Funny Observation in Google Reader

This Google Reader screen shot that I took yesterday might tell more than it intends to.

Funny Observation in Google Reader

5 Suggestions For Facebook

So here are a five suggestions I recently sent to Facebook.

1. Favouriting -

Could you please look into a 'favourite'ing feature for FB? You know, like they have for feed readers like Google Reader?

The problem that most of us face right now is that we come across a lot of great items (videos, articles) that friends post on their walls, but we have no way to save them for future reference. This means that they simply float away in time as the wall gets refreshed with newer items and we have no quick way to access them except by going back down the common walls, or going to a friend's page and going down their wall, neither of which is convenient.

True, we do have an option to share the item ourselves, so it appears on our wall, but that seems like a lengthy solution to an easy problem. Also, we shouldn't have to be forced to share an item to view it later, not that it helps much either, as the item will just float down our wall sooner or later.   

This is a major issue that a lot of us would like to see fixed. We'd be really grateful if you could work towards some sort of parallel wall or page where we can view at any point of time all the items we've chosen to favourite.

2. Sharing -

And while we're on the subject of parallel walls or separate pages, how about one dedicated to friend's items that we've chosen to share, as opposed to the current scenario, where both shared items and our own posted items are presented on the same wall?

3. Minimizing -

And going further, maybe a way to minimize our wall items, be they present wall items or (hopefully in the near future) shared or favourited items, so we can see them in a quick list with an option to view each item in expandable form, rather than the present situation where we have to scroll down each and every item in a wall, complete with descriptions, thumbnails and all?

4. Feed Reading -

Could you please include some kind of RSS/Atom feed subscription facility for FB. I'm not just talking about subscribing to other people's FB links in the form of a feed, but using FB itself as a feed reader for third party RSS/Atom feeds.

5. Friend Mapping -

Lastly, and I know this is a complicated and more of a futuristic-nice-to-have rather than a must-have feature, but could you please look into the possibility of creating some kind of friend mapping feature for Facebook?

It would prove to be really helpful, and would work sort of like a mind map or semantic network (and be presented in the same way), letting us see how each of our friends is connected to us and to each other, but not on an individual scale as is currently the case, but on a grander scale, with all connections and connectors displayed simultaneously for all friends (or friend groups if that's easier). This might need to be in 2D or 3D form, on a separate dedicated page that could be linked to from the 'Friends' tab on the menu bar.

I've included a link below for reference -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semantic_network

If by some small chance you do find any of my ideas appealing, viable and of potential usefulness, please don't hesitate to send me some small token of appreciation, an iPod touch perhaps, or an iphone? :-)

5 Suggestions For Facebook

Blog Review - Nomadic Matt's Travel Site

So there's this good travel blog I've been following for a while - Nomadic Matt's Travel Site

Now Matt has all types of posts - places he's visited, photos of the week, top ten lists, etc. - but the posts I can relate to the most are his generic travel ones i.e posts about travel in general, as they tend to provide a lot of food for thought. I've included some of them below:

Everyone Says I'm Running Away

When Can You Say You Know A Place

The Downside To Long Term Travel

Is Travel Blogging Real Journalism

Traveling Without A Plan

All Travelers Are Created Equal

Can You Travel For Too Long

Travel First Starts At Home

Is Eco-Tourism Really Eco Friendly?

Of Backpackers And Tourists

Blog Review - Nomadic Matt's Travel Site

#unlikelyindianbooks on Twitter

A funny thing happened yesterday. @jhunjhunwala started a trending topic on Twitter yesterday called #unlikelyindianbooks. 

The responses came flying in quickly, some witty, some obvious, but very entertaining nonetheless. I wrote over 20 tweets of my own on the topic, in addition to reading through and laughing at everyone else's tweets, starting at around 11.00 and finally logging off at a little after 1.00 to go to bed. This was a fantastic end to a work day.

Here are some of my favourites: 

@amitvarma 

"How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb" by Arundhati Roy

'A farewell to Arms' by Varun Gandhi  
'Who Moved My Cheesecake' by Adnan Sami.

