:00.000-07:00

Switched from 3 Mega pixels to 10 Mega pixels Sony DSC N2

Read the full review of Sony Cybershot DSC-N2 - Migration from 3 to 10 MP

All photos (well almost) that you saw on my blogs so far were clicked by this camera. Probly Niagara trip was its last journey with me.

Niagara falls

2007-06-17T13:48:00.000-07:00

This is one travel destination for which we had been waiting for months together.

History of Niagara falls -
Niagara Falls are a set of massive waterfalls located on the Niagara River in eastern North America, on the border between Ontario, Canada and New York State.
While not exceptionally high, Niagara Falls is very wide. With more than 6 million cubic feet (168,000 m³) of water falling over the crestline every minute in high flow, and almost 4 million cubic feet (110,000 m³) on average, it is the most powerful waterfall in North America.

Niagara Falls is renowned both for its beauty and as a valuable source of hydroelectric power for Ontario and New York. Preserving this natural wonder from commercial over-development, while allowing for the needs of the area's people, has been a challenging project for environmental preservationists since the 1800s. A popular tourist site for over a century, the Falls are shared between the twin cities of Niagara Falls, Ontario and Niagara Falls, New York.

Nothing is more thrilling than to watch Niagara falls roaring infront of you. Ferry services like "Maid of the Mist" does exactly this. It takes you close to the falls. Raincoats are provided to keep you safe from loads of mist and water that falls on you when you go closer.

It was a 182 Kms, a 3 hours dirve for us. Here is a google road map that we used to reach Niagara.

Satellite view of Niagara falls

View a live camera on Niagara falls

Niagara looks equally bright and lit up in the night (check out the schedule on their site) with colorful lights. To add more to the beauty you can see wonderful fireworks display on friday and sunday nights at 10 PM. Check the schedule on their site as the timings vary throughout the year. Its another not to miss event in Niagara.

Some interesting facts about Niagara falls

The first person to go over the Falls in a barrel and survive was a 63 year old female schoolteacher.

Niagara falls is 12,000 yrs old.

Every year over 12 million tourists visit Niagara.

Marilyn Monroe starrer "Niagara" was filmed in Niagara Falls in 1952.

In 1960, Roger Woodward was the boy who had survived a descent over the Falls after a boating accident above the Falls.

Niagara Falls Ontario Canada is known as the Honeymoon Capital of the world.

Until 1886, when the Statue of Liberty was erected, the Falls at Niagara were the symbol of America and the New World.

Visitors from all over the world targeted Niagara as a must-see during a visit to North America.

To conclude,
We had a wonderful time in Niagara. Its a must visit place if you happen to visit north american continent.

Lion Safari in Cambridge.

2007-05-16T20:20:00.000-07:00

Watching captive animals in the cages is much different from watching them freely roaming around in safari.
Lion safari is an attaractive travel destination to see more than 1000 exotic species of animals and birds. Its specially enjoyed by young ones.

It was 60 Kms drive for us to the LionSafari from Stratford.

Entry fee for adults is $22 Cad. which almost covers everything. Map is provided to you so that you can drive through the park by yourself. You can also choose to see the park in Safari tour bus. Check the lion safari website for details and timings.

First animals you will find are Asian elephants swimming in the lake.

You will find Baboons climbing on cars to get whatever people offer them. Be careful & do not to open the windows. You are not allowed to feed any animals in the safari(Although many people do feed them for the sheer fun of having the animals around their vehicles).

Then there were Lions sleeping lazily in the sun. These are not bothered about humans as none of the visitors feed them.

This zebra was just looking around visitors as if its a waste of time.

Herd of deers (i do not know the sub species of it)

Few peacocks were walking between visitors. One of them was dancing with its beautiful feathers open.

Apart from these animals you will also find African Macaws, Different types of parrots, Eagles, hawks, Falcons, Emu, Owls, Cheetah, camel, Yak, American Bison, Rhino, Shetland Sheep and Horse.

Safari also includes demonstration of
Parrots paradise, Birds of prey and elephant round up (this is much like our old days animal circus)

Apart from animals and birds, safari also has Misumu Bay Wet Play area. We were running short of time and could not see this.

Driving experience in canada.

2007-05-16T08:07:00.000-07:00

I had to completely unlearn my indian driving habits and start afresh. Most important one was driving on the opposite side of the road and lot of driving rules which must be followed so that others wont honk at you.

