I'll let the pictures do the talking
The real photoPhoto: Rituraj Brahma
I'll let the pictures do the talkingThe real photo
A few pics I took over the past two days
P.S.: The last picture was a disaster, as I tried to edit out the house that was the next to the well.
The side effects of vettiness during vacations...
I must admit that my first attempt at Photorealism was a failure, but still I designed an Amby for pure love of the car. I chose the car, because it’s a cultural icon of India, it has been a part of our lives for more than 50 years. It was the car of choice for the Prime Ministers until Atal Bihari Vajpayee shifted to BMW 7 series for security reasons. Having said that, I don’t think many would have wanted to design one in a comp, they would rather do a Ferrari or a Lamborghini. The Hindustan Ambassador was originally based on a Moriss Oxford III, which came out in 1956. I happened to stumble upon a site that imported Ambassadors as classic retro cars in Britain. I dunno, the demand for an Amby in Britain, but the site had a few nice pics. I used a few as a guide to help me draw the ambassador and also for the shadow and glare effects.
I have attached a few pics of the work at various stages of completion. Hope you guys like it.
http://harikul.deviantart.com/
The animal needs no introduction. It was rated as the best looking animal in a National Geographic Traveler opinion poll. The Tiger with this malevolent look had always fascinated me. I had painted a Tiger way back during the 2004 vacations. A few days back, a documentary on Discovery brought back the idea I had for a long time, to draw a Tiger on a comp. I was bored designing stuff for Shaastra (although I enjoy the responsibility), so the work was a welcome change. It was also chance to get back to designing things from scratch, something that was time consuming but immensely satisfying.
I drew the Tiger first on a piece of paper and used the drawing as a guide to draw the outlines in illustrator. After drawing a black and white Vector version, I tried colouring it in Illustrator, but gave up in the beginning itself. My dad laughed at my creation, saying the Tiger looked as if it suffered from Jaundice.
I drew the Tiger first on a piece of paper and used the drawing as a guide to draw the outlines in illustrator. After drawing a black and white Vector version, I tried colouring it in Illustrator, but gave up in the beginning itself. My dad laughed at my creation, saying the Tiger looked as if it suffered from Jaundice.
If it wasn’t for my dad’s comments I would have given up. But I persisted and took the image to Photoshop and used a single brush to finish the entire picture.The original file is 129 MB in size and my comp cupped thrice while trying to edit it. The original dimensions of the image are 5000*3200 pixels. It felt great after getting back to doing something entirely original, from the first line on a piece of paper to the finishing touches using the Burn tool, it was the most satisfying work I have done till now. A few might ask me whether all this was worth it, and my answer would be an emphatic YES!.....
(harikul.deviantart.com)
Some more thumbnails
Postscript
I was watching a Discovery Channel documentary the other day, on the Sariska Tiger Reserve. I know the Discovery isn’t the most exciting channel to watch when you are vetti, but it is quite entertaining. Anyway, the documentary was made by none other than David Attenborough (brother of the Richard Attenborough, director of Gandhi). It explained how the administration slept while all the tigers in Sariska disappeared without a trace. It took the media and public outcry to finally wake up the state and respond to the atrocities. Soon, as usual a committee was setup, while the CBI investigated how 20 odds tigers vanished and the park officials denied any tigers were killed. At the end of it, the Project Tiger was scrapped, and in its place National Tiger Conservation authority was established. Project Tiger was once the pride of Indian government showcasing its ability to protect the nation’s natural wealth. The new committee was made Inclusive, by including scientists, experts, park officials, local members, bureaucrats, politicians and the guy who came to serve chai while the committee was being formed. This meant, everyone had an opinion, but only a few really understood what was happening. As conservationist and naturalist Valmik Thapar put it, “it ended up being like a Khichdi, a mix of everything resulting in all talk and no action”. Interestingly the committee gave powers to the local people to decide the future of the Tigers. At first sight, it sounds like a great innovation, since local people are supposed to revere and respect the Tiger. Yet, the encroachments into the national parks by the same local people have only increased the threats to the wild life in the park. Confrontations with man and beast have become more common. Another problem that escapes most people while talking about inclusiveness is the fact that the local authorities sometimes just do not have the necessary expertise to tackle important issues. Making local authorities, a part of protecting tigers is a different issue and one which can lead to positive outcomes, but making them more or less fully accountable for coming up with plans to protect tiger reserves seems to be a naïve decision on the part of the government.
