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Showing posts from 2011

Christmas in London

I decided to stay back in London and not take a vacation in the holiday season but later. So i worked on Friday and my Christmas break began late Friday afternoon. Actually not, on Friday Santa came to office and everyone brought their kids along. They were few people reporting and more kids running around. Too much fun it was. Had lunch on Friday afternoon with a friend from work and retired home lazily. On Saturday, i went far out to zone 6 to meet family i have never met and their family i have never met. A lot of new faces. Christmas day itself since everything was shut down i didn't plan on doing much. But heard bricklane was opened so headed there for dinner with a friend from work. And met a couple of friends on boxing day. Oh and did i mention no shopping ? Well i was too scared to face the boxing day crowds and went on the next day but it was still too crowded for peace of mind. And so my Christmas break melted before my eyes. And new years eve is fast approaching. No p

Chocolate and Unicorn

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Two weekends ago a couple of friends and I decided to go to the chocolate festival on Southbank. Southbank is a lovely place. It is probably my best hangout. It has the waters, the view of the other side and lots of festivity be it Summer or Winter. So we turned up there and got sucked into the Christmas market and its crowds. After a while we realised we were supposed to be elsewhere. So we went looking for the chocolate festival and then we ran into the Theatre of Animation . It's absolutely awesome if you are a child and if you are not, well you can still have a lot of fun. They had puppets that stand next to you with strings to pull at your level (and when I say your I mean a 6 year old). They had peepshows where you can watch animation that you run, like you being a monster scaring an entire city or you simply turning a knob to make your horse cycle around the countryside. They had a scared dog that would shiver everytime you clap. They had a doll that would laugh everyt

Museums

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The Natural History Museum was amazing. They had birds, new old extinct endangered eggs claws beaks. They had dinos, bones, skulls, moving models, fun stuff. And plants and insects and animals all models. It's not a zoo. But it was fun ! They had earth and earthquakes ! Museums are awesome ! And given the number of museums in London, I guess I can spend all of December going to one every weekend. Even on Christmas which I would be mostly spending alone. Or not, with some nice paintings. Ah! miss boston and isabella gardner and moa.

Mortal Immortal !

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A nice 3D movie with Greek warriors, Greek Gods, Titans, a "much needed" hero, a bad bad villain challenging gods, virgin Oracles, devoted monks, a magical weapon, anything and everything that should be there in a Greek mythical movie. But that's exactly what it is, too many things in one movie. There is no building up of the story or any character at all because there is no time to tell things slowly. The virgin Oracle predicts one but one vision which does not come true. The villain captures the virgin oracles and no one knows how even when people are ready to kill themselves to keep the women safe. There are nearly three wars in the movie one being just a few seconds. I have no idea what power the magical weapon Hercules' Bow gave our dear hero. No idea why the villain wanted to release the Titans. No idea why the Titans who were captive till that day had to be killed by Zeus suddenly even though he killed Thor himself and Athena died already. And many more

Mayor's Show

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After talking about it a lot I thought I did have to put up a post about it even though there isn't anything to talk about. It was short. the wait was long. It was crowded the fireworks not so much. But I did take a few bad pics. One goes here

Gen Next

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The book has any amazing feel to it. Just like every other of his books, it grabs you with an awe factor. Though there is no one long winding conspiracy theory or one underlying story line, there are many small stories in parallel that add up together. But even if they didn't it would be alright. It takes you to a futuristic world and it stays futuristic until you read the author's note or the bibliography. The shocking thing is how much of it is true. The bibliography is the freak part. If so much is true then it won't be long before every part of our body is patented and we walk around with 'stolen property'. I can't speak more about the plot without the spoilers. But there is a smart ape, an abusive orang and a talking calculating bird!!! Now read it NEXT .

Fireworks Again!

