At Crossroads

Surprises are surprises. The good ones take you to the moon. And the bad ones? The bad ones unsettle you.

I guess the bad ones are the way life tests you.

When you are having the best of job satisfaction, it can happen that the project will close down.

When you are having a ball while extending a fascinating architecture of some embedded system and adding a new difficult feature to it, it can happen that your higher ups wont appreciate the level of difficulty faced because you didnt cry about it while getting the job done.

When you are working on a project that you like, and alongside pursuing a masters course through your organization, it can happen that you are asked to compromise on something that doesnt go with your earn-by-doing-what-you-love philosophy. If you say no to that added non-technical responsibility, which by the way pays you peanuts in return, you are deemed irresponsible, unprofessional and unfit for a lead job, irrespective of your abilily.

It's not really the jeopardized promotion-to-lead-role that bothers you; afterall it's a rat-race. But they are those unfair fingers raised against your professionalism and work-ethics that unsettle you. They are those doubts, misconstrued by mixing two different contexts together, about your ability to take responsibilities, that make you wonder if you are at the right place, working for the right people?

Hundreds of questions raise their heads. What is your identity? disposable labour? who makes your decisions? what are you working for, money? are those EMIs driving your decisions? why stick to the same organization when you dont feel good anymore? are you looking for stability already? where have those entrepreneurial dreams gone? why are you doing something against your wishes? what will you be doing amongst computers? answering support calls on weekends? is that what you joined IT for?

Pointed questions these। Hard to answer. Hard to ignore. On one hand you have committed yourself to a masters course, which is vital in that larger picture that you have drawn, and which requires you to stay at the same organization at least till the course completes; while on the other hand, in your organization, you are being forced to do some compromise that affects your self-image. What do you do? दगडाखाली सापडलेला हात सोडवायचा तरी कसा?

Should I be writing all this in a public blog? Well, why not? This is my *personal* blog afterall. Why always write some goody-goody stuff? Why not use it to pour your own emotions once in a while? Who knows, someone might resonate.

I know it all sounds mighty loaded. Probably this surprise has spurred a kind of quarter-life crisis in me. In any case, this is another crossroad in my life which needs attention and some thoughtful decision making. Fingers crossed.

Book Review: The Immortals of Meluha

I just finished 'Immortals of Meluha' written by Amish, and I was so taken by the book that I actually thought of putting down my thoughts about it on paper, in a sort of book-review, if you will. The guy is an IIM graduate, just like Chetan Bhagat. And though he doesnt have a way with words like Chetan, what he lacks in writing skills, he more than makes up for it in his striking imagination power.

The book has a *strange* theme, to put it mildly. It humanises gods. Initially I was taken aback by the audacity of the auther to put the gods through human motions. In India, it's equivalent to stirring a hornet's nest. And besides, I wasn't sure whether he will be able to pull it off. As far as I know, this is the first fiction which handled this out-of-box topic. But despite his comparatively unimpressive writting style, Amish delights the readers with his imagination power, racy plot, philosophical theme and political undertones. The way he intertwines mythology/folklore with historical, archeological and geographical facts and produces a saga of human emotions, is awe inspiring. Even the hues of contemporary politics are clearly evident in the way the fiction unfolds. In short the book has everything  in it. Including some masala.

The book is also rich with striking interpretations of different words and sayings that I have come to hear since my childhood but never knew the meaning of. 'Har Har Mahadev' is one such, which the author interpretes as 'every one is mahadev' and makes a huge lot of sense.

On the flipside, the book does over-dramtize some sequences, as if the author was dreaming up a movie sequence. One that specially comes to mind is when Sati leaps in air to get hit by an agnibaan which was aimed at Shiva. The events that follow seem artificial and make you feel like the author is looking for a movie endorsement of his story. ;)

Besides, the character introdcution of the leading ladies like Sati and Anandmayee are a bit too raunchy for one's taste, especially in the context of the 'godly' theme. Apart from these, some sequences like Shiva's dreams and nightmares involving those cries of help are a bit too detailed on anatomy as well. And rather than supporting the storyline, I think the raunchy anatomy details actually distract the readers (like me). ;)

Overall, the distractions notwithstanding, The Immortals of Meluha is a good, pacy read. The time-machine imagination which weaves events and things that existed at different points in time, over thousands of years, in a timeless fashion, will definitely take you to a different world. It's imagination on steroids. Enjoy it!

Tryst with HDR on Linux

Another delightful experience with Ubuntu and opensource in general.

I had been to a Raigad trip recently, and had got some pics in my DSLR. On checking out the photos, I realised I had couple of genuine cases for trying out HDR technique. Unfortunately, for each of the cases, I had only one image, and not an exposure-bracketed set of three images, as is usually required for composing an HDR image. Yet I had to try something. So what I did was to prepare three (virtually) exposure-bracketed copies from the same RAW image through ufraw, and thought of feeding them into some HDR software.

Having those three differently exposed images in hand, allowed me to start looking for an HDR software for Linux. It's sometimes disappointing to see lots of such softwares are created mainly for the Windows platform, or sometimes for a Mac. An example would be the popular one - Photomatix

On my previous Ubuntu (Jaunty), I had this Qtfpsgui software. But it didn't appeal, and confused me a bit. Besides, it requires K-Desktop libraries, which would take quite some time for download and installation. So I kept searching for an alternative. And this is when I chanced upon this software called - Enfuse. It's available as part of the Enblend software pack for Linux, and is there in the Ubuntu repository. So all you need to do, to install it, is to type "sudo apt-get install enblend" in the terminal and press enter!! I got it installed on my Lucid Lynx setup.

In addition to Enfuse and Ufraw, I used one enfuse_raw.sh script mentioned on this page. That script uses ufraw in batch mode to expose a RAW file using different exposure compensation levels. It then uses enfuse to combine those images into an HDR image. So all you have to do is - to feed your RAW file to the enfuse_raw.sh script and specify how many different expousures to process/extract from the RAW file, for combining into an HDR. Run the command, wait for maybe couple of minutes, and bingo! Your HDR image is ready.

Here, check these few images after they were processed into HDR using ufraw-enfuse combo on Linux. To emphasise how HDR has impacted the image details, against mere exposure adjustments, I have prepared a collage of each HDR (big size) surrounded by exposure adjusted images (thumbnails). I am sure you will appreciate what a fine job Enfuse does.

1. Varandha Ghaat:
The mountain on the left side is in dark shadows. You increase the exposure, the details in the shadow become clearer, but the sky and the area in sunlight blows out. Decrease the exposure, skies and the area in the sunlight is detailed but details in the shadow are gone. Enter HDR.


2. Shivaji Maharaj:
Similar case here. Increase the exposure to get details in the statue, and you end up blowing up the blue sky white. Decrease the exposure, get a cool blue sky, but the statue appears as a silhoutte. Now check the HDR.


3. Varandha Ghaat (again):
Same dilemma. Left side area is in dark shadow, while the right side area is in bright sunlight. Camera doesnt know how to balance. Hire HDR.


Summary of what I did:
1. Install enblend and ufraw - "sudo apt-get install enblend, ufraw"
2. Get the enblend_raw.sh script from this page - http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=741161
3. Feed the RAW file to the script. e.g. "./enfuse_raw.sh my_snap.raw -3"

Time to marvel at what you can quite easily achieve using opensource, without spending a penny. *Legally*.

