A theory on Languages!

Last evening, I was having a light hearted discussion with a cousin about Java, the programming language and I was trying to explain to him about the several Java based technologies. Since he is not from a scientific background, I was explaining to him what a programming language is using one of my analogies I had built based on languages in general. I do not claim ingenuity for what I am writing in the next paragraph. This is a simple analogy I have observed so far between programming languages and the common languages we speak in general.


We all know that any programming language has 2 broad components - specifications and implementations. Specifications consist of programming constructs (for eg. public, private etc in Java) and programming rules (order of usage like in Java we cannot write "static void public main(String s[ ])"). Implementations of the software languages are their respective compilers, class files (JVMs, .java files etc in Java). If we look at any of the spoken languages we have a similar scenario. Let us consider English for our discussion, though the analogy holds good for any other spoken language like German or Italian as well. In English we have constructs which we term as vocabulary or words in general. We have grammar rules for constructing sentences as well, but in contrast to software languages, spoken languages have an exhaustive set of grammar rules (to form accusative, nominative, affirmative, negative sentences for example). Poetry, Essays, Letters, Speeches, Ballads etc. (even Blogs ;)) could be considered as implementations of English language. Its my personal opinion, (not entitled to be completely true), that some of our spoken languages are better suited some specific tasks while some others are better for some other tasks. Based on the basic knowledge of the few languages I know, I find English to be ideal for technical parlance, Urdu is matchless for any pleasant (read as poetic or romantic) conversation with your loved one. Whenever I hear Hindi, images of an Indian politician addressing a crowd flash in my mind, while I feel Italian or Latin is good for composing Operas. On the similar lines, various programming languages are better suited for various domains. While some languages are better suited for web application development, some other languages are better suited for developing real-time applications. Well the only difference I observe between the two is the dialect factor. While dialects for a particular language differ from place to place, the coding standards for a particular programming language remain the same universally!

Re-Discovering India!

Its been a while since I have posted anything new. The reason being that I was on the move for a while now. I had been travelling from Italy-via-Germany to India and had not had enough time to sit down and pen some thoughts. I flew to Hyderabad from Frankfurt via Colombo. This was the first time I was flying with the SriLankan colors. The flight service was pretty good, with the stewards and air hostesses being very cheerful and pleasant. The interesting thing that you observe on the Asia-bound flights, is the sideways nodding of the head to indicate an affirmation. The food served was also quite good on the taste buds. We touched down at Colombo in the early hours of the morning. The Premadasa International airport appeared very small as compared to the relatively gigantic and busy Flughafen of Frankfurt am Main. Climate and ambience wise, Colombo appeared no different from Hyderabad. Well, that short stay at the terminal is no proper gauge to experience a city. I hope to return back and visit this beautiful island at liesure sometime in future. The flight to Hyderabad appeared to be endless, owing to the anxious moments of waiting to be back home along with my family.

As the flight was reaching India, I was recollecting a conversation I had with a friend this earlier this summer. Marta, an Italian friend of mine had been to India this summer for an internship at the Italian consulate in New Delhi. After her return to Italy, we had a good conversation about her experiences in India. Its usual to hear accolades about India and its culture from tourists coming back from there. Marta´s impression of India was no different from others. She was truely and deeply impressed by the diversity, warmth and friendliness of Indians. After talking about the positives, our discussion veered towards those aspects of her stay which had left some bad taste in her mouth. Traffic, sound and air pollution are the usual complaints even the Indians crib about and she was also kvetching about the same. But there were some irksome obsevations by her, which any other Indian male couldnt have noticed. While strolling along the bazaars of Delhi she would always be disturbed by the constant oogling of men, rickshaw drivers making impolite comments at her and at some instants even proposing to her! The non-chalant public behaviour like spitting on the walls or as I would like to put it painting-the-town-red-by-spitting while chewing a pan (betel leaf), or the unabashed peeing in the by-lanes and street corners, are sights which could shock any tourist visiting India. I could not find words to explain or rationalise this social attitude of a majority-if-not-all the Indian males. When the whole world is noticing the rapid growth of Indian economy and its vibrant technocrats, its high time the common man on the streets of India, also takes a step in that direction which could make his country a truly developed nation, not just in technology, science and economics - but also in public values and social ethics.

Each time I land at the Hyderabad International Airport, there is always a motley feeling of meeting my anxiously waiting parents in the visitors lounge and a prognostication of an ill treatment from the airport officials. Corruption is an evil which is so predominantly existing in the Indian brass, that the first few Indians who welcome you at the airport are chronic patients of this macabre disease. As soon as you leave the flight, one is asked to fill in a disembarkation form, which is to be submitted to a passport control official. Then your hand baggage is scanned and you have to collect your check-in luggage in the luggage claim area and later proceed to the exit gate, where custom officials control your baggage for customs. At each of these stages, you will find officials whose only motivation for work seems to be the extra income earned from the passengers returning home. Each time, I am shocked to see the attitudes of these officials towards their own fellow countrymen who are returning home to their families. For instance, there was this young guy who was coming back home from Dubai, where he was working as a labourer. He had done some error in filling up the disembarkation form, which could have been undone by filling up a new form and discarding the old one. But the smart official at the passport control desk asked him to shell out some Dinars. The poor guy was complaining about how painful it was to part with their hard-earned money to make things work with the officials at the airport. The baggage claim area is as chaotic as a fish market, with some of the conveyer belts not functioning. It was an embarassing sight for the Indian military officials who were there to welcome the contingents from other countries who were arriving to take part in the Military Games being held in Hyderabad. All said and done, if and when your baggage arrives on the conveyer belt, one has to take a deep breadth of appreciation as you are much luckier than the others who have been waiting endless for their baggage. And if your baggage is damaged, there is nothing much you can do except curse your badluck. While you are exiting the airport, for no rhyme or reason the custom officials ask you to shell out some money (preferably foreign currency) for the goods you are carrying. No matter how hard one tries to garner a reason from the officials, they always charge you for the personal electronics (laptop, digital or SLR cameras). As far as I know, electronic goods like laptops and any electronics that have been in use for more than 2 years are exempted from customs. But the custom officials refuse to agree and ask for some payment - the worst thing is you are not even given a reciept for that money. All that goes directly into their pockets. The whole staff seems to have a syndicate running between them. All the officials from the bag-screeners, baggage handlers, custom officials at the exit gates are hand-in-glove involved in this crime. And we passengers who are exhausted from the long travel and eager to meet our families have to comply to the inordinate rules set by these officials. Its high time something needs to be done about this rampant corruption in the Indian public service sector, only then can we truly celebrate the rise of this nation as a global leader.

The unsportive scenario of Indian sports

It was an amazing day for cricket lovers - a day of pride for every Indian cricket fan - a youthful inexperienced Indian cricket team under the leadership of a new captain, in the absence of a formal coach won the inaugural Twenty20 World Championship. A feat many of the experienced and talented Indian teams from the past couldnt accompolish - winning a world championship. Dhoni and his men deserve all the praise they are getting and we only hope that the momentum gained in the past matches is not lost, but converted into a sustained performance on the pitch.

