mundanethings

The 2 in 1

2011-02-14T18:52:00.003+05:30

Winter

2011-01-11T14:19:00.001+05:30

2011-01-06T12:17:00.000+05:30

2011-01-06T12:13:00.002+05:30

2011-01-06T12:10:00.001+05:30

Flowers

2010-12-16T15:33:00.004+05:30

This is one of my favourite photographs. I clicked this using my phone...so I was very pleased with the photograph.

This one was taken last year at Greenfield Village in Detroit.

Red Green and Yellow

2010-12-06T15:25:00.005+05:30

I painted this just for fun. I wanted to use only red,green and yellow .

Sunrise

2010-11-29T21:50:00.003+05:30

This is one of my favourites.

Lady with flower

2010-11-26T09:34:00.002+05:30

The Red Flowers

2010-11-25T10:13:00.005+05:30

I initially started with yellow but messed it up while using red for some shading. So I continued with red .

After I finished this one I thought it would be nice to make it into a series. Something like the same flowers may be from different sides or angles. I can put these up in our study next to each other. So I painted the second one which is very similar to the first one but from the other side.

The series is unfinished...

From my Drawing book- My first ever pencil sketch

2010-11-24T11:51:00.003+05:30

This is my first attempt at a pencil sketch. I used my normal HB drawing pencil for this.

I don't know the techniques so I am certain there are lots of technical mistakes with the sketch.

But still here's my first attempt.

(Copyright: Sumana Chakraborty)

From my Drawing book

2010-11-24T11:39:00.004+05:30

(Copyright: Sumana Chakraborty)
Medium: Water Colour.

I used my finger tips to colour the sky, trees and the stream .

From my Drawing book- Diwali

2010-11-22T12:04:00.007+05:30

Inspiration the festival of lights, Diwali.

Medium: Water Colour.

(Copyright Sumana Chakraborty)

Kodaikanal-Weekend Escapade

2010-08-16T17:03:00.013+05:30

How did we get there: By Road from Bangalore. Took us around 7 hours to get there (Left late in the afternoon...could not manage to wake up in the morning).
Route: Bangalore-Hosur-(NH7)-Salem-Erode-Dharapuram-Dindigul-Palani-Kodaikanal
Road Conditions: Very good !! Toll Roads so keep change handy.

Only grouse: Hardly any good places on the highway to stop in between to grab a bite

Accomodation : Zest (Next to Coaker's Walk) . Very nice place...awesome view. They also organize lots of fun activities and short trips.Food was just average...instead try out a few local cafes and restaurants.

Now some snaps: (We forgot to take our camera in hurry so these snaps are taken with my iPhone)

On our way(When we were few kms from Kodai)

Coaker's Walk(Nice View and boiled masala peanuts)

Kodai Lake(Narrow roads so drive carefully)

View from the resort (Ask for the huts if its just the two of you)

Lots of flowers and plants around...so went click click click

Don't fall for the several view points on the travel brochures (there are way too many of those) .After you have been to the few view points it gets boring. Instead walk around and Enjoy.

( Please don't throw plastic wrappers and bottles around.There are lots of bins around for this purpose.Little walk in such good weather looking for one won't hurt either ;-) )

Bonne Année 2010 !

2010-01-04T21:28:00.005+05:30

(Champs-Élysées new year's eve)
Being part of that huge crowd in Champs-Élysées to bring in the new year...pinacoladas at a bistro ...wishing total strangers on the roads ..singing and dancing with no care to the world...I don't think 2010 could have begun any better.

Then of course I spent the entire 1st day of the new year staring at the Eiffel tower...I guess for me its been a case of love at first sight...watching the city light up in the evenings from top of the tower...its breathtaking every single time. The view from Trocadéro is magnificent. You could sit in one of the cafes and enjoy the view.

I am making some progress with my French...but lets just say I have a long way to go.

I love roaming around in Paris. This time of the year is too cold for my liking but what the heck...I need to make the most of my time here. Last time I was here for a few days.It was such a frantic tour I remember...trying to fit in as much sight seeing as possible. Since I have more time now I have decided to make the most of it.

After a month here I have become quite good with the metro routes and can pretty much find my way around without much assistance. Metro route map is one of the essentials these days.

So here's wishing for another year of fun and happiness with family and friends.