A Lazy Drive to Kaas Plateau

Recently on an online forum, I was following a discussion about locations around Pune for long drive and nature photography. Seeing the rave reviews Kaas plateau was getting, I was tempted. Only recently I had done the Nizampur-Pachad ride and time was ripe for a long cosy drive. Besides, Kaas looked very safe from journey point of view.

My week-long leave was ending on Friday, and postponement of Ayodhya verdict meant there was no reason to hold back the plan. So on Friday, 24th September, I took my photography gear and left for Kaas.

This time, I wasn't eager to do high speeds. I was more looking for lazing around on the drive, and enjoy the morning drive. So after leaving Pune via Chandani Chowk -> Bypass route, in an hour I reached the Khambataki Ghaat section. This is one ghaat which can get very boring to drive sometimes, especially if you are driving a car. The road is only enough for 2 vehicles at a time, and the trucks and buses are very intent on overtaking each other on the slopes, choking everybody behind! First - the slopes are daunting, and second - these trucks and buses are usually overloaded and don't have enough power left to go for an overtake. So this overtaking ordeal ultimately ends up looking as if those big vehicles are making slow love to each other, with each one of them blaming the other for lacking agility due to size! hmmmmmmmmmMMMMmmmmmmmMMmm ... (silence. catch breath) .... HMMMMMMMMmmMMMMM ... HHHOINNGGGG .... (silence again) .... hmmmmMMMmmmmMMMMM ... You can only pray they have a quick orgasm and be done with this drama sooner.

I took the route to Satara, which goes from under NH4, after Bhuinj; rather than the usual route which takes right-turn on NH4 itself. A local guy whom I gave lift, guided me through some narrow lanes and roads and finally we came at the Raajwada Bus Stop - a busy chowk with the Raajdhani Palace tower (probably a hotel) in front. From there, you keep to the left and climb the slope in front. When the slope ends, take a right, and then an immediate left. Within 200-300 meters, you notice the tunnel, from where you take right just before the tunnel. That's it. Kaas is around 15kms from there. This drive is nice, with good road, and views.

I reached Kaas in half an hour, and to my surprise, the flowers and plateau turned out to be a bummer. The flowers are teeny-tiny ones on 10cm saplings. Violet, yellow, white is all we have there. Only thing is they are there in large numbers, so due to density, the green shade is hidden behind these yellow, white and violet shades. That's it. There is nothing more to it. If at all you are going, this is all you are going to find there. Teeny tiny flowers; rather than big pleasant flowers. So set your expectations correctly to avoid the kind of disappointment many people (including me) had there. Seeing my DSLR mounted on a tripod, many of the people there felt I was a pro(!) snapping up photos for some newspaper. Many a ladies asked me forthrightly - "कुठल्या पेपरसाठी फोटो काढताय का? पेपरमधे ही फुलं इतकी मोठी कशी दिसतात? लोकांचा भ्रमनिरास होतो इथं येउन ही छोटी फुलं बघून." (are you taking these photos for some newspaper? how do these flowers look so big in the newspapers? it's disappointing to see these tiny flowers when we come here looking for big pleasant ones as shows in the papers.) What would I tell them when I myself was feeling a bit disappointed. I just briefly explaned them how different lenses are used to blur the backgrounds and achive magnifications.

After doing some photography there, I decided to move on little further to Bamnoli, which I had found to be very scenic couple of years ago, during our trek to Vasota fort. This drive was also quite pleasant, especially because we enter the Koyana Wildlife Sanctuary little distance after Kaas and the road winds through dense mini-forests. By that time, the atmostphere had dramatically changed from glaring-sun to heavy showers in a matter of half an hour! Drive till Bamnoli was very good and pleasant due to all these factors.

Had a tasty and hence sumptious lunch in Bamnoli. Did some photo-session after the showers were reduced to light drizzles; and left looking for a road to Tapola. My plan was to go to Tapola enjoying the scenic drive, then onwards to Mahabaleshwar and then to Pune via NH4. But that was not to be. The road was already bad, and it prograssively went on getting worse. After 5-6kms, there came a situation when I lost confidence in me making it to Tapola in reasonable time and with all tyres intact. If something was to happen to my car in that area, even a towing jeep would have refused to go bring my car from there. That was the only time I missed my bike dearly. When you want to roam around in docile conditions, like a highway or a good road, car is a perfect vehicle. But when the conditions turn hostile, and you still have the desire to push forward, there cant be anything better than a powerful bike. In such hostile conditions, a car becomes a liability, while a bike becomes an asset capable of rescuing you.

I dropped the plan to go any further. Somehow managed an about turn on that small road, and came back to Bamnoli -> Kaas -> Satara Tunnel -> Raajwada Bus Stop (Satara) -> NH4. Rains had lashed whole of Satara city and considerable part of NH4. So I kept my speed in check. But even in that situation I could see cars racing around, playing catchup with each other. Roads after rains make me very nervous, and I am extra-cautious while driving on wet surfaces. One mistake, one case of slight aquaplaning at high speed and you risk your time and organs, if not life. Dying will still relieve you from this world, but if you end up losing an organ like a hand or a leg, it can turn rest of your life from heaven into hell. There is only a thin line between daredevilry and foolhardiness. You are good as long as you appreciate this and take calculated risks.

I also had my share of being challenged for a race. There was this guy in a Maruti 800 (of all the cars!), flashing his beams and sounding his horn behind me, even though all the remaining three lanes were totally empty. I was doing around 80-90kmph, so it was not like I was choking the high-speed lane either. I waited for him to choose another lane, but he was probably on a high, so I gave up and switched to the middle lane. He came in parallel and revved hard couple of times. I guessed he was challenging me for a race. I neglected it. But if at all I had a chance to have a dialogue with him, I would have given him a real piece of my snob-mind - "Dude, you are overlooking some hard facts here. Read it again. It's a Palio. It races with a Honda City vtec, not with a Maruti 800. My car wont forgive me if I pitch her against an M800. I see you have got some fancy alloys there and that sound of free-flow-exhaust; probably an esteen engine too, given your audacity to challenge a 1.6 Palio. Good for you. But if there is a race, then let it be amongst equals - hold on till I bring my Apache!" Some neat शिष्टपणा!

I slowed down, and let him pass disappointed. Later on I saw him challenging a Chevy Optra/Cruz. So I gathered, the guy probably had a very painful breakup recently. Better to leave him alone. ;)

Reached home comfortably that evenining. Apart from some photographs, and a lazy long drive, there was not much to take away from this trip. I found Kaas to be grossly overrated. If you are going there only for the flowers, you are in for a major disappointment, unless you are kind of a 'plant-guy' who knows in and outs of plants and flowers, and can identify one from the other.

If you are going for a long drive, it's definitely worth a drive till Bamnoli. One can also do boating at Bamnoli. Though, one note of caution - September last week and October 1st/2nd week is the time when the flowers bloom in Kaas. To translate it in English, on these weekends, there will be lot of tourists visiting the area, and a lot of cars and vehicles on the road as a result. So choose your destination wisely, depending upon which day in the week you are going.

Bike Ride: Pune to Raigad via Nizampur-Pachad Shortcut

After a long spell of lethargy, our group was finally coming together for Raigad trip on 2nd October. But despite my attempts to convince them about a bike-ride till Pachad, public-transport won the vote with couple of guys sitting on the fence. All my attempts were in vain, as they always are, when it comes to convincing people about a long bike ride.

