For the past 7 months, I have been taking a rickshaw ride to office and back. Except of course for the 6 weeks in between that I was in Hyderabad. It takes about 30 mins door to door.
I used to listen to music through that journey but I like to talk to the rickshaw driver if I can so I can't listen to music. Couple of months back I decided to start taking my camera along everyday.
The 85mm is lovely for portraits out of the rickshaw. I am not all that good at it but here's one that has come out well.
My main problem right now is mis-focused pictures because I take them from a moving rickshaw, but I am getting better at it.
The walls at the side of the streets in Pune are painted with a weird shade of blue. Most of the times it enhances the portraits a lot.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Hyderabad...
So I am in Hyderabad these days. Its an agile enablement project and its a nice change from the usual delivery stuff. But this is not my business blog so...
I have only been here for a week but here are my first impressions and some things that puzzled me in a good way :-)
Airport
What can I say? It's absolutely brilliant. Grand and really well maintained.
Transport
Airport to City was a beautiful cab ride. Get out of the Airport, take a Meru cab, chill out. There's a nice huge road that bypasses the city and takes you to the west side in about 40 minutes.
I have traveled from Airport to City frequently 4 cities. Bangalore, Pune, Mumbai and Hyderabad.
Hyderabad is by far the best. Pune is good as well except its small. Bangalore is OK because getting shuttle buses is a breeze but the traffic is horrible. Mumbai deserves a post of it's own but for now "Totally disappointing management, horrible cabbies and traffic that will make you cry" is enough description
Vibes
Hyderabad has a hi-tech vibe to it. The part I work in is not called Hi-tech city just like that. WiFi is a given where ever you go (with unbelievable speeds by the way). I saw the first advert for a 20MBPS consumer broadband connection in India.
Its a foody city as well. Although I think Pune is more foody than hyderabad. The word "Biryani" is abused a lot so eat it only in places recommended to you by people who don't hate you.
There is also a very welcome sense of this place not being over populated. Maybe weekends are different but on our daily dinner endeavors, not many people are seen on the roads. I think the area matters as well so let me mention that I stay and roam around in the Whitefield and Jubilee Hills area.
And here is the pleasant puzzle I was talking about...
I am actually not a very social person. But having lived alone for quite a while and having to commute by cab / auto-rickshaw every morning to work, I have taken to talking to the driver. I have done this for the past one year continuously but hyderabad is different. Different because the people here actually seem happy.
They laugh and joke and talk about serious stuff as well but all in all they are actually happy. They are not pissed off with life like the whiners in Mumbai. They are not assholes like the Chennai auto guys. They don't jack their meters like the ones in Pune. (They don't have meters which is a different thing). They fix a rate and go by it and don't haggle at the end of the ride like the ones in Bangalore.
I don't know how come they are on much better terms with life but I'm going to find out.
I have only been here for a week but here are my first impressions and some things that puzzled me in a good way :-)
Airport
What can I say? It's absolutely brilliant. Grand and really well maintained.
Transport
Airport to City was a beautiful cab ride. Get out of the Airport, take a Meru cab, chill out. There's a nice huge road that bypasses the city and takes you to the west side in about 40 minutes.
I have traveled from Airport to City frequently 4 cities. Bangalore, Pune, Mumbai and Hyderabad.
Hyderabad is by far the best. Pune is good as well except its small. Bangalore is OK because getting shuttle buses is a breeze but the traffic is horrible. Mumbai deserves a post of it's own but for now "Totally disappointing management, horrible cabbies and traffic that will make you cry" is enough description
Vibes
Hyderabad has a hi-tech vibe to it. The part I work in is not called Hi-tech city just like that. WiFi is a given where ever you go (with unbelievable speeds by the way). I saw the first advert for a 20MBPS consumer broadband connection in India.
Its a foody city as well. Although I think Pune is more foody than hyderabad. The word "Biryani" is abused a lot so eat it only in places recommended to you by people who don't hate you.
There is also a very welcome sense of this place not being over populated. Maybe weekends are different but on our daily dinner endeavors, not many people are seen on the roads. I think the area matters as well so let me mention that I stay and roam around in the Whitefield and Jubilee Hills area.
