Me too...

Biding my time by Artento Divini.... the music can get a little boring bu the awesome lyrics make up for it...





Lyrics:


Biding my time
It’s almost there
My seventh wave will come

It’s been a while
But I’m getting back
To where I once belonged

And I’m falling through the sky
Falling like the rain
I’m falling till I’m back on earth again

Changing my faith
By letting it go
I’m turning it around

Taking my chance
I’ll might hit the ground
But I’m not backing down

And I’m falling through the sky
Falling like the rain
I’m falling till I’m back on earth again


(update: In the video, I had goosebumps at 3:10!)

Still waiting

Happy Birthday to me....

I was greeted with one pleasant surprise as the clock struck 12... a message from a long 'lost' friend. Things then went downhill from there.



Insomnia wouldnt show mercy and it took a full six hours and a bunch of Snickers before I fell asleep. I was hovering into the dark chasms of deep sleep when the shriek of my phone woke me. Dad called, I was to be at the Passport office before 10 for some follow up on my passport,
which in case you forgot, I applied for last year. Yeah, I'm that big a loser. And Dad called because he didn't know it was my birthday today...or cared. He'd enlisted an Agent's help for smooth processing. As my luck would have it(surprise,surprise) the passport officer
demanded that I(the applicant) meet him. The line was effin 50 metres long, moving slower than double beta decay. And there is always this smiliing lady who joins in and the wusses just stare. Standing behind me was a guy from a neighbouring state who chewed on my brain with his 'views'. Last time he was here, he apparently "sawed" a "lot of rush". And the police was "beating-eh all". I told him how anxious I was and that it was my birthday, thankfully he was considerate enough to understand and let go of me.

My Police Verification report had been misplaced and I was required to get a new one. Another 15 days atleast to get things straight again...

After lunch at Kamat, which is the closest thing I got to a 'treat' today, I came home at 4 thoroughly exhausted. Had texted a few friends whether they were available for the evening. All except Juber were 'busy'. I'd even set aside a couple of Ks in case someone showed up. Guess I'll gift myself a Minolta 50mm lens with that...


Juber was the only saving grace today. We met at Nanal nagar and had a shawarma at UK corner while we chatted. Took a couple of pictures too. Now home and blogging about what a wonderful experience that was today. Birthdays are meant to be special... mine was special in a dour kind of way.

That's our nature...

Mama was arriving on the 9:30 flight and I was to recieve him at the airport. The plan was to hire our trusty Yousuf bhai for the pickup but he ditched us at the last minute.

I could have called a Meru cab but was short of time and ended up waiting for a shared taxi at the Rethibowli junction. I looked at the other people waiting- a couple of airport employees chatting, one lady and a few others. There was this person who seemed to be in some kind of hurry. Middle aged, in simple attire and holding a small poly ethene bag, he was scambering up to every vehicle that slowed down, even a few personal cars! I was in a hurry too, as the plane was to arrive in about half an hour. Lots of cars came and went, some were full, some weren't shared, some personal cars... then came this Tata Indigo, there were atleast 6 of us waiting. As it eased up alongside, I was the first one to grab the door handle, as I asked if he going to the airport. A nod was enough and was in. Four of us got on and as the guy with the plastic cover tried to get in, the driver rudely shoved him away saying he coudn't take more. Clearly there was room for one more passenger. I couldn't help but feel this wave disgust at the driver...and myself. I could have easily gotten off to make way for that man...but I was in a hurry too, I was helpless. As the driver sped through the smooth airport road playing the vulgar "kehdoon tumhe" remix, I wondered how one dialogue from the 1998 Satya : "Dhandhe mein wahi jeet ta hai jo pehle haath maarta hai.... " actually made sense.

At the airport, Mama took quite long due to some luggage claim issues and I was left waiting at the arrival gate for a full one and a half hour. Again, I stood witness to some more retarded things we humans can do: One guy was repeatedly spitting in the fountains. Oh man, they're fountains for god's sake! A guy who'd taken a wrong turn with his huge luggage cart proceeded to remove the ribbon from the security barrier just so he could get through! Then a girl with a clear attitude problem was throwing tantrums as the her helpless boyfriend stood bewildered(and embarassed). A couple of guys tried to squeeze through the waiting crowd to catch a glimpse of a group of airhostesses from a Middle eastern flight.

