Birdies In Flight

Hi all,

Had been to Ousteri lake in the afternoon. There were quite a few birds out there and I tried to take some in flight. The birds werent flying much and some of these pics are thanks to my sister. I zoomed in and was ready to shoot and then I would tell my sister to throw a pebble in the water which would make them fly and I tried to shoot as soon as they would start their flight. Below are some of the pictures I took.

Table Manners 2008

Hi all,

Potters from Pondy and Auroville who have put up an exhibition in Auroville with the theme being Table Manners. I went this afternoon to the exhibition and have clicked photos of works by all the artists. It is a very good exhibition and for all those in Pondy, do try and go…it is simply great..of course those who are inclined to art. For those not in pondy..be satisified with the pics..the link for the pics is below…

http://picasaweb.google.com/sshoney/TableManners2008?authkey=hihf8m8CHd0

Orange Special

the fruit of the season as far as i am concerned is the orange. really good ones available right now..thought i would experiment some desserts with oranges. last week i made orange cake and this week i made orange sandesh. both turned out to be just too good.

the cake was one layer of vanilla cake soaked with orange syrup, one layer of orange pulp and repeat.

the sandesh was: One layer sandesh, one layer or orange pulp and then again a layer of sandesh with saffron sprinkled on the top.

below are pictures of the cake and the sandesh.

the orange cake

top view of the sandesh

sandesh from the side view after it was cut...

SMS Shayaris

hi all,

below are some shayaris that i got by sms..thought would share them with you..i guess i will update this once in a while as i keep getting new ones..

fasle mitakar dilo me pyar rakhna
is dosti ko sada barkarar rakhna
jo bichad jaye hum tum kabhi
to fir milenge bas ankho me hamara intazar rakhna.

mujhe aapke dil me kinara to milega
jab na hogi ummed ek sahara to milega
kar jaenga hum apke liye her daiya ko paar
kyunki us paar hume koi hamara to milega

har nazar ko ek nigaah ka haq hai
har rooh ko ek aah ka haq hai
hum bhi dil lekar aaye hai is duniya mein,
humei bhi ek gunnah ka haq hai

hamari khamoshi hamari fitrat hai
aapki ankhe hamari chahat hai
yeh zindagi jo itani khubhasurat hai
uski wajah to bas aapki muskurahat hai

hath jo thama hai to chodna hame ata nahi
wada jo kiya hai to todna hame ata nahi
dosti to apse hamesha karenge
kyunki dilo se khelna hame ata nahi

har ashiqui ka matlab gam nahi hota
duriya badhane se pyar kam nahi hota
waqt bewaqt aa jaya hai aankho me pani
kyunki yaado ka koi mausam nahi hota

Fog At Last !!

hi all,

today, sunday, 30.12.2007 we went to a granite quary early in the morning. this place about a little after vanur on the mylam road. it was roughly about 20kms away from pondicherry town. we went on bike and you could actually feel the temperature dropping as you proceeded towards the destination. as soon as we crossed JIPMER the temperature dropped. as soon as we got off the main road and turned towards sedarapet industrial estate the temperature dropped again. as we went on it became cooler. the road to get to the destination is terrible. as soon as you turn towards the industrial estate the road is just pathetically terrible. a little after L&T the road becomes really good. the fog this morning was really wierd. it was like a bar not all over. it looked as if it was setting or lifting. we were also riding our bikes through fog this morning. by the end, our hands and feet were a little moist. below are three pictures that i took this morning of the fog. have a great week ahead and happy new year!!

Filariasis Awareness

The government of Pondicherry I think it is who has conducted a Filariasis Awareness in Pondicherry. Everything is written in Tamil and so I couldnt undestand much. It was held for three days and the funda is this..you enter from the mouth of the mosquito and get and in between there is some funda of Filariasis explained and a pill is given to you for the same. you get out at the end through the rear end of the mosquito. This is what has been told to me, I havent gone inside to try it out, I only took this picture. This giant mosquito was right next to the Gandhi Statue on the beach road.

