The Lonesome Road

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Berries, originally uploaded by shadowfall.

Well, the few people who follow my blog also know that I am a photograpy enthusiast (does this word even exist - let me know - too lazy too look it up).

So, I have a request for you and any random person who might bump into my rantings in cyberspace. Look up my photo site and let me know what you think of the pictures you find there.

Why, you ask. Sensible question. The problem with Flickr - or at least the free version is that you can have only 3 sets to group your photos and an upload limit of 20Mb a month. I want to take up a pro account - but not sure. It’s $25 a year - cheap - but I’m still a new guy in the US and 25 bucks - though not a large amount - is enough to give me pause.

So, help clear the confusion - have a look and let me know whether my photos are good enought to make a pro account worthwhile.

Remember - your vote counts!

[Translation : This country of mine…]

I think it’s time that India abolished this n-party system that we have as of now and established a US style two party system. In our country, anyone with ten people to “support” (i.e provide muscle and finance) can start a party. Also, there are parties within parties. I’m pretty sure no one knows the number of political parties (not to mention independents) who contest the elections.

The fallout of this is that the government in the Centre usually ends up as a coallition government. Of course, after independence, the Congress party enjoyed a single party majority rule for a long time. Then the BJP managed it for all of 13 days before a no-confidence vote called a fresh round of elections. The problem lies in the fact that every party has it’s own agenda to push (of course, this is the one beyond the common agenda of trying to make money). Thus, when you have a multi-party government, there is bound to be a certainamount of stress and strain when policies are implemented.

The situation is escalated this time as the ruling government is made (primarily) of the Congress party and the Left (Communist) Party. One of the major policy decisions for the Congress was the privatization of the PSUs (Public Sector Units). However, this is one policy the Left wants scrapped. Now, to be perfectly honest, West Bengal which is a major bastion of the Left has gone from an economic powerhouse to a state where no one wants to set up more industry. This is mostly due to the fact that the workers union is very strong in the state and they do not hesitate in resorting to violence.

The policy schism came to the fore when the Left called a nation-wide general strike yesterday. From the reports on Rediff, the call has been a successful one and most states were left paralysed. The hardest hit were the banking and airline services. One can imagine the amount of loss faced. Thankfully, in most parts of the country, essential services were not hit.

Hopefully, things will go back to normal now (or as normal as they can get), The Left has flexed it’s muscles and let the Congress know that they will not sit around. It’s the turn of the Congress now to decide how they react to the affair.

May God give them sense.

Until next time!

My first priority after settling down was to pick up a laptop. I wanted to try a Mac this time around. So, Anshul (who already is a member of the Apple tribe) and I (still a Windows dude) sat and broke our heads on what system I should buy. Though I was leaning towards the Apple, inertia won out and I bought a Windows based laptop.

To be very honest though, I’m not unhappy with my system. To a large extent, XP Home and Pro are the best Microsoft OS. Though there is one thing - the ‘free’ software that the Windows systems provide are beaten hands down by the ‘free’ software on the Mac.

I’ll just talk about one of them here - cos this entire article was inspired by it. Anshul and I are avid photographers - nutty, in fact. The only time we come close to an argument is when there are two of us and one camera. And both of us have a huge collection of photographs taken with all past and present cams. When I went over to see some of his new pics, he fired up an application called iPhoto. And I was lost. Of course, the bulk of that magic was thanks to the Ken Burns Effect. It somehow made the photos come alive for me in a way I had never experienced before. So, when I came home and started my usual photo app and played a slide show - well for want of a better word - it sucked.

So, firing up ye old Google, I decided to find a Windows equivalent. And to my surprise - I did. It’s an application by Microsoft called Photo Story 3. So, full of hope I downloaded and ran the application. So this is how it works.

a) Choose the folder and the photos you want in the slide show.
b) Choose the music
c) Select from some minor details.
d) Save the project (Makes a 30Mb file for 36 photos with a 4:43 minute classical piece)
e) Play project in Windows Media Player.

Whew! I thought after doing all this the result would be good. Man was I disappointed! The photos were blurry (I take photos with a 5.0 MP camera at almost max res) and when it started to zoom, my photos began to look like the shoddy photos that a mobile camera produces. As you can imagine - I turned off the video.

Now, for those of you who have not used iPhoto - here’s the primer.
a) Go to the album (iPhoto does this automatically)
b) Click the Play Slidehow button
c) Enjoy!

Come on - is it that tough to create a viewer which provides a good Ken Burns Effect? Anyway, I have now shifted my picture viewer to Picasa 2. Though it does not provide the one effect I want, the other features that it does make it worth my while. And who knows, someday there migh even be a Ken burns plugin for Picasa.

Until next time - keep clicking!
PS : New (well not so new) photos up on my Flick Page.

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Main Square, originally uploaded by shadowfall.

Well, as can be seen, it’s a really long time since I last posted. For the moment, let us not blame this on my inherent laziness, but on the hectic lifestlye that came into play after I got a visa.

Packing when you are leaving the country is a pain in the proverbial place. Those of you who have packed your bags and left home for hostels - you know part of what it’s like. It gets far, far worse when you have to take it to the next step. Lists are made, discarded and reordered. Tempers flare a lot! Well, but it all got done and when I got here I didn’t find anything major (namely my clothes ) missing. So I was a happy person.

Funny thing was I landed here, got home (well, the place I was staying) and then rushed off immediately to Manhattan - all within two hours of touching down. Now I am essentially from Bombay(Mumbai) - even so it took me a couple of minutes to let New York sink into me. But it’s an awesome place. Really hard (but not impossible) even for a person with a non-existant sense of direction to get lost in. I try - but so far haven’t succeeded. Smart fellow who named the streets.

Long Island is a fun place. Everything is at least ten minutes away - by walk. Oh yes, us international students cannot really afford to buy cars immediately after turning up. Long Island is mainly a residential area and *everyone* has a car. I’m telling you - we get strange looks when we are struggling back with a week-load of groceries. But the upshot is I get a lot of exercise - whether I want it or not.

The good thing about public transport here is that there are schedules - and that the vehicles adhrere to the schedule. Unfortunately for people still living in IST (Indian Stretchable Time), a five minute late entry at the bus stop implies a half hour wait fir the next bus. Most learn quickly

Well, college registration and all done. A Masters is way different from the undergrad system of things - and a whole load more fun. So far at least. Most lectures are treated as discussions - especially in the networking class, where a simple question can become the focus of a major discussion.

What else.. been spending my weekends seeing New York, Jersey and Boston. I’m waiting for the season to turn and for the Fall colors to light up the season in red and gold.

Till next time!

PS : The photo is a shot of my college. It’s a central area for the Engineering section and most of our lecs take place in the buildings around it.