The Lonesome Road

One of the things that I wanted to do after I came to the US was to see a Broadway play. Due to a very fortunate series of circumstances, that wish was granted today - I managed to get tickets to see “The Drowsy Chaperone” on Broadway today (in fact, I just got back home). I wish this could have been done earlier, but at a $100, tickets are not exactly cheap.
Now, do understand that I have never really seen a musical performed at this level before. The only plays that I have seen before this one have been ones put up by my fellow students in school. So I hope you forgive me if I go a little ga-ga.

I went in to see the musical with no preconceived notions. Even so, the opening surprised me. Just before the play starts, all the lights go off and from the darkness comes the opening line - “I hate theater…”. A small monologue (no, I will not start spouting dialogs here - go see the play!) later, the light comes on and we see the narrator play the record (yes, the LP) of the smash 1928 hit musical “The Drowsy Chaperone”.

The play unfolds with beautiful musical numbers, great dance sequences (I loved the tap dancing sequence with the dancing duo of George and Robert), and some amazingly funny scenes. Well, I promised not to spout dialog, but I shall do so just this once - indulge me.

Mrs. Tottendale: When someone asks for ice water, give them vodka.
Underling: Yes ma’am
Mrs. Tottendale: Remember ice water means vodka.
Underling: Yes ma’am. Ice water means vodka

It goes on in this vein for a while. Then Mrs. Tottenham’s throat feels dry from all the talking and she asks for a glass of ice water.

Underling: Your ice water ma’am
Mrs. Tottenham (spraying the contents of the glass all over the Underling): This is pure vodka!

Well, this scene also repeats a few times.

At this stage the narrator comes in and explains that this sort of device was employed so that the stage could be set for the next scene. The narrator (Bob Martin) for me was the star of the show. Effortlessly weaving introductions, trivia about the cast and information about the actors with witty insights on life in general, he was the thread that held the play together. What was even more enchanting was his childlike glee when talking about the play. His love for this 1928 screwball comedy soon becomes a shared one as the audience is drawn into his little world. It was fun to see him walk into scenes and even join in with the actors (who ignored him because, technically, he wasn’t there!). One of the best monologues is one in which he compares the a musical production and the pornographic industry

In technical terms, the play was flawless (at least to my untrained eyes). Set changes, scene changes, the lighting and music were flawless. It was great to see the narrator walk onto the set during dance numbers and scenes and having the actors adroitly avoiding him while going about the scene.

No, I am not going to talk too much about the “plot” or the characters. This is something that has to be seen - no, it is something that has to be experienced and I am very, very glad that I had a chance to do so. I guess one more expensive hobby has been added to the list (which already has golf in it). The next musical I want to see is Mamma-Mia based on ABBA numbers.

Well, this isn’t really a review. It’s just a small post about the fun I had watching my first Broadway musical - wouldn’t even know where to start a review .

Until next time, I leave you with the one word that stays on the mind even after the play ends - Aldolpho!

I write about this festival every year - and as you can see, this year is no exception.

The change is that instead of ranting on and on about the pollution and the noise, I will talk about the celebrations in my house. While celebrating with friends is never quite the same as celebrating with family, there are days and times when the difference is very, very small.

This is how Divali went today: Our normal group of six was doubled today with the guests we had. So, today’s first fun (dinner) challenge was to cook food for ten people. After a lot of group effort (and swearing), we finally had a tasty shahi paneer, rotis (albeit a few got burnt), and sheera (over which there was a lot of debate regarding the sugar level).

Once all that was done, it was time to light the lamps - and take one of the first of a set of group photos. I’ll upload some pics later, but my annual “Spirit of Divali” picture can be seen here [Lens View]. The outdoor photoshoot did not last too long (and this photographer learnt some new words) as the temperature outside was pretty chilly - and the wind had picked up speed. Somehow all was managed without any loss of feeling in anyone’s limbs and we trooped back in for dinner.

This was another problem is logistics - the table we have comfortably seats six. This meant that we would have to eat in two rounds - or implement the age old indian tradition of sitting on the floor. So, we all sat on the floor and ate dinner together. Dinner finished, it was time for some fun. Well, everyone was so wrung out that we ended up sitting around the table (less three guests who headed back home) and played some cards.