Holiday - Panchgani - Dec 2007

Hi all,

Before I start giving you the details of my holiday, let me tell you, this was one of the best holidays I have ever had. The trip was just too good with great experiences. Before I reached this wonderful place called Panchgani I was in Mumbai for two days. I day spent in meeting relatives and one day spent in some shopping. Two great things to tell you about Mumbai:

Swati Snacks – great great great food!! This place is in Tardeo and a must go to place if you are in Mumbai. What you should definitely eat there is Panki. It is something like a dosa, wrapped up in banana leaf and then cooked. Served with a chutney. You can actually gulp down plenty of these. Actually, all the food there is great and you should also try the Corn Hadvo.
Hard Rock Café – all you music freaks who like good rock, a must go for sure. Great cocktails and snacks, fast service and of course, very good music. There is a very interesting story behind Hard Rock Café. There was this little coffee bar called Hard Rock Café in England where Clapton I think it was who used to go there. One day after playing there he gifted his guitar to the owner who hung it up on the wall there. After a couple of days, another famous musician came back, hung his guitar on the wall there and said that his is as good as Clapton’s. This is how Hard Rock Café started. Today, there are many Hard Rock Café around the world which is filled with things of musicians including shoes, shirts, gowns, car, bus and bike.

Now coming to the main part of the holiday. This place is around two and half hours from Pune up on the mountains. This is a small town but the place is totally worth it. We stayed in a bungalow which overlooks the mountains and a lake. I took the most strategic place in the house from where I can see the everything from my window and what I mean by that is that it has the best view. This bungalow is on top of a mountain and so from my window I could see the mountain going down which touches a lake and then the next mountain starts. The view is simple heaven. I don’t know why places like these are not shown on travel and living and other channels where they show exotic places around the world. You actually have to come here to be able to experience the same.

We reached Panchgani pretty late at night and so we didn’t do anything much that night. The next morning we went looking around the town. We went to a place called table land. This is Asia’s biggest flat land on top of a mountain. It is a beautiful scene from up there. We are almost with the sky. The clouds were like a couple meters above us, almost. There are horse rides available at the table top for individuals and then horse cart rides for families to go around the whole thing. You can also walk around, it is beautiful on top there. What you should also eat there is the corn. The taste of corn is just great here. They roast it or whatever you say they do on wood and serve it to you with all the masalas. Yum yum yum yum….

In the evening we went to this place called Mapro which is a factory that manufactures jams, crushes and syrups. The season right now is Strawberry. We tried the strawberry crush out there and again yum yum yum. I bought a bottle of strawberry crush to bring home. There also is a factory visit while they are working. We saw all the processes. They have a total of 3 units. The unit we went to makes 12,000 bottle of jam everyday and everyday is different flavour. There were wonderful flowers all over the factory. It was like a garden out there and there were some flowers that I had never seen in my life.

At night, we went to Mahableshwar for some shopping et all. There is this lane with shops on both sides which have a lot of things. Specialties are chappals and casino type slot machines. Good quality chappals, shoes and even the chatai (with mat) chappals. The sad part is that nothing of my size was available. Went back to this market the next day and there was this guy who kind of stretched the leather to fit my foot so that was good.

There is a small lake in Mahableshwar, nothing great, you can have boat rides there, either pedal boat or some buy will take you around. Nothing much that needs to be said about this place. Oh yes, there is a fountain placed in the middle of the water. While your ride, you can get sprayed if you get too close and if it is windy.

When you are going from Panchgani to Pune, there is a small where there is some parasailing too. Those of you who are confident of it, give it a try. The entire place is very scenic and I am sure it will be a great view from up there. If you are more confident, go up with your camera J. I didn’t try doing it, maybe some other time.

To wrap up my holiday I would recommend you all to visit this place if you can. There are direct buses from Mumbai to Panchgani and from Pune too. If you can have your own car out there, it would be better as you need to travel around a little. 3 days here would be good to look around and chillax too. There are plenty of taxes. You will have to pay to enter Panchgani but this ticket is valid for 7 days. The same with Mahableshwar. The weather right now is great, nice and chilly. If you plan going now, make sure you take proper warm clothing. That’s it folks..wishing you a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year. May this year bring in happiness, peace, success and good health in your life. Take care people.

Please click on this link to view the photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/sshoney/PanchganiDec2007?authkey=6LiPhSUzRWE