(harikul.deviantart.com)
Some more thumbnails
Postscript
I was watching a Discovery Channel documentary the other day, on the Sariska Tiger Reserve. I know the Discovery isn’t the most exciting channel to watch when you are vetti, but it is quite entertaining. Anyway, the documentary was made by none other than David Attenborough (brother of the Richard Attenborough, director of Gandhi). It explained how the administration slept while all the tigers in Sariska disappeared without a trace. It took the media and public outcry to finally wake up the state and respond to the atrocities. Soon, as usual a committee was setup, while the CBI investigated how 20 odds tigers vanished and the park officials denied any tigers were killed. At the end of it, the Project Tiger was scrapped, and in its place National Tiger Conservation authority was established. Project Tiger was once the pride of Indian government showcasing its ability to protect the nation’s natural wealth. The new committee was made Inclusive, by including scientists, experts, park officials, local members, bureaucrats, politicians and the guy who came to serve chai while the committee was being formed. This meant, everyone had an opinion, but only a few really understood what was happening. As conservationist and naturalist Valmik Thapar put it, “it ended up being like a Khichdi, a mix of everything resulting in all talk and no action”. Interestingly the committee gave powers to the local people to decide the future of the Tigers. At first sight, it sounds like a great innovation, since local people are supposed to revere and respect the Tiger. Yet, the encroachments into the national parks by the same local people have only increased the threats to the wild life in the park. Confrontations with man and beast have become more common. Another problem that escapes most people while talking about inclusiveness is the fact that the local authorities sometimes just do not have the necessary expertise to tackle important issues. Making local authorities, a part of protecting tigers is a different issue and one which can lead to positive outcomes, but making them more or less fully accountable for coming up with plans to protect tiger reserves seems to be a naïve decision on the part of the government.
It’s about a year since I have written anything on the blog, mostly due to my laziness. I just hate putting things on paper, and I am a horrible writer. Few days back, I decided I should rejoin the blogosphere, but I had to do it with a refreshingly new look to the blog. So, off went the old logo and in came the new logo (I selected an ordinary template – will change it sometime later). It’s a simple logo, with more emphasis on the font and the text (Logotype) rather than pseud graphics.
P.S.: New post coming soon...
P.S.: New post coming soon...
It’s August 2008, it has been a long 3 years of struggle for me. My friends still call me a pessimist, although I have always seen myself as a realist. The world hasn’t got much better either, in fact things have took a turn for the worst with spiralling oil and food prices, and an economy showing signs of recession. A big relief is the recent news of the Left withdrawing support to the UPA, after 4 ½ years of refusing to release the hand-brake on the govt, it has finally decided to call it a day. Then there is global warming and environmentalism. A subject I’ve had intense introspection for the past few months and a subject I would like to raise here.
Thank God for
I wouldn’t advocate that humans should start to eat their dead relatives, but everything in life has to have a balance, especially with food. Instead of turning into Vegetarianism, try to control one’s diet and balance it with required carbohydrates, protein, vitamins and the taboo word for greens FAT (Fat is just as imperative for the body as any other vital nutrition). Environmentalism should be with a purpose and actions should be targeted at a particular end rather than doing it for the sake of doing it. Oh… One more thing…. Vegetarians, please stop Evangelizing. Respect the rights of the others to eat what they want to eat…
There is a white office, an imposing one I should say at Bakery Junction, Thiruvananthapuram. It’s the RBI regional office for Kerala and the Lakshadweep, the building you have been looking for. You notice that the people there wear identity cards which resemble the ones that the IT professionals wear (the plastic identity card hanging from a blue chord is supposed to represent POWER). They walk in everyday with their briefcases and hand bags full of confidential information. Follow them till the main building where you will be asked to show you card. Promptly show your card, if it’s not plastic you might have to stay a bit longer. There is an airport style security which scans every single Rupee or any other foreign currency that you might have. If you happen to bring anything else like a screw driver, or a nut, or a laptop, or a C.D., or a Hard disk to steal the data, or your daughter’s braces accidently then you have to register at the desk. After which you have to undergo an even more rigorous scanning process. By this time, you wish you had brought the nuclear bomb you sold during last week’s garage sale.