It’s hard to believe that this is my second divali away from home. Time just seems to fly these days. To be honest though, this is what a divali celebration is like at my house (though with zero cursing, more food and no cards) - a gathering of friends and relatives, good food, and pleasant company - and a lot of light. This, after all, is the festival of lights.

To all my (few) readers - a very, very happy divali.

All readers can assign blame to Anshul for this post!

Book that changed my life - Can’t blame a single book. It’s been a progression of books that have changed with my philosophy.

Book you’ve read more than once - Just about every book I own. Of course, the reason I bought them is because they are worth a re-read . To name a few names - The Day of the Jackal (Forsythe), Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less (Archer) among others.

Book you’d take to a desert island - This is a toughie. Does it have to be just one? If you twist my arm, I’ll say any of the Black Widower Series by Isaac Asimov.

Book that made you laugh - Any book by Gerald Durrell. I’ve been a fan of (and laughing while reading) his books for a long time now. Recommended books: My Family and Other Animals, Fillets of Plaice - basically just about every book he’s written.

Book that made you cry - Never really cried while reading a book. To answer this question - The Eyes of the Dragon (Stephen King) was one that just about managed to come close. It’s one of his few non-horror stories - and a damn good book at that.

Book you wish you had written - No book really comes to mind. I’m generally more envious of the way people write as compared to what they write.

Book you wish had never been written - I’m afraid I have to agree with Anshul on this. I hated Old Man and the Sea. Even today the lines “…the fish is my friend, but I must kill it” evokes the same feeling of dread it did a decade back.

Book you’re currently reading - Not one, but two! The Cell (Stephen King) and The Dragonbone Chair (Tad Williams).

Book you’ve been meaning to read - All my textbooks . Seriously - Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art (Scott McCloud).

Well, there you have it. The tag is complete.

Today’s spur-of-the-moment dish was Dal wada (lentil puffs for those who do not follow hindi).

Unfortunately, in his enthusiasm, my roomie added a little too much water to the batter turning it from a thick paste to a watery mess. Ordinarily, we would have dumped this mess down the drain - but my roomie was adamant that he wanted to eat this today. So we put two brains - one engineering and one medical to work.

This is the solution we worked out - and it allowed us to eat some really well cooked (internally) and crunchy (externally) puffs. I do not claim that this is the best method to do it - nor that I am the first person with this idea. But if you do end up with runny frying batter, try this.

(1) Pour oil into a large wok-type vessel and let it heat up

(2) Take a serving spoon with wide base. Something like a soup ladle is perfect.

(3) Put a little oil in the cup and put in 1 - 1.5 spoons of batter.

(4) This is where it’s a little tricky. Dip the ladle in the oil and use a spatula to gently push oil into the cup.

(5) Do this until you see the edges turn light brown. Pull the ladle just above the surface of the oil. Insert a spoon into the cup and gently try to life the puff. Do not use force. If it resists, bathe it in oil a little longer.

(6) Once the base is cooked, it will yield to gentle pressure and a (almost) perfect puff will come off from the cup. Simply drop it into the oil, cook till golden brown.

(7) Drop the cooked puff on a cooling rack lined with absorbent paper. Voila!

There you go. One way to rescue watery batter.

Until next time - keep frying!

You know writing has been neglected when your browser (which caches 10 days of links) does not “remember” your blog. This mini-post attempts to redress that neglect.

I have shaken off some of my sloth and uploaded more California photos. They can be found here [flickr.com]. Also, for those of you who use Picasa, the new version is out - and it is good! Though I have one small complaint. They have included the Ken Burns (Pan and Zoom) effect as part of the visual options for the Screensaver setting. Why, o why did they not include that effect in the Slide Show as well? Hopefully, we will see that in the next version.

What else.. oh yes. I have been book tagged. That post should be coming up soon. The only problem is - whom do I tag? I know only one more person (other than the person who tagged me) who blogs - and he’s disappeared from the blogosphere (Kapil - I’m looking at you!). Let’s see…

Anyway, that’s all from me. Later all!

I just got back from a two week end of summer vacation from California. Now even though I am an east coast person, California simply blew me away with it’s great weather and amazing scenery. To put it in figures, I took 756 pictures in the two weeks that I was there. Now since I am a nice person, I will not bore you will all these photos. Instead, I’ll just pick a few of the photos that I like or think are interesting and write a few lines about them. I hope you enjoy it
[PS: This is quite a long post. Feel free to skip and head directly to see the photoset!]

