The missing link in Ram-Sethu

Finally, the Kholu video is ready. Though I am fairly proficient with Video Capture and editing, it was a monumental task for me to make the video fit enough to be uploaded on youtube. Even now, the quality is pretty bad and the screen size has reduced a lot. I did a lot of research on how to upload videos to youtube but didn’t get anything worthwhile.

This is what i did. I captured the video through my Sony Handycam, then transferred to my laptop in DV-AVI ( I always use DV-AVI because it provides the most details for editing), then did lot of editing. Youtube prefers a DivX codec AVI. So, i installed DivX and then tried to export the DivX format from Adobe Premiere, but youtube wouldn’t accept it. Last resort, i exported it in plain AVI mode and then uploaded to youtube. But, I am not satisfied with the end result.
Anyway, enjoy the making of the Kholu video. About the video: I took this when we had the kholu during the navaratri festival. You might prefer muting the volume, as i have kept the original volume while speeding up the video. I felt that it complemented the video, but you might not like the screeches! Check out the photos of the final Kholu here.

You can also make calls, it seems! I have had a Nokia 3330 for the past 6 years and if there is a time that i should change my phone, then it is now and this is the phone I should go for. Apart from all the technology behind the phone, it is the “coolness” factor which will be the iphone’s biggest draw.

Scrolling through the album covers in the ipod widescreen phone, the amazing “zoom” touchscreen technology on the iphoto mode (you have to see this zoom option in action to believe its coolness!), the sleekness of the whole “apparatus”, it just blows your mind away. This is bound to be the release of the year 2007, cool enough to be used by 007. Mr.Bond, this is for you!

Check out the presentation of the features of the new iphone on the apple site.

Also check out the live demo of many of the features including the “cool” zoom thing in the youtube video below.

The first host of the very popular BBC Mastermind Quiz series Mastermind has died a few days back. He had coined the phrase “I’ve started so I’ll finish” and finally he has finished, at the age of 77. He had been hosting this quiz for almost 25 years on the BBC.

The quiz along with its famous Black Chair, the spotlight on the participant and the eerie music developed a cult following even amongst non-quizzers. India too had its own version of Mastermind hosted by Siddhartha Basu, regarded as probably the doyen of television quizzing in India. The Indian version was aired from 1998 until 2002. I had attempted the preliminary round of 2001 (the written prelims) and was way off the qualifying mark. But, the standard of the written preliminary round was exemplary, with people realising the answers to many of the questions the minute they walk out of the room!

I remember this quiz show very well. In the early days of my software engg career in Bangalore, i and my roommates used to have our own internal competition for every edition of this quiz. I personally didn’t admire the specialised section, which i felt was more about mugging up many trivia associated with the area. Some specialised areas included novels of an author and trivia in them, which i thought was not good enough material to be quizzed on. All you had to do was to give an author whose books you had read quite a number of times and you practically knew everything in the books.

Whatever be its shortcomings, the Mastermind Quiz was extremely entertaining and i could sometimes, just by watching, feel the tension that the participants on the Black Chair would have felt.

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The Limassol Zoo is located right on the seafront inside the municipal gardens. If you have never been to a zoo in your life, then this is a great place to visit. Otherwise, give it a miss. On the contrary, if you have an hour to spend and didn’t know what to do, you could as well spend it in the zoo rather than getting burnt sitting on the beachside.
Cyprus is one of the hottest tourist destinations in Europe and it is a shame that there is no proper zoo in this country. Yes, i agree that the sun and the beaches are what that bring people here, but an full fledged amusement park (not just water parks) and a zoo would go a long way in attracting the complete family to vacation here. This is a very small zoo, just 1.5 acres in area and it would take less than an hour to see all the exhibits in this zoo. I had been here more than 5 years back and i remember seeing a lion there. Even the official municipal garden website mentions about 9 lions being born in the zoo, but i didn’t see any when i went there yesterday or maybe they were all sleeping inside their dens away from public view for the 2 hours i was there.
I had been wanted to go to the zoo again for a long time now, primarily for taking photographs and yesterday, i got the opportunity as Vidhya had some girls-only party to attend at her friend’s place. The entry fee for this zoo is a paltry 80 cents, approx 2 USD. Don’t expect big enclosures for the animals. Almost all of them barring the moufflons, camels and zebras are kept in cages. The last zoo i had been to was more than 4 years back in Thailand not considering the trip to what was called as a zoo in Al-Ain close to Dubai.
I spent a lot of time photographing birds and trying out different shots. The Indian Bengal Tiger was HUGE, but the cage was not very conducive for photography. The Cyprus Mouflon was majestic and i don’t know when i am going to get an opportunity to photograph one in the wild. The moufflon is supposed to be a very shy creature living in the dense mountains of the troodos/pafos region in Cyprus. I have been lucky enough to see one in the wild, but it was too quick for me to capture on photo. There are supposed to be around 3000 wild mouflons. This is another jeep trip to the mountains i have been planning for a long time now.
Some of the photos i took at the limassol zoo are below. Almost all of them are grainy, as i had forgotten to switch back the ISO from 1600 when i had taken photos of the moon the night before and this is not the first time such a thing is happening!

When i visited the Time Person of the Year page, i was surprised to find that i had got the honour of being the Time person of the year 2006

In fact, you are also the TIME person of the year, so is the person sitting in the next cubicle at work or in the browsing center, uploading videos of his college parties to youtube or sharing the photos of his pet Burmese python with the world.

It is you, who, the first thing in the morning, visits Digg.com or technorati to find out the hottest and the happening events. It is you, who uploads 100 blurred photographs you have taken with your first digital camera onto yahoo and sends the link to thousands of people on mailing groups having absolutely nothing to do with photography. It is you, who videotapes a song from the just-released-in-the-theatre movie using your mobile phone and uploads it to metacafe or google-video for the world to enjoy.

My version of the TIME person of the year presentation appearing on the original page.

Congratulations.

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Many scenes were shot in Pune, in fact, in the same building where amdocs is. The name of the building was changed to Sivaji University. Many of my colleagues in amdocs, Pune had an opportunity to meet many members of the cast including director shankar and manivannan. Unfortunately, none of the photos with rajini in them have come out clearly. All the clear photos i have are photos of amdocs employees with manivannan, shankar and few other prominent cast members.

Update: Many pictures of Rajini from the movei Sivaji have been released and can be viewed here and here. Go here for the complete transcript of director Shankar’s interview to SUN TV.

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in the google searches leading to my site. Sreesant must have become a hero in the span of just one ball. Of course he bowled well, but history would remember his bollywood-style or rather south-indian style dance demonstration to Andre Nell. Thanks to Mottai Boss, a fellow blogger whom i had linked to from my site, a search for Rajini Mottai brings up my post about Rajini on the front page. Strange are the ways that search engines see your pages, but as long as they search and create wonderful keyword combinations, I have nothing to complain about. If you came here looking for a photo of mottai rajini, then look at the photo posted in this post.

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