Album Uploaded-'04 Ooty Trip

The memories of the Ooty Trip-04

Rat-a-too-ee

Pet can come in different shapes and sizes.Meet RATATOUILLE the pet mice that lived with me in my house.I found this little fellow hidden in my nike shoe. Instead of throwing it out i gave him a new place to stay under the kitchen sink. At first he ran away whenever i came in, but thanks to the biscuit bribes i gave him,he started ignoring my presence.Slowly we became friends and finally i took some time out to take photographs.Here is the full photoshoot below.It was difficult to make him pose and remain still throughout the shoot. Many of the pics were out of focus. But it turned out to be good.

Now that i have moved out to my new appartment i keep wondering what RATATOUILLE is doing these days.Hope he have a long and prosperous life.

Why i wrote my previous blog??

Well now is the time to write why i had put on a blog on the The City Palace below.It was sudden and out of no where that i had put up the blog below 'The city palace of jaipur-A Brief History'.Many querries i had received about why i have written on this topic suddenly from no where?Well i just waited to answer them,and now is the time.
Its was because the movie 'Bhool Bhulaiyaa' was shot here.I had earlier heard about this movie being shot here and since i had visited the place,i decided to do some R & D on this.Now after the movie is released and had been a surprise for everyone interms of content and un-Priyadarshan characteristic style i decided to finally put and end to the querries sent across to me.
तो पता चला ना कि मैने यह blog क्यों लिखा था! अगर अपने मूवी या पैलेस नही देखा हो तो जल्दी देखलो,दोनो ही काफी अच्छा हैं.

The city palace of jaipur-A Brief History

Rajasthan011, originally uploaded by kunalpanja2.

Located in the capital of Rajasthan, the City Palace of Jaipur or the main palace is an imposing blend of traditional Rajasthan and Mughal architecture. The vast palace complex occupies one seventh of the walled city of Jaipur. Originally built by Maharaja Jai Singh II of the Kachhwaha clan of Rajputs, additions have been made to the palace complex by many of his successors.
The complex is divided into a series of courtyards, sprawling gardens and buildings. It is home to several palatial structures like the Chandra Mahal, Mubarak Mahal, Badal Mahal, Shri Govind Dev Temple and the City Palace Museum.
In the first courtyard is the 'Mubarak Mahal', built by Maharaja Madho Singh II in the late 19th century. The Mubarak Mahal, or the Auspicious Palace, contains the textile section of the Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II Museum. There is a magnificent gateway with a grand door in brass opening to a stately courtyard. There lies the Diwan-I-Khas or 'Hall of Private Audience'- an open hall with a double row of columns with scalloped arches. On display are the two largest silver vessels in the world figured in the Guinness Book of World Records. These were used for carrying water from the holy Ganges for personal use, by Madho Singh II on his journey to England. Across the paved square, with its intricate decorations in deep red and gold, Afghan and Persian carpets, miniature paintings, astronomical manuscripts in Persian and Sanskrit lies the 'Diwan-E-Aam' or the 'Hall of Public Audience'. At the other corner is the gateway Ridhi Sidhi Pol, with four small doorways decorated with motifs depicting the four seasons.
To the north-west is the graceful seven storeyed 'Chandra Mahal', or the Moon Palace, home to the present Maharaja of Jaipur; Bhavani Singh, providing a fine view of the gardens and the city. Paintings, floral decorations, mirror walls and ceilings in the traditional style adorn the palace. Each storey has a distinctive name and is a place of sheer beauty and luxury. The ground and first floor of the Chandra Mahal, form the Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II Museum. The museum has an extensive collection of art, carpets, enamelware and 15th century weapons. The paintings include miniatures of Rajasthani, Persian and Mughal schools. A section of museum also contains dresses and costumes of the former Maharajas and Maharanis of Jaipur.
'Sukh Nivas' or Hall of rest holds the drawing and dining room of the Maharaja, furnished with Mughal miniatures, European silver, glass dining tables and peep holes decorated with gold leafs, for ventilation. On the fourth floor of the 'Chandra Mahal' is the 'Shobha Nivas' or Hall of Beauty with mirror encrusted walls having exquisite blue tiled dadoes and glittering gold leaf and mica decoration. When the room was lit after dark the Maharajas could enjoy a breathtaking spectacle of the room bursting into a thousand flickering images. The Shobha Nivas and the Sukh Nivas is still occupied by the present Maharaja. The fifth floor is the 'Chhavi Nivas' or Hall of Images, the maharajas retreat in the rainy season, with a polished floor of eggshell stucco and blue and white painted walls. The sixth floor with its mirrored ceiling and stucco floor has rows of double columns through which one can have a magnificent view of the rugged hills. The uppermost storey is called the 'Mukut Mahal' or the Crown Building.

