With a heart of stone and flowers in my eyes...

My sweet little flower...

A fountain of pink..

Another fountain...

Flower with a delicate center... see the patterns in the yellow bit...

Another view

See the edge of the yellow center... how delicate it looks!

Another view...

Delicate pinks..

White flowers...

Yellow, white and green!

White in front yellows at the back! Line up everyone...

Dark greens, mud and a cloudy sky... that is how the city looked that day!

Foreground, background, the lookout point and the sky!

Veins in the cliff..

Another view looking West...

1/4 foreground and 3/4 background

1/4 foreground and 3/4 background - slightly different

Wood, water and stone

Images of Summer (May 2008)

Beee-zy at work!

Not a 9-5 job!

Bristol - the trees and the mud.

Look at the rock... look at the ROCK!

Cliff face - old and green.

Flowers in a line.

The Clifton Bridge against a grey and angry sky!

South-side tower of the Clifton Bridge.

The curve of the suspension cables.

The full bridge!

Pink flowers...

Pink, red, green and grey...


Bristol

The Clifton Bridge


A sea of green..

Never give up the good fight!

And come down and put your heart in this fight
Ah, Come on and make your stand tonight

Every Move a Picture - Signs of Life

Ever felt like quitting? Ever felt what is the use of all this crap that surrounds us? Ever felt frustrated?

I do. Many times! :) Because I am a human being with normal aspirations and expectations. Sometimes I feel what is the use of all these complications? (Yeah I am a normal person!)

Why do we love, hate, laugh, sing, dance, laugh, cry, kiss, hug, slap, hit, kill, create life?

Wouldn't it be simpler to just live out this life for yourself? Why have other people to worry for you and other people to worry for?

The answer is very simple... because we are supposed to fight! :) The fun is in the fight!

And fight we do. Whether we stay alone or embrace life. Alone we fight with outselves. The negative energy turns inwards. The destructive force channeled inwards.

So better turn the energy towards the world. Negaitve and positive.

Fight the good fight with the world! Live life! :)

And put this post on your favourites list... on bad days read it! :)

Hope it motivates you to continue the fight.

:)

Shots of the New Moon!

The crescent moon!

Long exposure of the new moon.

One in a....

There are approximately 6.6 billion people in the world.
The population of India is approximately 1.1 billion.

So next time you tell someone that they are one in a million (or as we say in India (lakhon mein ek - one in a hundred thousand)... it means there are about:

-> 6,600 people like them in the world

-> 1,100 people like them in India

:)

A Tale of Two Summers...

The British Summer

Bristol - 27th May 2008; 1:00 AM

Current Nearest Observations:
Cloudy 11°C with Max of 25°C
North Easterly Wind (19 mph)
Relative Humidity (%): 78,
Pressure (mB): 1011, Rising,
Visibility: Very good


The Indian Summer

New Delhi - 27th May 2008; 5:30 AM (adjusted for time difference)

Current Nearest Observations:
Clear 25°C with Max of 37°C
N/A (0 mph)
Relative Humidity (%): 88,
Pressure (mB): 1004, Steady,
Visibility: Poor

It has been a funny bank holiday weekend. Rains have embraced Bristol and are not letting go. Even now I can hear the rain beating down on the window behind my head. Delhi has also been enjoying good weather last week or so.

Here during the summer when the rains comes one needs to dig up winterwear. In India when it rains during the summer people go dancing in the rain!
On the other hand people in both the places complain when it rains.
In UK because it eats up the short 'British Summer' and in India because the roads clog up!

Kübler-Ross model: Five steps towards grief management!

The Kübler-Ross Model lays out a five step process to deal with grief:

1. Denial

2. Anger

3. Bargaining

4. Depression

5. Acceptance


Hope this helps you get over problems in life! :)

How women communicate with men?

How do women communicate with men?

An example I heard of a girl talking with a guy:

"If you had taken my suggestion, I wouldn't have allowed you to buy it"

This is a very good example of multi-level communication. On one level the girl doesn't want to appear too aggressive on the other she wants to firmly state her displeasure. Combining the two allows the girl to command the guy as well as not appear dominating in front of others.