Is it just me or is this all normal? Or maybe that's just our nature...

(In picture: The cartoon shows an example of good etiquette- holding the door for someone, which is not discussed in this post! Can't talk about it when I succumbed to selfishness myself...)

Picture source: phundamental.com

Rain

Parthipan and Asif arrived in Hyderabad for some Steel Plant's entrance exam. They came over today evening. This being his first visit to Hyderabad, Parthi was genuinely 'impressed' by Hyderabad. The 11 km Expressway that runs alongside our street, the food, the 'charm'. Donno how...

After a couple of hours doing odd things, playing with cameras and browsing thru old pics, we headed to Mehdipatnam for dinner...same old Prince Restaurant again. I was worried Parthipan would find the ambience(the expletives, cigerette smoke and all) a little too intimidating but he did well. I was done with a single serving of Biryani but the obviously hungry duo went for another shared single. We topped it off with a serving of chilled Lassi. It was raining outside and we skipped the usual auto ride and walked. Getting drenched in rain as vehicles alongside splashed water all over us was fun(Just like the old days)! We took a couple of pictures as we walked and looked for a hot coffee stall but in vain.

Tomorrow's going to be really busy for me, so I couldn't stay longer. We parted at around 11:30

TranceUpdate: Beautiful Things

I now know this: the only music that works me is Uplifting trance and Progressive. The others obviously are exceptions(or have awesome lyrics).

Beautiful Things by Andain on Euphoric Emotions Album is grim, sad and totally awesome. Apparently the song's about a girl who's committed suicide and looking back at... well... all the beautiful thing's she's missed.





The track just made it to my Trance of Fame folder.

The lyrics:

"Got up early, found something's missing
my only name.
No one else sees but I got stuck,
and soon forever came.
Stopped pushing on for just a second,
then nothing's changed.
Who am I this time, where's my name
I guess it crept away.

No one's calling for me at the door.
And unpredictable won't bother anymore.
And silently gets harder to ignore.
Look straight ahead, there's nothing left to see.
What's done is done, this life has got it's hold on me.
Just let it go, what now can never be.

I forgot that I might see,
So many beautful things.
I forgot that I might need,
to find out what life could bring.

Take this happy ending away, it's all the same.
God won't waste this simplicity on possibility.
Get me up, wake me up, dreams are filling
this trace of blame.
Frozen still I thought I could stop,
now who's gonna wait.

No one's calling for me at the door.
and unpredictable won't bother anymore.
and silently gets harder to ignore.
look straight ahead, there's nothing left to see.
what's done is done, this life has got it's hold on me.
just let it go, what now can never be.

so many beautiful things...
so many beautiful things...

Now what do I do
can I change my mind
did I think things through

It was once my life
it was my life at one time "

Bob Fail!

Perhaps I was a little too naive in thinking a Bob Sinclar gig would be a free affair. After a pretty vague tip from facebook about his performance at Hard Rock cafe, I called up Paul who's kindof a regular there. He was convinced the entry would be a nominal 150. Praveen was ready too and we decided to meet up at GVK at 8, a full one hour before the gig. Praveen from dislukhnagar and Paul from ECIL were very late in arriving and meanwhile I went up to the counter to get there tickets fearing a full house. I held a 1000 rupee bill as I asked for three passes. When he said Rs6000, my face must have turned red, he politely said "2000 for one pass sir!" I mumbled some excuse that I was short of cash and would wait for my friends, and walked away.

Not that we didn't have money. 2000 for a 3 hour gig is something we "unemployed" youth don't deserve, Maybe when we earn our own money....

We straight of bought tickets for Robinhood at INOX. The movie was pretty good wth decent cinemtography and visuals. I sat bewildered at the sheer visuals and direction and only when the credits started rolling did I see it was Ridley Scott! No wonder!

On our way back, had Biryani at our forgotten hangout Prince and were home by 1 A.M. Praveen sat on my PC while paul and I chatted. Time flew and before long it was morning, Praveen left early while Paul slept for a couple of hours before starting for a tiring 2 hour journey to ECIL.

Had a great time. The title sounds a little too negative. How about "Rob Hit!" Yeah, now we're even.