Arabian Sea

Picture 064, originally uploaded by kunalpanja3.

The unconquered frontiers of the wild Arabian Sea.

PUNE-The baby with the candy

This is my first blog after a long break.The break was largly due to some changes in my life.Its almost a month now that I have been to Pune. After IBM decided to allocate me to a new project here it was the time for me to travel once more.

The very first impression of this city was good and bad for me. Good was the fact that the people and the crowd was vibrant and bad was the fact that house rent and autowalas are a real menace here.

This city was primarily a city know for its educational facilities that anything else. The sheer number of colleges and college crowd at every hangout is a testimony of that. The expanding IT sector in India has seen a boom in IT development in Pune. But the growth unlike Bangalore had not been regular. This city is experiencing a sudden IT boom. Its like a baby who has just got a candy. The real estate prices have shot up to an abnormal extent and since the IT crowd is willing to shell out extra money the prices of rental houses have shot through the roof. This has in turn affected the market and the prices of articles have started to climb. This has made it difficult for the student crowd here, a few articles recently in the paper has shown the adverse effect the IT candy is having on common man here. The immediate segment who is out there to make the mullahs are the autowalas. They follow no pay chart of the earth, infact they are out there to rob every penny of your purse, flaunting every rule.
The good weather along with a hospitable native crowd has made this city an attractive location in spite of the few hunches I had talked about earlier. Weather wise Pune should rank just after Bangalore with its moisture laden pleasant weather. One can travel to various places from here in the form of weekend treks and trips. As for me I have just visited GOA so far. I am planning to travel extensively in the coming few months to make sure that I explore this part of the country.
Other than this one thing I have noticed about this place is the young and colorful and vibrant crowd everywhere, it gives a college like feeling whenever I visit any hangout. The night life here is alive and safe compared to any city of the country. The number of nightclubs and restaurants that remains open till late night makes a comprehensive proof of this fact. The college crowd actually makes this city happening than the IT crowd. But the baby has got the candy now and it will be interesting to see how the baby handles the candy of IT boom. I am looking at a long stay in this city and it will be interesting to observe this change I guess!

