Buy my prints...

Came across this site which sells art online...so if you like my style of photography do visit this link and buy a few prints.... :)

http://m_i_m.imagekind.com/

http://m_i_m.imagekind.com/My_Creations

m.I.m

Mazhai - an exhibition of monsoon inspired photographs!

Dakshinachitra ( www.dakshinachitra.net/) is organizing a photo exhibition where they are exhibiting one of my rain photos.

I sincerely thank Madras Craft Foundation (MCF) for this effort.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/minmaxmim/

http://interestingby.isaias.com.mx/pm.php?id=29571053@N00

m.I.m

Spread the festive cheer to all...

Eid just over Deepavali around the corner Christmas fast approaching...Shopping ...clothes...sweets...crackers...cards... forwards...sms's... TV shows...oil baths...Xmas trees...Cakes... the list might go on and on.

Festivals are the source of many a get together s, happy times shared among relatives and friends. In this riot of colors and fun times do we forget the ones who really serve us for a long period of a year?

Do you remember the one who empties your dustbin day after day at office, the one who serves you coffee / tea day after day with a smile, the one who keeps your rest room sparkling clean, the one who salutes you as you enter office, the one who drives you to office amidst the maddening traffic???

Wont it be nice if we can voluntarily group ourselves as Project level / Account level / Floor level / location level group and pool in some money and get some clothes(a shirt/Saree), sweets/gift for the identified people. It will spread a true feeling of good will and a true festive feeling to all, also it will really resound well with our resolution of social responsibility.

Lets join to spread the festive cheer uniformly among all...

UPDATE -

2008: A large number of us got into the act and gifted Shirts, Sarees and cash to the personnel from the housekeeping and pantry department, lets continue spreading the festive joy & cheer.

2007: 1) exactly seven days later we (about 15 of us) pooled money and got gifts - shirts/sarees and sweets for all the support staff in our floor...yippee...plan execution was good...
Many sincere thanks to all the contributors and friends who helped to make the execution as perfect as possible.

2) Another project team implemented the same in their floor.

Wish you all a very happy diwali...

m.I.m

Business at 20 20

A colleague at work started a interesting thread on the changes that he had seen since the last 13 years i.e. 1994 and he wanted us to predict on the changes 13 years ahead....

Business in the year 20 20 will be like a 20/20 cricket match, fast paced, action packed, with dramatic twists and turns and decisions might have to be taken on a per second basis in virtual meeting rooms with people attending the meeting from all parts of the world or even from the outer world...

Some of the top changes that I can imagine for few industries are as follows...

Tourism industry would have spread to places never before visited by the masses like say Outer space travel, Extraterrestrial visits and what not - Distance revolution.

Travel industry might have super fast transportation based on apparitions and the distance revolution might lead to a time revolution using concepts like space time travel / time travel / space time travel capsules.

Hotel industry and the construction mavericks would have created under sea resorts and hotels/theme parks utilising the vast space available under sea...you and me could be coding in an environment under the sea... - Space revolution.

Digital and Mobile revolution would involve a lot of technology which would be stitched/bonded/binded inside the human body like say you might be able to answer a call without using a mobile, a chip inside would transmit the sound through bones to your ear and your voice would be also transmitted through similar means;You might not need to tap your ID cards, a RFID tag placed under your skin could tag the entry for you. - Digital/AI revolution.

Food/Biotechnology industry might come up with food capsules, pop one for a light breakfast pop two for a heavy breakfast and that too in different flavours. - Food revolution.

Automobile industry might try to come up with models which run on a self sustainable principle...smoke exhaust to be the input of a process which runs the engine on some principle and in turn the engine gives out smoke and the vehicles moves on...Technology revolution.

IT...

to be continued...


m.I.m

RRR - Reduce plastic Reuse cloth bags Recycle natural fibers

Do the above pictures disturb you??? Are you hurt, helpless, appalled?? Would you like to help in preventing more occurrences of such places?
If you answered yes to any of the above questions read on...

A site promoting the use of reusable bags thus reducing our dependence on plastic bags
DDD - Do throw a glance, Donate, Do promote

http://www.smallsteps.in/









m.I.m

Wayanad - Gods Own Country

October 2^nd is special to many of India but even more to me. But Oct 2^nd 2007 was a day worth remembering for a plethora of reasons and the hierarchy of their order confounds me till date. The reasons, being the long weekend, the green pastures, the undulating peaks, the simple lifestyle of people, the leeches, the soul stirring Malabar food or was it the gang of the persistently energetic team of 6 friends with whom I had been to Wayanad. Wayanad I must confess stands true to its self proclaimed name of ‘Gods own country’ in terms of landscape beauty, food and what not.

Seven of us Karthik Kalkur, Monish(me), Pradeep Panda, Sunil Kumar, Sivanantham, Vimal Kanth and the chauffeur Raju embarked on this express trip to be completed under a 48 hours.

