Life Got Me

How will you be celebrating The Royal Wedding?

2011-04-23T17:11:00.001+05:30

My pic made it to the Official Flickr blog on April 22, 2010!

All excited! :D

Let The Right One In

2011-03-16T04:31:00.001+05:30

Last week, I read a beautiful romantic drama about the relationship between a young boy and a girl, one of whom is a vampire.

The story is set in the working class neighbourhood of Stockholm, in a run down housing development full of violent children (sadistic almost) and alcoholics with good intentions.

The book begins with Oskar, a disturbed, bullied child with no friends to speak of, who manages to make a connection with Eli – a vampire. The predictable does not happen.

I found myself embracing Eli, a victim of unfortunate circumstances, yet forced to live them out; one night at a time. The other characters in the book are fascinating and equally disturbing.

I was so fascinated by the book that I wanted to see whether the movie did justice to it! I was not disappointed.

The movie is not about pale, sparkly Glampires. It is everything Twilight wanted to be, achingly romantic, emotionally involving and expectedly terrifying.

The screenplay for the movie was done by Lindqvist himself and retains the character of the book. The sound and the music score throughout the movie is “nightmarishly great”. There are quite a few moments in the movie which linger on, long after the movie is over.

My favourite is, a key passage in the novel details what happens when Eli enters a room uninvited, an action that traditional vampire lore usually prohibits. The movie shows Eli slowly beginning to bleed from her eyes, ears. As Peter Bradshaw of ‘The Guardian’ described it as a “haemophilia of rejection”.

Watch the Swedish original with subtitles and not the American movie. The film has a 98% "Certified fresh" rating at Rotten Tomatoes.

Beg, Borrow or Steal? - Steal.

I found something… Cool !

2011-03-07T16:20:00.001+05:30

Click on the image to see the original or the actual link is here.

And I have shared! :D

Amazon Kindle at Tesco!

2011-03-06T18:42:00.001+05:30

Just discovered that Tesco UK, now stocks the Amazon Kindle at their stores. Both the 3G and the Wi-Fi versions of the Kindle Wireless Reading Devicecan now be purchased off the shelf.

Amazon is using Tesco and possibly other stores as a new route to market, by making them available on the high street. This way Amazon can target new buyers who are not already Amazon customers.

Besides it also gives everyone the chance to try out the kindle before a purchase.

Look out for the Kindle at the Tesco Extra near you.

Who’s viewing my blog?

2011-03-04T18:35:00.001+05:30

So this is what Google Analytics tells me about my audience on a map. Since 2008, all of these countries have visited me.

Honestly it doesn’t come as a surprise that there’s no representation from the Central Asian nations, most of Africa and a few South American nations.

Thank you to all.

Do drop in a comment to say you were here. :)

Mini Mu

2011-03-03T18:12:00.001+05:30

I couldn’t stop laughing at this toon by Shlomo Cohen. If you don’t get the joke, you missed out big time.

From the fine folks at Cagle

The Music Box

2011-03-03T04:51:00.001+05:30

Somewhere over the rainbow
Way up high,
There's a land that I heard of
Once in a lullaby.

Somewhere over the rainbow
Skies are blue,
And the dreams that you dare to dream
Really do come true.

Well that’s the tune you hear when you crank this music box. Clicked with my nifty fifty, this is one of my favourites in 2011.

The next best thing after an Apple iPod

2011-02-22T05:33:00.001+05:30

And I have been away for a while now, indulging in my favourite hobby; photography (and all things related). And over the past few months, I neglected my reading, again!

Deja vu! So a week ago, I picked up the Kindle and amazingly enough, I managed to finish off two books in a span of 6 days!

I hope all this reading manages to stimulate and enthuse some of my brain to write every now and then (not that anyone other than me is reading).

Oh yeah… Happy New Year! ;)

Doordarshan Junkie

2010-10-18T04:33:00.001+05:30

My television decided to give up on me yesterday and I spent the entire weekend with no TV! I know that doesn’t sound like a big deal in this time and age, but would’ve been catastrophic a couple of decades ago.

Imagine the sinking feeling when your PC or laptop gives up on you or when you have no access to the internet?!!? The feeling was the same then.

Nowadays there isn’t much worth watching and obviously worth talking about. Maybe everything’s explored and nothing’s new anymore or maybe we’ve stopped reading and so dumbed down by TV and the internet.

I miss the 80s.

India hosts the Olympics in 2135!

2010-09-25T05:57:00.001+05:30

Over the past week, I have been viewing India’s global image being tarnished thanks to some really kiss ass management. There are so many unanswered questions, what were we doing for so long?? Where did all the money go?? Do we have a ministry of sports??

