Friday, February 24, 2006

Something Sweet :) !

They 'Three' we 'Two'
Now what to do ?
They were quite attractive in golden and brown
Although they weren't wearing any crown
I decide "Divide and Rule"
Now,Isn't that cool ?
One for me and one for you
Again One for me and
None for You .....
Haaaaa haaaa haaa


Hmmm..They tasted great ...ok ok ..For those of you who are wondering what those three were ..They were chocolates and none other than the famous Ferrero Rocher [*Applause*].
A pack of three chocolates which myself and my friend ate it for evening snack at office and i wrote this not so seemingly funny poem and posted it on my blog expecting people to read it and laugh .....


Photo Courtesy Manju

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Something Hot !!!!!!


On a Bright evening 4 of us decided to go to Sembawang Hot Water Springs.
I obviously take the camera so does another person. Panasonic Vs Nikon Is it ? She takes a Water bottle and is fully excited about the hot water springs ..Expectations were high.. Never before had i seen a hot water spring .. maybe a hot water shower daily ...haaa haaa haa ..so four of us march under the bright sky ..As we walk beside the prohibited and fenced Military Area ...me leading the troop.. suddenly there is hue and cry .."Come here Come here i will show you something" ...It was a Millipede. She was so excited about it . We touched( actually troubled ) the poor Millepede and it cuddled into a 'Chakalli' (A Spiral shaped snack famous in southern India!! ) . I moved it to the side and she asks me "Why ?" so i told her "So that nobody stamps it!" ..and we continue our march. She walks with me holding my hand . Then along the fence of the prohibited area there is a Gate which doesn't mention anything about the Hot water Springs ..but i assume it is THE place and we enter ..then again come a question "Why are we going here ,we are not supposed to go here ?" ..I tell her ..rather try to scare her that "Come we will see the military area and we will see how they shoot " .She gets scared and pulls me back saying "No i don't want to go " .. Then i tell her "No i was just kidding !! " . There was a path with bushes on both the sides ,a family was coming with all umbrellas in their hands .. Then there was a man with a cage which he had covered with a cloth and he was whistling ..i think he was catching birds ..anyways we passed him and proceeded ahead ..What do we see.. A big area ..A big brick building in between ..but where is the so called Hot water Spring ?? No Spring at all...All i can see is a squarish fenced place ..Chairs hanging on the fence ..lot of buckets ..People sitting on the chair and their legs inside the buckets ..and Taps ...Hmmmm... So hot water comes from those taps.. How do we confirm ? Obviously put your hand ...Heeeee heeeee .. Yes indeed it was hot !
So what big deal ..Hot water comes in my house also .Y should i walk all the way to see this.. He says Let's taste it and see.. "Hmmmmm ...Its tastes Sulphur" .. I see him and say "Is it ?" ( I have never tasted Sulphur :) ) ..I don't taste it .. So what next ? Follow the crowd ..Take a bucket ..fill it hot steaming water and dip your legs and sit . They did try it .I was busy capturing the smoke from the tap ..But i was left changing the Shutter speed and Aperture ..Couldn't get the Smoke :) .. Water was too hot ...How to cool it ? Idea ..Remember how they cool the tea in the Chai (Tea in Hindi ) shops in India ..Pour it from a greater height .It will get cold ..the same method .


Time to go ..Empty the buckets. keep them upside down ..and we are going back ..The Bird catcher is still trying to catch the birds ..I wanted to click his photo but he looked a bit scary ..I did see a nice bird sitting in his cage. Tried some macro shots with bougavillas ..but i need to practice more ..I capture few shots of the Sunset as we go ..

As we walked back home both of us were hungry ..Plans were being made to boil the egg and eat . Two eggs and three people ..what an injustice.. So what is to be done ...so there is a suggestion from her .. "I have an idea ..you and appa share one egg and i will eat one egg " ..Aha !! Smart kid ! Rest of us laugh at that as we wait to cross the traffic signal...