Finally after an hour of security guards almost molesting you, you get in. There are notices on the notice board dating back to your childhood, word of the day IPs that you wouldn’t find in any dictionaries. You find that the cubicle is the only respite from terror. You start the computer, and find that the computer is locked, and so is the internet. Nothing works, Orkut is blocked, so is Youtube and it’s the same for most of the other culturally corrupting sites. Yet, when you peek into next guy’s comp. you will get the shock of your lifetime. Relax, the dude is looking at some interesting pictures, smile to him and act as if you hadn’t seen anything. Next wait for the 10:30 coffee, try to count the number of seconds it takes for the coffee to come to your table or guess the colour of the flask in which the coffee arrives. You will be amazed at how fast the time flies in RESERVE BANK OF INDIA. Then it’s another two hours before lunch, try guessing the number of plates that would be kept in a North-East direction, or the number of glasses which are unclean. Then it’s time for lunch. Steal your chicken piece or any non-veg item before it’s stolen by another chap. Avoid drinking water in the glasses unless you want to taste the buttermilk the previous user had. Eat your food in peace and gently exit the place without making any noise. This way you wouldn’t earn the wrath of the people when they are at their worst temper.
Come back to your cubicle and wait for the 2:30 coffee. Calmly proceed with what you are doing, even if it’s sleep. The warm smell of coffee will sure wake you up. Take your time in drinking it, because you wouldn’t have anything else to do for another 2 ½ half hours. Rush to the lobby at around 5:15 before the crowd comes. Here, you might have to pass through the same security rituals that you had done in the morning but this time the security guards are too lazy to check you properly. They let you go in no time. You are out, free from the clutches of the white leviathan. Run for your lives if you are sane, or stay back and admire the office where you now proudly work at.
P.S.: I have nothing against RBI or any other central bank for that matter.
Finally after an hour of security guards almost molesting you, you get in. There are notices on the notice board dating back to your childhood, word of the day IPs that you wouldn’t find in any dictionaries. You find that the cubicle is the only respite from terror. You start the computer, and find that the computer is locked, and so is the internet. Nothing works, Orkut is blocked, so is Youtube and it’s the same for most of the other culturally corrupting sites. Yet, when you peek into next guy’s comp. you will get the shock of your lifetime. Relax, the dude is looking at some interesting pictures, smile to him and act as if you hadn’t seen anything. Next wait for the 10:30 coffee, try to count the number of seconds it takes for the coffee to come to your table or guess the colour of the flask in which the coffee arrives. You will be amazed at how fast the time flies in RESERVE BANK OF INDIA. Then it’s another two hours before lunch, try guessing the number of plates that would be kept in a North-East direction, or the number of glasses which are unclean. Then it’s time for lunch. Steal your chicken piece or any non-veg item before it’s stolen by another chap. Avoid drinking water in the glasses unless you want to taste the buttermilk the previous user had. Eat your food in peace and gently exit the place without making any noise. This way you wouldn’t earn the wrath of the people when they are at their worst temper.
Come back to your cubicle and wait for the 2:30 coffee. Calmly proceed with what you are doing, even if it’s sleep. The warm smell of coffee will sure wake you up. Take your time in drinking it, because you wouldn’t have anything else to do for another 2 ½ half hours. Rush to the lobby at around 5:15 before the crowd comes. Here, you might have to pass through the same security rituals that you had done in the morning but this time the security guards are too lazy to check you properly. They let you go in no time. You are out, free from the clutches of the white leviathan. Run for your lives if you are sane, or stay back and admire the office where you now proudly work at.
P.S.: I have nothing against RBI or any other central bank for that matter.
5. Porsche 911 Turbo: If you can't figure out why I have put the car in my list, go and hang yourself. You are not worthy of living in this planet. 
4. Lamborghini Diablo: The Lamborghini with its supercar pedigree came up with one of the best looking supercars in the motoring planet, the Diablo. The Diablo represents in some way or the other the quintessential supercar for every 6 year old at heart.
2. Ferrari Scuderia: Light, Sleek and fast, based on the F430 but can match up to anything that the Enzo can throw at it. The Scuderia was released to compete against the Gallardo Superleggera and Porsche RS models. It sure has matched up to the challenge. One brilliant bit of engineering to look at. Gosh these Italians know how to design their cars.