Here are some of the driving behaviours that we learnt over a period of time from others who shared the roads with us in the past.

we use to pass through pedastrains even if they are crossing (it was also a confusion and scary for pedestrains). And this is nothing new & is very common. Cover all valid lanes by pushing your vehicle where ever it fits (thats how all bikes fit in between all lanes of cars) Not bothered about speed limits as you will never exceed them because: 1. Sufficient traffic on the road does not let you speed up but follow them.; 2. Roads have enough speed breakers & Traffic signals to see that you do not reach good speed.; 3. Curves and people crossing the roads

And over here the driving is 180 degree different.

Pedestrains get the highest preference to cross the roads.

Change the lanes with precaution and proper signaling.

Speed limit violations get you fines delivered right at your door steps :p Roads are good enough to go at 200Kms speed anywhere so you got to control it as the signs tell you.

Left hand driving of vehicles. Initially for a few days its scary to see vehicles crossing in opposite directions.

Learning driving in canada
Previous driving experience will definitely give you confidence. Do not think of driving from the first day itself. Here are few tips to get you started.

1. If possible get local driving license. You need to go through proper formal training for this. In Canada it costs up to$40 a class of an hour.
2. Take your time to see the traffic behaviour and signals.
3. Read through Drivers handbook for complete listing of traffic rules & driving instructions. Some of the rules change from state to state (applicable to US also) so be watchful.
4. Do not drive if you do not have valid license. International driving Permit will also do as long as it is valid and in English or French language.
5. Do not drive without insurance. It is illegal to drive without insurance, fines are up to $2500.
6. Do not think of driving on highways if you are not very comfortable to drive at high speeds of 100-120Kms.

Finally
Its a great feeling to drive on good roads with greenery all around. I enjoyed every bit of driving on Chrystler Sebring 2007 model. Respect all rules of traffic, have fun and enjoy a wonderful drive.

Swans of Stratford - Avon river

2007-04-23T10:51:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we went on lakeside drive. We started at 6:30 - Just incase you are wondering that it will be dark,it wont be. Summers have relatively longer days and it gets dark at about 8:APM here.

Some history..
In August 1918 a pair of swans was released in this river and their population has grown considerably over the years.
White swans (in the picture) are called Mute swans. The Stratford Waterfowl And Nature Society (S.W.A.N.S) Group is a group of volunteers dedicated to helping waterfowl along Avon river (also called Lake victoria)

Swan facts

Swans can live upto 25 years.

Swans are vegitarians.

Male swan is called a Cob.

Female swan is called a Pen.

Baby swan is called cygnet.

Group of swans is called a herd.

Its common to see some swans crossing the roads and the car drivers waiting patiently for them to cross the road. It was a wonderful evening spent with these swans.

Swan emergency in stratford.
If you see a swan in need of help call 519-271-0250 ext 243

Official website of the swans in stratford

My footprints in Canadian snow

2007-04-09T13:41:00.000-07:00

Its wonderful to see snow again after a gap of a year. Last time it was in Netherlands ,

now its in Canada. Its an ever exciting thing to step on snow for people like us who come from dry lands where we dont see snow.

Nature looks beautiful and gets painted with white color all over when it snows. Playing snowball is fun for kids & audults equally. We enjoyed it :)

Early morning walk gets you some wonderful glimpses of the nature. You get to see the small bird chirping around, Water droplets that got frozen trying to drip from corners, Lakes frozen and lot more.

Whenever i saw my own steps in the snow i grin'd..."My footprints in Canada!!"

Since this is almost the beginig of summer we may not find this snow for long.

I hope summer will be far more exciting when we can walk around places freely.

Happy new year 2007

2006-12-24T05:25:00.000-08:00

Wishing you all and your family members a very happy new year 2007.

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Stamps of 2006

2006-12-24T04:53:00.000-08:00

Stamps are one of the best ways to remember a year. These stamps are some of memorable events of 2006 in my life.

2006 was a year with lot of events happening.

Worked in Netherlands. Spent close to 2 months there. This picture was taken in the open greenery near my house.

Visited Paris, France – Went on exciting paris trip with friends. What a romantic place it was :d, Eiffel tower and Louvre museum are two most memorable places in Paris.

Nikhil was born. My nephew (301). Its great feeling to watch these tiny tots making noise around.

Aditya was born. My nephew (302). It was fun watching him grow from day one.

I got married: Preethi became my life partner.