A nation rejoiced and welcomed its heroes in a fitting manner. BCCI showered the players cash awards. Agreed the players deserve the lavish gifts and presents, but if we pause for a moment and ask a question whose money is being spent. The BCCI has offered cash incentives from its coffers and we dont question them. But what about the money being spent from the state exchequer and used as a publicity stunt by the ministers, who by riding on the good will of the people are presenting these awards to their players.I dont question if the players deserve this money or not, but why are the ministers not spending from their pockets and instead using the public money.

Agreed India is a cricket frenzied nation and the hype its cricket players are recieving can be reasoned to a certain extent. But what about its other sport heroes? The Indian hockey team recently won the Asian Cup. This news didnt generate the kind of hype the cricket win recieved. Hockey is the national game of the country and yet its players are given a second rate treatment. Just because there is no corporate money involved, the media also doesnt seem to show any interest in the game or its players. After the Chak de India movie, there was some initial hooplah for the flagging support for hockey in India, but now it has become a bygone issue. Watching the cricket players basking in the glory, the hockey federation has every right to question this prejudice towards them or any other sport. The fault not only lies with the governments attitude towards other sports besides cricket, but also with the people of India. The amount of interest shown in cricket eclipses the interest shown in any other sport. Not getting the due glory for their talent can drive the players to not pursue other sports. Football, Volleyball, etc are all in a sad state of affairs in India. We all agree that sports other than cricket need to be encouraged, their talents nurtured and channalized properly, but what are we doing towards it. If the change has to happen, it has to happen in the minds of the people who watch, follow and play sports. Only then can we hope to see India perform better at sports other than cricket.

Twenty20 World Championship

Its as good as it gets. We couldnt have dreamt for anything better. An India-Pakistan clash in the finals of a World Cup (albeit Twenty20) is every cricket fans dream match. No matter what the result is going to be on Monday, fans from both the countries have a satisfied feeling from their teams. Just a couple of months ago, both the teams were knocked out in the first round of the regular world cup. After that calamitous performance in the Carribean, both the teams went back to the drawing board and in just a matter of months came out with teams frothing with youth and fresh blood. And the icing on the cake is that both have stormed into the finals, comprehensively beating all the other teams coming their way.

Clearly both India and Pakistan have been the best performers in this tournament. India was involved in three of the most exciting matches in the past week. Yuvraj's batting has been surreal and he has single handedly motored India's batting machine in this tournament. His fastest fifty record will be impossible to break untill another mad rush of adrenalin prevails on a batsman. He has had a golden run of form so far and the crowd loved each of the balls he dispatched home from the pitch. Dhoni has been very good in his captaincy so far, his field placings and bowling changes have all worked well. The good thing of having youth in the team is that the players are all on a buzz and there is a great vibe on the ground. The same holds true for the Pakistani team. Malik has been the alter ego of Dhoni. As usual Pakistan started a tournament with an internal controversy, but the players have handled the incident maturely. The best thing to do was to send the trouble-maker away from the stage and play cricket in peace. Misbah was a great find in this tournament. Between both the teams, Pakistan is the one having some experiance in this format of the game. PCB stages these Twenty20 tournaments in Ramadhan as night games, where all the hard hitting sloggers have come from. Misbah, Afridi etc are all products of these run feasts.

Time will come to a stand still for millions of people in the sub-continent and else where, when the two teams clash for the final trophy. India have history on their side, as they have never lost to Pakistan in any world cup match so far. But as Afridi puts it, Twenty20 is a different ball game altogether. A few good balls from Asif or Gul, or a few home runs from Yuvraj can turn the tables either side. With the short boundaries at the Wanderers, we could expect some great fireworks tomorrow from Uthappa, Yuvraj, Dhoni, Misbah, Malik and Afridi. So let the music roll, lights, cheers and boom goes the cherry sailing into the sky !

Travelogue : Paris - Louvre, Champs-Elysées, Eiffel Tower

The Louvre Museum was initially built as a fortress in the 12th century along the banks of river Seine. It went through a lot of changes, destructions, reconstructions and enlargements for over 4 centuries. It was finally at the conclusion of the 18th century, it was opened as a museum for the public. Though renovations and changes were still being done till as late as the end of the last century. During the reign of Francois Mitterrand, a massive metal and glass pyramid was added as the entrance lobby. At a height of 70-feet, this pyramid, which was designed by an architect named I.M. Pei, has a lot of controversy surrounding it. As is remarked in the Dan Brown novel "The Da Vinci Code", there are several conspiracy theories running around about Francois Mitterrand and his penchant for the number 6. This pyramid also features prominantly in the initial frames of the movie adaptation of the same novel. A couple of meters away is the downward pointing La Pyramide Inversée, which provides daylight into the lobby of the underground malls in the museum campus.

The museum has 4 levels - lower ground floor, ground floor, 1st and 2nd floors, with each floor divided into 3 sectors each - Denon, Sully, Richelieu. The lower ground floor has access to the Medieval Moats where one can see the foundation base which was revealed after excavations were done. The lower ground floor also has relics from Islamic art, Pre-classical Greek art, Italian and French Sculptures. These sections continue vertically onto the ground floor, where there is an elaborate section for antiquities from Iran as well. In the French Sculptures section of the Richelieu one can view the "Tomb of Philippe Pot", while the Mesopotamia section has some great relics of Hammurabi etc. The most vouched painting of the Louvre is the Mona Lisa. Infact the whole section of the Italian paintings and sculptures is a major attraction why people come to the Louvre. As you enter the museum, there are arrows indicating the path to the Italian section on the first floor, where La Giaconda or Mona Lisa is awaiting the curious visitors. Though photography is supposedly banned at major places in the museum, but people cannot resist taking their snaps along side the most famous painting of the world. In the same hall there are plenty of other master pieces from maestros like Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael. Other prominent paintings hanging nearby are the "The Wedding Feast at Cana", "The Raft of Medussa" and the "Madonna of the Rocks". Continuing on the same floor, but in the section of Richelieu are the Apartments of Napolean and othe Monarchs from the Rennaisance era. Visiting the Louvre is an exhilirating experience, but an avid art lover would just not get enough of it. Paris is home to many other famous museums like Musee d'Orsay, Musee National d'Art Moderne etc. which have some amazing artifacts on display.