It's amazing how many fireworks displays London has. I was really excited about the Thames Festival since it ended in a fireworks display. It was good. Then I went all the way to Neasden just to watch fireworks on Diwali and it was well worth it. This Saturday was Guy Fawkes Day. Basically a guy called Guy Fawkes wanted to blow up the Parliament House. He did not succeed. Every year the city celebrates the occasion by bursting firecrackers. Each council organises its own fireworks display simultaneously I guess. So the entire city lights up, even the suburbs, even households. It's like their Diwali or 4th of July. May be not that big because all households do not do it. I went a couple of miles away to watch it. Spectacle is the word. Beats the Neasden any day. But, I wait for next Saturday, Lord Mayor's Show. They have fireworks again. This time it's just one place and on Thames again, after the Mayor's procession. Fireworks, fireworks, fireworks!

Diwali in London

Slept late the previous night and woke up early on the day. I just knew i wanted to do something. Just didn't know what. After the day of work and spending forever on tubes and special service bus I reached a temple ground. Chat and crowds, Indian crowds. And then the spectacle. Fireworks. For half hour. In mythology they say gods pour down petals from the sky. Seemed like it was happening. Beautiful. A diwali i didn't expect.

Two Months in London

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I mage courtesy: www.oldlondonmaps.com I haven't really blogged since I have been to London. I chose not to blog till I find a house for myself and then I did not have internet connectivity for a while. By the time I was fully connected it was too late to catch up. But you need to fill your back log once in a while. I hear is a painful process anywhere in this world. More so if you want to live alone. The first three weeks were basically about hoping from one hostel to another, so house hunting and hostel hunting at the same time. Finally one fine Monday I saw this beautiful flat I wanted and on the Sunday I moved in. A beautiful place all for myself over looking a canal, close to office. What followed was a period of training with work hours that make you wonder what to do at the end of the day's work. But given the many people in for training were actually based abroad there were things to do and people to hang out with all the time. One thing about London, you can

A Second Chance - New Life

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New Life was registered as a non-profit organisation in the year 1993 as it was felt by the philanthropist professionals drawn from fields of Agriculture, Rural Development, Information Technology, and Medicine. The mission of New Life is to help raise the socio-economic status of women and children belonging to the weaker sections of society and thus enabling them to become productive members of society Activity: Counseling of families of the prison inmates, home for poor children, rehabilitation of child labour, supporting primary education, microfinance to poorwomen, microinsurance, vocational training for the youth, social security to terminally ill & consultancy. Support: Education, Health, Livelihood, Rights & Social Issues, Financial & support services. Note: http://samhita.org/ngos/new-life/small_ngo_projects/list | This post is a part of BlogAdda's Bloggers Social Responsibility (BSR) initiative. I am exercising my BSR. You can too with three simple s

The Long Break

So one fine that that India won the World Cup in cricket, yes, in cricket, I know it's hard to believe now when you look at them playing in England. Where was I ? Yes, so basically I got my degree diploma actually. And I flew back to Hyderabad. My joining was about 4.5 months later and I wondered what I would do for such a long time and tried a lot of avenues to find an internship. But I must say it turned out quite fine to just laze around at home and then laze some more watching movies from morning noon to night. But I did other things as well. I read a lot of books . I watched a few movies . I took a couple of trips . I wrote for an NGO called Samhita . I worked on a project with a professor in IIMCal. I received free books to review from BlogAdda . I took up BSR with the help of BlogAdda and Samhita. All in all fun and eventful enough for a vacation. And now I head out to start working for the first time in my life. Excitement! London! Here I come! Also, I shall

My Rant on Chanakya's Chant

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This review is a part of the Book Reviews Program at  BlogAdda.com  Participate now to get free books! Chanakya's Chant by Ashwin Sanghi Westland Publishers (2010) | Rs 195 The idea of the story is brilliant. To try and integrate Chanakya's teachings in today's world of politics. Times have changed but rarely do people change. And through out the book you see distinct traits of people that continue through generations. I do not know if the chant actually refers to the Shakti mantra but here is the trailer and the mantra Adi Shakti Namo Namah! Sarva Shakti Namo Namah! Prathama Bhagavati Namo Namah! Kundalini Mata Shakti! Mata Shakti Namo Namah! The story line alternating between today and 2300 years ago follows similar patterns and similar devious ideas that are used to manipulate people with their greed without giving away a clear comparison thus making it an incredible read. It's about slowly controlling kingdoms by taking over or forming