1. Koenigsegg CCX: It is something that God himself can't describe. It is faster than the fastest lightning, lighter than the lightest feather, sexier than well no.... it isn't that sexy, but it is insanely powerful. The CCXR can develop approximately 1018 Bhp, which is 18 more than the Veyron which requires an a mamooth engine and fans to belt out a thousand horses.Ah... Finally managed to write a blog in the last month of the sem......... Don't blame me for not writing blog entries blame my laziness!
*Note: The above title doesn't mean that the author of this blog has any interest in dying for a car that he so desperately wants. It is an expression to suggest to the reader how much the author of this blog loves cars. This in no way means the author is susceptible to commit suicide if you or your friends offer him a Lamborghini. Although he will change his decision if you or you friends offer to rename Ferrari S.p.A in his name.
I got some new info that there is a new version of G-Wiz called the G-Wiz i which is supposedly better than the older G-Wiz with some Lotus package to increase safety (Go the info from a new comment for my Reva blog) . Crash test video is on Youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKbVOe7q4Dc
Top Gear still rocks!
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The car still looks uber ugly... These guys never learn.
Top Gear still rocks!
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The car still looks uber ugly... These guys never learn.
Saarang was ok I guess. Didn't try for any volships or any coordships. Gen too lethargic these days. I did go for the Decibels and the Rock Show. The first band at Decibels called the "Slain" sounded really professional but a bit Christian and preachy. The rest of the bands were mediocre and some were well, a real pain to listen to. I did like the band from Mumbai, mostly because they played 2 RATM covers. Lucky Ali, Karthik Show was supposedly good but I didn't go.
Ah, the Rock show.... Well, Firebrands (from Singapore) were really give up (Sucked big time, actually) but they did play a few covers (Pink Floyd, Deep Purple, Linkin Park and RATM). The lead guy turned out to be of a Tamil Orgin and did look kinda scary. The Delhi band Prestorika was far ahead of Firebrands. They played Metallica, Megadeth, Iron Maiden, Pantera and a few give-up own-comps. The heavy sound of the guitar was only broken by the voice of the lead guy asking the crowd "Are you having some fucking fun?" Prestorika takes a five year old's perfect hearing and destroys it till becomes like that of your Grandma's (no kidding).
I did design a couple of shields for the Informal guys (with my name on it - self-promotion) and a poster for the Saarang Village. Well, I have to get back to work. There is a lot of work to do, at least I think there is.
Ah, the Rock show.... Well, Firebrands (from Singapore) were really give up (Sucked big time, actually) but they did play a few covers (Pink Floyd, Deep Purple, Linkin Park and RATM). The lead guy turned out to be of a Tamil Orgin and did look kinda scary. The Delhi band Prestorika was far ahead of Firebrands. They played Metallica, Megadeth, Iron Maiden, Pantera and a few give-up own-comps. The heavy sound of the guitar was only broken by the voice of the lead guy asking the crowd "Are you having some fucking fun?" Prestorika takes a five year old's perfect hearing and destroys it till becomes like that of your Grandma's (no kidding).
I did design a couple of shields for the Informal guys (with my name on it - self-promotion) and a poster for the Saarang Village. Well, I have to get back to work. There is a lot of work to do, at least I think there is.
Mahabalipuram or Mamalapuram is a small seaside town located
some 50 kms from Chennai. Not a lot unless one wanted to cover the entire distance two-n-fro on a bicycle, like we did. We accomplished it on the Sunday of 13th January 2008 which also happened to be my laptop’s first birthday. There were 7 of us on the journey, all from the mighty Tamraparani hostel. We left for Mahabs at around 4:30 A.M. It was pitch black, the moon was nowhere to be seen. We somehow got onto the East Coast Road, hereafter referred to as the ECR. I felt the pain of cycling in the first 30 minutes itself, my butt was aching like anything because of the stupid seat. Anyhow we cycled on and on often losing sight of others and finding them again at the side of the road waiting for us.
