A tail of 2 cities

Bangalore: To realize how starkly different Bangalore is from Chennai, one only needs to land at its airport from Chennai - the change almost hits you at the face. Bangalore is so cool ! It feels like a villager landing up in a metropolitan disc.

Mangalore: An airstrip located on a plateau atop a hill with the runway terminating close to the edge, how awesome. Mangalore resembles Kerala very closely - its just greenery and greenery everywhere, with winding roads traversing the mountainous terrain. Went to a beach called Kapu, about 2 winding hours away (with a driver who thought he was driving formula-1) - it was late evening, well past sunset, but the moon was shining bright, the breeze was strong and the beach was awesome; a lighthouse on a nearby hillock shone out powerful beams to the distant glittering ships - a truly beautiful place.

N70 - a review

Was going through rajan's views on the Nokia N series platform. Thought I'd post my review of the N70:

The +ves: Impressive camera - in dark lighting, the 2mpx cam of the N70 beats my 4mpx olympus hands down. Nice features - the mp3 player, calender functionality, opera, big screen, symbian OS with its themes. Great looks.

The -ves: Nokia's PCSuite is a pain - has more problems than I've encountered in any software recently and screws up the phone if it hangs. The phone's much more bulkier than my earlier 6610, the software too is much slower.

In sum: Think of it as carrying a small multimedia PC, not a phone (true, considering its processing power, memory and features would have been the envy of a PC 5 years back).

Happy Ganesh Chaturthi

Happy Ganesh Chaturthi to all.

MS Subbulakshmi singing the Ganesh Pancharatnam : What a voice!

Mahabalipuram

I never knew Mahabalipuram was this close. Most of us Chennaiites remember it a place lying somewhere post Muttukadu and before Pondicherry where kids go on picnic. (Chennai's rapid expansion has put it within 15 mins from city limits). Last time I visited the place, I was in the 6th/7th standard at school - it was barren & hot - and I didn't have too many good memories of the place. But this time it was different - and its not just my viewpoint that has changed.

The ASI seems to be doing a good job of renovating and maintaining these monuments - the sculptures I remembered as strewn all over are neatly arranged, gardens surround most areas and the omnipresent security guards prevent all the littering they can. Plus, the 10 buck entry ticket has certainly worked wonders in preventing an unruly crowd from overrunning the monuments.

Mahabalipuram is certainly worth a visit - the craftmanship is absolutely impressive. Plus the drive along ECR and the beach add to the pleasure.

Chandigarh - Chandi ka ghar

Home of the rich & the beautiful. This doesn't look like the other parts of India. Wide roads like New Delhi, but without the crowds; palatial houses, every house with multiple long cars, with beautiful gardens throughout - everything is so well planned and clean (its almost freakish).

My work takes me to 'exotic' places - went to one such location yesterday, wading through slush and mud, covered in a layer of soot, in the middle of god-forsaken nowhere, only to find a guy working on a Sony Viao laptop. On the way out, found a guy navigating his way through muddy roads on a new Honda Civic. India is changing. And its interesting to watch how.