When all this was going, I was also looking for a possible route to the base of Raigad. Usual routes are either through Tamhini ghat, or through Varandha ghat. The one through Tamhini ghat, which was closer, goes like -

Pune - Chandani Chowk - Pirangut - Paud - Mulashi - Tamhini Ghat - Nizampur - Mangaon - NH17 - Mahad - Pachad - Raigad (chitta-darawaja)

But I was pleasantly surprised, when I came across one strikingly camouflaged short-cut, which connects Nizampur and Pachad directly. Camouflaged, because when you ask Google Maps about a route from Nizampur-to-Pachad, it takes you through Mahad. But look closely on the satellite terrain view, and you will find one thin streak of zigzag line going through the mountains, connecting Nizampur to Pachad. And such a hint of a bike ride through lonely villages in remote mountain areas, is more than enough to seduce any biker worth his salt. And it did'nt take a moment before I fell for it.

I had this crazy ride of around 6hours, couple of years ago, while on a journey to find out Torana. That route had taken me through one काढवे खिंड (Kadhave pass), which was such a remote place, that, all along the 10-20km ride on a half-baked 3-ft road, for around 2 hours, I was the lone human-being in that area. So when I came across this surprise route from Nizampur-to-Pachad, I knew my fantasies about the route will just eat me from inside till I go on that ride. Fortunately I had a week-long leave coming, and had ample time.

So one fine morning, I got ready, had a breakfast and left for Raigad. The night before, I had prepared my camera-bag to securely hold the tripod making it a perfect photography kit. But Tamhini itself is a lonely place, and given the the horror stories I had heard, about those on bikes being robbed and those in cars being waylaid, I decided against carrying any valuables. Besides, the area I was going to venture into, was totally unknown, and expected to be absolutely deserted. So it was better to be safe rather than losing my costly photography gear, which, in India, can't be insured either. So I carried only some cash, my trekking-mobile (Samsung Marine with BSNL prepaid 1P), and my Moto Milestone (insured) for its 5mp camera, hard GPS and excellent compass.

Anyway, I kept driving through the Tamhini and realised one thing very clearly - Tamhini on a weekday, is much different from Tamhini on a weekend. No maddening traffic, no horns, no rush, no crowd and no sex-starved youth letting their frustration out by dancing in the middle of the road on cheap beats with vulgar steps and making hideous sounds! On a weekday, the Tamhinis are serene and peaceful and you can have all of it to yourself. I drove on, gave lifts to locals, asked around about देवराई (sacred grooves) locations, had a small detour of around 30kms to Pali-Siddhagad, and reached Nizampur by around 1pm. In Nizampur, there is one reasonably large-sized board indicating the direct route to Pachad. There was also this Warning that due to a bridge construction, road between some villages was not available. I neglected the warning and went ahead.

The road was good enough to do decent speed without getting irritated and the breeze was, well, sheer pleasant. It also helped that for most part of the day, it remained cloudy without any drizzle.

After driving 15-20km for around half an hour, the road started coming apart, and at the same time it started getting more and more scenic. And then I entered the mountainous area with the road enveloped in quite dense jungle from both sides. I had heard about leopard sightings in the area around Raigad, so was on lookout for any movement in the bushes, but lost hopes in short time. Big cats are big snobs. They never give a damn about people dying to have a glimpse of them in the wild.

The last 7-8km stretch of this road is horrible. It takes major chunk of time to cover this part only. But the silver lining is the scenery and the remote, deserted area. There is one place here, called बांधणीचा माळ. The eerie silence of the place haunts you. It's very scenic, calm, green and tranquil; but haunting nevertheless. Typical of such remote places in Sahyadris.

After crossing this stretch, I reached the जिजामाता-समाधी and from there Pachad and Raigad base is hardly 1km. Reached the चित्त-दरवाजा in a jiffy. Had a look around. टकमक-टोक आणि हिरकणीचा-बुरुज are quickly identifiable. I stared at the mountain range around, trying to make Lingana out of it somewhere, but, to my disappointment, couldnt. Went to drop a local to his home at Raigadwadi below, glanced around from there, and there it was! Lingana! It evoked all those dreams about that final-frontier trek of Torana to Raigad. Lingana, Railing Plateau, बोराट्याची नाळ, सिंगापूरची नाळ - all these terms evoke a huge emotional response. Hopefully I will get to do this trek this year. Though on this trek, which is sure to load-test my physical endurance and mental strength, I think, it will be a hara-kiri to go alone. This time I will need to find some company.

Promising to return back on 2nd October, I left चित्त-दरवाजा in a little hurry. It was already around 3:30pm, and I wanted to cross Tamhini and get to at least Pirangut before dark, which means not later than 6:30pm.

It again took me around half-an-hour for that horrible 7-8km patch. But then, once smooth road was reached, I threw caution to the winds and started working up the throttle. By 4:30pm I was in Nizampur and had started racing against time to reach home early. Maintained reasonably high speed of 80-90kmph quite consistently in Tamhini and as a result, reached home by 6:30pm!! Nizampur to Pune in 2hours straight.

Overall stats of this trip -
Date: 21-Sep-2010 (Tuesday)
Route: Pune - Chandani Chowk - Pirangut - Paud - Mulashi - Tamhini Ghat - Nizampur - Pachad
Distance Breakup:
Pune to Nizampur ~ 110km (at least 2 hours)
Nizampur to Pachad ~ 30km (at least 1 hour)
Total Distance Travelled: Around 300kms
Total Time on Bike: From 9:30am to 6:30pm ~ Around 9hours of biking! That's my personal record. 6hours was the previous one.
Road Quality:
Pune to Nizampur - Varies from very good to very pathetic. Most of it is good. 7 out of 10.
Nizampur to Pachad - Again 60% of the road is a driving pleasure, 20% okayish, 20% absolutely horrible (the last 7-8km stretch). While on the way back, I got a crazy idea of filming the road while on the move. Followed the impulse and here is the result -

Overall Ride Rating: Must do at least once. Views and the tranquillity is to die for. During monsoon, the green syrup is sure to soothe the eyes.

It's all about the green syrup to the eyes, majestic mountains to belittle the heart and the tranquillity to calm the mind. Add to that - the cheerful bird-chirping around you in that peaceful environment! All of this conspire together to take you into a totally different world, where there are no niggling issues, no core-dumps without a cause and no day-to-day politics to disgust .... just some mysterious, peaceful and cheerful forms of nature around you. It's a kind of spiritual experience and believe me, it's mighty addictive.

High Speed Exploits - 151 kmph

Now that my car is 'official', time for show-off'ing some drives and exploits. First up is the top-speed I clocked while on my trip to Sangli, and back.

While leaving for Sangli, the idea was to stay away from trucks and avoid high speeds, as I had learnt driving only a month ago. But when the road gets smooth, when the excessive traffic withers away and the long stretch of lane seems vacant to quite a distance, the eternal etch appears from nowhere and throttle starts feeling the pressure.