'Sons and Lovers' by Kokilaben Ambani

Silicon Valley Revealed' by Rakhi Sawant & Sherlyn Chopra

'How the Parsis and Gujaratis Built Mumbai' by Raj Thackeray 

@manuscrypts 

Not a Penny more, Not a penny less by Harshad Mehta 

100 cheap places to stay in delhi - Shashi Tharoor
The Romantics - Pramod Muthalik
Built to Last - Ramalinga Raju

Winning Campaigns - Online and Offline by LK Advani

 

@krishashok 

"A dog visited his house & other short stories" by VS Achuthananthan
"The Interpreter of Melodies" by Anu Malik
"The Grapes of Rath" by LK Advani

"Creative Commentary: Kill those cliches" by ravi_shastri

@jishita 

"You Can Win" by LK Advani 

Without A Pause by A B Vajpayee

@thecomicproject

Maid in India - by Shiney Ahuja 

Lady in Red - By Simi Garewal

Employee Retention - by Hari Sadu

@notytony 

"The Pink Slip" by Pramod Muthalik 

Chicken Soup For The Indian Soul by Maneka Gandhi 

@zauq 

Citizen Rane by Bal Thakarey 

Far Away From The Madding Crowd by @BDUTT 

@ShivamVij 

"Ponytail Management For Dummies (With Free Laptop)" by Arindam Chaudhuri

"Bombay Times" by Raj Thackeray 

@shubhas

The buck stops here by Salman Khan 

size doesnt matter by Kareena Kapoor 

  

@rameshsrivats 

"Eyes wide open" by Deve Gowda

"Out of the closet" by Baba Ramdev

@ramithanda "An affair to remember " by Aishwarya Rai 

@rksatta "No country for old men" by L.K.Advani and Somnath Chatterjee 

@_samiran "Winning Excuses" by Kolkata Night Riders 

@scorpfromhell God of small things by Vijay Mallaya 

@FrazKhan A Practical Guide to Composing Original Music - Pritam & Anu Malik 

@zigzackly Bombay Meri Jaan - Raj Thackeray (with a foreword by Bal Thackeray and photographs by Udhav Thackeray) 

@AudibleArun: "No apologies!" - by Karan Johar  

@ashwinbellur 'Monk who sold his Ferrari' by Vijay Mallya

@sunilea "Six Pack" by Mohanlal

@telljeeves So nia, yet so far... by Manmohan Singh 

@phanirajkvs 'who moved my berth' by Lalu Prasad Yada

@OldmonkMGM My experiments with truth- Ramalinga Raju 

@varnam_blog "Laws of Physics" by Rajnikanth

  

@venkatananth "A step by step guide to performing Chhat Puja" by Raj Thackerey 

@SundeepDougal My Prison Diary: Ottavio Quattrochi 

And here are some of my own creations:

'Hard Cash' by Bangaru Laxman
'The Heritage of the Desert' by BARC and DRDO

'Hard Times' by Mukesh Ambani
'The Broad Highway' by NHAI & MMRDA

'The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen' by United Women Front

'The Age of Innocence' by Narendra Modi

'Pride and Prejudice' by Lalit Modi

'Comedy of Errors' by MET dept

'Kamasutra' by Pramod Muthalik

'Invisible Man' by Manmohan Singh

'Importance of Being Earnest' by Ramalinga Raju

Lonely Planet India' by the LeT

'How to Win Friends and Influence People' by Narendra Modi

'One Hundred Years of Solitude' by Arindham Choudhry & Raj Thackeray

I also had time to contribute to #likelyindianbooks:

'The Little Minister' by Pranab Mukherjee

'The Lord of the Rings' by Bappi Lahiri

'A Midsummer Night’s Dream' by Lalit Modi

'Much Ado About Nothing' by Shashi Tharoor

   

#unlikelyindianbooks on Twitter

Photography Lessons: How To Use A Camera

Here's an informative site that teaches you to use a camera's features.

http://dryreading.com/camera/index.html

Instead of simply describing the camera's exposure modes (like Auto, Program, Aperture, Shutter & Manual); exposure compensation; ISO and illumination levels; this site also lets you demo these features on your screen and watch the test photo change in front of you. A really user friendly learning tool that accurately showcases the basic features of a good P&S or SLR camera.