I thought we’d start the trip with a picture of the mountain. I caught this piece of art(?) on the trip between San Jose and San Francisco. The slight amount of blurriness is becasue I took the snap through the windshield of the car.

One of the major road trips that I made was the drive to UC Berkeley. I found it to be an absolutely fascinating place with students and prof’s walking and cycling around all over the place. Rumour has it that the UCB dorms are outside the college so that the students can get mugged at least once while they walk to college. The photo below is a snapshot of the clock tower in UCB from a side angle.

Still in UCB, this was a totally random encounter. I was trying to capture a small stone structure when this dog runs past. So, I start trying to photograph the dog. While I was doing that the owner of the dog came up behind me - and perched on his shoulder was this very, very colorful parrot - appropriately named “Mango”. Long story short, the bird was quite tame and all of us got snaps with Mango perched on a shoulder.

And just in case you thing that shoes on a wire are an east coast phenomenon, here are *three* shoes hanging from a wire

All right, let us move from UCB to San Francisco! While the original plan was to walk around the city, time constraints forced us to take the car around for the most part. Even so, we still tried to do the walking bit by finding parking far from the madding crowd and then try to take in the local color.

Let’s start this part of the tour with a quick snapshot of the Palace of Fine Arts. We took a detour here as there was much too foggy on the bridge for photography.

Of course, it’s impossible to go to ‘frisco and *not* take a photo of the Golden Gate bridge. So, I join the teeming masses and present my photo of a very famous bridge.

What I found more interesting than the bridge was the flora and fauna of the area. I managed to capture some new birds and flowers in the vicinity of the bridge. Here’s the one I liked the most, but as usual, I don’t have a name to give .

Here’s a horizon snap from the center of the bridge. There were boats of all types in the water - sailboats, powerboats, and even cruise vessels. Made for a fun snap.

From the bridge to Fisherman’s Wharf. Unfortunately, we didn’t manage to ride the trams in the city, but we had a great time walking around the area.

From there we drove a little to Crooked Street. I don’t think I need to decribe why the name came around - the picture says it all. What I found really odd was the fact that people drive down this street! There’s no way to see the “crookedness” when you drive down! Oh well, it takes all types..

From there, we moved onto Coit Tower. Though we didn’t manage to go all the way up the tower, the elevation was high enough for me to get a city shot of the area.

The trip to ‘frisco ended with dinner at Union Square, but before that, we just managed to squeeze in a quick trip to Pier 39. This is one fun place - part pier, part fun fair, part mall and (definitely) part zoo. Sea birds (gulls and their ilk), pelicans and sea lions abound! Here are some pelicans busily flying in the evening light.

I managed to take the time out to see Stanford. For some odd reason, I didn’t like Stanford (which is this sprawling campus/city) as much as UCB. I felt that there was a lot more energy and atmosphere in and around UCB. In fact, the photo I liked the most at Stanford was a snap of the base of their fountain!

If you have made it this far - thank you. Just a little more to go. One of the things I definitely wanted to do was a trip to Big Sur. I managed to get this done just a day before I left. For those of you visiting California - this drive is worth taking the time out for.

En route to Big Sur, we stopped at pebbled beach near Carmel. What I found really cool was how intensely “blue” the water was along the drive. I mean - look at it! It’s blue blue!

There was quite a bit of animal life there too - here’s a snap with a starfish and some anemone.

Well, we finally moved on to the Big Sur drive. There were a lot of vista points along the way - and I had to stop at each one to take snaps . Here I present the one I like the most. I think the contrast between the water and foam makes this the best vista point snap.

Here’s a lookback at the drive towards Big Sur. It’s a beautiful drive with hills on one side and a cliff on the other.

We ended the drive at a place called Nepenthe. There is a restaurant here that serves the best french fries and (freshy squeezed!) orange juice that I have ever tasted. This is not the end of the drive - there is a lot more road to travel, but we decided to end the trip there. Here, I present the phoenix of Nepenthe.

We rounded off the trip with a visit to Monterey beach. By this time the light was beginning to fade and we just passed the time wandering and cycling around the area. I also managed to get this snap of a gull and a black sea bird (yes,I don’t know the name!) flanked by sea lions.