Coming out of the Louvre, one is standing facing the L'Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel. This Arch was constructed at the orders of Napolean I, to celebrate the victories of the French army. Continuing your walk westwards, you enter the Jardin Du Tuileries with the Tuileries Palace on your right. The Tuileries Garden has a broad promenade and a serene water-fountain encircled with seating chairs, which provide a perfect spot for having a good evening walk with your family. Further westward is the Obelisk of the Place de la Concorde, one of the largest squares of the city. At its centroid is an Egyptian Obelisk, gifted by Mehmet Ali, to the French people. On either side of this obelisk are massive picturesque fountains. In the nearby vicinity are the palaces - Grande Palais and Petit Palais. The Avenue des Champs-Elysées starts from here and extends uptill the L'Arc de Triomphe on the other end. It is interesting to note, that La Pyramide du Louvre, L'Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, the Obelisk in Place de la Concorde, the Champs-Elysées, L'Arc di Triomphe and the Grande Arche de la Défense are all aligned in a straight line. The Champs-Elysées is the most famous and broadest avenue of Paris. As you walk down the promenade, you can see all the high-street shopping stores of Paris. Surely, not a place to be along with your partner, or you would risk shelling out heavy currency in any of its high priced stores. However its a great place to treat your eyes with stores like PLanet Hollywood, Disneyworld, fashion stores like Zara, Benetton, Gap, etc. The Champs-Elysées is also a place where the Parisians love to celebrate their joy and happiness, be it the national day of 14th July, New Years Eve, world cup victory etc. Its also the last stretch of run for the bikers of Tour de France.

The Eiffel Tower is synonymous with Paris. After all this monument has been adorning the Paris skyline for more than a century. It was initially constructed as an exhibit for the World Fair being hosted in Paris during 1889. Designed by Gustave Eiffel, it had been the tallest building in world for a long time. After the fair was over, the tower was commissioned to be torn down. But the Parisians had begun to love this monument, that the decision was overturned. Since then, the tower has been used for many purposes besides being a popular tourist spot. For instance during a certain period, it was used a giant thermometer, with lights indicating the current temperature The tower has 3 levels. The 1st and the 2nd levels are accessible through stairs. There are about 700 steps from the ground base till the observation deck on the 2nd floor. The top summit is accessible through a lift from the 2nd level. However one can take a lift to each of the floors from the base ground. The lifts run on all 4 corners of the tower. The view from the topmost level is very breathtaking. I would personally suggest to be there around sunset and view it from the top. And when it becomes dark, the city becomes bejewelled with monuments all around light-up by the focus lights. For all the right reasons, Paris is called the "City of Lights", because when you see from the top of the Eiffel Tower, you see a vast ocean of lights below you. During the night, there are huge beams of light skirting the Parisian sky from the top of the Eiffel Tower. Every hour, there are glittering lights blinking along the body of the tower for a couple of minutes, giving an amazing sight in the night sky. Below the Eiffel Tower you will find a lot of immigrant workers selling mini-replicas of the tower and along with other such souvenirs, they also sell a bottle wine with glasses. The idea of having a romantic moment with your loved one on the tower top or in the sprawling lawns at its base, is as dramatic as you can imagine it to be.

Travelogue : Paris - Arrival

Last month when I was at the Mini Europa park in Brussels, while going around the miniature replica models of the European monuments, one city that caught my fascination was Paris. For past couple of summers, I had been making plans to visit Paris, but they never materialised due to some odd reason or the other - either not having an appropriate group to go around with or not having booked the tickets or accomodations well in advance. Over the last 1 or 2 years the cheap flight schemes have changed the way people travel and plan their holidays in Europe. Ryan Air, German Wings, Easy Jet and similar flight services have some good offers for backpackers and young travellers like me, who dont mind the absence of the occasional courtesy of the air hostesses or the free onflight beverages during the relatively short flights inside Europe. Though these cheap flying offers have become a phenomenon in the travel airspace, one has to take these offers with a pinch of salt. The reduction in the ticket prices is often offset by the extra travel one has to endure coming to the city center from the airports where these flights operate, because sometimes these airports are quite a bit far and wide away from the city perimeter. And in cases like Paris Beauvais airport, the travel in the shuttle bus from Beauvais airport to the city ring of Paris is almost as long as the flight duration from Venice Treviso. To add to my travel woes, my baggage arrived in a badly handled shape. Though I checked in my tripod as fragile baggage, it reached Paris severely demented. I am not sure if I could be able to use it for taking precise night shots as I used to before.

The Beauvais airport shuttle bus drops you at the Porte Maillot center. We had a booking in a hotel close to the metro station of Porte de Vincennes and so we took the metro line 1 directly from Porte Maillot which took us straight to our destination. As I had mentioned in my previous post related to travelling in Greece (about arriving in Athens), I am personally receptive to the general vibes of a city from the initial infrastructure the city presents to its visitors. I am a big fan of the metro services in cosmopolitan cities. Living in Munich, I used to enjoy the luxury of hopping around the city in a well connected network of U-bahn which would run late into the nights. Though the U-bahns in Frankfurt were not as clean and tidy as compared to Munich, they connected the city pretty well and helped thousands of commuters move around the city without much chaos. Among the metro networks, I rate the London Underground the best. I found it amazingly organised and well managed. Inspite of being a complex network, the Underground stations are built in a planned manner, helping a new commuter or a visiting tourist through simplistic use of colour codes for the various lines. The metro network in Paris (owing to the size of the city and its over 2 million inhabitants) is a similarly complex but well organised network. Since we were too tired with the exhaustive travel (spending the same amount of time in the very uncomfortable seats of Ryan Air and the very comfortable seats of the shuttle bus), we didnt have much energy or zest to explore anything that night and headed straight to the hotel room.

I had taken French as a subject during my college days. For two years we had read the story of the Vincent Family travelling to France from Canada and experienced their vacation in Paris through the textual description of the L'Alliance Francaise text book used in India to teach French language by numerous colleges and high schools. I salute my French teacher who had taken the effort to work on our accent and rectified our grammar. Being an Indian, we had a naturally heavy accent in the French we spoke in the class. I still remember the absurd manner in which our other friends (who did not take French as a subject) would pronounce the title of the ballad "La belle dame sans merci" (written by John Keats), during our English poetry classes. As a student back then I had sincerely hoped to visit Paris some day and see in reality the places and streets I had read so much about. Over the years, sadly to say I have lost my touch with the French language, but I can still manage to understand the written French and some tidbits of spoken French. After having learnt French and getting an interface with the French culture, it was a natural progression to take interest in anything related to or connected to France. When the "Les Blues" won the Fifa World Cup in 1998, I was the biggest supporter of France in my neighbourhood. Since then Zidane has been an idol to me and I have been religously following his matches. Though Zidane is not a Parisian and I don't expect to see any of the current French footballers in Paris, as a die-hard fan of the French team I was very much eager to see the most vouched city of all Frenchmen. As is my ritual custom of watching a movie or reading a novel based on the country or the city I am planning to visit - before departing for Paris, I had seen "The Da Vinci Code" and "Mr. Bean's Holiday". Though there have been some better movies and novels based on the city of Paris, I could only manage to lay my hands on these. With my mind virtually on the streets of Paris and refreshed with my petit French vocabulary, I was all very excited to see the city I had dreamt to see since my school days.

