My move to Mainland

My approach to this post is different, because since the time I moved over to mainland leaving behind my favourite Emerald Island lot has happened. I have seen a lot and my faithful camera has done the duty of logging it. I had to take down all the pictures off it to remind me off all the places I have been to, the views I have seen and the experiences I enjoyed with my mates.
This time I am going to take a look at the snaps and gather my thoughts and pen them down ( type on keyboard).
To start with I did participate in a run at Maidenhead which I am absolutely proud off. A 16 kms run through wood land and mustard fields in 1 hr 28 min is something that I will be proud off for a long time.

Did a couple of 5 k park run at Reading which I enjoyed even more, because the competitive spirit in me wants me to do better every time.
Then came the day to go to London, called upon my long time friend Pradeep who moved recently to London. My childhood friend/Best mate with whom I live came along to the Science Museum. I must say they did not share the same level of enthusiasm that I had for Science and machinery, none the less they were no spoil sports. The museum was half a mile long and it had three floors, Honestly we could cover only half of it in 4 hours. The warm welcome of Rocket engines and the replica of the Moon lander was enough to get my heart pumping.
Some of the older generation Russian rockets which had more than 16 tiny rocket motors just showed how advanced they were decades ago. I realised India even in the 21st century are plagued by failures in getting a single rocket motor working. Not to sound pessimist, but I hope soon we can catch up and be at the fore front of the Space frontier. The very sight of the Mercuy re entry module just showed how courageous those early astronauts were to bet their lives on engineers who put them in a metal shell which would plummet down from a height of 200 kms only to be heated to searing high burning temperatures during re-entry. They counted on a layer of Cermaic burning away beneath a capsule to save them. If they get the maths wrong about how thick it must be then every one would have been cooked inside!

The museum had various sections based on different themes, one of them was about how the miraculous brain works. There were games set up which deceived the Brain. we Had fun playing around with that for a while; fascination soon dropped which is usual. Our attention span is immensely low. Wonder why the Brain does that? If we could offer 100% focus on a task; speaking for the Human race we all could have achieved much more. Is that the difference between an armature and a genius? Could be !



We grabbed a quick Lunch with a stunning desert and went straight back into the Museum, guess Food was what was on our mind all the time. The next section was for the planes and the marvellous crafts that always have fascinated me. From the bell helicopters to the Harrier Jump Jets. There were many engines from the yester years on display. A cross section of the 747 was what amazed me the most. From a distance the shell looks so thin that its hard to believe that , that wafer protects us from minus 44 degrees, 900 miles per hour wind which one quarter Bar air pressure; read that as certain death !
Late evening, we walked about Wataerloo to catch a good view of the Millennium bridge, There was a public art work on display where poems from around the world in all languages were recited and left hanging on strings. It was interesting. The thought of letting paper planes aiming towards the sky did bring up the imagination that the poem for world peace if really did take off and impregnate the thoughts of the ill minded people, then the world would surely have been a much better place, alas, that's not the case. But I do have the freedom of wishful thinking.

After our walk headed to a Anand's favorite pub for a Drink, only to be put behind a barricade by the Firemen. The neighbouring restaurant had a minor fire break out. Persistence paid off and they let us through to get the only drink I am capable of consuming, a Cider.
My next tour was to the imperial war museum at Lambeth. Greeted by the biggest cannons I will ever see. the shells were as tall as me which can spit those out hundreds of kilometres away.The word "Massive" suits perfect now!
The number of planes and the anti aircraft guns, the Tanks, the heavy Artillery, The submarines, U-Boats,The clandestine Enigma machine, The mock up of the Atomic bomb was some what awesome and discomforting at the same time. Each of the machinery there were engineering marvels.Epitome of human genius, but it took away the lives of Millions across Europe and Japan. Especially the V2 rockets that the Germans used in hundreds against London and the Atomic bomb gave me the shivers up my spine.