Let me finish the mini-photoset with a photo of that lovable rascal Dennis - yes the one and only Dennis the Menace. There is a park dedicated to the scamp in Monterey.

Well, those are the highlight of my California trip. All these photos can be seen in the California Photoset on my Flickr page.

This is just a small set of the photos that I took. The flickr account will be updated over the next few days with new photos. I have just one favour ask you patient reader - of all the photos on this post, do tell me which one deserves to be showcased on the photoblog.

Remember - your vote counts!

I (thankfully) am not a frequent flyer. So, when the time comes to make a  long(ish) air trip, I look forward to it.

I flew to California yesterday, and it’s easy to distinguish the frequent flyers from the newbies and recreational travellers. The FF’s, once they board the plane, simply use it as an extension of their office (well, most of them are business travellers) and get to work immediately. They don’t even bother to look up during the safety instructions - I’m pretty sure they know it all by now.

Newbies on the other hand see everything. It’s fun to watch the kids with their wide eyed wonder. And then there are people like me who sleep through all the boring intro to the flight - and wake up when the food service comes in .  But this time, I had a secret weapon during the flight. My camera.

I wanted to take pics from an airplane for a long time - and I got my chance yesterday. Height really gives perspective - it shows us how small we really are on this planet of ours. By the time you climb to cruising altitude, almost all the man made structures look like dinky toys. The cool thing about the US is that there are vast areas of unused space. As we were nearing California, I took snaps of this huge area where the only things that I could see were mountains and ridges (and a lot of dirt). Another nice effect that can be seen is when the landing approach is over water - from high in the sky, the water looks unmoving, but as the plane comes lower and lower, the illusion is dispelled. However, since it happens so slowly, it almost looks as if the water is going from “pause” to “play”.

Anyway, I will stop now. Need to go out and have some fun!

Until next time - enjoy the last days of summer!

The first camera that I ever used was an analog Nikon camera that had been in the family forever. Of course, at that time I was no big fan of the device.

I’ll be very honest here - I was a (really) bad shot with the nikon. Most of the pictures that I took used to come out overexposed and shaky. To this day, I am a bad shot with analogs. Of course, I haven’t tried photography with SLR’s - but that’s a different post.

My first digital camera was a Sony DSC-P93. This camera came into my hands a couple of years back and made me fall in love with photography. It was a fun and easy to use point-and-shoot. Unfortunately, I had to leave it back home before I came to the US.

Once here, it did not take long before the abundance of things to photograph and the inability to do so had me itching to get my hands on a new camera. Of course, this time I wanted something more than a simple point and shoot. The lessons had been learnt well on the older camera. I was looking for a good (heavy-ish), stable camera which took standard memory cards, and most importantly - had a high zoom. After a lot of research (thanks to Anshul), the choice finally came down to my current camera - the Canon S2IS.

Why all this intro? Well, it’s a small thing really. Even as I took up hosting, I knew that my photoblog updates were going to exceed my blog updates. There’s not much I like to write about - but put a camera in my hand and I will start looking around for something to photograph. This post is basically a small celebration for the 50th photo put up on the photoblog.

For all those who wonder why I don’t update my Flickr photostream too often and/or why the dates on the photos on the phoroblog are from May, here is the explanation: I do three levels of filtering on all my photos.

(1) Basic : No blurs, sharp subjects. This step eliminates only the shaky and out of focus snaps

(2) Flickr worthy: From each set, there will be a set of photos that I like enough to upload on Flickr.

(3) Showcase: Is a subset of (2). The photos that I really like from (2) will be put up on the photoblog (and Flickr).

Once all the photos that I want to showcase from a set are over, the remainder that satisfy criteria (2) are uploaded in a set to Flickr.

Whew! I hope that clears things for the (few) curious people.

Later all!

In my inbox, chain letters are dealt with harshly. They are summarily banished to the junk mail folder and then sent to the big deal mail box in the sky. The chain letter that came in today will have a slightly different fate. While I will not forward it, I’ll put it up here. It expresses the same ideas that Anshul’s post did. I see no point in repeating what has been said so well.