The Mahabharat between BCCI and ICL

The ICL kicked up a strom yesterday by releasing its list of players who have currently signed contracts with them. The list popped up some surprises - names like Dinesh Mongia, who recently played for India and some promising newcomers like Ambati Rayudu showed some growing unrest among Indian cricketers against the hegemony of BCCI. In my opinion the players have taken a bold but correct decision to join the ICL. Cricket in India is followed like a religon. You go to any city gymkhana, you would find budding cricketers toiling it hard to make an impression on the selecters and breaking into the team - be it at the club level, zonal level, state level or Ranjhi level. The path to the Indian national team is the toughest one - working hard, performing in each of the matches at each of those levels, then waiting to win some favor from the regional selectors. Without a god-father who can market you to the national level, its a very tough dream to come true for thousands of budding cricketers across the length and breadth of India. There have been numerous cricketers who spent their entire career playing Ranjhi games and other national leagues, without getting a single game for the country. The match fees of a game in any of these leagues is like peanuts as compared to the match fees the 11 players representing the national colors get paid. Imagine the plight of these players when they see their counterparts taking home all the money, limelight and publicity, just because they were not fortunate enough to get that single break into the national squad. And when an opportunity like ICL comes along, its natural for these players to grab it with both hands. BCCI has long maintained its monopoly on the game and has toyed with the careers of so many cricketers who could have had international careers were they born in other countries where the waiting queue is not so high. With this mass exodus of the players to the new league, the domestic cricket in India has recieved a major setback. Teams like Hyderabad, Bengal and Punjab have been severely effected. As a knee-jerk reaction BCCI has raised the match fees for the domestic leagues in a hope to retain the remaining players. But the ball has been set rolling by the ICL and we can surely expect to hear more news on this front about player defections.

Apart from the domestic players, each of the teams in the ICL are planned to have some international stars in their line-up. Some big names were doing the rounds for a while now. Brian Lara is a confirmed to play the league, while some big guns from the Aussies are still pondering the thought of taking the plunge or not. Big hitters from South Africa like Lance Klusener have already signed, while the erstwhile stars from the Kiwi-land, Chris Harris, Chirs Cairns, and Nathan Astle are showing some interest in the league. Players from across the border added some more excitement to the list. Inzamam joining the ICL was predictable owing to the rough path his career was heading after the listless and forgettable 2007 he has had. After retiring from the ODIs his Test career also looks almost over, with the PCB giving him a cold shoulder. Joining the ICL could have been the best option for him to derive benefit of the 1 or 2 years of cricket left in him - as they say make as much hay as possible while the sun shines! But the jolt out of blue which Pakistan cricket recieved was losing their most dependable player, their spine of the batting line up - Mohammed Yousuf. Yousuf recently had the best patch of form in batting, accumulating runs like a kid collecting pebbles on a sandy beach. After the World Cup fiasco, the PCB was sure to make changes to their team composition. But in the process of a giving a new look to their team, the PCB has lost out on its golden-egg-laying-hen. With Yousuf joining the ICL and if PCB sticks to its guns of not selecting him for the national team, then Pakistan will recieve a great setback. With its bowlers already struggling to remain fit or clear of any drug scandals, their batting line up sans the big Inzy, the inform-run-machine Yousuf and the maverick Younis Khan, Pakistan team would need to depend on prayers than ever before to give any kind of fight to the opponents!

Travelogue: Verona

While I was in school I had enacted the character of the judge in the play of The Merchant of Venice. Back then the names Antonio, Bassanio and Shylock were strange sounding to us. Later when I read other Shakespeareren works like Romeo & Juilet or The Two Gentlemen of Verona, I began to agnise the prominence of the city of Verona in the writings of this famous bard. Little had I envisaged then, that one day I could be visiting this city. Verona lies in the Veneto region of north-east Italy about 80 km from Trento, my current resident town. So on the sunny weekend last week, I decided to make a trip to Verona.

It is claimed that after Roma it is Verona that has the most number of ruins of the Roman era. All the major touristic sights are along the river Adige which takes a contorted path along the city. The Castelvecchio is an impressive 14th century castle, now hosting a great collection of the Renaissance era. On its exterior is the Ponte Scaligero offering great views of the Adige on either side. In its vicinity is the cathedral of San Zeno Maggiore. This ornate Romanesque church is adorned with an impressive rose window and a magnificent cieling resembling an upturned boat. The exterior walls are elaborately decorated with ivory-coloured tufa and pink limestone.

One of the major attractions of Verona is the massive Arena from the Roman times, which is still in a functional state and hosts plenty of events, orchestras etc. In its prime days, it could accomodate the entire population of Verona who would gather to watch the gladitorial combats. Now it regularly hosts plenty of operas and orchestras. Listening to a prima donna in a perfectly acoustic environ under the cool summer night sky with a pleasant breeze blowing is an experience worth cherishing with your loved ones.

Talking about love, Verona is hometown to two of the most famous lovers of all time - Romeo and Juliet. The house of Juliet, located at Via Cappello, is a major draw point for all tourists - young and old alike. Couples (females especially) love to stand on the small marble balcony, the famed balcony on which Romeo is said to have climbed to meet his love. There is a statue of Juliet in the courtyard and the rumour has it that if one holds his/her palm over her bossom then your love is deemed to succeed. If only Romeo had done this when required then probably they would have had much greater luck with their love!

On the gates you find numerous locks which people hang in to bind their love for eternity. The walls of the walkway are spangled with love messages written in all kinds of languages the world has known. Inspite of a heavy penalty on being caught people smitten by the love bug always find methods to make a statement of their love on these hallowed walls!

Travelogue: Belgium - Brussels, Antwerp

Belgium is a potpourri of various cultures like Dutch, French and German. Often termed as the "cockpit of Europe", Belgium is the center of government for the European Union and is theoretically the capital of Europe. The capital Brussels is home to several offices and commissionerates of the EU with striking buildings dotting the skyline of present day Brussels.

The lower part of Brussels is well connected with trams and Metro stations from the Gare Centrale (Main Railway Station). The Grand Place square, with Hôtel de Ville and La Maison du Roi is the historical and commercial heart of Brussels and draws huge amount of tourists. La Maison du Roi is now being used to host a museum of paintings, tapestries and a collection of costumes created for the Manneken Pis. The Hôtel de Ville, built in the 15th century, is elaborately donned with ornate columns, sculptures and arcades. There are tours avaiable to view the tapestries and art work decorating the lavish halls of this town hall. Around the city center you would find a lot of shops serving hot waffeln with various delicious toppings. There are several shops selling the world-renowned Belgian chocolates. There is the Tintin official store close by selling souveniers and comic books of this famous character created by Herge.

The Cathédrale Sts-Michel et Gudule is the national church of Belgium. The west door of the cathedral has a magnificent stained glass window depicting scenes from the Last Judgement. The Palais Royal is the official residence of the Belgian Monarchy and has beautifully managed gardens sprawling at its entrance.

