Tax for the right cause



Since year 2002, Ireland has imposed 33 cent Plastic bag tax which has brought down usage of plastic bag by 94%, i think UPA government can take a cue out of such success stories and resort to more sensible taxing regime, more on this story here

Live your dreams & Touch the stars !

"Simple yet Spellbinding" are my words for this movie, Taare Zameen par is not just a movie for children, though it carries a important message for parents, i relate this movie equally to adults as well.

Let me put it this way, how many of us are pursuing careers which relate to our interests, current generation of parents are presumed to be more mature in handling children, but that is not the case always, we end up satisfying dreams and ambitions which our parents could not or our siblings could not achieve.

There are few defining moments in the film which moved me, starting with Ishaan’s bunking school, and roaming free in the city, the real world around him seems to be a better teacher and his mind more open and receptive to know things around him, rather than digging through pages of school books.

As a child even i had maths phobia, i can say i still have, i always had a fear in my mind that my homework should be complete, else i would be punished in front of the class, never felt like living life "bindaas" way as ishaan does, it’s this fear of being socially neglected, punished or being left out that keeps us running endlessly, we keep our dreams and aspirations on a back burner, thinking "there is always another day".

In the film ishaan also happens to go on joy ride in his dreams just to solve 3X9 = 3 for a surprise maths exam, the answer is surely wrong but his imagination is amazing, it’s the same joy ride of our dreams that translates into day dreaming which most of us feel is foolishness, but watching dreams with your eyes open can help at times, since many of us have shut the doors of our minds to keep ourselves engaged in our daily chores.

I also loved the scene before the end of the film, where ishaan set’s off early in the morning from the boarding school, gazing at the colour of the sky, besides a pond he stood watching the moon setting on the horizon, the background score to this scene was amazing.The scene where Ishaan’s parents leave him at the boarding school was emotionally sketched to perfection, the small book of the child showing him go away from his parents was a moving image for me.

The world around us influences our behaviour a lot today as compared to influence of family environment, taking up main stream career’s has being a tradition in our country, though we have started seeing the changes, still non conventional jobs are looked down in our country as compared to other countries where even a person working as a fireman, traffic controller etc. take pride in the work they do.

For me this film is two thumbs up for the subject, cinematography, cast, music by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy and acting by Darsheel and Aamir even actor’s who portrayed Ishaan’s parents did justice to their roles.

I always keep dreaming of making a grand epic war film based on Mahabharata, gaze at the canvas of sky during evening’s when i am at home or while i am out of office, i have missed shooting snaps of skylines so many times, just wishing i had my camera at that moment to capture that beautiful glory of nature, thinking of creative ads related to products, these thoughts just don’t come at leisure times but even during office hour’s, i let my mind free at times to dream, because you never know your dreams may hel you touch the stars one day..

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One Dream I want to be true…

As a child, I have read all possible comics of almost all kinds of Super – Heroes, Both Indian & International, of which Batman was always my favourite, I have watched all batman films released till date, followed all animated series on Doordarshan, Cartoon Network and my admiration for this Dark Knight grew always, Then I was bowled over by the charisma of the sci-fi flick Matrix’s character Neo, These two characters have left a deep impact on my mind, I can never forget visuals from movies of these characters, which further propelled my dream to see our own epic Mahabharata and Ramayana to be made into a mega feature film, having a strong potential to enthrall audiences across the world.

I always would rate the efficiency with which the matrix trilogy and Batman Begins was directed, the scene in Batman begins where Bruce Wayne stands surrounded by bats overcoming his childhood fear for bats, with the dark score of Hans Zimmer matching the scene perfectly, and from the second edition of matrix where Neo does a fly away after beating down few agents, he soars high in the skies running through the clouds, a slow frame showing him descend down against the backdrop of a full sized moon, are scenes which never go out from my mind.

It’s not just action that would help us make our epics a mega film it would be the way the action sequences are choreographed which would leave an impact on the audience. Following are my thoughts for Mahabharata:

1) The film can be a trilogy or even more parts, directed LOST series style, let the movie begin on the war turf, the kurukshetra war ground with battle lines drawn, and sun rising from the mountains tearing the mist of silence spread across the ground. A conch blows showing a frame of shadowed Krishna’s headgear with his peacock feather fluttering in the wind, flags waving across the ground, a sword drawn out in air from the kaurava camp.