While on the way to Sangli, initially, when I was seduced, the aim was to break free of the 125kmph mark that I had reached on my Apache. It's a shame if a car cannot comfortably outperform a bike. And comfortably it did, thanks to those 100 horses under the hood. I was quickly onto 130kmph. Now that blood was tasted, and the car showed absolutely no indication of backing up, with no vibrations or loss of steering/control, in no time the target was remapped to 150kmph. I did reach 144kmph in few seconds, and there was quite a bit of distance till I could go full-throttle with the A-pad touching the floor ... but ... there were those cars, around 500 meters from me, braking frantically to avoid potholes! For a moment, there was this intense desire to go full-throttle, attain 150kmph and then brake full; but these are the moments where your mind should rule over your heart, for you to get a second chance at attaining your target. Thankfully mine did. A-pad was released, B-pad and C-pad in action with quick shifting of gears, to bring in engine braking to aid the B-pad. From 144kmph, I dropped to 2-kmph with around 5-10 feet to spare from the car in front. I noticed it was a cherry-red Maruti Ritz, and I wished I had banged into her rear with full might, instead of sparing her. I just hate her pathetic looking rear. Wonder what Maruti Suzuki people were smoking while designing cars like Ritz and A-Star. And let's not even talk about Wagon-R.

After that, I didn't get a chance to speed up till I reached home. So 144kmph remained an eye-sour throughout the weekend. I kept whining, and looking forward to the return journey.

Came Monday morning, and in an hour of sedate driving to warm-up the engine, I reached Peth and took to the NH4, like a fish to water. In next few seconds, I was into 130 kmph, inching towards the target. There was quite a bit of traffic than usual, but it was in the middle lane. Even the bus/asiad drivers, who have this nasty and irritating habit of choking the high speed lane with 60kmph speed, were considerate enough to take to the middle lane. The high speed lane was empty for quite a long stretch, and that was enough of a bait for me. I stepped on the gas. 140 - 145 -147 -148 - 149 - 150(!!) - 151 - danger-ahead - brakes - down to 130 - 125 - 115 - cruise. I saw Karad flyover. You don't realise how time and distance passes by when your mind is fully onto something else.


Speed was down to a more of 60'ish owing to pedestrians and traffic congestion near the flyover. And I spotted a traffic police waving at me, asking me to stop. After assessing presence of all car-related documents in the car, I slowed down to see what he wants. He wasn't going to get a bribe from me, that was for sure. But he turned out to be a highway police, asking for a ride to a toll-booth where there was going to be a रास्ता-रोको (road-blockage) to protest against rise in tolls across NH4 toll booths. So all my plans of breaking the 160kmph barrier, and more importantly, breaking the 3-hrs Sangli-Pune record of my bike, dissolved into thin air. He was approaching retirement, so I kept the car near a more descent 100kmph mark to avoid making him uncomfortable with the speed, and to avoid getting a lecture on how high speeds cause accidents and how this current generation is being reckless etc etc.

I dropped him around 100kms from Pune, and after that, due to morning traffic, there was no chance to speed up. 100-120 kmph is what you can get and maintain max.

At a hindsight, I cant help but praise the car like anything. I have read/heard stories of how sedans like Esteem start vibrating during the 140 kmph mark. This car, totally living up to her reputation, didn't even make me feel like I am doing high speed. Only the blurring trees in the corner of my eyes, made me appreciate the kind of speed I was into. My heart was beating quite normal despite the adrenaline surge.

Next up on the radar is the Mecca of a speed-junkie - The Mumbai-Pune Expressway. Top speed of a Palio is said to be capped at 165kmph. From my assessment at 151 kmph, I feel it can do much more than that. My black beauty, owing to those 100 bhp, should be able to make it to 175-180.

My job will be to take this horse to water. Let's see how much she drinks.

An Affaire with an Italian Beauty

Sleepless nights of endless research, the eternal state of confusion and two-minds, shaky hands while making the deal (for the fear of being deceived due to lack of car-knowledge), choking secrecy (to give a surprise to my parents), month-long painful patience while learning to drive and the BITS MS exam that only tested the level of my patience; after all this trouble, finally it's official. I got a car couple months back - the much sought after - Fiat Palio Stile 1.6 Sports. It's a scorcher, rest assured.

I had to hold back blogging about couple of quality drives due to the secrecy.

Finally last weekend, I drove the car to Sangli. Told my parents that I have quite a bit of luggage in the rickshaw, so come down on the street to help me pick it up. They did come down waiting for a rickshaw, and when a black beauty approached them, by chance they had a look at the driver, and they couldn't decide if that was a dream or a reality. It was their son, driving that beautiful car.

My dad kept asking me - "tell me the truth, who's car is this? कुणाची कार घेउन आलायस ही??". I had to show him the RC for him to believe that it's my own car in reality! After an hour, mom was still doing in-and-out on the terrace to check the car out. What was needed was somebody secretly filming the whole episode. It was fabulous.

My dad never gets perturbed by surprises. He remains quite composed. But that day, he was bowled. Mouth open. It was a bigger shock for both of them because they didn't even know that I can drive a car now.

Last two months - July and August - have been, without a doubt, the busiest and hectic-most times of my life till date. All those troubles and tortures of those times, were all worth it. I had expected huge cheers from my parents on this surprise, but the extent of it, I had grossly under-estimated.

Enough of emotions, now on to some stats about the car. As I said, it's the much sought after hatchback in the used car segment (along with the yellow S10). It's a top-end Sports edition of a 2008 model, black Palio Stile with 1.6 litre engine, producing 100BHP of power. Such a scorcher of a car, which had run merely 40k kms in 2yrs, I got it for peanuts, compared to it's on-road price of around 5.5lacs at the time of purchase. This, thanks to the very low resale value of Fiat cars in general, and Palios in specific.

Many people criticised me for buying a used car, which is discontinued now, with the bad reputation of Fiat-TATA after-sales-service on the back, and which is known for its low mileage. A lot of these bad vibes about the Fiat cars, IMO, is more of a FUD campaign - Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt. Of-course there are problems with the car and the service, but they are not soooo significant, for these cars, built like a tank, to deserve peanuts in resale value. I was convinced. And Warren Buffet's principle about stock market, convinced my other paranoid mind. "Be fearful when people are greedy; and be greedy when people are fearful". In pre-owned cars market, prices clearly tell this story - people lust after a Maruti, while they are very fearful of a Fiat. My choice was clear.

Besides, it was a love at first sight for me with regards to this car. And then, good, trust-worthy middleman, clear norms about deal-making and positive outcome during check-up at Pandit Auto made it easier for me.

All in all, here she stands at my door. I have driven her for around a 1000kms now, but apart from a minute chuk-chuk sound (which is suspected to be a WA/WB issue), she has been delightful till date. The handling, steering feedback, total assurance of control at very high speeds and acceptable mileage being the highlights. This deal has probably been the best value-proposition I have accepted till date.

Somebody on Team-BHP has summed up emotions towards Palio very succinctly -
"One thing you have to keep in mind when you buy a Palio. True Italian beauty that she is, expect her to be temperamental; needing love and attention, unlike the German/Korean and Japanese."

Fuck the "Peace-Process", will you?