Fashion show : Participated in fashion show in Honeywell. Although didn’t win anything in this event, it was really a memorable experience to be a part of it.

If you want to create a stamp too of your own events, shoot me a mail to get the template of these stamps (Created in photo shop 5).

Shiroda beach

2006-10-25T09:00:00.000-07:00

Lush greenery with palm trees and coconut trees will welcomes you to this small not so famous village called Shiroda. Shiroda beach has long stretch of clean sparkling beach.

I love spending my holidays in coastal areas. Shiroda is one such romantic spot. Shiroda has a delightful view of the sea and white sand. This is a perfect holiday destination for sun, fun and clean beach.

How to reach there :

Shiroda beach is located about 508 K. M. from Mumbai and 57 K. M. from Panji.

Nearest Airport is Dabohli (Goa) 92.K.M and nearest railway Station is at Sawantwadi.

You wont find regular crowd and shops hence beach is clean and attractive. It has a beach resort. Local people are very friendly and hospitable.

Dolphin's Nose - KodaiKanal

2006-08-27T02:28:00.000-07:00

Dolphin’s nose is one of the most important locations for forest explorations around KodaiKanal. Local tourist agencies offer Dolphins nose as a part of the one day forest trekking package.

Your way to Dolphin’s Nose: It’s about 8 Kms from the city. Need to walk about 3 kms downhill to reach Dolphin’s nose. Make sure you wear comfortable shoes as you walk in the forest area. You will get lot of small shops on the way selling eatables, tea/coffee and soft drinks. On the way you will find lots of exciting views of the forest with clouds covered. We went in August; weather may not be the same all the year. I am sure it will be more pleasing during October to March as Sun peeps through these trees adding a new dimension to its beauty.

It’s a breath taking experience to stand on the edge of the rock. You will find it both thrilling and scary to go close to so called Dolphins nose. Clouds pass through your body and fresh air through your lungs. Mountains around you are most of the time covered with clouds.
A must visit location if you go to KodaiKanal.

Thippagondanahalli (T.G. Halli) dam

2006-05-13T06:51:00.000-07:00

Thippagondanahalli Reservoir also known as chamarajsagar is located at the confluence of the rivers Arakavathi and Kumudavathi. This is a great place for picnic and bird watching.

Lush greenery around the dam attracts everyone specially on sunny days. Lots Trees, flowers and calm environment soothes our senses and is an ideal getaway for weekends. This kind of picnics is a must in everyone’s life to get a break from our busy city life.

General public is not allowed to enter the dam or guesthouse without prior permission.

Location : 35 Kms from Bangalore towards Magadi.
Best time to visit: September to Febrauary.

Dam was inaugurated in 1933. Sir M Vishveshwaraiah supervised the construction work.

We enjoyed playing in the water, and could also spot a snake chasing a water bird. Large fishes can also be found here.

It was a memorable outing for all of us.

Madurodam - Miniatures of Netherlands

2006-03-30T10:20:00.000-08:00

Watching that Amsterdam miniature caught our eyes like magnet. We could appreciate how beautifully they had taken care of each and every detailing of the miniature of those buildings.

Madurodam is located near Hague. city buses will take you there in 15 mins.
These miniatures are of exactly 25 times smaller than actual buildings/structures. If you plan to visit or travel in Netherlands make sure this is your first destination. Madurodam miniatures will introduce you to all important buildings and structures of Netherlands.

These are built in open air and amazingly they have been standing against all odds of nature's fury (snow, rain and sun)

We visited Rotterdam bridge after having a look at its miniature (although it was already in our must see list) We were eagerly looking forward to see the original large bridge. Only me and shyam could dare to face the chilling wind on the bridge.

Highway miniatures were so neatly arranged/automated that its hard to make out that its a miniature. Take a look the the video clip :)

Overall A must see place of Netherlands.

Pony tails - The cute little horses

2006-02-24T11:47:00.000-08:00

These small sized horses are called ponies (or pony). These adorable ponies are quite rare (in many parts of the world) as they cannot be used for commercial purposes.

I found these in many parts of Netherlands used as pets. They just keep grazing all the time.. and its so good to watch them

Many breeds of these ponies are found all over the world. Here is a list of them with good details about ponies.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pony

First snow of the year.

2006-02-02T10:44:00.000-08:00

This was first snow of the year. Nature looks beautiful when it snows... White snow all over the place..

Thanks Koen for clicking all these beautiful photos..