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Many Smiles :)



My entry for this weeks BSB-smile on Bangalore Shutter Bugs group on Flickr

Everyone has a different smile ..some show all their teeths ( ..I know i know ..i am a good example of that..all my 32 teeths can be seen) and some just smile without showing their wonderful teeths.Some with a cute dimple like the one in the above picture.
Just a smile on your make can do wonders .. In the earlier place where i used to work as a trainee ,starting with a just a smile daily ,i made a friend with a cook in the office canteen . He was so sweet that he used to keep extra Payasam (Dessert ) for me even if i used to come late for lunch . Even when i visited the old company to inform them that i was going onsite i went to meet him ,that day also he made me sit and eat payasam .He was very happy that i came to meet him . His name was Raju.
I have heard that we Indians don't smile ,its not the same with Non-Indians ,even if they don't know you they don't mind giving you a smile ,thats one thing i like about these people . Its really nice to get a sweet and pleasent smile from somebody ..makes you feel happy ..Isn't it !! At least it makes me smile :) ..Sometimes just a smile on your face makes the other person wonder...

Try this ..look at a person and give a smile ..I am sure he/she will smile back and ask you "Why are you smiling ? ".. .I usally do this with my friend !! I am sure he will smile when he read this !!! Heeeee heeee heee

A smile costs nothing ,but creates much ...so Keep Smiling :o)

Wednesday, February 15, 2006

A walk thru Arab Street ...continues

Continued from the previous post ...
During the Martial Arts display ,this particular photographer kept blocking the people and was busy clicking photos untill one of the foreign tourists tapped him on his shoulder ,oh! what a look he gave @$%#!!!!! :) . U can see him in the background . I hope he doesn't come across this blog ;-) !!!



Some of the visitors also tried balancing the sword ... No we didnt try as we were busy clicking the pictures :D . There was one girl who was trying from a long time to balance the sword and after a lot of concentration she finally did manage to blanace the sword. I did get the shot of her achivement.
What an Achivement !!! :) ..

There was this person who seemed to be welcoming all the people who gave us some scented grass and told us "Keep it under your pillow ,Heaven will come to you :) " and after a pause he told "and the second time you will got to Heaven " ..I am not quite sure what he meant ; ) . He kept welcoming the visitors and telling them about the swords and how old the sword were.
We have there till 1 o'clock after which our stomachs started growling and making noises. As we went in search for a place to eat we saw some old buildings ,i must say beautifully carved and colorful windows all along the street. All the houses were in one color and the windows in a different color. Some doors had some simple hand made designs around them ,reminded me of old Indian mud houses which would decorated by ladies of the family.

A colorful window

Decorated Door on the Arab Street


Perpendicular to Arab street is Baghdad Street :D .All the street names are familiar names. I even saw a shop named Alibaba :) and Alladin . Lot of carpet shops were there. The street was full of textile shops.


All in all the day was really colorful :).

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

A Walk thru Arab Street and visit to Malaysian Heritage Center..

Weekend, myself and my friend Manju had been to a street named Arab Street . Actual plan was to just visit Arab Street ,click some pictures and go to Botanical Garden .But the street gave us a lot of opportunity to click lot of photos and we ended spending almost 2-3 hours in that street . This was the first time i was ever going just for clicking photographs and it was really nice . As you enter the street you see lot of textile shops. Its a traditional centre for Singapore's Muslim community as it was quite evident from the presence of a beautiful Sultan Mosque right as you enter the street .
While in India i always though girl's couldn't enter the Mosque, but here i saw some foreign tourists entering the mosque wearing a gown which covers the whole body from neck to toe .We also decided to go and see inside the Mosque but then we saw that the gowns were not there ,we decided to come later.
As we moved ahead we saw Malaysian Heritage Center, lot of commotion inside .We stepped in with our cameras. There were girls and guys dressed in traditional colorful wear. It was supposed to be a "Rangsang Rias Pusaka Bangsa" or " Heirloom Rejuvenation Ceremony ".
This ritual involves cleaning the keris (a traditional Malay weapon) to rejuvenate and breathe new life into the weapon. There were lot fellow photographers with big lenses and heavy cameras .
(For More Details on the ceromony http://www.geocities.com/keris4u/suro_eventsIII.htm ) .
In the middle there was table wherein girls and guys were trying to balance the Sword or Keris on the pointed end . There were people cleaning the weapons and a old lady displaying of antique pieces of art work . There was a display a Malay Martial Arts , A traditional dance which was really colorful with the background music on the traditional music instruments .
Traditional Musical Instruments
Traditional Malay Dance
Malay Martial Arts Display
Will continue in the next post with some more colorful photos ....To be continued..

Sunday, February 12, 2006

I have been tagged..