some 50 kms from Chennai. Not a lot unless one wanted to cover the entire distance two-n-fro on a bicycle, like we did. We accomplished it on the Sunday of 13th January 2008 which also happened to be my laptop’s first birthday. There were 7 of us on the journey, all from the mighty Tamraparani hostel. We left for Mahabs at around 4:30 A.M. It was pitch black, the moon was nowhere to be seen. We somehow got onto the East Coast Road, hereafter referred to as the ECR. I felt the pain of cycling in the first 30 minutes itself, my butt was aching like anything because of the stupid seat. Anyhow we cycled on and on often losing sight of others and finding them again at the side of the road waiting for us.On our way we overtook two runners on their way to Mahabalipuram, thinking that we will leave them in the dust. I had the first breakdown (infact I had all the breakdowns) when my chain came loose. Fearing for the worst I told our captain Ritu that the chain was broken, he stopped and shouted “We are doomed for all our lives, our journey ends here. Our skeleton will forever lie here, touched only by the monsoon and the sea breeze. Far from hu
manity, far from civilization we the brave men of Tamraparani lay our lives here with pride and glory.” (Suitable exaggerations added).Fortunately, the chain was not broken and our captain Ritu had the expertise to fix it real fast. We continued on cautiously (ok, only me) the next stretch of the journey was from the Toll booth to Kovalam. By this time the runners had overtaken us and in a few minutes we overtook them again. It was still dark the sun was some hours away, we depended more on guess and good luck hoping that we wouldn’t get into an accident or go over a sudden speed bump. I almost crashed into a crazy old man who was sitting at the end of a bridge fagging his way to ecstasy.
manity, far from civilization we the brave men of Tamraparani lay our lives here with pride and glory.” (Suitable exaggerations added).Fortunately, the chain was not broken and our captain Ritu had the expertise to fix it real fast. We continued on cautiously (ok, only me) the next stretch of the journey was from the Toll booth to Kovalam. By this time the runners had overtaken us and in a few minutes we overtook them again. It was still dark the sun was some hours away, we depended more on guess and good luck hoping that we wouldn’t get into an accident or go over a sudden speed bump. I almost crashed into a crazy old man who was sitting at the end of a bridge fagging his way to ecstasy.We stopped for a morning tea at a tea shop in Kovalam at around 6:00 a.m. We ordered our tea
and sat by the road to take some much needed rest for our legs and sore buttocks. It took the chap about 3o mins to make 7 teas and by the time we got it the runners had overtaken us again. The tea tasted awful, leading to a conspiracy on the origin of the milk. Few of the guys said it was buffalo’s milk, I thought it was Goat’s milk but it was Snake’s suggestion that left us in disgust (can’t really put it here). We had by the time covered around 30 kilometres from the insti, and we decided to cover the next 20 kms non-stop. As usual Arbit (Shivraj Negi – dunno his real name) was on a roll and left us in a desperate attempt to keep up. The morning sun had just started to come out. It was a beautiful sight to see the morning sun and the sea from the elevated road. We passed the Crocodile Bank, deciding we will pay a visit to the crocs while coming back. Soon, the sign read single digits and we started to close in on Mahabs. Then all of the sudden two Hyundai Accent police cars screeched past us, followed minutes later by His Excellency M.Karunanidhi’s motorcade of about 20 cars. He would have probably laughed at our pathetic situation, who knows.
and sat by the road to take some much needed rest for our legs and sore buttocks. It took the chap about 3o mins to make 7 teas and by the time we got it the runners had overtaken us again. The tea tasted awful, leading to a conspiracy on the origin of the milk. Few of the guys said it was buffalo’s milk, I thought it was Goat’s milk but it was Snake’s suggestion that left us in disgust (can’t really put it here). We had by the time covered around 30 kilometres from the insti, and we decided to cover the next 20 kms non-stop. As usual Arbit (Shivraj Negi – dunno his real name) was on a roll and left us in a desperate attempt to keep up. The morning sun had just started to come out. It was a beautiful sight to see the morning sun and the sea from the elevated road. We passed the Crocodile Bank, deciding we will pay a visit to the crocs while coming back. Soon, the sign read single digits and we started to close in on Mahabs. Then all of the sudden two Hyundai Accent police cars screeched past us, followed minutes later by His Excellency M.Karunanidhi’s motorcade of about 20 cars. He would have probably laughed at our pathetic situation, who knows.