Product Photography @home

Been long since I set out on a photographic "assignment". After playing around during powercuts with my bulky A200 for the past coupla days, I came across this nice book by Scot Kelby on Photography techniques on Google Books. He happens to be a world renown photographer and his books have sold in millions. Though most of the techniques in the book require some elaborate equipment such as Softboxes and sturdy tripods, not to mention some ridiculously priced lens and Flash units, one article on lighting caught my attention and before long I was preparing my... eh... poor man's photo setup(see below).

First I set my AIWA Walkman on a piece of A4 paper with another one for the background, on an exam board. The walkman is important and I'll write about it in my next post. I used my gorillapod to mount the panasonic about a feet away and set it to Manual mode with ISO: 100, speed: 8 seconds and macro focussing.

Then I switched off the light and set the timer on the camera for 10 seconds. When the shutter released, I used the white LED flashlight on my SE camera and illuminated the player with small circular movements. Care was taken to ensure there was minimum shadow behind the player.

The results aren't very impressive but should work fine for ebay. I've seen worse there....

Must have accessory: Bendy Tripod

Joby's Gorillapod has earned rave reviews in Photography magazines; and why not, it is indeed very practical. It can go where no conventional tripod can go and is a blessing for Point and shooters for steady shots. I myself am, in the habit of propping my camera in odd places for group shots. One time I used my shoes to gain a few inches height!

A seller on ebay, Vineet, from whom I get my printer supplies, shares a similar interst in Photography and on his last trip to China asked me if he could get me anything. I straight off asked if he could look for some cheap gorillapod lookalikes. He got me one!

To those of you in the dark, this tripod is about 15cm high with rubber ball joints on each leg. The legs can take any shape and bend and wrap around any solid, fixed object thus making a railing, a chair or even a door a sturdy tripod for a camera. My version can take a maximum of 200 gms only and my Panasonic is already giving it a hard time due to the odd placement of the tripod mount.

I'll put it to the real test on my next trip. Here are a few pics:

Rantix: debut

Infographics are a great medium for getting the point across, and used everywhere from Newspapers to Gadget sites. I thought hell, why not rant using infographics?

Rants+Graphics= Rantix (couldnt think of anything better!)

Here I go with a simple one:

Insomnia helped...for once

The last one month has been very hectic. Exams ended on 14th and a week was spent 'recuperating' in my room. then Aunt fell sick and a few days
at the hospital, then left for manuguru with Mom.

I'd planned on returning in one day but the sheer eh.... pull of manuguru held me back. Not that there was seat availibility in train or bus either (travelling unreserved is not exactly my cup of tea). Asif was as ever my only companion there and the time was spent circling about the colony on my bike and getting all kinds of stares from colony folk. Really there wasn't a place there where we could just sit and relax. The heat notwithstanding, the humidity was way over the top this time. We wrapped up our day with a trip to the local Bajji bandis and the occasional pani puri.

After much insistance from parents and people here, I started back on 5th evening. Having tried unsuccessfuly getting a seat in any bus or train(I even tried the ACs), I hopped on an Express bus to Khammam and prayed for my wasted luck to give me one good chance. It said No.

At Khammam I saw a horde of people, students, oldies, couples swarm around every bus that arrived for a seat. All were reserved and the passengers peering down like they were a bunch of derelicts or something. Holy crap! Then there was an announcement for on the spot reservation for a few buses that were leaving. I hurried up to the counter, I was 10th in line.... The blasted clerk ran out of seats as I reached the counter! I knew it was going to be a long night...

I saw an Express bus ready to depart and thought to myself " eff it. Why not go standing?" and boarded. To my luck the driver called me over and showed me to his Engine seat with a warning not to fall asleep under any circumstance. That wasnt a problem for me. Not with damning headlights of the vehicles coming at us. And the hot fumes from the engine roasting my bottom. I held onto a rod and prayed again for dear life as the Driver swayed and cut the heavy vehicle through the night. There was thunder but no rain... that woulda been something, I was just 3 feet away from the door. The icing on the cake of course was my eternal headache, each bump and speed breaker bringing waves of nausea and an urge to bang my head on that railing...

After a brief and (much needed) stop at Choutuppal for Chai, I was at MGBS at 6 in the morning, a couple of buses more and HOME!