Not Just A Dot

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"The ‘decimal’ is simply a dot wihin a number. Its position within a number determines what the number means to us. Just a shift to the right or left changes its meaning exponentially.  This is our hope at Decimal. We envision small meaningful interventions, that will change the value of life exponentially, for those touched by us. " The DECIMAL FOUNDATION Activity:  1. Public health improvement (preventive and primary), in both urban and rural areas. 2. Creating a safe working and living environment for marginalized populations. 3. Environmental sustainability. 4. Communicable and tropical disease prevention. 5. Women empowerment and employment generation. 6. Childcare. At Decimal they believe in helping those in need with simple but sustainable solutions. Each solution has an objective of social welfare and a robust business plan backing it. Each project, along with benefiting the target population, is sustainable. Decimal Foundation works on projects from

Photograph and the Shoe

She says she has a photographic memory. But that is not to imply that her memory is very good. It is good indeed but not as good as a photographic memory. Nevertheless, she uses the word because she feels it fits her aptly. She remembers incidents like a movie made of a thousand photographs. But then she also imagines with photographs in her head. So, the claim of a photographic memory is wrong. She is just influenced into looking at the world through a lens! So one not so fine night an idea popped in her head and evidence of it was that she had an imagine in her imagination. So to her it was time she wrote about it. She opened her blog and clicked on "new post". Before she typed anything, she went to look for a picture. She found none. She found many. Yet she found none. She did not find the perfect picture of a delicate foot in a light shimmering pink home-sewn ballet shoe posed in the air just about to touch the cold stone floor with the base of her big toe. So she went

Do YouSee ?

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Activity:   UCDS funds and hand holds NGO's in specific projects. Its projects include: a) Free health services -Chennai.Partner- SSHT. b) Project for rag-pickers-Indore -partner IGS. c) Sponsoring IT education for destitute girl children- Bhubhaneshwar-partner PUSS. UCDS likes to morph its approach along the learning curve. Currently they are interested in taking up projects which adopt Integrated development models for providing services to urban poor. They firmly believe that integrated approach has the potential to sustain the out comes of the development projects in the long term. Support:  Primary, literacy for adults, vocational and technical education, hospitals and health care centers, medical research, primary health care, environmental education, pollution control, training & capacity buildings, livelihood promotion. Note:  UCDS promotes a unique funding model for Social development financing. They call this Post-paid donations. UC provides its donors

Stay! Stay with me!

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Is he going to die? I know I am not supposed to move him! You came back? Would like something to eat? Shut up Olive! Mrs Letham had the bluest eyes! The greatest artist of the 19th century! Stay with me! A thriller like I have never seen before. Get inside the head of a guy going through the guilt and trauma of killing his parents, turning him suicidal till everyone who could help him are too late. A movie that makes you think more than Shutter Island or Inception. A movie that makes you think and question reality!

Lame Brand Wars!

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They say no one fought like Coca Cola and Pespi. A long time ago when Pepsi came out with this commercial: And then Sprite came out with this commercial: Then I was a teenager and it seemed silly but funny and anyway the brand positioning was silly and funny and had teenagers it seemed fine and in good spirit. And a few years later, these two commercials came up: Honestly! It sounds so stupid for grown up people to be hitting it out at each other like this. It makes Dhoni look like a snobbish teenager and makes UB Group look like its run by a bunch of sour losers including the big man himself ! Or may be I just grew up!

Lend A Hand - Mentor Together !

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Join and help someone in the right direction. Activity:  According to the Confederation of Indian Industry, about 69 percent of unemployed Indians are educated but lack skills. Thus, the formal education program alone is not imparting employability skills. These problems are only compounded for the large segment of the youth who come from underserved communities, because they do not have the socio-economic partnerships to mitigate these circumstances. Mentortogether runs structured mentoring programs, with curriculum for soft and hard skill development, which also utilise the knowledge and experiences of carefully selected volunteer mentors, and provides a channel of empowerment to underserved youth. Mentoring Program: Targets improved written English and basic computer skills via online mentoring platforms. Targets greater interpersonal and social skills via face-to-face mentoring. Aims to broaden mentee knowledge with respect to academic and career opportunites by matching