:)

Meow Machwe

Well several people have expressed a great deal of confusion over me using 'meow' as my status message. Then other's have confused my references to 'cats' as a reference to my girl-friend.

This post is to clarify all the confusion!

Some people like dogs, some people like cats. I happen to belong to the second group. That is why you will find many references to cats in what I write!

I find that there is something mysterious about cats. The way they go about their own business, always cool and calm.

The episodes of cool-anger when they will just sit with their tails wrapped up around you and completely ignore you till you go to pet them. Then they will respond with 'weird' behavior.

'Meow' is indeed a complex creature!

Fruit and Nut!

Everyone loves Cadbury's Dairy Milk Fruit & Nut!

Cats love it, I love it and even mosquitos love it! :D

People go nuts over it! You give them a huge bar of Fruit & Nut and they don't even share it with you. Forget share, they don't even ask you (out of formality) whether you would like a teeny tiny piece!

I also love Cadbury's Bournville. It has a 'dark chocolate' flavour. I LOVE DARK CHOCOLATE. I don't think cats like this one though! Dark chocolate is an acquired taste!

[Added Later] I stand corrected! Many people love dark chocolate! So I guess by extension cats and mosquitos must also love it!

Similar to the above but with a mint center this is one chocolate which has been my hot favourite since the day I was born (I think). If you are in doubt which chocolate to give me GIVE ME THIS ONE!

Comments by People on Power Issues

This was a comment on my previous post on Power.

The comment is quite interesting and makes a few important points which go along with what I had posted. Therefore I decided to develop a post around it.

Good work!!!!
I would like to add some more views!!! As an Indian we are in the habit of
putting up things on someone else shoulder and just throw our own
respeonsibility. There is a mention that if the power shortfall in Northern
region is 2000 MW (peak) and 1000 MW(Offpeak) why dont we install a power plant?
At the very next stage we are cursing Government for the UMPP initiative of
putting up 4000MW plants?With a hue and cry for pollution!!!!!With an argument
for renewable energy big size plants???Really surprising, before this we have to
think over the basic root of the problem and the constraints which we have in
the Power sector. Like

01. The investment is a big problem in power sector, why?
If any business can run then why not power business? There are large number of
private players in other sectors then why not in power sector? The answer is -
there is no restricition from the government side, after Electricity Act 2003,
any one (yes any one) can put a power plant. But the biggest concern of the
business man is that whether he will be able to get sufficient returns on the
investment? Today we are facing the issue of very high level of Transmission and
Distribution losses... may be more than 35% . If we discuss the AT&C Losses
(that is T&D losses plu commercial losses) the figure may be reaching
towards 45% or more. The surprising aspect is that the T&D loss figure also
includes the lots of unmetered, free agriculture power as well as loss due to
theft. As a responsible citizen we all feel to share our own individual
responsibilities towards power sector improvements.
01. When was the last time we approached local discom to switch off the
street lights when found on during day time?
02. Do we really try to conserve power by efficient appliances/ CFLs
etc.
03. Do we pay our bills regularly and dnt;t wish the line man to distort
the meter readings?
04. It doent mean that if we have the power of money we have the right to
misuse/abuse electricity. We must not forget that whenever we are switching off
one light someone else somewhere get that light to use.

Just share our own responsibility ...and wait the results shall be
visible.

Quite right we do have a habit of putting things on other peoples shoulders. But then again it should be a balanced effort on both the sides - the government and the people. Therefore I would like to list few possible solutions in combination with those suggested in the above comment... so here we go:

- Encourage greater private sector involvement and R&D (especially in renewable sources) effort in power generaton/transmission/distribution.

- Have a local as well as global plan to tackle shortfalls (this includes both short term and long term shortfalls).

- Use energy saving devices and encourage their use by the common man.

- Concentrate on renewable sources of electricity and implement Micro-Scale Power Projects especially for urban areas.

- Work towards community-based power production/transmission/distribution. Make people responsible for the power they use.

- When was the last time we approached local discom to switch off the
street lights when found on during day time?

Lets take this further - how about also implementing computer controlled light management for public lighting.

