Print and wear Friendship Band

Rock On

The week that was-- A nice trip home-- meeting Kriti after eons-- driving like crazy in the rain-- trips to the local bajji bandi-- the journey back-- the awesome Rock gig by Japheth's EVN FLO-- Night out at Atir's place

Rain kinda played spoilsport this time, with the constant drizzling making it difficult hanging out with friends...ehh friend. Asif is probably the only who's making the best of colony life while everyone is in Hyderabad doing courses and stuff. I went because Kriti was coming to colony after 4 long years. She flew in just to meet old friends and get to feel the colony life again... "one last time" in her words. I joined Kriti, Rama Lakshmi and Parthipan(yeah, donno when he arrived) on the first day and went around the colony. I next saw Kriti on the way back on train, and that's a different story...

Time with Asif was spent mostly at Tankbund and the Bajji bandi. On the third day, Parthi broke his glasses and off we went to Manuguru for a new one- it also doubled up as his first long trip on his new bike. He gave us a few tense moments though, his driving skills being still too amateur...

Then we went to the School Science exhibition which, again, was clearly lacking in energy. The projects were all crammed into the ground floor and a coupla labs on the first. On the bright side, it was an excuse to go around the school, and nostalgia engulfed me as I sat in what was once my favorite bench...

Mom was coming along on my return trip. On the train, chatted with kriti for a little while before signing off. That just about sums about my Manuguru trip.


Japheth texted about his Gig at Cafe Latte and there was no way I was going to miss this one. Called up Atir, Juber and Praveen to ask if they were free and they we go... instantly. Like they say... when you're berozgaar, you're free.

We were at the venue in time and Japheth got us redeemable passes at the counter. Their gig started at around 7.30 with Vishal on lead Guitar, apna Japheth on bass, Abhay on drums and Sujay. I'm no rock fan(do you see a "rock" tab above?) but it was a very good experience. The only songs I recognized were "Vertigo" and "Yellow" but the rest were equally good. Japheth looked a little tense but did a great job with the guitar.

The next band was "Plug-In", they did great too with one superb Red Hot Chilli peppers number, but it was agreed the volume was a little too loud for our tastes. For food, we ordered some Schezwan and rice and Red Bulls for drinks. We ended up paying a kilo more on our passes.

Then off we went on our ways home.... or so we thought. Atir called us over to his house for "dus minute" and it was 5 A.M before Dus minute finally elapsed. We talked of jobs, school, college, life and eh.. other stuff.

We were hungry again and had some Nahari kulche somewhere near Charminar before signing off... I was home at 6.30 and hit the bed with my socks on. I slept like dead for 10 hours straight.

You remember?

Is it a Lullaby? Is it a wake up call? Donno.... but it sure as hell rocks.

I, Remember by Deadmau5 and kaskade makes it to my Trance of Fame list, Easy.

Feeling the past moving in
Letting a new day begin
Hold to the time that you know
You don't have to move on or let go

Add to the memory you keep
Remember when you fall asleep
Hold to the love that you know
You don't have to give up to let go

Remember turning on the night
And moving through the morning light
Remember how it was with you
Remember how you pulled me through
I remember

Feeling the past moving in
Letting a new day begin
Hold to the time that you know
You don't have to move on or let go
add to the memory you keep
Remember when you fall asleep

Hold to the love that you know
You don't have to give up to let go
remember how it was with you
remember how it was with you
I remember

Feeling the past moving in
Letting a new day begin
Hold to the time that you know
You don't have to move on or let go

add to the memory you keep
Remember when you fall asleep
Hold to the love that you know
You don't have to give up to let go
remember turning on the night
And moving through the morning light
Remember how it was with you
Remember how you pulled me through
I remember

Film to Digital: A journey

Been dying to write this post for a while! Now that I'm a proud owner of a DSLR, I surmised I should dedicate a post to all the cameras Iused since childhood. The cover picture is pretty much everything(plus the one that clicked it!). I used a total of 6 cameras before going PRO...ehh...budget pro anyway.