The most agonising part was what I was not allowed to photograph. it was three floors of the holocaust memorial.It was the same feeling that I experienced when I was at the memorial at Berlin. The injustice done to several millions and the 6.6 million lifes that were taken off this earth for no reason shows how cruel Humans can be. It brings me to shame to call myself as a human. A tiger kills to satisfy hunger, but a human kills to satisfy ego. What strikes me is that our great nation, India has faced nothing like what Europe has faced. Not even a fraction. The wars and the massacre they have seen is epic!. Just imagine if we were ruled by the Germans and our peaceful protests and hunger strikes would mean nothing to the Nazi's.They would not only willingly allow us to kill ourselves but might even assist. Our victory was not wholly because of us, it was because the Empire shared the values of a sane person. They respect freedom because they have seen what it means back at home. For the British the Germans had put the razor sharp sword right up to their necks for them to realise its importance and then let us have it.

The following weekend came my good Friend, Prajakta from Pune. I was more than happy to play the host and take her around the city along with Pradeep. we headed to the Greenwich and many shopping malls. Girls do love them more than anything else.
Pradeep and I did let her cook some good Pune food for us and had a good time chatting away. We once went to Windsor as well to take a look at the Queens place, only to be 20 minute late, but none the less I happened to meet a girl who time travelled from 16th centry but who still uderstood the value of one pound to stand next to me for a second.


The past month has treated me well with the British summer being delightful. I am thankful to the Lord that I have some good friends who have stood by me,and some who withstood me! The one background score that's in my head is 'Make hay while the sun shines'

For a whole lot of Pictures
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150254340454540.365923.651679539&l=e64c356af8

Visit to Manchester

It was not a Trip that I had planned for. It was a work related trip and thought why should it just be work. I had to start work at my new employers on a Monday so on Saturday I got to Manchester. Stayed over at a very good hostel deceivingly named Hilton Chambers. None the less it was top notch in every way.Stayed in on Saturday and brought a magazine that I always wanted to; Top Gear and spent time reading it.
Sunday Started off well, With my new Camera's first assignment I walked into the City.

The first stop was Picadilly gardens which was just a stones throw away from there I stayed. It must an acre of free space with many statues and water fountains. People going about and some street performers showing off their skill. Walked though the high street into some of the streets where buildings since 1800 stayed tall.
The Town hall was by it self was a Victorian master piece, it was unfortunate that it remains closed on weekends. The in headed to the Manchester Art Gallery. The place was so unique that for the first time I did see a Art Museum where visitors were encouraged to create some work of their own. I did give it a try and quickly doodled a still art and coloured it. I felt like a kid and loved the feeling. Manchester was once famous for its pottery and there were many exhibits of them.
The one show where I was not supposed to take any pictures was an expo by the famous abstract art creator Anish Kapoor. Honestly I have never been so amused so much by works of art. I stood there watching his creation for several minutes. Its so engrossing that the viewer becomes a part of the art. Makes one think and ponder. Never has an Art work touched me so much. There was a video room where a documentary about this legendary artist was put on and I spent 40 minutes watching this.
The next stop for anyone who visits Manchester is the Old Trafford stadium. the Temple of the Manchester United Club. Its more than 100 years old and adorned with many of the legends of the great game of foot ball.
I had to pay a 13£ for a stadium tour fee and it was well worth it. The stadium had 76,000 seats and its the largest privately held stadium in the world. The quality of the seats and the ground were immaculate. What surprised me was the way the Club treated its fans who are disabled. They had special seats and it was given away free for every match for them. Recently when Man U played a match in Russia all its disabled fans and their carers were taken free of cost to Russia. All 300 of them!.
The Man U stadium also has a chapel and during seasons each day at least 5 weddings take place in this iconic stadium. Some of the boxes here are so expensive that It would be my lifetimes earnings to have a go at. We were taken to the Directors rooms and Team managers office. The high light was the players changing room which really felt surreal to me. All these top end players come to that room to change. The kind of treatment they get is amazing, for such expensive players its worth it. Even the most average player gets 40,000 pounds a week!. In the changing rooms during half time they only get a banana and a chocolate jaffa cake, nothing more. I had a good opputrunity to sit next too Owen's and Rooney's T-shirt for a snap.
Out side the stadium I did notice a lot of young and old folks like up to participate in the X factor audition. I would have easily spent more than 3 hours in the stadium and its museum. Headed back to my accommodation to collect upon the thoughts that I gathered on my short sight seeing in Manchester.