Choice

I have started receiving complaints from people that my blogs are very serious (unlike the person I am) and that reading them often gives rise to ‘foolish philosophy’ in their head. They have demanded lighter essays. I have not written for a long time not because I was bogged down by them but because I have been in a whirlwind of work. In one of my blogs in Dec-Jan I had said about the mounting work pressure and they took some toll on me. But I have made sure I keep posting some thing or the other just to ensure that I am still in the habit of blogging. But finally I decided to put my foot down. I had to choose between my spirit and my mind. I choose my spirit. And now I have decided to follow it for sometime.
Making choices have always been a tough thing in life. There have been lots of thoughts and energy spend on choices. And its said that choices decide who we are. I would like to throw open the Pandora’s box of thoughts and choices. How would you react in the following situation?
(Concept taken from The 8th Habit).
1. Firstly you are not treated fairly. That is there is lots of politics at play in your organization, there is nepotism. The pay system doesn’t seem to be fair and just. Your own pay doesn’t accurately reflect your level of contribution to the organization. What would be your choice?
2. Lets say you are treated fairly in terms of your pay but is not treated kindly, that is you are not respected, your treatment is inconsistent, arbitrary, capricious, perhaps largely dictated by the mood of your boss. What would you do?
3. Let’s say you are paid well and treated fairly but when your opinion is wanted it is given to you. In other ways your body and heart is valued and not your mind. What would your choice be?
4. Now let’s say you are paid well, treated kindly, involved creatively but you are asked to dig a hole and fill it up again, or to fill out reports that no one sees or uses. In other words your work is meaningless. What would your choice be?
5. Now let’s say you are treated well, paid fairly and involved creatively but there is lots of unethical work going on around you. The people around you are not trustable or they cheat you and each other. What would you do?
(Concept taken from The 8th Habit)Mind, Heart, Body, Spirit are the four aspects of humans that require equal attention. I had been a firm believer that being logical and analytical answers all questions of human life. Slowly I have realized that life has its wings spread beyond the realms of Logic and Analysis. I will agree that all these four aspects of human beings need to be addressed. The choices to the above said problems can be any one of the following.
a) Rebel/Quit
b) Malicious Obedience
c) Willing Compliance
d) Cheerful Co-operation
e) Heartfelt Commitment
f) Creative Excitement
Yes the four aspects of Human needs to be addressed with equal importance. When I look around I can see people with misbalanced aspects. Want to know the biggest example. It’s me, myself. From the above examples I had faced situation 1 in the previous job and my choice was option a. The very fact that my mind, heart, body, spirit revolted prompted me to rebel and quit. Yes it was one of the great learning experiences for me.
Now the question comes what drives our choices. Most people says its our aim/vision/future goals that drives our choices. This is true yet they are not so true. It’s because many a time we ‘take the road less taken by’ so we don’t have clear vision of our goal but yet we make our choices.
Another interesting concept is that between Cause and Effect (Concept taken from 8th Habit) we have a time to make our choices. STIMULUS >Freedom to Choose> RESPONSE
Now this window in between varies from people to people. Some people make choices immediately on being given the stimulus and some take time to make them. The difference lies there. This window transforms our lives. The difference between success and failure is governed by this window.
Many people have argued ‘I take decisions instinctively’! My question is define instinct? How can you define intuitiveness or instinct? Its one of the most puzzling processes in our brain. The brain takes all the parameters required to process a decision and in a fraction of a second does the processing. We think it’s intuitive but it’s the fastest output of a calculative process. Thus our instinctive decisions are the one for which this window between Stimulus and Response is the smallest.
I won’t go into the domain where we can discuss the consequence of choices. That’s a completely different domain but here I would concentrate more on choices we make. So going back to the classification of choices I think the best choice is Creative Excitement. The things that we do should involve a creative excitement associated with it. Be it relationship/Job/ day to day life, if there is a creative excitement then things will be more enjoyable. This is how the concept of ‘Work’ and ‘Play’ was defined in ‘Tom Sawyer’. So the best decisions are which evokes creative excitement among us. This is my point of view about choices we make. But then again we are not always in a position to make choices, in those cases make the best use of the choices and resources given to you. Invoke creative excitement among yourself. Not all choices will be popular but if that choice invokes creative excitement and you have the self-belief then go ahead with it.

Here comes the rain again..falling from the sky.....

The bloom of monsoon at its best.After the scorching summer even the orchids are happy to get the monsoon rains.

Killer Instinct

The best shots for anti smoking ad-campaign.The shots are taken in solarize,negative and b/w modes with increasing zoom.The negative one had captured the rising smoke from the cigarette.The solarize shot had got a spectacular lighting effect due to the light source on the right hand side of the pic.

The city in different mood

The cityscape through blank and white and Solarize filters of my mob-cam.Its the same spot but look at the effect on them.

The 1st rain of monsoon

The first rain of monsoon has hit the city today and as usual the whole city was water logged and became a flowing river.These are some of the pics taken by me on my way to office.

MotoMING a fantastic reality.

My two years of love with Sony P900 ended in a disaster.She broke down(thanks to my neglect and partying) and couldnot be with me anymore.Bereaved,i was in search of a suitable replacement.I searched every corners of the electronics market at Chandni Chawk.I had spent hours in the net doing research on smart phones,when i came across the piece of beauty called MotoMING.It was a love at first sight.When i went through its feature i just had a I 'wow' sound in my head.
The Motorola A1200 is an intriguing Linux-based smart phone.The Motorola A1200 (also known as the Ming) is a Linux-based smart phone with 2.4-inch 320x240-pixel touch-screen display. Features on the GSM handset include quad-band world phone support, handwriting recognition, a speakerphone, polyphonic sound, Bluetooth and USB connectivity, an FM radio, a 2-megapixel camera with digital zoom and macro mode, video recording and playback, and a MicroSD card expansion slot. The A1200 measures 3.8 by 2.0 by 0.9 inches and weighs 4.3 ounces. Phew i just ran out of steam describing it,better watch out.

