Street Lamps

After confessing about my secret relationship with these street lamps, it's hard not to talk about them.  So I am sharing some more gorgeous street lamps from my million dollar collection ;)  

Breeze through them and enjoy your weekend.  

Unnamed post!

For the last few days the weather has been amazing- it's like 22 degrees. I started to walk back home from office to enjoy the sunshine and to secretly reduce few gms :)

******

There's a little open seating area near to office. We are having our lunch there to get the best out of sun. It reminded me of the college days' lunch time where we used to sit on the ground in a circle and sharing our little tiffin boxes.

******

I am tired of inviting friends,family and my parents to be with us for some weeks.  I don't know why I'm not lucky to have anyone come and visit us here. My parents have always neglected the offer due to work.  S's parents are too old for travel.  S's brother's family have also constantly rejected the offer.  And so my friends due to financial commitments.  Finally I kinda convinced my school friend to come and visit us this May. I am so looking forward for this meet and I wish she better stick to this decision of hers. My excitement knows no boundaries. 

******

Had a good night out with office mates since one of our colleagues is leaving the organisation.  Had a relaxed chit chat time after a long time.  Back home we watched the movie "He's Just Not That Into You".  It's a story of 9 different people and about their romantic problems, relationship ideologies.  It's kind of light breezy movie.  

******

The kolaveri fame movie 3 is releases and I'm so jealous to read people writing it's reviews. I don't know if this movie would be showed in the local theatres here. Or probably I have to wait for the good print to watch it online.

And nothing else for now.
Have a good weekend folks.

Thursday Challenge - THREE

While this week's Thursday Challenge is Three (triplets, triangle or anything three).  I love the number 3 and I consider this as the luckiest number for me.  It was my roll number while at school and college.  

Here's my entry for this week's prompt.  

I don't know since when I started to get fascinated about simple things that are around me.  Lamps, lights, cycles, candle holders, candles, chandeliers - I can go on adding them!  And ever since the photo bug bit me, I hunt for these things and capture them.  It's become a kind of insane obsession now.   I have about 100 pictures of these street lamp collections taken all over the places that I travelled.  I think I can dedicate a separate post for these!   

Wordless Wednesday - 11

Colors of Mediterranean!

I was fond of Mediterranean Sea ever since I heard that word - probably during my 5th or 6th Geography class.  But back then, I only was fascinated with its name and pronunciation.  I saw the real beauty of Mediterranean first when I went to Spain.  Ever since, the love for this sea never stopped growing.  I then started to hit the countries that specifically lie along the Med coast - Turkey and Malta.  I don't know what fascinates me. May be because of their turquoise color which I love the most.  But they are gorgeous, grand, glossy and glamorous - undoubtedly!

The way water gushes through them with their turqoise color is something I've seen only in Colgate Aquafresh advertisement.  I can keep speaking about the beauty of this color and the Mediterranean Sea, but the pictures speak for itself. 

 Luckily, the countries that share Mediterranean coast has lovely weather conditions and they are easily accessible from anywhere in Europe.  

All these 3 pictures are taken at Malta which is the one of the beautiful island situated precisely in the centre of Mediterranean Sea.   

Photography Gyan # 8 (Stranger Photography)

Moving away from technicalities of photography, I am going to talk today about taking pictures of strangers.  Don't think I'm weird.  Portrait photography is an interesting and deep topic to discuss just in this post.  And I'm too far from being a good portrait photographer.  This is also equally a challenging styles of photography.

Taking a picture of a stranger can be either candid or asking them.   Capturing their candid manners, attire or activity is very easy.  But having to approach a total stranger is a difficult job.  
Start with people whom you might encounter on your travel - cab driver or a shop keeper.  These are the people who are so proud of their work and would never say no. A good start isn't it?
I've seen some gorgeous people whom I wanted to capture, but often I couldn't dare to ask them if I can take their picture.  
Another tip to this is, befriend them, have a crisp and nice conversation, and then ask to take a portrait.  I've started doing this and found a great satisfaction in the result of the photo.  