And here is the pleasant puzzle I was talking about...
I am actually not a very social person. But having lived alone for quite a while and having to commute by cab / auto-rickshaw every morning to work, I have taken to talking to the driver. I have done this for the past one year continuously but hyderabad is different. Different because the people here actually seem happy.
They laugh and joke and talk about serious stuff as well but all in all they are actually happy. They are not pissed off with life like the whiners in Mumbai. They are not assholes like the Chennai auto guys. They don't jack their meters like the ones in Pune. (They don't have meters which is a different thing). They fix a rate and go by it and don't haggle at the end of the ride like the ones in Bangalore.
I don't know how come they are on much better terms with life but I'm going to find out.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Download XCode 3.1 for Leopard
Some of us don't have snow leopard yet. So here are 3 easy steps:
- Go to connect.apple.com
- Log in using your Apple ID (or register)
- Follow the Download link and choose developer tools in the categories.
I wasted loads of time starting with apple.com / google searches and getting nowhere. All you can download is XCode 3.2.1 which only works on Snow Leopard.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Mac is back :D
So like I said I had some water spilt on my Mac and it was recovering very slowly. I decided to give it some time and packed it away for almost 2 months. The battery was dead and I had already decided to get it replaced.
So I came back from my vacation in Kerala and Bombay and then took my Mac to the iStore. The guy hit the button and hey!!! It booted perfectly well.
The battery life has suffered a bit but it's still way better than my dell / HP
Well thats that. Photo's from my vacation are here. Although there is nothing very kerala about the photos at all. I need to stop macro photography :p
So I came back from my vacation in Kerala and Bombay and then took my Mac to the iStore. The guy hit the button and hey!!! It booted perfectly well.
The battery life has suffered a bit but it's still way better than my dell / HP
Well thats that. Photo's from my vacation are here. Although there is nothing very kerala about the photos at all. I need to stop macro photography :p
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Booohooooo :((
I guess there are thousands of these posts on the internet. But I am still adding one of my own.
My Mac had some water spilt on it and it died!! :( Well, it's slowly coming back to life so its not that bad.
First it didn't run at all.
Then it ran but said there is no battery.
Now it runs and says there is a battery but I don't feel like charging it.
Only time can heal the wounds. It'll come around to charging the battery sooner or later. I hope. So I am using my company's Dell 6500 for now (Windows). More on that in the next post.
My Mac had some water spilt on it and it died!! :( Well, it's slowly coming back to life so its not that bad.
First it didn't run at all.
Then it ran but said there is no battery.
Now it runs and says there is a battery but I don't feel like charging it.
Only time can heal the wounds. It'll come around to charging the battery sooner or later. I hope. So I am using my company's Dell 6500 for now (Windows). More on that in the next post.
Saturday, August 8, 2009
The devil's bargain
I had loads of fun today. Went around the park and saw that the Children were playing in water. I had the 24-105L on so I had an amazing time clicking portraits of careless, happy children. Someday these kids will be stuck in a company somewhere... writing stories for custom software development... walking around the city downtown... feeling happy for kids playing in water :-)
Ended up getting interviewed by dogstar7 (http://www.youtube.com/user/dogstar7) on the price for peace. Interesting view that the world was appalled and brought about peace after US bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki 64 years ago. Dogstar7 asked me if there was a guarantee that the same would happen again, would I support the US bombing civilians for the greater good?
Really? I mean it's a good argument. Thinking of it as an alien (having no interest in human life) I probably would support the movement. But then again as an alien why the hell would I be interested in human peace anyway.
Like I said to him, I don't think peace peace is really possible at all. I think it's just that we are here, alive right now and we see atrocious things happen and we feel really bad about ourselves and the state of the world. But this is exactly what has been happening throughout human history. I think we'll keep having these problems and keep learning to live with them.
Sometimes I wonder if the human ability to adapt is a blessing or a curse.