At work, I was embarrassed when the media splashed pictures of the shoddy infrastructure on TV and that too in HD! Every day I heard of athletes dropping out, that I wonder who’s participating?

I get the feeling that these games will be another case study on how not to organize such a grand event after the Montreal Olympics. Should India host the Olympics?? Yeah right!!! Maybe in 2135…

Some posted this on Facebook today, and all I could do was face palm myself.

Dear Sir,

I should tell you, that I’m not a man of sports.

I don’t play them. I don’t watch them. I don’t have cool apps on my phone which continuously download scores. And I don’t remember the last time I held a couple of balls, other than my own.

But I do love my country.

I love its rich culture. I love its fantastic array of food that has been passed down from generation to generation. I love its sights. Love its music. Pretty much love everything about it.

Which is why today, it saddens me even more when I look around and see the progress of the Commonwealth Games.

You must have seen it in the news too.

Maybe even joked about it on your coffee break.

“These guys can’t do anything right”.

Only, closer home, it’s not really a joke.

It’s a monster each of us are trying to come to terms with.

A barrage of unanswered questions float around.

Where did all the money go?

What were we doing for so long?

Why did we have to start at the 11th hour, 59th minute?

What’s happening to the lovely gentlemen who were caught making a quick [not to forget spectacular] buck in the entire process of giving tenders?

Why can’t we give our guests the best in comfort, if nothing else?

Where has our tax money gone?

Unfortunately, no one has the answers to these questions. And at the end of this e-mail, each one of these will stay exactly where they are right now. On just a piece of paper.

No, I’m not a man of sports.

But it shames me to see my country like this.

Every couple of hours, I read something new.

The footbridge connecting to the stadium has collapsed.

The ceiling at the boxing venue is now lying on the floor.

Foreign guests saying “living conditions are not suitable for human inhabitance”

Some official saying everything is fine. Don’t worry.

My blood curdles. My pressure rises. I hang my head in disgust and shame.

But I’m a small person.

I’m just one fish among 1.1 billion fish.

I cannot do much, even if I wanted to.

Which is why I’m writing to you.

Maybe you can help.

I request you to call a meeting with your board to call for a cancellation of the Commonwealth Games in India.

There are people who have made a lot of money from this and who are now sitting quiet. These men will go unpunished. Only if the Games are cancelled, maybe, just maybe there is a little change they’ll be taken to court.

Also, it’s better if the rest of the World didn’t see us.

Than see us like this.

We’re a nice bunch of people, we are.

We’re simple. Honest. Loving. Warm. Hard-working. Humorous.

It’s just that the guys who sit on top and run our government are as corrupt as they come.

Sadly, as the Games are showing, just like everything has a price in our country, everything comes at a price too.

A price which we, the everyday guy is paying.

So, please.

Don’t come here.

Call off the Games.

Come another day.

When we’ve gotten honest. When we can build proper toilets for you guys. When our guards can actually protect you instead of sitting around. When our police can help you and not leer at your women. When we can treat you like the only way we know how – a guest.

On behalf of my country and the people who are supposedly in charge of the Games, I apologize in advance, should you still wish to come.

Oh, and just to show you how many people are with me on this, I’m putting this letter on facebook. See for yourself how many more people feel exactly the way I do.

Yours respectfully,

Bodhisatwa Dasgupta

Originally posted by Bodhisatwa Dasgupta

Burn a Quran 4 Jesus… LoL!

2010-09-14T13:35:00.001+05:30

Another classic from Cagle’s blog.

Beautiful Clouds

2010-09-11T21:27:00.001+05:30

I discovered Wordle some time ago on the BBC as a creative education tool used by schools in the UK.

I decided to give it a try and see what it looks like on this blog and the results are below. :)

Post a link for your Wordle in the comments.

Purple Haze

2010-09-11T02:58:00.001+05:30

This has to be one of my one of my first favourites. I don’t really know what I was trying to frame, they sky or the silhouettes of the palm trees.

After this moment, I still have to see such beautiful colours in the sky.

Clicked from a moving car at Huntington Beach, California with my old trusty Panasonic FZ20

Addicted to the Internetz

2010-09-04T03:40:00.001+05:30

So True…

The Notting Hill Carnival

2010-09-02T21:37:00.001+05:30

For the past few months I haven’t been having difficulty in choosing ideas for photography. So after looking around for inspiration and advice from the internetz, I decided to embark on a project called the 100 Steps.

Fortunately deciding the location was easy, what better place to click photographs than at the Notting Hill Carnival on the Bank Holiday Monday, when the main parade was taking place.

It was a bright sunny day and the weather was perfect for the samba schools of London and from some Caribbean / Latin American nations to strut their stuff.