9kms turn 24

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image courtesy:  http://rockincakes.blogspot.com The last year I practically went underground for my birthday in spite of being around people. I removed it from Facebook LinkedIn Orkut Extranet and any other site. So only my family and a few (read 5 or 6) friends who remembered it from the good old days of no birthday reminders wished me. This year however, I was out of station with no internet or even a mobile phone.  I travelled by train with my family all night and woke up on my birthday in Tirupati. And we walked up the 9kms of the hill up to an extremely crowded temple and out. Ate lots of laddus, tired and beat I feel asleep. Another day later I came back home to god knows how many facebook wishes it made me remember a birthday in IIT days when I was so enthu to read wishes on my orkut account. It was nice to know so many ppl wished. I thank all of you. I also thank all those who sent me emails and fb msges :)

Bhumi - for under 30 vols

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Activity: Bhumi is one of India's largest independent youth volunteer non-profit organisation. The volunteers work amongst orphaned and underprivileged children in Chennai, Thiruvallur, Bengaluru and Chandigarh with the aim of providing children with quality education and enable them to become responsible and productive citizens of the future. The efforts of the volunteer force consisting of over 300 students and young professionals under the age of 30 benefit over 2,500 children every year. Details: Kanini Computer literacy programme involving teaching of basic and advanced concepts based on the children's aptitude levels. Support: Education, Children, Environmental Conservation, Mentorship Note: Bhumi is an under-30 youth volunteer organisation, and to be able to reach out to more children, they need volunteers (like you) who can spend 2 hours every weekend to teach at an orphanage near your residence. Check it out . | This post is a part of BlogAdda&#

Blog This!

Blog This! : Communicate - Google Chrome Help This chrome extension is making life too easy! Now you can count on increased blogging speed :)

Gifted!

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Primetime Television Trips!

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This review is a part of the Book Reviews Program at BlogAdda.com . Participate now to get free books! It's actually pretty fun. BlogAdda sends you a free signed copy along with a nice little note! The 6pm Slot by Naomi Datta Published by Random House India in 2011 Pages: 294 | Price: Rs199 I completed reading the book within 24 hours of receiving it. This is mostly because I am jobless and do nothing all day but surf the net and watch TV. But the idea of this statement is to imply that though it is not a book that you cannot put down (it’s not exactly a suspense thriller now, is it?), it definitely is a book that you don’t feel like putting down. Her writing style is easy and flowing and twisting and turning (not the plot but the words). The comic essence of this book can nearly be defined as brilliant. The sarcasm and play of words showcase the author's grip on the English language and her sense of humor. May be one just accumulates this sense of

Add Color to Lives !

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Yet another Friday and yet another NGO I bring to you! Colorss Foundation Activity: Colorss is working with disadvantaged children focusing on education and to integrate marginalized population into mainstream through various programs like martial-creative arts, vocational training and psychological and social guidance. Support: Children, Disabled, Youth, Urban Poor, Rural Poor. Projects: Project Enhance uses sport and the arts as tools to promote physical well-being while improving mental health. Project Urja - igniting the fire within is our first vocational training program started in Baroda, Gujarat. The project aims at the empowerment of women. Project 'Colors of Life' looks to provide an answer to one of our nation's most troubling problems, dropping out of school. Note: Check out their Blog , Youtube Channel and Facebook page . | This post is a part of BlogAdda's Bloggers Social Responsibility (BSR) initiative. | | I am exercising my BSR. You can too with thr

Like vs +1

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Plusone ? What was Google thinking ? Whoever says "I plusone it"? It only reminds me of a plus one for a party. That makes me an extra. Bad wording! But that's beside the point! This post is just another meek attempt to try and compare Facebook and GooglePlus. Facebook was just like any other social networking website when it came. (Sure, it had the Harvard tag but I didn't know it then and neither did I know Harvard much then). I moved from Orkut to Facebook much like everyone else because it developed over the years to become better everyday. To begin with it did not have the features it has today. Simple things like the horizontal tab with thumbnails of tagged pictures on one's profile. Today, it is clean and understandable and gives us a good amount of control on our information. Google is an innovative firm with amazing products and we all love Google. We waited in anticipation and expressed frustration when an invite got delayed. Basically, everyone jus

A Car has 4 Wheels !