Kalpetta in Wayanad would set your speedometer forward by around 280 – 290 kms and your watch by 6 hours ahead from Bangalore. The roads are as nice as you could imagine. We reached the coffee day near Mandya by about 12:00 pm and we descended from the travera to sleepily slurp a class of coffee renamed(F2) as lattes and cappuccinos and Raju was also offered a glass of coffee for which he was very skeptical in accepting it(the reason will be disclosed soon). Then a few gaana’s ahead after straining each ones vocal chords and after a few long winks we reached the Karnataka – Kerala border where we stopped for a road side chai – pit stop. Again Raju was skeptical in accepting chai from the hands of his passengers (the reason will be disclosed soon). Then we started again and for wildlife enthusiasts this is one of the best stretches from the Karnataka border to the Kerala Muthanga checkpost where we spotted many stray wild elephants, spotted deer’s and some more URA (Unidentified Running Animals). Then we had to pay the tax at near the Muthanga checkpost which was close to 800 bucks for a Tavera. By 5:00 am we were in the hotel Haayatagiri which has quite a good pulling web presence, but not a too gravity defying presence once you are in their premises – but the tariffs at 1500 for 3 serve your purpose for a hideout during the nights. We decided to sleep for about 2.5 hrs and get out of the hotel by about 8, but as we all know how sleep can get the better of all of us and screw all the preplanned scheduling, the same happened here as we woke up at 9 but in this case our sleep didn’t majorly spoil any plans as it was raining pellets of water. So finally after conquering a heavy breakfast aka puttu and other Kerala delicacies we trooped out of the hotel to carry on with the days agenda of ‘Discover Wayanad’. First stop was Chembra peak a tea estate where for trekking you need a forest officer’s autograph on a torn sheet of paper or you need to be a knave and bribe the highly grounded guard at 2000 meters above sea level with a few hundreds and move on.

As we walk for about a km we see many streamlets and miniaturized waterfalls and at one point we see many guys in varying levels of undress which left us wondering about what was happening to people these days and they were screaming leeches and true to their word we saw many blood leaking wounds on their legs and hands and then to our dismay we were almost to be a free hosting site for the leeches as they were getting ready to invade into our blood stream – they were all over our shoes and socks and getting ready to draw first blood by then we got smart and recovered from the initial shock of their attack and cleansed ourselves from their attack and decided not to venture into the grassy wet leeches inundated area. So we started back and on the way back we conquered a streamlet right up to the top and spend some time there relishing the express vacation.

So after a few 50 pictures we were truly on way to the Sochipara falls which is about 20 km’s from Kalpetta, Sochipara falls is a small beautiful waterfalls in a nice locale, but the crux of this place is the nice body exerting walk of about 2++ kms in a ever changing inclination.

After this we decided to get to the Phooket lake, at the same time we started getting some vague signal reception from many of our stomachs which started demanding for some food which was forgotten in all this scurry of activity. We stopped at some place called Ananda Bhavan and the clocks in their town read 5:00, we had Fish Fish and Fish with some little bit of dosa as the side dish and paid 160 rs for 6 peoples lunch, man wasn’t Wayanad expensive compared to the silicon valley earlier known as the garden city. By the time we reached the lake, the boating was stopped for the day as it was dangerous to boat in the dark, the vehicle ticket collector spoke in flawless English that the place was closed and he told us to come on the next day around 9:30 and he even gave us a recommendation to visit a place about 3 km’s away called the GHAT area where you will engulfed in a eerie cloud of white mist. As we approached that place we started to see some real thick mist ahead of us and at the pinnacle of that point we stopped and got out of the car and we really couldn’t see each other at a distance of few meters.

Then we started back to the hotel and reached back to the hotel at around 7 and when we asked them what facilities they have they replied that they have a pool and a ‘outdoor shuttle court’. Then Sunil, Siva and me decided to play shuttle for a while and as we went to see the court we saw a brown color covered place in a corner of their property which could be mistaken to be their garbage dump. Siva was following us behind maybe a minutes delay. As soon as I kept my foot on the court I went skidding a few feet ahead and as I got up and walked a few meters ahead I fell again much to Sunil’s delight and to my disgust, but immediately I saw Siva coming and I got up and kept quiet ..real quiet he came – kept his foot – and YES he did skid and fall and the night erupted into a frenzy by my laughter – a true sadistJ. Then with footing as graceful as a cat we crossed our nemesis the shuttle court and we all decided to go explore the local Kalpetta market and dine somewhere and get back. Kalpetta market place was a straight line of a few km’s with small shops and vendors displaying their wares, then we came to a nice restaurant called Woodlands which was like our very own local Nandhini without the standard meals, but if you have a train, bus or flight to board in the next few hours you would really be happy to give this place a miss or cancel your tickets and dine here and that’s how fast they can serve. After a few hours and with heavier stomachs and lighter purses we returned to our rooms to retire hurt for the night after few detailed heated up discussions on the IT industry, the economy and other hot topics, while all this was going on in one of the rooms poor Sania Mirza was battling out a match in the background on ten sports without garnering much attention from us.