It was so infuriating to see Indian pride trampled at the hands of some stone-age barbarians ruling Pakistaan. What is absolutely horrific is that the Indian leadership still wants to continue "constructive-dialogue". Fuck the dialogue for god's sake. This is not a dialogue, but a monologue with the Pakistani leadership hell-bent on showing India down in whichever way possible. Even though that way involves trashing international protocol and behaving like teenage dorm-room bullies, with your guests. The message is loud and clear - THEY DON'T WANT A DIALOGUE - they just want to play with and insult India. They must be having such a fun. Dangle the peace-carrot towards India. India makes noise about terrorism, but then falls in line eventually and goes for the carrot, and presents them with an opportunity to slap her across the face. That too by a state like Pakistaan, which could never match the defence capabilities, let alone progress of India; a nation which is on the brink of bankruptcy due to failed attempts at matching India's military strength by borrowing funds and technology from anybody and everybody; a nation which has long nurtured a deep inferiority complex towards India, and hence is always on a lookout for an occasion for mud-slinging and bickering to pull India down anyhow. WHY THE FUCK DO WE NEED A DIALOGUE WITH SUCH A NATION?

Is that because we know Pakistaan is already a failed state and that it has got nothing to lose in a fight/war with India? Is that the reason we are being aggressively-defensive? Do we fear that a nuclear attack from a nothing-to-lose state will destroy our well-to-do cities? Then why don't we redirect all our energies towards a star-wars like project, rather than wasting millions on the doomed peace-process and J&K upkeep? If we can send a satellite to moon, we are very much capable of developing technology for defending ourselves from such an attack. Why are we under such a moral obligation to keep the peace-process going? Even at our own expense? Will we ever learn anything from Israel? Just because we are bigger and stronger than Pakistaan doesn't mean we have the moral responsibility to be understanding. This is not about inter-personal relationships. This is about inter-state inter-national relationships. One shouldn't apply moksha-centric inter-personal-relationship guidelines to international matters. As far as international relationships are concerned the whole world is still in the stone age, with nations bullying each other on the basis of their military strength (although every nation has it's own mask to hide such an instinct from others). So rather than trying to be a teacher's pet here (and we all know who the 'teacher' is), be the bully, show your might and take the dogs head on. India's pride is at stake here for god's sake!!

The idiots at the helm of India right now, need to understand this. Getting rebuked at the hands of dogs DOES undermine an elephant's pride. So either don't pay attention to the barking dogs; or if you do, then make sure that YOU dictate the terms, not the dogs. And if you can't do this, you don't deserve the power. Step down and leave for Himalayas.


PS:
In case the reason for this outburst is not clear to you, read these news items -
Agra again: Qureshi kills peace talks
Islamabad's 'recklessness' may've been part of script

Visapur Fort Trek (3-July-2010)

With the setting of monsoon and the thick cloud cover, activities like trekking and motor-biking into the mountains come as no-brainers. Especially if you are living in Pune. It takes a really sad person to stay at home in such a magical environment. Also better to enjoy whatever serenity left in the nature, before the burgeoning population destroys everything. Case in point - Sinhagad, Lohagad.

Anyways, Visapur was on my mind for a long time. It was sad that I had been to Lohagad, but gave Visapur a miss that time. So finally with the monsoon setting in, Visapur was finalised. One of my colleagues was to join me in the morning local. But he didnt. So I was all by myself for the trek. Not my first time going on my own though. Once the mind sets on a trek, there should be no notion of turning back. So I marched on alone.

On my way, during breakfast at a local hotel on the way, the hotel-owner cautioned me against 'dangerous' route to the Visapur fort. He kept asking why I didnt bring any company with me. I guess he was more worried about me falling into the valley while climbing and nobody knowing about it. So much so that he avoided answering my question about the route to the top, and suggested I should go to Lohagad as it was safe. That was not an option. I didnt ask him again.

I kept walking, and another local that I met on the road suggested I go up the stairs towards Bhaje caves and in the midway, where the stairs meet the mountain slope, take the mountain route। I followed it, and just as I was to divert from the route, I found couple of teenagers sitting on the guard-walls. I enquired about the route, and as luck would have it, one of the guys was going on the fort himself and was happy to lead. Problem solved. In fact, as a bonus, we had three more lives giving us company - 3 cutie-pie adorable pups. One of them bright-white and very sharp, and other two light-brown with white patches, and very feeble at heart. Cute.

We started trekking upwards. It was a bit steep and we were going quite fast. So after sometime, I asked him to wait for sometime, and I went to relieve myself. Just as I was about to go near a bush, a rabbit shot past me in a flash. First time in my life, I saw a rabbit in the wild. I realised the origins of that Marathi vernacular proverb - '......ला गेला अणि ससा सापडला'. Guess, our ancients were quite good observers. They had a saying ready for every 'sensitive' situations. ;)

Anyways, we continued and along the way, the local guy showed me couple of Lava bird running helter-skelter and even tried setting his pups on them! But thankfully the birds were sharper and vanished in the bushes. Continuing, we reached a very small hamlet called Dhanagar-vadi, comprising of not more than 4-5 houses. That Dhanagar-vadi platue was quite exotic though. Camping in the area would be great fun in full moon, provided those crabs dont ruin the night. Seriously.

On the way to the top, we had to tread couple of quite exposed and risky corners. The pups were all eager and raring to go with us, but were petrified to the guts to negotiate those corners and climbs. So we carried them on the corners where we were not sure of ourselves! Fortunately, there was no drama and we reached the top safely after finally climbing the fortification wall.

The plateu on the top of Visapur fort is huge and expansive. It took us almost 2-3 hours to just go around the fort. There are lots of relics on the fort, including few Hanuman carvings in the stone, few Temples, lots of water tanks filled with clean water, some caves and the fortifications. At lots of locations, the fortifications are still rock-solid. Good enough in my opinion to sustain canon fires even in these days.

Apart from that, quite a huge expanse, at the base on Malavali side, is visible from the top. So huge, that I kept wondering if even a super-wide-angle like 10-22mm will be able to do justice to the view or not. On a clear morning after heavy rains, this location has all the ingredients for a photographer to compose a winner. Alas, my photography is doomed after I detected a fault in my 17-85mm, and after forcing a refund for the same, I am still not finding enough time to go to Mumbai and pickup the Tammy 17-50mm (non VC) that I have set my eyes upon. So I had to make do with my old reliable Powershot 530A with CHDK mod. But 5MP resolution is just not enough to capture the intricate details of the terrain viewed from the top. It just kept reminding me how big a difference a DSLR makes.

We spent a lot of time on the fort wandering around. The area is full of small mounds and greenary and is literally infested with all types and sizes of crabs. From a very small ones to absolutely giant ones. The local guys who was accompanying me was insane and kept catching the crabs, to the extent that when he saw a *giant* crab in one of the fresh water tanks, he entered the tank to catch that crab, without any regards to personal safety! That crab was big and muscular, so much so, that one snap of his claws would cut a human finger into two! To my surprise he came out with the big bad muscular crab holding its claws in his hands.

Later on I talked him into setting the crab free and before he did that, I accepted his challenge and held the crab in my own hands, despite the underlying fear of the crab attacking my fingers and wrist. My fingers earn me my daily meal, damn it. No fingers, no typing, no software, no fun, no money, and no hopes. But I somehow managed to hold on to that scary thing which was moving vigorously, making sounds and cracking his claws.

We also had some knowledge transfer there. It's on the Visapur fort that I came to know that crabs or herbivorous (dont know how true). He also told me one horrible procedure of throwing those giant crabs in hot oil to prepare an oinment to treat serious and deadly skin burns. I shuddered at the level of cruelty and changed the subject.