I have been tagged ,that too for the first time .Suyog Tagged me ..So here i go

Four jobs I have had:

Software developmeent ,Application Packaging

Four movies I can watch over and over:

1. Anand
2. Life is Beautiful
3. Hera Pheri
4. Munnabhai MBBS

Four places I have lived:

1.Udhampur ,Jammu & Kashmir
2.Ojhar ,Maharashtra
3.Phoolbaari ,Assam
4.Mangalore,Karnataka

Four TV shows I love: (Currently)

1. Friends
2. Amazing Race
3. Ophrah Winfrey Show
4. Lots of programs on National Geographic and Discovery .

Ghar mein cable nahi hai yaar ..Sony TV ,Zee TV to sirf kabhi kabhi ...
Four places I have vacationed:

1. Puttur ,My Granny's house
2. Kerala
3. Patnitop ,Jammu and Kashmir


Four of my favorite dishes:

Only four ?? Hmmm... difficult question !!

1. Masala Dosa
2. Channa Bhatura
3. Pulliogare (Not the MTR one plz !! already getting bored of it .)
4. Curd Rice with home made pickle :)

Four sites I visit daily:

1. Google
2. Flickr
3. All the links on the right side of my blog( Clicks i make )
4. Rediff


Four places I would rather be right now:

1. Home
2. Granny's place
3. Top of a moutain with cool breeze
4. Any place with my friends

Four bloggers I am tagging:

1. Ashwin
2. Shub
3. Viju
4. Arjun

Friday, February 10, 2006

A Dream....


"Reality is the best possible cure for dreams. " ~Roger Starr

All of us have many dreams from our childhood ,some of which are serious and some silly :) .Yes ,i too had lot of weird dreams, I always dreamt of joining FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation ) especially after seeing X Files on Star World .Wanted to be a cartoonist ..ended up being a cartoon myself (Like many people say !) .. Always dreamt of having magical powers to do the vanishing act or transform some people into weird kind of beings :D ..Imagination runs wild in the dreams.

Apart from all the above silly dreams i did have some seriuus dreams or you can say 'something i always wanted to do in my life'.One of my many dreams was to get my parents to see a place outside India and that too on my own money . And that Dream seems to be coming true . I just booked the tickets for my Parents and Sister for Singapore ,courtesy Jet Star Asia (http://www.jetstarasia.com) . Isn't it great :) ? .Now i wait eagerly for April to come ... April 1st 2006 my wish will be fulfilled :) ..I know ..I know April 1st is fool's day :) but this years its going to be Dream Come True Day for me !!




Singapore is waiting for you Appa ,Amma and Sindhu ...

Tuesday, February 07, 2006

Malaysia Trip - Part 3

Continuing from the previous post
Third Day everyone decided to leave a bit late .We left by 9:30 A.M in the morning .Had breakfast in the restaurant opposite to Hotel. But the main issue was where to go ? And the decision making almost took one hour .Finally we went to China Town which comparatively empty since most of the shops were closed on account of Chinese new year .Anyways there was 45 minutes time given for shopping( people who wanted to shop ,others sat in the bus) .Myself along with two of my friends entered one of the shops .AS we were browsing through the things we were offered Chinese tea in small cute cups .The first thing i ask her is "Is it vegetarian ? " ,She said "Yes" with a nice smile .So i drank that Chinese tea and made the other two also drink. "Dubna hai to sabko lekar dubo" funda :) .
I wanted to buy something at least from China Town so bought two small round boxes with Chinese doll pictures .There were lot of small creative art works.
Then went to Petaling Street ,bought 3 shirts one with Malaysian Batik print and the other 'A Black T Shirt with dragon on it' .That's it ..Time allotted for shopping was over ..ran towards the Van.
And then we headed to Sunway Lagoon ,another Theme Park. This time i decided i will sit in all the rides .Took a ticket for the water park. There is a dress code for water parks and we didn't follow the dress code so had to buy some stuff from the shops inside the theme which was pretty costly .Anyways had fun in the water park .Went for 3 rides ,had Vegetarian Burger ..waited for almost an hour in the changing room (oooooooooofh !!!!! )...And then back to the Van at around 4 o'clock .
Headed towards Putarajaya - A Place where all the parliament and other office are there. Beautiful place but the sunlight was harsh .Buildings were really nice .Spent almost 2 hours here ..took lot of snaps ..had some snacks and we were ready to end the trip to Malaysia.
On the way we met the Agent with whom all of us were ready to fight .OMG ,she looks like a pakka hindi film ka villain .She doesn't know how to speak . She was not ready to reduce one cent also. Anyway after arguing with her for almost one hour we gave her rest of the money had dinner and headed back to Singapore. Reached Singapore at around 2:30 A.M in the morning ,thanks to all the traffic .
All in all the trip was nice except few hurdles and some adjustment problems ,i guess every trip has that .Thanks to the Tour planning committee for organizing the trip .Looking forward to more trips like this .