On the city outskirts is another popular tourist attraction - the Bruparck. It has the Mini Europe park, which has miniature models of major buildings and monuments from the various countries of the EU. Towering in its backdrop is another distinctive landmark - Atomium building, which represents the atomic structure of Iron. The Atomium has restaurants and viewing platform on its top, which presents panoramic views of the city.

Antwerp is the second major city of Belgium and is famous for its diamond markets. The Grote Markt is located at the center of the old city. At the square is the Brabo fountain with the statue of Silvius Brabo. The ornately decorated facades of the Stadhuis overlook the city square which is always crowded with visitors. Around 70% of the worlds diamonds are cut and polished here. The city has a lot of museums like the Diamond Museum, Plantin-Moretus Museum, Koninklijk Museum etc, displaying an impressive collection of various artworks, paintings of the 16th and 17th century.

The Gmail Video

You never get bored with the Google guys, they keep popping up with interesting ideas every now and then. The Gmail page has this new link which invites you to join their collaborative video on the Gmail service. Its a very simple idea, all you need to do is download the M-velope icon print it and use it in your video. How, where, what to shoot in the video is completely your choice. But the M-velope needs to be present in the video and it should appear to float from the left to the right of the screen. Your videos have to be 10 seconds in length and can be submitted using your Google ID. The guys with the scissors at Google will then select the best ones to compile an interesting video. Aint it fun ?

Travelogue: The Netherlands - Amsterdam, The Hague

For plenty of reasons, both good and bad, Amsterdam is a popular attraction for any tourist coming to Europe. For young backpackers, this city is very excited thanks to the extravagant escapades described in the EuroTrip movie. Amsterdam has attracting events in small periods around the year. The Tulip Gardens are in bloom during spring and attract a huge crowd of photographers and nature lovers. The numerous parades during the remaining part of the year attract the relevant kind of crowds. As a city, Amsterdam doesnt have grandiose architectures or cathedrals on display. So people coming here after a visit to Rome or Florence would be disappointed by the very modern architecture. Personally I found the construction in Netherlands to be very modern and quite interesting in aesthetics. Driving around the cities you will see a lot of interesting looking buildings.

The Amstel river, from which the city derives its name runs around the southern part of the city. For seeing around the city, there are plenty of options - ferries ply on the canal area showing around some major attractions of the city, if you want to bike around the city there are some cheap deals on the bike tour of the city. There is a good metro running through the city as well as buses and trams. Each to his own taste! Since we were running short on time, we took a city tour on the ferries. Along the canal you can get to see some really old buildings of the city. One interesting feature of the buildings along the canal area is that they are very narrow in width. Sometimes such narrow that the whole house is split vertically, with drawing rooms on one floor, dinning on the other and bedrooms on yet another. Also all the buildings have a huge hook hanging from the top which is used to anchor the ropes to carry any furnitures above into the floors of the building. The actual reason most of the young crowd comes to Amsterdam is altogether a different one -though not a politically correct one in many parts of the world. The colored-district lined up along the canal jumps to life as the sun goes down. A glance at the crowds there, explains the empty streets in other parts of the city!

The Hague is the proxy capital of Netherlands. With around 100 consulates and embasies the city exudes diplomacy. The International Court of Justice attracts a large number of protesters apart from tourists. The city is well connected through trams running across its stretch. The Scheveningen on the northern part of the city is a popular attraction of the city. Windsurfing and Bungee jumping are some of the activities holding the young crowd on this beach facing the Nordsee.

Travelogue: Netherlands - Eindhoven

In the second leg of my summer vacation, I had gone to Netherlands where we had a small reunion of friends from my MSc days in Germany. Our host was staying in Eindhoven, so this small city was a rendevous point for all of us who were coming from different parts of Europe. When my RyanAir flight was hovering about the Eindhoven airport before landing, it was a deja-vu of sorts to me. Each time I have travelled to any city in North Europe, I have always been welcomed by bad weather. Maybe its a coincidence, but be it Eindhoven, Dublin or London, always its rainy clouds and grey weather welcoming me! As I had jetted from a hot (40-degree something) Athens to Netherlands, this change of climate and temperature was not a very pleasant experience.

Eindhoven is one of the largest cities in the south of Netherlands and is heavily industrialised. It is overshadowed by the presence of Philips all over. As a tourist, I guess this city has nothing great to offer and I believe had it not been for our friend none of us would have been there. However, I found it to be a good place to work as the city is quite comfortable and well maintained. The initial vibes I got about the Dutch people are that they are quite friendly people and very open to foreigners. The most striking feature about the Dutch is their height. The average height is quite above average from the other Europeans. While walking in the malls or streets I was often awed by the heights of the girls and ladies, not to mention the men. The Dutch are a very healthy looking, atheletic and fit people. I later realised one of the reasons is the regular cycling they do. All over the city there are well marked cycling tracks along with the driving and pedestrian tracks. Luckily, we were visiting Netherlands during the sale period. Couldnt get the reason for the sale in almost all the stores (not a Christmas or Easter period now), but there were some great discounts and all shopping-bees would have loved to be there during this period!

Travelogue : Athens - People

If you happened to watch the movie "My Big Fat Greek Wedding", then you will know exactly what I am trying to say in the next couple of lines. The Greeks in general are not very different from the eccentric characters portrayed in that movie. The elderly Greeks are very socialising and you can always find them in groups chatting under the shades of a tree or at a cafeteria. They dont shy away from talking to foreign tourists, despite their lack of english vocabulary. I always found myself chatting to one of them at the restaurants or the train stops. Our conversations would start in English and when the threshold for English vocabulary had reached, they would switch to Greek without realising that I coulndt grasp a word (it all sounded Greek to me!). But they would make sure that you are able to follow them and their warmth would not put you off from that conversation of which you are not able to follow anything else apart from the emotions.

One interesting habit I noticed among the Greek men. Most of them always carry a string of beads in their hands and you can spot them playing around with it while at work, commuting, having a coffee or chatting with friends. I couldnt get the logic / science or legend behind this act. As I had posted before, the Greeks love their food (who wouldnt! with all those delicacies). While you walk around the Plaka, you are mobbed in a friendly manner by the waiters from the taverns, holding their menu cards and inviting you to dine at their place. Occasionally the wine/drinks are not charged along with the menu. While dinning you can sometimes listen to some pleasant Greek music played by a live band with their guitars and accordions.

The tourist crowd in European summer is as entertaining as the places you visit. A majority of the tourists are usually Americans. Some of them are families of European descent, visiting their motherlands along with their kids. But a majority of Americans are youngsters back-packing their vacation in European cities. Girls especially who love their shopping and naturally welcomed with beaming smiles in all the shopping stores. Among the younger crowds the Japenese also form a sizeable number. Usually vacationing in small groups of 4-5, the Japenese take their photographs with great zest and fervour. The Germans outnumber the other European tourists. You will usually find middle aged German couples having a quite summer urlaub in most of the places you travel. I havent seen many German youth in the tourist crowd so far.