While we were roaming around the fort, we noticed at least 3 routes to the top of the fort.
One route was: Bhaje caves stairs-mountain slope-Dhangarwadi-connecting ridge-Visapur Fort. This is the route that we took.
Second route was through Paatane village near Malavali, which, I think, we pass just after the Malavali fly-over on the expressway. A route from Paatane take one to the top through a ravine which seemed quite easy to negotiate.
The third route came from Lohagad, on the Pavanaa-dam side of Visapur. This route also seemed quite simple, though the final climb appeared to be a little bit tricky.

From the top, it should have been easy to notice Tung, Tikona, Lohadag, Korigad, Pavana dam and maybe Duke's nose as well. But due to the characteristic monsson weather that day, hardly any of them was visible. Bhaat-raashi mountain was visible though, being quite close to Visapur. We also noticed couple of shanties on the slopes of these mountains, and kept wondering how the people living there would make their ends meet. And then, like typical metro public, I blind-folded myself, denied existance of people who have to fight harsh conditions for a day's meeth-bhaakar (which itself is not guarranteed) all life long, shoved myself into the cosy, comfortable, feel-good mindset and moved on. Crocodile tears - what would we do without you!
Somewhere it ached though, and somewhere down there, the pain persisted.

We started climbing down. The pups were again restless on the slopes and corners. Any regular trekker would know that climbing down is a bigger risk than climbing up, especially so, when the rains make the trekking route slippary. With my heart in my mouth, somehow I managed to negotiate those slippary patches and risky, exposed corners. On the way down, the local guy dug up a 'kand-mool' for me. It did smell eatable, but I didnt dare. It reminded me the climax of "Into the Wild" where the camper guy eats wrong roots, which turn out deadly. So I just followed the thumb rule of - dont eat any roots until you are absolutely sure about them.

Anyways, we descended and parted ways. On the way down, I also visited Bhaaje caves. Got bored in 5 minutes. Came down, had heavy snacks and lots of egg-whites. caught a local and returned to Pune. Turns out, even though I had to go on my own, without any company, this is one of the best treks I had done recently. Of-course there is no match to what happened on Harishchandra-gad. But all in all, a very informative, exhausting, thrilling (the giant crab!!) and 'real' trek after so many days, and that too in the monsoon weather.

More snaps from the trek here on my picasa stream - - http://picasaweb.google.com/shyran

पिपात मेल्या ओले उंदीर

बा. सी. मर्ढेकरांची 'पिपात मेले ओल्या उंदीर' वाचल्यापासून मी खूप अस्वस्थ आहे.

झेपलीच नाही मला बिलकुल.

आणि त्याहून जास्त त्रास मला कशाचा झाला असेल तर तो मर्ढेकरांच्या शब्दरचनेचा.

'पिपात मेले ओल्या उंदीर' पेक्षा 'पिपात ओल्या मेले उंदीर' जास्त समर्पक आणि सरळ-सोपं झालं नसतं का?
का 'ओल्या' हे विशेषण पिपाबद्दल आहे हे प्रयत्नपूर्वक समजून घ्यायचा मानसिक त्रास द्यायचाच लोकांना?

हा जो त्रास मला झाला/अजुनही होतोय, त्यावरचा उतारा म्हणून, आणि त्याचा सूड म्हणून, केलेलं हे त्या कवितेचं विडंबन.

विडंबन वाचण्याआधी मूळ कविता वाचलीत तर, न जाणो, तुम्हाला हे विडंबन आवडूनही जाईल कदाचित. मूळ कवितातुम्हाला इथे वाचायला मिळेल.

विडंबनाचा विषय तसा थोडा अतरंगीच आहे. विडंबनच अतरंगी, मग विषयाला का सोडा? असो. तर एक सांगकाम्या-ओं-नाम्या नोकर एकावर एक 'फ्री' मिळालेला पिंप उघडून न पाहता तसाच घेउन येतो. त्याची मालकीण तो उघडून बघते मात्र, आणि तिच्या मुखातून आलेलं, त्या नोकराबद्दल तिला असलेला आदर, प्रेम, आपुलकी, जिव्हाळा दर्शवणारं, शब्दांमृत, म्हणजे हे काव्य -

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पिपात मेल्या ओले उंदीर
असे आणलेसंच कसे, बघितल्याविण

फुकट मिळाले म्हणुनी आणशी
न बघता तू, बुद्धिहीन

बीळ सोडुनी सांग कसे ते
पिपात (या) आले ओले होऊन?

दिवस सांडला बोंबलत फिरण्यात
या गिळायला, आता हातपाय धूऊन

अंगात ना काही शक्ती आहे,
डोक्यात ना कुणी युक्ती आहे.

पोरींवरती लहरी डोळे
फेकशी पण

मधाळ स्मित;
त्या ओठांवरचे, ते ही
बेकलाइटी, बेकलाइटी!

रागाने करीसी पिंप आडवे,
पिपात(ले) उंदीर पळाले! पळाले!

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आवडेल, न आवडेल कुणास ठाउक. नाही आवडलं तर तुमच्या भावना पोहोचवण्यासाठी comments section आहेच.

पण जर चुकून माकून आवडलं, तर त्याचं श्रेय अत्र्यांना. कारण डोक्यात गेलेला हा किडा झेंडूच्या फुलांतून आला असावा असं माझं self assessment आहे.

लिनक्स, विंडोज आणि कुसुमाग्रज

Linux आणि Windows या दोन Operating systems आहेत हे आपल्याला माहिती असेलच. Windows वापरणारे आणि linux वापरून पुन्हा नाईलाजास्तव windows platform वर परतावं लागलेले लोक windows ला किती दात-ओठ खाऊन नावं ठेवतात त्याचीही आपल्याला कल्पना असेल. पण मी आत्ता जो एक वेगळा angle तुम्हाला सांगणार आहे तो मात्र नक्कीच तुम्हाला नविन असेल याची खात्री आहे मला.

मराठीचा अभ्यास ज्यांनी केलाय किंवा ज्यांना साहित्याची थोडीफार का होइना जाण आहे, त्यांना कुसुमाग्रजांच्या कविता माहित असायला काही हरकत नाही. आता तुम्ही म्हणाल linux/windows आणि कुसुमाग्रजांच्या कविता यांचा काय संबंध आहे? संबंध आहे. कुसुमाग्रजांच्या कवितांचा कुठलाही पूर्वग्रह न ठेवता बारकाईने अभ्यास केल्यास असं दिसून येईल की, तुमच्या-आमच्या सारख्या मर्त्य मानवांनाच नाही तर कुसुमाग्रजांसारख्या दैवी कवीला देखिल windows चा प्रचंड उबग आला होता अणि त्यांचं सुद्धा linux वर खूप प्रेम होतं.

एक उदाहरणच घ्या ना. त्यांच्या 'पृथ्वीचं प्रेमगीत' या कवितेमधलं एक कडवं पहा -

'परि भव्य ते तेज पाहून पूजून
घेऊ गळ्याशी कसे काजवे
नको क्षुद्र शृंगार तो दुर्बळांचा
तुझि दूरता त्याहुनी साहवे'

आता वर वर पाहता हे एक प्रेमगीत वाटतं. पृथ्वीनं सूर्याला लिहिलेलं. कुसुमाग्रजांनी कवितेला नावही तसंच दिलंय पहा. जेणेकरून कुणा सोम्या-गोम्याला संशय येऊ नये. पण खरा अर्थ लावायचा झाला तर कुसुमाग्रजांनी या ओळी linux ला संबोधून लिहिल्या असाव्यात असं दिसतं.