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It is interesting what three women can do! Activity: Three women with a passion for learning, understanding and working for economic, social and human devetlopment decided to enter the exciting world of entrepreneurship with their initiative of a corporate social responsibility (CSR) consultancy firm and research cell called ' The 4th wheel ' . The name signifies the business sector in addition to the other three integral wheels. the state, civil society and non-governmental organizations, and international development organizations required and capable of driving the " car " of development. Check out their blog and the photo stream Support: Research, Advocacy and Consulting in Corporate Social Responsibility. Note: 1) Help spread awareness about CSR 2) Highlight the socially responsible projects by Corporates 3) Share best case practices 4) Sensitive the youth towards social issues | This post is a part of BlogAdda's Bloggers Social Responsibility (BSR) initiat

Crash!

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Crash is an incredibly beautiful movie on racism told in simple characters and simple incidents that connect them together sometimes as the culprit, other times as the victim. What begins as stereotyping looks like ruthless racism turns out to be just another human quality. It works to show how racism works for and against people and how some take advantage of it and the other just fall victims. I thought I must write down one or two scenes from the movie as the most touching ones, but I really can't stick to one or two. Every single scene is shot with a purpose, with intent and with beauty. But I will jot down one which might touch your heart and turn you to watch the movie. A Hispanic man gives his 5 year old daughter an 'invisible impenetrable cloak' to comfort her after the sound of a bullet shot scares. Much later in the film when a racially victimized Persian shoots at this Hispanic man just to find someone to blame, the little girl races to protect her father as he

Clap 5 Times !

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Happy Birthday Slisha Crazy ! It's been good 5 years !!! CELEBRATE: To celebrate I have a new theme, with a new background and a new header. The header image is the set of the play that I directed . I believe it was photographed by a cast member is also the head of the photography club! SHARE: I also added the "share" button and now you can share on whatever social networking sites you use. A comment had once suggested I do that but I never got around. COMMENT: I have also put in a word verification for the comments. I did not want to but then I do not want to unlock iPhone 4 or visit a spooky language I doesn't know. Thank you for all the support!

Joy of Reading: Pratham Books

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It's Friday, friday! And time for the weekly dose of BSR. Today I bring to you a wonderful organization whos main aim is to ensure that all kids can read and actually read. It's absolutely delightful to just browse through their books. Activity: Pratham Books was set up in 2004, as part of the Read India movement , a nation- wide campaign to promote reading among children. Pratham Books is a not-for-profit organization that publishes quality books for children in multiple Indian languages. The mission is to see " a book in every child's hand " and democratize the joy of reading. In the last 6 years they have published over 200 titles in upto 11 languages and have spread the joy of reading to over 12 million children! Details: Read about our why they use Creative Commons here . Support: reading, literacy, education, kidlit, children's literature, publishing Note: They have put a lot of our content under the Creative Commons framework and have begun to see succ

Assamese Women

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I recently read yet another book of short stories about (not all by) Assamese women. It was titled "Woman: a collection of Assamese short stories". I am sorry that I can't even provide you with a reasonable link. The only one I could find was this . But it is not very helpful. It had about 20 odd short stories. All about the sorry state of women and their fate. Not many about the happiness or courage or survival. Of course there are some who stood against the whole world and succeeded and some who was trampled on by the evilness of fate. It had some good writing and some bad writing. May be translations have their way of killing the spirit of the story. I wouldn't know. I can't read Assamese. It wasn't very different from the Iranian collection . It's all the same. The plight of women in this world. I found a sample online. It was one of the stories in this collection. I thought it was OK. Better than Amrita Pritam's work . I think I m done

Ding Dong! Bell Bajao !

