Didn't post anything here for more than a month. The reasons - busy, lazy and trying to figure out.
First, shifted residence, from a spacious exclusive furnished house have moved into a one room pad. With a landlord who promised me the sun and is now reluctantly handing me a candle, I am struggling to fit in all my stuff in the limited confines. Therefore didn't feel like blogging, I need some physical space for this kind of activity. Living out of boxes is difficult but am getting used to it.
Second, am helping launch a new product at work that promises to be 'hot.' And all the heat is sapping my energies.
Third, had gone for a short break to the hills, to Nainital. Nice place. Being a hill boy it is only the high Himalayas that can now excite me enough. Ranikhet was a disappointment and regretting not going to the Jim Corbett National Park.
A few photos from there, didn't explore enough:
A bell awarded to the Kathgodam Railway Station (the nearest railhead from Nainital) for being the best maintained railway station in the 1950s (don't remember the exact year).
A Time Master Transistor clock at the hotel where we stayed
The cable car/ropeway to the Snow View point. With the snow melting in the summer, it was hazy in the Himalayas and we didn't get to see anything from up there.
Probably a relic from the British era. The classic red post box.
...and the Post Office at Tallital (at the southern end of the Naini lake). This is supposedly the only the post office on a lake bridge anywhere in the world.
The Naini lake (that forms the heart of the town) as viewed from the ropeway
Lovers leaving behind their ugly marks at Lover's Point/Suicide Point (Every Hill Station seems to have one).
...and making a business out of capturing love birds on film (Deepali Photos, Lovers Point, Nainital). The digital revolution seems to have hit them hard.
A view from the hotel where we stayed.
A bird incubating her eggs on a nest. A friendly restaurant owner took the extra effort to show her to us.
Got the message. (transliteration/translation of the text in Devanagari: Kripiya mandir mein shauchalay suvidha nahin hain - Please there is no urinal facility on the temple)
Sagar, the horse, who took me on a rough ride.
Khurpatal
Nainital town skirting Naini lake
A boatman and boats on Naini lake
Bishop Shaw High School, Tallital
Another view of the Naini lake
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Thankfully in Delhi there are still a lot of birds around (the feathery kind). I do my bit to make them feel at home with their morning supply of grains (and water in the summers). It's not that they don't trouble me once in a while.
Today, my friend pointed out that the some of the sparrows had developed a narcissist trait. They perched themselves on the mirror and continued to gaze at their own reflection, occasionally pecking at it, only to move away when disturbed.
I thought of recording it, but I (as always) forgot to charge the camera's batteries. Therefore had to opt for the poorer quality delivered by my cellphone, but there was only one then drooling at herself (just a guess). Here's a short clip.
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The last time I discovered a cricketing hero's childhood photos, I was quite excited and passed it on to the readers of this blog. Today, I found another.
Continuing with the guessing game tradition, guess who? (and for those hooked to television comedy talent shows - pehchaan kaun?)
Not very tough I think, or maybe it is. I'm sure some of you would have seen this photo, even though it isn't as popular as that of a a wavy-haired little Sachin.
Got it? If not, this is the original Little Master when he was actually little.
This photo of Sunil Manohar Gavaskar is sourced from his 1976 autobiography Sunny Days. And the caption accompanying the photograph reads:
Gavaskar 'the baby' cricketer, in leg-guards stiched by his mother and sweater knitted by his grandmother.
And this photo is when he grew up a little more and tied the knot with Marshaniel.
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Incredible !ndia in a colourful packaging
Charcoal Grey
Have a thirty-six-course banquet cooked for you. Shop for over sixty kinds of tulips. Access e-mail round the clock. All without ever setting foot on land.
Incredible !ndia
www.incredibleindia.org
Mustard Yellow
100% recyclable. 100% bio-degradable. 100% self-sufficient. 100% rural tourism.
Incredible !ndia
www.incredibleindia.org
Born 563 BC. Enlightened in 528 BC. Great passing in 483 BC. Still lives in millions of hearts. Buddha, The Enlightened One.
Incredible !ndia
www.incredibleindia.org
Revolutionary Green
All eyes on the world's fastest growing region. After all, one can't help but sit up and notice 130,000 species of flora and fauna, and almost 2 billion acres of forest.
Incredible !ndia
www.incredibleindia.org
Technicolour
For centuries Indian spices were traded and smuggled over dangerous waters and routes. Now easily available in 50g, 100g and 500g packets.
Incredible !ndia
www.incredibleindia.org
Water Colours
232 lakes. 273 rivers. 7,517 km of coastline. Incredible India. Choose your colour.
Incredible !ndia
www.incredibleindia.org
Tea Green
Darjeeling is the champagne of teas, grown high in the valleys where the world's smallest train does its rounds. Assam is known for its full-bodied flavour, as robust as the one-horned rhino that roams in its plains. In Munnar, you could even get a taste of a planter's life in sprawling bunglows, British-era clubs with tennis, golf, bridge and of course high tea.
Incredible !ndia
www.incredibleindia.org
It took 20,000 workers, 1,000 elephants and 17 years to build the Taj Mahal. World heritage site. Ultimate symbol of love.
Incredible !ndia
www.incredibleindia.org
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Having relaxed emission norms for import of Harley Davidson motorcycles, India has informed the US that it cannot cut duties but will allow the American cult bike to be sold through dealers network.
This is partially good news.
"After all, the bike is going to be imported by rich people. Let them pay duty," the official said.
I want to own a Harley, but 'rich' I'm not. To fulfill this desire I'll have to pool in my life's savings for just the downpayment, the rest would have to be financed by some company, with me shelling out the EMI.
India imposes 60 per cent duty on import of motorcycles.
Now that makes it beyond my reach. Seems like I'll have to settle for some
desi variant (provided I don't get myself a
Nano).
But I can atleast enjoy
The Creed Film (the government doesn't impose any taxes on this).
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Download for mobile [00:02:21 3GP 2.37 KB]Makes you feel like owning one.
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