Striving to be common ...

Diwali Lanterns(kandil) Pictures in India

2007-11-06T14:05:00.000-08:00

Got some clicks of Diwali Lanterns (kandils) a week before diwali starts.
They were of beautiful colors and sizes but yellow and red dominated shoing the passion of the festival.

Dadar was crowded as usual whereas Mahim and other areas were subdued but equally colorful

Enjoy these pictures i clicked .. i have uploaded tons of diwali lanterns here

Subtle color pairs

Stars in line

Multi color

Mini Houses ?

Check more lantern pictures on my site

Surfing Habits of single and married !!

2007-03-15T20:17:00.001-07:00

I have a poll on my site asking people their marital status .... I was shocked to find that 60% of surfers on my site were single men only and the rest 40% collectively comprised of single and married females and married men .... With around 2000 votes it was a big sample to judge the results ... Any married man reading this can throw some light on this ???

The poll is here Surfing habits and marital status

Horn Ok, Please

2007-03-11T00:01:00.001-08:00

If you are in india you will find this message "Horn Ok, Please" omnipresent on every bumper or rear side of anything that runs on wheel ....

This is a fantastic video of a typical taxi/passenger driver in india or specifically mumbai i should say

This also gets you thinking about one of my all time favourite and artistic movie Taxi Driver

Amazing artists, details and art ...

Watch this video:Horn Ok, Please

Passion: The spirit of life

2007-03-07T21:18:00.001-08:00

Long time back i wanted to get a Guitar on my first earned salary. I eventually didn't buy thinking that it would stress my wrist as my full time job was coding all day long. My brain had overcome my passion then.

Over the time and specially when i see this video i just think i was not thinking right. Passion makes you experience amazing things in life and probably gets the best out of you.

I salute this person. If you are in san diego you are lucky to have such a inspiration

Monkey taunts Tiger Cubs

2007-03-02T16:38:00.001-08:00

Beautiful playful video ... A monkey makes lives of 2 tiger cubs awkward by pulling their ears and tail ..... Feels like it has been taken out of the Jungle Class ... Nature at its best ... i almost shouted when i saw him pull the tail !!

Holi Video: Absolutely beautiful message

2007-02-27T21:11:00.001-08:00

Watch this beautiful holi video till the end .... beautiful song .. beautifully shot and beautiful message ...

At the end you would be just thankful that you could just SEE the video

I am sure people who love this festival but wont be able to enjoy this would adore this (Me included)

Got this from IndiaUnCut

How are we becoming machines

2007-02-20T17:30:00.001-08:00

A nice video on how the world is changing due to internet and how we are becoming machines. Beautiful music too and some good use of "HTML View Source"

Good Cop Bad Cop

2007-02-05T17:06:00.000-08:00

This week i came across 2 unusual stories wrt Police/Cops
The first one is funny but the second one is an inspiration and a perfect title for "Height of Honesty"

The first 1 is a funny video of what cops do when got free time on their hands. Even they are humans and get bored and some days they dont have much to do on their working day

Watch the video

The 2nd story is again a true and heartening story about a cop who broke a traffic rule, booked himself by issuing a ticket against him and never told anyone until it was discovered by his friends. There are so many honest citizens and cops i believe and this is just a proof. Hope we get to meet more such people. Reminds me of a great quote ... " Character is who you are when no one is watching"
Here is the full story ... http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12784367?GT1=9033

jadoo ki jhappi .. A True Story

2007-01-06T21:51:00.000-08:00

Everyone who liked the Movie "MunnaBhai MBBS" for its simplicity must have liked the theme of "Jadoo ki Jhappi" or the Magical Hug.
It has a simple, yet profound feeling associated with this simple social gesture.

Well i came across a similar real story having almost a similar theme and its a very touching and feel nice atmosphere associated with it. See the video of it below

The Face of Education

2006-12-16T18:11:00.000-08:00

These are some amazing stats from the 2006 Census of America

College freshmen in 1970, 79 percent said their goal was developing a meaningful philosophy of life. By 2005, 75 percent said their primary objective was to be financially very well off.
In 1970, 33,000 men and 2,000 women earned professional degrees; in 2004, the numbers were 42,000 men and 41,000 women.
Among graduate students, 27 percent had at least one foreign-born parent. The number of foreign students from India enrolled in American colleges soared to 80,000 in 2005 from 10,000 in 1976.