Tuesday – wake up – get ready – check out – settle the bills – bid farewell to the hotel all by 7:30 in the pre dawn early morning period. We then stopped for a sumptuous breakfast at a small little place and devoured appams, poori’s and chai. Then we went to the lake and were there before even the boating ticket agent could get to work. We first hired an 8 seater with a row man and we went on a nice wide trip with few onboard wishing they wouldn’t be thrown overboard. Then 4 of us decided to do raft/canoe on a twin seater with dual rowing on both sides. Now that was fun, the first 10 minutes was spent like a kid taking to a video game for a first time, the raft was doing circles, sudden turns and basically went in all directions like a car which had just lost its brakes and suffered a steering unit failure. But later it was fun and a must do activity for people getting there.

Then from there we went straight to Edakkal Caves, it was about 45 kms away from the lake and the drive was through real picture some canopies of trees and fresh fields and droves of tea bushes. We reached Edakkal caves and here you can hire a jeep to take you to the base of the caves else you can labor upwards for about 2 km’s to the base of the climb to the caves. We opted to hike it which we regretted within 5 minutes we were walking upwards at an angle of 45 degrees and with every passing jeep our jealousy was hitting a peak taller than the peak above the caves. We huffed and puffed our way up to the caves and saw our forefathers scribbling on the walls of the cave, their genes are still present in those of us who scribble in every possible wall & desk.

Then few of us decided to go further up to the top of the 2200+ meter peak, till about 1500 meters I made it with great fear and apprehension of the absolute lack of safety and the sheer drop/fall that I would have even if I make a single wrong move or if my shoes decide to desert me, at one point I was shaking and refused to budge from there and told them to carry on till the peak and get back soon, Siva Kartik and Sunil left me on a nice sofa like rock and carried on, after a few 100 meters the same unknown fear which hit me hit Siva and Kartik especially as they climbing with floaters and a grip less shoe, they parked themselves in a lesser comfortable rock and the mountain cat of our group Sunil continued on conquering the peak and was hopping and leaping rock to rock which left us all with prayers on our lips, finally he made it to the top along with only 2 others of a different group. Finally the descent was a great homecoming and we were more than happy.

Then after more than 3 continuous hours of mountaineering we refreshed and replenished ourselves and continued to Muthanga sanctuary where a safari was to start in an hour we were dreaming and conjuring up images of Animal planet, Discovery where you can see such nice pictures and close macro captures of all the habitants of a jungle. But in reality animals don’t present themselves in a tray to be viewed nor do they cat walk in front of you, so the first 15 minutes was spend in traveling in a rickety vehicle gaping at dried leaves and trees. Then finally Pradeep spotted the giant malaber squirrel which made my safari a nice affair, we got down and tried shooting them on a memory card but they were quick enough to escape getting caught as another picture on my flickr homepage. Then we saw some spotted deer and few monkeys and then we changed tracks to a completely horrific road less track where we spotted a huge black poisonous snake slithering away into the bushes and we ended our safari in about 40 minutes and after a 22 km drive.

Then we had a final Kerala meal at a mess which was again Puttu, Kappa and fish and we started our drive to Bangalore, stopped for dinner at Omkar dhaba close to west campus and after around 48 hours since we left and around 800 kms covered we reached our place safely.

And the reason for which the driver was skeptical initially in accepting things from us to drink and eat was that I had booked the taxi and had just given my phone number and told him to come to KR road, recently a group of thieves hired a taxi by giving only their phone number and then on Mysore road drugged/hit the driver threw him down a pit and drove away with the vehicle, so he was very scared of whether I was part of their gang and would do the same … heehaw – a villains laugh.

m.I.m

My Stories on MSN

Auto article --> http://content.msn.co.in/Contribute/Others/UCStory1184.htm

Food article --> http://content.msn.co.in/Contribute/Others/UCStory2666.htm

Do check them out when you have some spare time...

m.I.m

Most interesting pictures

Have a look at the most interesting pictures taken by me

http://interestingby.isaias.com.mx/pm.php?id=29571053@N00

m.I.m

VOTE FOR TAJ

SMS

TAJ

To 4567

or register your votes by going to the website http://taj.indiainfo.com/

You will get a confirmation of your vote being registered, you will also get a online certificate.

m.I.m

Food – Price Range(Wide Spectrum) – Purpose(Narrow Spectrum)

An extract from Rohin’s(my colleague) article Food as a leveler – Either way an old Hindi saying which depicts that food can be a great leveler came to my mind. “No matter how rich or poor, no matter how high or low in the society a person might be, he might not bend his head in front of any human being and if he is an agnostic, then not even in front of god but at the end of the day each individual has to tilt/bend his head forward to have his morsel. No individual can take food comfortably without paying it the proper respect, knowingly or unknowingly.”