For more pics:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=336777&id=651679539&l=41f8fc94a9

For a video of the players changing room:

Holy Holi Celebrations in Belfast

One of the most vibrant and colourful festival off all times around the world is Holi. From the billion people of India to the white house everyone celebrates this wonderful festival which is more of a barrier breaker across cultures, races and religion. This celebration of Holi in Belfast is an exemplary example of this gesture.
As for the mythological story,Prahalad a staunch devotee of Vishnu was the envy of his Daemon father. The father asked his sister to assassinate him and she wore her fire proof dress and took Prahaladh into the burning flames. You can guess what happened. Fire proofing not good enough and the demise of the Daemon sister Holika is what Holi is all about.
Here in Belfast celebration was arranged on Sunday the 20th of March at a favourite spot of mine. The St.Georges market was a central to the city and an excellent venue. I was surprised to find a reasonable long queue outside.Its was not just Indians there, every one in all possible colour and form were there.Welcomed inside by few pretty Punjabi girls. The gratifying feeling of having a long 'Teeka' (vermilion powder) on the forehead set the mood for Holi. Inside there was a huge crowd.
A thousand I must say. The stage was set and what a treat to the eyes! English and Indian girls dressed in traditional Punjabi dresses performing a great dance number.Later came the Bangara music and a superb performance by the lads from Birmingham was exceptional. Indians there could not keep themselves from shaking a leg or two. I now am assured that North Indians do have a better hang of dancing as compared to the South Indians. The ladies too were having a great time. The local Irish folks loved the music too and the DJ was doing a terrific job. Finally at 4 pm it was time to get colourful. A ring was set up and people got into it and coloured themselves crazy. I could find more Irish folks in there compared to Indians. I would never get in there with the new camera that I was carrying.
At the end of the day when folsk stepped out there were unaware passers by astonished wondering what ever happened to them. What happened was they just got colourful ;-)
Here is a glimpse for you

The geekier side of me

I recently went through all the blogs that I wrote and I realised that is totally reflected the side of me where I am an outdoor exploratory person; which is true.
Another fact which is also true is I am a Technology Geek. I am all ears for news about new technology coming out, who is coming out with it. Its pros and cons. Few of them who know about me have asked me questions as to what to go for and why .Some times they refer their friends to me and I end up taking serious amount of time answering total strangers which camera/laptop/mobile is good, why to go for it and stuff. It so happens at the end of it they give me a smile and say "it sounds like you are marketing this one product and you have a commission". For you blokes reading it, I am open to questions that is because I enjoy answering it.

I simply do not see a product superficially,I dig deeper. Spill it guts out and see how finely its made; only that I do such things on devices that I own or is approved by the owner to do the surgery. I have changed the HDD on my previous laptop, fixed the screen and all.

Even back in my engineering days, when PC's used to cost a lot I took the bold step of asking my father for the money and I along with a few friends who boosted the confidence in me bought every single component of a PC and assembled it from scratch. If i look back to the daring me 10 years ago I feel quite amazed. That same machine is running fine till this day. My friend Ahishek was the guide then and I bet he will read this blog now and will be giggling. All of us squandering on the floor, with boxes and wires and plastic wraps all over, screwed in the mother board straight to the metallic back plate ignoring the tiny spacer we are supposed to put in. It was supposed to keep all the thousands of contacts on the board short circuiting. Machine did not start and finally we had to call in an expert and took one look and said, "are you all truly engineers ?, don't you know metal conducts electricity !" Good old, lovely days.

When even I do such things I get some audience. They might looking forward to see something getting destroyed/screwed up in live. Recently I opened up my iPhone which is a tricky compacted device and replace the battery. Here are some pics.





I have even gone to the extreme of unlocking my own Iphone and installing Android OS on it just to try it out.





The newest turn on this geeky course of mine was making video. I always have seen hundreds of "un-boxing" videos and wanted to make one myself. When I recently purchased a new laptop realised Opportunity is hard to find. When my new machine arrived with the help of my friends camera did document it. I enjoyed it so much that I made a follow up video as well. I hope I get to do more such un-boxing videos.
Time to get myself a video camera, how do I video the un-boxing of a video camera if I don't have one!! hmmmm.. The Chicken and the egg problem has resurfaced.