So More and More Women from India are getting educated and are financially well off !!

That reflects in the the indian rickshaw bumper sticker message
"Mulgi Shikli, Pragati Jhali" (Development with Women Education)
A nice bumper pic by Joyjeet

Indians and Bribe !!

2006-10-05T14:18:00.000-07:00

Ok so someone compiled a statistic that Indians are the biggest bribers in the world ... on the lighter note couldn’t we bribe that statistician to ensure that we are not number one ;)

Busy busy

2005-11-03T10:05:00.000-08:00

Writing after a long time ....
Busy busy days ! loads of work .. no break in diwali :(

but have been to some memorable treks
like Ratangad (http://amitkulkarni.info/pics/ratangad-trek/) where we were engulfed in clouds and non stop rain for 2 whole days

and
the beautiful and grand Torna fort (http://amitkulkarni.info/pics/torna-trek/)

Had a 18 hr Nakhind trek (http://amitkulkarni.info/pics/nakhind/) where we had to light our way from mobile lights. We were 6 to 8 hrs off our schedules

Also i need to read this book ;)

Got some firework pics at diwali (http://flickr.com/photos/theshutterbug)

Mad world !!

2005-06-25T03:33:00.000-07:00

All around me are familiar faces
Worn out places, worn out faces
Bright and early for their daily races
Going nowhere, going nowhere ... Mad World by Tears for Fears

It has been a long time since i an blogging again. Super tight schedules is keeping me away from writing.
anyways to sum up last few months i have been working and working and working.
Due to the hot summer outing was not an option and i ended up catchign with loads of movies like

Rain Man Brilliant movie with great acting by dustin hoffman as an austic ( A psychiatric disorder of childhood characterized by marked deficits in communication and social interaction) and tom cruise as his brother. Dustin has acted brilliantly but tom has equally done a great job as he changes from a pissed off brother to a warm caring person in a matter of a week. Another beautiful movie which abt relations.

Groundhog day: What happens when you wake up everyday over and over to face the same day while for the world around you its a brand new day. Crazy thought and a beautiful movie !!

The terminal: Decent movie and good acting by hanks

Troy: Grand movie; beautiful sets and camera angles. Story of a warrior who hates his king. Brilliant acting and action by Brad pitt. Cool names to hear like paris, hector, troy, priam and the coolest Agamemnon.

Requiem for a dream: A mindblowing movie. Its a sad dark movie. you get absorbed into the movie. Its about and mom and son and drugs. The camera work, long scene dialogues are awesome. Acting by the Hero's mom is fantastic. A must watch movie.

Memento: Another must watch movie. What happens if u forget everything about urself in 5 mins everytime. How do you live to complete a mission ?

Any given sunday: Good movie. Sober acting by Al Pacino. Another of my Al favs.

Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind: Another must watch absorbing movie. What if u had an option to erase your memory ? And somehow the process fails midway ? The camera work in this movie is top notch. This is probably the only movie which can visualise the way i get night dreams. You got to watch it.
---

Apart from that i have never such a horrible mumbai ever. In the last 3 months anywhere you go they are widenening the roads. And one thing is for sure there is no more place left now to widen the roads.

Schools have started and i had to read my last years post about it at http://xl5.blogspot.com/2004/06/aaaaaaaa-raaaa-laaaaa-eeeeee-hahaha.html

The rains are in full swing now and hoping to catch on as many treks as possible :)

Also yest i saw a "holy cow" near a temple wearing a raincoat !!!! Wish i had a camera !
Wot beats me the the "holy cow" was chained and people were assuming that they were doin a wordly act by feeding her !!!

Mark Knopfler Concert, Mumbai

2005-03-06T02:13:00.000-08:00

It’s almost 18 hours since the Sultan of swing exited the stage with a delirious performance of rock music, impeccable guitar play, fans screaming "we want more" in a eye candy light show. One of my staunch headbanger friends was now ranking mark knopfler above his favorite guitarists. The Mumbai humidity never stopped knopfler singing and entertaining the wild audience.