(I took the snaps with my iphone and its the old version. So pardon the quality of the snaps)

The Lost Symbol

2009-10-06T16:43:00.002+05:30

The Lost symbol...

Finally read the latest Dan Brown and ...
I think this one lacks the pace of Angel and Demons or Da Vinci but still a good read for a lazy weekend especially if you like Dan Brown . In this outing Prof Robert Langdon is back from his european tryts to the power capital of his country and sets out to unravel the mysteries around freemasonry .
I felt the beginning was a bit slow but the plot gains momentum after a few chapters. The story has very usual Dan brown twists and of course decent dough for conspiracy theory lovers (of course nothing as controversial as Da Vinci) .I am sure those who have read all his books will not be too surprised with the turn of events in this book.
Angels and demons (I did not like the movie too much though) still remains my favourite Dan Brown book.

Whats cool n What’s not (on the road)

2007-06-27T18:00:00.002+05:30

It is perfectly acceptable to block most of the traffic at a very critical intersection by deciding to turn right from the extreme left of the road. Only cowards follow Lanes while driving; the real men just make their own way.

Traffic rules you must be kidding it’s only for making those Santa-Banta jokes funnier and anyway only the really stupid and ignorant fools bother to follow them.

So what if the signal just turned red, counter is ticking at 99; honking is my birthright. Let there be music…only the really boring kinds don’t honk while waiting for the signals to turn green. If you are a proud owner of a two wheeler or traffic police is not around feel free to ignore the signal altogether!

Then there are these big buses which are filled 5 times their actual capacity which have the authority to stop whenever, wherever the driver feels like…..so be it the middle of the road. No one dares to ask them to give any indication of their intensions…Use your sixth sense (and pray your guess is right!) or get bumped by the car behind you. If you dare to even think about overtaking them they would come so close to your car that you would be glad to escape with only some minor scratches.

And all those cool dudes on their bikes with their helmets in their hands (no it is not a typo; you see it is very un-cool to use the helmet in the conventional way only Unclejis do it) they are the true believers of the free world sans any rules or regulations and so they would turn, overtake, appear all of sudden from nowhere to add the surprise element of the ride.

If you are still living on those days where the footpaths were supposed to be meant for pedestrians you are too old fashioned. In the recent times footpaths could be used not only by street hawkers but also by our very friendly bike/cycle/auto riders/drivers.

Of course there are potholes of various sizes at very other corner to ensure you don’t fall asleep behind the wheels ever. Some are camouflaged so well…keeping you on your toes all the time.

If you get offended by anything feel free to stop right there in the middle of the road and start arguing in the process blocking the entire traffic behind. Altruism…for losers only

Then there are traffic police who are passive observer most of the time. If they do decide to intervene be assured they have sensed some financial gain or some VIP is on his/her way to that part of the town.

Showing any kind of compassion to fellow drivers (for example making way for an ambulance) or pedestrians (who want to cross the road) is a complete NO-NO. It would be considered a sign of weakness (and might lead to severe honking from vehicles behind you).

All the thrills of a roller coaster ride for free every day in namma Bengaluru’s roads …can we get luckier than this!

Weekend Escapade - Ooty

2007-03-21T19:49:00.002+05:30

Friday evening both of us surprised each other by coming home before dinner time and both of us were even more surprised when we told each other that we don’t plan to go to work in the weekend. Then suddenly out of the blue S said that lets get out of Bangalore for the weekend. And then we decided to drive to Ooty (the simple logic was we knew the route till Mysore and were confident we could figure out the rest). The drive till Mysore was good except (one could easily average a 110) for a bad patch at Mandya (there is less of road and more of potholes) and a speed breaker near Maddur which sort of sent us flying in the air. No one could have seen that speed breaker in the night, there is just no indication and when one is driving at 110 missing a speed breaker could prove to be quite a breaker. Thankfully we did not break anything. Since it was already 11.30 in the night when we reached Mysore we decided to spend the night there. Finding dinner at 12 in the night was quite a task in itself. Finally we discovered this road side stall which was still open and we got some rice; now I can’t recall what it was called but it was eatable and that is what mattered at that time. A much better idea would have been to stop at one of those hazzar dhabas we passed by in the highway.