By this time our rivals (I haven’t mentioned about them because they weren’t that significant’ and hmm... also, we lost because of the stupid chaiwala) had reached Mahabalipuram and were having their morning grub. Then, in all the pain and suffering, just like an oasis stood the sign board “MAMALLAPURAM”. Just then my cycle broke down again, the chain came of loose. It was Ritu to the rescue once more but this time it wasn’t that serious. We got back on our bikes and headed for the town looking for a restaurant called the ‘Moon Rakers’ that our dearest friend Sutta (Nikhil) had recommended to us. By good luck (as we later found out) the restaurant wasn’t open, so we went to the ‘Blue Elephant’ (Hmm.... Wonder where the people get the names from). We had toast in some form or the other and sat on the comfy chairs extending our legs. We had done it, we did the unthinkable and it was time that we make calls to some of our pessimistic friends.
After the delicious breakfast (more so because we were starving by the time we reached there) we went to see the Krishna’s butterball and took some pics. It was really boring, there is nothing to describe except that it looks surreal. We met up with guys who arrived by bus and they looked even more tired than us. Some chaps wanted to go to the five rathas and four of us (me, Ritu, Snake and Kutti) decided to go to the beach and rest.
We got to this seaside restaurant/shack and sat there for about 2 hours gen, peacefully wasting time. We did go to the shore temple. It was 10 bucks for entry for Indians and 250 for the foreigners which I thought was really unfair besides it creates an impression that we are really despos. Unfortunately, my friends didn’t share the same views as me. We went around exploring the temple really quickly, discovering that they had done a good job of renovating the structure and then it was time for lunch.
We got to this seaside restaurant/shack and sat there for about 2 hours gen, peacefully wasting time. We did go to the shore temple. It was 10 bucks for entry for Indians and 250 for the foreigners which I thought was really unfair besides it creates an impression that we are really despos. Unfortunately, my friends didn’t share the same views as me. We went around exploring the temple really quickly, discovering that they had done a good job of renovating the structure and then it was time for lunch.Taking Sutta’ recommendation into consideration we went to the restaurant called ‘Moon
Rakers’. For 90 rupees I had the costliest and by far the worst chicken Biriyani I have ever had in my life. The tomato soup tasted like barf, only the shrimp was good. They had posters on all walls saying "NO LIQUOR" but they openly served beer to the white folks (not being racist here). We left the Rakers broke and headed for the sea. Few of us got excited and started playing in the water and some of us just sat around the beach and later went hunting for seashells (we did get quite a few good ones). The waves were really powerful, pounding against the rocks. Some guys thought it would be even better if they were even more broke and took a ride on a boat to see the six temples near or under the sea. According to me, they were really taken for a ride, wasting 75 rupees for 5 minute boat ride.
Rakers’. For 90 rupees I had the costliest and by far the worst chicken Biriyani I have ever had in my life. The tomato soup tasted like barf, only the shrimp was good. They had posters on all walls saying "NO LIQUOR" but they openly served beer to the white folks (not being racist here). We left the Rakers broke and headed for the sea. Few of us got excited and started playing in the water and some of us just sat around the beach and later went hunting for seashells (we did get quite a few good ones). The waves were really powerful, pounding against the rocks. Some guys thought it would be even better if they were even more broke and took a ride on a boat to see the six temples near or under the sea. According to me, they were really taken for a ride, wasting 75 rupees for 5 minute boat ride.
We left Mahabs at around 3:30 pm (there was nothing else to do) and continued our journey back. We stopped at the Crocodile bank. It was good to see reptiles and snakes (my fav kinda animals) but there was no venom extracting show by the Irulas which me (stupid grammar check wants to replace me with I) and my friend Kutti were looking forward to. It was our juniors (AC/DC, Kinky and Arbit) that really inspired us to go there. I must say the crocs looked a bit lethargic and bored probably from so much attention that they get. We had covered the park in record time and joined the guys waiting outside to resume our journey. The police stationed there were really helpful, at first they managed to get ourselves exempted from the parking fees and later they literally stopped the traffic on the road to let us crocs. The next stretch was the longest and the best we reached the Toll Booth in record time. After which things got boring, except few guys waved at us and some took pics and videos and my cycle chain came loose again..... The last stretch was through the suburbs and Tiruvanmiyur, which was the worst and the hardest part of the trip and on top of that the traffic had to be stopped to let our honourable Chief Minishter Karunanidhi go back to his office. We were praying for our lives while we were cycling, it was like the chaos theory on wheels around us. Somehow we made it back to the insti, we were too tired to even rejoice at our achievement.