It was a week ago when I bought the tickets for the concert. Tickets where cool credit card sized which would lead us to the gates to heaven. I guess due to the high prices of tickets there were lots of tickets to be sold even on the concert day.

With my previous experiences with Bryan Adams concert we had reached 3 hours before the concert only to find few hundreds of them standing in line. We were almost in the front of the queue. The concert was at MMRDA grounds at the bandra kurla complex, the only place which justifies the real financial might of Mumbai.

After one hour boring wait in the line the entry to the grounds started. Eatables and water(!!!), cigarettes, cameras were confiscated. We made a dash as soon as security guards had finished checking us and we were surprised to find that the 2500 ticket area was twice the size of 1000 ticket area. The barricades where quite robust the seeing the plethora of commandos we soon forgot the idea of gate crashing. The whole ground was small enough to enjoy the onstage action from anywhere. We were right in front sticking to the barricades and the view was excellent. The stage was right in front of us with two huge projection screens just beside the stage and uncountable number of speakers all over the ground.

We already where cursing ourselves on that we didn't get the 2500 tics as area near the stage was plenty and hardly anyone had come in. We would have been right near the feet of the god himselfL. In the next one hour fans slowly poured in. we were "treated" to really unknown blues songs and out of the roof prices for snacks and drinks. (500 ml Pepsi was for 50 bucks!!!). We remained standing right in front of the barricade in fear of losing our golden place.

The fans looked pretty decent and mature (looks wise ;)). We didn’t spot anyone with long, colored hair types. People were quite relaxed and most of them far away from the barricades where taking a much-needed break before the show started. I was again surprised to find any event like this lacking the mad rush and chaos especially in a city like Mumbai.

The sun was down by 7 and the screens came alive with advertisements. Even the nearby buildings were projected with interesting designs and patterns. The ground was now quite packed and fans were getting restless.

And at around 7 30 from nowhere the lights blinded us and knopfler, as his personality, made a modest entry. He was dressed in a White shirt, blue jeans the guitar completed his attire. He had put on twice the weight than the normal lanky knopfler we know of. Like amitabh’s white stubble, knopfler’s white hair gave him a matured, dignified yet modern look. For the first time saw him wearing glasses.

Talking about knopfler as a man, he was asked why did'nt he press charges against the woman who caused an accident 2 years back when he was driving his bike in which he escaped death and had 9 broken bones, he replied "Why the hassle?"

By now everyone present there was shrilling and screaming on top of their voices. Without waiting for the fans to subside, in his deep think voice, he said “Welcome mumbai” and then his guitar took over.

It would be absolutely futile for me to explain in words or pictures the experience about these live music concerts. And to experience one of the greatest guitarists ever, to experience him performing just a hundred meters right there in front of you is something to live for. The colorful and well arranged lights throwing up different patterns every second added an edge to the whole proceedings. A white beaming light right on knopfler making love with his guitar and sharing his orgasms made the whole atmosphere heavenly. And god was at the helm. This was a perfect example of what my cousin calls orgasm without touching (OWT). These moments are just to be experienced and live them. A camera you would have shown u pics like these. Dreamers like me can take up your dreaming while others can read a bit journalist type reporting ahead.

Pics are from : http://www.working-on-it.com/eng/index.html

Knopfler and his band took 2 breaks. They left dramatically as if the show is over only to return back as crowed yelled "we want more".

They played around 20 songs.

Most of them were from his latest solo album Shangri-la and Sailing to Philadelphia. I have heard Sailing to Philadelphia and its one amazing album.

He started with "Why Aye Man"

Here is the list of songs that he played as i recall:

Why Aye Man

Sailing to Philadelphia

Romeo and Juliet

What is it now

Song for Sonny Liston

Donegon’s Gone.

Money for Nothing

Sultans of Swing

So far Away

Telegraph road

Baloney Again

Speedway to Nazareth

515 Am

Brothers In Arms

Walk Of Life

Boom like that

Going Home (Local Hero OST)

Ending every song with an enthusiastic Thank you and asking "Is everyone ok?" he ensured fans never stopped screaming.

His signature songs were enjoyed with wild frenzy whereas his amazing guitar work for songs like Telegraph Road (and couple of songs which i had never heard) gathered him new hard core fans.