Monday, February 06, 2006

Be a Rebel....Masti ki paatshala...Na Koi Padnewala ..Na koi seekhnewala ..


"I believe Amirkhan's latest movie Rang de Basanti is very good."
~ My Dad
Yup Dad..I saw Rang De Basanthi ..8 Adults + 1 child (above 3 yrs) went for the movie.Tickets were bought only for 8 adults ...Hmmmm First growing signs of corruption is it ??.... ..
Liked the movie .Songs are great...Have been listening to its songs from morning although i did hear them much before seeing the movie .But listening to songs after seeing the movie gives it a little more meaning :) !

Liked the first half more ...Some scenes were tooo tooo good ..Especially Aamir khan saying " Sue ...Sue kar mere man kiya tune kya ishara... " (BTW Sue is a British film maker in the movie for all those people who still haven't seen the movie !! ) and one more "Yeh Hindi bolti hai yaar ...." ( Time when Aamir realizes the Sue knows hindi , LOL ) and the dialogue practices of Aamir Khan with Chotu... Great acting by everyone . Locations were great ..the old Fort amidst the mustard plants , The open theater kind of place (looked similar to an coliseum.)

The second half was saad and a bit unrealistic . I just loved one dialogue which Madhavan says to all the other guys when argue about India , Madhavan says "Its not enough if we say nothing will change ,you have got to change it , Join IAS ,join politics and change India " . Yes , I do believe that even a single person making an effort to change India will help rather than just saying "How will a single person make a difference". I have seen people around me throwing garbage on the road even though i told them that "Hey , C'mon its your country keep it clean" ..but i get to hear "Hey , only if i do will India become clean? And then what are these cleaners for ? I am giving them work allva? ". How can such citizens change the country ? Looks like my train is off the track...Back to the Movie.. All in all movie was good .
People watch the movie if you haven't !!!

Hmmmm ..Malaysia Trip -Part 3 is still pending ..will post it soon..

Thursday, February 02, 2006

Malaysia Trip -Part 2

Coninued from the previous post....
Got up at 6:30 in the morning . Ordered for a Hot Milo through the Room service since the time of breakfast was not sure and i cannot survive until then :D . Everyone was there at time except the Van .He was in the vicinity within 15 minutes of everyone arriving. Headed for Batu Caves ( a temple ) ,hmmmmm a religious start indeed .
The place was wonderful .A huge statue of Murugan in front of the Caves with steps on the left side leading you to the caves .Everyone left their footholds in the van itself and started towards the temple. Climbed almost 200 steps till the caves. Nice caves. There is a row of gods at the entrance of the caves.
Although it is not well maintained ,the natural beauty is to be admired . The natural light coming from the ceiling lights up the otherwise dark caves .Lot of our ancestors where the main attractions eating the coconut and other prasadam.On the main level of the caves there is a temple where the pooja had just finished and they were distributing the prasadam. I too joined the queue and the tasty Pulliogare + Sweet Pongal + Channa. It was really tasty .Obviously after climbing so many steps empty stomach it had to be tasty ;-) .Spend some time there in the caves and then descended down .
There are lot of pigeons down ,they gather and then fly away together to a particular roof and then from roof back again to the ground. Its really nice to see so many pigeons flying together .I was sitting and clicking photos when suddenly all the birds flew ,oh the rattling sound of their wings was great !!!


Took a tender coconut for later use because weather was very hot . Ditched the breakfast as the Prasadam had filled my stomach .Packed idli for lunch since it was heard that getting Vegetarian food in the place we were heading to ,is difficult. Everyone packed their lunches and we were again on the wrecked bus to Genting HighLands.