Next day morning we made a quick trip to Chamundeshwari Hiills and then headed to Ooty. The guy at our hotel thouroughly confused us about the route to Ooty. He just kept repeating about there being a short cut but never actually explained how to find that one. We just decided to follow the directions on the raods and finally ended up taking the route through Bandipur and Mudumalai; with trees towering on both sides, it was a pretty sight all along. We also managed to see some wild life (read elephants, deer). Finally we reached Ooty some time in the afternoon and started looking for accommodation. We finally stayed in this place called Dannish Villa at sheddon road. The place is managed by club Mahindra. I liked the place a lot. The rooms are done in a very contemporary style (and come furnished with home theatres and huge LCD screen televisions and they have a decent collection of DVDs you can borrow from) and by the location of the place I am sure most of the rooms must have beautiful views and ours was no exception.

We spent the rest of the days driving all around Ooty and near by places. It was a good break from the hustle bustle of the city. The weather was just right, neither too cold nor too warm and the fresh air….how am I missing it. We lost our way a way too many times and the first time did not even know the address of the hotel so it was good fun trying to guess which way was our hotel(and all the roads look the same). I loved the fish in garlic sauce at ‘Toda Café’ and the coconut pudding at Savoy. I have bought enough chocolates to last me a year but I am sure I would manage to finish it in less than a month.

The only dampener was India’s loss to Bangladesh in the world cup. S still hasn’t recovered from it. Even Kimi winning the Melbourne Grand Prix on Sunday morning did not cheer him up. There also S finds himself in a funny dilemma; he is (was, not able to figure out) a McLaren supporter and a diehard Kimi fan; Ferrari was the ultimate enemy. But now that Kimi has changed colours S is sort of divided. He wants McLaren to do well but also wants Kimi to win every race. What a predicament! Anyways I have always cheered for the Ferrari so looks like finally we would be cheering for the same team which would also mean no more bets (there goes my few extra bucks!!) and watching these races together would become much less entertaining (albeit peaceful).

Tribute to Hrishikesh Mukherjee

2006-08-30T15:07:00.001+05:30

Those of us who have watched Anari, Anand, Abhimaan ,Golamaal, Chupke Chupke and loved them; demise of Hrishikesh Mukherjee brings an end of an era; an era which he dominated by making realistic, simple yet entertaining movies.

In current days most of our filmmakers think a few songs shot abroad, a few item numbers, some jazzy special effects and some controversy before the movie release ensure them success. In spite of all the grandeur and jazz in today’s movies more often than not they simply fail to impress. In stark contrast we have Golmaal, Anand or Abhimaan which do not boast of any foreign locales or jazzy special effects but still are such a delight to watch. Even decades after these movies were made these movies are still so entertaining and I am sure they would be as popular in the years to come. This speaks itself for the magic which Hrishikesh Mukherjee created on celluloid.

In my opinion what sets Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s movies from other movies is the simplicity of treatment. He portrayed lives of the urbane middle class with simple believable characters and simple stories empathetically. The characters of his movies have the ability to touch you; who would forget Rajesh Khanna in Anand or Amitabh Bachchan as the jealous husband in Abhimaan or the adorable Jaya Bachchan in Guddi. His movies had the biggest stars of his times in realistic characters; he never portrayed them in larger than life characters. Be it the serious Abhimaan or the heartwarming Anand or the laugh riot Golmaal ; he had the ability to make you smile and cry with his powerful stories. Another feature common to most of his movies is great music. I am sure all those who love to listen to old hindi movie songs definitely have songs from Abhimaan, Golmaal or Anand in their play lists.

I am sure he would live forever in the hearts of hindi cine viewers with the classics that he has created!

Thank You!!

2006-08-30T12:30:00.001+05:30

Teachers’s day is just round the corner. So I though today I would thank all the teachers who are responsible in some way for teaching me lessons which have been invaluable to me.

Ravindra Pratap Singh: Sir you deserve the complete credit for all the marks I have scored in Mathematics in high school and in my engineering. I remember those days in junior high when I feared mathematics and as a result ran miles away from it. You are solely responsible for not only taking that fear away from me but also making me fall in love with the subject. You taught me how much fun playing with numbers could be.I hold you in high esteem because you did not judge your success as a teacher by counting how many of us scored a 100 but by counting how many below 35s could you change to above 60s. You taught me a very important lesson too. You taught me that most of the times the reason for our fears is our ignorance.