Back when a camera was a dream gadget(for me) clicking pictures on film, I stared awestruck at photographers clicking away on their filmSLRs and reloading their rolls like soldiers repleininshing their magazines. I had no idea what lenses were or how the whole photography stuff worked. I'd haggle my Dad to let me take one photo...just one photo pappa.... He even taught me unloading and reloading rolls that later helped me in my School trip a decade later!

The camera: Yashica P-500. A typical rangefinder of the early 80s era, the bold red color is typical of that age too. No autofocus, no motor rewinding... just frame the picture and click the shutter. Howewer there were a couple of dials for changing ISO and ASA which Dad had told
me were for "photographing fast objects". This Yashica has the honour of taking all my Childhood Photographs.

The year was 1999 and it was my uncle's wedding, I was gleefully eager to click away with my Dad's camera. The shocker came when my Dad handed it over to an elder cousin who I was sure hadn't used one her whole life. I was heartbroken....Mom came to the rescue and bought me a brand new Kodak KB10(second from left), an ultra basic point n shooter. I spent hours playing
with it photographing mostly my grandma and uncles. Their was no motor winding in this one either and Autofocus was unknown. On our Araku trip,when Amulya ma'am handed me her camera to take a shot, she instructed me to press the shutter button half way until the
light went green. I didnt know what she meant. I pressed the button all the way doen and got the shot, It'd long before I came to know thatshot must have come out blurry...

In 2006, when digital cameras were fast becomng the norm and Dad just wouldnt hear about it, I decided to get one myself and ordered one from Indiatimes shopping. Benq DC1500, a small 1.3 mp camera which looked more like an oversized webcam. What's funnier was that the
LCD screen at the back ws 0.80 inch in size, that's smaller than an optical viewfinder on some cameras! It turned out the CMOS sensor on the cam was too noisy for my taste and before long I was looking for replacement soon enough.


Next came Benq DC2300, this was a different beast altogether. A 2 megapixel CCD sensor and a decent screen at the back and an acceptable body shape made this a winner. The Autofocus was still missing but 3-way focus selector made things easier. All my Ooty tour pics were shot with this obsolete piece of hardware(at that time). Some were so good they'd easily be mistaken for pro-camera pictures.

My dream for a performance camera was fulfilled when I bought a Panasonic LZ8 in 2008. I know a decent photography enthusiast will probably die laughing reading the last line but the truth is... being financially very very constricted... I have always settled for budget stuff. LZ8
maybe basic but it's one those rare cameras that has P, A, S and M on the control dial. And that's what matters. And who gives a 60 second shutter on a basic camera? I took numerous abstract photos as well as landscapes which recieved good praise online.

All was going well when one day my cousin commented I should get a DSLR. I was bitten and there was no stopping me...but no matter where looked the cheapest kit cost atleast 20k. the now discontinued Nikon D40 itself came at a hefty 18k price tag. Bhaiya saved the day
again and recommended a Dubai classifieds website which I scoured like crazy for weeks until I hit the Jackpot. A Sony A200 at a throwaway price. Bhaiya sent a friend over to check if the deal was genuine and had it bought. It took a full month to reach me. I was entralled... a piece
of advanced hardware with a sensor larger than all my previous cameras combined! The great thing about this cameras is the backward compatibility with Minolta lenses of the 80s and 90s, manual or autofocus.

Guess what I'm hunting for now? Lenses, of course! The journey continues...

Colors and their meanings: A simple infographic

Two is better than one

The lack of an internet connection or TV was not felt. Nor did I meet any friends. Three days in manuguru went by or rather flew by really fast. This trip can actually be summarised under two parts. Razi mama and Sayeed bhaiya n friends.