He justified why is known as sultan of swing as he swayed and moved to his guitar and fans.

For 90 mins i was in a high state gifting the body and soul to the god that is music.

Signing off with “Going home” instrumental he raised his guitar and waved a goodnight kiss.

It was hard to believe that 90 minutes had gone. We had captured in our eyes and ears some memorable moments.

Everyone collapsed on the grounds took a break for 10 mins and started out long trail to bandra station as all the public and private transport was over crowded.

This was a big dream come true for me.

Long live music and long live knopfler/Dire straits.

Laxmikant Berde (1954-2004)

2005-01-01T04:00:00.000-08:00

Laxmikant Berde (1954-2004) ..the first result after typing berde in google news .. a very busy wekk kept me away from the details of this shocking news. Reading the 2004 part hit me badly. Lakshya was very different from what you must have seen bollywood movies.

He was THE joker in marathi comedy films. For me he was a superstar. Anyday i would prefer his movie than any other hindi comedy. His on screen timing with another timing genius Ashok Saraf is exceptional.

But the best part about about his roles were his intermingled whispering dialogues. Due to poor editing you really need a good ear to catch them. But they are hilarious. They came out of nowhere, when u least expected it, interwined with other dialogues, immature, brash, kiddish. They had no sarcasm as such. No dialogue delivery. Just on the face insults.

Surely someday some fan like me will be setting up some info on those hilarious dialogues.

The Da Vinci Code

2004-11-05T08:09:00.000-08:00

Years back i had seen a mind blowing movie: JFK .. a fast paced thriller with twists and turns and they got bigger and better with a shocking conspiracy theory in the end. Yet they were based on solid facts ... The Da Vinci Code follows on the same path. The book rocks the roots of something everyone belives. This book has a different point of view on these roots and is a very interesting read. The book takes you on a beautiful paris ride. This knowledgeble book also insists time and again what i belive in: Nature is the only God.