With no further intro - here’s the letter:

A letter from Mumbai

Dear Terrorist,

Even if you are not reading this we don’t care. Time and again you tried to disturb us and disrupt our life - killing innocent civilians by planting bombs in trains, buses and cars. You have tried hard to bring death and destruction, cause panic and fear and create communal disharmony. But every time you were disgustingly unsuccessful. Do you know how we pass our life in Mumbai? How much it takes for us to earn that single rupee? If you wanted to give us a shock, then we are sorry to say that you failed miserably in your ulterior motives. Better look elsewhere, not here.

We are not Hindus and Muslims or Gujaratis and Marathis or Punjabis and Bengaliies. Nor do we distinguish ourselves as owners or workers, govt. employees or private employees. WE ARE MUMBAIKERS (Bombay-ites, if you like). We will not allow you to disrupt our life like this. On the last few occassions when you struck (including the 7 deadly blasts in a single day killing over 250 people and injuring 500+ in 1993), we went to work next day in full strength. This time we cleared everything within a few hours and were back to normal - the vendors placing their next order, businessmen finalizing the next deals and the office workers rushing to catch the next train. (Yes the same train you targeted)

Fathom this: Within 3 hours of the blasts, long queues of blood donating volunteers were seen outside various hospitals, where most of the injured were admitted. By 12 midnight, the hospital had to issue a notification that blood banks were full and they didn’t require any more blood. The next day, attendance at schools and office was close to 100%, trains & buses were packed to the brim, and the crowds were back.

The city has simply dusted itself off and moved one - perhaps with greater vigour.

We are Mumbaikers and we live like brothers in times like this. So, do not dare to threaten us with your crackers. The spirit of Mumbai is very strong and can not be harmed.

With Love,
from the people of Mumbai (Bombay)

I love this city!

I’ve been in the US for around 8 months now, and I’m more or less used to the differences between this place and India. But the thing is, each time I go to the city (NYC), it makes me a tourist all over again.

Almost every visit to the city is unique. There is so much to see and do that every trip becomes a fresh-of-the-boat experience. Of course, it really helps if the person taking you around knows the city inside out - and really likes living in it. I am very fortunate that my NYC guide has these qualitites in spades.

Yesterday’s first snaps were at Columbis circle. Lots of people - and their dogs were loinging over there. Here is where the advantage of the wide angle lens came in. Took a lot of building photos and a couple of horizon wide screen shots there.

I wanted to see the new Apple store for quite some time. Yesterday, the fates were kind and I did manage to go see it. To be very honest, when they said all glass, I somehow thought it would be all above ground. Nope. Much of the store resides below the ground level. I also took some pics of the store and I’ll put them up on flickr later. The main problem with the store (for me) is that I wanted to buy everything that I saw. Oh man, when will I be able to buy a Macbook Pro. Apparently, the masses had the same idea as the checkout counter was full of people buying Apple hardware.

Next, we went to Central Park (it’s right next door to the Apple store). It’s like an oasis in the middle of the city. It’s green, clean and amazingly beautiful. I didn’t see too much of it, but the little I saw dictates that another trip is to be made to see more of the place in the near future. One of the best areas to go walk around in is the Rambing area (the name is close to my heart, for obvious reasons).Of course, I took snaps there as well. The place is so huge that it’s easy to get lost - but that’s not a bad thing. Keep walking around, sooner or later you will hit a main road.

What’s amazing to see in Central Park is the amount of wildlife. Well, I wouldn’t say they’re wild..but, oh forget it. There are songbirds, ducks, wading birds, robins, wrens, turtles and fish. Whew! Never realized that so many animal snaps could be taken in the middle of a bustling city. One more thing to notice is that the birds in the park are fat. No kidding. They are really fat. I guess free food an no exercise does affect wild animals as well.

All in all, yesterday was a fun day with lots of roaming and good food (Whole Foods) to finish it all.

Until next time - see more green!

It’s been a while since I updated this blog. Might as well do it now, when the nag level is still low. You know, this blog is read by very few people - and a lot of spam bots. My comment moderations have been overflowing with links for viagra and whatnot. It seems that Bill Gates (or someone who stole his name) seems to think I need mp3 players and other assorted electronics. He even kindly provided links. Seems that I have more high profile bot readers than real readers.