02. Do we really try to conserve power by efficient appliances/ CFLs
etc.
> While people take the initiative and switch over to CFLs and energy efficient appliances the government should offer subsidies on such products. Something like this has been done in the latest UK budget. This would also encourage manufacturers to concentrate on energy efficiency.

03. Do we pay our bills regularly and dnt;t wish the line man to distort
the meter readings?
> This is another very important point which goes with what I said about the theft of power being done by people who have the money to pay. This is indeed our civic duty to pay for the power we have used.

04. It doent mean that if we have the power of money we have the right to
misuse/abuse electricity. We must not forget that whenever we are switching off
one light someone else somewhere get that light to use.
> This is again a valid point.


In the end, as I stated before, it is about making people responsible for the power they use!

India in the World - Part II: Power

We, the citizens of India do enjoy punishment. As if life was not tough enough with 40 degree winds blasting through the cities we have taken the suffering to a whole new level. In this post I will put some bones on the problems that we Indians face which makes life (to quote a friend) 'hell'.

There are three main areas where small (but significant) improvements will lead to a big change in the quality of life of the population in general:

1) Power
2) Water
3) Transport

The key to everything is Power. That is why it is number one on my list. Both Electric Power and Political Power.

The common man suffers from the lack of both Political as well as Electric Power. Clearly voting once in 4 years is not good enough. The same way getting Electricity once a day is not good enough.

Let us deal with the easier problem of Electic Power first.

Why do we have a power shortage in India? Is it because we do not have enough money to generate power? Is it because we do not have the infrastructure? What is the reason then?
There are several reasons for this particular problem. So lets start at the source (power plant) and take it down the chain to the house of the common man.

A. The Power Plant
There is clearly a shortfall in generation capacity and demand. Check out the Power Grid Corporation's Northern Regional Load Dispatch Center (http://www.nrldc.org/ - check their daily reports as well) for the proof. At the time of writing this post peak demand shortfall in North India was about 2000MW and off-peak about 1000MW. So that doesn't look all that bad isnt it. I mean off peak shortage of 1000MW and peak of 2000MW... well then why not build a power plant to get rid of that?

It appears that the people at the Power Ministry (powermin.nic.in) have been working on doing just that. Also check out the 'Power Scenario at a Glance' section on their website. The funny bit is the gap between demand and supply of power has been steadily widening. From single digit percentages to double digits in certain regions. Overall since 2002-2003 the gap has increased from 12.2% to 17% (as of March 2008). So it is safe to assume that our Government has been caught napping on this one (what a surprise).

So what is the solution? Well naturally the Government says there is a shortfall lets get rid of this entirely! The magic solution is called 'Ultra-mega Power Projects'. These are defined as power plants which generate 4000MW or above. All the projects taken together aim to create additional 100,000MW of generation capacity by 2012. So after ignoring the problem for years the Government now decides to throw everything including the kitchen sink at the problem hoping it is solved somehow.

All this sounds good to us sitting in the cities far away from these UMPPs but what we don't realise is all of the UMPPs are going to be thermal plants based on coal. In other words god only knows how much pollution a 4000MW coal-based power plant creates. Anyone want to give me any number on this one?

Clearly the government is looking at economics of scale. Bigger power plant means lower cost per unit of power. But what about the long term impact? What about smaller projects which are sustainable? How about creating compact power plants which can be deployed in areas which suffer acute power shortages. Especially if these power plants are based on renewable sources of energy?

B. The Transmission Network
These are the long haul power lines which carry electricity from the power plants to distribution centers near major cities. The funny bit is these transmission cables are still using old technology. The problem is that just generating loads of extra electricity is not enough. You must be able to reach it to where it is needed, efficiently. This is what the Power Ministry website also talks about (taking an 'integrated approach').

The use of 'new technology' means using High Voltage Direct Current links for long haul transmission (would be used with UMPPs to deliver power directly to heavy demand areas such as NCR) . Currently there is only one HVDC link between Rihand (in UP where there is a thermal power plant) and Dadri (near Delhi).