पहिल्या ओळीत ते म्हणतात -

'परि भव्य ते तेज पाहून पूजून'

कुसुमाग्रज linux च्या stability, reliability, developer-friendliness, opensource philosophy यांसारख्या गुणांनी किती प्रभावित झाले असावेत ते यावरून लक्षात येतं. पुढं जाउन ते विचारतात की linux मधे एवढे सगळे गुण असताना -

'घेऊ गळ्याशी कसे काजवे'

इथं 'काजवे' म्हणजे windows असा अर्थ त्यांना अभिप्रेत असावा. Linux एवढं powerful आणि reliable असताना, windows सारखी powerless, buggy, closed-source आणि monopolistic system कशी वापरायची असा साहजिक प्रश्न ते विचारतात आणि म्हणतात -

'नको क्षुद्र शृंगार तो दुर्बळांचा'

इथं दुर्बळ म्हणजे पुन्हा windows. घडीघडीला छोट्या छोट्या कारणांवरून crash आणि restart होणार्‍या windows ला ते अतिशय मर्मिकरित्या दुर्बळ म्हणून संबोधतात. त्याही पुढे जाऊन ते windows ने पुरवलेल्या भड़क graphical effects, GUI, screen-saver अशा डोळ्यांचं समाधान करणार्‍या पण व्यावहारिक जीवनात काडीचाही उपयोग नसणार्‍या facilities ना 'क्षुद्र शृंगार' अशी शेलकी उपमा देऊन म्हणतात -

'तुझी दूरता त्याहुनी साहवे'

म्हणजे linux जरी तिकडं दूर अमेरिकेतल्या server वर run होंत असेल आणि इथून भारतातून त्या linux server ला connect करायसाठी जरी PuTTY चा वापर करावा लागत असेल तरीही दुर्बळांच्या (windows च्या) क्षुद्र शृंगारापेक्षा (भड़क GUI पेक्षा) ते तेजःपुंज आणि powerful असं PuTTY चं काळं command-line terminal केंव्हाही बेहेत्तर! या ओळीवरून कुसुमाग्रजांनी त्याकाळात देखिल उत्सुकतेपोटी अणि linux प्रेमापोटी PuTTY वापरून दूरदेशीच्या एखाद्या linux server ला connect केलं असण्याची दाट शक्यता वाटते. असो.

या खळबळजनक संशोधनाबद्दल वाचल्यानंतर तुमच्या मनात या संशोधाकबद्दल नितान्त आदर निर्माण होणं साहजिक आहे. पण तुम्हाला हे वाचून आश्चर्य वाटेल की या गुणवान संशोधकाला बारावीच्या परीक्षेत मराठीमधे १०० पैकी ३५ गुण मिळाले होते. IT field मधे दिवसभर घाम गाळुन काम करणार्‍या, आणि थकून-भागून घरी आल्यानंतर देखिल अथक संशोधन करून कुसुमाग्रजांच्या कवितांकडे बघण्याची एक वेगळी नजर जगाला देणार्‍या होतकरू मराठी अभ्यासकाला बारावीसारख्या महत्वाच्या वर्षी मातृभाषेच्या परीक्षेत काठावर उत्तीर्ण करणार्‍या त्या परिक्षकाचा धिक्कार असो! आईनस्टाईनला सुद्धा लहानपणी गणितात खुप कमी गुण मिळायचे म्हणे. पण तो निदान तिकडं यूरोपात तरी होता. इथं भर महाराष्ट्रात झालेल्या या एका मराठी-भाषिकाच्या गळचेपिचा मुद्दा राज ठाकरेंनी संसदेत उपस्थित करावा अशी माझी इच्छा आहे. असो. यावर परत केंव्हा तरी बोलू.

तर हा लेख वाचल्यानंतर तुम्हाला हिंसाचार करायची बुद्धि झाल्यास तो बौद्द्धिक पातळीवर करावा. ज्यावर हा लेख वाचताय तो संगणकही तुमचाच आणि तुमच्या डोक्यावरचे केसही तुमचेच हे ध्यानात असुद्या.


टीप:
या कवितेतील इतर कडव्यांचे अणि कुसुमाग्रजांच्या इतर कवितांचे linux अणि windows शी संबंधित अन्वयार्थ - यावरपुढील संशोधन सुरु आहे. या घडीला या एका कडव्याशिवाय इतर काही प्रकाशित करता येणार नाही. संशोधन पूर्ण होताचयोग्यवेळी सर्व गोष्टी उघड करण्यात येतील. चिकित्सा करण्याचा मोह आवरल्याबददल धन्यवाद.

Movie Review - Inglorious Basterds

Quentin Tarantino is a genius. And though I can't resist to count him among the likes of Spielberg and Polansky and Coppola; he unmistakably has a thoroughly different and somewhat whacky style of film direction. The guy just throws the conventional film making norms out of the door. He creates his own norms and however unorthodox they seem, they actually turn out to be quite effective. An example would be the character introductions that he gives, like the ones in Kill Bill (which even had a animated strip as Gogo's intro, if I remember her name correctly) and the Stiglitz's character intro in Inglorious Basterds. His style is refreshingly different and I have high regards for him especially because he dares to swim against the tide and makes it successfully more often than not.

The kind of violence he shows in his movies, would drive the public aways ouf of disgust; but he takes the risk. The kind of non-linear story-lines he chooses for his movies, would confuse the masses; but he takes the risk. His movies are violent, but they bear hallmarks of great direction despite the violence. High-speed artistic photography, pacy action, puking-point violence, lively screenplay, intriguing dialogues - all bear the hallmark of a genius director. And now with Inglorious Basterds, one more Tarantino special - fictional storyline which twists the world history involving high-profile characters like Hitler himself!

The Inglorious Basterds story is about an anti-nazi Jewish-American gorilla group that existed in real-life history; but Tarantino takes it from there, and depicts a fictional plot to kill the higher echelons of Nazi political circle, including Hitler himself. The story and the screenplay is very intense and would catch and keep your full attention till the end. All the interrogation scenes are so well-thought out that you can actually feel the tention building up in the air. The direction, photography and acting, especially the facial expressions, are just remarkable. The opening scene of the interrogation of the farmer who is hiding jews; or the one in randezevous basement where the gestapo officer catches the bluff of the undercover british agent; are masterpieces.

Apart from Tarantino, the credit for the extra-ordinary appeal of Inglorious Basterds, also goes to Christoph Waltz for his powerful depiction of Colonel Hans Landa. The character is so intense and powerful, that in my opinion it's next only to Heath Ledger's surreal Joker from The Dark Knight. Given my not-so-good knowledge about hollywood actors and films, I haven't seen Waltz' any other film, so I didn't know him before the movie. But I am going to remember his performance for a long time for sure. The character depiction is just as good as it gets.

So all in all, Inglorious Basterds is a Tarantino classic, and a must watch. If you aren't familiar with Tarantino's style or haven't seen his other movies like Kill Bill, I would recommend to watch his movies on an empty stomach. His movies contain puking-point graphic violence. To his credit though, Tarantino knows to stop just before the public would start puking! So if you can digest that, you are in for a treat.