Taking the picture of children is a bit trickier, because you definitely need to get permission from their parents.  Often most of them hesitate.  Here are a cute twins I met at a trip to southern Spain.  While these kids were passing by me, I just noticed how beautiful they were.  Just asked them if I could take a picture of them, and their parents readily said yes.   After taking a couple of pictures, I showed all of them to their parents who were really happy to see them in my camera.  

I still have inhibition to ask and I'm still no good at this.  But I guess I've started to enjoy the flavour of stranger photography.  

Apps in iphone!

I was hooked with this damn thing 2 years back when S gifted it to me for my Birthday - iphone!  I am still addicted to the apps in this.  Whenever I am free, or when I'm travelling I would open the apps and browse through them.  It has become a fond hobby!

I'm quite addictive to certain things, if I like them the most.  For instance photography or online games or Farmville.  So is this downloading apps for iphone.  I simply browse through 100s of these apps, download them and see how it works, and after sometime, if I'm not fascinated with that, I just delete them!  Simple!

I have about 50 apps stored in my iphone, and S scolds me everytime he looks at the myriad apps that I've downloaded.  I used to hit him back saying "That's I-Phone not U-Phone! So I will download not 50 but 1000 apps".  

Apart from the useful and utility related apps (for Gas and Electricity, supermarket points), I have news apps and networking apps and some phone/voip apps.  Apart from these rest of them are junks!

Some of the funny games that I downloaded :-

1. Guess who - within four options you have find the person behind the tile.

2. Hangman - needs no explanation!

3. Sudoku - Is a very good app.  Has more than 1 million games!

4. Blitz - I'mm currently addicted to it.  It's a simple stupid game, you can find in facebook too! 

5. Mindreader - 20 Q and the iphone app will identify which person you are thinking about!

There's an app for indian cooking that I use - Sweet N Spicy.  It's a very good recipe app covering recipes from different parts of India.  It's very helpful, coz I can just tap the phone and it lists the recipe for me!  One can also add the review / recipe into it!

There are also some really cool photography apps like Photosync, coloreffects, panorama creator.  I believe in god particularly ganesh.  There's this app which allows me to do pooja, offer coconut and flowers to Ganesh - a virtual pooja room! How interesting is that? 

I can write a book on apps.  It's fun exploring them.  

PS: And yesterday finally the day came when I missed my blogpost.  I was at friends house on dinner. And could not access the laptop or internet at all.  

One cent more, please?

On continuation of what I had written about the street painters, I have also seen interesting (though sad) street artists performing on the street to attract people. As said that's their only earning.  It is very entertaining for us to see them, but how much will they earn considering the hard work they put in?  

Have you even seen a Statue of liberty in Rome?  Confused??? Here's one, but this statue does not represent Freedom :(  it represents poverty? Unemployment? Hardways of earning? Surving? 

Here's one human sitting decorated for hours and hours together just to earn that attention from people who pass him and earn those tiny cents for his living! 

People get amused seeing them, take pictures, videos and just leave without even leaving some cents for them.  

They even stand near these lovely human beings statues and take pictures.   

I will be glad if they are making a good earning out of it, but it is atrocious to see someone just standing there not being able to eat anything when they want, or even pee on time!!

I've seen these people in every busy shopping streets of the tiny European towns.   And they change their costumes according to the season!

Disguising oneself to entertain kids is different from this.  Earlier I used to see cartoon characters dressed in the theme parks and beaches.  I enjoyed them THEN.   Even during Christmas when I see 100s of Santas around everywhere I see only fun. 

But when I realize that's the hard work of a sole breadwinner of a family I just feel dreadful.  

Behind this mask there is a man who wishes to survive for his family and wanted to bring a few cents to give his children soup and bread!  

Thursday Challenge - GREEN

PS: Folks, I am extremely sorry 1. for posting all pictures and not writing anything.
2. For not replying for comments 3. For not visiting your blog. 
I am just a bit busy with things around me now.  Will catch up with your posts over the weekend.  

