Be Alert walking on Hyderabadi Roads!!

Last night I was walking home across Sri nagar colony road (near Ameerpet, Hyderabad) around 11:30 pm after finishing my call in office. The traffic on the road was very little ,  I was talking to my friend on my mobile leisurely all of sudden two guys on a motor bike reached me from behind and the one sitting on the back of the bike tried to snatch my mobile, he attempted it twice, as I was holding it tight, he couldn’t grab it but during the second attempt, he grabbed my spectacles, then they immediately flew off the place,  I hardly had any time to react as those snatchers rushed away and I was a bit shocked, I even didn’t notice that I lost my spectacles for a while.

             The worst part was that it was so dark and I couldn’t collect any evidence. I could hardly notice bike registration number, any of the two folks and not even the color of  their dresses.

  I was depressed/shocked even after reaching home that I was helpless on the road, I felt that I should have been more cautious. Any way it’s a good lesson for me to be alert from next time.

 I heard these kinds of stories from my friends, but this time I had experience it.  It happened to me today, it can happen to any, please be careful with your mobiles and other valuables, these mischievous activities have become so common these days in the city.

Yes I can

You might have understood that I have achieved some thing by reading the title. Hmmm not a big achievement but personally I feel very satisfied after reaching it. Last Sunday (November 30th 2008)I participated in the Hyderabad half marathon (21.2 Km) run, and I was able to complete it in 3 hrs 7 min. This is not a great time to finish the run, but the fact remains that I participated in the race with no practice at all but I was still confident that I can achieve it, yes its the self confidence which made it possible. There were very few people who participated in half marathon compared to 10 Km run, less than 300 people. The race has started around 6:25 am, which was suppose to start at 6:00 am, of course not to say we always follow IST. I reached the spot (Necklace road) around 5:40 am and I was all alone, none of my friends were willing to join me. I was accompanied with my mp3 player which I played in the entire race.

The race started and every one started running/jogging, but my initial plan was to walk first and then jog/run at the end if any energy is left, but after seeing everyone I started jogging. After a few minutes, I felt like walking is more safer so started walking fast and found that I was almost at the end, one elder gentle man around 50, I think he is a diabetic patient was encouraging me to run, he was saying to me young man keep jogging don't walk. I listened to him couple of times, then I decided this doesn't work out for me, then I was mostly walking till liberty, between they provided us water at every 1 km from MCH and Kinley (Coca-cola company) , in some places they also distributed orange slices and biscuits. Andhra Bank sponsored a napkin which I lost in the middle.
I reached Basheer bhag fly over it was around 1 hour 20 min, I think I have covered around 9km, was shocked too some folks are already reached Charminar and coming back to the starting point, probably around 4km left in the race for them.
By seeing them I felt a bit energetic and began to jog for some time, felt tired again so thought better to walk if I have to finish the race. And most important thing is that the traffic is stopped at all the places because of the race.

As some of us are running late and slowly some of the traffic police men asked us to run and keep running, I ran every time they asked me to do it, later as usual keep walking. Reached charminar around 8:00 (12 km from starting point), felt a bit relaxed then I should walk back to the starting point (people's plaza necklace road). I have also taken pics of charminar even some of camera men recorded me while I was taking the pictures of charminar. My hamstrings started paining now, so I was trying to relax them by stretching them, walking, jogging, jumping I was doing all the stupid feats to reach the destination.

At the end I was able to reach the destination by 9:30 am, after which I have taken snaps of finish line. I was ranked 121 in general category, overall I think rank is around 200. You can see me how tired I am looking below after finishing the race. Next time I will practice well and then participate the race ;).

Buying a camera

There are umpteen number of camera brands and models in market, I had planned buy a new camera and was very skeptical which to choose. Have you ever faced such a situation? I have filtered my options to three cameras which fits my requirement one is Kodak Easyshare Z712IS, other two are Sony cybershot H50 and canon powershot s5 IS. All of the three have its pros n cons. I did a bit of study on net before settling to one. Just sharing a few of them, which might be useful to you.

1. Reading reviews on sites like cnet , dpreview etc. You can find more by searching on net.
   
2. Groups from flickr (photo sharing site from yahoo) , this site has groups on the model of the camera. you can search with a camera model (Ex: canon powershot s5 is) and find reviews and photos taken from that cam. I strongly refer this as the reviews and photos posted in the group are from professional and amateur photographers.
3. Visual reviews through videos, one such poular site is cameralabs.com , which provides you a total insight of all the camera features, pros and cons of it and some pics taken at different terrains and timings. You can also find the reviews of cameras on Youtube.
   
4. You may also find some useful info from communities in social networking sites like Orkut, Facebook etc. Same here search with the name of the camera.
   

At the end you are the one who got to take the decision, so better do some research before buying one.

After my study about the three cams I opted to buy Canon powershot s5 IS; I bought it from Amazon with a 4 gb card, which priced me $315.

If you find this useful please leave a comment.

Success and Inspiration

One of the most inspirational videos I have ever watched.. don't miss it!!!

Celebration means......

Celebration means......

Hundred bucks of petrol.
A rusty old bike.
And an open road.

Celebration means......

Maggie noodles.
A hostel room.
4.25 a.m.

Celebration means......

3 old friends.
3 separate cities.
3 coffee mugs.
1 internet messenger.

Celebration means......

Rain on a hot tin roof.
Pakoras deep-frying.
Neighbours dropping in.
A party.

Celebration means......

You and mom.
A summer night.
A bottle of coconut oil.
A head massage.

You can spend
Hundreds on birthdays,
Thousands on festivals,
Lakhs on weddings,
But to celebrate
All you have to do is - spend your Time with your loved ones.

I Me n Myself

Compiled some of my best and favorite portraits at one place.. I fell like an amateur model when ever I see these pics ha ha :))
Do post your comments if you like/hate them....

I never imagined

When I went to Delhi, the first place I visited with my friend Smruti Ranjan was India Gate. It was fabulous to watch it in the early morning with fog all around. Then later we moved towards Rashtrapati Bhavan, I loved the view of India Gate from their and tried to capture it. The cam I carried has a limited zoom (12x), so couldn't do that from Rashtrapati Bhavan, but I had to take a few steps forward to capture.. I tried from different spots at the end I got a perfect picture at one location and you can see that here..



I follow BBC learning English every week, I have seen a post asking users to post their best photographs representing their nation with a limit of 3 pics per user... so, I though of making a try and posted three photos one is India Gate and second is a Bridge in Haridwar and the last is my self portrait taken in Sankari, part of Himalayas.

After couple of weeks I received a mail from BBC learning English that my pic had been selected for the 2008 Calendar and asked me to send my postal address so that they can send me the Calendar. It was all surprising I never imagined that my photo would be selected for a calendar, It was a joyous moment for me and I had shared it will my friends and colleagues. Special Thanks to my friend Ashok (For lending me his cam).

Cover pic of the Calendar:

This is mine in the month of June.


The full calendar can be downloaded here.It is around 1.6 Mb in size.

If you like the photograph, please leave a comment.