Video 1


Video 2


To emphasise on how geekier I could be, I wanted to show another device I had which i bet very few of them have. Its so uncool to wear, but really cool to use that many dont realise its potential. I love it! some day long after this device has failed to operate i am going to look at this video and smile at my own self for sure.



date:2nd April 211
The one true fascination that I have was towards Photography and I never thought that I would like it.But it all started when I bought my first DSLR camera late 2008. It was a Nikon D60 and it did a fantastic job of being sturdy enough for me to take a few hits and work under all weather conditions; all the while taking exceptional pictures. I took part in a Face Book photography group and I did win a few prizes a couple of times, that motivated me to move on further to take more pictures.
early 2010 there was an announcement that a new camera is going to come out of Nikon Labs and it would replace the D 90. I religiously followed all spy stories and pictures of the camera. The curtains on them were supposed to drop on 23rd of Nov and I did run to the stores on 24th to catch a glimpse of it, but was not lucky enough. On one cold December day in Gatwick airport finally I spotted one and I was drooling over it. The price was very good as well. But then I was between jobs and could not afford it, but one of my best mates was heading to the states and I could not wait further and he very loyally after loads of complications did bring me one. Honestly I had a strong desire to do a un boxing video of this, but he had to open the box and bring it over. He knew what I wanted the most and he took a video for me on my behalf. I did a voice over of that video and walla! I have an un boxing video of the superb D7000. The ultimate camera that is going to be with me for many years to come.
The camera is exceptional and gong forward all pictures and video on this blog of mine are off it.

Visit to Mourne Mountains

Mourne mountains:
It was a brand new year and I actually had not planned to start it with a bang. With the water woes in Belfast and that I had just recovered from a tiny spate f illness did not add much to the enthusiasm. A good friend of mine just threw open the door for a trip and then on Momentum took care of the rest. 9 AM on second of Jan we just considered of going out somewhere for a trip and by twelve we had the car rented by 1 the destination was set. It was Mourne mountains in County Down. not that far off a place. We did not want to spend too much time Travelling anyway.
We headed to Tesco, stocked up with snacks for the trip and the trusty GARMIN showing us the way out the city off we went. Stopped by the road side in the country snap for a quick bite and a group before snap. We had no accommodation booked. We did reach the mountain range by four pm and then we looked up on the internet for a hostel for us boys to stay. We did find one right in the heart of the place. The place was massive with a huge lunge and the whole building for ourselves. The size was a boon as a bane at the same time. To warm the place up took a lot of time.yet nothing can stop us from being merry. One of our Tamil friends recommended a good Romatic yet serious Tamil movie and we all Kannada boys did watch that. We all liked the movie and spent some time debating the outcome of the movie.
We hit the bed in the wee hours and since this was a trip where none of us were bound by time and not that we had any plans to act accordingly, everyone got up very lethargically. Had a breakfast which was not that fulfilling. We headed to Silent Valley which was a small reservoir in the mountain range. The whole lake was frozen, not thick enough for us to walk upon. The patterns created on the surface was beautiful. We could see crystal clear water with fish init bemeath the solid surface.
We wanted to test our physical selves, hopped a fence and started hiking the mountain. Now a lesson that i learnt is a mountain is not as high as it appears. Once you get to the edge we find just at the curve is another large elevation. boys were exhausted at the first level which must have been just under 400 meters.
I wanted to go on to the top. One friend followed me to the next level and it was tranquility there.No gusty wind and plenty of sunshine. Just then I saw the next elevation and that is when I had the epiphany.
Life is pretty much like this, we have a goal to get to and just as you reach it , we see another one over the horizon and we go ahead for that. Along the way we find some who accompany us but when the going gets tougher you are on your own. The final leg, which must be 800 meters and above, i was all alone and the wind forging through the high grass. I could hear my heartbeat and my lungs were doing their best. ever time i looked around the view only kept getting better. My efforts were not in vain and finally I made it. Judging by the size of the road where our car was parked, i realised that i have come quite a long way. I headed back wondering if the boys were still there. One cannot track back the original way because its all grass. I came to the point where it looked familiar and called out for the boys. No one around. There was a slight panic inside. I looked around hard and with the Grass background could not spot anyone or anything. Finally when saw tiny specks of moving objects on the tarmac I realised that they did not ditch me for fun.