C. The Distribution Network
This is where the problems get serious and the negative effect of 'politics' is the most. The distribution networks take up the power transmission from the long haul links. Here the voltage is reduced and bought closer to what is used for domestic and industrial applications. The problem is in a populated and not-so-well managed city like Delhi the distribution network is both old and severly stressed out. It is like asking an old man to do something that even a young man won't be able to do. The challenge facing power discoms (distribution companies) is two-fold. Expanding and upgrading the network while maintaining (or improving) efficiency and ensuring power supply. This of course rarely happens.
A typical example (from my personal experience):

- There is a colony where the only transformer keeps overloading (and in the process sometimes catches fire). This results in long power cuts. Why? Because the discom doesn't realise that due to the increased load the single transformer is doing the work of two transformers. Well eventually this fact does sink into their brains so they put a second transformer. But by now the power generated is not enough to meet the demand. So the power cuts continue!

Then of course there is a problem of power theft. It is not just the poor people who do that. It is mostly done by people like you and me! People carrying on commercial work on a domestic power supply. Overdrawing power by using multiple air-conditioners on the AC line. The poor people don't have air-conditioners in every room or factories operating from their basements.
So in this case it is the civic attitude of the public. The prevailing attitude is: do whatever is required to survive and don't care about other people. This needs to change.

Due to these factors the Transmission and Distribution losses at one time, in the not too distant past, were a whopping 50% (2002 before privatization of distribution)! As of 2006 October these have been reduced to about 35%.

This when coupled with the failures of the longhaul transmission system and the gap between demand and supply results in headlines like:

Gurgaon Power Crisis May Worsen Over Next Year As Shortages Reach Nearly 2500 Mega Watts

(February, 2008)

Apex court asks Delhi Govt. to file status report on power crisis

(Janurary, 2008)

My solution is a five pronged attack on the problem:

- Encourage greater private sector involvement and R&D (especially in renewable sources) effort in power generaton/transmission/distribution.

- Have a local as well as global plan to tackle shortfalls (this includes both short term and long term shortfalls).

- Use energy saving devices and encourage their use by the common man.

- Concentrate on renewable sources of electricity and implement Micro-Scale Power Projects especially for urban areas.

- Work towards community-based power production/transmission/distribution. Make people responsible for the power they use.

:)

India in the World

Was watching NDTV News the other day... the newsreader was talking about the recent successful test of Agni-III missile. He said '...we now have the capability to hit Tel Aviv and Beijing...'

This statement made me sit up and pay attention to the rest of the story. It also made me smile.

While we might now have the capability to 'hit' Tel-Aviv and Beijing we are increasingly loosing the capability to take care of our huge population. A case in point is the much touted National Capital Region (NCR).

NCR was created to 'distribute' development in the area surrounding Delhi. But it has ended up being something out of a nightmare. It has broken all kinds of 'bad' records. From being dangerous for women to record levels of pollution.

It is weird that Delhi has been having water and power shortage for decades now. In fact as far back as my memory goes there have been powercuts especially during the summer. The situation is a hundred times worse in the greater NCR area. Noida, Ghaziabad, Gurgaon and Faridabad.

People don't seem to think this is anything big. Every year the same complaints. But no changes. No new development.

Yet we can now strike Tel-Aviv and Beijing.

Maybe the saying is correct that the best way of dealing with a dissatisfied population is to divert their attention. That is the funny bit about India. The way there is duality in everything. The best of brands and water shortages (but that is only for the poor and middle class folks).

I want to figure out what will bring change. What will get rid of this duality. What will ensure that we have clean drinking water alongside multi-national brands. Regular power supply to charge up our Nokia phones, Dell notebooks and Apple Ipods.

I will try to figure this out..

Flowers at UWE

These photographs were taken at the University of the West of England's Frenchay Campus... don't know their names except for maybe the dark pink one is a Bougainvillea... so just enjoy the pics! :)

DJ Meow

Here is DJ Meow! Enjoy...

Timescapes....

Short exposure - 30 seconds...

1 min exposure... note the glow from different elements of the watch...

1 min 30 seconds exposure.. note the half shading on the second hand...

2 mins exposure... note the break in the path of the second hand. It shows that the second hand moves in discreet steps around the dial

5 mins exposure... note the movement of the minute and hour hands..