Mama, who's spent a good part of his life in Saudi Arabia gave in to my repeated hustling and agreed to come to Manuguru for a short visit. For the record, my relatives are under the impression we live in some remote and inaccessible village. All doubts were laid to rest when we
boarded the 2A AC compartment on the 7050 machilipatnam express. The journey was smooth and we were welcomed at Manuguru with a nice cloudy climate and humid air! Mama was overwhelmed by the sheer amount of greenery around us as we took the 10 minute bus ride
home. A quick breakfast and we retired for a 4 hour sleep before heading off on a tour of the colony on my rusty old Ax 100.

The very next morning Sayeed bhaiya called from somewhere near Mangapet saying their were enroute to Manuguru! I recieved them at the colony gate and got the two cars a visitor pass. Dad booked accomodation at one of the Hostels where the group freshened up before having lunch at our place. Then off we went on the treacherous, muddy journey to Dummugudem Check Dam. Both the cars, a Fiat Palio and Honda City had little trouble manouvering the sludge and rocks but the smaller one gave way when it slipped a little too deep into a side embankment, and surprisingly it had front wheel drive which made things even difficult! It took everyone a full 10 minutes and a hell lot of keechad spray painting to get the car up again. The 300 metres or so walk to the Dam itself was an adventure in itself. Lumps of sticky slush stuck on every single step and wouldn't let go no matter how hard we shook it. Their was no other darned way to get to the dam either. The scene at the end made up for our efforts and the imposing dam was overflowing with brown water which Vicky bhaiya aptly likened to a chocolate fountain found at malls. We went down to the rocks for a closer look and got great shots from there. It was getting dark so we had to start back soon. All our shoes were ruined and were tossed into the car boots. Bhaiyaz had a sudden change of plan then. They were supposed to rest for the night at the hostel before starting back. For whatever their reasons they decided against it and had a cup of chai at our kairali cafe and started on their journey back to Hyderabad. I was kinda sore.

In all the hullabaloo of the above, Mama was left bored. Dad had suddenly gone idle and didn't plan any outskirts trip. On the last day of our stay, we went around the colony with Mom and Saba and took a few pictures. Mama had fun riding Saba's bicycle which he said he's not done in more than a decade now! Sat for a couple of hours at Tank Bund.

We started on our journey back by 2A again. This time we were greeted with rats in the cabin.... so much for his first trip!
The journey was uneventful though(except for some unsettling chirping) and here I am back to where I don't belong...

Three days, four times the fun

TranceUpdate: New finds

Found a couple more great tracks today:


Logic Symphony by Arty is a simple, no-frills track with a great notes and punching bass.




Allrite, the next one's not too good for viewing. So a pair of good headphones and a minimized browser window should make this track a sure fire hit with everyone:

Move for Me by Deadmau5 and kaskade

Slowmo...

"Day n nite. I toss and turn, I keep stressin’ my mind, mind.
I look for peace, but see I don’t attain"


The last coupla months have been very very slow, only about 30 posts in all. I've run out topics or what? Truth is, the sheer monotony of life here has had its toll on me. Nothing interests me anymore. Haven't clicked a pic in days, no new trance favorites, nothing at all.

160 gigs of memory was a dream once. Now, for every little app I'm trying to install, a low memory error pops up. I don't have movies or games on my Hard drive, then where did all the space go? My cute little pendrive died last year after I left it my jeans. Mama got me an 8gb replacement this time :-)





I ordered prints from HP's Snapfish and Canvera and about the same time to see who fared better. Canvera sent me the prints in two days with pro packaging and great quality. It took more than a week and coupla calls to Blue Dart to get the snapfish prints. The quality was so-so and the package was utterly cheap. And there is not much difference in the overall cost for the both portals.





My SE K770i has been dying on me a lot lately and the installed PC suite software is coming real handy for flashing. I know it'll go over the edge someday but till then I guess I'll "browser shop" at GSMArena.

Seatbelts and Wolverine

My entry for the "Seat Belts save lives" ad competition by BBC TopGear on BrandPotion.com

(Image watermarked for protection)