2) Next frame shows a shadowed image of Arjuna pulling out his bow and fires it across the ground which will then pave way for the opening titles, shown in a format of a Bow zipping across the screen and leaving behind the title credits shown from different angles in the beginning.

3) Then as the credits end the battle cry erupts louder and the images start getting bloodier, as one of the warrior slashes his sword across an opponent, blood spills and the camera view (CGI effect) zooms out to the eyes of Sanjay with a disturbed face, frightened to narrate the war events to his blind king Dhritrashtra.

4) From here the movie would stay focused on the characters of Mahabharata, pulling the audiences back to why a particular character jumped in for this epic war, narrating his part of the story, for example we can show the chariot of Bheeshma standing still, with other Kaurava chariots departing fast to battle the Pandava’s, as Duryodhana looks amazed questioning Bheeshma is he on the side of Kaurava’s or Pandava’s, on which he gets furious and answer’s back Duryodhana, “ Im not here to fight a personal battle like you, im here to fight for Hastinapur” from here the scenes flash back to events that brought Bheeshma to the war, even though he was suffering deep pain from within he chose to be on the wrong side, still fighting for the land he loved, for which he was committed to.

5) Coming down to the aesthetics of the movie, choosing of locales and using a mix of CGI and artificial sets all needs to be done very carefully as overdoing of CGI and artificial sets would kill the emotional side of the movie, the warrior dresses need to show the royalty of the characters still not too heavy and first of all should not look artificial, hair dressing of characters also would be important, accessories all would matter a lot.

Got That LCD

I was looking to buy a good LCD and It was Sony’s bravia series that lit up my senses and i had previously decided to settle for nothing less than a 40" screen, however I realized if were to buy a Sony and that too the model I had eyed which was KLV40S200A which is costing around 94,000 bucks and for that I knew I would have to keep myself waiting for too long.

I then had a look at the Philips 32TA2800 wide screen LCD at Central mall in Pune, while shopping, there were other televisions from Samsung & LG placed there which were running same channel on cable broadcast.

I observed that this model of Philips was performing on par with the colour reproduction of Samsung, though losing out on the Bordeaux series external looks, which did not matter to me much. LG LCD television quality in terms of contrast and colour reproduction was way too poor compared to Samsung & Philips.

I was then waiting for a good offer to buy this model from Philips and this ganesh chaturthi I saw an ad of Philips Arena pricing this television for around 38000 bucks on exchange of any old 21" above colour TV working set. I checked with them on this offer and it was kind of a best deal for me as I also checked out specs of this television, I also checked specs of other LCD TV’s in the same category and finally decided to buy this one since other brands also were offering similar specs with a difference of few features.

One important piece of advice that I would like to give to all those who want to buy a LCD TV, check the performance of the television with a cable connection or a DTH connection, because normally LCD TV’s put on display in most of the shops run a Demo video created by the company which is normally in HD format, which is sure to make you feel that the television would be having outstanding picture quality, however things may not turn out to be the same when you bring it home and get ordinary picture on your regular cable connection or DTH connection.

Ask the dealer in the showroom to change channels, and look out for factor’s like the Motion response time of LCD, which is normally 8ms for most of the brands, for some it is 5ms, this response time will be better the lower, preventing “ghosting” of images on screen, also check if the television is able to reproduce colour combinations flawlessly, check different picture settings of the television for yourself, important one’s being the contrast and colour settings, do not settle for any LCD missing on HD compatibility since technologies like blu-ray and HD discs , HDTV broadcast would start flooding Indian markets, also confirm if the LCD TV has a PC input, in case you want to play your favourite game title on your LCD screen. Also do not give to much of importance to specs because what you can see with your eyes will help you judge what’s better for you.

This television has widescreen HD resolution of 1366 x 768p pixels with a digital crystal clear feature, different screen refresh ratio’s for different video outputs. Following are the screen resolutions available in the television: 4:3, Subtitle Zoom, Superwide, Widescreen, Zoom 14:9, Zoom 16:9, with host of other features. I got this television delivered as promised by the dealer, no hassles, installation was done professionally and I viewed the connection on my Tata Sky connection, clarity was awesome, never encountered any pixelisation issue while viewing, played few movies from my collection, DVD and VCD viewing was more clear and crisp.