Today i have this baby with me.Enjoying every moments of its presence in my life.Although i am in search of bugs in the phone but so far i had no luck.

Football 2007

Like last year this year i once again participated in the IBM soccer cup.To start off i never thought i would make it to the finals this time too.But we did it.We made it to the finals once more and surprisingly our opponent was the same.But we failed this time.The runners up last year took their revenge but we were happy as a team to have made it through the hurdles of elimination rounds to reach the finals.
This team was really good as we played some excellent and clean football to defeat many of so called champion teams.In the end we were outplayed by lady luck .The final was marred by a few unfriendly incidents on the field which resulted in 2 red and 2 yellow cards but we fought till the end till we missed out on the sudden death kick.

Three cheers for DLF-3 team.

Dark.....yet encouraging

The dusk had drawn a crimson veil over the sky,
The darkness is willing to spread its wing and fly,
The birds return to their nest,
To return another day to hunt their best,
The oceans calm down with low tide,
The animals return to their home after the long ride..

But on the shore i stand and look far...
To the corner where crimson and darkness is having war,
I know the darkness will spread its wing soon,
But i will wait for the light from the moon.

I admire the courage of the dark;
That it tries to dampen every celestial twinkling spark,
It tries its best to hide the moon,
But it looses later or soon.
It never gives up its fight against the light,
That why i respect its relentless might.

We run from darkness to light;
We never allow light to move out of our sight;
But once look through the dark,u will offcourse see;
The spiritual self in thee.

26

Happy Birthday..

One Night @ Khowai

The woods are lovely,dark and deep,
But i have promises to keep..,
And i have miles to go before i sleep.

Winter in its full bloom

The flowers at Santiniketan.Winter 2007

"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for thou art with me"

The world is so very fascinating when it comes to life and unfurling the true colors of life. The proverb ‘truth is stranger than fiction’ has proven itself over time immemorial. Infact while growing up I have realized this proverb in different dimensions and in different situations. Perhaps not everyone has the courage to face the truth and that who speaks them gets crucified. The bottom line is that people like to live in the virtual world-‘MATRIX’ as you can call it. Every time someone has taken a step to go beyond this MATRIX he has faces opposition, be it Socrates, Newton or even Einstein.

When I try to walk straight people say that the road is curve so take a turn. But I know that walking straight will lead me to my destination and my beliefs. But most people take the curve. Few have the courage to take the ‘road not taken’. I know the consequence of doing this may be high, but when I am ready to pay why I should care what people say, I can walk straight.

Actually everyone tries to live politically in the world. They seem to be afraid to call a ‘Spade’ as ‘Spade’. They have built a world of virtuosity around themselves and like living in it. Show them the real world and they can’t even handle it. The fact is that most people have a built a world around them and the problem arises when two interfering world meets.

Friendship and love are possibly the two most indefinable words in English today. The very essence and meaning keeps eluding me but not the feelings. The moment their meanings are challenged I try to redefine them. The solution is not that. Perhaps finding the true meaning is important. But then again since I can feel both these I don’t bother to find its meaning. It’s like gravitational force, I know its there I can feel perhaps I can’t define it. If Newton hadn’t done it I am not sure if I would have ever deciphered it. But where to find the Newton who can define Friendship and Love to me.

Lastly the question arises what is more important to me in life. My beliefs, my vision, my ideas, my way to lead life or the way the world likes me to be. I guess I would prefer the former. The reason is without me the world is meaningless but without the world I am not meaningless!!

A Closer Look At The iPhone

Steve Jobs is one guy who has never failed to amaze me.iMAC redefined the desktop and laptop world,iPOD revolutionised music and now iPHONE will probably take the mobile age to a whole new dimension.Amazing features at reasonable price, what else can the market expect.So summer 2007 the US mobile world will get the first glimpse of this sexy gizmo.I have shown this video to most of my colleagues and believe me I can already see 5 buyer among them.$500 is a reasonable price to pay for this innovation but i am still expecting a couple of more features to be added to it.The camera is one of them may be.

High end mobile gadget makers will have a tough time to counter this but definately they will find an answer,till then the battle is interestingly poised.'Innovation' may be the answer as to who will win the battle.

Anybody Listening....