Ended up getting interviewed by dogstar7 (http://www.youtube.com/user/dogstar7) on the price for peace. Interesting view that the world was appalled and brought about peace after US bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki 64 years ago. Dogstar7 asked me if there was a guarantee that the same would happen again, would I support the US bombing civilians for the greater good?
Really? I mean it's a good argument. Thinking of it as an alien (having no interest in human life) I probably would support the movement. But then again as an alien why the hell would I be interested in human peace anyway.
Like I said to him, I don't think peace peace is really possible at all. I think it's just that we are here, alive right now and we see atrocious things happen and we feel really bad about ourselves and the state of the world. But this is exactly what has been happening throughout human history. I think we'll keep having these problems and keep learning to live with them.
Sometimes I wonder if the human ability to adapt is a blessing or a curse.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
iPhone :) :(
So I bought the iPod Touch when I got to US. I have enjoyed it a lot. The only bit missing really is network on the go. And the fact that I have to carry
1. My Touch
2. My P1i (quite large)
3. My Card Case
4. 4 Access Cards
5. Bills and Change
and other obvious hardware in my pants :D
Oh! and it's summer so no jackets meaning less pockets...
So I thought let me merge my touch and my cell phone and get the iPhone instead. So I went and stood in the line in the apple store yesterday... for an hour.
Then the guys sets up my account and says "Ha! You don't have a credit card!! So you have never been in debt in the US. I know the likes of you, you debtless immigrant... AT&T would like to relieve you of $500 as security deposit on which you will get no interest :D". He was quite friendly really
Anyways! Like all good consumers I sucked it up and paid as the guy said "This is a refundable deposit so you'll get it back whenever you cancel your contract OR it will be used against your bill amounts at the end of your contract"
One other friend also wanted to buy an iPhone so we went again today. I wanted to pick up a screen guard and a case.
Now the friendly apple guy (a different one) told my friend the same story BUT "This deposit is non-refundable", he said, "If you cancel the contract within one year". My friend said "Thanks" and we came back. (I obviously didn't pick up the guard and the case)
I searched a lot today but this clause is not mentioned anywhere really. So I wait to talk to a friendly AT&T guy tomorrow. Hopefully, things will work out.
But even if they do, I'll be sad in my heart. Apple makes a great product and then goes and makes it impossible for travelling folks such as us to enjoy it. I sincerely don't know where I'll be in the next 3 months... India, UK, Australia maybe (it'll be summer there) OR maybe I will still be in the US. I don't want to know. I like to have no plans but I would like to use an iPhone... let's see.
1. My Touch
2. My P1i (quite large)
3. My Card Case
4. 4 Access Cards
5. Bills and Change
and other obvious hardware in my pants :D
Oh! and it's summer so no jackets meaning less pockets...
So I thought let me merge my touch and my cell phone and get the iPhone instead. So I went and stood in the line in the apple store yesterday... for an hour.
Then the guys sets up my account and says "Ha! You don't have a credit card!! So you have never been in debt in the US. I know the likes of you, you debtless immigrant... AT&T would like to relieve you of $500 as security deposit on which you will get no interest :D". He was quite friendly really
Anyways! Like all good consumers I sucked it up and paid as the guy said "This is a refundable deposit so you'll get it back whenever you cancel your contract OR it will be used against your bill amounts at the end of your contract"
One other friend also wanted to buy an iPhone so we went again today. I wanted to pick up a screen guard and a case.
Now the friendly apple guy (a different one) told my friend the same story BUT "This deposit is non-refundable", he said, "If you cancel the contract within one year". My friend said "Thanks" and we came back. (I obviously didn't pick up the guard and the case)
I searched a lot today but this clause is not mentioned anywhere really. So I wait to talk to a friendly AT&T guy tomorrow. Hopefully, things will work out.
But even if they do, I'll be sad in my heart. Apple makes a great product and then goes and makes it impossible for travelling folks such as us to enjoy it. I sincerely don't know where I'll be in the next 3 months... India, UK, Australia maybe (it'll be summer there) OR maybe I will still be in the US. I don't want to know. I like to have no plans but I would like to use an iPhone... let's see.
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