one of them had a desire to see a beach so we headed to the Kilkeel beach. it was a small fishing town. Spent some time where on the sunny beach. had lunch at a fast food restaurant there and then we headed to the New castle of Northern Ireland. We did see a little bit of the town and then we drove back to home away from home sweet home.

for more pictures:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=311293&id=651679539&l=919b80d796

Back to back Christmas parties

Its the time of the year when I have to wear Thermal inner wear and brave the cold and prevent my nose from freezing up inside! But on the brighter side there are some good parties to lookout for. This year was special because I had two of them to attend. One for which I was invited. To my delight I wanted to be there, the other was by default because I work for the company who organised it.

Christmas Lunch with AIB folks:
My ex-manger invited me to join the team in Dublin for the Christmas party dinner.It was my pleasure to join them so took a half day off. Took the train after having a Christmas team lunch with my current team. Dublin was hit hard by snow this year so I was being skeptical about my transport options there.
Thankfully it was not as bad as I thought it would be or should I thank my stars? Got off at the O'Connell station and headed straight to my mate Anto's house. I was glad to meet him and Gwen. It had been almost three months since we meet. She had her own party to go to as well and she was busy trying out her dresses. finally we headed out on the ice clad pavements to Callaghan Davenport by Stephens green.
But nothing starts in Dublin without going to the pub. The entire team were there at the Gingerbread man having a few pints just warming up for the evening. Anto exactly knew what I wanted and got me bottle of Becks. Gives the impression to everyone that I was having a beer while I was having just a soda. Perfect! Dave and Maurice were in black shirts which looked like they had planned for it. We aptly called them father McNamara and father Phelan for the night.
Rainford was already a wrek even before we started, the rest of the story with regard to him goes without saying anything. Macartan was every so pleasant to me. We headed to the fine dinning hall which was all set to greet two hundred guests. To our surprise we had some nuns as well and our good Lads did not let that opportunity pass by as well. I was the only vegetarian dude there, which as ever is an annoyance for others. I was served with some special Keesh and it was great.
It was Alan's send off party as well. he had some his time in AIB and done it well. Shane could not be stopped at giving speeches and because he recently has had some good experience at it we had to let him off the leash. We saw a totally different side of Alan at his speech and let me not dive into the fine cracks/details and leave it at that :-). Brain was every so lively and he never stops cracking jokes and thats what I like the most about all these lads. Finally at 1am had to bid good bye to all of them. One the way back we walked to the well light grafton street which was all set for shoppers. I rested well at Anto's place for the night. Next day Gwen, Anto and I headed off to a coffee shop run by a Turkish family for good breakfast. On the way back went to the Secret park that was so secluded in the neighborhood. Caught the train at 3 and carried on to join the regular Bangalore gang party in Belfast for the second night in a row. I say thats they way to roll.
For more pictures:




Christmas party with Allstate.
This was a party that was at a much grander scale. Allstate apparently does have reputation to hold such large parties it seems. There was a strict dress code. No trainers, No T'ees, No Jeans. It was quite annoying to dress up for the party given that the weather was beyond horrible!. It was the day when Belfast was hit by the heaviest snowfall in 25 years!! 990 people had singed up for the party and there was worries that many would not turn out.