Here’s an example :

Name: BillGates | E-mail: bgates@check.com | URI: http://phentermine.pharma-search.us | IP: 206.54.70.243 | Date: June 9, 2006

I don’t know what he’s selling - and I’m not planning to buy it anyway

See, this is the problem with having a photoblog. As I have said before, it’s easier to take a photo and write a few lines about it as compared to thinking, framing and completing a post on this blog. And as a person who tends towards laziness, I find it a lot easier to maintain the photoblog. It somehow gives me a greater sense of satisfaction to capture a good photo than to write an article.

Speaking of photography, I am having fun these days roaming with the camera. The good thing about photography is that it tends to make one more aware of the surroundings. Personally, I am not good company with a camera in my hand. I keep looking here and there to catch a good shot. I was having a discussion with Anshul the other day. I do believe that there is an element of luck in photography. Anshul feels the more you click, the luckier you get. I prefer my theory. There are some snaps that i took by sheer chance. My good friend feels that is simply due to more situational awareness. Whatever it is, I am not complaining.

Of course, there is a downside to all this newfound awareness. There is so much to see - a flash of color, a trailing wisp of cloud, the trill of birdsong that calls attention to the singer - that focus is concentrated on the subject. Unfortunately, while all this focussing takes place, no one tells the legs to stop moving. This can result in pretty spectacular near-falls. Hey - but that’s the risk you take in the name of what you do.
And while we are on the subject of snaps, major updates on the photostream today. Some photos that I took in college have been uploaded.

In other news, I have been enjoying my summer vacation. Catching up on some reading, taking photos and teaching myself spanish. My cup runneth over!

Until next time - enjoy your summer!

It’s been a while since I actually wrote something in a blog. It almost feels like wearing an old pair of jeans - you know that it fits, but it still feels a little awkward (see - I can’t even get my analogies correct!). So, please bear with me till I get my writing skills sharpened again.

As can be seen, I actually spent some time personalizing the look of the blog. Something must be wrong with me - I am actually working!

Anyway, jokes aside, a lot of work was done last night. Thanks to some very persistent inspiration from Anshul, the feed for this site was added to feedburner and the new feed was added to the header. Also, for those who follow the old blog, the older feed was updated to point to the new feed. Whew - all this work for 5 readers.

Another first for me was photo editing. The header photo is a snap of a path that runs through my college (I’ll put it up on the photoblog one of these days). It took some work with GIMP to get it to the size and transparency effect that I wanted.

What else..oh yeah. I am advertising my photoblog on my website. Hey - don’t mock me. If I don’t promote my photos, who will? Also, a little clean up was done in the sidebar and I added horizontal lines to differentiate between sections. As proof of my love for pain, I also added the feedburner chicklet to display the number of readers on my site (which as of now is at a huge 0).

As always, it’s up to you constant reader to provide feedback and let me know if you love/like/hate the look. One more thing, do let me know if I should put a picture of myself on the front page (we don’t want to scare of the new people, do we?).

In other news, all those who have been waiting for the new release of Colibri have to wait a little longer. It was supposed to be released earlier this month, but the site has been down for almost 2 weeks. I finally mailed Michael and it turns out that the leetspeak servers are down and Michael’s HDD has crashed. Until leetspeak comes back up, there will be no Colibri.

What else…another semester done. I can’t believe how fast this semester went by. Time flies when you are having fun, I suppose.

Well, that’s all from me for now. Until next time - bookmark the feed!

So, here we are - a new page and a new blog. I don’t know how many readers I have, but for those who do follow what I write, my thanks.

I will be moving the RSS feed on feedburner soon enough (proabably tonight) to point to this page. Also, now that I have a separate photoblog (http://sightings.loneroad.info), there will be (mostly) no more picture posts on this site.

Just hang on a little longer for the first major post here. Have a small poll though - what do you think of the site template. Do let me know.

Later all!

After a lot of thinking and reflecting, I have decided that this blog needs to move.

While I am not unhappy with the service that Blogger provides, I want the independence of having my own site and configuring it to my liking.

Of course, the moving process has just begun, and as usual, run into some technical snags. The posts will be moved soon, but until then, keep an eye on the new photoblog.

For the link happy people, here are the new sites:

http://ramblings.loneroad.info for the blog and

http://sightings.loneroad.info for the photoblog.

Until next time….