Windmills of netherlands

2006-01-31T11:07:00.000-08:00

Some of these windmills were started way back in 16th century when electricity wasn’t there. Many of these windmills are still in working condition. You can find these windmills throughout Netherlands.

Ice hockey on frozen lakes

2006-01-31T10:32:00.000-08:00

Frozen lakes are fun to play. But be careful, they could turn out to be fatal if you do not know about them before stepping on. Wait for the weather to be below zero degrees for a week (This helps the upper layer of water get frozen and a thick layer of solid ice forms on water).

Its an amazing experience to play on the lake that was water few days back.. and will be melting again in a few days.

Happy new year 2006 - Bonne année

2006-01-01T07:28:00.000-08:00

New year wishes to all of you. May all your wishes come true this year.

Bonjour :) Welcome to French language

2005-12-20T10:08:00.000-08:00

Training had never been so much fun for me. Thanks to Satyam SLC for conducting the French language course. It is said that French decended from Latin, but for us it resembled English. Although spellings and meaning of many words remain same in French, prononciation was different, so it was little bit of un-learning english.

étudiants de française

From Left to Right : Me,Dinesh Thyagaraju, Sreeranjini, Amitha, Kruthika, Soumya, Sandhya(Our Teacher),Sarath, Aman, Rohit, Shridhar, Shambhu, Kripal, Srinivas, Divya prasan,Bindu , Shilpa, Venugopal, Jyothi, Shweta.

Facts related to French

French is one the second most influential language next to English.

Spoken as a native language in 5 continents.

Official language of about 60% of African countries.

More than 40 countries use French either as first language or second language.

Most people in Canada and Europe speak French.

More than 250 million people speak French as their first language.

Some resources

Why should we learn French

http://www.bonjour.com/- An excellent resource for every beginner or traveller planning to visit any French spoken country. This website has audio clips in a very easy to use interface with categories like greetings, numbers, asking for help, finding your way etc.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/french/lj/challenge Very good fast track tutorial by BBC. Checkout other detailed topics too.

http://french.about.com/library/weekly/aa020901a.htm Detailed tutorial at about.com

http://www.frenchassistant.com Another good tutorial with audio clips and lot of stuff on grammer.

A Song.
Alouette is a very interesting nursery song of french language. A link to Alouette song

And finally Translators are invaluable resources to Translate your words/sentenses from/to any of the popular languages. You can even translate a website.

http://www.worldlingo.com

http://www.appliedlanguage.com/free_translation.shtml

If you have gone through enough resources and prepared for a test, www.French-Chat.com lets you apply your learnings and chat with people in french. Most of these people are also fluent in english.

I have tried all above resources and I am sure they will be useful for you too. Suggestions?.. Any useful resources that can be added here..? shoot me a mail.

Jugaad - Vehicles made from waterpumpsets

2005-11-25T07:06:00.000-08:00

Abhishek & his father were fascinated by those open vehicles made of water pumps (These are called Jugaads). At last they caught hold of an orphaned one and started trying their hands in it. Interestingly I had seen a documentary on these vehicles on a news channel few months back. These vehicles are called Jugaad. These are made locally and they cost around Rs. 40,000 (That's $1,000). They have poor brakes and cant go beyond 40 kms per hour. They run on Diesel (They are just ordinary water pump sets converted into engine)
Arun added that very often brakes of these vehicles fail and one of the passengers jumps down and applies a manual wooden block as a brake.

We found these vehicles only in Rajasthan just like camels only found in this part of India.These vehicles didn't have any registration number (obviously they are not registered with RTO) hence they end up not paying any tax.

Interesting story of how these jugaads came in to existance.

Lotus Temple - Delhi

2005-11-13T10:23:00.000-08:00

Lotus temple is a meditation hall built by Birlas.
Absolute silence maintained inside gives you a great feeling and helps you meditate peacefully. Light effects (Just the light coming from the top) are good. Ironically no one came there to meditate. Lotus temple has become a monument and people just come there to visit it (mostly first time visitors).
As usual Abhishek didn’t forget to have his share of fun with Lotus temple.

Sisodiya Garden – Rani ka bagh (Queens garden) - Jaipur

2005-11-13T10:17:00.000-08:00

Sisodiya Garden – Rani ka bagh (Queens garden) - Jaipur
As the name suggests this was built for the queen. It has typical Rajasthani style buildings. There is only one significant thing about it, you get traditional Rajasthani dress (just for the photos) and get the snaps instantly.

