and then there was vIkSiT

Met up with the gang at Sarai.

Sarai? (www.sarai.net) for the uninititated. Fun place to hang out. Movie screenings, discussions, free beer (lol), computers, books, people, lawn, kitchen, Air conditioning. Need i mention more? oh yeah, excellent coffee!

The pictures are taken with my new Sony Ericsson K-500 i, which has a 4x zoom capability on its camera. It also supports all kinds of stuff like IR, MMS, and much more. google for more info!

















Pretty good image quality for something so small. IMHO!
More later

Wide avenues lined with trees,
foliage on the ground, crackling as you pass
swept to the side by a zephyr from afar
buttoned up jackets, turtleneck sweaters
freezing temperatures, cold winds
the warm sun shining down
peaceful ruins, telling royal tales of eras bygone
the moldy british bungalows
quaint markets at connaught place
bargains at sarojini
chocolates at INA, traffic at AIIMS
india gate lawns, the boulevards of shantipath
the serenity of lodhi gardens,
the orderliness of nehru park
the eyecandy at khan market and M block
hot tea and kebabs on the roadside

Delhi in the winter...

sigh!

Well, Here're some pictures which i clicked on my last visit to the exotic north eastern parts of India, specifically, the state of Nagaland. A detailed post follows as soon as i'm not lazy enough :)










More...

Wow!

I've been so busy over the last few months, I've barely found time to regularly update my blog! My website's been *absorbing dust, and webs all over. Time for a cleanup process to take place!

Am still in Delhi, and instead of the soporific times I normally spend at home, its been a blast so far! Recently tasted the meaning of heaven, when I went down to Nizamuddin with some friends and gobbled down the most amazing Kebabs at a place called Ghalib's. With 6 different varieties of them, they're a steal - with are probably the most reasonable prices in town.. er, city. Having decided to go mughlai the whole way, we trooped over to a Kashmiri Wazwan place, right next door. These guys sell delectable Rishtas and Goshtabas (Kashmiri Lamb preparations for the uninitiated..), and best enjoyed with plain, steamed rice. To top this, my friend Mary, who's basically a gourmet at heart, took us to enjoy some dessert. Deep in the bylanes of Nizamuddin, pretty close to the old tombs and things, (and in the midst of a bustling marketplace, lest the non-dilliwallahs get an idea of eating outside a cemetery!) is a small resturaunt, which specializes in Mughlai desserts. They offer Phirni and SheerMals, the former cold, the latter fiery hot. An amazing finale to a grand meal.

What have i been busy with? Well, I decided to upgrade my PDA (yes!) and managed to convert it from the glorified Digital Diary it used to be, to a feature rich palmtop with fancy wallpaper, video, an mp3 player, and tons of ebooks. Having obtained the full collection of Douglas Adams, William Gibson and Iain Banks, my Sci-Fi ebook collection now stands at 36 authors. Hopefully, i get time to read it.

I've also discovered the magic of GiFT - The Internet File Transfer system. Something akin to KaZaa or Napster of old, it searches with great efficacy the shared files of 2 networks : Gnutella and OpenFT. This allows you to download practically any video, mp3, or book (apart from software, images et al) after searching the hard-disks of thousands of users who chose to activate the Share feature. After much searching, i obtained a number of mp3s which are really hard to come by otherwise!

Another amazingly lazy day in Delhi! Got up real early in the morning, realized I was back home, and with nothing to do, I promptly slept again! Its like really humid here, and its impossible to move out of the house unless you're a)in a well airconditioned car, b)you have something as important (meeting QE2 ??) to do!

All those in Delhi.. Lets meet up! I hear there are a couple of new hangouts in town, should be fun to check them out, vis a vis places in bangalore!

Got Grisham's "The Last Juror" and Solzhenstyn's "Prison Ward". Ooh, I think they're showing Enemy at the gates today on HBO!

Landed in Delhi at 7:30 pm. Flight was pleasant enough. The shock set in a bit later...

As the airhostess announced "38 degrees", I (seriously) choked at the small little water bottle they serve you, (was taking a looong swig). After having lived in a pleasant 25 degrees, with intermittent rains and the occasional breeze, this is like stepping into hell..

Anyway, so i collect my stuff and walk out to meet my mom and sis, who've come to pick me up, and its a nice, happy reunion, when the driver suddenly turns up saying the "Clutch Plate" has snapped. Which basically means "we can't move the car". Lovely. So all thoughts of going home in a nicely conditioned environment to a cool shower are dashed. The only viable option? Grab a cab, hustle my bags in and move outta there. But what happens to the car? (Sigh..)

After a loong debate, we decided to park it in an all night car-park, and get a mechanic to repair it. After 3 trips with the meter running, we couldn't find a single sober mechanic.. The three i met were as sober as.. uh,

Just watched this pretty cool movie called Big Fish.

http://www.apple.com/trailers/sony_pictures/big_fish/

A unique movie if there ever was one, its a story about a guy who lives in a world which he thinks is too small for him. My own statements would probably pale in comparison to the glowing review i've posted here.. But suffice to say, its an amazing movie both visually and story-wise. Did i mention Marion Cotillard looks heavenly? :)


[sic]
'Big Fish' is an extraordinary movie by director Tim Burton, a man who always makes movies that are visually interesting. With this movie we see that again. An old man named Edward Bloom (Albert Finney) always told fantastic stories to his son Will (Billy Crudup). Now Edward is dying and Will wants to know the true versions of the stories, although every other person around him seems to like the fantastic version including Edward's wife Sandra (Jessica Lange) and Will's wife Josephine (Marion Cotillard). Edward still stays with his own versions and that is what we get to see.

The young Edward, played by Ewan McGregor, is who we follow when he meets a giant named Karl (Matthew McGrory) and when he arrives in a town named Spectre that basically is a utopia, or something like heaven. That is where he meets the famous poet Norther Winslow (Steve Buscemi) and a girl named Jenny (as a grown up played by Helena Bonham Carter). We see how he catches a very big fish, how he meets witches and ends up in a circus where Amos Calloway (Danny DeVito) runs things. And we see how he falls in love with young Sandra (Alison Lohman) and how he tries to win her heart.

Everything looks beautiful. Everything new story is amazing, one with twins named Ping and Jing in particular. It is told with very funny and with moving moments as well. Especially the first half and the ending of the movie are great. A small part in the middle is a little too much of things we have already seen. Music by Danny Elfman makes this movie complete. A very entertaining and extraordinary tale through the eyes of director Tim Burton.

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It left me in a really reflective mood though! Can't wait for this recuperative perod to get over, and get back to college! Its boring after a while sitting around the whole day staring at the big black screen...