K P Ravindran Sir: We thought you were crazy, your moustache earned you the nickname of ‘Veerappan’ from us. You were a terror to all of us .Your ideas were too radical for us. I remember how the entire class failed in the first Physics test you gave us. I was one of the three who passed that test and I surprised myself by getting the perfect score. That one incident made us the best friends. You brought so much fun to our physics class. Your objective was not to just teach us physics, but, you wanted us to love the subject. You taught me the importance of being passionate about whatever I ever do, you also taught me the importance of being true to our selves.

Mouli Das: You were my first guru; I started learning Kathak from you. You not only are a great dancer yourself but your dedication to all your pupils was just amazing. You were also my first fashion guru. All your tips on ‘Do’s’ and ‘Don’ts’ still help me a lot. Your ability to hold your composure and temper midst of the biggest backstage crisis was amazing. Your mantra during such situations ‘Don’t panic, just find a solution’ is something I use myself even today. You taught me the importance of pursuing our dreams at any cost and to never ever give up.

Rajvansh Sir: You not only taught me Physics but also taught me one of the most important lessons of my life. “It is okay to look like an idiot once and ask a question to clarify your doubt rather than being ignorant always.” This is exactly what you told me when I did not clarify my doubt in one of your electrostatics class because everyone else said they understood. I obviously could not answer the question you had for me.

Srivastav Sir: You taught us hindi and you would undoubtedly win the strictest teacher award. You were good at what you did and you had the same expectations from us. Getting every mark from you was huge accomplishment but that also made sure I always tried my best. You taught me the importance of setting high standards in whatever I do.

Uma Devi: You taught me Computer Networks. Your lectures were the most researched lectures I attended during my undergrad. You taught me the importance of hard work and the importance of coming prepared for anything. This is something I have diligently followed over the years. Even before a very simple meeting I still prepare thoroughly for it.

Sunil: I include you in this list not because you were the best but because you were one of the worst. You never understood what being a teacher means. You are not supposed to bask in the glory of a few smart students who could have done well even without you. You are supposed to make a subject look fun and interesting. You need to learn that you are not supposed to bring your personal biases to the class room. I guess every successful women engineer is enough to prove you wrong. But yes I include you here because you taught me an important lesson in life, something which has done me lot of good. You taught me that “it is not necessary that every one will have faith in my abilities. I just need to ignore what they say and have faith in myself and prove them wrong.” And yes sir with all due respect I proved you wrong!!

There are quite a few more of them who have helped me to not only do well in studies but also taught me lessons which have helped me become a better person. I would like to thank all them and wish them all the best in whatever they are doing. I guess they are the people I would be indebted to forever. Thanks Teachers!

2006-04-17T16:04:00.000+05:30

Chaos in Bangalore!

Bangalore came to a standstill on Wednesday 12th April, 2006 as the most favorite actor of Karnataka RajKumar passed away. Thousands of his fans decided to express their sorrow for their favorite 'annavru' by throwing stones at buildings, burning state transport buses, burning private vehicles, beating policemen who were just doing their duty. They managed to create such chaos in the city which was very difficult to believe. There was an undeclared Bandh, most of the schools,colleges,offices and shops were closed. I wonder were they closed to express their grief at the loss of their favourite actor or just out of fear of his fans who had lost control (gone insane!!).

I fail to understand the sentiments of the crowd which was responsible for the death of 6 innocent people, destruction of public and private property worth lakhs!! I am sure they have no justification for what they did!!

The Cribs

2005-10-21T11:41:00.001+05:30

Crib Crib And Crib..................................but do nothing!!

Usual Conversation in the shuttle during my way to office or back..........
The roads are so bad
The traffic is too much
Why can't people follow traffic rules.........
Why does it take more than an hour to cover a distance of 10 kms.........
House rents are going up every month..............
Auto Rick drivers ask whatever rate they feel like at any time of the day to go anywhere.
Another IT professional attacked.............
The same conversation is repeated again many times during the day. I have been part of such conversations so many times.None of us like this, we all have strong opinions about what government should do about it.But i often wonder apart from cribbing are we not capable of doing anything? Does all the responsiblity belong to the government........and none belong to us, are we not responsible for whats happening to this city? Every day we spend hours stuck in these traffic jams. We suffer because of these bad roads. We end up paying these high rents. We pay unreasonable amounts to Auto drivers..........and the list continues. Still the only thing we do is crib about it.