The trip was more about achieving something rather visiting Mahabalipuram. We were determined to prove our critics wrong. Although we were tired, exhausted and our buttocks numb there was always something that kept us going. It was not only a sense of achievement or victory but also the spirit of human endeavour and the willingness to challenge our limits which have made us, the humans the dominant race on the Earth. Men come and go and achieve things, but it is those who go that extra bit to achieve something even higher that makes them special. We have done exactly that on our trip to Mahabs, we may not be remembered by anybody years from now nor we intend to be, but we have succeeded at least in inspiring ourselves or even a few around us with it. Ok, I should stop being preachy now. And to sum it all up a few last words to two guys really close to us - $%#$ #@# Sutta, #$## @&* Mika.
P.S: The author has no political affliation. The author has high regard for Karunanidhi and doesn’t intend to hurt the political sensibilities of the DMK supporters.
For those who started browsing in the late 90s need not introduction of the mighty Netscape. Netscape emerged from another browser called Mosaic which was the incidentally first Graphical web browser (MOSAIC and Netscape had the same Co-author). In the mid-1990s it had a user share of over 90%, which now stands at less than 1%. The downfall of Netscape can be attributed to two reasons - IE and AOL.Like all monopolists Microsoft started to worry about the success of Netscape, so they decided to exterminate them. It bought the Internet Explorer from Spyglass Inc (they didn't want to waste time developing a new browser). Soon, Microsoft started to ship its IE with Windows as a part of the OS. This was the beginning of the legendary browser wars. Netscape and IE fought against each other in a fierce battle to gain the cyberdom. They released versions after versions, not caring much about fixing the bugs and loopholes. It was like the Edison-Tesla feud in the early 1900s. By 1998, Netscape began to realize that it was a losing battle. It couldn't compete with a large corporation like the Microsoft. Soon, IE became the most dominant web browser and Netscape was sold to AOL for $4.2 billion. Well, AOL is known for screwing things up (Time Warner AOL-read Wiki) and things were no different with Netscape. They kept on releasing versions of the browser that nobody now cared about and the latest is the Netscape Navigator 9.
Few days back I read an article in the BBC that AOL is discontinuing developments for Netscape beginning this February. This means that it is the end of the road of the once mighty Netscape (although, you can consider it to be clinically dead for years now). My first introduction to the world wide web was using a Netscape Navigator, to be more precise on a Netscape Navigator 4. I used to browse in Altavista and Yahoo for hours discovering the endless world of worldwide web (Google hadn't gained popularity at that time). Netscape was far better than the IE version that was bundled with the Windows OS. Soon like the millions of others I also shifted to IE, for no apparent reasons. Nobody knew that new versions of Netscape were actually being released. Microsoft thought it had won the battle, gaining a maximum user share of 96%. Well, as history goes it was not to be.
A new competitor emerged from the ashes of Netscape, the FIREFOX. The firefox had started the second browser wars. With the ease of use and better features like addons, tabbed browsing (borrowed from Opera) it started to win users. The war continues to this day with Firefox 2.0 and Microsoft with IE 7 trying to win higher user share. As of November 2007, Firefox has a market share of almost 17% and growing at a steady rate.
Another new entrant to the browser war is Apple's Safari 3 beta. It is one browser that is worth trying. Everything about Safari is sexy (the interface, the text box, just about everything). It is supposedly twice as fast as IE and is also faster than the Firefox. The only sore point about Safari for windows is that it doesn't support Gmail (for some apparent reason). Otherwise it is a good browser. Opera is another browser worth looking at if you are looking at a replacement for IE and Firefox, although it is more popular as Opera Mini for Mobile devices nowadays.
End Note: This post is a homage to the Netscape Navigator browser. May your soul continue to live on and may your successor Firefox dethrone the stupid Piece Of Shit IE as the most used browser.
P.S.: Safari is sexier than IE, and Firefox.