But later I realised that when drinks are on the house nothing can keep thirsty humans away. There was a pick up and drop facility so away we went. It was arranged in a massive warehouse kind of place called kings hall. The tables were all well set and the lights were all colorful. Artificial Smoke/mist was pumped to give an ambiance of a fairy tale place, but I did not like it much because it did not help my shots. I was allocated the table 66. This is where one has none of their teams mates there. Orphan table you may say. But my friend and his team were generous enough to make me feel part of them and I sat with them. Thankfully there was vegetarian food which even if served last tasted good. The desert was even more sumptuous. "ANI got talent" is what they had organised and we had two blokes with guitar and one singer who sang such a song that did not add any fizz to the party atmosphere. Two gentle men who I bet are going through middle age crisis were dressed up as Elvis and Queen Elizabeth. The finale was a group of guys from Ap who danced to typical south Indian music. none were in shape, nor great at foot works let alone synchronization. When it started of I had to hand my head low in shame, but to my surprise the crowd there loved it and got everyone off the seats. I soon joined the mele. The dance number ended with "Jai ho". The team won the prize and winners had to repeat and this time everyone joined it. I guess that is what Christmas party is all about, just fun. Slowly everyone had serious thirst issues which needed to be quenched by a few bartenders. The floor was open and everyone began to shake a leg or two. Some ladies on the floor were experts and some men exactly the opposite, more on the terms of embarrassment to human kind kind of dancers. I had enough of Orange juice and wanted to move on. Alan dropped us back and that was the end of another good Christmas party.

For more pictures
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=304090&id=651679539

Ongoing Belfast experience - 2

Belfast has grown on me I must say. The discomfort that I felt earlier is far from gone and now I might miss this place if I had to leave. The reason being, nothing but a few lads from my home city. We have had a late night few get together and speaking in our non traditional slang Kannada was just as comforting as having a glass of cool juice after a ten kilometer run. Speaking of a 10K run, I was supposed to run one today but the weather was definitely not the right one for a Bangalore/Kerala boy who can brave temperature upwards of 10 degrees but definitely not lower; today was -1.
Now back to the point of my "Bang Gang" as some of the other good friends of mine at work place call us is definitely a delightful company and for a guy who was thirsty to find Kannada speaking person on the Emerald island since two and a half year its a welcome relief.

Movies


My other good friends here from my neighboring state and one of them very affectionately called "Producer" (real name Zia) provides us with movie codes to watch free screening movie and so far in almost twelve weeks I have watched Eight movies.God bless Zia. This spate of movie watching reminds me of Pune where I was an absolute movie-holic and here history repeats the same minus expense of tickets. Some of them like Due date, Unstoppable, Tamara Drewe were absolutely entertaining. I sincerely do give back honest feed back about the movie after the screening. I am hoping to see many more movies before i leave the city. Not that I am saying that I am leaving the city right now!




Remembrance day
Couple of weeks ago to make the best of the weather (which is not even close to good) made an instantaneous plan to walk in a Forest. Its a protected twenty acre piece of land. Called in one guy and my room mates join in as well. Seven of us headed out. At the City Hall we noticed the unusual lack of any traffic, then through the silence broke sounds of musical instruments. We walked to the other side to see many dignitaries as well as a few well decorated Military officials, A military band and a church priest. It was the remembrance day in Northern Ireland. There was absolute silence even if there were more than a thousand gathered there. One of the guys in the group had to receive a call resulted in we as a group getting a few stares and thats when to avoid further embarrassment and to avoid the personal from deploying a fire arm made a swift exit.
We boarded the bus that too us to the outskirts of Belfast.


Glen Colin forest
The forest had a three trials on it and we took the long 6.5 km walk. The trial and the forest floor was covered with thick foliage and moss. winter was set upon NI and it was evident watching the bald tree tops. To add spice to the not so challenging hike we charted our own route and waded through the dense grass fields which was fun but did get the shoes absolutely wet. We had no intension to call it day even if the Sun here calls it a day at 4:20pm. Went back to city center to our good ol Burger king and then made another plan.


Stormount house
That was to visit the Stormount house (NI parliament). We waled the one mile gradient main approach road to the building. It was beautiful. The Dusk, the vast green expanse, the white building and the walk way dotted with elegant street lights was perfect. I had been here an year ago, but never had seen the beauty of the monument at Dusk.But we had to accept defeat from the cold. We walked back in the dark to notice that the entrance was closed and some good Samaritan did show us a secret way of the place. Walking in the dark though the woods within a heavily guarded/fenced government facility in a sensitive part of the world with the undeniable fact that we being aliens to this country sure was fun; or something like fun.

For more pictures:
"http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=295706&id=651679539&l=a6d4c6ab05"