And here's another one, for SLRs and manual P&Ss:

http://camerasim.com/camera-simulator.htm

Photography Lessons: How To Use A Camera

More Recent Adventures

The Pavana Trip

I was home on the 5th and 6th of September, during which I attempted to recover from a mild case of vertigo brought about by my sinusitis. This was only the second time this monsoon that I hadn't gone out anywhere. On the plus side, I got to meet a cousin who dropped by during a 10 day break from work, and my uncle before he left for Calcutta.

However, it was back to travelling on the following Saturday. I was keen to go to Pavana again since we only just got an appetiser of it the last time around. But my cousin and his car weren't available. While talking to RV about the possibility of him getting a vehicle, he confirmed what I'd been thinking - that I'd become lazy and too dependent on private transport. I started off this monsoon trekking but now preferred comfortable travel. Part of this was due to health reasons of course. I still hadn't fully recovered from the sinus attack. I was still getting headaches, was not 100% and definitely couldn't think of a trek, even a short one. But he was right, I have grown lazy, after just two trips in a car.

But I so wanted to go out that weekend. RV finally managed to get a Tata Sumo from his uncle and called three other friends along and the five of us decided to visit Pavana, via Khandala. This would be my fourth trip to Khandala this monsoon, though we didn't visit Buffalo falls this time.

The day started off with me travelling to the Directi building at seven on Saturday morning, meeting RV after his graveyard shift. The others were late, still in bed (I don't know why I even bother getting up so early if everyone else's going to be late) so we chilled out for an hour, me beating RV royally at fooseball (I've recovered my touch it seems; I guess I'm good at one on one fooseball). He, not to be outdone, ran away to play TT as soon as the table was free, and showed me how good he was at beating me at that.

The others called to say they were ready at last, and we picked them up. The drive to Khandala along the expressway was warm but non eventful. A lot of this trip was going to be non eventful, I was to realise by the end of the day, at least compared to previous trips. We visited St Mary's villa and Father Robin first - he used to organise camps in the area. We then checked out the cliff face path leading to the Garden of Eden, before driving to Lonavala, for money, fudge and alcohol as usual.

We then drove to Pavana. It was exquisite, the play of light on the water, the different shades of blue and green. We drove all round the dam and up and down various paved and unpaved roads, stopping now and then for pictures. RV, being the only driver in the group, had to do all the driving.

We stopped at one of RV's family friends' beautiful weekend home for a while at one point. They plan to rent out a room and bath to travellers. That's good to know. What I liked most about he place was the view of lake from the large verandah.

We then drove up into the hills, looking for something to eat. I ate some Choris Pao that RV had got while the others had fuller meals. RV was tired by now. We went back to Khandala and Fr. Robin's place for some thick hot soup, and that, together with a lot of cigarettes on the way back, kept him awake.

I caught a train home from Vile Parle. The trip was good, but I really should be doing overnight trips to the area.

The Shivneri Trip

With RV in Paris the following weekend, and RG and his car still unavailable, it didn't seem like I'd be going anywhere the following weekend. But a colleague suggested Shivneri and I launched onto the idea of a bike trip on Sunday, 20 September.

It was a truly exquisite trip. It took us (four guys on two bikes) 5 hours to get to Shivneri fort via Malshej ghat, with Borivli as a starting point, and another 5 hours to get back. My legs were sore the next day from riding pillion in the same stiff position for that long, but it was worth it if only to see the beauty of Malshej once again. I hadn't been there in 5 years.

And Shivneri fort was a good visit. I wish we had more time to explore it. Being the birthplace of Shivaji, it was well maintained and busy. Uptil this point, Janjira had been the largest fort I had ever visited, but Shivneri seemed larger, at least because it's built on a hill and you need to go up a winding way to get to the top.

My friend's blog post on the trip is here. Again, it was a wonderful trip, and even chilly in parts (the ride up and through the ghats) and we even encountered heavy rain on our way back. This is the last monsoon trip I did.