Blaming the IT comapnies (i was surprised with what our honourable minister from the state had to say!! ) for this will not help. I am sure the kind of status Bangalore enjoys now in the national and international community is only because of IT. Berfore the IT boom Bangalore was just a pensioners paradise!! If booming IT industry is the cause of all thses problem, then it is the same IT industry which is reponsible for making Bangalore a very prosperous city too.

I do not expect the Government to build super ways, all i expect is regular repairs of the roads, completion of flyovers and other such projects in time, when roads are dug for any purpose please remember to repair it before you move ahead to dig another one, proper planning of roads and traffic diversions to alternate routes during peak hours. Is it asking for too much?

Speyer(Germany)

2005-10-05T18:45:00.001+05:30

Some other Places I visted.......

Speyer

Speyer, the imperial cathedral city on the Rhine, is full of the heritage of 2,000 years as a major centre of politics and culture, with many unique sights and a beautiful historic Old Town.

The Altpörtel is one of the most beautiful and tallest (55m) town gates in Germany. It was originally the main western gate in the medieval town walls.

View of a road towards Postplatz...

Speyer Cathedral, Cathedral Square – The foundation stone of the majestic cathedral was laid in around 1030 by Konrad II. It is the city’s most famous landmark and its striking form is visible from far and wide. Added to UNESCO’s World Heritage list in 1981, Speyer Cathedral is one of the biggest and most important Romanesque buildings in existence. The impressive crypt contains the tombs of eight emperors and kings.

This building was right opposite the Speyer Cathedral and i really liked the flowers arranged in the windows of the building.

We also went to the Speyer Sea-Life Centre, in the harbour offering fascinating, close-up experiences of the local underwater world from tiny shrimps to great sharks. No snaps from the sea life centre!!

Paris

2005-10-04T16:40:00.002+05:30

Paris, the city i always dreamt of visiting some day and last month my dream came true when i spent a weekend in Paris. I have fallen in love with the city, the city has so much of beauty and so much of history associated with it. Every building has a story to tell, every street has some history to it. Amazing !!

Here i have shared some of those beautiful memories of paris..................

Thats the metro station, using the metro i travelled all around the city without any trouble!One of the world's best, even if it is among its oldest. In Paris, nothing is more than 500 yards from a Metro stop!!

The first place i visited in Paris was the Louvre Museum. Divided into 7 departments, the Louvre collections incorporate works dating fromthe birth of the great antique civilisations.

The museum presents the main part of its treasures to visitors, in the new Richelieu wing, islamic art collections, oriental antiques, French sculptures, objets d'art,French paintings & paintings from the Northern school (including Rubens).Let's not forget, the ever so famous masterpieces:the Venus of Milo, the Winged Victory of Samothrace, the Mona Lisa of Leonard da Vinci, and so many others.

Here are some more snaps of the museum

Most visitors to the Louvre stand to marvel or be horrified by the now 20 year old pyramid. It caused a huge row when it was begun but has taken its fitting place in Paris's catalogue of the monumental.

The ultimate image of Paris has to be La Tour Eiffel.Built in 1889 for the World Fair, the tower was saved from demolition in 1909 by the need for a radio antenna. The antennae now are television. It can be seen from almost everywhere in Paris but it does deserve a closer look. The classic view is from the Trocadéro with its great fountains below.

Cross the bridge to foot of this amazing 320 metre high structure, and, if you are prepared to queue, take the lift to the top (always scout to see if there is a ticket window with no queue). The view is like seeing Paris from a light aircraft.

Watch the beautiful illuminated bridges and monuments of Paris slide by as you cruise along the River Seine.The Eiffel tower looks simply spectacular lit up at night time... the image of the tower lit up in the night was breathtaking.

Arc de Triomphe, the Arc that Napoléon intended as a celebration of his victories was not finished when the Battle of Waterloo brought his downfall. It now stands guard over the remains of an unknown solider from World War I, with the eternal flame burning under it. Radiating out from its honking, jammed centre are major roads in all directions.

The Champs Elysées was designed as part of a triumphal way out from the Tuileries and planted with elms a century before Napoléon planned his arch. To one side lies the Seine, to the other grand houses of the 18th century many of which are now airline offices. It still has a splendour of its own and hints at the wealth of the Triangle d'Or that stretches away from it towards Faubourg Ste Honoré.

Talk about Paris and not about fashion..........well that wont be fair, so here the last snap which is display window of a huge showroom .

A great City, somewhere i will love to go again and again!!