Made with
You will agree that the Reva G-Wiz isn't the prettiest car to look at. Infact, it could be one of the ugliest you have ever seen. The fact is that it is the highest selling electic car in the history of automobiles and it is Indian. The Reva is manufactured by a company called Maini in Bangalore (Must be some ulti studdax company run by nerds who don't care much about spending time or money on the car design). They are mostly exported to Europe, where they are a hit with environmentalists and pseudo environmentalists.Vital Stats (Taken from Wikipedia)
| Length: | 2.6 m |
| Width: | 1.3 m |
| Height: | 1.5 m |
| Range | 80 km |
| Maximum Speed | 70 km/hr |
| Seating | Two adults and two children |
Although the figures show a maximum speed of 70 km/hr most Revas will never live to see the magical figure. Revas are intended for city use not for highway, so there is no need for a high performance engine (motor in this case). But, what about seating capacity? Anybody who has taken one look at the pic will know that it can barely carry a single middle aged woman. So, if you are buying a Reva for the whole family, it is better that you go for a conventional gas guzzling car. So, by now you would have realized that it is absolutely impractical to use. It can take up to 8 hours to charge and would only last about 1 1/2 hours. If you are still insistent on reducing your carbon footprint, then I suggest you go for a Toyota Prius.
Reading this you might think why I picked this car. Well, because an important event happened in Reva's career. See, when it was exported to Europe, the guys at Maini did not know that there was such a thing called crash tests that had to be conducted before a vehicle went into production. Since, it was an electric car or quadricycle as they are called in the west, it was exempted from most of these tests. But some chap in England reported that the car had serious safety issues. A test was conducted by the UK Department of Transport at a constant speed of 40 km/hr (that is the normal speed in a city). To their horror they found that the car splintered into pieces upon collision. The guy/gal sitting in the car would be dead meat for sure. The car seem to be made out of thermocol and plastic. The door panels and the front hood fly in the air once the car is hit. The driver (presumably dead by then) becomes a projectile with or without the seat belt. They found out that most cycles have more safety features than this car. Once cars pass the test they are given a score of stars on the scale of 5 stars. Most cars get 3 stars while some cars get 4 (like Saab, Renault Espace,etc). The UK department of Transport found it hard to give this car even a one star, because it just doesn't deserve anything.
Here is the video of the crash test (Warning: Viewer Discretion is advised)
Reading this you might think why I picked this car. Well, because an important event happened in Reva's career. See, when it was exported to Europe, the guys at Maini did not know that there was such a thing called crash tests that had to be conducted before a vehicle went into production. Since, it was an electric car or quadricycle as they are called in the west, it was exempted from most of these tests. But some chap in England reported that the car had serious safety issues. A test was conducted by the UK Department of Transport at a constant speed of 40 km/hr (that is the normal speed in a city). To their horror they found that the car splintered into pieces upon collision. The guy/gal sitting in the car would be dead meat for sure. The car seem to be made out of thermocol and plastic. The door panels and the front hood fly in the air once the car is hit. The driver (presumably dead by then) becomes a projectile with or without the seat belt. They found out that most cycles have more safety features than this car. Once cars pass the test they are given a score of stars on the scale of 5 stars. Most cars get 3 stars while some cars get 4 (like Saab, Renault Espace,etc). The UK department of Transport found it hard to give this car even a one star, because it just doesn't deserve anything.
Here is the video of the crash test (Warning: Viewer Discretion is advised)
Outcomes? The car is exempted from all crash tests, so Maini can continue selling their cars in UK. Hmm...It remains to be seen how many people will continue to buy the car knowing that it has failed the tests in every criteria. Warning to pedestrians: You will cause more damage to the car than the car to you, so please keep you distance as a Reva zips (like it will :D) past you. The driver of the car might take you to the court for damaging his/her car. People still enthusiatic about the car can pay a visit or a homage to: www.revaindia.com or search on Google for more info.
Well, so much for going green!
[The writer has nothing against hybrid or electric cars, but wrote this article in the interest of public safety. The writer strongly supports all activities intended at protecting the Earth and the wildlife.]
I am officially a blogger now.I have no idea of what a blog is or how it should to be. This is my first experiment with blogging, so please bear with me if it is not up to your standards. But one thing that I can assure you is that there will be no post modernist or Nietzschean post on this blog. This blog is dedicated to Cars, Planes, Machines (basically anything that has an engine), Global Warming and Snakes. I'll also try to include some vague fundaes from Wikipedia (the ultimate reference site). Like, A can of Mountain Dew has twice the amount of caffine as a can of Pepsi.
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