I must say there are many superior brands in market offering more high quality products, but I am impressed by after sales service of Philips from the time I had bought one of their DVD music systems 3 years back which developed a snag and I did not expect some one to follow up with me on my complaint and come to my home twice for just getting a music system repaired, and I had denied in the end to repair the music system as I got a new Home Theatre with DVD player, the service person did not even charge for the visit, it was Akshay Service in Pune who is one of their dealers.

I experienced a similar service with Philips again this time, as I write this review I got a call from Akshay service asking me about my availability to give a demo of the LCD with warranty features to be explained and get a feedback about the product and installation experience.

This television may not give you the “SONY” experience, though would not disappoint you as well, because this LCD would actually give you that wide screen experience on a 32” screen, though not as artistic looks of a Samsung Bordeaux, if you are on a budget and seeking a good 32” LCD below 50,000 bucks, this is the television you can bet upon, price of this model is around 49000 – 48000 bucks.

Indian Invasion - International Comics go Desi

It's kinda dream come true, virgin comics now has 4 Indian culture based comic lineup, The devi was already popular, now joined by The Sadhu and Ramayana 3392AD

Even sony has tied up with virgin comics to launch MMORG based on Ramayana read here

Visit this site of Virgin Comics to read more about the comic Ramayana Re-born | Sadhu | Devi | Virulents

Don't know when would we get treated with some good stuff even though in comics of our own culture... more on this later. I also happened to find this site for Indian Comics.. good one the second one also here

Photography Enthusiasts

For those who love browsing for pictures on Flickr and other photo community sites, here's another interesting site to keep you busy

Pbase Web Galleries

Trivia Stuff

300 love letters

Guinness world record site

World Mysteries

Famous products, Weird Uses

Trivia Stuff

Im starting off today with a list of sites that i have found on the net, few of them are quite amusing one's

Human World Trivia

Weird Facts

List of unusual Deaths

Cursor Mania

Mailbox Picture collection

History Freaks


If you are one of those kinds who love to re-live important moments in history, this site may be of your interest http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/

This site has log of eyewitness account of people who have witnessed important events in history, site is well laid out categorizing events from ancient world, middle ages, world war era, post world war era

Addition to my tech stuff….

I purchased a View sonic 19” Widescreen monitor, Artis 6600R FM 5.1 Speakers and got a I-pod shuffle as a prize in a contest. The I-pod shuffle I got is a 2^nd gen, 1 GB I-pod and is sleek and has cool looks, however it failed to appeal me and I really wonder how the world has gone crazy behind this white stuff..

I had to download the I-tunes 7 version from the apple site... then transferring songs from my pc to my i-pod was not that hard however had to take care of some settings initially in the I tunes software. The headphones provided by I-pod are below average quality, I started doubting the player’s capability to reproduce good sound quality… later on I plugged in my Sony walkman earphones which gave me good sound clarity and that’s it I have not being using this player much as somehow it still does not appeal me, I had an opportunity to hear songs from a Sony W810i phone, the audio quality and bass reproduction was awesome, I-pod is no match in front of it.

I read the review about Artis 5.1 speakers in digit this month and found these speakers to be packed with great features, also I had heard sounds from Artis speakers previously in some shops and public places and I always found their sound quality impressive, I cancelled my plans to go for a basic creative 5.1 inspire speakers, where in was getting a good deal from a kunhar peripherals dealer in pune, this dealer was near dagdu sheth temple in pune in a old wada type mansion.. got free home delivery.. the speakers were priced at 8500 bucks in the digit review I got it for 6850 bucks..

Setting up the speakers was easy, connected it to my Tata Sky DTH digicomp and sound quality on star movies, HBO, MTV, Channel V was awesome, I watched Alexander movie on it last Tuesday and I could notice difference in the sound quality of my Philips Music system and this speakers, the surround effect was good and the sound ambience was also impressive.

Still I have not being able to set up the speakers with proper combination with my LG DVD player which is 5.1 channel enabled DVD, it plays only on two speakers when I set it on 5.1 channel mode and plays sound on all 5 speakers when I set it at 2.1 channel mode. These speakers come along with a manual which is self explanatory, quiet a bunch of AV cables and AM & FM aerials.