Wordless Wednesday - 10

More of Spring Collections

It's a new beginning, a new day, new season!  Hurray! Welcome spring officially!
All I could see and frame in my camera are flowers these days!  Everywhere I turn I see some nameless flower smiling at me.  They look gorgeous!
The cherry blossoms, daffodils and lot more.  I wish I had learnt botany properly during my schooling to identify the names of the flowers!
The sun is shining brighter and longer, and life is getting geared up again.  The  need to do outdoor activities is piling up in my mind - The desire to go for exercise, walk or jog up the mountain and see the sunrise.  There's no end to the colorful dreams these days!  Do I seem excited?  I owe this excitement to mother nature and the beautiful transition that I'm envisaging! 

So you guessed it right!  More flower pictures in today's post!

And these tiny leaves that just peeped out of nowhere!

Blogger App in iphone

Blogger app is actually good than I thought.  It allows you to do the following:-

- Select one or more blog/ swap blog accounts
- Photo upload from iphone gallery or instantly taken photo
- Option to choose the image size
- Add labels, locations
- Save the post as draft or publish them
- Edit, view or delete post

You can also view the posts (published, draft, scheduled) as a list.  
 I am able to check the comments, and reply back on them as well. I've used it for the last 3 days and had no difficulty whatsoever.  While we are outside, app like this is really helpful. And I liked the application interface. It's a free download from App store. If I had to spot any limitation to this app, it will be formatting.  
Have any of you used this app?    

What an amazing end to our wee anniversary trip! We drove about 500 miles, did a good amount of trekking and walking. And now I am dead tired. But thanks to weather god. It was much better last 2 days. Will write details about the trip in the next post. For now, have a great week ahead!

Tit for tat!!

When a bad ass tries to bitch around us, we always wanted to do similar stupid stuff to them thinking tit for tat! That behaviour particularly happens during school or early college. No complains. I've done that!

I still do that, but diplomatically. We need to reciprocate right? Otherwise there's no fun!!

I found this quote somewhere and realised how true that is!

Husband Rules

I am away on a short vacation but there's not any posts scheduled for next 3 days. Lucky for me there's free wifi in the cottage where i am staying.. But S ordered that I shouldn't WASTE my time on the blog. So the nicest wife that I am had to follow them isn't it? Atleast on our wedding anniversary day! So writing from mobile trying to get done with blogging within 10 minutes- the generous time given to me.

Today we drove past the beautiful mountains and valleys for good 4 hours while the Varuna Bhagvan mercilessly showered rain. I really hope the weather gets some better for next 2 days.

That apart I am hating wordpress because it doesn't allow me to post any comments :(

Have a great weekend folks until I write next post!!!

Thursday Challenge - FOOD

If you are regular reader you would know that I'm not a great foodie.  I bing on and cook anything that's only easier to cook.  So obviously most of my choices are natural fruit and vegetables.   I love fresh strawberries for breakfast.  Right..I'll cut the crap.  This week's TC is FOOD..any food products, pots, pans, produce, cooking, baking!  

Wordless Wednesday - 9

Aura of Spring

Welcoming Spring is like welcoming a friend whom you haven't seen for ages! After all the hungama and cruelty Winter shows on us, and while we are just longing for the real sunshines, these tiny little flowers just show up their faces along with green watered grass.

 Cherry blossoms just realises she needs to pop out of nowhere. I just saw a couple of buds 4 days back and now it's full of tiny flowers.  
  

People start to work on their gardens now trying to sort out the mess,mowe lawns, clear the weed and unwanted stuff, trip their bushes, seed the plants.   