An interesting point to be noted about Athens is the numerous stray dogs all over the streets. This is the first instance, where I noticed a sight common in sub-continental cities in a european city. The dogs are not harmful to the people, but when you are strolling around with a sandwich in hand, then for sure you are attracting unwanted attention by them. Another usual sight on the streets of Athens is the public street protests. They are as peaceful and orderly as they can be, but the size of the protesting crowd and their noise can sometimes raise an eyebrow. Walking on the streets of Athens, you would seldomly come across an unattractive lady, which is not surprising - after all this is the country of Helen of Troy. Remarkable beauty seems to be part and parcel of Greek genes.

Travelogue : Athens - Plaka, Syntagma Square etc.

Having seen the ancient part of the city on the earlier day, I decided to go to the Olympic stadiums of Athens. The old Olympic Stadium is located at the Arditos Hill on the south side of the ancient center of Athens. The new Olympic Stadium was constructed for the 2004 Olympic games and is located on the outskirts of the city. To reach the Olympic Village one has to take the Metro line 1 and get off at the Irini stop. Though the Olympic village now has a deserted look, its swimming pools and indoor stadiums are open to public use. The main stadium hosts football games and is well maintained. There are some interesting architectural designs in the campus, which are very photogenic. Unluckily, the heat and scorching sun was
unbearable for me, so I had to keep my visit there very brief.

The Flea Market in Athens is a happening place. Located close to the Monastiraki station, this is a very ancient market. Inside the lanes and bylanes, you will find numerous shops and naturally huge amount of tourists. The interesting thing about the market is that you find a series of shops selling the same stuff all lined up beside each other. Here you can find hawkers selling leather goods like Greek sandals and hand bags, jewellry, rings, stones, clothes, music cds etc etc. If you are strolling around with your girlfriend or your better-half then think twice before venturing into that zone, as it is difficult for the fairer-sex to resist the temptation of the goods on sale there.

The Plaka area also has plenty of shops selling souveniers, tourist goods, t-shirts, greek cotton clothes, jewellry, leather goods, antiques, etc. Plaka is also famous for its food stalls. There are numerous taverns and restaurants offering mouth watering Greek food. If you are the sandwich munching guy a-la Joey Trivianni, then you can lay your hands on loads of them here. For the food gourmet, then you can find many traditional greek restaurants having lavish menus filled with - mousaka, kokoretsi, paidakia, brizoles, meat balls etc. which you can have with psomis or spiced potatoes, gigandes (beans), revithia (chick peas). Greece is essentially a meat lovers paradise, but you can find a lot of grilled sea food and veggie stuff as well. Among sea food, kalamaris, sardines, tuna are just a few of the vast variety of fishes the Greek menu has on offer. The desserts are my favourite part. Baklavas and Kataifis are just irresistable to me. You can also find a wide variety of Gelatos (ice cream).

The Syntagma Square is the downtown of Athens in the right sense. Remember the "Down Town" song, I bet when Petula Clark sang those words she meant a place like Syntagma square. The place is always buzzing with people. On one end you have a bunch of youngsters zipping around on their roller blades. On the benches you would find some elderly people having a discussion among themselves. You could also notice a guy or two with their laptops, as Athens provides free WiFi in selected spots and Syntagma Square is one of them. There are a bunch of restaurants lined up on the periphery, offering sandwiches, coffees, ice creams etc. And just below the square is the Metro station, which is easily one of the biggest ones in Athens. One could never feel the time as it flies by when you are at the Syntagma Square.

Travelogue : Athens - Acropolis, Partheneon etc

If you plan to visit Athens, then make sure to book your accomodation closer to the Syntagma Square or in the Ancient Center of the city. The reason for this is that most of the important places to visit are in the vicinity, easily reachable on foot and hence you dont invest much time and money hopping from place to place.

The Temple of Olympean Zeus is located nearby the Hadrian's Arch on the Amalias Aveneu. This sanctuary is one of the most important of the ancient sanctuaries was built as a tribute to Zeus. The construction of the temple had begun in complete marble in the 4th century BC. The final completion however took place many years later by emperor Hadrian. The temple has undergone heavy deterioration by human and natural causes (storms etc). Some of its toppled columns lie still on the site.

The Acropolis or the City of heights is built on a hillock in the centroid of the ancient center of Athens. The entrance is to the west side. You first see the small Ionic temple of Athena Nike. There is the Pinakotheke which had frescoes on its walls. The most visible of the buildings on the Acropolis is the Partheneon, a temple dedicated to Athena. Its columns, walls and decorations are made up of white Pentelic marble. On the outside, the metopes were carved with the various battles between the gods and Giants, the Athenians and Amazons and the Trojan War. The Erechtheion is on the north side of the summit. Its an Ionic temple whose roof is supported by six figures of maidens, the famous Caryatids. There are many other sites in the campus like the altar of Athena, sanctuaries of Zeus and Pandion etc. On the southern side are the theater of Dionysus and the Odeum of Herodes Atticus (where concerts are held usually, the same site where Yanni had once played his concert)

The tickets to enter the Acropolis come in a booklet, which are valid for entering neighbouring sites as well. One good news is that there are discount on the prices for students and elderly people. Though the climb to the temples on the summit is tasking, you can always find bunches of tourists flocking by your side. Perhaps it was owing to the uncommonly hot weather in Greece these days, because during the climb one could feel the scorching sun burning down on you. I suggest to carry a heavy stock of water and dont forget those sun creams. At the entrance however, you can always buy a sluch of lemonade which is a good refreshment to your parched throats. If you need a guided tour of the whole place, you can hire a guide from close to the main entrance, who can enrich your experience with all the useful information and anectodes. One has to be cautious with the slippery marble in the Campus, as I observed many a unmindful tourists slipping around.

The temple of Hephaestos is situated in the Ancient Agora along with the Portico of Attalus. There is a museum in the same Agora, which has some good artifacts on display which were excavated in that area. The Roman Agora, the Library of Hadrian and the Clock of Kyristos is situated a couple of blocks away. Opposite to the Syntagma Square is the Monument of the Unknown soldier and the Greek Parliament. Infact the whole neighbourhood has a very diplomatic aura because of the numerous consulates and government offices. The National Gardens are to the south of the Parliament. The have good promenades in them, where you find a lot of families and senior citizens having an evening walk or sportsmen jogging around. Enjoying the cool evening breeze listening to the chirping of the various birds in the gardens can be very soothing after a stressful day. Further south is the building of the Zappio - which has a congressional hall and hosts exhibitions frequently.