2004-08-15T10:25:00.000-07:00

Final Dip

More Pictures @ http://amitkulkarni.info/pics/

2004-08-15T10:24:00.001-07:00

Gang

More Pictures @ http://amitkulkarni.info/pics/

2004-08-15T10:24:00.000-07:00

Sunset @ Monkey Hill

More Pictures @ http://amitkulkarni.info/pics/

2004-08-15T10:23:00.000-07:00

Ghost Tree

More Pictures @ http://amitkulkarni.info/pics/

2004-08-15T10:22:00.000-07:00

Foggy Trail

More Pictures @ http://amitkulkarni.info/pics/

Matheran: Keep Walking

2004-08-15T09:21:00.002-07:00

Barely 171 kms from Mumbai, Matheran, discovered by Hugh Mallet, collector of Thane district, in 1850, has long been a refuge for humidity-stricken Mumbaikars. All motor vehicles are prohibited in Matheran, so the air is squeaky clean. However the only mode of transport, other than walking, is on horseback and hand-pulled rickshaws.
Keep Walking, 2 simple words nevertheless a good quote; Inspiring words for someone who is down...words that spring an image of mahatma Gandhi for his dandi march or the famous punch line for Johnnie Walker. Matheran is the next best thing which justifies those 2 words. Some wise humans decided to ban all vehicles from this hill station and make this place a paradise for nature freaks. On a Friday night we 14 of us accompanied by a nature group called Nature Knights set for a 2 day visit to matheran. The trip started on a hectic note as we ran to catch the CST/VT bound train from andheri. Similarly we had to hurry and catch 10:30 Karjat bound local from CST/VT. Comfortably seated people had started cracking jokes, pulling legs while others tried to know the new comers better. In the conversation i discovered that actually we were gonna drive to matheran instead trek by foot at night. I thought i was going to miss the very thing most people come to matheran in rainy season; to trek by foot at night. Later this turned out to be a blessing in disguise. By 1am on saturday we had reached Neral station where Asif our leader gave a brief introduction. A fresh deep breath gave a clear indication that we were miles away from any polluted place. During the nice 20 mins drive to matheran we got glimpses of milky waterfalls and foggy valleys. A board titled "Welcome to Matheran" and under that board iron bars to prevent vehicles entering gave me a feeling of pureness. The short walk to our woodlands resort started in the chilled air. The fog around the neon lamps was beautiful. As we walked the neon lights ended and torches came out. We walked and walked only to realise we had lost our way !!! The leaders forked and came back leading us to the right way. We checked in the resort and had a quick coffee, another brief introduction of all and we retired to bed by 3 AM but reluctantly. Next morning we got up by 8, breakfast was ready. The aroma attracted the monkeys who captured vantage points to make a strike at the table. A caretaker with an air rifle was posted to take care of the monkey, but it turned futile. A smart monkey out from nowhere jumped on the table, grabbed 2 slices of bread and then jumped again wotever came in his hands and ran away. Smart. Really smart. Similarity with human genes was obvious here. And Greediness too. We started out for one tree hill point and walking there would cover most of the points in matheran. We started crossing the bazaar. Morning time was hustle bustle as one day trekkers has also landed. There were people on horsebacks, walking thru the rail tracks, oldies preferring the hand pulled rickshaw. Amongst the various groups the ear caught a familiar laughter. Alas it was an old friend who had come with his office group. Meeting a friend anytime is a joy of life. As we chugged along we let the chatter groups move ahead and preferred enjoying the silent trek. Usually my treks are around forts, there is a destination, there is a first transport to catch and a last transport of the day to come back; thats adventure. But there is a destination and time you are bound to. Matheran, like the spirit of life, was more about strolling; enjoying the walk, the nature, the chilling rain, the green grass, watching horses gallop in the fog, hear the beautiful singing birds and enjoying the scenes around. We reached our first point and all we could see in the valley was white milky clouds. Cameras were out and the click click started. Someone spotted a huge mushroom and it was simply beautiful. Assisted by enthusiasts i made it to the akward place to take pics. We moved on to a path which was more denser and foggy. "Hey Ghost tree, Ghost tree" someone shouted wildly. Surprisingly it was the usually cool but observant Asif. He was pointing excitingly to a tree across the valley. By the time everyone could get their line of sight right it became foggy. We climbed down the main road to get a clearer view and waited. As the fog gave a slight clearance we saw was simply surreal. Definition of surreal is "Resembling a dream" and thats wot it was all about. A long spread out tree with white barks, green leaves sprinkled over the top was standing majestically on the edge of the valley. The brain tried to relate it with some movie scenes but the senses advised to see what lay before us. As the wind danced with the fog it made a circular clearance like a halo and we could just see the tree. It was unbelievable. Wanted to pinch myself to believe it. We moved ahead, and it started raining. Cameras were packed inside and rain gear came out. We came across a huge horse race course and like kids we circled for no reason. After that the rain was in its full fury and the visibility came down to 3 to 5 meters. We came across a parsi cemetery. The adventurous decided to explore it while others stayed back. Rain was menacing as ever. Dodging the small streams we continued walking till we reached a chai wala. By that time everyone was shivering due to the cold rain and winds. After a long wait we got our tea and Parle-G biscuits, an irresistible combination and a must "trekking energy supplement". We saw some beautiful scenes at chai wala point and continued walking till One Tree Hill point. One tree hill point was totally engulfed in the fog and the routes to it were too confusing so we