The Floats, the music, the block parties and the experience was well worth the 3 mile walk about.

I still haven’t figured out a place to upload all the pics, but for now they will be parked on my Flickr account.

How to Stay Awake in Boring Meetings

2010-09-01T04:40:00.000+05:30

I got this is my inbox at work today just in time for a major meeting coming up next week!

Do you keep falling asleep in meetings and seminars? What about those long and boring conference calls? Here's a way to change all of that.

1. Before (or during) the next meeting, seminar, or conference call, prepare yourself by drawing a square. I find that 5" x 5" is a good size.

2. Divide the card into columns-five across and five down. That will give you 25 one-inch blocks.

3. Write one of the following words/phrases in each block:
Synergy, strategic fit, core competencies, best practice, bottom line, revisit, expeditious, to tell you the truth (or "the truth is), 24/7, out of the loop, benchmark, value-added, proactive, win-win, think outside the box, fast track, result-driven, knowledge base, at the end of the day, touch base, mind-set, client focus(ed), paradigm, game plan, leverage.

4. Now check off the appropriate block when you hear one of those words/phrases.

5. When you get five blocks horizontally, vertically, or diagonally stand up and shout !!

Am off to give this a try! :P

404 - Not Found

2010-08-30T01:14:00.001+05:30

I found this earlier today which stumbling across the internet. I’m sure we all have had such moments at work!

Pakistan Floods – Everything Falls into perspective

2010-08-27T05:16:00.001+05:30

I’ve always been a great fan of Daryl Cagle and his flair for political satire in the form of a cartoon. Over time, many of his creations have been posted on my blog and this his is most recent one.

Don’t get me wrong… the recent floods in Pakistan are tragic, but Daryl couldn’t have said it any better.

100 Steps a week!

2010-08-22T04:53:00.000+05:30

At the beginning of the year I thought of indulging myself in a photography project called 365/7.

It is a popular new year’s resolution and little did I know that this idea was old hat!! Almost every soul who has a camera has toyed around with this idea and has a project stuck like a dead fly on the web.

I was looking for something different; definitely not time bound. After some surfing around, this is what I discovered.

100 Steps
Start taking some photos. Take 100 steps in any direction, take some more photos. When you run out of things to photograph there, take another 100 steps. Keep going until you start to get tired.

If you need some more ideas, you can view them by clicking Jumpstart your Creativity!

Another interesting post to read is 10 ways to break photographer's block!

How to suck at Facebook - The Oatmeal

2010-08-21T02:29:00.002+05:30

Discovered while trolling the Interwebs!! Ludicrously funny and absolutely true. Read the entire comic strip by clicking on the image.

WIN!!

Lost along the way!

2010-08-19T04:15:00.001+05:30

Somewhere along this year I lost myself to work! I was neglecting my blog or more so my passion to read and write!

This year I’ve read a grand total of ONE book and write just a page!! Which speaks volumes of the creative famine I am facing right now.

So, here I go with my attempts to get back to blogging, again!

God Speed!

Happy New Year!

2010-01-04T00:35:00.001+05:30

So Travel Jones got me and I’ve been living out of a bag, literally!

I was hoping and dreaming to go up north for a vacation during the summers but work sent me across time zones to UK –> Bombay –> Chennai –> Bombay and now finally in UK.

I had some really interesting moments during my travels in the past few months. I hope moments like these will follow me this year too. :)

Seen in Soho, London during Christmas. Hopefully more this year. :D

A famous person has died

2009-06-30T00:24:00.001+05:30

This is true of any news channel…

Remember the Time

2009-06-26T23:20:00.001+05:30

Jackson's death brought a tragic end to a long, bizarre, sometimes farcical decline from his peak in the 1980s, when he was popular music's premier all-around performer, a uniter of black and white music who shattered the race barrier on MTV, dominated the charts and dazzled even more on stage.

In New York's Times Square, a low groan went up in the crowd when a screen flashed that Jackson had died.

I was born in 1980. It's hard to overstate how massive the impact of Michael Jackson was in the early 80's. That guy was *IT*. And back then, you could safely assume EVERYONE heard his music.

You can appreciate his influence by realizing nearly every person on earth will be discussing his death.

R.I.P

A mom cancels a WoW account and …….

2009-06-21T14:38:00.001+05:30

This looks like an outtake from the exorcist (me thinks fake but that would make this kid a great actor).

The remote moment was priceless. It looks like viral video geniuses are at work here. The video was the correct time limit ( Not too short, and not too long ), and the brother set up the camera at the precise time...

Don't get me wrong. The video was awesome, but staged.

Tune in tomorrow for a video of the kid's exorcism...