The Kashid Trip

And that finally brings me to last week's Saturday trip. RG, RV, NS and I drove to Kashid and Murud for the day. A lovely trip. RG and I picked up the others from Jogeshwari and Andheri, leaving at 8.00 A.M for Vashi and Panvel, from where we continued along the highway for Pen and Alibag, passing Karnala on the way. I depended on the others for directions till Alibag, and they depended on me for directions till Murud, I being the only one among us who had been there before. The drive to Alibag was pretty peaceful, with very little traffic.

We came to a trisection on the outskirts of Alibag and after asking for directions, took a left for Revdanda. This road was narrow but peaceful, with bungalows lining both sides. We soon came to a junction where we took a right for Revdanda, came to a crowded town, and passed under ancient arches, the ruins of an old fort and town, on our way out.

We continued south, the road turning into a coastal one, coming next to Korlai, which we passed by, and then finally to Kashid, where we stopped for a rest, snack and pictures. The beach is clean and beautiful. And a row of shacks along an embankment along the beach provide refreshments, shade, and hammocks. And behind the embankment is the road and across the road from the beach is a beautiful green woody slope.

You don't get full meals on the beach, and have to visit a resort for that, so we drove 20 kms south to Murud for lunch, stopping for views of Nandgaon beach and the palace on the cliff.

Inspite of being hungry, we drive through Murud to see Janjira fort, almost coming to Rajpuri village itself. We were happy with a view of the fort from the hill overlooking it, and went back to Murud for a heavy seafood lunch. The drive back, as is usually the case, was never-ending.

My friend's post on the trip is here.

More Recent Adventures

The One With The Wrecks

Right, so here are two hilarious sites I've been following for a while:

Lovely Listing deals with poor real estate photo listings in the U.S.

Cake Wrecks deals with poorly decorated cakes (and sometimes good ones), mostly in the U.S.

It's not just the pictures of houses or cakes that I find funny. They are, by themselves, mildly amusing. No, it's the writers creatively stringing words together, creating puns and jokes to make an otherwise average, not so funny picture, really funny. That takes talent. 

Update: 22 Oct '09 

There, I Fixed It: Epic Kludges + Jury Rigs about poor and funny quick fix solutions (lots of tape involved) 

The One With The Wrecks

Recent Adventures

 

I'm not sure where to begin. With my Dahanu trip on August 8th I guess. My first trip to the area. A one day trip involving a train ride to Vangaon with a friend who owns property there, drinking coconut water, visits to his relatives, a scooter ride to Vangaon beach, travelling to Dahanu in 3 (or was it 4 rickshaws?), using the 6th seat for the first time, eating a sumptuous lunch, mixing naan and noddles, hitching a ride to Dahanu station in a tractor. So many firsts. I'm glad I had experienced company. He turned every instance into an adventure. A trip here is recommended in the rains when it's cool and breezy, though there's not much to do except travel around.

Followed this with a road trip to Vikramgad & Jawhar on the 22nd. The last time I went there was 2006 with PrV and the gang. A different gang this time. One I brought together. A good mix. A car with four people, a calming drive along the highway, green hills, open sky, climbing up, changing topography, greenery everywhere, low grass and black rock, a hill station minus the crowds. 

Taking funny pics with friends, deep stone quarries filled with rainwater, a friend takes a dip, jokes, hunger, a restaurant with tasty filling food and low prices, a palace to explore, a beautiful view from its backyard, 360 panoramic photography, hairy caterpillars, a lookout point, tiredness creeping in, driving back to the city at 120 km/hr on the highway, photographing clouds, going to Vijay Sales, looking for cameras, decide to meet on Sunday to buy some. 

And finally, a trip to Lohagad fort in Malavli on Saturday. I had to visit a fort this monsoon. The previous attempt at Rajmachi was rained out. With the adventures from the last two trips, I didn't think I'd be having any more. I was wrong.