Activity: Bell Bajao is a high profile national campaign using innovative media outreach throughout India. With the support of the Ministry of Women and Child Development and campaign ambassador and popular film star Boman Irani, the campaign was launched in August 2008. Bell Bajao! was created pro bono by Ogilvy & Mather. In all its 360 degree media campaigns, Breakthrough uses innovative tools to engage youth and create a culture of human rights. Here are a few ways that Breakthrough spreads the Bell Bajao! message throughout the country: Television, Radio and Press: Thirty two million people have seen and heard the message of Bell Bajao! through television, radio and press. Television advertisements depict men and boys who hear domestic violence and take a minute out their everyday lives to intervene and stop the violence. Video Vans: Mobile vans have been on the road for 150 days, traveling 80,000 kilometers across six districts in Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharas

Mayrig's Paradis

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I usually do not like watching old color films that have this old-ish feeling and people dress funny, even though it might be a great movie. And not very fond of non English films that look like that when I haven't heard of the name of the movie. So I usually avoid MGM as a channel. Yet, one day I found myself randomly browsing past the channel when I paused for a second. A handsome man grayed at the temples was deep in thought. He remembered a small incident in his childhood when he was invited to a tea party at his friend Alexander's house. Alexander was not his friend, and was very rich, while this little boy was not very well to do. He did not know though why he was invited. When the day arrived when he should be taken to the palace of a house, his family struggles hard to make him presentable. His mother waits outside the house while he goes in and gets humiliated before coming back to her. Never did he let her know that he was humiliated. The scene was played out so beaut

Protsahan: Encouragement

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The Protsahan India Foundation has a unique idea bringing out colors and using story telling to bring about a change and help underprivileged children. Activity: "Encouraging Creative Arts & Functional Literacy as a Medium of Expression to help the underprivileged create opportunities for a better future" A few young Indians have got together and built this initiative of social change in Delhi. They use youtube, colors, art of stories to bring tremendous change in the lives of marginalized. Check out their work on the Facebook page or read about it on their blog . Even better, visit the site. Support: girl child education, women empowerment Note: Funds, Volunteers, Furniture in the school | This post is a part of BlogAdda's Bloggers Social Responsibility (BSR) initiative. | | I am exercising my BSR. You can too with three simple steps. Visit http://www.blogadda.com/bsr/ and support the NGO's.

Weekend Hyd Out

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Last week was World Environment Day and India played global host. Read all about it here , here and here . The weekend before that was when a good friend of mine, Qurious Quester came over to Hyderabad to meet me, Dee another friend from IIT days and see the city! I picked her up from the airport and headed to my house and spent a while chilling out in air conditioned environment (yes, Hyd is hot). Then we headed out to Lumbini Park where we met Dee and went up to the statue in Hussain Sagar , spent some lazy time and returned home. On Saturday we saw Charminar , shopped for bangles, walked along Laad Bazar to Chowmahalla Palace . The palace was vast and beautiful. We admired it for a while, then settled down under a tree for a picnic lunch. After lunch we realized we actually did not complete our tour. It was much bigger than we imagined. We caught sight of a few vintage vehicles as well. By now we were tired. Though the sun was not beating down on us it was still dehydrating. So w

Capt Jack Sparrow on the Big Screen

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This is a post long due! I watched the Pirates of the Carribean: On Stranger Tides nearly 10 days ago. And some how everytime I wanted to write this post I had something to do or my laptop gave up on me. So I'll make it brief. I liked the movie. I love Jack Sparrow. I do not remember the earlier pictures. This one did not have any grossness (really black beard looked human). I loved the mermaids that kill you :P It was my first Imax 3D experience and that is why I liked the movie. It really seemed like the mermaids were jumping all over :) So that's it.

Shiva, The Mahadev

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I cannot express ever how much I truly adore the Hindu God Shiva . For his almighty power, his emotions, his great dance, his attitude towards his woman, his simplicity and simple ways of living and everything else that he represents. He seemed different to me, from the rest of the gods. He is raw and close to the nature. I also strongly believe that many of our Hindu gods were actually men who were glorified to Godliness after great deeds for the common good. I also believe that the " asuras " and other lowly non-Aryans weren't evil and just that they were not Aryans and were very different from them. And somehow more or less all these interpretations are not my own and I believe there are many like that. Amish Tripathi is too. And so is his wonderful book a reflection of that. No wonder I loved the book The Immortals of Meluha . To beautiful writing and to a great idea, I bow to the author. It does not seem like a debut. He struggled very hard to raise publici