What can I say! The aura of spring is enchanting to see, hear and smell.    Just yesterday I was out of sleep and went to the restroom at around 2.30am, I heard a nice sound. I came back from loo and quickly opened the window.  The fresh chill air blew on my face, but what I heard just dumb-folded me.  The kuhu's, or nightingale or  whichever bird(s) it was, they were having a great time playing these melody .  I recorded the sound, but din't know how to upload it in blog..will work it out tomorrow.  Beautiful Spring!  Not too long for Sunny days :)

Stir Fried Rice

Ingredient required:-

Boiled Rice or Basmati Rice - 1 cup

A few cut vegetables (carrot, beans, broccoli, cauliflower,capsicum, aubergine, - any or a couple of these) - 1 cup.  In this recipe I used carrot, capsicum, peas and broad beans

Spring onion or ordinary onion - 1 

Salt - a pinch

Soya Sauce - 2 tsp

Olive oil - 2 tsp

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Procedure:-

1. Boil the rice seperately and let it cool.  They should not be too boiled and should not be sticky.  

2. In a hot wok, add olive oil, and add onions.  Saute them for few minutes.

3.  Add the cut vegetables into them and saute until the vegetables are cooked. 

4. Add salt and Soya Sauce on to them and reduce the gas to sim.

5.  Mix with rice

6. Relish the fast food stir fried rice with Yogurt or Tomato Ketchup

These equals the taste of fast food fried rice.  You can even add friend babycorns.  

Travel to Tollywood

I first heard this song early last year, and it became my instant favourite.  I normally don't become an instant fan of any songs except AR Rahman's composition or that of Music Maestro.  But this song is so euphonious that it gripped the first time itself.  I started listening to this song everyday.  The sound of subtle drum and that of the anklets is so harmonizing throughout the song.  

But least did I know about the visuals of this song then.  After a month or two, I was curious to see how the song is picturised and I was totally stupefied with the way this video has been done.  

Every frame of this song had that grandeur - the buildings that represent the then-era, costumes, the color scheme!  I don't understand the language, but this song is totally appealing.  There are some Tollywood'ish ingredient added to the song, for instant - the Hero zooming up in the air through the mud (that looks like a rocket), but that apart..well..I'll stop and let you see the video and enjoy the song.  But do see every single frame of this song!  



PS: If you are in real hurry or don't have any patience, view at 1.05, 1.32 and 2.40secs 

Rosslyn Chapel

This was an unknown tourist spot before the publication of The Da Vinci Code. Now it turned into a real pilgrimage despite all the mysteries.  But it deserves that propaganda is my view.  

Rosslyn Chapel is located in the village of Roslin, about 7 miles away from Edinburgh in Scotland.

From what is given in the artifacts, this chapel is founded by Prince of Orkney, Sir William St Clair in 1446. Sir William St Clair could be associated with Knights Templar. This evidence can be found inside the chapel on his grave which reads “William de St. Clair, Knights Templar”. You can find copious information about this chapel and its works, but whether it’s a hoax or a fact still remains a mystery.  

Let that alone, the aesthetics in architecture cannot be compared to any other chapels or cathedrals.  They are exquisite and one of its kinds which is why this chapel is referred as “Tapestry of Stones”. Each stone and carving tells a story about stonemasons, pagans, bible, and knights Templar.

 Some of the alters and sculptures seen at the exterior wall of the chapel.  There is always some renovation work going on all through the year.

 There are hundreds of individual figures and scenes intricately carved inside the chapel.  Each one has its own story.  For eg - the Apprentice Pillar. The pillar is said to be carved by an apprentice, while his master mason was at Rome. When the master came back he was shocked to see a masterpiece being completed by his apprentice. Out of jealousy the master mason struck the apprentice with his mallet and killed him on the spot. Whether it’s the historical fact or myth is beyond my knowledge.

You can also see leaves, flowers, plants, even Maize (Indian Corn) in abundance inside the chapel in the form of sculptures.  Another interesting sculpture is that of Green Man, which is said to symbolize paganism. You can count how many green man figures are there inside and outside the chapel. There are more than 100s of them.  Photography is not allowed inside the chapel, quite unfortunate! Some of the interesting carvings can be seen here:-  http://www.rosslynchapel.org.uk/history.php

Here's a collage of Rosslyn exterior architecture.  

And the lush green forest surrounding the chapel. 