These are some pictures of my Traser H3 watch taken using a long-exposure setting.

Harrowing experience at Harrods...

Had gone to Harrods with a girl about 1.5 months ago.

It is only now that I have gotten over the trauma of the visit and can speak about the few hours I spent there.

As soon as we entered Harrod's I felt a chill down my spine. It were the souls of doomed MEN warning me to leave while I could.

We entered the store and suddenly I was surrounded by people! My friend (being a girl) was in her natural element. Her nose immediately picked up the scent of her prey and the hunt was on. I was just following her like a small school boy.

This was until we reached the women's leather goods section. That is when all of a sudden I started having a stomach ache as well as shortness of breath. No before you wonder if it was something I ate, let me assure you it wasn't.

It was the prices of things we found there. A wallet for about 200 pounds, a handbag (with the leather so highly polished that you could almost see your face in it) for 2000 pounds.

I was feeling the pain of all those men who have had to foot the bill of something purchased from this section by their 'girls'. My eyes were filling with tears.

My friend dragged me out of that section and slowly I regained the sense of mental stability.

After that she thought it would be safer if we spent the remaining time looking at cheaper things and that she would come later with female friends who are oblivious to the effects of high prices!

So we went to the stationary section and bought 2 pens (£4.50 each).

That was a narrow escape for me! Guys let me warn you if you are out with girls.. steer clear of Harrods. Let them go in (girls become lionesses in Harrods!) and you take a walk if you want. Worse case if you have to go in then head straight to the basement or go and sit quietly in the cafeteria.

:)

About shopping... with Girls

What is it about females and the way they shop? For some reason watching females shop is more fascinating than watching any documentary on the Discovery Channel! Instead of wasting their time with tracking down lions and elephants scientists should study how women shop.

I am sure the data collected would keep several scientists happy (and employed) for about 5-10 years to come!

Why I say this? Well it is because of a conversation I had with a friend (a girl) of mine.. this is how it went:

(The Girl): Oh I went shopping today but I didn't buy anything!

(Me): Why not?

(The Girl): Oh it is a long story!

(Me): Do tell...

(The Girl): I went to one shop and there they didn't have my size, in the other shop they had my size but not the colours I wanted and then in this third shop they had both the size and the colours but it was too expensive!

(Me): That isn't a long story and you could have just said that 'due to girl-type reasons you didn't buy anything', it would have explained everything!

Isn't it funny how girls get when they shop. In fact I know so many girls who will just not buy something till it is absolutely perfect! If I spent 3.5 hrs shopping and returned home without buying anything I would probably go mad!

Shopping with girls who do this kind of stuff will probably drive me mad as well! :D

Also it is quite funny when you go shopping with a girl (as in a guy wants to buy something and there is a girl with him) the shopping is quite smooth since the guy knows what he wants quite clearly and the girl is there to help him converge to something nice quickly.

Oh one word of warning.. if you are out shopping with a girl and she is looking at something to buy for herself DO NOT COMMENT!

If you comment they will realise that you are laughing at them, pretend to be frustrated and stop shopping... the same way wild animals run away if they see a human nearby! :D Keep all your comments to yourself and... ENJOY being a guy (and thank god too!). :D

The last of their kind,,,

A few days ago I heard someone talking about how in their local temple (here in UK) some old Indian ladies come and sing devotional songs in the evening. They were also talking about how peaceful it is and how they enjoy listening to the signing.

I told them that they should make a video of the whole thing.

They were surprised and asked me why did I suggest such a thing.

The reason why I said that was because just like an endangered species such things are going to disappear. The next generation of Indian grand-mothers will not be found singing devotional songs in temples. The next generation of grand-mothers may not even know how to speak properly the languages of India.

So they are the last of their kind... record them so that you can remember them.

Remember them so that you can realise what was lost.

Realise what you lost so that you can prevent further losses.

:)

Images of Bristol... May Day!

Water and the play of light!

The steel towers at the Waterfront

The old and the new!

Ripples in the water

Falling water - frozen by the camera

Wavefront

Green and Red.. this is real not Photoshop!

Skyscraper (one of the few new ones in Bristol city centre)