Also I dumped my 15” Samsung monitor which was still performing since 1999 and without any problems, I was itching to upgrade my monitor at least to a LCD 17” category.. I read review on Benq FWp92 version which was 19” widescreen monitor priced at 13,000 bucks… I then shifted my plan to upgrade to a good 19” widescreen model. I found out that the Benq product was not sturdy build wise and did not reproduce great colours and contrast. I then zeroed on to two models one from Viewsonic and other from Asus, finally opted for Viewsonic 19” model. I got the monitor at 11,000 bucks from a Rashi Peripherals dealer at market yard area in Pune near swargate.

The wide screen experience is engaging while playing games like NFS carbon, Brian Lara Cricket 05, The Punisher which I am playing right now.. the screen settings are extensive with both manual and automatic adjusting mode. The monitor delivers both on performance and looks.

Nokia 77


Nokia has launched another Symbian OS 60 series phone with DVBH enabled technology, seems to be quiet a cool phone.. have a look at pics and video of the phone

Nokia N77 Key Features

.Watch real live TV based on DVB-H on the go
.Wide 2,4”QVGA screen with up to 16 M colors
.Mobile TV application for selection, purchase and consumption of TV programs
.Replay of TV programs
.Set reminders via the Program Guide
.Enjoy TV and music with high quality stereo speakers
.Take up to around 1500songs with you on a optional up to 2GB memory card

Its the 3GSM World Congress in Spain & Finland and Nokia has 5 new offerings including the exciting N77 a phone and multimedia computer that offers Live TV on demand.

Of course you'll need an operator that supports DVB-H technology (and there ain't a lot) for you to get Live TV to work. According to DVD-H.org, Digital Video Broadcasting (Handheld) has currently been launched in Albania, Italy, the US and believe it or not Vietnam. Finland, France, Russia, and Spain are following suit this year.

If you are one of the countries listed above than you can enjoy Live TV on the Nokia N77 phone's 2.4-inch QVGA screen. Built-in software also allows you to select and purchase TV programs for replay later on.

The phone is also a digital music player with support for the popular MP3, AAC, and WMA formats and comes with FM radio all of which you can enjoy via the built-in stereo speakers or bundled stereo headset.

The Nokia N77 is shaped like the Nokia 73 but appearance wise looks a bit more serious (or boring depending on how you look at it) with a plain coat of black on its front.

Also in front is one of two integrated cameras (this one for video calls) the other on its back is a 2 megapixel camera with 16x digital zoom.

The phone can story up to 2GB on an optional microSD card, otherwise it comes built in with 20MB of internal memory. Nokia hasn't announced yet how big a card it is bundling with the device.

The Nokia N77 phone is compatible with 3G, EDGE and GSM (triband) networks and runs on Symbian OS S60 3rd Edition.

Watch the video here

Apple's Vintage I-phone

Here's a pic of a phone design patented by Apple way back in the year 1982, seems really innovative but weired wanna carry a apple in ur pocket ??

DD to partner with Nokia for Mobile TV broadcast

Now Nokia has signed a deal with Prasar Bharti to broadcast TV on mobile phones, currently in India Nokia N92 is one such phone available in market capable of receiving television broadcast via DVBH technology.. there was another model Nokia 7710 for which manufacturing has stopped. Read here

Well no one would ideally be interested in watching DD channels on his mobile...here's some new launches from Nokia, they just seem to be unstoppable in launching new phones...also a look at competitors for Apple i-phone.

Two Good articles on Technology

Future of Entertainment | Balancing Multiple Mediums

Sony Arrives With Video Walkman

Sony launches a video Walkman to match Video I-pod, read more about Sony Video Walkman here

Convergence Knocking on the Doors..

A service provider in delhi called Bachwara Broadband and Communications on Saturday 9th March launched a ‘telemart card’ which will enable subscribers to avail TV, Internet and telephone services through one user ID called Digital Identity System and has tied up with Tata Teleservices, Dish TV and Spectranet for providing the service.

So we can hope to get all in one stuff from big telecom players in future converging the technology to the advantage of consumers..

Rising Tech Addiction

Read this stuff from BBC site, warning gadget users of a Addiction that's truly unavoidable in current age....

HOLI HAI !!!
Visit this site for extensive Holi Festival information

Man With HORNS !!
Check out this story here

Pictures of World from Sky
Some Great arial pics check them out here

Cool McDonald's Print Ad
A funky ad of Mc'd Fries click here

Most Realistic CG face ever created

Check it out HERE to believe