Travelogue : Athens - Arrival

Whenever I enter a new city, I tend to grasp the vibes of the city in the initial experiences I face. When I landed at Athens, I noticed a feeling of warmth and homeliness. Maybeit was due to the Greeks who are very similar in their social manners to the Indians or maybe its the hot Greek weather which reminded me of the hot Indian summers. The other thing I notice while travelling to places is the distinctive color thats reflected from the public places. For instance, when I was in Dublin, one could sense the ominous green color (the Irish have a shade of green, in all their national icons) present everywhere. Similarly, within a few minutes at Athens and I could sense the ominous Navy Blue Greek color in almost everything - from Train stations to notice boards, to Airport Sign Boards etc. Well, the other major concern I had while coming to Athens was the directions to my hotel, where I had booked my accomodation. In normal circumstances, one would check out the Google Maps for the city map of Athens, search out the street and mark out the directions from the airport or the city center. But in this case, if you check out the Google Maps for Athens, you will be surprised to see everything in Greek! Agreed localisation of your product means to present the maps of Greece in Greek - I am sure the Greeks love to see that. But what about those tourists, who are visiting Athens and are in need of a map for directions, you cant expect them to read and understand Greek! A small option of viewing the Greece Map in English would make matters simple for the numerous tourists who could use the Google Maps for finding their way on the streets of Greek cities. Well the engineers in Google must have a reason for keeping it that way, but imagine if I plan to visit Beijing, then I would have to learn Chinese first in order to use the Maps from Google!

The Airport is situated on the outskirts of the Athens City and is well connected through Bus Service, Sub-urban Trains, Metro and taxis. A ticket on the Metro costs about 6 euro something to travel to downtown, while the taxis take about 20-25 euros. Through the Metro it takes about an hour to reach the central stops. The Athens Metro is well maintained and the stations are all beautifully constructed with a great sense of aesthetics. It was around 3 years ago that the Olympics were held here and looks like all the investment the city had put in its infrastructure, is well maintained. My hotel was somewhere close to the Syntagma Square. On reaching that square the first thing I did was to buy a street map with English transliteration of the street names. To able to understand Greek is a great thing for a foreig tourist, but to be able to read is an important thing. After getting my map, it did not take me much time to figure out my way and reached the hotel easily. Since I was too tired from the trevours of the day in Corfu, I could hardly muster the strength to go out for a dinner. I dropped to sleep like a log, hoping to revitilise myself for the next day.

Travelogue : Corfu final day

My flight to Athens was late in the afternoon, so I had couple of hours to walk around Corfu. If you are planning for a holiday in Corfu, then I suggest its best to navigate around the island in a vehicle. There are plenty of options available. One can easily rent a car, a motorbike, bicycles etc - depending on your tastes, preferences and age. Be prepared to travel a lot once you are here, because the good places to see are all stretched far across the island. The beaches for example are all spread around the coast. Interestingly all the sandy beaches are on the west coast while the pebbled beaches are on the east coast. A good prior planning and a vehicle at your disposal - then you are sure to have great fun while you are here. Not to forget the public transport, which costs almost peanuts, is sparsely operational but connects the major attractions pretty well. I managed to visit a beach and take a stroll along the New Fortress which is closer to the port of Corfu. Along the coast you can find several beautiful spots, which are occupied by a couple or two (sometimes with their children) - having the small beach and the entire sea to themselves. The other interesting observation I noticed was, among the tourist crowd, a majority of them were to the middle-aged or higher group. Maybe it was specific to the places I was strolling along. The crowd was evenly distributed, a vast majority of them were Greeks, then Germans and Italians. And as is natural, Corfu is well connected to major cities in Germany through German Wings and Air Berlin and it is well connected to major ports in Italy through a large number of Ferries commuting between them. Talking about the Corfu Airport, it seems to be in its most busy period of operation during summer. I could notice a flight landing or taking off every 10 minutes, indicating that the island atracts a large number of summer tourists (or maybe this anamoly was due to the weekend period). At the various places along the island you can see all the usefull information written in Greek, English, German and Italian - indicating the demographics of the tourist crowd the island hosts each year. There are plenty of Italian restaurants all around, howevere I did notice some Mexican and Chinese as well. The south Italian city of Bari is pretty close to Corfu and hence many of the Italian tourists come along with their cars, motorinos in the ferries. I also noticed a car with number plate from Berlin - that guy must be having one hell of a vacation going around Europe. During the day I felt immensely dehydrated and to supplement that I had to intake loads and loads of water. I never recollect having conciously drinking so much water before. In such a heat a tasty Greek salad with olives, tomatoes and feta cheese is the best refreshment for ones body.

My flight to Athens was late in the afternoon, and surprisingly got delayed only by 15 mins. I bade farewell to this beautiful island with the hope of returning back sometime again.

Travelogue : Corfu - Days 2 & 3

The Workshop was being held at the Holiday Corfu Hotel, which easily one of the best hotels in Corfu. The schedule was from morning 10-ish till late afternoon 5-ish. My talk was scheduled on the first day post lunch session. After the days proceedings completed, all of us headed to the beach close to the Hotel - some for swimming, some for sun-bathing, while some like me for photography. The organisers had held a dinner that day for us, so we had to re-convene around 8 at the dinning hall. Apart from the locales and the beaches, the other thing which is amazing about Corfu is the food. I guess its the same about the Greek food all over Greece, but since this was my first experience, my taste buds were enjoying all the exotic Greek dishes - grilled fish, roasted potatoes garnished with spices, olives, the various salads, desserts especially Baklava - its a food gourmets' paradise. Social dinners like these always tend to go late into the night. We had a good group on our table, discussing all types of stuff, sitting in the lobby of the hotel facing the Ionion Sea under the cool moonlight of a full moon. Then all of a sudden we felt the whole lobby sway for a few seconds and our perplexed looks were answered by the Hotel staff that its a mild tremor of an earthquake. Later in the night I had felt another such tremor in my hotel room as well. I dont know how normal it is for people in Corfu, but for me atleast earthquakes give a feeling of goosebumps. Well after all the topics in our minds were discussed we retired to our rooms.

The second day of the workshop was also too busy. After it concluded, we had not much time left to go to the beach we all were planning to go. Since most of us were flying out the next day, we all had plans of our own to utilize the evening in the best possible way. I was interested in taking the snaps of the famous monastry in the moonlight of the full moon. I collected my lenses and ventured out alone on the part of the town I didnt intend to visit the other day. I started to walk along the coast with the hope of coming across some photogenic beach or enclove. And I luckily found a small patch of pebbles and sand literally cut off from the road and hidden behind some large bushes. I spent some good amount of time there sitting all alone looking out at the sea. It was a great place to be - either all alone with yourself, or with someone you loved the most. The only noise one could hear there was the gently splash of the water on the pebbles. I love places like these - they present you moments of absolute calmness and serenity. On my walk back, I had some roasted Salmons with fried potatoes and bread. The night was a full moon night and the moon was a complete golden yellow rising above the sea. I have managed to click some snaps, which I would filter out and upload them on my Flickr gallery.