And so we meet again on Saturday, five of us this time, and drive to Khandala first, to Kune mission, where we take photos. I have never been to a place with better views of the valley. We drive to Lonavala next, to get money, fudge and alcohol. Drive on to Malavli after that, asking for directions to Lohagad. Come to Pavana Dam, take more photos, realise we've taken a wrong turn and should have taken a left before turning onto the Pavana dam road.

Turn back, go left, drive slowly up the rocky road to Lohagad village, very slowly. Trek up the hundreds of stairs (with caves along the way) leading to the top of the fort, a well maintained fort, enjoying every bit of it. So many levels, so many interesting sections of the fort to see along the way, experimenting with photography.

The climb to the top takes us into raincloud and we're literally walking among the clouds. No description suffices. You have to be there to feel it. I've only seen this twice before - in Malshej Ghat (2004) and Karnala (2008) - and only felt the same magic feeling once. The Himalayas may be majestic but the Western Ghats in the monsoon are magical. It's worth waiting an entire year for. It's something to see before you die. There is absolutely nothing like a hill fort in the rains.

We descend, slowly down slippery steps, it begins to rain, we drive back to Khandala, stop for a late lunch at a place riddled with menu misspellings that takes even longer to prepare it, and head to Buffallo falls, the third time this monsoon. It's raining so the water's muddy. A friend dunks his head under one. This is his moment. This is what he came for. He's enjoying it.

We go back to Kune to dry off. Watch darkness descend. RV regales us with poetry and then almost looses his phone along with a box of empty beer bottles on the way out. That's why you shouldn't litter. It's a sign from above. The others think that's our last adventure of the day. In my mind I just know there's more.

Five minutes later I'm proved correct. We get onto the highway and realise we can't see anything. It's covered with fog. Our lights are not very helpful. We're scared. RV's working from memory. We connect with the main freeway and other vehicles and the situation improves. Traffic increases as we cross over from Navi Mumbai into Mumbai. I doze off till we reach Andheri. We bid farewell to RV and HS and drive home, our last adventure of the day being the stop for dinner at a dhabba at Kandivli for brain rice and chicken tikka.

Recent Adventures

Random Creature Pics

There's this shot of a creature flying through the air in all its splendour & glory, leaving you in awe of the natural world.

And then there's this shot of a creature flying through the air, period.

Random Creature Pics

Spy vs Dubai

Here's an incredible story from the U.A.E. A former French covert operative working as a contractor in Dubai is accused of fraud. Fearing the worst, he leaves the country secretively with the help of a wetsuit and a burkha.

The 53-year-old explained how on the night of his escape last summer he stepped into a full-length diving suit, complete with breathing equipment, before adding padding to cover the shape of the kit.

Jaubert, who designs and builds leisure submarines, then disguised himself in a burka and walked down to the water's edge.

From there, he swam underwater to the nearby coastguard station, on a remote outpost, where he cut the fuel lines on a police patrol boat. He knew it was the only one in the area, and the coast would now be clear.

He then swam back to the beach, got into a Zodiac dinghy and headed back out to sea. Six hours later he was 25 miles off-shore and outside Dubai's territorial waters. Another former French agent met him in a yacht, he claims.

The pair then sailed to Mumbai, India, which took a week. Jaugbert told the French consul that he had lost his passport and was given a new one.

Not bad for a 53 year old. Maybe the French Secret Service should re-hire him. And what exactly prompted him to take such drastic steps?

Jaubert had been working as a contractor for ship-builder Dubai World in 2007 when he was called in for questioning by police, he told The Sunday Times. An executive at the firm had reported finding bullets in Jaugbert's office and police thought he was a mercenary or hitman. At the same time, the company accused Jaubert of billing for goods that did not arrive.

According to Jaubert, his employers had run out of money and wanted to find a way of sacking him without paying benefits that would have been due under a five-year contract.

He said that if he hadn't left, he'd be 'stuck in the same nightmare as the others', referring to the dozens of expatriate businessmen who are languishing in Dubai jails for alleged 'economic crimes'.

Of course, to the Emirati authorities and his former company, Herve Jaubert is still a fraudster, wanted fugitive and convicted felon. None of this has, however, stopped him from starting a website and writing a book based on his experiences.

Spy vs Dubai