Little fun with GIMP

After buying a new Canon EOS 450D along with EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM lens, it was but obvious for me to waste clicks at whatever I could point the camera at. So I clicked. And luckily got few interesting images with it. Interesting - from my perspective; ofcourse. Anyways. One of the image was of an evening sky just around/after sunset; and the other was of my window - the result of my attempts to get a smooth bokeh.

After seeing the images, it struck me that the combination was almost an invitation to try some simple but cool photoshop techniques on. So, the aim was to replace the blurred background of the window, with the sky; i.e. as if the evening sky was captured from the window (with small aperture setting). Here is what I achieved finally -

Pretty cool huh? If you are new to photoshop techniques, I am sure, it impressed you. ;)

And this was done using what? Some costly softwares like Photoshop? Nah! It was all an open-source affair.

Removed the SD card from camera. Inserted into my laptop, which is running Ubuntu Jaunty 9.04. Imported the card contents on my laptop using F-Spot photo manager (used like photoshop-bridge software). Opened the chosen images from F-Spot, into GIMP - another super-powerful opensource software which gives photoshop a run for it's money. That too for free!!

Here is how I achieved the final result -

1. Open window.jpg in GIMP (through F-Spot photo manager, which has thumbnails of all recently imported photos)
2. Create a duplicate layer from the window layer, and bring the duplicate layer in the front. Let's call it a maskImage.
3. De-saturate the maskImage layer (Colors->Desaturate) and apply threshold transformation (Colors->Threshold)
4. Adjust the threshold such that you get an outline of the black window-bars. Use the eraser to rub out unwanted black spots from the image.
5. The final maskImage looked something like this -
6. Then drag the sky.jpg image from F-Spot photo manager, and drop it on GIMP window. GIMP will add it as a new layer. Let's call it a sky-layer.
7. Right click this new sky layer, and click Add Layer Mask. Keep the mask fully opaque (white).
8. Now go to the maskImage layer and select all of the image (Select->All). Copy it (Edit->Copy)
9. Select the layer-mask added the sky layer. There should be a white box around the layer-mask.
10. Paste the selected maskImage (Edit->Paste)
11. It will show up as floating paste layer. Now go to Layer menu and select Anchor Layer option.
12. If everything works fine, the layer-mask of sky-layer will now have the maskImage as it's contents.
13. Now make maskImage layer invisible, and keep rest of the two layers (sky-layer and window-layer) visible.
14. Make sure sky-layer is on top of window-layer.
15. And that's it! Now go back and check the final-image above, once again. Sweet fruit all these efforts!
    

This again shows the power and reach of opensource technology, where there is a tool for every need, however complex the need may be.

So kudos again for all those freedom-loving wizards taking efforts to create awesome tools like GIMP which are an amazing replacement for as costly a software as Photoshop.

Really difficult to imagine a life without opensource.


[Reference: How to use an image/layer as a layer-mask]

Fed Up Big Time with Idea Cellular - Part 3

Continued from part 2. This is about the status as of today, 6th March 2010; and further course of action to reduce my reliance on Idea.

After going through the harrowing times with the Idea fiasco, even though the services have resumed and are stable now, I have been feeling that I was over-loyal to Idea and was almost at their mercy due to this over-reliance. And then there is not a single written reply from Idea despite my 3 emails.

So I am thinking it's time I move on to a different service provider and then eventually discontinue this Idea number after forwarding my calls to the new number for a month or two.

So after a bit of star-gazing, I short-listed few options - Virgin, Tata Docomo and BSNL.
I liked Virgin's youth-friendly whacky style, but Virgin calls them Einstein-types who understand OS names and a little tech details. So it didnt look like they will understand what GPRS is ;) .
I liked Docomo's simplified 1p/s billing schemes and GPRS is also available. But was not sure about coverage, and there were way too many negative vibes about bad billing practices regarding GPRS. Holy cow! I dont want a Deja Vu!

I really like what BSNL is offering. And I had quite a few positive vibes about going with BSNL -

1. Govt company, so more or less nobody cares sooo much about profit that they would tweak the system to exploit customers. Good and bad both.
2. Have had very good prior experiences with BSNL, landline and broadband both. Have high regards for BSNL broadband.
3. Govt company, so RTI applies. If something seems fishy, you can ask questions and can be *assured by law* for a reply.
4. If you dont agree, take RTI info to consumer court, and make your case. A lot easier than dealing with a private company which can manipulate info.
5. Coverage - no matter whether you are on the Lakshmi road or on the top of Harishchandragad, chances are very high BSNL will cover you up there. In fact more chances in the later case where all cellphone networks will be dead ... except BSNL. ;)
6. Excellent 1p/s billing scheme -

• Plan Costs: Not more that Rs.150/-, yearly.
• Billing: 1p/s all over India for BSNL cell/landline and 1.2p/s for all other networks.
• Roaming: Same charges as normal!! Except only incoming calls are charged at 1p/s which is still a lot reasonable.
• GPRS: 1p/10KB!!!! That means Rs.1/MB which is AWESOME. Just what the doctor ordered for me.

This is just way too cost efficient as compared to my current Idea scheme, where my regular bills are to the tune of Rs.500/month. Here with the BSNL prepaid card Rs.500 will suffice me for a whole year for god's sake! I was unnecessorily blowing money just because I wanted to keep the number and the service was satisfactory till date. Didnt care enough to check what other service providers were offering! And that spells a very important lesson for any business - when you have a high-paying loyal customer, keep him happy all the time. Dont give him even the slightest of a reason to check out what others are offering. It's a recipe for losing him to your competitors.

Anyways, here are few links worth pondering over -

1. BSNL tariff charges
A little difficult to make out anything at the first glance, due to govt style presentation. But hang around and you will get a hang of it. ;)

2. National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission
Official Indian govt site about consumer courts. Contains full text of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 and other related rules and regulations.
This case of Idea Cellular denying me access to a service which I have already paid for, I believe, comes under unfair trade practices as defined under Chapter I, section 2.c.(i) and 2.c.(iii) of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986.

3. Consumer Advocate
Success/failure stories for different parties who went to consumer court; and a short case analysis. Must read.

4. International Consumer Rights Protection Council (ICRPC)
Claims to be an NGO helping consumers in presenting their case without the need for a lawyer. Charges a token membership fees of Rs.250/- Havent gone into details of it. But worth checking it out while in need.


[UPDATE: 7th March, 2010]
For once, Idea did reply, yesterday late evening. But no prizes for guessing what it would be. Wothless business words. No acknowledgement of the problem, neither any assurance about non-recurrence.

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"Dear Mr. Kulkarni,

Greetings of the Day.

With reference to your e-mail and telecon with Ms. XYZ, we wish to inform you that services to your mobile number have been restored.

Should you require any further assistance feel free to contact our Customer Care Helpline number 9822012345 or e-mail us at 9822012345@idea.adityabirla.com

Thanks & Regards,
ABC
Idea Cellular Ltd.
Maharashtra & Goa

“Idea offers Customer Care through SMS, get complete information on Billed/Unbilled amt, Bill plans details and many more details with an instant SMS on your mobile. Type " CARE " & send it to 50505 (toll free number ).”

Disclaimer

All the tariff plans/services are subject to regulatory body approval. Company reserves the rights to modify/change/discontinue services/plans based on guidelines received from time to time."
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