Jantar Mantar - Jaipur

2005-11-13T10:14:00.000-08:00

Jantar mantar is a famous open air observatory built by Maharaja jai singh II. Jantar mantar is located right beside Jaipur city palace. It has lot of astronomical information related observatories like planets movement, clocks.

Abhishek was wondering at one of those observatory as one of BeyBlade grounds (that’s what he told me when he saw that first :p )

Sheesh Mahal- Amber fort

2005-11-13T10:10:00.000-08:00

Amber fort is located near Jaipur on the way to Delhi.
To go to the fort elephant and local vehicles are available. We couldn’t use elephants as they were already busy with others and we didn’t have enough time to wait for them to come back. This fort is famous for Sheesh mahal. Magnificent glassworks on these walls were replicated in the sets of Mughal-E-Azam. This was one of the most expensive films in Indian films history.

Fatehpur Sikri

2005-11-13T09:46:00.000-08:00

Fatehpur Sikri is situated about 37 Kms from Agra. It was founded by Akbar in 1569 AD and used as his Capital. Akbar prayed in this village for a son and after that his empress Jodha bai was blessed with a son who was named emperor Jahangir. Unfortunately within 50 years of its construction it was deserted due to scarcity of drinking water.

Sheikh saleem chisti tomb is made of white marble and has marble screen surrounding the cenotaph has beautiful floral design. Beauty of this wall can be seen when you go inside and watch, it looks like a mirror from inside. When you see it from outside it looks like a white marble building and nothing else is visible. It is said that this marble work is the best, even better than the one in Taj mahal.

Fort of Agra

2005-11-13T09:33:00.000-08:00

As the name suggests this fort is located in Agra and was used by rulers of Agra. Constructed by Akbar the great. Most significant people who ruled and used this fort were Shah Jahan who built this fort and Taj Mahal. Later akbar made some changes to this fort. Each corner of this fort tells a story. As most of the forts in India this fort also had water surrounded. During those days crocodiles were present in the water making it impossible for enemies to enter through water. Beautiful art work is seen on every corner of the fort.
Started construction in 1565 and took eight years. This is a must visit place in Agra.

It's an amalgamation of buildings and palaces. Different kings contributed to the construction of this palace including Akbar, Jahangir, Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb.
This is a part of the entrance to the fort. We were told by the guide that when enemies use to enter the fort from this entrance soldiers use to roll stones from the top so that the enemies coming entering will get crushed.

This portion of the Agra fort is has the most beautiful view of Agra. Specially beautiful Taj mahal is visible from this side. When we went there it was early morning and we could see Taj mahal filled with mist on the banks of Yamuna river.

Taj Mahal

2005-11-13T09:12:00.000-08:00

Taj Mahal Taj mahal is one of the seven wonders of the world. Its made of white marble and is situated on the banks of Yamuna river. Taj mahal was built by Shah jahan in memory of his wife Mumtaz. Shah jahan was house arrested by his son for these spendings.

Read full story of Taj mahal

Out of many proposals shah jahan selected a turkey design for Taj mahal. It took 22 years to complete and 20,000 laborers worked on it. It was completed by February 1643 A.D.

Checklist for any travel.

2005-11-11T22:14:00.000-08:00

1) Know the place before going there.
You can appreciate the importance and beauty of the place only if you know the details. Read about the place before visiting without missing. You can read about the place through Internet (this being the most resourceful means… just go to google and your keywords will show you what you are looking for), books on those places, friends or people who already visited that place. This will also help you make the list of must visit parts of those places that you must visit.

2) Book hotels in advance
Although this may not be possible all the time, but it always saves lot of your time and energy if you book in advance. You can find the hotels listing with your local travel agent and you can book them too. Internet is another means where you can find the details of the hotel, interact, virtually visit the hotel and book them online.

3) Pack your baggage to suite your travel.
Don’t pack everything; just pick the right ones. Too much of baggage is always a pain to carry. Do not forget to carry a book and a pen. A music player is a good company when you have lot of time to spend during journey. Camera/Handy cams along with batteries are a must to keep the memories forever with you.

4) Most important – Don’t forget to have fun.
That’s the sole reason you are going. So ignore all odds and try to enjoy every moment when you are on any travel.

4) International travel.

Dont forget your Passport when crossing countries.

Take a letter that talks about the purpose of your visit (Business or tourist letter)