The ornate carvings and depictions in stone are totally overwhelming to anyone who visits the chapel.  With so much of intricate and minute details, one can look at these storytelling stones for hours together.  

Daily Sitcoms

Now, how many of you are glued to the TV everyday to watch a saas-bahu serial or anything similar to that?  I know it is very compelling when everyone at home sees the mega serials where woman is always showed as a villain trying to ruin another woman's life.  That has become a trend for what 20 years now?  Gone are the days when we used to enjoy the Circus and Seahawks and Tu Tu Mein Mein.  

I was not particularly addicted to any of these never ending serials, but put that way - I had no choice, but to sit along with family and watch them.  And tamil serials are a bit more sentimental and very melodramatic!  

I have enjoyed FRIENDS for a brief time, but my dad wouldn't allow me to watch them then. But I picked it up here and there, and some in BLR, and after marriage, I've seen it many times..or should I say all the times? It's telecasted, re-telecasted in one or the other channel all the time.  But I'm never satisfied. 
I have this wish list of watching all FRIENDS episode on one day.  

When I was seeing FRIENDS, I thought it's only FRIENDS that I would see, because it is different, it's nice, it's best.  To see the yesteryear's crush on Chandler and Joey!  But it din't end there.

Started watching every other sitcoms - How I Met your Mother, Rules of Engagement, Big Bang Theory, Fresh Prince of Bel Air.  

They are totally relaxing and stress relieving and makes you really laugh - even when you are alone!  What can I say, I have to now openly confess - yes I am addicted to the TV Serials (read sitcoms - they sound better..don't they?) 

Thursday Challenge - PINK

It's one of the gorgeous colors and girl's favourite too!  This week's TC is anything PINK - flowers, produce, makeup, candy, clothes.. And unveiling moi version of PINK!!  

Wishing you all gorgeous women readers a very Happy Women's Day!  

Wordless Wednesday - 8

Ten on Tuesday - 9

Travelling is sure fun.  But planning for the travel is such a pain!  So is choosing your holiday destination.  All of us have urge to leave our comfort zone and explore new people, culture and boundaries.  We want to travel but we are not very sure where we want to go or what we want to do.  A beach holiday, visit to a timeless city, mountaineering, snorkeling or skiing?? Very often people from cold weather countries choose beach destinations to enjoy the sun, beach and get tanned.  I'm not a beach babe.  I cannot sit under the sun and do nothing and on top of that I cannot swim!  But I've promised myself that I will go on a proper beach holiday atleast once in my life. Fine..Here are simple thumb rules to choose your holiday destination.
  
1. What is the duration of your travel? It totally depends on how many days you can take off from work. Very important and foremost thing to be sorted.  The days you take leave helps you decide your destination to a great extent. If you can't travel more than 1 week, then it's viable to choose a location nearby.
  
2. Before even you start day dreaming of you sitting in an exotic location, check how much you can afford.  Work out the cost and budget issues.  Include the flight/cruise/train costs, book guides, required accessories, any special clothing, local transportation, food, visa, accomodation, shopping, touring into your consideration.

3. What do you want to do during this vacation? If you don't know why you want to travel and what you want to do, it makes the whole process difficult. Do you want to explore nature with tons of outdoor adventure activities or sit in beach all day reading your favourite book or enter the oldest cathedral or a castle and take a sip of your favourite coffee from the local coffee shop or visit a few UNESCO Heritage site? Coz there's hundreds of hot destinations out there. For eg: If you choose to visit a city of historic importance, you can nail down from 100 to top 10 destinations of your choice.  

4. Who is going to accompany you during the trip?  This helps you narrow down your options to a great extent.  If it's an "all friends", or "just the two of us" or "a family" trip.  Or are you travelling with children?  For instance, theme park or camping is a great option for family with kids.

5. Check out what kind of festivals /carnivals are happening and you can target the places according to that.  For instant February is when the Venice Carnival happen in Venice.  It's a nice way to visit the place during these festivals to be a part of that grand celebration!
   