I have another complete day to spend in Corfu tomorrow before I leave for Athens. I plan to go to the Barbati beach and its neighbouring locales. Lets see how the plans finally end up in effect. So untill the next log of activities, I am signing out.

Travelogue : Corfu - Arrival

I landed in Corfu last evening to attend a workshop on Personalization in Digital Libraries. Corfu is an island in the north of Greece, in the vicinity of Albania and popular attraction among tourists who love the Mediterranean sea. If you are planning for a good vacation along with your family or your loved one and hoping to have lots of sun and sand then Corfu is the must-go for you. The island has some exotic beaches - sandy, rocky, pebbled - all kinds, with clear waters which are as pristine as they can be. I could'nt find a direct flight to the island from mainland Italy, so had to take a transit from Venice-Athens-Corfu. I hadnt flown out of Italian airports so far, so when I arrived at the Marco Polo International Airport at Venice, the chaos was quite out-of-normal for me. There was no information displayed about the check-in counters for our flight to Athens. And when we finally checked in our baggages and waited at the boarding gate to depart, we had to wait for an agonizing hour for the flight attendants to show up. On asking we were informed that the flight was delayed. The least they could have done was inform the passengers about it, rather than leaving them high and dry with no clue about whats going on.

I have had some bizarre experiences before in my life, but this one was out of the blue. My fellow passenger, sitting beside me was also traveling to Corfu to attend the same workshop. We were both pleasantly surprised. I mean what are the odds to meet someone like that. So we had both found good company, rather than having a boring flight. Athens Airport is quite good, but the first thing I noticed on landing in Athens was the immense heat there. Thankfully we were inside the airport and had to change our flight to Corfu. To our ill luck the flight to Corfu was also delayed. Luckily we both had enough things to talk about to keep ourselves occupied.

When we were airborne we learnt the reason for the delay was due to a fire in the woods on the outskirts of Athens. The flight to Corfu is small and sweet. The island looks great from the flight above. After checking in my hotel, I couldnt spend much time walking around the city, as I was having some body pains (owing to the tasking 8-hour climb on the Monte Bondone in Trento, I had done a day before). So I had some quick dinner in an Italian restaurant and went to bed early on a dose of pain killers. I saw some good restaurants along the coast close a historical monument. I hope to see around parts of Corfu in the evenings after the workshop proceedings close and am looking forward to capturing the beauty of the island on my lens.

A theory behind LOST

This one is for those of you who are passionate LOSTies. There have been numerous forums, discussion pools and conspiracy theorists trying to explain the logic and philosophy behind the concept of this show. Today I stumpled upon this good article explaining one possible theory behind the events of that fabulous island. We cant be sure, if its the exact thing running in the minds of the creators of the show, but in the absence of any refutations, we might as well agree with this line of thought. So, all those LOSTies amongst you, check out this good attempt to put together the events of the island from a different perspective.

Travelogue : Dublin

Last week I was in Dublin for a brief period on some official work. My first impression of the city was quite good. The day I landed there was a typical Irish grey weather with lots of clouds and heavy gusts of wind blowing. I found the people to be very fun-loving and jovial sort. The city as such is not that crowded, even though its a capital city, it has an ambience of a laid-back peaceful town, without any hustle-bustle. Weather wise I found it too windy, or maybe its because the most northern city I have been to I found it a bit cold for a european summer. As a photographer, I was not very much excited with the city architecture. The Irish landscapes are renowned, but the urban side of the city was not very photogenic. Food wise, there are plenty of restaurants to dine in and around the Grafton Street, Dame Street and along the Quays - predominantly Italian but there are quite a number of restaurants which serve Continental and Asian food as well. Well, ofcourse you have the traditional Irish pubs and kiosks where you could munch on some fish-n-chips or have a shot of Irish beer. Ireland is home to the Guinness brand and you see its prominence all around the city pubs. For shoppers in Dublin the major attraction is the St. Stephens Green Shopping Centre. There are plenty of shops on the Grafton Street and the O'Connell Street as well. Though my stay was for a very brief period, I very much liked the people and the general ambience in Dublin and I am looking forward to occassion when I could get a chance to see the beauty of the Irish landscapes. I have uploaded some of snaps on my Flickr page.

LOST ..... and Found ?

In a 2 hour finale, the third season of Lost ends with an interesting twist in the tale (as has always been the case in the earlier seasons). For the first time in the series we see flashforwards in parallel to the story happening on the island. We are shown events from Jack's life, which at the end of the episode give a hint that Jack and Kate have been rescued from the island, while the fate of the other survivors is not clear.

In the climax its revealed that Naomi is not a part of any rescue team. If she is not sent by Penny, then how does she have the snap of Desmond and Penny. The series did not reveal much of how she had got that photograph. There could be one theory that maybe her group had been sent by Penny's father when they realise that Desmond is alive and Penny who is searching for him, can actually locate him. Maybe this team was sent to find Desmond and execute him before he is found by Penny. Well if thats the case then Naomi had plenty of time on the island to carry out this task before getting back to her boat. This plot could only be revealed in the coming season.

We are not sure if Charlie actually drowns or whether Desmond saves him yet again from the flooded station. And what had transpired between the survivors and Ben, when the Naomi's people come to the island. Is everyone rescued or are some people left behind. From the communication between Jack and Kate, it shows that Jack had done something which he regrets doing. There are several open questions left unanswered. There was no hint about the identity of the dead person in the funeral. Obviously it was someone both Jack and Kate knew and someone whom Kate detested. There are hints that Jack's father is still alive, then how does one explain the coffin he was carrying from Sydney in the pilot episode of the 1st season. On the island, the coffin is shown empty with no justification of the missing body. Kate is supposedly living/involved with someone whom she has to return at the end of the episode. We are not informed his identity either. Obviously the love between Jack and Kate seems to have been missing when they meet at the end of the episode. The details of the rescue would clear all these doubts and for that we need to wait till the next season.

There was an announcement that Lost could run uptill 6 seasons, which means the scriptwriters look in no mood to end the mystery surrounding the island. Lets wait and see till the next season, to find out what happened to the survivors.

Hike in the Dolomite woods

A weekend before along with some of my colleagues at work we had gone for a hike in the woods of Madonna di Campiglio. Its about 70 km from Trento and has some beautiful waterfalls. The stream of Sarca runs through the forests and creates the gorgeous Nardis Waterfall, which is an imposing 120 meters high at a gradient of about 60 degrees. These woods are reachable from the small town of Carisolo and are located in the beautiful Val di Genova, in the vicinity of the Adamello-Brenta Nature Park. As you drive through from Trento to Carisolo, you come across numerous cliffs and ridges which are a ideal location for rock climbers.

A lonely walk through the woods, made us feel stranded like Jack, Sawyer, Kate et al. Though I am not an avid climber like some of my friends here, I tried my hand on some easier tracks that day.