skipped it. Everyone was hungry too and we were just half way in our trek. The chilling rain had made me a Thakur of Sholay. I was walking with my hands totally cutoff from outside world as they retracted back in the windcheater. Slowly the rain decreased and the the fog cleared a bit. Actually it was because we were descending the terrain. We again had a cuppa and we reached our hotels, hungry like a wolf. We hogged and then some decided to have a nap. Me and a few decided to just talk and enjoy the climate. Rain on the roof was music to the ears. So were some birds whom we coudnt spot. It was lunch time for some langurs and monkeys. My camera tried to follow them but it was in vain as they jumped across tree branches. There was no city sound. No people in sight. World Peace Day should be like these. We had tea at 5 PM and we headed for Monkey Hill Point. We had no alternatives but to slip in wet clothes as we had another day to go. The thick foliage made the evening darker. Me and asif strolled slowly as we passed some historic bungalows of which 1 belonged to the person who built the railway to matheran decades back. Asif and me then went into a bhoot (ghost) bungalow. It was spooky when we saw small plants covered the rocky stairs. It looked prehistoric. We moved to monkey hill point. It was a fantastic site; huge expanses of land lay before us. Huge mountains could be seen at a distance. Some got their pencils and paper and started sketching, some practiced yoga and meditation while others like me sat on the edge and just stared. Suddenly we saw something beautiful which was for a change not green. It was the sky with fiery colors and shades. They changed their colors and patterns like a kaleidoscope. It was getting darker and we stared back to our hotel. On the way back came the irresistible bhoot bangla. Everyone went to check it out. It was really dark but our "spirits" were high. We closely peeked into the broken windows and eventually trespassed in the bungalow. It was damn spooooooky. The corridors led us way way deep. The corridor was vibrating and we saw a well and shinning eyes of a fleeing cat. We took quick snaps, ofcoz the spooky ones and quickly left the bungalow. But let me tell you that something had grabbed us there which made me and many uneasy for a long time. We had a nice dinner at 9 PM and it was hard to believe that we had just spent 18 hours together in matheran, It felt like 18 days. Asif then showed us a leech which had got in his socks. Blood sucking leech looked liked a small slim earthworm, but its way of transport was magic. I felt something uneasy around my thigh and decided to have a look and was shocked to see blood all over. A leech attack. Obviously a quick pic and an education class on leech bite i went clean it with a soap and water. The blood didnt stop oozing for around 45 mins thereafter. After dinner we became prehistoric humans playing dumb charades. The game lasted till almost midnight with the scores amicably settled at 1 all. Jyoti's dance clue for "" was fantastic. At that moment a plan was devised to guess jyoti's birthday in form of a movie name. It clicked and there was wishing, cake cutting and smearing and pics taken forever stored in time. In a very unique way we celebrated the birthday. I retired in sometime with background of laughter and chatter. Day 2 had 2 purposes for everyone, return back to mumbai and take a dip any form of deluge. Sunday had brought tons of people to the hill station and people were engrossed in all kinds of picnic games with a innovative group who got a volley ball field ready with leaves as marking lines and a floating plastic ball. We passed through a garden where swings and a huge slide lay rusted. We entered into a beautiful petit tower. It had a freshly painted gate in black and the artistry on that gate was beautiful. A recently painted tower looked a bit different which was covered with moss all over. After some filmy pics we headed for echo point. Echo point was engulfed in fog again and the attempts to produce an echo were futile. We moved to Charlotte lake. We tried a shortcut which turned out to be a damp squib as we ended up walking through thick forests and some landed up with minor injuries. Charlotte lake was totally crowded and we didnt see any lake as it was sleeping with a blanket of fog. We went to the Pisarnath Temple to say a hi. Coming back it was a beauty to see the fog cleared up on the lake. Some folks even had a swim. After that we went to edge of a huge waterfall. It was risky but the scenes were fantastic as we saw water drop down thousands of feet below us into the fog. It was again like heaven. I spotted 2 langurs close by watching who monkeys had come there to take a cold water dip. I took out my camera but they were distracted and they disappeared into the wilderness. DAMN. We started back to our hotel, shopping for chikki, fudge and some footwear. Meanwhile we went to the famous matheran toy train and took some pics. Incidentally the engine in the museum was exactly 100 years old. A Salute to heavy engineering. We climbed into the driving seat and realised that it was very well preserved. We walked a bit through the old railway track. Some rails lay there rusting and blending with the red soil. We came back to the hotel with the "oh we have to go back" feeling, had a quick lunch and left matheran. As we came out of matheran we experienced the blissfully forgotten cars, car horns and as the city life it was now about keep RUNNING. In just small span of 36 hours we felt like we had spend 36 days, and friends turned out to be friends we had never met. Nature again taught the joy of walking, slipping and falling and then walking again. Except the television everything there reminded how it would have been a century back, people happily and peacefully living with nature. Relearned a lesson, respect nature and in life KEEP WALKING. P.S. Next time i write this much i hope its about keep talking rather than keep typing.

2004-07-18T02:34:00.000-07:00

Tea Time

More Pictures @ http://amitkulkarni.info/pics/

2004-07-18T02:30:00.000-07:00

Floating Clouds

2004-07-18T02:29:00.000-07:00

Fort View from Plateau