6.Choose what kind of weather you would like to enjoy while on holiday.  Do you prefer scorching hot sun, mild summers, or snowy weather condition? If you want a beach holiday, and you hit the place during rainy season you don't get much out of it.  Also check if that's peak or off-peak season. For eg: Best time to visit Dubai is between Nov - Mar, because that's when it is mild.

7. Do you want to visit one country/region or do a tour across various places?

8 Check the visa requirements. In some countries you can get visa upon entry, while in some places you.This might help you reduce some options, coz some embassies are not very co-operative and/or you might not have a particular embassy in the city you live.
  
9. Hope by now, you'd have really dropped down the options to top 3 or atleast top5.  Is there any language barrier in these destinations?  There's absolutely nothing wrong in visiting a country where you don't have a single clue about their language.  Someone invented sign and body language for us.  But it is just one more way to wipe out other options.
   
10. Check the health and safety regulations - Are there any vaccinations required?  Are there any high risk element or violence or riot in the place? If any hurricane or cyclone is been predicted?  

Well..it's not actually 10..there's one more point to add.  Lastly seek advice from people who've travelled to the place already.  Tips from them carry more weightage than what you read in book or web. Let's not forget that this information is honest, unedited and is not available in any glossy looking travel magazines.  It is advisable to check this piece of information even before you choose your holiday destination!

PS: Some of the information are very basic, and you'd have already known.  Just thought of bringing it all together in a single post.  

PPS: Thanks for enquiring about my cold. I am still not feeling very good. Achoo!  Pardon me. This cold is torturing :(

As I am suffering from.....

"As I am suffering from fever and choked with cold, I would like to take a day off"...is how my day started today.  The sincere employee in me went to office to inform this to manager and to cancel all appointments by myself.  

Came back home, and you know what?  I was constantly on skype from 10.30am till 16.30pm.  A couple of hours with parents and a good 3-4 hours with a friend.  

And I realised how much I missed that liberty of calling and speaking with family/friends for hours.  A couple of years back when I was not working, I enjoyed the solitude of speaking with friends for long hours. And now I totally miss them.  

Although I was not able to speak so much today, I loved to listen to them speak and nod my head, say a few words here and there.  

That apart, I don't know why a minuscule change in the weather had to aggrandize my cold.  

And As I am suffering from....I am also taking a good time off from blogger for today.  Will write something sensible tomorrow. 

Dunnator Castle

Dunnottar Castle is a ruined medieval fortress sitting on top of rocky cliff 3kms away from Stonehaven,which lies along the north east coast of Scotland in Aberdeenshire.   The meaning of Dunnottar means fort on the shelving slope.  Here's the first view of the castle.

This has been the defensive site from 7th century or even longer, but what you see here are the surviving  buildings of mostly 17th century.  The castle is surrounded all three sides by North sea and is accessible only by a steep and narrow stone cut path that takes you to the top of the cliff and to the castle.  

These are the stairs through which I came down to reach the castle..It's going to be tough to go back!

The first view of the castle entrance and the long passage

The eastern ground and the remains of the castle...

West wing of the castle

This was once a chapel

The castle keep, where we can climb up the top and have a great view of the sea

The little tunnel 

This is the overall view of the broken and shattered buildings. It's a vast place to picnic.  We sat there and had our packed sandwiches.  So did many of them. 

The view of the sea as seen from castle keep

Gunloops all over the castle. 

It is also an ideal place to bird watch as there used to be lots and lots of nesting within the cliffs

There's also steep ways to get down to the sea.  It's tranquil and beautiful on nice weather condition.  And this is the view of the castle from the bay

Visiting this castle will give a nice unforgettable experience looking through the dramatic cliffs and fortress in a stunning sea backdrop.    


The castle is best reached from Stonehaven Harbour through a 2.5 miles trial along the coast.  It's a moderately difficult trial, but worth making - Walking along the sea with stunning views! Since there is no catering facilities on the way and inside the castle.  Hence carry with you water and food! Alternatively, the castle can be reached by local bus from Stonehaven.