Genting Highlands is a Hill station sort of a place .Quite similar to Ooty .As we climbed the mountain the weather was becoming cooler. We could see the clouds covering the top portion of the hills ,it was nice ,those curvy roads, the cool breeze .

We reached the cable car starting point. Cable Car ride was pretty long and somewhat scary. Its supposed to be the longest and fastest cable car ride .Ride was pretty good. Top of the mountain there is a Theme park and Casinos .

We headed to the Theme park. Took the ticket for All parks not delocalizing we won't be able to finish one park also. Once we entered the theme park everyone dismissed while i was keeping my bag inside the locker. Anyways i had my camera with me .so clicked few shots here and there of kids and flowers.

Then later met one of the girls who was also not entering any of the rides .Both of us went for a Boat ride and a Dragan Fly ride. That's the only rides i went in the theme park .
Rest of the day went in waiting and searching for people .Had lunch and then was ready to leave Genting Highlands ..on the way to the Exit (Kelluar as in Malaysian anguage) some people wanted to try out the Casino. There is a dress code for guys -Collared shirts and Shoes .Gals it was okay :) .No camera and bags allowed .You had to take you passport to enter the Casino .I too entered .5 of us entered but only two of us tried our luck .And i was pretty lucky ,i played for 10 RM (Ringette) and won 23 RM ..quite a good profit i must say ..compensated for not sitting on any ride . People waiting outside were getting furious so we ran outside .Took the cable car back again .It was scarier this time !!!!! Headed back to KL .Went to a place called Time Square which is a shopping mall, things were pretty costly ! I don't think anybody shopped .Then we went to Night View of Petronas towers. I had taken the tripod especially for this view.Took the petronas towers from all sorts of angles.The towers look really fantastic in the night.

After the night view ,had Dinner and went back to the hotel.

To be continued...

Wednesday, February 01, 2006

Malaysia Trip -Part 1

Had a long weekend on account of Chinese New Year .Took a break and went to Malaysia for 3 days. 13 of us + two kids .
Transportation Mode : A Blue Colored Van numbered WGX 8646 with 13 seats .
'Don't go by looks' is the first proverb which comes to my mind when i think of the Van now .From outside it was just nice but the seats were very congested and with the water dripping from the Air Con it was all the more wonderful :) .There was a TV and a DVD player .Even after sending a mail to get mp3 cds or audio CDs none of them got any CDs . Yes ,i did get CDs :) like a good girl . Anyways the speakers were just enough for the front seaters !! The back seats were horrible to the core ,no place to keep the leg ,hot ,water dripping (we did tie a plastic cover later on) .
The weather was pretty hot an humid and the damn AIR CON was nowhere suffient for 15 of us plus the driver + her wife (equal to two paasengers).
Stopped at Malaysian Immigration to get our passport stamped and after that dropped the lady at her house .Continued the journey playing Antakshari...suddenly the van wobbles, a break and we stop .The awful smell of rubber burning was an sure indication that the tyre had busted !!
Now what ??? All of get down,straigten our legs ,see the vehicles zooming past us on the highway !! Driver takes out the tools and ready to change the tyre only to find out one important tool is missing . Ab kya hoga ... hona kya hai .. we stop another vehicle ask for the tool change the tyre ..in the meantime there is a 'Poliz' van who helps us bcos they don't want us to be on the highway for a long time. The spare tyre had less air so we had go slowly.Stopped at a garage to have the further fixes done . Totally 2-3 hours wasted on the repair !!
We reach Kualalampur at 5 P.M in the evening which is 6 hours later from the schedule. We checked in the hotel (First Business Inn) ,freshened up and were off to the KLCC tower.The view from the top the tower was great.Tooks snaps of the famous Petronas towers/Twin Towers which was cleanly visible. There were lot of huge buildings .
Did some shopping at the foot of the tower,bought a peice of twin towers as a momento for 28 RM (Ringette) after bargaining with the shop fellow who was a Bangladeshi. Then headed to city for some night view and dinner .Visited Prime Minister's office , Little India .
Had dinner at little india and came back at around 10:30 to hotel and then went down again with the camera to gets shots of the Chinese New Year Celebrations . People were dressed up in red and they were lighting candles . There were a variety of food items kept.


They were going to pray untill 4 o'clock in the morning !! I was very sleepy so i went to my room (Room number 110 ) and slept off...

To be continued...