Sunday the 27^th of May came two days after I had read an article on how food acts as a great leveler between the high – the low, the mighty – the meek, the healthy – the sick, the rude – the polite….. Gokul and I finish our weekly shuttle practice and on our way back, are met with ravaging hunger, hunger enough to kill us a dozen times on the spot. So we start discussing various options which starts with Nandhini, Jayanagar which is ruled out instantly because on weekends you might as well work as a part time employee / door keeper from 12:30 – 15:00 pm because till 15:00 you won’t get a seat and will have to stand near the door keeper giving him company saluting the various patrons entering and exiting and to add to the misery you would be distraught with the confusion of identifying the various aromas of chicken curry, fish fry etc rafting through the air and your mind will be busy calculating the matrix of how many people went in, average time of eating etc. Never mind let me move on from this frightful bashing of having to wait in life. So then we discuss a few more options, and because our DNA constitutions are different, for whichever place I agree, he disagrees and vice versa. Finally our consensus was a place called ‘Surya mess’ which is a place in JP Nagar serving authentic Kerala food. They serve some excellent home cooked food, with amazing curries and can cause diseases with symptoms like dreaming about their food, cravings to go crawling back to their place within a single day for more than three times a day. Also mind you, you can have dinner there for ten times at the same cost that you might have to shell out for a single meal in an average restaurant. So with this idea we drive on, until we smell the same aromas of Kerala wafting around few km away, some where around South End circle. And as we wonder if we have been day dreaming or caught in a sensory mirage about food, bingo right there we see a fishy place with several auto’s and two wheelers standing near a Fish outlet, where they sell a wide variety of fish based dishes. I have seen this place several times in the night when there are several people in cars and from the upper strata of life, does it mean they are there for some good food under the cover of darkness – does it mean they don’t want to be seen in such a small place in the morning light where their actions would come to light to others? Anyways we see people on the pavement enjoying a fishy! meal & now we are in a dilemma as to whether we eat here, else where or take a pack back home. Finally the aroma, the freshness and the native cooking style win us over and food being a great leveler makes us pick up a set of meals, a fish and a prawn dish and we sat right next to the auto wallahs and other co diners and we settled comfortably on the road’s pavement(yes I said pavement) and admired the taste of the food but at the same time was looking with the corner of my eye at the passing cars and vehicles nervously hoping not to catch a glimpse of any person known to me, but gradually the food taste was so great that I was ready to advocate and advertise this place to many a friends and pals. The good food had bought about a nice pleasant mood in me that I ended up buying a meal for a poor kid about 5-6 years who was pointing to the fish meal and asking me to buy him a plate of that nirvana.

So food acted as a great leveler making me sit somewhere where I won’t ideally sit and dine. Food as always has proved to be the connecting factor between many a people.

Fish Joint MAP

Surya Mess MAP

m.I.m

FOCUS is the keyword

Courtesy : Internet.

m.I.m

Diving Series

m.I.m

IT CONSULTANTS

Once upon a time there was a shepherd looking after
his sheep on the side of a deserted road. Suddenly a
brand new Porsche screeches to a halt.

The driver, a man dressed in an Armani suit, Cerutti
shoes, Ray-Ban sunglasses, TAG-Heuer wrist-watch, and
a Pierre Cardin tie, gets out and asks the Shepherd:
If I can tell you how many sheep you have, will you
give me one of them?"

The shepherd looks at the young man, and then looks at
the large flock of grazing sheep and replies: "Okay."

The young man parks the car, connects his laptop to
the mobile-fax, enters a NASA Webster, scans the
Ground using his GPS, opens a database and 60 Excel
tables filled with logarithms and pivot tables, then
prints out a 150 page report on his high-tech
mini-printer.

He turns to the shepherd and says, "You have exactly
1,586 sheep here."

The shepherd cheers, "that's correct, you can have
your sheep."

The young man makes his pick and puts it in the back
of his Porsche.

The shepherd looks at him and asks: "If I guess your
profession, will you return my animal to me?"

The young man answers, "Yes, why not".

The shepherd says, "You are an IT consultant ".

"How did you know?" asks the young man.

"Very simple," answers the shepherd. "First, you came
here without being called. Second, you charged me a
fee to tell me something I already knew, and third,
you don't understand anything about my business.. Now
can I have my DOG back?"

Courtesy: A Fwd!

m.I.m

Wildlife - animal/insect/bird Photography

Some of my favorite pictures taken by me, for more visit
http://www.flickr.com/photos/minmaxmim/















































m.I.m