Have anyone ever seen a man frantically cutting down a tree and when asked the reason his reply was I want to make my coffin as soon as possible. That’s what the state of West Bengal is right now; the political parties are busy making the coffin for the whole state to lie peacefully in its grave. If this was not true then I wonder why we need another meaningless ‘Bandh’ today.
When we are looking at an age of industrial development few political buffoons are busy making their own ends meet. I know there is no smoke without fire so it’s pointless now to blame the opposition because the ruling party is also responsible equally. But the net result is that common man is bleeding and suffering. No one even has the courtesy to find out the root cause; instead everyone is busy taking advantage of the whole scenario.
I am sick and tired of strikes now. Very sick. What ever hopes of our resurgence is there seems to be getting withered away thanks to pro agricultural protests. I guess instead of producing engineers our state government should concentrate on producing farmers, so that at least our agriculture looks ahead in the 21st century
One loss of working day means a lot to me to the industry where I am working. One loss of working day makes the daily wage laborer’s suffers, poor men suffers, sick men suffers, common men suffer so what’s the whole point of such ‘bandh’ which is supposed to be done for the people. Air, road and rail traffic gets disrupted and people suffers due to such reschedules but who cares ‘bandh’ means pro people protest. Ask the people who calls it, theirs answers would even be more hilarious than a stand up comedians.
I don’t know when its going to stop. But I hope its sooner else there will be no later.

Chicago Skyline

Originally uploaded by Moumita Sinha

1st Vivekananda Bridge

The old horse will now get some rest from this year!!!

2nd Vivekananda Bridge

The New Years gift in the making!!

I Wish

I wish i could sing
And express the world within

I wish i had wing
And see the world thats unseen

I wish i could interpret what i see
The chirping of bird and humming of bee

I wish i can form a dew
And refresh the world to new

I wish i could paint a scene
Expressing nature's beauty from within

I wish i could see through dark
And fill the heart with eternal spark

I wish i could touch the soul
And give people their life's goal

I wish i could gift a smile
That keeps people alive all the while

I wish i could steal tear
And wither away all the fear

I wish i could heal pain
And save people from becoming insane

I know all wishes never become true
I would be happy even if few do....

007...The year that will be....!

It had been a month since i had actually written something.But since this day marks the begining of the year 2007 i thought to break this jinx.December was not a very productive month for me.It had been work work and work all over.Suddenly life was sucked into a votex of work.But i guess at some point this was bound to happen,so i guess this was not unexpected.Apart from this the month saw weekends filled with happening events.Overall although it was not the kind of ending i had expected for such a good year but may be it was a befitting ending to 2006.

Looking back 365 days is not an easy task to do more so when so many things happened in my life.I remember the year starting in Delhi which ended the wonderful Kashmir trip.This was followed by a turmoil in my professional life.Then i switched job which brought me back to kolkata.Then i broke my leg during world cup and then the memorable trip to Denmark.Apart from these, this year i had made so many good friends along my way.Many of my near and dear ones got married.Phew...! Its so hard to describe 2006.When i look back i can see a successful year passing by which makes me jubiliant and hopeful for the year that starts from today.Not many a time i make New Year resolution but like last year i have made up a few goals.The goals which i may look back when this year ends.My travelling spree has been on a all time high last year so i guess this year it should also pick up.I am looking forward to visiting many more international locations.Since i have already got my digicam ,i hope i am able to learn more about photography this year.The habit of reading books have certainly taken a backseat,thanks to the immense number of hours i am spending for my office work.This is one area which i have decided to work upon this year.I need to start reading like i used to do.Certainly my intellectual side needs shapening.

2007 is going to be an year of marriages.I have lost count of the number of my friends who will tie knot this year.Thats one phenomenon that will mark 2007.Amazingly this year looks like a promising one except for the fact that i will be an year older.I had been wondering to spend the little extra time i am getting in my life more fruitfully than i am doing now.Probably taking up studies wont be a bad option.The biggest enemy which i have to fight in this area is 'Lethargy'.Then again personal finance is another area which i should seriously think.I am looking in the right direction but my vision needs more clearence.

I know 2006 has been a 'high spirited' year for me and i want to carry it forward to this year too.But i guess i need to pack that extra punch which i had been lacking.When i look ahead towards 2007 i can see a horizon,horizon with a sunrise.I know there are dark clouds to cover this sun but also know that wind will eventually blow away all dark clouds.Its a hopeful begining to a long journey